Here we go, let's see what they thought:
Because all player actions are mediated through a controller, it would be difficult to overestimate the importance of a well-designed innovation here can have on the experience/form of a game. Of course, it might also be difficult to underestimate our ability to take something so promising and squander it; novelty doesn't preclude banality. It hasn't been since the introduction of the original Dual Shock controller that a console controller has been this exciting though the promises this device would seem to be making are much greater. If we assume that they are kept, then there is no doubt that game designs will benefit and, with them, all the rest of us.
-Isaac Barry, Secret Lair Studios
Oh man, do I even need to read any more of them? 
I certainly hope [the controller will be beneficial]. More of the same thinking in terms of developing the future of games can only take us so far. As a lifelong gamer and game developer, I urge everybody in our industry to support the innovation and risks taken by Nintendo on sheer principle. We always lament that there is no creativity and innovation in the games industry anymore. Guys, we have to rally around these initiatives. It brings a tear to my eye that somebody out there in this big brutal word of ROI and risk management still dares to go out on a limb like that to push gaming further. And my mouth waters when I think of designing for such hardware.
-Marque Sondergaard, Powerhouse
Well, I guess they didn't support it.
LOLOLOLOL High Voltage below:
[Beneficial for] Nintendo: Yes. It will give Nintendo a unique place in the next generation. They probably won't "win", but they'll do well.
[Beneficial for] third-parties: Nope. This will be a challenge to develop for, and doesn't allow easy cross-platform development. They won't get a ton of games, but Nintendo likes to thrive on a few good first-party games.
[Beneficial for the] industry: Change is good. Evolution is good. This could open up new possibilities, both in gameplay and in audience.
-Tom Smith, High Voltage Software
OMG this guy below is the freaking messiah 
Beneficial for all -- with the exception of developers/publishers that build run-of-the-mill games and port to every platform. Obviously the stock Nintendo controller could present them with some porting challenges. However, I think development trends on the current generation of game consoles have shown that Nintendo can't count on cross-platform porting to ensure a steady stream of games. In the coming generation, a SKU which targets Xbox 360 and PS3 may require too much processing power for the Revolution and have resources downgraded to match the platform's capabilities. This could easily make the Revolution look like an also-ran. A similar bad result would be for developers to shoehorn gameplay from a standard game controller format into the Revolution controller format under the guise of "full support" for the Revolution controller. More than ever, Nintendo needs original games, developed primarily for its platform. It has adopted a strategy of pushing its platform away from resource intensive, large scale, long play session games (expensive to develop and expensive for the consumer) and towards casual games, mini games and "market expansion games" (which encompasses titles like Nintendogs). A niche market in the short term -- but potentially a far larger market than the hardcore gaming market over the long haul. From a business standpoint, this is a risky but vastly superior strategy to that of going head to head with Microsoft and Sony. It also opens the door to smaller developers and publishers who may not have the cash reserves to develop asset rich next-gen titles, but who would rather rely on innovative (and perhaps unproven) game mechanics to differentiate their games. The greatest risk here is that Nintendo performs poor quality control on third party games, and the Revolution becomes a platform flooded with quirky/gimmicky games rather than those that are truly innovative and fun.
-Anonymous
I'm done, read the rest yourself in the links.
From the used to be called next-gen.biz
Michel Ancel
Game Designer, Ubisoft
Creator of Rayman, BG&E and King Kong
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. ItÂ’s simple, when Nintendo unveils its hardware, every member of the team starts imagining crazy ideas. ItÂ’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. ItÂ’s a 3D pointer with rotation information! Now, you're going to handle virtual objects, make recognition signs. ItÂ’s closer to the way we act in real world, thatÂ’s why itÂ’s going to be mass market. IÂ’m sure that people will go crazy given the ability to interact so easily with virtual worlds. IÂ’m just mad about it!
Lorne Lanning
President/Creative Director, Oddworld Inhabitants
An interesting innovation for the “small handed” segment of the market. Hopefully a larger version will be available for the larger hand endowed audience that is likely to be more carpal tunnel prone.
Cliff Bleszinski
Lead Designer, Epic Games
It seems as if I Nintendo has found a modular way that they can take the best of the location-based entertainment/arcade experience and bring it home to the user. So all of those games you loved physically interacting with in the arcade – the drum game, the fishing one the, uh, poke your friend in the eye one…can really come to life in the living room. I haven’t been able to hold or use it yet so I’ll refrain from any further judgment until I get hands on as that’s what really, truly matters – feel!
Demian Linn
Reviews Editor, Electronic Gaming Monthly
It's a risk, but it's a smart risk. If Revolution launched with just a conventional controller, it'd offer competitive graphics and Nintendo first-party games—in other words, it'd be in about the same position GameCube was in this generation. But now, Revolution may appeal to more casual or even non-gamers, along with core gamers who are looking for a genuinely new gameplay experience. If Nintendo can really bring a large chunk of non-gamers into the fold, it would be huge—but that’s a big question mark.
Nintendo has always excelled at making its games just feel right from a control perspective, and I’m sure its first-party games are going to do some amazing things with the new controller. Not so sure about third-party publishers. The DS has attracted some good third-party exclusives, but Revolution titles will require a much bigger investment. I hear Nintendo will also offer a "sleeve" that you can slip the main controller into, which will allow for a more traditional button layout; that is absolutely necessary, and it better come in the box. I’m all for innovation, but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, throw the baby out with the bathwater, or...well, I can’t think of another cliché that works here. Revolution owners are going to love their gyroscopic rhythm-action-fishing games or whatever, but that doesn’t mean they won’t want to play Splinter Cell again.
Chris Cross
Game Design Director, EA LA
Personally I’m excited about the new controller. It seems like it will be intuitive for most and a very cool alternative to the “standard” control paradigm. If we assume game design starts with the interface, try to imagine what new genres might pop up. I can’t wait to get one in my hands and try it out. Realistically for the first couple years most developers will be adapting their old games to fit this interface with only a couple really taking advantage of it. Give it a couple game cycles and we should see some interesting stuff at E3 '07. I haven’t been this excited since Sony put a second stick on their controller.
Chris Melissinos
Chief Gaming Officer, Sun Microsystems
This is why I love Nintendo. Just when people think that innovation is dead and game design/implementation is becoming a barren wasteland, the House of Mario does something so off the wall that people stand up and take notice. What other game hardware company would have the guts to release a controller that looks like a TV remote? No one but Nintendo.
Not only do I believe that the controller will help usher in a new generation of game design, I think the Revolution has a better chance of succeeding than most analysts and critics believe. The combination of their "motion centric" controller, deep catalog of content spanning 20+ years and kick *** next generation games, puts Nintendo is in the best position to broaden the market and bring those gamers, who stopped playing, back to the television with their family in tow. I want to thank Nintendo for not maintaining the status quo, for constantly pushing the industry to rethink how games can be implemented and, most importantly, for reminding us that how we play is just as important as what we play.
Anonymous was me.
What he said was spot on. Funny to see some of these guys love the idea and then publish crap on the system. The Rayman dude, what the hell is he doing? Why is his franchise all about bunnies and mini games now.
Then he saw the power...?
Anonymous is that dude!
Seriously. WTF happened? I do remember that. I'd be 15% less pissed off with Nintendo if they:
a) Approved the games that are released on the system.
b) Developers ... ok groan now... seriously pre-emptively groan... "listened to their hearts" or even their fucking selves, from 4 years ago and made some games for the Wii that changes the whole gaming world. Cliffy-B exicted about the Wii. Really? That happened?
Oh yeah Cliffy B. likes the Wii-mote. I even remember reading that he thinks Microsoft should have a similar device for their next console and why not it is a very nice controller and with motion-plus it should be even better and perhaps show it's true potential. I guess it's the whole power thing that developers kind of fell flat on.
I don't think going back and holding people on their initial comments when the Wii was first unveiled is really all that fair anyway. It was something new, different, and intriguing and just like hype for anything else perhaps they overestimated.
SteelAttack said:The thing about the remote is that it forces developers to think outside the box when trying to craft a compelling control scheme. That must scare devs firmly rooted in a traditional approach.
Wow, Steel saying something smart for a change. Did not predict that.
Iga_Bobovic said:SteelAttack said:The thing about the remote is that it forces developers to think outside the box when trying to craft a compelling control scheme. That must scare devs firmly rooted in a traditional approach.Wow, Steel saying something smart for a change. Did not predict that.
Oh, and fuck you Iga. And suck my groins.
SteelAttack said:Iga_Bobovic said:SteelAttack said:The thing about the remote is that it forces developers to think outside the box when trying to craft a compelling control scheme. That must scare devs firmly rooted in a traditional approach.Wow, Steel saying something smart for a change. Did not predict that.
Oh, and fuck you Iga. And suck my groins.
But I did predict that. Tsk, tsk back to your old predictable ways.
Iga_Bobovic said:SteelAttack said:Iga_Bobovic said:SteelAttack said:The thing about the remote is that it forces developers to think outside the box when trying to craft a compelling control scheme. That must scare devs firmly rooted in a traditional approach.Wow, Steel saying something smart for a change. Did not predict that.
Oh, and fuck you Iga. And suck my groins.
But I did predict that. Tsk, tsk back to your old predictable ways.
I like to shake things a bit only every now and then. 
SteelAttack said:I like to shake things a bit only every now and then.
Keep in mind, if you shake it more than twice, you are playing with it.
Dvader said:Anonymous was me.
What he said was spot on. Funny to see some of these guys love the idea and then publish crap on the system. The Rayman dude, what the hell is he doing? Why is his franchise all about bunnies and mini games now.
Yeah that was really bleh. And remember the Peter Molyneux video interview where he jizzed his pants over it? One month later Microsoft bought Lionhead and he toned down his stance.
aspro73 said:Seriously. WTF happened? I do remember that. I'd be 15% less pissed off with Nintendo if they:
a) Approved the games that are released on the system.
b) Developers ... ok groan now... seriously pre-emptively groan... "listened to their hearts" or even their fucking selves, from 4 years ago and made some games for the Wii that changes the whole gaming world. Cliffy-B exicted about the Wii. Really? That happened?
Cliffy has said numerous times how he's a mega nintendo fanboy but with UE3 not do-able on Wii and the exclusive Gears franchise........ well add in Epics stance on tech and you have zero chance of him doing a game for the system.
Archangel3371 said:
Oh yeah Cliffy B. likes the Wii-mote. I even remember reading that he thinks Microsoft should have a similar device for their next console and why not it is a very nice controller and with motion-plus it should be even better and perhaps show it's true potential. I guess it's the whole power thing that developers kind of fell flat on.
I don't think going back and holding people on their initial comments when the Wii was first unveiled is really all that fair anyway. It was something new, different, and intriguing and just like hype for anything else perhaps they overestimated.
You're probably right there, what happened was that a few months later the specs were shown to developers. I don't think they overestimated things, you see the ideas that are popping into these guys heads? The passion, the enthusiasm, you should have seen some follow through. I have a horrible sneaking suspicioun that as we've heard, at the executive level the sales and marketing departments nixed projects non-stop. Why do a proper game when casuals will buy Wii Sports etc?
Yeah GG I agree that it wasn't so much the overestimation in that sense but moreso in what they thought to put on the system spec-wise. Perhaps they were also thinking of the Wii-mote in a 1:1 sense so they may have overestimated that as well and maybe when the motion-plus comes out developers may realise some more potential.
Archangel3371 said:
Yeah GG I agree that it wasn't so much the overestimation in that sense but moreso in what they thought to put on the system spec-wise. Perhaps they were also thinking of the Wii-mote in a 1:1 sense so they may have overestimated that as well and maybe when the motion-plus comes out developers may realise some more potential.
1:1 works with IR. But that means you have to have the controller pointed at the screen all the time which is useless for some applications - baseball bats etc.
This is what Molyneux said about the controller first:
“There is a line at the end of the book ‘Game Over’ and it is: ‘Never underestimate Nintendo’. That is all I can say about the controller.”
"I'd love to play around with it. You know, it's a pure design challenge and the biggest change you can make in a designer's life is changing the controller," said Molyneux in an interview with CVG. "Not thinking about 'oh we're not going to put this on the X button and that on the A button' but having to do a complete re-think is quite an exciting challenge and something I would've loved to have got my teeth into, yes."
This is after the MS buyout:
“I realized, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I actually looked really stupid. Even with nothing in my hand, I get tired very, very quickly… I think motion-sensitivity is very, very useful, but I think the obvious way of doing it — unless you’re dealing with a 15 to 20 minute experience at most of actually being hugely physical — is not where the opportunity lies here.”
gamingeek said:
This is what Molyneux said about the controller first:
“There is a line at the end of the book ‘Game Over’ and it is: ‘Never underestimate Nintendo’. That is all I can say about the controller.”
"I'd love to play around with it. You know, it's a pure design challenge and the biggest change you can make in a designer's life is changing the controller," said Molyneux in an interview with CVG. "Not thinking about 'oh we're not going to put this on the X button and that on the A button' but having to do a complete re-think is quite an exciting challenge and something I would've loved to have got my teeth into, yes."
This is after the MS buyout:
“I realized, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I actually looked really stupid. Even with nothing in my hand, I get tired very, very quickly… I think motion-sensitivity is very, very useful, but I think the obvious way of doing it — unless you’re dealing with a 15 to 20 minute experience at most of actually being hugely physical — is not where the opportunity lies here.”
Oh come on, Peter. I really like you. Fuck.
I wish I could find the video interview again with Geoff Keighly. The enthusiasm Molyneux had, it was infectious, his eyes were sparkling his mouth was grinning. It just encapsulated the feeling of optimism at the time so perfectly as everyone imagined swinging virtual lightsabres and how it would be perfect for FPS (Who ever knew just how graphics focused FPS develoepers really were?)
I wanted the promise fufilled the ideas fleshed out, I wanted so see just how far they could push things to make the design either evolve or at least be diferent. And at the time I imagined how it would all work with existing franchises.
Now I just feel deflated at the efforts from most third parties. I just thought there was more passion and ingenuity and even commitment from publishers. Publishers are usually sheep when it comes to following a popular concept. When the queues at E3 stretched around the Nintendo booth at E3 2006, while the PS3 booth was near empty I could almost imagine the success right there. Finally, something new, something..... different.
And then you have high profile developers lining up with comments like this:
Michel Ancel
Game Designer, Ubisoft
Creator of Rayman, BG&E and King Kong
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!
That's just an incredible level of excitement there. And then he goes and makes two minigame fests and then a Beyond Good and Evil game on every system apart the one that gave him his greatest hard on of all time.
And then now a couple of years have gone by this guy had it nailed:
Because all player actions are mediated through a controller, it would be difficult to overestimate the importance of a well-designed innovation here can have on the experience/form of a game. Of course, it might also be difficult to underestimate our ability to take something so promising and squander it; novelty doesn't preclude banality.
You guys have to remember that Molyneux is an old man. He can't be expected to do any activity for very long before it's time for a nap. 
Ravenprose said:You guys that to remember that Molyneux is an old man. He can't be expected to do any activity for very long before it's time for a nap.
On his huge bed made from money. Damn guy must be rolling in it.
4 years ago I remember posting these articles on gamespot. I remember reading the enthusiasm and ideas for games from developers on the possibilities, what they could do, what they could imagine. Where did it all go wrong? It seems like the passion was there and the vision was there to be exploited. All these years later, what happened? Even Pandemic were putting their money where their mouth was making an open world Wii game. That was cancelled.
If you only have the energy and patience to read one article make it the 2006 one where they talk about game ideas.
2005
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050928/hong_01.shtml
Ask developers:
“Now that Nintendo has revealed details of the controller for its Revolution next-gen console, do you think this bold move is beneficial for Nintendo itself, third-party developers, and the industry in general?”
2006
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2561/question_of_the_week_responses_.php
Ask developers:
"What genres and types of games do you think will be most suited to the recently revealed Revolution controller? Are there any specific ideas or concepts that you're itching to see brought to fruition on Nintendo's next-gen console?"