Outspoken Epic Games VP Mark Rein has criticized the Nintendo Revolution controller, calling it “gimmicky, crappy [and] cheap”.

In a speech given at the IGN Live conference, Rein went on to predict that many games released for the Revolution would be focused on the controller, at the expense of great gameplay:

“Don’t kid yourself - you’re going to see more gimmicky, crappy, cheap, I-wish-I-hadn’t-bought-it gimmick games based around that controller than you can ever possibly imagine.

I guarantee you there’s going to be lots of people who say the whole reason for this game is this controller, we made the perfect game for the controller. And all it’ll be is about the controller, and not necessarily a great game.”

When asked which next generation console he prefers, Rein discounted the Revolution as a contender, saying,

“Both of the next-generation consoles [Xbox 360 and Playstation 3] are great machines.

They both have lots of power and they both have lots of memory… I don’t think anybody’s going to be disappointed with either of them.”

Despite his praise for its increased power, the PS3 wasn’t safe from Rein’s vitriol either - he had the following to say about its controller:

“I don’t think anybody knows what the PlayStation 3 controller looks like […] I think we all sure as hell pray like hell it’s not that stupid-looking thing they showed at E3.”

Epic Games is currently developing Gears of War for the Xbox 360.

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