Nintendo Revolution Rumours Emerge

In more next-gen console news, ComputerandVideoGames.com has rumourmongering info on the new Nintendo console. Interesting bits like gyroscope sensing controllers and an online service make for intriguing ideas, but no details yet on what's going to make this console a revolution. From the article: "And what's revolutionary about Revolution? The inside source claims that talking about that "would get him into too much trouble" ... He is quoted as saying: "if you think too hard you'll never guess what it is. It's nothing 'new', technically speaking. It's just something that hasn't really been applied to videogames yet."

hrmm maybe its a ...

thumb trackball.

kind of a d-pad + the analog control into one...

just a thought.

Gyroscopes

One of the rumors mentioned in the article:

Motion and tilt-sensing gyroscopes will be used in the controllers.

Great! Why don't we go and encourage those annoying people who love to swing their controller around even though it makes no difference. Well now it will! I wonder how this would be incorporated into a fighting game...

Actually, just thinking about doing a barrel roll in a flying game makes me want to try this out, silly a feature as it seems.

A philosophical revolution

Perhaps Nintendo will decide that in order to gain back market share it needs a revolution in the type of games they release.

The latest Nintendo console was fun to play on, but even given the cheap price I could find very little software that I wanted to buy. Everything halfway decent that got offered was either first-party mascots or available on another console. To me, this is really the way Nintendo needs to revolutionize itself.

fuck registering

REVOLUTION RUMOURS RAMPANT, NINTENDO SILENT

Another spurt of speculation about Nintendo's next-gen console splashes onto the net. Full details and stunningly predictable Nintendo response inside

10:47 A fat bundle of Nintendo Revolution speculation has belly-flopped onto the internet, causing fansites across the world to spontaneously combust with excitement.

According to hazy and totally unofficial reports, Nintendo's next-gen console will come broadband-enabled with an online service in the works, feature a hard drive, use controllers fitted with tilt-sensing gyroscopes, allow connectivity with the next-gen GameBoy, and play host to new Mario, Zelda and Super Smash Bros. games. The 'revolutionary' aspect of Revolution is also hinted at - "if you think too hard you'll never guess what it is."

The sketchy information - which we were sent direct last week and have been investigating - originally surfaced on a gaming forum, with the poster quoting an inside source. To be fair to the bloke who broke these rumours, he did preface his speculation with the assertion that his source had been wrong as well as correct in the past, and estimated there was a "65% chance" of the accuracy of these claims.

Here's the rundown of the alleged Revolution information:

• Motion and tilt-sensing gyroscopes will be used in the controllers. They will not come wireless as standard but the Revolution will have four pad ports like GameCube.
• The console will be powered by twin processors and will feature an internal hard drive. Games will come on HD-DVD format discs rather than Sony's Blu-Ray format.
• Broadband online gaming will be available out of the box via Nintendo's own service, which is currently "in development" and will be rolled out first on DS.
• The Revolution will not feature connectivity with the DS but will link up to Nintendo's next-gen GameBoy.
• Work has already begun on new Mario, Zelda and Super Smash Bros. titles, all of which are to be available at launch.

And what's revolutionary about Revolution? The inside source claims that talking about that "would get him into too much trouble" (whereas the rest of this stuff will presumably get him a pat on the back). He is quoted as saying: "if you think too hard you'll never guess what it is. It's nothing 'new', technically speaking. It's just something that hasn't really been applied to videogames yet."

He then signed off in deliciously enigmatic fashion with, "Touching is good but feeling is better."

Force feedback gloves? Electrodes attached to dangly parts of your anatomy? A force feedback full body glove made out of lycra? It's a proper riddle - answers on a postcard, or even better, in the forums below.

And it's a riddle Nintendo itself unsurprisingly doesn't have much to say about. When we contacted our spokesperson we were told: "Nintendo does not comment on rumour and speculation."

So what are we to make of this? The information itself does seem fairly informed and - in stark contrast to a lot of rumours that spark on the 'net - relatively sane. It doesn't instantly smack of the deranged ramblings of a semi-illiterate monkey.

But it also has that air of calculated vagueness and educated guesswork that at once lends it credibility and damages that same credibility. Are any of the alleged 'facts' offered about Revolution really anything that anyone with a little bit of knowledge about Nintendo itself and the games industry in general couldn't have come up with?

Not to worry - it looks increasingly likely that Nintendo is gearing up to unleash the Revolution at E3 in May. We'll know the answers for sure then, and as soon as we know, you'll know.

Who knows what to expect

It's nothing 'new', technically speaking. It's just something that hasn't really been applied to videogames yet.

Well, this may be hit or miss. Nintendo's "innovations" have either been huge successes or horrible failures. Some of these innovations include:

1. A controller that fits around your hand and senses movement
2. A system with a visor screen display that created a "true" 3D display
3. A wireless controller that just flat out worked
4. A dual-display portable with a touch-screen

My bet is on something with voice-recognition, and I hope that it is a success. If it is voice-recognition, I hope they don't overuse it, like they have overused the rumble feature of controllers.

Feeling is better

Hasn't this already been proven [gamegirladvance.com] by games like Rez and sites like GGA? :D

My thoughts

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Here's what my imagination "predicts" about the revolution.

Revolution = wireless DS hub + broadband ethernet.

16 people with DSes sit around a revolution in one city and play on a team against 16 people sitting around a revolution with DSes in another city. a 16vs16 person game where everyone has two screens and a controller. Also the revolution hooks up to a tv to provide the "big screen" for the whole team to see.

And that's taking it to the extreme. If you just keep it simple with something like internet enabled smash brothers with a new innovative control scheme you've already struck gold.

Nintendo is making the video game hardware that is truly revolutionary by innovating the game interface. They started by inventing the first real gamepad (the plus) and now the're taking it a step further. The only problem is that they do not make software that takes full advantage of the potential of the platform. And the quantity of software that takes advantage is not enough. I think it is because they are very protective of their dev kits, unlike Sony and MS who are very open in this area.

sticks out like a sore thumb

A light weight headset for VR?

nothing really new... not really applied to gaming.. REVOLUTION (ie full freedom of movement) GYROSCOPES...

hello?

That is my thinking.

Hard Drive!

I think the most interesting tidbit in this rumor is that the Revolution may actually come with a built in hard drive! Sony's already said they're not going to have one, and Xbox 2 is still iffy on it. I think the hard drive was the best feature of the Xbox and I'm very glad to see Nintendo having one too (if it's true).

SPOILERS: They're full of shit

Think about it for a minute. This is so generic as to not really say anything; meanwhile, you could have made something up and posted it on some message board, and ComputerandVideoGames.com would have printed it, as would have slashdot. This particular rumor as near as I can gather originated from a forum post at n-sider citing a forum post on a nintendo.com forum citing "a source". Well then.

Meanwhile, if we look at what we actually know, this set of rumors has two small details that don't seem that they could be true. So putting aside "sources", here's what we can predict about the stuff in this article based on what Nintendo's actually said and done:

1. Gyroscopic tilt-sensing control is the most persistent rumor about the Nintendo Revolution (get it? "Revolution"?) and probably the most reasonable. Nintendo's apparently made some decent sized investments [gyration.com] in that area, and this probably isn't just for Wario Ware Twisted [google.com]. However this likely will not be the only unique feature of the Revolution.
   
   
2. The Nintendo DS WILL have connectivity with the Nintendo Revolution. We know this because Nintendo said so. Shortly before E3, shortly before the "it's a handheld with two screens" thing was announced, Nintendo explicitly said "we will be announcing at E3 a product which is neither a new Gamecube nor a new Game Boy, but will be able to connect wirelessly BOTH to the next gamecube and the next game boy". This is a paraphrase and I don't have a link, sorry; it might be possible to find one by looking through gaming news archives around that date. But this is the main problem with this set of rumors this slashdot story links; Nintendo probably wouldn't go back on a statement like that, and there isn't a clear reason why they would. If they don't, though, there's one obvious side-effect: The Revolution will have 802.11. There's no other way to connect to the DS.
   
   
3. Since if Nintendo keeps their word about the DS, 802.11 will be in the Revolution, well, that's out-of-the-box broadband potential right there. However we can't guess anything about how Nintendo will make use of this, if at all. All we really know about the online in the gamecube is what Reggie Fuls-Aime said in an interview a month or two ago (sorry, no link), where he put forth a very cryptic statement in which he said "online is a failed business model", then a couple sentences later said the next Nintendo console would have "long distance" and "community" gameplay features. So don't get your hopes up on anything, but expect whatever the internet features in the N5 are, they won't look like Xbox Live. What I'd almost suspect is that they're going to pull an online plan out of their ass and then try to insist on0 calling it something other than "online" (cuz, see.. it's wireless.. since there aren't any "lines".. get it).
   
   
4. The bit in the rumor about HD-DVD discs is incredibly unlikely. Nintendo hasn't yet announced who will be making the optical discs for the Revolution, but most likely it will be matsushita/panasonic. Matsushita manufactured the optical drive for the Gamecube, and it seems extremely likely Nintendo would go back to them for the optical drives for the N5; one, the drives worked extremely well, and are the chief reason why the Gamecube is the only console of this generation without a piracy problem; two, they'll probably have to go back to Matsushita if they want the Revolution's drive to be backward compatible with the Gamecube. The reason this is important is that Matsushita is one of the primary driving companies behind Blu-Ray. So most likely, the N5 will use proprietary deformed blu-ray discs, the same way that the Gamecube used little deformed DVD discs.

DS Downloadable play

I'm betting on DS connectivity, in part because the downableable play feature of the DS makes it so easy. So there is 16 player games with per-player private information.

Extending the gyroscope sensor rumor, hasn't anyone else thought it weird that Twisted is coming to GBA instead of DS? Of course the bigger cartridge means the sensors fits easier. I foresee GBA styled cartridges for the DS just for similar sensors that work for DS cartidge and download play games. Twisted may already as such a cartidge. So the DS in your hands right now has an "expansion slot" for future controller compatibilty allowing it to meet Revolution controller needs (especially if you count the touch screen as the analog controller, as Mario 64 DS treats it).

My Guess

If we're going by the "Touching is good but feeling is better." hint my guess is that it's some sort of tactile force feedback in the controller. Or at least that's my hope. While force feedback can be fun(see Metal Gear Solid for one it's best uses) most games use it for just another effect when your character gets damaged or something basic like that.

I remember reading about these tactile feedback control in video games a few years back. They had motors in the controller that responded to what was going on in the game. For example, if you had a character walking up a hill the controller stick would respond back by pushing in the opposite direction so that you could feel how tough it was going on up the hill. The only big drawback was that I imagine controllers like that were pretty expensive.

I can't imagine the price being much cheaper now but if there's anyone I would expect to try it out in their controllers(even if it's on a really basic level) it would be Nintendo. With the exception of the Gamecube(and some of their portables) they have tried to put something new into each controller design. NES d-pad, SNES shoulder buttons, N64 analog stick, etc. Even if this all speculation, if Nintendo doesn't try this for their next-gen system someone else should.

Theories on what the "revolution" is...

Nintendo has underestimated me! They have leaked enough info about the "secret" features of this console that I have been able to narrow down what they are!

Given that:

Touching is good but feeling is better

I can say with reasonable certainty that the new addition is either:

1. THE POWER GLOVE! (it was only a matter of time)
2. Smell-o-vision (Think what you'd be "feeling" as you played Resident Evil 5 with this enabled! Essence des Zombies!)
3. A RealDoll [realdoll.com] with strategically placed buttons and analog thumbsticks, with force feedback. (That's one way to ditch the perception that Nintendos are for kids, Playstations are for adults.)

Clearly, whatever Nintendo has planned, they are taking steps to avoid the fiascos associated with the last couple of platforms and leap into first or second place in the console market!

Work has already begun on new Mario, Zelda and Super Smash Bros. titles, all of which are to be available at launch.

... then again, maybe not. Nintendo's corporate slogan: Third party developers - who needs 'em?

It's obvious

It's nothing 'new', technically speaking. It's just something that hasn't really been applied to videogames yet

Clearly the Nintendo Revolution with be the first video game console that is fully edible! I can hardly wait.

Nintendo's marketing/advertizements

seems rumors are their new form of ads, must save them a lot...

for the DS, I never saw any ads on it (I don't have cable, but I've asked some people and they didn't either)

it's crotch shockers...

get creamed and really feal the pain

Ideas as to what it could be are....

VR gear. A headmount display that puts you literally into the gameplay. All you see is the world around you and the gyroscopes can be mounted in the headgear, so you turn more with your head and body, than the controller, and the controller could be used for activating weapons and forward/backward movement. It falls in line to what he said "revolutionary, but nothing technically new". VR gear has been around for over a decade, I believe, and have seen it used in the big arcades as far back as 1997 (I used to work at XS New York). I just hope they have resolved the cooling issues by the time it's launched.

Other ideas, some other simpler force feedback device.

Call Me Jaded...

Call me jaded, but I just don't believe the Revolution is going to have anything that's going to knock our socks off. That said, here's something that might make things interesting.

How about a MMO game that makes use of GPS enabled DS units interacting via hot spots with online Revolution home players. This would be a game that makes use of the whole Earth as its play space. Perhaps Revolution units themselves would be the hot spots. If the Revolutions have hard drives, each one could store some of the game data describing its locale in the game world.

I think there's a Gizmondo game coming up that moves in this direction. But if Revolution consoles are themselves access nodes to the game for mobile units, that would be different. Games that break down the barriers between the game world and the real world would be truly revolutionary, or subversive, depending on your point of view.

I think ...

It will either be a cheap camera used for input based on body gestures or it will be running Linux, not some proprietary game loader.

My money is on linux.

One Word

"Interesting bits like gyroscope sensing controllers"

GYROMITE!!!!

Because Now You're Playing with Power(TM)!

I believe . . .

"if you think too hard you'll never guess what it is. It's nothing 'new', technically speaking. It's just something that hasn't really been applied to videogames yet."

I'll wager that it's a bicycle.

America's enormously obese youth are about to get a tad healthier.

maybe we're overlooking something here

if you THINK too hard...you'll never guess Perhaps it's thought controlled? Even if it's not reading your mind, it could be bioreactive. Like the IBM blueeyes, combined with a head tracker, microphone, and pule sensor in the controller and electro-shock pads on your body for feedback.

The time is right for...

Virtual Boy : The Next Generation

Stop posting rumours as news.

"Nintendo Revolution Rumours Emerge"
"EA's Plans for Xbox 2"
"Cultural Blinders Lead to Nintendo Fallacy"

Fuck sake, Zonk, find some actual news to report or quit. I don't think anyone would blame you at this point.

emerge

emerge --search "nintendo revolution rumous" did anyone else read it as that?

I think...

that the new system will be the Game Icosahedron. It will be revolutionary in that it will be the first 20-sided game system ever. How will Sony and Microsoft compete with that?

Think of how many tabletop gamers would buy one just because it's shaped like a d20.

Brain-wave sensor

If you think too hard... - I reckon it's a brainwave sensor. Some games will require you to be calm or excited to gain special powers or pass a bad guy. There might be "meditation" levels in beat-em-ups.

What All Three Consoles will ACTUALLY Be

Let's go over the facts:

1. All three will be using processors from IBM.

2. All three will be as small or smaller than existing systems.

3. All three will have advanced graphics and sound capabilities, and will be able to function as digital entertainment hubs.

4. They will all retail for under $500.

Conclusion: All three of the next generation gaming consoles will actually be Mac minis. [apple.com]

Gyroscopes spin if I remember correctly

If I remember correctly, gyroscopes spin. They might even be said to "revolve". So I think if the rumors are true, that's the "revolution" they're talking about and we're going to see controllers with gyroscopes.

Another piece of the rumor puzzle would fit too. The statement "Touching is good but feeling is better" makes me think of the tendency of gyroscopes to resist changes in direction off of the plane in which they spin. Any input from the controllee to the controller that wasn't in the same direction as the spin would be felt as feedback.

I might be thinking a little too simply though.

Re:What?

so true! I really wouldn't mind never playing a mario/zelda game ever again!

Stick GTA:SA on there (or pay them a cool million or so to make it exclusive to your new console... hello sales!)

That is what I would do. But even if every single GTA ever released in the future was only on XBOX, I still wouldn't buy one.

Bah.

Re:What?

have you ever PLAYED a Mario or Zelda game? They're fun and know no age.

sure there is a lot of potential unoriginality in tried and true game franchises, but there are also guaranteed results, and in the case of Zelda and Mario, the results are ALWAYS great.

I see the fact that they'll have Mario and Zelda titles on release to be a very good thing. Mario and Zelda are part of what make Nintendo consoles great.

There are lots and lots of titles on XBox and PS2, but 99/100 of those suck. in fact the only good games for xbox are halo and halo 2. If xbox didn't have Halo it wouldn't have anything. A more powerful graphics processor does not make a good game console on its own. A networked crappy game is still a crappy game.

I know maybe 8 people with Xboxes, and all of them have modded their box to play MAME and NES/SNES games. They rarely use their XBoxes for XBox games, and two of those eight people sold all their xbox games because they were never played.

Games make the console. Nintendo has them, more good fun games than any other game company to this day.

Re:Is it just me

Yup. Just you. *goes back to getting killed by the Regenerators in RE4*

Re:What?

".. they still don't get it..."

Whoopee, you don't like Zelda or Mario. Nintendo's still making millions off them.

Re:What?

Yes, because there's nothing like naming three game titles that nobody knows a damned thing about to boost pre-release buzz.

Re:When will Slashdot stop being so behind?

A week or two doesn't make THAT much difference when we are talking about stuff that is months or even years in the future.