Revolution Details from Nintendo

[Lord Nepenthean]

From Nintendo's official site:

Nintendo Reveals Early Details About Revolution

May 13, 2005

Big things to come in small package

               
Nintendo, the world leader in video game innovation, stated loud and clear that they are not to be overlooked in the next generation home console race with the revelation of several unique features of the company's next console system, code name Revolution, to key media outlets. According to the early information, Revolution will combine powerful technology and gaming-focused features in Nintendo's smallest home game console yet.



In its final form, Revolution will be about the thickness of three standard DVD cases and only slightly longer. The versatile Revolution will play either horizontally or vertically, allowing the user total flexibility in setting up a gaming session wherever they have a television.



Thanks to Nintendo's hardware development partners IBM and ATI, the small system will be packed with power that will enable it to wow players with its graphics. Nintendo's legions of loyal fans will be happy to learn that Revolution will be backward compatible, playing both Nintendo GameCube 8cm disks along with its own 12cm optical disks in the same self-loading media drive.



In the next generation, the addition of the Internet will be important to all consoles and particularly important to Nintendo. Revolution will be wireless Internet ready out of the box.



There's much more to Revolution that will be revealed over the coming months, but the combination of its compact size, wireless Internet, backward compatibility, quick start-up time and quiet, low-power operation add up to the start of a great game system. Get ready for the Nintendo Revolution in 2006!

http://www.nintendo.com/n...bf479c4139&page=other

[CatchFiveBats]

I can't wait...

[Lord Nepenthean]

I can.  If what I keep hearing about a controller that is all motion detected, I really am not very interested.  Oh, and I really don't get Nintendo's obsession with microphones.  Blowing into a DS to play a game is way too weird for me.  Even if the motion sensory stuff is done really well, the average gamer is not ready for that.  Unless Nintendo reveals something really big (been waiting on that since N64, so it's unlikely), I don't see the Revolution competing with Xbox 360....  at least not here (EDIT: here meaning the USA - Japan may be a different story).   Think of the average Madded PS2 player.  He's not going to want to play football with a microphone and waving his hands around.  I highly doubt EA will be interested in that either.

At least they finally got their heads out of their butts and added internet play.  It doesn't interest me personally, but the industry has been going that direction (in a mainstream way) since 1999.

I guess stranger things have happened than something like the Revolution doing well.  There was that whole Channel F thing.

[shadytool]

i dont know... i've been reading very strange things about the revolution.  stuff with holograms and 3D shit.  crazy ass controllers like mike said.  internet out of the box... getting connected to the  without thinking about it.  

the revolution is shrouded in mystery.  

it may be the nintendo fanboy in me, but i have a feeling that nintendo wont be competing with sony or MS this time around.  but that sony and MS will be trying to catch up to nintendo.  

but like mike also said... we have been waiting since N64.  at least we know it will use DVD disks.  thats nice i guess... and late.

[shadytool]

this news from nintendo came out after the release that the revolution would use DVD format.

Nintendo's legions of loyal fans will be happy to learn that Revolution will be backward compatible, playing both Nintendo GameCube 8cm disks along with its own 12cm optical disks in the same self-loading media drive.

does 12cm optical disk not mean DVD?  
anyone heard if sony still plans on using that Blu-Ray stuff?

[Lord Nepenthean]

Well, 12 cm is the physical size of a DVD, but that doesn't mean it is a DVD.  CD's and GD's (Dreamcast format) are the same size, but both are formatted differently.  The way they say "its own 12cm optical disks" hints to me that it is a proprietary format....  though that could be wrong if they have said officially elsewhere that it is a DVD.  Time will tell I guess.

[shadytool]

i'm sure that you have been seeing the same reports on gamesarefun.com as i have.
i just thought that i saw a release say that DVD format would be used.
also saw something that hinted that PS3 is not using blu-ray.

who knows... its fun to speculate tho.  

[shadytool]

found this also:  http://www.computerandvid...s_story.php(que)id=118586

NOA VP of corporate affairs on revolution... the size and how sleek it will be...  DVD play back... wireless...

come on E3

[TraderJake]

Everyone, meet Revolution. Revolution, say hello.

Specs of Revolution from Gamespot

-Tiny, as seen in the picture.
-2 to 3 times more powerful than the GC
-Games are on DVD-ROMs, and is backwards compatible with the GC
-Plays DVD Movies
-System is wi-fi out of the box
-Wireless Controllers
-512 MB Flash Memory. expandable with two SD slots
-Online play
-Entire Collection of Nintendo Games available over online service

[Arrrhalomynn]

2 to 3 times more powerful than the GC doesn't sound very powerful at all. I guess Nintendo thinks they don't need much power to make good games.

[Lord Nepenthean]

Woah woah woah.  Entire collection of Nintendo games available via online?  Surely you are saying all games for Revolution will have online capabilities and not what I think you said.

[Lord Nepenthean]

P.S.  That "2 to 3 times more powerful" hogwash does seem like a pretty stupid move by Nintendo.  They could beef it up more just to stay on the same technological playing field as Sony and Microsoft, so their version of multi-platform games isn't always the worst.

P.P.S.  Using DVD's as the storage format also seems stupid, because Sony and Microsoft will both be using standards that have a MUCH higher capacity.  This is kind of like using cartridges one console generation too late.

[TraderJake]

I see we are too quick too judge a system before the games come out to play.

[Lord Nepenthean]

Or I'm just saying that Nintendo could help themselves out by at least TRYING to make a system that looks good to both real gamers and tech-savvy people.  Nintendo 64 was a great system, but let's face it - they did themselves in by limiting themselves with cartridges.  When on the first day a new system is revealed, people like Perrin Kaplan are saying, "It's not all about having 'turbo power,' it's about what you do with it," that is going to look really bad to the average casual uninformed gamer, and all of the tech geeks too.

I'm not judging the console here.  Rather, I'm judging Nintendo's PR.

[Tynstar]

I agree with what Mike is saying. I really hope they don't shoot them selves in the foot again.

It does look cooler then the PS3