2005 release after all?

First of all, I have never believed that Nintendo could get the Revolution out anytime before summer 2006. Mainly, because there won´t be a sufficient games portfolio until that time.

However, the good people at Game Asylum think so. Their most recent product page lists the Revolution with a $299 price tag and a Christmas 2005 release. They have had to back down on their release predictions in the past, though. Some months ago, they listed Rev games as available by March 2006. They´re probably just after having their site mentioned everywhere - and as far as this blog is concerned, they got what they wanted.

Update on stereoscopic technology

Before the Games Convention, I sent out mails to a number of companies who work in the field of stereoscopic technology. I just got a reply from the CEO of IO2 Technology, which is rather brief.

Sorry, we cannot comment on the Nintendo console. You may find it interesting though that we did launch our new free-space display system this week www.io2technology.com and have new videos and images online.

I don´t know if the CEO deliberately wanted to remain vague in order to generate some interest in his company or if there may indeed be a connection. But the former seems more likely. Go check out the clips, though. It´s cool technology.

Revolution will be revealed at TGS

Hi everyone. Sorry for the technical problems on my site. Random Nintendo even has an article up on that. I will recover any lost content as soon as I get ´round to it. Only this morning, I returned from the ´Marc Ecko´s Getting up´ event in New York, so I´m jetlagged like hell and have loads of stuff to do in the newsroom. In the meantime, however, there is big news over at the British gaming site Spong. They claim:

You’ll be pleased to know that a full explanation of Revolution will be made by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata during his Tokyo Game Show keynote address. This news represents completely finalised Nintendo plans – Iwata will fully outline The Secret on 16th September 2005.

Nintendo is assembling key media to attend this year’s show, due to take place between 16th – 18th September 2005. Iwata will make his presentation of current activities at Nintendo. He will outline current projects and will then - unveil the Revolution in all its glory.

The Revolution presentation will include an explicit outline of the hardware and its controller and input mechanic, as well as illustrate exactly how it will work. It will go on to show games running on the system and how they make use of the technology.

Mario 128, or ‘New Mario’ as it is dubbed internally at Nintendo, is expected to be the star of the show.

SPOnG has a record of perfectly outlining what Iwata’s keynote addresses will entail. And we can tell you with 100% certainty that in the next three and a bit weeks, we’ll all be looking at Nintendo Revolution controller hardware and accompanying games. Exciting times indeed.

I have just spoken to the author of the article and I can tell yout that this information is undoubtedly accurate. As far as I could tell from our conversation, he is a reliable journalist with excellent contacts in the industry. He couldn´t name his source, naturally. But his contact is a highly placed employee at Nintendo of Europe. He also confirmed that Nintendo is selecting key media to invite to Tokyo for the event.

Now, you may wonder if he actually knows about the controller features as well. He does not. At least, he is not interested in talking about that. And I understand that. I´m sure we all agree: revealing the controller features prematurely could hurt Nintendo - revealing the date when Nintendo plans to reveal them does not. I´m just glad that, finally, the age of all the fakers like Seriousgamer is over. Finally we get some reliable information and can look forward to a definite date.