Satoru Iwata and spokespeople from EA, THQ, Activision and Ubisoft comment on Nintendo's wonderous new controller...

"Every gamer who plays. Every one who used to play. Even those who have yet to play. Nintendo is your bet," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has said of the Revolution.

By pointing, flicking, swishing and rotating the new controller, you can run, jump, spin, slide, shoot, accelerate, kick, swing a golf club... the possibilities are endless.

"The feeling is so natural and real, as soon as players use the controller, their minds will spin with the possibilities of how this will change gaming as we know it today. This is an extremely exciting innovation - one that will thrill current players and entice new ones," claimed Iwata.

President and CEO of THQ, Brian Farrell, said that "Nintendo has long been a trailblazer, and this controller design reinforces that reputation. We enthusiastically support Nintendo's next console because we believe their approach of continual innovation is very much in line with our own strategy of creating unique and innovative games for the next generation of hardware."

Meanwhile Chuck Huebner, Head of Worldwide Studios at Activision likened the controller to the DS, saying that the Revolution is "a system that's designed with an eye on enticing new players to the video game industry, and that's something we firmly support."

"Game control is essential - it's the area where perhaps the most game-play improvement can be made," commented John Schappert, Sr. Vice President and General Manager of Electronic Arts Canada, who commented that EA's sports titles could be the first to "immediately take advantage of what this novel 'freehand' type of control has to offer."

Ubisoft, finally, were apprently among the first to see the new controller in action. Serge Hascoet, Chief Creative Officer of Ubisoft said the company was "excited about the new controller" and that Ubisoft were "looking forward to taking advantage of its innovative aspects."

Updated! More glowing comments were given by Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear fame and a representative of Square-Enix during Iwata's keynote address. "'You've done it!' was my [first] impression! This was totally unexpected, I was pleasantly suprised because the controller is comfortable, and yet provides something brand new." He talked of how the NES controller defined the controllers we see today - held in both hands with A and B buttons. "Even though it was a suprise to me, once I had held the controller I quickly understood how it could be used."

Updated again! The fine folks at Next-Generation polled a number of industry insiders, and have an interesting range of responses. All are surprised and most are cautiously optimistic. Many of them air concerns over third party adoption. However, one of the most intriguing voices out of the bunch comes from Michel Ancel, the main man behind old-school Rayman, the underrated Beyond Good and Evil and the upcoming multi-platform King Kong. We have reproduced his comments here, for the rest please visit Next-Generation:

Michel Ancel: I feel just like a child with a new toy, opening millions of new doors of possibilities. More than an improvement, this way of playing is creating a new dimension. It's simple, when Nintendo unveils its hardware, every member of the team starts imagining crazy ideas. It's opening their minds. The fact of adding 3D gestures as the way of communicating with the game is just the perfect kind of innovation that can bring new games to new gamers. To me, it can bring the consoles what the mouse brought to the PC at it time. It's a 3D pointer with rotation information! Now, you're going to handle virtual objects, make recognition signs. It's closer to the way we act in real world, that's why it's going to be mass market. I'm sure that people will go crazy given the ability to interact so easily with virtual worlds. I'm just mad about it!

Folks, this is indeed the kind of guy you would want excited about your new controller.

Good news indeed as one thing is for sure: the biggest third-parties seem to be enthusiastic about the Revolution's unique new controller.