You don’t think you need a two-button controller (with no control stick, no directional pad — and no, this isn’t an April Fools’ prank). But that’s probably because you haven’t played Divekick. The fighting game will hit the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PC later this year as a downloadable title, and yes, it only features two moves: jumping straight up and diving forward, deadly feet first.
We previewed Divekick at a PlayStation press event during last week’s Game Developers Conference and had a good time with the one-hit-kill mechanics, which has more subtle strategy than you’d expect . We’re sure the game will form at least a cult following, but we were curious if the custom controller [above] used in demos would actually come to market. “It’s really hard to pin the odds down,” said Dave Lang, the CEO of Iron Galaxy Studios. “We are talking to people all the time and chasing down deals that make sense, but ultimately it will boil down to convincing people who make these things that there’s legitimate consumer interest there.”
That’d be a long shot — we’re not sure there would be enough demand for such a specialized physical peripheral for a digital-only game. If it doesn’t happen, we’ll hold out hope for someone to hack the Donkey Konga bongo controllers to work for Divekick.