Revolution - Semi-Portable? Patent reveals mic?

[lazyfatbum]

"The Revolution may embody a new platform beyond a portable or console, which makes possible a new structure in the network gaming system, changing the ways communities are built and supported. This is the kind of direction we’ve envisioned, and we will challenge ourselves to provide immersive interactive content in response to what Nintendo offers.”

Says Squeenix president Yoichi Wada, which is actually an old quote. Recently on IGN and other sites they ran an article saying that FF:CC is in development for rev (which is true) and that it will be online and released early 2007 and the now famous quote of "online capabilities, magnificent graphics and an intense use of the revolutionary control of the platform." has been pasted everywhere. But squeenix denied it for some reason. Eurogamer has their thoughts as well as this old quote: http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=63131 if you look at their denial closely, they basically say 'We neither confirm nor deny'. Gotta love NDA's and the possibility of getting sued by the company you work for just for opening your mouth.

A new blogger has disected some patents and found a weirdness. Apparently, sitting right in front of our faces, is an audio input device on the Revolution hardware.



definitely give this a read, it's not JUST a mic, the audio processors presented in the patent are capable of real time mixing borrowing from audio files in the game, from external media (hard drive, DS), from the network, and from the player's voice. In THEORY this could be very much like elektroplankton and it could mean that a Revolution game will have an adapting, evolving and completelyunique sound bed for each user depending on what you give the audio input.

if the Revcon actually has a mic on it, we can expect alot of good things, namely we can expect voice chat, voice recognition and the DS's patented 'blowinng the mic' which, if you think about it, would be awesome in a game like Zelda where you have to actually play the ocarina by blowing in to a mouthpiece and using the buttons to play notes, while also swirling the 'ocarina' in certain shapes and directions to cause desired effects. think of a snake charmer, you'll get the idea.

From: http://nrevolutiona.blogspot.com/

Revolution microphone

Hello everyone,


I am starting to enjoy this a lot hahaha. I haven´t made a blog before, it´s like a new baby for me. Please forgive me if I am a bit heavy and egocentric talking about me and the blog hahaha but its about time to pass the initial effect.

Ok so the title is called "Revolution microphone" for something... yes, We had the mic in front of our eyes for all this months. Like in 4 distinct patents we could see in the diagram that there are two types of audio input, and 1 audio output. The output goes to the speakers. The inputs are from 2 distinct sources. The first one comes from a "Mass Storage Access Device" in a type of "streaming audio" towards the Audio/Graphics procesor (red block to yellow block). As we can see in the diagram below this "Mass Sotrage Access Device" are Discs... and the input could be audio effects and soundtrack from the game itself (Disc).



But the other input comes from nowhere (blue block)... This is the text from the patent

Audio codec 122 can receive audio inputs via a buffer 124 and provide them to graphics and audio processor 114 for processing (e.g., mixing with other audio signals the processor generates and/or receives via a streaming audio output of mass storage access device 106).


So it seems that audio comes from other source than the discs so from what type of periferial or inner system can come??? There are not many answers for this. A mic is the most realistic answer. Also mentions a buffer (number 124) from this audio input. The buffer can send the analog audio (voice) through the codec (green block) so it can transforme the analog audio to digital one, so the audio/graphics processor can work with it. An then we can continue to a more detail explanation how this mic could work with Revolution... see the next diagram



The patent says

Audio interface and mixer 1300 interfaces with audio codec 122, and can also mix audio from different sources (e.g., streaming audio from mass storage access device 106, the output of audio DSP 156, and external audio input received via audio codec 122).


This is a representation of the Graphics and audio processor (light blue). We have the memory interface and the audio memory itself (blue and purple blocks). The audio interface and mixer (yellow block) receives input from the streaming audio in and from the codec (red and green block) and also from the Audio DSP (Audio rendering maybe?). So remember that the codec (green) outputs to the speakers, but inputs from this buffer that I think comes from the mic. When the audio from the codec gets to the Graphics and audio processor in a digital signal it can be "interpreted" so maybe audio commands like the DS could be possible for Revolution. It is not so difficult to think a mic can be added cause isn`t a costly feature and can help getting less buttons on the controller, right? A simple command like "shoot" can make 1 less button and it could be possible to plug a mic to the wand through its port.

And the most important fact of all. I think Iwata or Miyamoto commented that a feature of Revolution could be very well receive by women... so let me think if talking is something that women like to do... mmmmmm just thinking.

If this is the ultimate Revolution secret? I don´t know but It could be. OR maybe this 3D display issue can be the ultimate one? I want to believe. That would be discussed in another moment.

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thoughts, reasoning, opinions, etc

[Dark Jaguar]

Wow, they haven't stuck a microphone on a system since... the DS, the Gamecube, and even the Famicom if I remember correctly (it replaced the start and select buttons on player 2's controller, which makes sense when you realize that the controllers on the original Famicom model were hard wired to the system). Continuing, the N64, the PS2, the XBox (and 360). The PC...

Well okay, systems that actually include a microphone right on it are limited, to the DS, the Famicom, and a few models of PC, and also this one now.

The microphone isn't located on the system itself is it? I expect it'll actually be on the controller, so it can hear things. I mean, you have to have your mouth right by it, almost eating it, in order for it to hear you, and you know it is hearing you ONLY when you are hearing terrible feedback sounds. That's what normal people think, so it must be so!

[Great Rumbler]

I wouldn't put to much stock in patents as Nintendo submits all kinds of weird stuff.

[lazyfatbum]

GR. the above patents are for the revolution hardware, Read before you type, you not reading person.

DJ/ it doesn't have to be on the controller, it could be an attachment to the controller or a wireless mic and headset. What makes it different, (you need to read too) is that the processors mix in real time from multiple sources. For example, on a digital flute you have the DSP that recognizes the velocity of the air entering the mic and uses MIDI files to play the correct sound to match that velocity. Now imagine plugging that in to a box that pulls from diffrent media, as you play the instrument it will automatically mix other music in to it. Recognizing how fast or slow you're playing and becoming fully interactive in respect to audio. basically, imagine a game that uses a soundtrack similar to elektroplankton, a constantly evolving, always changing, user-defined soundtrack that is unique to each player.

Again, if you would have read it, it is not 'just' a microphone. using these processors, you could say your name in to the mic, and then it could play it back digitally with a different voice. Let's say you're playing Zelda and when someone asks you your name, you say it. Later in the game when someone's in trouble, they actually say your name in that character's voice for you to help them. When Zelda sings a song about you, you actually hear your name in the lyrics. if you've ever heard anything by Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson you already know the technology.

[Dark Jaguar]

Unless the microphone itself has some sort of mechanism for determining wind speed, one of your points isn't entirely accurate. The microphone on the DS does not have that physical capability. When you blow on it, all it seems to be doing is hearing the noise of you blowing on it. It is hard to determine angle of attack or speed based on the sound of the wind on a single microphone.

[lazyfatbum]

1.) I was using an example of a digital flute in how it recognizes air passed through the mic to generate certain MIDI files

2.) We're talking about a theorized/rumored capability of the Revolution, not DS

3.) READ!!!! ***R - E - A - D***!!!!!!!!!! FUCK!!!!! *cries*

4.) Pop in Wario for DS, go to the mini games, play that game where you make the old man float by blowing him *tee hee oral on the elder*, use soft blows, then increase the velocity, you'll see that it changes.

5.) YOU ARE WRONG ON EVERY SINGLE POINT BECAUSE YOU DO NOT READ/THINK/HAVE A HAT LIKE MINE *hands you bananas!!!*