The Swedish publication Loading (Article is in both Swedish and English) has given out the news that Nintendo is once again working on an innovative console. This new console is dubbed “Feel” as a working title, and the gimmick is that touching or feeling will be used in the gameplay of its releases.
Possible details known may include controllers with a built-in screen that has touchscreen technology like the DS, but the screen itself will have features that allow for different textures. This is something I’m having a hard time getting my head around for multiple reasons. A dynamic texture is a very unusual and possibly expensive technology, and I can see the Japanese eroge market jumping on it for multiple reasons.
The specific name of this kind of technology is “haptic”. This kind of technology changes the tactile properties of what it’s applied to, allowing something’s texture to simulate a wide range of sensations. There is very little I can see this accomplishing however from a gamer perspective. There are a handful of textures I utterly despise, and I’d rather not deal with those to get through part of a game. It can add large amounts of immersion, but that’s honestly the only edge I’m personally seeing.
Regardless of that, innovation and experimentation is a good thing. While Sony and MS are trying to churn out as many polygons as possible on a game, Nintendo is the one coming up with all the ideas and new features that developers can use.
