Nintendo Europe's senior director of marketing says Revolution will have a classic style controller add-on, and hints it'll be fully playable next E3!

Speaking to Eurogamer, Merrick talked about how the new Revolution controller and "nunchuk" add-on will revolutionise gaming.

Asked why there was no software shown, he replied: "We went to great pains not to show the software today because we didn't want to detract from what we are trying to show. We're talking about a fundamental change to how we see games and how we play games, and we didn't want to get hung up on polygon counts and so on."

So when will we see them? Well, he hinted that if he went to E3 next year and didn't end up playing them, he'd be "very disappointed..."

The thorny issue of how games not designed specifically for the Revolution - multi-platform titles - will be played. He had the answer: "We're producing a classic-style expansion controller, based on traditional designs like the Gamecube controller. It's like a shell with a hole in the top into which you slot the freehand-style controller, and then you can play third-party ported games, and retro Nintendo games you've downloaded."

Even better, while it's inserted into the classic-style shell, the freehand controller will still be able to sense positioning, bringing more options to classic games.

Finally, Eurogamer asked this most interesting question: Is the freehand-style controller your trump card, or have we got more exciting stuff to look forward to? Jim Merrick's said in reply: "Let's just say we have more surprises in store."

Read the full interview here.