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Controller showdown: PlayStation 3 vs Wii
You knew the comparisons were going to be inevitable. Now that we've gotten our mitts on both next-gen consoles' motion-sensing input devices, Nintendo's Wii controller and Sony's PlayStation 3 controller have to go head to head. That's just the way of the world; who are we to question these two born adversaries, destined to square off in a no-holds barred peripheral deathmatch. So, what did we think? Well, you should already have a pretty good idea of how we feel about the Wiimote. But what's up with the PlayStation 3 controller? Two controllers enter, one controller leaves.
Wiimote: Colors for all
We almost missed these beauties at Nintendo's booth, but thankfully we were able to stop swaying our hips with Wario Ware just long enough to snap a picture. We didn't see a single black or blue Wii console anywhere on the show floor, but we're hoping that those colors will be available on store shelves as soon as the system launches. [Insert Bondi Blue joke here.]
Hands on with Nintendo's Wii controller
Alright, we briefed y'all on what we knew so far about the Wii controller early this morning, but now that we've gotten our paws on the Wiimote itself, we wanted to let you know how it is in the flesh. Nintendo and millions of fanboys are betting a lot on this concept, and Nintendo itself said that "playing is believing" every other sentence of their keynote, so the real question is: do we believe? The short answer is that we're just not sure yet. The first chance we got with the Wii was for a golfing game (the shortest line we found, go fig) and as soon as we got our hands on the Wiimote we knew it was something special. We slipped the wrist lanyard on so we didn't fling the remote across the room, and held in our hands the light weight, ergonomic, and simply beautiful controller. If this was as far as we'd gotten we would have gone home happy. The controller allows plenty of leverage for the trigger "b" and the large "a" button, and only slipped out of our hand once from a particularly aggressive sword strike in "Red Steel." Click on for the rest.
Nintendo's E3 booth tour
After swearing to the Nintendo booth staff that yes we bow at the feet of Miyamoto, no we've never touched a Sony device before in our lives, and yes we'd like to skip the mile long line to see the Wii, we managed to find ourselves in Nintendo's special little (or not so little) Wii paradise. There were playables galore, though that "27 playable titles" they mentioned at the keynote was a bit misleading. Sure, you could grab a Wiimote and start making a fool of yourself in any one of 27 different ways, but most of the playable stuff was actually just a tech demo or a mini game. Luckily, the big names like Zelda, Mario and Red Steel were there in force, and the good times were aplenty even with the tech demos. We'll have our impressions of the Wiimote pretty soon, but for now we've got a whole slew of pics from the booth, so take a look.
Nintendo's "final" Wii controller -- what we know
They've always said that the previous iteration of the "Revolution" controller wasn't quite final, but now that Nintendo has unveiled what is presumably the final controller design for the Wii (though Nintendo is still calling it a prototype, and might tweak a few things), we thought we'd lay out what exactly this Wiimote is, and why it makes Nintendo so darn smarmy all the time. First off, the new version unvieled by Nintendo on Tuesday includes a built-in speaker -- the addition of which lengthened the controller slightly -- along with minor interface tweaks like swapping out "a" and "b" for "1" and "2" buttons and other icon changes. GameSpot is also reporting that this Bluetooth wireless version is quite a bit heavier than the feather-light wired prototypes, and that the nunchaku attachment is tweaked slightly in shape and button design. As for the actual operation of the controller, that is managed by sensors within the Wiimote, in tandem with a sensor bar located on your TV, which can watch for movement in full 3D space. A better equivilant to Sony's new PS3 controller design unveiled on monday would actually be the Wiimote's nunchucka attachment, which also includes an accelerometer. While all of this motion sensing might provide an easy learning curve in some instances, the number of buttons available to the user, including dual trigger buttons ("c" and "z") on the nunchucka, a trigger and face button ("b" and "a") on the Wiimote, along a bunch of other face buttons, could make things a bit more complicated than anticipated. With that said, we'll be playing with the Wii on the E3 show floor tomorrow so we're sure it won't take long to find out if our fears come to fruition.[Via Joystiq]
Joystiq / Engadget Podcast 079 - 05.10.06
Sony may have had their fun on Monday, but Tuesday turned out to be one of the craziest days of the gaming year. Nintendo decided to one-up Sony by adding additional speaker support for the Wii-mote, reveal some sort of launch strategy (albeit with no specific launch date or price) and demo actual Wii gameplay. Shortly afterward, Microsoft set us off with some footage of up and coming games, as well as some new periphs (that's what the kids call peripherals now-a-days, right?) Our very own Vlad Cole steps to the mic and joins Engadget's Ryan for today's podcast. Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). [RSS] Add the Engadget Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3). [MP3] Download the show (MP3).[OGG] Download the show (OGG). [Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley! Host Engadget's Ryan Block Featuring Joystiq's Vlad Cole Producer Randall Bennett Music J J J - 'Suits' in Japan Format 1:04:58, 29.4 MB, MP3 Program 00:00 - Nintendo's keynote32:30 - Microsoft's keynote LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com
PS3 pad loses DualShock name and vibration but picks up Wii-esque motion detection and wireless connectivity
In a shocking turn of events, the PS3 controller has gone from banamerang to wireless DualShock 3, except without the DualShock name and vibration.If you take a good look at the back of the new control pad (see the close-up above), you'll notice that the DualShock 2 brand name imprinted on the old controller has now been supplanted by a row of LED lights to show which input has been set, either wirelessly or via the wired USB recharge port. Sony's now the only name in-line for PS3 controllers either on the pad or in the press releases (see "the new PS3 controller").
