Has the Revolution been Broken?

[irateplatypus]

http://cube.ign.com/articles/607/607437p1.html

Broken Saints Revolution Rumors
Fresh, right out of the oven speculation!
by Juan Castro
April 25, 2005 - In the middle of last week, the Broken Saint's website posted claims they knew the secret behind Nintendo's upcoming console, codenamed Revolution. Now, if it's one thing the Web isn't short on, it's people claiming they know what drives Nintendo's Revolution. What makes the claim on Broken Saints compelling, however, is that Brooke Burgess, the man behind the site, is actually in a position to know. Or at the very least, in a position where savory strips of information may be floating around, just waiting to be picked up by wary ears.

Well, it looks like Broken Saints has gone and posted its much-anticipated theory on what makes the Nintendo Revolution revolutionary. At the core of the theory sits how Revolution will display games: through a form of real-time 3D projection. That's right folks, along the lines of a classic 50s monster movie. Nintendo itself has stated that what it plans to use on Revolution isn't all that unique, only that it has never been applied to videogames. Taking that into account, plus recent patents filed by Nintendo, and it doesn't sound all that far fetched, argues Burgess.

If that's not enough, he goes on. During the ShoWest film conference, a panel featuring George Lucus, Robert Zemekis, James Cameron, Robert Rodriguez, and a satellite feed from Peter Jackson discuss their plans to integrate cheap digital stereoscopic 3D into major theater chains by 2007. Here's where things get interesting: Burgess claims to know an agent who spoke to Robert Rodriguez, stating they knew of a game machine that would exploit this new wave of 3D entertainment well before Hollywood could jump in on the market.

Burgess goes on to say he spoke to an industry friend about his new theory, to which the industry friend said that Nintendo had shown a real-time 3D add-on for GameCube behind closed doors. When? At last year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. Furthermore, Burgess claims the Revolution will certainly sport wireless controllers, among other, unknown wireless capabilities. Also, according to Burgess, the Revolution controller will feature either a touch-screen or some form of proprietary PDA device.

As for gyroscopic controllers, the Revolution will indeed use them. Burgess references several inside "sources" who claim they know Revolution controllers will support positional shifts as experienced in Kirby's Tilt 'n' Tumble. Not all games will support the feature, but Burgess states that at least one Revolution launch title will.

This is all speculation, of course, but there you have it.

Stay tuned for more.

what do you all make of this? the rumors are pretty wild... but it seems like the source would be in a position to know. also, i wouldn't put it past Nintendo (of directional pad, R.O.B., Powerpad, Powerglove, Virtual Boy, Analog stick, Rumblepad, NintendoDS etc. fame) to create something completely different and bet the farm on it. They grow'em crazy in Kyoto.

So... if true, how would this technology work? I confess, I don't have the slightest clue how this (stereoscopic) would be pulled off in a practical way using conventional displays. The gyroscopic controllers have been in the rumor mill (and nintendo's own hardware) for a while. I'd actually be surprised not to see them included.

What do you make of this?

[filtherton]

Rumors are rumors. I'd be excited to see a 3d display, despite not being sure whether such a thing is feasible.
Though i do think nintendo needs to pull something spectacular out of its ass if it wants to stay competitive in the video game industry.

[Fremen]

Just to be clear in my mind, is the Revolution slated for a '05 release or a '06 one?

[TheJig]

I grew up with the Nintendo, but got a PS and then a PS2 when they came out. I didn't even give the GameCube a second thought until a few month's ago. I bought a used one for $40 and fell in love. The games just seem like so much care was put into them. I truly think that Nintendo has the right idea, they just know how to make great, polished games.

I'm not sure if the Revolution will change the future of gaming, but I have no doubt that it will be a great system that offers something completely different than what the new PS and Xbox will offer.

I do worry about how many developers are going to make games for a system that works the way the article states.

[hulk]

I can see awesome ideas, but conservative publishers. I'd wager that no dev group worth their salt wouldn't want to play with the toys the Revolution offers, but getting their publishers to agree is a lot harder.

[MooseMan3000]

Originally Posted by hulk

I can see awesome ideas, but conservative publishers. I'd wager that no dev group worth their salt wouldn't want to play with the toys the Revolution offers, but getting their publishers to agree is a lot harder.

Which is why, as always, the best games for the new system will be by Nintendo. Sure, there are some other developers out there that make good games for Nintendo consoles, but the first party games are always the best.

I'm hoping in this new console that the tradition of good hardware combined with excellent game design continues. Many of the rumors I've heard about the Revolution sound a lot more complelling than the rumors about the other two consoles. The plans for the PS3 and new Xbox (is it actually called the 360?) are just "make it faster." Nintendo wants to break some new ground, and that's why they're still my favorite.

[guthmund]

Exactly MooseMan, you've hit the nail on the head.

Nintendo is going to do just fine because they focus on what matters, games, game play and innovation and that's why despite the other companies focus on 'bigger and faster,' there will always be a niche for Nintendo in the market.

I am certainly intrigued by the rumors floating around about Nintendo's new console even more so (like you pointed out) than the rumors surrounding the PS3 and the 360. Nintendo has a reputation for off the wall stuff. Some good; some bad. But don't think for a minute that a failure is going to wipe Nintendo out for good. It hasn't yet.

Oh, and Fremen, last I've read it's an '06 release.

Edit: I forgot to add...

According to the latest issue of Gamepro, Nintendo has partnered with GameSpy (for what the magazine doesn't say) and has built in Wi-Fi.

In a quick search on-line, I haven't seen anything to either refute or verify it, so take it how you will.

[Fremen]

Thanks, guthmund.
In that case, I'll go ahead and buy some more games for my GameCube, instead of waiting like I was going to when I thought the Revolution was coming out this Fall.

[lukethebandgeek]

What is a 3D display? Like "help me obi wan kenobi" holgram? I'm confused.

[Redjake]

Originally Posted by lukethebandgeek

What is a 3D display? Like "help me obi wan kenobi" holgram? I'm confused.

hahaha that made me laugh out loud

[Wingless]

I've gotta stop reading all the stuff regarding the X360/PS3/NRev. Just gotta remember it's all rumors at this point. We'll find out in a month at E3 what was true and what was false.

[guthmund]

Originally Posted by Fremen

Thanks, guthmund.
In that case, I'll go ahead and buy some more games for my GameCube, instead of waiting like I was going to when I thought the Revolution was coming out this Fall.

No problemo (can I still use that and be cool?)

It seems the Wi-fi thing is true... I can't believe I didn't see this earlier...

Originally Posted by From IGN

Q: Will Revolution go online?

A: Yes. The Revolution console will feature online play out of the box. Nintendo at the March 15, 2005 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco announced an aggressive new Wi-Fi strategy for both DS and Revolution. Wi-Fi enables wireless, high-speed connections to the Internet using such popular standards as 802.11b and 802.11g. Company executives made strong statements about Nintendo's belief that gamers should be able to wirelessly go online and play against each other.

"We intend to incorporate wireless technology in all we do," Iwata announced at the event. "Therefore, Nintendo Revolution will be Wi-Fi enabled, built into every system."

Few other details regarding Revolution's online functionality are known, but we can infer at least one important bit based on information announced about the nature of wireless play for DS. Nintendo announced that Wi-Fi gaming on DS would be free. In stark contrast to Microsoft's Xbox Live service, the Big N will not charge any fee for gamers to go online through its infrastructure. The same could be true for Revolution's wireless play.

There's also speculation that the Nintendo Revolution might not be as inferior (hardware power wise) to the new PS3 and 360 as previously thought....Now, isn't that interesting....

[hulk]

Well, seeing as they're all on basically the same hardware, it's not that surprising.

[guthmund]

The public opinion is that the Gamecube was never in the same league with either the PS2 or the X-box. So, it was natural that this notion would bleed over into the next-gen console rumors.

In every article I read, be it on the internet, on television, or in a magazine, the consensus seems to be that the Revolution was going to be the slow kid in the class. I mean, even Nintendo themselves said early on that the Revolution wouldn't compete in terms of hardware with the PS3 and the 360. And this was the argument, at least from what I've read, for not waiting to buy the Revolution first. It would probably be the last console to be released and it was going to be a lesser machine, so the money could probably be better spent on a PS3 or 360. Arguments all based on the assumption that the Revolution would be the lesser of the three machines.

I just found it interesting that this might not necessarily be the case.

[Furry]

Mmm, gyroscopic controllers have been done before (in 2000) by Sony too. There was one released for the original playstation by peripherals company Joytech called the Airpad- it never really took off due to design bugs and the fact that it was simply a pain in the arse to use.

As for Star-Wars style projection - bring it on.

[MooseMan3000]

Originally Posted by Furry

Mmm, gyroscopic controllers have been done before (in 2000) by Sony too. There was one released for the original playstation by peripherals company Joytech called the Airpad- it never really took off due to design bugs and the fact that it was simply a pain in the arse to use.

So you mean Sony didn't do gyroscopic controllers. Joytech did, and they sucked. I'm not so sure that counts. When Nintendo comes out with them, they'll work, and they'll most likely be cool. So it's a whole new game.


And as for the Revolution being the "lesser of the three machines," I don't believe it matters. Fact: Gamecube has the least powerful hardware of the three current generation consoles. Fact: Resident Evil 4 is one of the best looking games ever. Better than nearly anything on Xbox or PS2. When it gets as good as that, deciding which is the "best" or the "worst" is merely opinion. The Cube is just as capable as the others, and it costs half as much because the hardware is less expensive. Even if the Revolution is "slower," I guarantee it won't be the "lesser" of the next generation consoles.

[irateplatypus]

Originally Posted by MooseMan3000

And as for the Revolution being the "lesser of the three machines," I don't believe it matters. Fact: Gamecube has the least powerful hardware of the three current generation consoles.

i don't think that's quite right. as far as pure hardware goes... i'm pretty sure the xbox leads, followed by gamecube and then the ps2. people will say the ps2 pushes more polys than cube, but that's without any fx or filters turned on. once the hardware is tasked with a real-life application, the cube often edges the ps2 out.

additionally, multi-platform games have often been designed for ps2 or xbox hardware and "ported" to the cube. nintendo's weaker 3rd party software support has hurt the platform's technical performance.

[hulk]

Moose, the Gamecube isn't the least powerful. Not by a long shot. It beats the crap out of the PS2, and if you think otherwise, you must be missing something. Resident Evil 4 has been regarded as the best looking console game of this generation, and that's saying a lot. Go play Metriod Prime, RE4 and then compare them to the PS2.

[nothingx]

Yeah, cause 3D was a huge success last time around...

[hulk]

This time, it's not so lame.

[nothingx]

Originally Posted by hulk

This time, it's not so lame.

Still, I'm skeptical. I admire Nintendo's willingness to innovate, really I do. It's just that in the past, they could afford to take some gambles because they were the only console makers out there. If an idea turned out to be a bad one, it never hurt them much. These days there is so much competition in the console market, taking big risks can mean taking big losses... and so far, I haven't seen any of Nintendo's innovations that pulled ahead of the "faster, stronger, harder" paradigm.

[hulk]

Ever seen the sales figures of the DS (six million) vs the PSP (about 1.5 million)? Granted, it has had a few months to pull ahead, but it's not designed to be a mainstream device, at least, not in the way the next GameBoy will be. The VB was an experiment gone horribly wrong, no doubt there, but most of their other innovations, like analogue sticks and rumbling controllers, have stuck around.

[stevie667]

Now that looks interesting indeed.

Ninty usually have something tucked up their sleeves, hopefully they needed to buy a bigger shirt this time...