First Look:: Nintendo Revolution
First Look:: Nintendo Revolution
As the company with the strongest heritage of console gaming and innovation, Nintendo is busy redefining expectations for all next-gen systems by employing a wide-ranging strategy to bring a wider variety of games to a wider variety of gamers.
Says Nintendo President Satoru Iwata;
We will show the world what a next-gen system can be. Revolution marries the strongest heritage of innovation to the future of gaming. With backward compatibility and the 'virtual console' concept, the stylish, compact body provides maximum gaming power. It will not only take home entertainment into another dimension by expanding the definition of video games, but it also will give you access to the great history of gaming.
The new console boasts high-quality materials and a smart, compact design, approximately the size of three standard DVD cases stacked together. A variety of prototype colours are being showcased during E3. It will come with a silver stand that makes the system fit in with any multimedia setup, whether it's displayed vertically or horizontally.
The new console plays all games from the current Nintendo GameCube generation. But there's more... The Revolution will also have downloadable access to 20 years worth of titles originally released for Nintendo 64, the SNES and even the NES!
Instead of a tray, a single, innovative, self-loading media bay will play both 12-centimeter optical discs used for the new system as well as GC discs. Owners will have the option of equipping a small, self-contained attachment to play movies and other DVD content.
The system boasts 512 Mb of internal flash memory, wireless controllers, two USB 2.0 ports and built-in Wifi access. Revolution's technological heart, a processing chip developed with IBM and code-named Broadway, and a graphics chip set from ATI code-named Hollywood, are claimed to be able to deliver game experiences not previously possible.
A number of Wi-Fi-enabled launch titles are in development that will employ Nintendo's newly announced wireless gaming service, Nintendo Wifi Connection.
A dynamic development architecture equally accommodates both big-budget, high-profile games as well as indie games conceived by individual developers, throwing open the doors to allow more content on the Revolution than seen on previous Nintendo consoles.
The Revolution is set for a 2006 release.
