E3 2005: Nintendo start the Revolution

Game Boy Micro, WiFi, and a little Revolution

Today was Nintendo's turn at the press conference podium. Unlike their two competitors Nintendo had no desire to concentrate solely on their next generation console, preferring instead to begin the conference with talk about their intentions for their other consoles. Along with some footage of new Gamecube games and the surprise unveiling of the Game Boy Micro, there were some interesting things said about their plans for the DS. There was the intriguing promise of a "Nintendo WiFi Connection", a free-to-use worldwide gaming service for the DS. Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing DS will be launch with WiFi capabilities later on this year along with Tony Hawk and the creations of over 25 different companies. While this is all well and good, what most people wanted to hear was what Nintendo had to say about their entrant into the next-gen wars, the Revolution.

...which was a fair bit lacking in substance, as it transpires. Apart from a look at the design of the console and some flowery words about the company's intentions for the next generation, there was precious little revealed to the assembled throngs. The president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata took to the stage to reveal to the world, for the first time, the Revolution, the company's next great hope for the home console market. Showing off a very sleek looking black piece of plastic, Mr Iwata was quick to say that the Revolution on display is still only a prototype. The small size, approximate to three DVD cases stacked on top of each other, is meant to become even smaller by the time the Revolution hits the shelves. As is the trend for consoles now, the Revolution will be just as happy stacked vertically or horizontally.

A few specifics were revealed about the Revolution. It will come onto the scene sporting a full 512MB of internal RAM and an SD slot. Joining yet another trend it will also feature built-in WiFi, wireless controllers and a selection of USB2 ports. While there were no videos or tech demos at hand to show off the console's graphical capabilities there was a teaser trailer for Metroid Prime 3, which was frankly a little underwhelming. However, Mr Itawa assured the audience that the Revolution's graphics will "wow" gamers when they finally get to see them. The Revolution is being constructed with an IBM CPU, codenamed Broadway, and an ATi GPU, codenamed Hollywood.

While no one currently believes that the Revolution will be even close to the PS3 and X360 in terms of processing grunt Nintendo is keen to stress that their console will be more than capable of delivering the kind of innovative games that should become its claim to fame. According to Mr Itawa, "It is the game experience that will most separate Revolution from its competitors." Still, with the Revolution only being two or three times more powerful than the Gamecube, one has to wonder whether Nintendo will suffer the ignominy of going unnoticed beside the explosions of light and sound which are sure to herald the arrival of each new PS3 and X360 game. But as has been proved with the DS, Nintendo's attitude to gaming is now radically different from the other two fighters in the ring.

It follows that Nintendo were keen to emphasise that they have created the Revolution with the developer in mind. The console will apparently be both simple and cheap to create games for. Nintendo's stated aim is to allow people to spend their time creating new kinds of gameplay experiences rather than spend their time creating ways to make games work on the hardware to hand. Nintendo hopes that gamers will look to the Revolution for the most inventive and unusual gaming experiences. Let's just hope that Nintendo don't make something so simple to program on that very few will want to bother.

The Revolution will be the first Nintendo console that will be able to play standard storage mediums, in this case DVDs. Nintendo are not abandoning their faithful fans however, as the Revolution will be able to accept Gamecube discs. But if this level of backward compatibility is on a par with Nintendo's competitors, the Revolution will also be able to play all games that have ever been released for a Nintendo home system. While the full catalogue of games that will be available is less well known than what was a T-Rex's favourite meal, it is known that the Revolution will allow gamers to enjoy the many fruits that blossomed on the N64, SNES and NES consoles. All of these games will be available for download over Nintendo's new online content delivery service. In keeping with other revelations at the press conference, actual details on this service were non-existent. Just as the lure of so many classic games on one console is sure to be enough to have many fans covetous of their own slice of the Revolution, the prospect of picking up the most complete all-in retro gaming console should appeal to a lot of gamers who may have missed out on the games the first time round. If the trip towards the company's unstated aim of making the Revolution the ultimate piece of Nintendo gains a boost in momentum from this ability to emulate and interface with older machines, then the driving force will come from where the Revolution can take gaming in the future.

To illuminate the path, talk moved onto the games that Mr Itawa and his company have been working on for the Revolution. As well as the aforementioned Metroid Prime 3, he was able to confirm that a number of other games are under development for the Revolution. Zelda, Mario and Donkey Kong will all be joining Seamus at the console's launch line-up, an event that will see the WiFi debut of a few key characters, one of which is promised to be Smash Bros. Nintendo god Shiegeru Miyamoto is currently working on something for the Revolution, although we only learned that it will be "something new". The Final Fantasy series is destined to sashay onto the Revolution too, resplendent in new robes of shimmering wirelessness, in the form of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle. Nintendo didn't have a huge list of developers to waft away concerns over third-party support but they did reiterate their goal of attracting a large number of casual gamers. Nintendo have always been beloved by a huge swathe of people and they have some of the best IP in the business, so it will be interesting to hear what else they reveal over the next few days. There are rumours of Nintendo having a big surprise for the end of the expo, a rumour that wouldn't hurt Nintendo if it turned out to be true.

Nintendo's press conference was a rather more understated affair compared to the opulence of last night's proceedings but it did a good job of setting out Nintendo's aims for the future. And while many thought that the lack of hard information on the Revolution was a cause for concern it would be very unwise to even consider writing off Nintendo just yet. Not completely, anyway.

By Sam Gibson