I have to admit that at first glance I felt the “Oh No’s, Nintendo what have you done?”. But I’m feeling much better after reading over some of the controller’s features.

The ‘remote’ is like the Power Glove and Light gun rolled into one. There are sensors that you place on either side of your television which, in coordination with a signal chip in the controller, tell the Revolution console each joystick’s position, directional facing, and it’s relative pitch, and roll. That means you can control your online alterego by steering the remote in 3D space (think driving and flying games) . Similarly you can point the controller to shoot at things like a light gun, or even change the direction you’re looking (FPS).

The remote is wireless and has built in rumble pack support. The ‘home’ button is for menu navigation and the series of lights on the bottom of the joystick signify which player you are.

The remote can also rotate 90 degrees counter clockwise into a classic NES configuration, so that the DPad sits on your left thumb and the a/b buttons slide under your right. The bottom is beveled so you won’t scar your hand on the hard controller edges like back in ‘86. With Nintendo’s promise to distribute all NES games on the Revolution - you’ll comfortably be playing Bionic Commando in no time.

1UP.com has a great writeup with some hands-on experiences at the Tokyo Game Show.

I can’t wait to get my hands on one. The 3D positioning system is a dream. Still - the slim remote seems like quite the step back (makes sense for light-gun games, but not much else) and where are all the buttons? Minimalist buttons are great for arcade games but how am I supposed to play Madden (or 2k Football X) on this thing? *Scratches head*