Nintendo Revolution Revealed

[ezzkmo]

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/games/2005-05-17-revolution_x.htm?POE=TECISVA) has the first information on the Nintendo Revolution, with the first pic too!

http://images.usatoday.com/life/_photos/2005/05/17/inside-e3.jpg

Nintendo, whose GameCube sales have lagged, hopes to gain ground, particularly among the fast-growing older-gaming market. Revolution is about the size of a stack of three DVD cases and has no visible knobs, buttons or ports for joysticks. The system will use only wireless controllers, and it sits flat or stands vertically.

With its front-loading slot for discs, it will play games on full-size DVDs as well as older GameCube games on mini-DVDs. Like Xbox and PlayStation 2, it will play DVD movies.

can't wait to watch their press conference for the rest of the juicy details. :)

[ReaverX]

Nintendo makes more modest claims that Revolution is two or three times more powerful than GameCube. "It's not all about having 'turbo power,' " Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan says. "It's about what you do with it." What's that? Didn't quite hear you over the sound of you shooting yourselves in the foot. What did you say?

[Vandenh]

Very sexy machine.

Looks like my setup next gen is going to be 360 + Revolution again. I just hope Nintendo can get some better games this time (yeah yeah I know a lot of people think GC had great games... but I dislike Mario ;) Still I think this combo will be perfect for me... 360 for Online and FPS and Revolution for the more funky stuff (Harvest Moon for example). PS3? meh

[Savok]

Finally, a console that doesn't look ridiculous, nice and simple.

[Stryfe01]

sexy ? how ?

[bapenguin]

I'm going to be so broke for the next year and a half.

[StoneGut]

I'm going to be so broke for the next year and a half.

I hear ya!

[Tricky Thumb]

It's not sexy, but it's not ugly either. It looks like, well, something technological. It's a little too ordinary looking if you ask me, but at least it's not "based on the concept of a fart" or something along those lines.

[Lint of Death]

I like how they took the Phantom's idea of making every older game downloadable. And free internet, too!

[Bydo_Empire]

Hmmm... pretty sleek looking, if a bit too generic. But it better be more than just 2-3 times more powerful or they're not going to get ANY third part support. It's hard enough to port games to the cube with its tiny disc storage space and lack of ram. But if the CPU and graphics systems are a generation behind, forget about it. Still, I can't wait to see the press conference. You know they've got a couple of surprises.

[Cubfan]

looks like my router

[Savok]

You forgot the important bit:

Nintendo, which mostly ignored the Net with GameCube, also is catching up with the online wave. Revolution will offer broadband access to a free Internet-based player matching service, similar to Xbox Live, that also will have downloadable versions of nearly every Nintendo game — from arcade classic Donkey Kong through current titles such as Mario Sunshine. (Nintendo hasn't decided whether downloading will be free.)

[falak]

I was expecting it to be a half-concave shape, resting in the top of the 360 and completing the triforce, at which point the three consoles merge and develop consciousness. I'm a little bit disappointed. :(

[EmoryM]

I watched that awful MTV special and the 360, which if that Perrin quote is to be believed will totally outpower Revolution, didn't look good enough to warrant me purchasing it... and it's going to be out a year earlier?

I understand Nintendo's philosophy that games requiring tens of millions of dollars to make will severly limit creativity and innovation, but at the same time there's really no reason why simple games can't be designed on what will be other, vastly superior, hardware. Nintendo is essentially taking their software design philosophy and crippling their own hardware...

Maybe its that fake revolution vid I saw a few days ago, or the PS3 unveiling on GameSpot last night (which incidently looks amazing) but this is the first new Nintendo system I'm not excited about. The best thing it'll have going for it is Nintendo games, which is really the best thing GameCube and N64 had going for them... I can't help feeling gamers would benefit from Nintendo going third party, unless the suckage plaguing Sega is a side-effect.

Oh, and I doubt Nintendo will be serving up the downloadable retro love for free... How many times did they resell Super Mario Brothers? 3? 4?

[agentgray]

Oh, and I doubt Nintendo will be serving up the downloadable retro love for free... How many times did they resell Super Mario Brothers? 3? 4?
That's a given.

[Blue]

First and foremost, I love the look of it. Compact, all shiny and new....looks less "kiddie" than Nintendo's other ventures. It would look great amongst my pile of other electronic "needs." However, I can't help but agree with EmoryM in saying that I too am less excited about Nintendo this time around. I'll buy one, of course, because I have to play the new Zelda, new Metroid, and new Mario games in much the same way I have to see the midnight showing of every big movie that hits theaters. It's oddly traditional and I know I'm going to have a good time while there even if the setting is less than desireable. At least this time around I know I'll be picking up a Revolution later on in its life-cycle rather than having to pick one up on launch day. I wouldn't feel nearly as bad spending only 100 bucks to play the above mentioned games then the full-fledged price. Nintendo still has me whipped enough to pick up their stuff, but I'm sure I would be much happier if they kept up their Game Boy ambitions and switched their focus as a third-party developer. Few can argue their games aren't top shelf (save for, say, Sunshine, but even that's better than most other third-party offerings).

[Rommel]

I understand Nintendo's philosophy that games requiring tens of millions of dollars to make will severly limit creativity and innovation, but at the same time there's really no reason why simple games can't be designed on what will be other, vastly superior, hardware. Nintendo is essentially taking their software design philosophy and crippling their own hardware...

Bingo. There is no reason why they can't make a stronger machine (Excpet the grim possibility that I presented for debate a week ago, that they cannot make hardware on the 360 or PS3 level) and allow designers to make games as they want. Powerful hardware that is easy to develop for (Based on Direct X or another language devs already know) removes limits. Adding them yourself because you believe it will allow for more freedom is ludecris.

If it were possible for weaker hardware to produce better results then the best games would currently be coming out for the SNES or Genesis. Heck, the GB is still around and its games still suck! Speaking of which, the DS followed this model of simple evolution of hardware with different input methods, and how is that machine's current game library?

The big question I have is why Nintendo bothers putting out a new hardware at all if it is going to be such a minor upgrade internally, not counting the bells and whistles of wireless-only and finally a decent online plan. If they really believe that power isn't important then why not just continue to release titles for the GCN, and ttell developers that they will be developing for an actual installed base? From their plans I assume that is what they want anyway, and they are just following the others in the market because they have to.

Of course, Sony surprised me yesterday so until today is over I am not ready to call Big N's announcement a failure. Heck, that machine is very pretty - and their controller has to be better than the one Sony showed yesterday or the thing they shipped with the Cube. Unless it really is based on stress balls or something. Of course, I happen to like the design of all three machines, though the 360 looks very much like the current dell net boxes. I do, however, completely disagree with their philosophy and calling this thing revolutionary, and not the more truthful evolutionary.

[i aint yer pa]

No one has mentioned price here. If the Revolution is just a minor upgrade in hardware, what's stopping Nintendo from selling this at a price that is 1/3 or 1/2 of the Xbox 360's or the PS3's. If they come out of the gate with a price tag of $350-$400 (my guess) and The Revolution clocks in at $200 bucks I'd be willing to buy one at launch and wait for the other two consoles to come down in price. Just a thought.

Of course, since I am also a Nintendo fan to the nth-degree, I'll also be picking one of these right off the bat. I'm liking the new look.

[Blue]

No one has mentioned price here. If the Revolution is just a minor upgrade in hardware, what's stopping Nintendo from selling this at a price that is 1/3 or 1/2 of the Xbox 360's or the PS3's. If they come out of the gate with a price tag of $350-$400 (my guess) and The Revolution clocks in at $200 bucks

You know what? That ain't a bad idea at all and wouldn't be too left-field for Nintendo to pull off. Mind you I'm sure it's wild speculation to think they'd do it, but I'm with you, Pa: I'd absolutely pick one up at launch were the price significantly lower than the other two.

[Nightstorm]

I would argue that most cross platform games look better on the cube compared to the PS2 and many games built specifically for the cube look on par with Xbox games despite the cube having 'worse' hardware than both the PS2 and Xbox.

Many people complained about the same processing power shortcommings of the cube while Nintendo spouted off the exact same thing of not jumping the performance gun. If this is just Nintendo being conservative again, there's not much to worry about. If however Sony is being conservative (which I doubt) there is something to worry about.

In addition, just because something isn't based off Direct X doesn't mean it's hard to program for. Nintendo has their own developement aids which result in the Cube being one of the easiest to develop for consoles.

Finally I would like to say a thank you to the lord for giving Nintendo some design sense! That system in my opinion looks the best. Let's hope the controller and games follow.

[score]

there are some hi-res shots up at ign (http://media.cube.ign.com/articles/615/615030/imgs_1.html)

[Heretic Machine]

Ok... First of all, I haven't heard -anything- Revolutionary here.

Second, WTF is going on here with this hardware. It's not nearly as powerful as the PS3 or XBOX 360, and yet the games are going to be kicked up in price? That's a real fucktard thing to do. Now, if the had dropped the price of games down to $30 like their handheld titles, then that'd be something to be excited about. But this? I knew Nintendo was going to screw up, they just proved it for me.

[Phades]

No one has mentioned price here. If the Revolution is just a minor upgrade in hardware, what's stopping Nintendo from selling this at a price that is 1/3 or 1/2 of the Xbox 360's or the PS3's. If they come out of the gate with a price tag of $350-$400 (my guess) and The Revolution clocks in at $200 bucks I'd be willing to buy one at launch and wait for the other two consoles to come down in price. Just a thought.

Of course, since I am also a Nintendo fan to the nth-degree, I'll also be picking one of these right off the bat. I'm liking the new look.

I'm sure it will be cheaper. It sure as hell had better be or it wouldn't sell at all. I'm not going to pay the same price as a much higher end system and not see too much of an improvement.

If specs turn out to be true, I think I'd just wait a while longer for the thing to get an actual library and drop down to super cheap. Compared to the true next-gen systems, this will likely feel retro.

[Savok]

Ok... First of all, I haven't heard -anything- Revolutionary here.

Second, WTF is going on here with this hardware. It's not nearly as powerful as the PS3 or XBOX 360, and yet the games are going to be kicked up in price? That's a real fucktard thing to do. Now, if the had dropped the price of games down to $30 like their handheld titles, then that'd be something to be excited about. But this? I knew Nintendo was going to screw up, they just proved it for me.

Thank Christ I hate you again, getting scared there for awhile.

1. Learn to read
2. What specs? We haven't seen any
3. Nintendo has always been conservative, as opposed to hyping a machine to the extent that it may be powerful enough to take over the world

[Mason]

Sony said Monday that the processor in Play-Station 3, which will come in several colors and be out next spring, will be 35 times more powerful than the PS2 processor.

That's right folks, the "Play-Station 3" will offer its processor in multiple colors.

Honestly, I don't mind if the Revolution is light on the hardware and cheap. Since I'll buy it basically to play the few excellent first-party titles that come out for it (and you're kidding yourself if you think there will be much else offered on it), there's no reason to make it a $500 behemoth.

[Furious Wang]

Yay Nintendo! Way to Revolve!

[Zeal]

I don't even understand what they're going for with this. Slightly stronger than the Cube, no HD support (laughably bad) and an online plan with no harddrive.

[51|RandoM]

You don't see a revolution in the hardware... cause that isn't where the revolution is. If you're gonna be a troll, at least try to pretend to be up to date on the pr.

[dr_wily]

hey people, have you checked the stats? they might not be as good as sony or ***, but the sucker is going to have like 3 cpus from ibm and a killer graphics card, im sure itll hold its own..

the question is whether 3rd parties will be able to port their games to it, but i dont really care about that anymore since they are obviously aiming at a 2 console household.

Fuck I've basically only bought 1st party games for my GC (with the exception of timesplitters and a couple others) and I dont even own the other consoles! (albeit i play my friends in burnout and topspin often)

[Savok]

I think the only non-exclusive game for GC I have is Soul Calibur 2, which I got for Link's wang.

[Heretic Machine]

You don't see a revolution in the hardware... cause that isn't where the revolution is. If you're gonna be a troll, at least try to pretend to be up to date on the pr.

Ya, they achieved what emulators have done for years. Real revolutionary... I'm probably not even going to get to play MY favorite games on the damn thing, just first party Nintendo stuff. Not to mention that they haven't decided whether or not to charge for the priveledge of playing 10-20 year old games.

[Rommel]

Real revolutionary...

Well, they still have things to announce and they do assure there will be something different about this machine. I am, as I said, still reserving judgement until more is known. If this is it, however, I'm ready to call this machine the Nintendo Mini and sell it to the people who buy macs because they think they are good for kids and people who think snake oil cures cancer. Or maybe they mean revolutionary as in spinning around, going in circles. They are japanese, the translation could be off just enough...

[netcraazzy]

That's right folks, the "Play-Station 3" will offer its processor in multiple colors.

Heh, although the quote in the article was rather poorly written I hope you mean the console it's self will be offered in multiple colors. Multi-colored processors would be kind of funny though, then all you need is a case window and some LED lights in there and you got a pimped PS3! Seriously though, from the pictures I saw over at gamespot it looks like the colors are going to be Black, White and Silver. Yeah....great variety there Sony.

[Kelegacy]

To offer any other colors right away is stupid, netcraazzy. do you really want a yellow PS3? A red one? Me, i'll probably pick up the sleek black one if it's available in the US. Silver is okay, but I would rather have an Indigo (purple) Gamecube than my Platinum one. So black is good for me.

A big, fat black one. Mmmmm.

[mister_slim]

Hey, raw polygon wise, the 360 is only 3 times as powerful as the Xbox. I wonder why MS isn't pimping that number? Hey, maybe because they'd rather talk about 'water-cooling'.

These numbers are pretty meaningless right now.