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Report: NX to Feature PS4 -style Split D-Pad and Share Button

i mentioned some of this in other threads but this latest mock up strengthen these deductions:

  • 1. It's pretty much a given the right and left controllers won't be identical according to various sources. So it makes sense that the Dpad is splitted to maintain more congruence with the 4 face butons, when using the controls for multiplayer.
  • 2. Another thing the mock ups from the leaks point out is that the detachable parts are not meant to be used horizontally or NES style for multiplayer due to the distance of the butons in relation to the circle pad/analogue stick.
  • 3. This also means that for a traditional 2 handed controller experience the 2 parts need to attach in some way to form a dual analog controller for 1 player when playing with the controllers detached.
  • 4. The detachable parts could be shorter than a Wii Remote, about 4 to 4.5'' seems like an adequate lenght.
  • 5. The simplest most elegant idea would be to have the controller splitted in 2 parts even for traditional 2 analog controlled games but people refuse to let this convention go away.
An interesting idea for the third point is if the device comes with a magnetic cover. When the magnetic cover is detached it could be used to string together each controller half to form a two handed dual analog controller.

i tought about the 2 halfs sliding together in an horizontal position one on top of each other, but theres an issue with the potential triggers (think WIi Remote B) not been aligned.

DISCLAIMER: All of the above assumes that the leaks have got right the button line up on the face of the controller.
 
Deep down inside I'm hoping all the rumors are wrong because it feels like we already have a good general idea now of what the system is lol. I want to be surprised, which I still will of course.

We still know nothing about the types of software Nintendo is working on, besides Zelda. That's the most important component of any new piece of hardware.
 
We still know nothing about the types of software Nintendo is working on, besides Zelda. That's the most important component of any new piece of hardware.
I should've said hardware wise. Yeah, we know absolutely nothing about software aside from the few titles announced so far, which I'm far more excited for than what the hardware looks like.
 
I don't think either of these is a given just yet:

Another thing the mock ups from the leaks point out is that the detachable parts are not meant to be used horizontally or NES style for multiplayer due to the distance of the butons in relation to the circle pad/analogue stick.

This also means that for a traditional 2 handed controller experience the 2 parts need to attach in some way to form a dual analog controller for 1 player when playing with the controllers detached.
 
I don't think either of these is a given just yet:

Agreed, especially when you consider these are very rough sketches of a devkit or prototype, and even if we had pictures of the devkit we couldn't be sure that they wouldn't change the dimensions or distances between buttons for the final product.

We still know nothing about the types of software Nintendo is working on, besides Zelda. That's the most important component of any new piece of hardware.

Yeah hardware reveals are somewhat exciting, especially for Nintendo hardware because it's often unpredictable, but the game trailers are what really have me hyped, considering so many of Nintendo's teams have been silent lately and they're all working on games for this single platform.
 
I don't think either of these is a given just yet:
They are according to the 2 leaked mock ups, obviously if they are real and coming from actual sources.

To operate the thumbsticks and 4 face buttons/Dpad they need to be close together when using them in the traditional position.

If you take these 2 controllers and turn them NES style, the sticks and buttons are too close together. So save for those face buttons/Dpad sliding away or Nintendo adding buttons near the bottom (think 1 and 2 in Wiimote) is not feasable. Well those 2 or the top face of the controller been a Trackpad, see my ock ups for that XD

Remember im going by the leaks, it is strange that none of them have 1/2 like buttons below.
 

majik13

Member
Im really concerned that Nintendo is compromising their controller, to shoehorn in a feature that many people wouldn't really use, and isn't completely necessary. The same way they compromised the wiimote by making it double as an NES controller, most buttons were not easy to reach comfortable.

If this rumor is true, the NX controller could have these issues too.

-Standard controller is compromised by possible inferior buttons, and uncomfortable button placement

-Will likely be very small and tight, with not much in the way of grip, and unergonomic

- Most 2 player games could be regulated to more simpler game types or just VC games.


Wouldn't it just make more sense to allow the plethora of wii and wiiu controllers to be used for 2+ player? Which are very abundant, and many people already have and are not very expensive? Its likely they will still allow Wii brand controllers to be used though.

The only real plus I see so far, is these controllers double as new 2 handed motion controllers. But again they could be compromised like the wiimote, and have buttons in uncomfortable and unreachable places, as it also tries to accommodate other controller configurations.

I know Nintendo does this to make the system cheaper and more accessible, and possible simpler for the consumers ease of use, etc. But sometimes Id like them to just make new controllers with new features for single dedicated use, and make it the best they can with no compromises.

Still extremely excited to see what this actually is, but just trying to keep my expectations in check.
 
They are according to the 2 leaked mock ups, obviously if they are real and coming from actual sources.

Mock ups are speculative/approximations, not leaks.

To operate the thumbsticks and 4 face buttons/Dpad they need to be close together when using them in the traditional position.

If you take these 2 controllers and turn them NES style, the sticks and buttons are too close together. So save for those face buttons/Dpad sliding away or Nintendo adding buttons near the bottom (think 1 and 2 in Wiimote) is not feasable.

Remember im going by the leaks, it is strange that none of them have 1/2 like buttons below.

I'm actually not especially convinced that this is true.

Have you tried holding an object that's as wide as you'd expect the NX controllers to be when held sideways (probably no more than 5 inches, judging by the ~6.2 inch/155x81mm screen - though I'm partial to 4.5" personally)?

Your thumbs can probably rest pretty comfortably near the very center of it, even if it's a relatively thick object. That's probably where you could expect the stick+buttons to be placed for maximum comfort during vertical use.

The real question is how you'll grip it during vertical use. But judging by the Nunchuk and the Wii U GamePad (probably the two best points of comparison), I don't think we have to worry too much about that.
 
Im really concerned that Nintendo is compromising their controller, to shoehorn in a feature that many people wouldn't really use, and isn't completely necessary. The same way they compromised the wiimote by making it double as an NES controller, most buttons were not easy to reach comfortable.

If this rumor is true, the NX controller could have these issues too.

-Standard controller is compromised by possible inferior buttons, and uncomfortable button placement

-Will likely be very small and tight, with not much in the way of grip, and unergonomic

- Most 2 player games could be regulated to more simpler game types or just VC games.
Actually no.

If we go strictly by the 2 mock ups from the reports, the 2 splitted parts with an analogue stick each have even more input options than standar dual analogue controllers. And even if leaving motion inputs aside, it still has enough buttons to acomodate most games, altoguh they would still be splitted XD

The desires of the user base are the ones compromising the controller since the majority wants to play with a controller attached together.
 

Tyeforce

Member
j7n6QP0.jpg
The A/B/X/Y buttons are out of order...
 

majik13

Member
Actually no.

If we go strictly by the 2 mock ups from the reports, the 2 splitted parts with an analogue stick each have even more input options than standar dual analogue controllers. And even if leaving motion inputs aside, it still has enough buttons to acomodate most games, altoguh they would still be splitted XD

The desires of the user base are the ones compromising the controller since the majority wants to play with a controller attached together.

how so?, they wouldn't be dual analogue each on their own, and likely could be missing at least 1 trigger or 1 shoulder button for each user in a 2 player setup.

Yup. Bingo. Buttons and d pad will feel identical

yeah I have been thinking this will be a thing. But would that cause issue if the face buttons are upside down now? Unless they have a way to rectify that.

Maybe the face buttons will only be colors, no symbols or letters, and the software would pick up on what orientation the controller is connected and update any UI or button prompts to the correct color
 
Mock ups are speculative/approximations, not leaks.
You can't seriously be pointing this out man, it's downright insulting. Please humor me an edit your message. XD

im discussing what little we have and that's 2 different sources with no buttons below. If they are not piggybacking into each other then it's an incredible coincidence that a meaningful input part that influences game design is been left out. It's something so critical that it needs to be nailed out in early dev kits.

i hope that you undertand at least where im coming from.
I'm actually not especially convinced that this is true.

Have you tried holding an object that's as wide as you'd expect the NX controllers to be when held sideways (probably no more than 5 inches, judging by the ~6.2 inch/155x81mm screen)?

Your thumbs can probably rest pretty comfortably near the very center of it, even if it's a relatively thick object. That's probably where you could expect the stick+buttons to be placed for maximum comfort during vertical use.

The real question is how you'll grip it during vertical use. But judging by the Wii U GamePad, I don't think we have to worry too much about that.
Absolutely, the higlighted doesn't elude me. However, you do know how capricious people tend to be with controllers that are perfectly functional.

So do you thing people will accept holding the controller with the thumbs so close to each other? Imagine people playing platformers with the Wii Remote NES style using the Dpad and A button instead of the 1 and 2 ones.
 

v1oz

Member
Split D-Pads are notorious for giving people blisters when playing fighting games. There's absolutely nothing wrong Nintendo's traditional patented cross key design. I'm worried because Nintendo's controllers have been getting worse over the years. Their Pro Controller is absolutely terrible - it looks pretty but is functionality as a good as a mediocre 3rd party controller. Any new design should be based on the Wavebird. Same way Sony and Microsoft keeping progressively making new improved iterations of the Dual Shock and the 360 controllers.
 
You can't seriously be pointing this out man, it's downright insulting. Please humor me an edit your message. XD

"Leaked mockups" had me a little concerned.

Absolutely, the higlighted doesn't elude me. However, you do know how capricious people tend to be with controllers that are perfectly functional.

So do you thing people will accept holding the controller with the thumbs so close to each other? Imagine people playing platformers with the Wii Remote NES style using the Dpad and A button instead of the 1 and 2 ones.

I think "people" are already quite used to holding objects where their thumbs are really close together.

How close together your thumbs are isn't really the issue. It's whether you have to strain your thumbs to reach the buttons.

if that is the case, then I dont see how that has anything to do with any of my points then.

I don't think we'll see a case where Nintendo makes the standard controller configuration uncomfortable to use if that configuration uses the button inputs from BotW. It'd be a matter of whether the alt control scheme is comfortable with those button placements.
 

ggx2ac

Member
yeah I have been thinking this will be a thing. But would that cause issue if the face buttons are upside down now? Unless they have a way to rectify that.

Maybe the face buttons will only be colors, no symbols or letters, and the software would pick up on what orientation the controller is connected and update any UI or button prompts to the correct color

I now understand the Wonder Swan's controls having seen someone else explain it in this thread. That thing was ahead of it's time with playing in a vertical display or horizontal display mode.

There probably won't be the possibility of positioning the controllers anyway you want.

If there is:
I don't think just having colours will work because of colour blind people. Either the buttons have LCDs on them to display a,b,x,y and reorient the positioning or, come up with symbols that look the same when they change angle for example: A square button, a circle button, an X button, and... an octagonal button.

lol

Edit: Arrows could work as well. They always point in the same direction no matter the orientation.
 
"Leaked mockups" had me a little concerned.
Well while i might be dumb, i expected the interchanges we had in the past pointed you out that not necessarily dumb to the level you are asuming here XD

It was obvious i was refering to the Eurogamer mock up and this one. Although it is a worthwhile thing to debate because alot of people don't grasp what they are doing when they make their mock ups with the 4 face buttons at the bottom of the controller to accomodate the NES play style.

I think "people" are already quite used to holding objects where their thumbs are really close together.
Then there are expectations. i don't know how thrilled people would be by playing platformers with the thumbs so close. i mean New SMB Wii with the Dpad and A button levels of proximity.

Yup. Bingo. Buttons and d pad will feel identical
For the controller to work like that the Analogue and face buttons/Dpad would need to be right in the center though. Not to mention you are not considering if the device has a B WIi Remote like trigger.
 
If there is:
I don't think just having colours will work because of colour blind people. Either the buttons have LCDs on them to display a,b,x,y and reorient the positioning or, come up with symbols that look the same when they change angle for example: A square button, a circle button, an X button, and... an octagonal button.
.

That's a great point that I didn't consider. I initially read that just as "blind people" which confused me, since no visual design would work in that case.

I'm having a love hate relationship with this drip feeding of leaks that we're getting. I wonder why all of this didn't come out at the same time as that initial leak, especially considering insiders have been talking to each other about some of these features in the past.
 

majik13

Member
I now understand the Wonder Swan's controls having seen someone else explain it in this thread. That thing was ahead of it's time with playing in a vertical display or horizontal display mode.

There probably won't be the possibility of positioning the controllers anyway you want.

If there is:
I don't think just having colours will work because of colour blind people. Either the buttons have LCDs on them to display a,b,x,y and reorient the positioning or, come up with symbols that look the same when they change angle for example: A square button, a circle button, an X button, and... an octagonal button.

lol

Edit: Arrows could work as well. They always point in the same direction no matter the orientation.

Ill have to check out the wonderswan. And yeah dpad would be fine in any orientation. And I considered symbols, but playstation already uses all the ones that would best fit for this purpose. LCD might be cool (freeform display patent buttons?) But could be expensive, and then possible "useless" if the display breaks somehow. I dunno


I don't think we'll see a case where Nintendo makes the standard controller configuration uncomfortable to use if that configuration uses the button inputs from BotW. It'd be a matter of whether the alt control scheme is comfortable with those button placements.

BoTW aside,l the wiimote in its standard 1 hand configuration isnt very comfortable to use in games that used all the buttons. And the original WiiU prototype gamepad would have likely been uncomfortable to use with its vertically aligned slidepads and dpad/face buttons. Not sure if it was fans whining about it or Nintendo made the decision themselves to offset the buttons.
 

Vena

Member
So has the micro sd part of these discussions been confirmed anywhere? Or what?

Also some of you have gone crazy.
 
Once you go higher than 128GB you'll enter Vita level of ridiculousness, though. $80 for a 200GB SD card is kinda ridiculous. SD is great when individual media only takes up a moderate amount of space, but when individual games are 10GB and bigger SD starts to become less than ideal. Not like there's any alternative to SD in the mobile space, though (and bigger cards will likely become cheaper as well over time).

Which is why it'll be interesting to see how big the average NX game will be.

The difference is that Nintendo is more likely to not force people to install physical copies of games. The average consumer still buys physical.

EDIT: Skimmed too quickly, I'm curious about game size as well. Devs tend to use uncompressed assets now due to Blu-ray.
 

Dystify

Member
Sorry, but this smells like total BS.

Care to explain why? Dropping a one liner like this without further explanation isn't really healthy for a discussion... I'm not saying I blindly believe any rumor, I'm just interested why people believe it sounds to outlandish. None of the features in this topic sound unbelievable to me. (The split d-pad, Share button and 32 GB of internal memory)
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
Care to explain why? Dropping a one liner like this without further explanation isn't really healthy for a discussion... I'm not saying I blindly believe any rumor, I'm just interested why people believe it sounds to outlandish. None of the features in this topic sound unbelievable to me. (The split d-pad, Share button and 32 GB of internal memory)

I have higher regard for Nintendo than that. Simply copying the design of a competitor? That's too easy.
 
I just realized the picture uses Microsoft-style ABXY buttons...

All things considered, this is probably a good move, since most people seem used to Microsoft's layout. But GOD is it going to throw me off. I bought a Nintendo Pro Controller for my PC recently just because I couldn't get used to the button layout on most PC controllers. Sony I'm okay with because they use different symbols, but as soon as I see letters my brain reverts to Nintendo.

Maybe I'll get used to it, but I'm really not sure. I've been using Nintendo controllers for sooooo long...
 

Pokemaniac

Member
Split d-page sounds awful. Those have never been been as good as Nintendo's ones.

Share button is fine so long as both start and select are present.
 

120v

Member
i always figured it'd have a split d-pad. how else would two detachable controllers work?

i'm fine with it, but, man, those 4 buttons need to be spaced just right. like an eighth of a millimeter could ruin it
 

jblank83

Member
According to anonymous sources that have contacted Let’s Play Video Games following the previous report, we have learned that not only does the current NX development hardware feature a split D-Pad, unlike the solid pads Nintendo typically uses, but that the system also features a share button similar to that on the PS4.

82395a58c0053d19af3e61e47f07f185.jpg
 

WillyFive

Member
Why would Nintendo need to change it's D-Pad to a more uncomfortable and uglier version? Just to appeal to those that grew up with Playstation?

My thinking it's a way to make the D-Pad work double duty as face buttons, which would make the Eurogamer design work.
 

ggx2ac

Member
I have higher regard for Nintendo than that. Simply copying the design of a competitor? That's too easy.

There's rhyme and reason for what they're doing. It's not simply to one up a competitor.

Once they reveal how the dual controllers function you'll see why they had do a split D-pad so it could function more like N64 C-buttons.

There's rarely any games that rely on D-pad controls, only 2D fighting games and platformers come to mind.

If the NX D-pad isn't to anyone's satisfaction, it's obvious that the NX or dock would have Bluetooth for you to use a Classic controller for Virtual Console games.
 
I think the D-Pad can be good even if it strays from the cross design, but I'm more concerned at the possibility of using the D-Pad as four face buttons.
 
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