According to German gaming site Nintendo-LAN.de, Ubisoft Paris' Red Steel is moving toward a more freestyle sword fighting scheme. Nintendo-LAN, answering a question from Mordrag, said that "the control [of Red Steel] is revised completely, so that the movements of the controller are transmitted precise into the game."We don't know much about Nintendo-LAN, nor do we necessarily trust an interview format where the website is the interviewee, so take this with a very large grain of salt (we're awaiting a confirmation from Ubisoft). For the meantime, let's examine the ramifications of such a decision.
Many impressions of Red Steel's E3 demo lamented the swordfighting system, which we thought felt more like a minigame than immersive gameplay. Is this Ubisoft giving into pressure from the community? Sony, for its part, seemed to face a similar issue with its PS3 boomerang controller -- a design that people lambasted without ever getting their hands on it. Again, while not confirmed, community pressure appears to be a big reason for Sony's revert to the classic DualShock shape.
Community pressure can both benefit and harm ideas. Has Ubisoft gone from one extreme to the next? We'll find out soon enough.
By the way, this is the face of Lead Game Designer Roman Campos Oriola, the man working on fine tuning the swordfighting system. Those Ubisoft devs love to pose with their Wiimotes.
See Also:
Boomerang controller -- bust or discarded treasure?
[via Evil Avatar]
