Sunday, January 01, 2006

What 2006 will bring for the videogame industry - part III: Nintendo´s Revolution

First of all, I would like to wish you all a happy new year. As far as videogames are concerned, 2006 will be one of the most exciting years in a long time. I hope that this year will be equally exciting for you.

This is the final part in this trilogy and I would like to point out that this is, of course, speculation. Things could turn out very differently. However, this is what I sincerely believe to be the most likely scenario.

As to the Revolution´s last secret, there are, of course, numerous possibilities. Anything could happen. Maybe the entire back catalogue can be somehow scaled up to greatly improve the resolution. Maybe the Revolution will be able to implement pre-rendered style graphics into real-time sequences. Maybe it will just have graphics way better than the system specs would suggest. Maybe there will be full stereoscopic 3D projection (via an additional screen). Maybe there will be a visor that will turn your arm and controller into Samus´ gun and allow certain elements within a game to jump out at you. Or maybe there will just be a conventional but portable screen. There could just as well be a very sophisticated type of voice recognition. Or there could be mood sensors that register whether a player is nervous or calm. I do not want to limit myself to any one of these possibilities. As I said, anything can happen. Either way, I am sure we will be pleasantly surprised.

Revolution:

Launch date/price: The Revolution will launch in late July in Japan, three weeks later in the US and another three weeks later in Europe. The console, including one controller but no other add-on (as may be required), will cost $149.

Pre-E3 press conference: The press conference will begin with a short round-up of Revolution software. Nintendo will focus on a variety of titles ranging from ´Pikmin Revolution´ and the game formerly known as ´Mario 128´ to ´Metroid Prime 3´ and a brief preview of ´Geist 2´. Next up will be the big surprise Nintendo will have kept secret until then. Iwata will walk on stage and he will make reference to and show a number of controller and console mock-ups to illustrate the hype that has built up around the console. There will be mention of the ´Nintendo ON´. Then, Iwata will announce that none of these were in any way produced or commissioned by Nintendo. He will admit, though, that some of those ideas actually came quite close. Then he will introduce the ´Nintendo Revolution´ in full, including its final name. Whatever the last secret will be, I strongly believe that it will do away with the established chain of a controller plugged into a console plugged into a television. It will do away with the traditional conception of a home console having its place in the living room. It will do away with the need for ever higher system specs that drive up development costs and lead to games that lack the quality and care necessary to sustain this industry.

E3 showfloor: There will be between ten and fifteen playable Revolution games on the showfloor, as well as about fifty titles from Nintendo´s and SEGA´s back catalogue.

Sales and reactions: The Revolution will at first be received pretty much the way the DS was. It will be such a break with tradition that a lot of people will be stunned into hesitation. Only the Japanese launch will be very successful. Sales in the US and Europe will be sluggish, at first. Similarly to the DS, sales will greatly improve within the launch month. By the end of the year, Nintendo will have sold through three to four million consoles.

Successes and setbacks: The biggest success will be the last secret. It will entirely overshadow the innovative controller and send shockwaves through the industry, as well as make plenty of people who are new to gaming take an interest in the console.

The biggest setback will be the lack of an established action brand like the ´Grand Theft Auto´ or ´Metal Gear Solid´ franchises. A whole number of big studios and developers like Valve and Hideo Kojima will be presenting original Revolution projects at the E3. But their support will not go as far as adaptations of their big franchises. This will be partly due to companies not having full confidence in Nintendo´s new console yet, but also due to the fact that Nintendo is still not too keen on action games like ´Grand Theft Auto´. Consequently, the Revolution will fail to attract the majority of core gamers (at least those who prefer ´Metal Gear Solid´ to an original Kojima game). Its strengths will lie in attracting large numbers of both casual and new gamers.

Conclusion: The Revolution will quickly become the critic´s choice. It will take much longer for the console to convince buyers, though. More so, developers will only gradually realise that Nintendo is actually on to a winner with this one. However, the Revolution will entice the casual market with innovative gameplay for a reasonable price. And by the end of the year Nintendo will have sold more next-gen consoles than either Microsoft or Sony.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

wohoo firts comment, cool falafelkid i kinda feel the same thing will be happening......

Anonymous said...

I seriously thought you had great insight and were level headed about the future, until I read your speculation about Iwata referencing Nintendo On and unvieling projection technology. While it would be cool, its just not happening now. Stop dreaming...you'll raise the expectations of the younglins and leave them to be dissapointed. The revolution is great just as it is now.

Anonymous said...

will you stop attacking him this is his opinion and albeit if you were to give yours he would say the same thing to you. We all have opinions just like how i agree with most of what he said. Yes like fallafelkid said things could quite posibly turn way another direction but if you judge from the success of the DS in its First year then its easy to see were hes coming from. But i do agree with how hardcore gamers arent going to like it as becuase of no sequals and instead original games but i think the E3 reception will be quite excited and not too hesitant like they were with the Nintendo DS

But all in all I hope Twilight Princess does well and the same to the DS and Revolution.

legendary_Nintendo_fanboy

Anonymous said...

If you read what he actually said, then you'll see that Iwata will address more rumors than just the ON.

falafelkid never said Iwata would be revealing projection technology either. He simply mentioned what Nintendo has already stated...that the Revolution will break away from the stagnant mentality of a console being a controller tethered to a console which is plugged into a TV. Whether this is alluding to projection technology is still hidden, but falafelkid only stated what we already know.

Either way, it's just one bloggers opinion, and I agree that the Revolution will be more successful than most people think, and will have a launch similar to that of the DS...one that makes gamers cautious.

Anonymous said...

Dear Falafelkid,

Geist 2 ?
that must be a very bad joke !

Iwata mentioning Nintendo ON ?

Come on!

Only 150 dollars?

That would be suicide just like it was the case with GameCube because people will think its a toy or targeted at kids or lacking high end hardware!

As far as the games are concrened I think he will show a mixture of trditional titles like the new Mario and Zelda,original unconventional titles with mass appeal sorta like Brain trainer,ElektroPlankton or the cooking game and last but not least some exclusive mature (perhaps even epic,melancholic,surreal) heavy-hitters from Suda51 and Shini Mikami(Grasshopper manufacture-Capcom)hopefully Zoonami,Retro,Konami,Sega,Namco,Lucasarts,Valve and perhaps even something adventure or strategy related orginal from Tim Schafer,Peter Moulneaux and the people behind Age of Empires(that goes more under wishful thinking I guess).

On top of all that there will be a special guest appearance by none other than Mark Reign sharing the stage with Regginator who will take his chance to polish up his image by clarifying(just like in the eurogamer interview)his statements and announce a wi-fi enabled UnrealTournament2007 for Nintendo Revolution with great eclat.Mark Rein alongside his new buddy Regginator will form the new Super Mario Bros. duo gain cult status and eventually take over the world after staring in numerous plumber movies.They will become legends and never be forgotten.
Oh and did I to mantion that this union also represents the Revolution's last secret ?

:)

As always remember where you heard it first !

You hear me Falafelkid ?

- The Infamous-Anonymous-Light-Shedder

pn18 said...

pikmin was GC exclusive.
shiggsy said so.

Anonymous said...

Dear Falafelkid,

Geist 2 ?
that must be a very bad joke !

Iwata mentioning Nintendo ON ?

Come on!

Only 150 dollars?

That would be suicide just like it was the case with GameCube because people will think its a toy or targeted at kids or lacking high end hardware!

As far as the games are concrened I think he will show a mixture of traditional titles like the new Mario and Zelda,original unconventional titles with mass appeal sorta like Brain trainer,ElektroPlankton or the cooking game and last but not least some exclusive mature (perhaps even epic,melancholic,surreal) heavy-hitters from Suda51 and Shini Mikami(Grasshopper manufacture-Capcom)hopefully Zoonami,Retro,Konami,Sega,Namco,Lucasarts,Valve and perhaps even something adventure or strategy related orginal from Tim Schafer,Peter Moulneaux and the people behind Age of Empires(that goes more under wishful thinking I guess).

On top of all that, there will be a special guest appearance by none other than the hilarious Mark Reign from Epic sharing the stage with Regginator who will take his chance to polish up his image by clarifying(just like in the eurogamer interview)his statements and announce a wi-fi enabled UnrealTournament2007 for Nintendo Revolution with great eclat.Mark Reign alongside his new buddy Regginator will form the new Super Mario Bros. duo, gain cult status and eventually take over the world, after staring in numerous plumber movies.They will become legends and never be forgotten.
Oh and did I mention that this union also represents the Revolutions last secret ?

:)

As always remember where you heard it first !

You hear me Falafelkid ?

- The Infamous-Anonymous(SOMETIMES INCORRECT :)-Light-Shedder

Anonymous said...

Sorry I meant concerned

Anonymous said...

Yeah I can't wait for the Rev. The fact a company as big as Nintendo is putting their weight behind a new direction in videogames is exciting. Not many $20 billion companies take risks as big as Nintendo is taking.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the DS had a very strong launch even with it's fairly weak launch lineup. I remember it selling for a premium on ebay and it being sold out everywhere. Maybe that took a week or two tho. I forget.

I think it's a decent assumption that the Revolution's big secret might have something to do with not being tied to the TV anymore. But I can't really fathom this happening at the $150 pricepoint.

With the controller I personally was able to a decent educated guess to a great degree what was going to be in the controller before it was announced.

The big suprise was only that it took the shape of a remote control. Otherwise I figured it would have mouse-like aiming, gyration tilting like in their GBA cartridges and you'd be able to swing a sword like LInk.

That's what troubles me about the Revolution not being tied to a TV 'secret' guess. I can't picture this functionality at a $150 pricepoint.

Anonymous said...

Hi anonymous,
Sorry, but that is not going to happen had you wittnessed the Revolution TGS trailer you would know that on the one hand the families were all sitting in their living room playing and on the other hand you would have noticed the guy turning off what seemed to be a big flat television at the end of the video for a split second

Anonymous said...

Geist 2 would be a good idea, but I don't know if it's a reality. Maybe they should get to work on that. There will not be a Pikimin Revolution, and Nintendo will not talk about "ON". Shiggy didn't even know what "ON" was when asked about it. I think you're right about the Revolution having a similar sales pattern as the DS, though.

Anonymous said...

one controller and no additional addons? I would be shocked if this were the case. Some developers have been talking about the possibilities with using two controls but I would think nintendo would want appease the early adopters (particularly hardcore gamers) with first person shooters and the nunchuck accessory in particular. What do you think? But I would be very diappointed if the 'classic' shell isn't included.

Anonymous said...

somebody had to make the point for you unbelievable, now if you understand...

Thank taylor

Anonymous said...

We know from Nintendo's 'mysterious' comments that the Revolution's final secret relates to how the console is connected to its various components. This necessarily means that either 1) a new component is added, 2) an existing component is lost, and/or 3) existing components are connected differently. Personally, I think an innovation in display or an innovative use of the internet connection are the most likely candidates. Stereoscopic 3D is probably still the best guess.

Anonymous said...

whatever it is, it's also going to connect to the gamecube.....

Anonymous said...

I'm sick and tired of hearing how nintendo won't allow Mature games like Grand Theft Auto on their systems, and Sony lets anything go on the Playstation. I guess a lot of you didn't follow the BMX XXX drama. Yes, its what it sounds like, you ride a BMX and earn points to see a Strip Show at Scores, a new york strip club. You can even dress your rider in her birthday suit.

Guess what? Nintendo let this go completely uncensored. I can see titties on my Gamecube. And guess what else? Sony censored the game. No titties on my PS2.

You hear that? NINTENDO ALLOWED TITTIES AND SONY DID NOT. Now, why does everyone always say that Nintendo is kiddie and sony is for adults?

Anonymous said...

Because a titty game is not for adults, and is very, very childish.


My prediction of what'll win the big crowd for revolution? It's software and easy to use.

Nintendogs rev, super smash brothers rev, animal crossing rev, mario rev, warioware rev, brain training rev, the first real online pokemon mmorpg AND an unannounced coöperation between square-enix and nintendo that will bring a RPG fusioned with square & nintendo characters ala kingdom hearts II.

This together with a bunch of other first party titles wil first conquer japan, and piece by piece bring in new gamers just like with the DS.

Also, while zelda might be big - the real revolution zelda won't come out in the first 2 years. Metroid isn't a million seller, but will be needed to show to developers how to implement rev controls in a semi-fps, and is good for the US & european market. Geist is a game who's sequel I doubt very much.

Anonymous said...

"The console, including one controller but no other add-on (as may be required), will cost $149."

Didn't they say in the keynote speech, when they revealed the controller that the nun-chuck addition is going to be also included, with the console.

Anonymous said...

149$ is just preposterous... Itll be 200 for sure. and geist 2? HAHAHA are you joking? I do agree on the launch dsales as imitating that of the DS. Nevertheless, there will be much more killer apps right off the bat for the rev, thus more sales in the US ansEUrope. Second, "nintendo will sale more consoles than any of the other two?" More than the xbox, ok, but NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER the ps3 in a million years. PS2 sold 100 million, they have that many consumers aware of the PS franchise and convinced by its superiority. Come on, be a little realistic.

Falafelkid said...

Hi everyone. Thanks to Taylor, legendary_Nintendo_fanboy and Masque for actually having read my post, unlike others. I deliberately did not want to narrow down my predictions to any of the possible last secrets. I just strongly believe the ON will be referenced as a marketing ploy. They would be fools not to exploit the internet hype.

Now on to Anonymous and the whole kiddy debate. Please read my posts more thoroughly. I myself am sick to the teeth with people saying that Nintendo will only ever license kiddy games. ´Grand Theft Auto´ is an exception, though. Here we are talking about gameplay that enables you to make a buck out of beating up old grannies - if you choose to do so. Don´t get me wrong, I do like GTA. But I also understand why there is so much concern about this title outside the gaming community. It allows great freedom and, as such, allows great cruelty. And this is gameplay that Nintendo simply isn´t interested in. "Mario will never start shooting hookers.", George Harrison said once. So there will be lots of adult games on the Rev, as there were adult games on the Cube (Eternal Darkness, Geist, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil). But there simply will never be a GTA on a Nintendo console and I seriously doubt that Rockstar will ever develop anything for a Nintendo system. Rockstar is an excellent studio but they are interested in provocative titles (like Bully). Fair enough, but it´s just incompatible with Nintendo´s philosophy.

Falafelkid said...

Hi Raph. There have been so many hints at a low, low price for the Revolution that I am surprised about your reaction. Even more so, though, I am wondering why you say that Nintendo will never ever outsell Sony... Let´s just wait until we see what both consoles can do before we rule that out, shall we? You may have to take another look at the PS3 and the supposed in-game footage, as well.

Anonymous said...

Wow, quite optimistic regarding the last secret(s). I'm pretty sure, it won't be any bigger than the controller. But what is it? I'm so praying for haptic feedback, that would rock my world. It'd only work for special cases like pushing a virtual button but that's still impressive. But furthermore Iwata talked about improvements not related to gameplay, wonder what that might be. A web browser perhaps, Would be neat.

I don't think the mockups will be mentioned. Would make an unprofessional impression on me.

RGB said...

I dont see much wrong with Fal's predictions and for gods sake dont criticise him for it. This is a blog after all.

Regarding pricing
One of the main things behind the Blue Ocean Strategy (Nintendo's new business model) is to create 'value-innovation'. The product is to create a mass market appeal usually attracting a mass of non-customers:

Tier 1, tier 2 & tier 3 non-customers.

Tier 1. Being for example owners of xbox/sony and looking to jump ship if have a better options.

Tier 2. Sony/xbox fanboys who consciously refuse Nintendos offerings. This also can be people who refuse gaming altogether.

Tier 3. People who have never played a game nor thought about it.

To appeal to all the product has to be priced with a correct pricing strategy to appeal to the mass market. It also has to produce a profit with strategic price minus target profit margin which will have a target cost. In the other direction there can be innovations in manufacturing, streamlining & partnering to allow a pricing innovation. (low cost for great piece of new innovative technology)

I could really write up something long but might be hard to understand about BOS but all in all the main thing about Nintendo's strategy will be eliminating unnecessary costs, reducing end user pricing to make it affordable to mass market, raising innovation & creating new ways to play gaming to maintain and create interest of current & non gamers.

Expecting a price between $149-199 on this business model will not surprise me at all. I'd be more willing to put my money on the lower end of that scale.

Anonymous said...

Hi all,

I made only the second post( first under anonymous) and want to further elaborate on what I said for clarification. If you guys think Iwata will directly reference "Nintendo On":

-There will be mention of the ´Nintendo ON´. Then, Iwata will announce that none of these were in any way produced or commissioned by Nintendo.-

forget it. It's not professional to do that. While he may speak about mock-ups in general, he will not:

-make reference to and show a number of controller and console mock-ups-

I'm not trying to attack Falafelkid, I'm giving feedback and criticism. Positive or negative so be it. I can give it and I can take it.

Also, in my post I criticized the speculation of unveiling projection technology. I know he "left the door open" for this last secret to be ANYTHING, but he did speculate on projection technology. I criticized his speculation on that. I could be much harsher on the speculation of a visor that will turn your arm and controller into Samus' gun. I think these ideas are neat, but not feasible at this time.

I guess my point is, don't get your hopes up for these things, because it’s not going to happen. In our little internet world these things are great, but in the real world, real journalist do not know what ‘Nintendo On’ is along with other things, so how can they report it. Could you image Iwata saying, "And now for the final secret, Cube Mapping"? Everyone would scratch their head and say what does that do for me. Could you envision an article on CNN saying, "Nintendo president unveils secret: Cube Mapping, non-tech oriented folks are now more exited". Now I'm sure all of you know Cube Mapping is not the secret, but it’s just an example for illustration. My point is that there has been much speculation about the secret being a “How something works” rather than it being the “Something”. People do not care about “How things work”; they care about “things”, such as the controller and downloadable games.

I would expect this last secret to be something neat but expected. Something people like us take for granted, such as Revolution and DS connectivity. While in our minds something like this is a given, in the Nintendo execs minds since this information hasn’t been ‘formally unveiled’, it is still a secret. They may have spoken about it formally/informally, but they haven’t gotten on stage and showed it to us in a formal manner, in essence, revealing it. For example, they formally told us about the controller being revolutionary, but it was a secret and not revealed until the TGS. So the secret may not even be a secret at all, to us.

To summarize, I don’t direct this criticism just at Falafelkid, but to all the people who I disagree with on speculations. I could be totally wrong and feel free to let me know, but I personally think my speculation is a little more in-tune with the real world, where there are costs and economics involved.

And on a short note, I did read the post. Bring on the criticisms.

Thanks,

D-Bone

Shoxware Games said...

I want "Eternal Darkness 2" for the Revolution! But since Silicon Knights left nintendo, i have no idea, who owns the license. falafelkid, do you have some clues?

Anonymous said...

uThe Revolutinon will definetily be 250$ at launch. Think about it, the gamecube was 200$ at launch.It will come with the analog add-on and the stand though, maybe with a demo of upcoming games.I believe the graphics will look almost equal that the ps3 and the 360.The technical specs will not wow anyone, but using some techniques the graphics will LOOK almost the same.The specs will not be close to being the same of the competition, but the graphics will look almost the same, like comparing a gamecube to a ps2, the gamecube's graphics a little better of course. I think the Rev's secret is that the controller will feature forced-feedback. What else could it be?

Anonymous said...

i agree w/ d-bone, some critizism is not towards falafelkid, but is just that we do not agree with his point of view. thats the whole point of this blog speculation, so if is not a fact we are in all right to disagree and coment on that matter. But many readers here just agree to fal's coments and feel hurt when other readers start a debate, saying that fal is wrong.

stop kissing ass get your own thoughts toguether and star a debate...

thank you.

i will remain anonymous because ether way i know some kiss ass is gonna say "dont attack falafelkid".

Anonymous said...

Don't attack Falafelkid

RGB said...

heh.

Link read my post on pricing.

$250 wont appeal to the mass market or non customer. Even a lot of gamers wont pay that.

Anonymous said...

I would pay for the Revolution whatever price the PS3 launches at if the package comes with vr headgear.

Anonymous said...

There is no chance of a mention of the "Nintendo" On. Iwata stated in an interview for engadjet that he never even heard about the on video after being asked about it. No self respecting large company would address rumors at a pre-E3 press conference.

Falafelkid said...

Hi D-Bone: Thank you for your lengthy contribution. Boy, are you in for a surprise. mean, we all are. But at least I know roughly what to expect ni terms of magnitude. Let me tell you that I know the last secret will overshadow the controller. And whatever it is, it will most likely have to do with the way graphics are shown or projected. The reason is simple.

Whatever the last secret is, it is the reason why Nintendo refuses to show game footage. It is the reason why the Revolution appears underpowered compared to the other two. It is probably also the reason why Nintendo have not announced the final name yet. Why else would they hold this vital information back? It is because revealing the games will automatically reveal the secret. Do you follow? So it simply cannot be something as mundane as DS connectivity. Nintendo is well aware of the hype they are building up to and, again, I have been told by Nintendo that the best is yet to come.

Concerning "costs and economics involved", I have spent qwuite some time talking to manufacturers and experts and both VR and AR could easily be mass-manufactured for use in videogames at a reasonable price (hardware add-ons would cost less than $100). Please read my older posts The price of the future, part I and The price of the future, part II.

Anonymous said...

Falafelkid,

Thank you for your feedback. I would love to be wrong and have some alternative form of display, along with standard television. I have a hard time conceptualizing what it could be, but maybe I'm still jaded from the gamecube. Don't get me wrong, I played some awesome games on the gamecube, but I felt it could have been much more. New management is in since then and maybe they will take things a step further. I must admit, the controller went far past my expectations. I was pleasantly suprised with it to say the least. Its going to be an exciting 2006.

D-Bone

Anonymous said...

Falafelkid,

One last thing...I think the reason no game footage has been shown yet is because there is none yet to show. Keep in mind, the Metroid Prime 2 demo ( buggy ) shown behind the scenes at the TGS was only started a few weeks in advance. Thats taking existing code/assests and modifying it to support the controller, so you can imagine what stage in development the Revolution games from scratch were at. Definately not ready to be shown to the public, and probably still aren't to this very day. Also, as to why the revolution's official name hasn't been released: Remember the gamecube was known as dolphin up till E3, less than 6 months before it was released. The only thing the name gave away was its shape.

Thanks,

D-Bone

Falafelkid said...

Hi Shoxware Games: ´Eternal Darkness´ is most likely owned by Silicon Knights themselves. I guess they are free to bring any sequel to whatever platform they choose. However, I just spoke to a nice person called Rob and he wants to check with the legal people before commenting. I guess it´s not as clearcut as I thought. Hence, there is no official word on a sequel. I will keep you updated if there is any answer.

Anonymous said...

Revo got more coments then PS3 n 360, that means is better or its maybe 'cause on ly fans of Revo come here.

Anonymous said...

led based mini projector ?

http://optics.org/articles/news/11/9/10/1
http://optics.org/articles/ole/8/7/3/1

Anonymous said...

Aah, you guys are going to love this one:

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/678/678757p1.html

From the article:

"A technologies company called eMagin has already shown off a sweet piece of hardware for gamers everywhere known as the Z800 3D Visor. The visor, which basically looks like a pair of sunglasses with a hint of Virtual Boy, can be used to watch a video signal in stereo much like Nintendo's previous VR system."

and

"... and while this is still very new to the market (available since last July) Nintendo has already shown interest, purchasing numerous units directly from eMagin. Does this mean Revolution will be VR? Will Nintendo send us into the new age of gaming with full 3D worlds that can be explored by the turn of a head? That remains to be seen. While the specs do support most PC machines and could be used for console control in the future it is a long shot to assume Nintendo is integrating this into Revolution based on these facts alone. eMagine's own Bruce Ridley has hinted at console support, however, stating that the company is talking to all major console marketers about the headset."

Well, well. It's interesting, but for now I'm sceptical!


As far as your predictions go: I wish they'd come true in that way, but I am also doubting Nintendo being the winner this time. I guess they'll do better than with the Gamecube (and they'll probably making money), maybe even becoming second place. Who knows?

I don't think the remaining secret will be even bigger than the controller and I can't imagine the secret being related to VR or AR - although the price is surprisingly low and the progress they've made is astounding. But I wouldn't mind a surprise! :)

(This is my first comment here, a nice blog you have there! :))

Anonymous said...

Well the problem I have with the prediction that the secret is some form of video projection is that, first, at $149 the console ain't going to be a projector. No matter the weak arguments that say it might be possible to introduce the technology at a low price point. NOt going to happen.

Second, projectors require bulbs and run pretty darn hot. I don't think you could make one fit in the size of the Revolution. I don't think Nintendo is going to want kids to handle such a thing.


Third, consumers need room for one. YOu need a wall and a maybe screen. That certainly doesn't fit in with Nintendo's dedicated concern for the capabilites of their consumers. I mean one reason they aren't going hdtv is because not consumers have it yet.

Fourth, what's the advantage of regular projection onto a wall? You don't gain anything gameplay wise compared to a TV.

So in the end, what bugs me about the prediction is, in essence, where's the beef? Just what do you think they'll have in terms of projection? I can't picture it. Vague notions don't help.

Anonymous said...

The reason they haven't shown game footage yet is because they are Nintendo and don't exagerate as much as say Sony.

Also the Revolution is still closer to a year away. We didn't see any 360 footage a year before its launch either. Hell most of the footage we saw at last E3 was pre-rendered and that was 6 months before the 360 launch.

And most of all Nintendo knows hi-def screenshots look better. They aren't going to get into a screenshot war when they aren't going to win that. On top of that one of the primary features of their console is control not top notch graphics. That's something you can't see easily via screenshots or footage.

Anonymous said...

So if the secret isn't graphical projection then what is it?

I still haven't heard any good guesses. It can't be something mundane. I can't be something too technical like your latest graphical mapping. It can't be something too futuristic where it's too expensive to fit into a $149-$199 pricepoint and too impractical for many consumers in their homes.

I'm still looking for a good guess. The best ones I've heard are something to do with the controller and old games or the ability to play different characters in a game.

Hell it could be some 3d glasses or something, but who knows.

I know they are showing the movie Polar Express in 3d on the IMax screens here in my big city. I guess it looks pretty sweet and I think my neighbors said you wear some special glasses.

But the requirement of glasses for games would just seem to be a turnoff.

Don't get wrong. I would love to see games projected on every wall or things on the floor etc. But it just isn't going to happen at $150.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure there won't be a visor, or Nintendo floorish thing. A visor would absolutly not appeal to non gamers who Nintendo is aiming at and I doubt they ship a few beamers with the Rev for 149$..

I believe that the last secret will be something not that big. Maybe a cooperation with apple for the downloadable content or just the announcement that Sega and let's say Square are on board of the backcatalog thing.
Or maybe it's just a bunch of adapters for the Revmote like these fanmade things we saw.
I believe the console will be shipped with the Remote, the nun chuck thing and the shell for traditional games. Further there will be a coupon so that you can download 1 NES, 1 SNES and 1 N64 game for free.
Price should be between 199 and 250 USD.
I would wish that they pack two remotes and the shell with the Rev, so that developers can take them for granted when devloping a game. Two Remotes would give so much more opportunities... please Nintendo, PLEASE!!

If Nintendo can manage it to release the Rev worldwide in July/August with a very good 1st-3rd party lineup they will finsih the "nextgen" 2nd place with a much shorter distance to Sony than this gen. Hopefully Microsoft will stop making consoles then and Sega substiuting for them.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Hallo Falafelkid,

Von der seite betrachtet gäbe es doch logischerweise nur zwei Szenarien die plausibel wären.

1.:

Nintendo Revolution wird die erste Konsole darstellen, die es dem Spieler erlaubt sich zu einem gewissen Grad kreativ auszutoben, sprich Revolution wird voraussichtlich mit einer art extrem fortgeschrittenem(in die Konsole integriertem) MARIO PAINT ausgeliefert.Dieses Szenario würde den "prepare to let your right brain go wild" Statements von Reggi(nator)Fils-Aime und einem -von dir etwas anders interpretiertem- Patent meiner Meinung nach gerecht werden.Außerdem würde sich der Remote-Controller perfekt als Eingabegerät für so ein(komplexes) Programm eignen wenn mann es sich denn mal vor Augen führt.


2.:
Das andere Szenario sähe in meinen Augen folgendermaßen aus:


Bei Nintendo Revolution handelt es sich um die erste Konsole, die es ermöglicht vorgerenderte Hintergründe in real-time, in eine echte 3D Welt interaktiv einzubinden.Dadurch etsteht ein Vorteil gegenüber der Konkurrenz, mit dem man mit geringfügigem technischen Aufwand bewerkstelligt die selben Ergebnisse wie Ps3,Xbox180 zu erzielen und somit imstande ist erhebliche entwicklungs-kosten zu umgehen.Diese Vermutung beruht auf sich im Umlauf befindende bzw. von dir behandelte Patente von Nintendo.

Was wäre deiner Meinung nach am plausibelsten ?


-The Infam.-Anon.-Light-Shed.

Anonymous said...

Your ideas are mostly sound, but you missed one serious thing. Nintendo will not begin the pre-E3 press conference talking about Revolution. Nintendo is not one to ignore a successful business for one that's just starting up. At least the first 15 minutes will be devoted to new GBA & DS titles in the works. The Revolution will take up the rest of the conference.

Anonymous said...

hey, just to let everyone know. about a year ago i posted on spreadfirefox.com something about how the new consoles were being developed and that they should contact sony and nintendo about getting firefox onto one of those systems for web browsing. Asa seemed pretty interested in it. maybe firefox will be incorporated into rev. There is no way that would be the last secret though.

Anonymous said...

That is the most biased pile of doo-doo I have ever read. Of course that is expected from a Nintendo site.

Anonymous said...

noo..no..no..NO!

you have a very respectable log but ruined it when you said nintendo will comment on Nintendo ON

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