This is madness!

[OB1]

Nintendo is actually hyping up their new machine a few days before E3, on their own website. Unbelievable. Has Nintendo finally grown some balls and is willing to fight aggresively this time? It's starting to look like it...


http://www.nintendo.com/newsarticle?arti...&page=home

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 3-inch disks along with its own standard, double-layered DVD 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!

Fucking awesome.

[Great Rumbler]

Nintendo is actually hyping up their new machine a few days before E3, on their own website.

Are you fricken' kidding me?! That's the craziest thing I've ever heard!!

Revolution will be wireless Internet ready out of the box.

All the more reason to get that wireless router.

double-layered DVD disks in the same self-loading media drive.

That's about 9 gigabytes, right? Should be more than enough. I'm sure some people will complain though.

[OB1]

Of course people will complain. It's a generation behind. Let's think about this for a second...


1996: 64MB is more than enough! Nobody is going to use the full 600MB of CDs, anyhow!

2001: 1.5GB is more than enough! Nobody is going to use the full 4-9GB of a DVD!

2005: 9GB is more than enough! Nobody is going to use the full 35GB+ of a blue-ray disc!

*sigh*

Though this time it's not as bad since Nintendo is not alone in having the lesser medium. XB360 will also use regular dvds.

[Great Rumbler]

The size difference mattered a lot more back then than it does now. There was a HUGE difference between 64MB and 600MB, but the difference between 1.5MB and 4-9MB wasn't felt nearly as much. I think the difference for the next generation will be felt even less.

[OB1]

Third-party ports suffered because of the smaller GC disc size, and there's a much bigger difference between 9GB and over 35GB than there was between 1.5GB and 4-8GB.

[Great Rumbler]

1.5 X 6 = 9

9 X 3.8 = 35

[OB1]

Yeah great logic there, duder!



9 - 1.5 = 7.5

35 - 9 = 26



Difference between GC disc and XB disc: 7.5 GB

Difference between Rev disc and PS3 disc: 26 GB

[Great Rumbler]

600 - 64 = 536

Difference between N64 cartridge and PSX disc: 536MB

[OB1]

If the difference was that but the n64 carts were say, 5GB and the PSX cds were say, 5.5GB, then it wouldn't matter. But 8GB and well over 35GB? That's a lot of fancy textures... not to mention voicework and dts sound. DTS = lots o' space.

[Great Rumbler]

The proportions are much smaller now than they were in the previous two generations. It goes from 10X to 6X to 3.8X. Also, to measure the difference between you just had to look at FF7 compared to anything on the N64 back in 97. Is there anything of this generation that you can look at and make a comparison that is that huge? Really the only thing you can look at is games like RE4 and Baten Kaitos and say that had there been more space they would have simply been on one disc instead of two. It quite likely that the difference will be even less noticable. But, that's just my prediction.

[OB1]

Those were made for the Gamecube, and only the Gamecube. Look at third-party stuff, like the SSX games which had all of the extra stuff cut out of the GC version (like making-ofs and stuff). Or even some GC exclusives like Eternal Darkness which had shitty compressed FMV. Size was definitely a factor with the GC discs. Just not as much as last time.

And now with this new generation, everything is going to have to be up to hi-definition standards, which means better textures, better sound, etc. Though hi-def does not relate to sound, sound standards will go higher and that means much more space needed for that.

[The Former DMiller]

When I saw GR saying 9 GB would be more than enough I immediately thought of what everyone said before the current generation. Everyone said GameCube discs would be more than big enough, and if not companies would simply make games on multiple discs. It's true some companies did put their games on multiple discs, but most of them just cut corners to make the games fit on the GameCube discs such as compressing videos, or doing away with features. You may not have noticed the changes, but comparing 3rd party games on GameCube to those on PS2 and Xbox really highlights the differences in many cases. I know 9 GBs might sound like a lot, but you never know how videogame development is going to evolve. Computer games can take up 100s of GBs of space, and I know console development is different from PC development, but 9 GBs can definitely be a limiting factor for GameCube this generation.

[Great Rumbler]

And now with this new generation, everything is going to have to be up to hi-definition standards, which means better textures, better sound, etc.

Bah, that's what every new generation is about. The main thing I'm saying, though, is that the difference is becoming less noticeable.

[OB1]

That's nonsense. What Derek said is right.

[Great Rumbler]

The difference WILL be less noticeable since the Xbox360 is using the same thing. Hard to say what the overall difference between the Revolution/Xbox360 and PS3 will actually end up being though.

[OB1]

Yes, it will probably be less sucky since the XB360 is also equally crippled... but then again who knows how well that system will do.

[EdenMaster]

Whoo! Nintendo looks like their actually getting serious about taking back the market! I can't wait to hear more, and with all we've heard recently, they HAVE to be showing it at E3! Hell, like was said in a previous thread, if they know the dimensions, it must be at least close to ready to unveil.

[Great Rumbler]

Let's see some screenshots!!

[A Black Falcon]

Two threads on the same topic...

[EdenMaster]

This is Tendo City! Normally there should be <u>four</u>!

[A Black Falcon]

Three should go off topic halfway through, though, and the other should be abandoned...

[Sacred Jellybean]

And 2 of those three should degenerate into a 10 page argument between you and OB1, while the 3rd is dedicated to posting catgirls and furries.

[Great Rumbler]

And the fourth should be full of posts by ASM where he talks about something for a long and everyone just kind of leaves because they're not quite sure what he's even talking about.

[lazyfatbum]

Um, hello? HD-DVD? Yeah, around 50 gigs... am I the only one seeing that? *knock knock* hello?

[Smoke]

At this point though it's looking like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will become one standard.

But check that Nintendo article OB1 posted. It's been changed! Now it says:

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.

I think it will be Nintendo's own proprietary format on 12cm discs.

[OB1]

I think by "its own" it means "the revolution's own". And Perrin Kaplan called them "standard DVD-ROMs".

[Great Rumbler]

Then why change the article to say something different?

[Smoke]

Exactly. Somethings up.

And can somebody explain to me what "self-loading media drive" means? Are they talking about a slot loading drive?

[The Former DMiller]

I would assume that means a slot-loading drive. With how thin the Revolution is I would guess that's the only option they have.

[Great Rumbler]

So it would work similar to a CD player you'd find in most cars?

[OB1]

According to IGN it's a slot-loader.

[Smoke]

I present to you, the Revolution:



;)

[Great Rumbler]

Wow, that's pretty cool! Hey...wait a second...that has an Apple logo on it. You're were just trying to trick me weren't you? That's not really a picture of the Revolution at all! You're just a big, fat phony! Hey, everyone! This guy's a bit, fat phony!

[OB1]

Actually, that's supposedly in the same direction...

[A Black Falcon]

Slot-loading? Huh... oh, is 12cm normal CD size?

[OB1]

Yes.

[lazyfatbum]

........Hello? HD-DVD? lotsa gigs people! TONS O'GIGS! Gigs.... coming out of our EARS, like WAX... except in a media format! YES, imagine all the bullshit that comes out of OB1's mouth, now imagine that it was GIGS, and that's what we're getting!

fucking HUZZAH! LET US DRINK MEAD AND PORK FLANK AND SEX UP OUR OWN FATHERS wait this went really wrong, how absolutely horrible, i'll have no part of this thread.

[OB1]

Kaplan said "standard dvd", fool.

[Great Rumbler]

Kaplan said "standard dvd", fool.

Actually she said "unlike the GC, the Revolution will play DVDs", which can be taken in two different ways. Also, it should be noted that the GC actually did use DVDs, just small versions of them, but did not play regular DVDs. It could be that's what she meant. We'll probably know for sure at E3.

[OB1]

She said unlike the GC, GR. And in the original press release it read "standard DVDs".

[Great Rumbler]

And then the press release was changed.

[OB1]

Well Kaplan said to IGN and in the original press release that the Rev would play regular dvds, so I have no idea why they edited that part.

[Great Rumbler]

Hey, don't ask me.

Anyway, we'll probably know for sure at E3.

[OB1]

Yes. I wish they'd go for a higher-capacity disc, but I seriously doubt it. Place your bets!

[Great Rumbler]

I'll bet two manatees!

[OB1]

woot!

[Great Rumbler]

Your new avatar is awesome, OB1.

[OB1]

Thanks, it's my special E3-only avatar, stolen from GAF.

[Great Rumbler]

GAF always comes through for us.

[OB1]

Yes.