E3: Revolution Revealed!

[Smoke]

Revolution joins the gaming wars By Steven Kent, Special for USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — The players are in place for the next video game battle of the big guns.
<table class="sidebar" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="4"></td> </tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2"></td> <td rowspan="2"></td> <td class="sidebar" valign="top" width="75">“All-access”: Revolution is meant to be flexible for designers and players alike.</td> <td rowspan="2"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="bottom">Nintendo</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Nintendo reveals details Tuesday of its new system, code-named Revolution, after Sony's announcement of the PlayStation 3 console Monday and Microsoft's unveiling of Xbox 360 on an MTV special last Thursday. (Related story: PS3 purports to pack the most power)

All the action is taking place before the annual E3 Expo, which begins Wednesday. The three gaming giants will unveil the systems there.

Microsoft is expected to have the Xbox 360 in stores first, in time for the holidays. Nintendo and Sony will follow in 2006. No prices have been set, and release dates have not been locked in.

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.

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.)

Xbox spokesmen have pointed out that 360's specifications are 10 to 13 times more powerful than those of the original Xbox; 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.

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."

Analyst Richard Doherty of The Envisioneering Group says one of Revolution's chief advantages is that designers will find it far easier to create games for Revolution than for competing systems. "They do not need to make major changes from the games they were designing," he says. "They have better performance without having to do a lot of extra work."

Says Kaplan: "We've built Revolution around the concept of 'all-access gaming,' " a term Nintendo uses to mean the system is easily adapted to by both gamers and designers. "We're about sticking to the soul of gaming."

Source: USATODAY.com

E3 2005: Revolution Details Emerge Two-to-three more times powerful than GameCube.
by Matt Casamassina

May 17, 2005 - New details regarding Nintendo's next-generation console, codenamed Revolution, have started to sprinkle onto the Internet. The machine, which will be revealed during Nintendo's pre-E3 2005 show on Tuesday morning in Los Angeles, will sport a slick, black design and a front blue light.

Revolution will be "two-to-three times more powerful than GameCube," according to Nintendo, which also acknowledges that the next-generation race isn't solely about new technologies. By contrast, Microsoft's Xbox 360 console is 13-15 times more powerful than the first, according to the publisher. And Sony says it's PlayStation 3 is roughly 35 times more powerful than PlayStation 2. Nintendo also revealed that using Revolution's new Wi-Fi connection, gamers would be able to go online to a free gamer-matching service. Interestingly, in a move similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service, Revolution users will be able to download classic and new Nintendo games over the Internet. Nintendo cited such examples as Donkey Kong and Super Mario Sunshine, which suggests that Revolutionaries could have access to games for all the publisher's previous consoles.

Source: IGN

[Smoke]

2 to 3 times more powerful than GameCube.

...

[lazyfatbum]

I just woke up to pee and I thought i'd look on TC and holy god!!!

Wait for pics and movies, that's the big thing. Wait.

[Smoke]

Someone at GAF who "knows things" said that Nintendo is just being conservative. Even if that's true, damn you Nintendo and your conservative estimates!

Have you learned nothing Nintendo?

MS: Xbox 360 is 14 times more powerful than Xbox!
Sony: PS3 is 35 times more powerful than PS2!
Nintendo: Revolution is 2 to 3 times more powerful than GameCube! *crickets chirp* *tumbleweed rolls by* Somewhere in the distance a child is crying.

[N_A]

I think Nintendo is going to be the only affordable console in the next generation, being only 2-3 times as buff as the Gamecube. All the other consoles have super stats, making them as strong as top notch PCs, which cost about $2000 with all the LCD screen, etc. If you take away the screen and some of the other things PCs come with, you've got a console that might cost around $1000. I'd be amazed if the 2 other companies were able to put them on the market for less than $500.

[Smoke]

Don't know if it's true but I just read that the PS3 we've seen is the $300 model. Supposedly there will be a $500 model a few months later that will have a bigger HDD and a writable Blu-Ray drive.

[Great Rumbler]

that also will have downloadable versions of nearly every Nintendo game

Wow.

MS: Xbox 360 is 14 times more powerful than Xbox!
Sony: PS3 is 35 times more powerful than PS2!
Nintendo: Revolution is 2 to 3 times more powerful than GameCube! *crickets chirp* *tumbleweed rolls by* Somewhere in the distance a child is crying.

I never really trusted stuff like that. I mean, who even knows what the heck that means anyway?

[OB1]

Holy shit! Damn that's one sexy-looking system! But 2-3 times? WTF? Even if those numbers are conservative, hasn't Nintendo learned that the whole conservatice numbers thing hurt them last time around??? Shit.

Oh and... regular dvds, kiddos.

[OB1]

Holy crap:















That is by far the best-looking next gen system. WOW.




And it's called Revolution! I called it! :D

[Great Rumbler]

The blue light compels you!!

[Laser Link]

Yup, they are sticking with Revolution. I didn't expect it, but it works. Looks very, how to best describe it... sleek. ;)

The part that made me most exited is the DOWNLOADING OF (nearly) EVERY NINTENDO GAME EVER MADE!!! I don't care if they charge for it, that is incredible. What a great way to grab those old school gamers who grew up on the old Nintendo classics and wish they could play them again. This way you can, but only if you buy a Revolution. This is way better than simply backwards compatible. Nintendo took that idea and perfected it. Very nice. Chances are Nintendo will allow third parties to do the same thing. Just sign Tecmo up, I want some old school Tecmo Bowl action.

[Great Rumbler]

So does this mean that the Revolution will have a harddrive?

[Smoke]

I know it's probably asking for too much but can you imagine if the old school games had online play. :D

[Great Rumbler]

I think that is asking for too much. :)

It would be awesome though.

[OB1]

I wonder why the logo has a big disc and a small disc in it. I like it, but is that a part of the revolutionary feature? Is backwards compatibility really that big of a thing to put into the logo? I dunno...

[The Former DMiller]

It's pretty much confirmed it has a harddrive if you can download games. I'm glad Nintendo is providing a free online service because even though I love Nintendo I doubt I would have paid for their online service. Now paying for old Nintendo classics, that is a different story.

[Dark Jaguar]

Either a hard drive or some massive flash memory :D, so yes, a hard drive.

I don't think it will be limited to OLD games either.

This basically means the ENTIRE selling point of that old... what was that one system everyone made fun of because of doubts of it's very existence? Anyway, here we are. This must be Nintendo's revolutionary concept. No longer do you need to go to the store. Just buy and download it to your system if you want. This thing better have a massive storage capacity.

Anyway, sounds interesting. Next question, the controllers, ARE they rechargeble? They better be. Also, I'm hoping the wireless system is modifiable enough that a designer can let it detect wireless mice and keyboards nearby.

I wonder if it has a broadband port. It's not needed really, but I like as stable a connection as possible on a system that won't be moving an inch anyway.

Oh, about DA POWER. Remember the PS2 was the weakest anyway, so it could have a couple times extra power more than the revolution and still not match up to it. I like the nice conservative estimates. At least they stay honest. And don't worry, this isn't going to hurt them. The only people that will even look for that quote and stick with it are fanboys that wouldn't be affected even if they said it was a 100 times more. I don't think quoting numbers is going to sell systems.

What's with EVERYONE saying "you can tilt it on it's side!" these days? I don't know about them, but my entertainment system is set up for stacking systems lying flat on top of each other. Oh well, it's something anyway. Nintendo's offering of an actual factual online service is nice too.

[Laser Link]

My only real complaint about the console is I think they should have gone with a different color glow in the disc slot, like red. Blue looks too much like a PS2.

Plus I like red more. :)

[Laser Link]

According to PGC: http://planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=6274

512 MB flash memory built in, upgradable with SD cards (yeah we've heard that before) Yes, it's small, but the SD cards will work well. Besides, how big is a SNES game anyway?
2 USB ports
Multiple colors being shown at E3, come with silver stand
It does load both standard DVD size (12cm) and 8cm GC discs. I don't know if that was already announced. And it is slot loaded.

[A Black Falcon]

Downloadable versions of all Nintendo games ... wow... I wonder what this means... games by Nintendo? All software released for all platforms? That'd be so amazingly awesome...

As for the power, we'll see. I'd be bad if it's just 2-3 times the power of GC when the others are far more. But if they're being conservative... well, we'll see. And hope that it's not that bad.

[OB1]

I really can't imagine that the whole downloadable games thing is the revolutionary aspect. It's supposed to be something that attracts game designers, and being able to play a bunch of old games does not sound like that.

The gyro controller thing, as cool as it sounds, isn't even supposed to be the revolutionary thing. So I doubt this is it.

If so... Nintendo is fucked.

[A Black Falcon]

I really can't imagine that the whole downloadable games thing is the revolutionary aspect. It's supposed to be something that attracts game designers, and being able to play a bunch of old games does not sound like that.

It's just really awesome.

[OB1]

Yes, it is really awesome. But revolutionary in a gameplay manner? A new way to play games? NO.

[A Black Falcon]

So? It's awesome! And I'm sure it's not the only revolutionary thing about the Revolution!

[OB1]

Yeah, and when will we find that out? I didn't expect them to give away the big revolutionary feature, but they didn't even show a damn demo reel! Not even a tiny clip. Sony fucked Nintendo up the ass this E3. And Nintendo screwed over its fans. Damn damn damn.

[A Black Falcon]

Maybe they aren't showing it because they don't think it can compare to PS3/X360 (someone suggested this on msn)?

[OB1]

Yeah great strategy.

[OB1]

Oh and one another thing. With no HDD support (as far as we know), and only 512 MB of internal storage capacity... how the hell are we going to be able to d/l GC games? They mentioned that'll it take SD cards, great... so let's see... to be able to d/l one GC title you'll have to get a 2GB SD card, which'll run you at about $160. Nice. Great deal!

Seriously, this downloadable games thing is worthless for GC and N64 games without a HDD. Why didn't they announce a HDD peripheral at the show? Ugh.

[lazyfatbum]

You cant d/l GC games. It showed NES, SNES and N64

[OB1]

You sure about that? I thought they mentioned being able to d/l everything from Donkey Kong to Mario Sunshine.

[A Black Falcon]

I thought it'd be GC compatible with the disks, and the old consoles for DL... but I'm not sure. And yes, space is a problem. It badly needs a HDD addon, like PS3 and X360 will both have.

[OB1]

Hmm.

Well whatever the case is, 512MB will only hold a handful of N64 games.

[A Black Falcon]

Definitely true... and that'd vanish even faster if it's also for downloadable content from the net... they need a hdd!

[OB1]

Although, if you can use SD cards then you could store them on your computer...

[A Black Falcon]

True, if you computer takes SD cards...

[Great Rumbler]

If they're free though it wouldn't matter that much if you could only hold a few, but I'm kind of thinking that they'll probably charge for this.

Yeah, and when will we find that out? I didn't expect them to give away the big revolutionary feature, but they didn't even show a damn demo reel! Not even a tiny clip. Sony fucked Nintendo up the ass this E3. And Nintendo screwed over its fans. Damn damn damn.

Calm down...and then think about Super Smash Brothers Online at the Revolution launch. Feel better yet?

[OB1]

Press release:

AT E3, NINTENDO SHOWS PRODUCTS THAT EXPAND APPEAL OF VIDEO GAMES TO NEW AUDIENCES

Nintendo's Next Console, Game Boy Micro, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for DS Represent New Directions for the Industry

LOS ANGELES, May 17, 2005 – Nintendo continues to lead the video game industry in innovation. No matter the hardware system, no matter the software title, Nintendo remains on the cutting edge of what's possible. At the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, Nintendo demonstrates how it will open the video game experience to new audiences. Nintendo announced a variety of new initiatives, including details about its next console, the slick new Game Boy® Micro, the Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection wireless service for Nintendo DS™ and surprising information about the new Legend of Zelda® adventure.

"No company has a stronger history or a brighter future," says Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales & marketing. "We want everyone to join us in that future, which is why we're expanding our products to new audiences and investing in the concept of All-Access Gaming."

Here are some of the Nintendo highlights that people will be talking about during E3 and beyond:

Nintendo's next console turns the world of video games on its side: Due in 2006, the new console will be backward compatible with Nintendo GameCube™. The console also will have downloadable access to 20 years of fan-favorite titles originally released for Nintendo® 64, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System® (SNES) and even the Nintendo Entertainment System® (NES). Players also can buy and add new levels and characters to games made specifically for the new console. The new console has 512 megabytes of on-board flash memory. A bay for an SD memory card will let players expand the internal flash memory.

The console's stylish look houses a single, self-loading media bay for both 12-centimeter optical discs for new games as well as Nintendo GameCube discs. It will have wireless controllers, two USB 2.0 ports and built-in Wi-Fi capabilities. A number of Wi-Fi-enabled games will be ready at launch, and the new console will build on – and add to – Nintendo's rich stable of star franchises. A new development architecture will accommodate both big-budget games as well as artistic, indie offerings designed to make sure that everyone from video game experts to newcomers find ways to share and enjoy the gaming experience.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection extends Nintendo DS' range from your hands to the world: By the end of the year, owners of the dual-screened Nintendo DS will be playing Mario Kart® DS, Animal Crossing® DS and a new Tony Hawk title from Activision wirelessly with their friends worldwide. The new Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection portable, wireless video game service debuts later this year and lets players join in for no added Nintendo subscription charges. IGN Entertainment will manage the architecture and navigation of the service. DS players will connect at any Wi-Fi hub, whether in their home, at a coffee shop or elsewhere. The service will let friends join together as easily as if they were playing in the same room and instantly broadens the gaming experience to players worldwide.

With more than 60 licensee titles due this year, Nintendo also seeks to expand the idea of what constitutes a video game. New software titles like Nintendogs™ and Electroplankton™ for Nintendo DS provide unique experiences beyond traditional definitions. Nintendogs lets users choose an extremely realistic puppy and form emotional bonds with it, while Electroplankton lets users create their own ethereal or pulsing rhythms using the touch screen.

New Game Boy Micro projects a dynamic image: The best-selling system, Game Boy Advance, gets an extreme makeover for image-conscious people who like to play games. A slick, polished new look called Game Boy Micro shrinks Game Boy Advance technology into a stylish silver casing. It boasts a super-clear screen but weighs just 2.8 ounces, about the weight of 80 paper clips. A removable face plate gives owners the option to buy replacements to customize the look of their systems again and again with new colors and designs. It's a cool new look, but not a successor to any existing product line. The Game Boy Advance line has sold more than 28 million units worldwide.

Fans howl for new Zelda game on Nintendo GameCube: The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess remains the most anticipated game on any console this year. Players control Link as he travels on foot, battles on horseback or roams the vast countryside – as a wolf. With lush graphics and a deep storyline, the gritty, sweeping adventure demonstrates the awesome power and versatility of Nintendo GameCube. More than 60 new titles are expected for Nintendo GameCube this year, from kid-friendly games to Mature-rated titles. Four Mario titles are set to debut at E3, including Dance Dance Revolution®: Mario Mix, Mario Baseball™, Super Mario® Strikers and Mario Party® 7.

The worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home and portable video game systems. Each year, hundreds of all-new titles for the best-selling Game Boy® Advance SP, Nintendo DS™ and Nintendo GameCube™ systems extend Nintendo's vast game library and continue the tradition of delivering a rich, diverse mix of quality video games for players of all ages. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2 billion video games and more than 336 million hardware units globally, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario™ and Donkey Kong® and launching popular culture franchise phenomena such as Metroid®, Zelda™ and Pokémon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere.

For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at http://www.nintendo.com.

Look at how the talk about the Revolution. The way they word it... sounds like the revolutionary thing might just be the backwards compatibility/download/wifi stuff.

... please, Nintendo, PLEASE don't let this be it. :(

*cries*

[Great Rumbler]

Didnt' Iwata say the wouldn't reveal the new controller because it would reveal some of the Revolutionary nature of the Revolution? Ha-ha, redunancy.

please, Nintendo, PLEASE don't let this be it.

You take what Nintendo says too seriously sometimes, OB1.

[OB1]

Didnt' Iwata say the wouldn't reveal the new controller because it would reveal some of the Revolutionary nature of the Revolution? Ha-ha, redunancy.

I dunno, but that is my last hope.

You take what Nintendo says too seriously sometimes, OB1.

Let's look at the facts here:

-This is the first time Nintendo is going online. It's big news for them. And it's wifi, which is new for gaming in general.
-Their press release makes the whole BC/DL thing sound like the big revolutionary aspect of the system.
-The LOGO of the system shows two discs, which again highlights BC as a huge feature.

Think about it.

I hope, nay, I PRAY, that I am wrong about this.

[Great Rumbler]

Let's look at the facts here:

-This is the first time Nintendo is going online. It's big news for them. And it's wifi, which is new for gaming in general.
-Their press release makes the whole BC/DL thing sound like the big revolutionary aspect of the system.
-The LOGO of the system shows two discs, which again highlights BC as a huge feature.

Think about it.

I hope, nay, I PRAY, that I am wrong about this.

What I meant was, they you took the whole "Revolution" thing too seriously. Expecting Nintendo totally revolutionize the gaming world with their new system, well, I didn't. And for good reason. You see, Nintendo tends to think that anything new is amazingly innovative, now they do cool stuff sometimes, but not always. So I took that with a grain of salt. On the other hand, they may be more to this than we've seen so far. Revolution IS still over a year away, you know.

[OB1]

I was expecting something at least as innovative on a gameplay level as the DS. I really believed that Nintendo would create a new type of control device or something else that would chance the way games are played. You act as if they've never done this before. What do you think the N64 was? That completely revolutionized gaming!

[Great Rumbler]

Given their track record in the past few years, I figured that not having extremely high expectations would probably be a good thing. Certainly I'll be happy to be proven wrong about this, though.

They still got over a year till launch, after all.

[OB1]

So they messed up with the GC in terms of innovation. They're still an innovative company, and I was hoping that the Rev would be their return to form.

It's not looking good, is what I'm saying. I hope to be prove wrong, I really, really do.

[Great Rumbler]

Still over a year.

[OB1]

And it looks like the revolutionary thing is not revolutionary. Not in gameplay terms, anyhow.

[Great Rumbler]

[OB1]

Am I the only one here not in denial about all of this? Or were none of you really expecting anything great from Nintendo this E3.

[lazyfatbum]

*reminds everyone that there's still an entire week to go of E3 and Nintendo said at the end of the video that more will be shown tomorrow*

[Great Rumbler]

It's not like there's any point is being depressed and stressed out either. Nintendo's showing could have been better, yeah, but it wasn't like it was some complete disaster that they have no chance of recovering from EVER. No, that's what MS's press conference was.

...

Alright, so MS's wasn't that bad, but it was quite horrible.

[OB1]

*reminds everyone that there's still an entire week to go of E3 and Nintendo said at the end of the video that more will be shown tomorrow*

Well, three days. And where did Nintendo say that they'd show video tomorrow? Are you serious? Please, don't be making shit up!

The reason why I'm so doubtful is because Nintendo has never shown more stuff after their press conference. Well, nothing new. The press conferences are where they unveil everything.

Let's hope this year is different.