Revolution to Allow For Home Development? 59
Via the Guardian GamesBlog, a BoingBoing post with an interesting posit. Will the Revolution allow owners to run their own code on the machine? From the article: "...the world of consoles that only ran signed code was a nice racket while it lasted, but at the end of the day, needing to get permission to run software on your own device sucks and devices that let anyone write software for them get more valuable as more people write more code for them." A nice idea, but not too likely in my opinion.
Could be cool... (Score:2)
Re:Could be cool... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Could be cool... (Score:2)
The current business model for consoles is to sell HW at a loss, and cash in on royalties. The royalties come from the development licenses you MUST buy in order to develop software for the console.
Eliminating that requires console vendors to make money on the hardware and ignore the more lucrative software market. The hardware on next gen boxes is expensive and not built for upgrades. Why have a console then when you could have a PC? You can alrea
Re:Could be cool... (Score:1)
This is definately a cool feature that might drive geeks (like me) to buy one. And more console sales = larger target audience.
The assumption being that "hobby" games won't eat into commercial sales. I believe that to be a likely proposition. A hobby game will likely not have a budget of a million or two to blow. Hobby games might be good for an hour or two. But what do you do after that? Grand Theft Auto XXVI!
Re:Could be cool... (Score:2)
Nothing. That is a great idea. That would add so much replay value to games that would normally be pawned back to vendors (which, interestingly enough, negatively impacts revenue streams for developers / distributors).
You have to understand though, there are individuals who have the capacity to make project decisions who do not possess any knowledge that is ACTUALLY USEFUL. Unfortunately for us, they need to prove their worth to the company so they can collect their pa
Re:Could be cool... (Score:1)
The only connection... (Score:3, Insightful)
Even "indie games" have a far larger license budget than an interested coder would be prepared to lay down just to play about with some ideas.
Re:The only connection... (Score:2)
Re:The only connection... (Score:2)
Mis-evaluating the marketspeak (Score:5, Informative)
Freedom of design: A dynamic development architecture equally accommodates both big-budget, high-profile game "masterpieces" as well as indie games conceived by individual developers equipped with only a big idea. "Our next console proves small in size but big on ideas," says Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales & marketing. "We're throwing open the doors of gaming to wider audiences, from casual players to hard-core gamers who live for the thrill of defeating an endless army of wireless opponents."
Now, if you ask me, all this blathering from Nintendo's own is their way of saying "we made an accessible SDK that small teams can work with just as easily as large teams". That doesn't mean they won't charge to release the SDK, and that doesn't mean they won't make you sign certain rights over in order to develop for their console. It's a flimsy line, and it shows that Nintendo may finally be trying to woo third party support. That much is good. But I think the blog is reading wayyyy too much into this simple statement.
Re:Mis-evaluating the marketspeak (Score:1)
Actually... (Score:2, Redundant)
Too vague (Score:2)
Of course maybe this is the revolution they keep touting.
Re:Too vague (Score:2)
But, what if the when the console boots, if it detects it is trying to boot unsigned code, it declares:
Warning : You are trying to run code not approved by Nintendo. Doing so will void your warranty, and may damage the system. For best experiences, only run software with the Nintendo seal of approval!
Anybody trying to actually sell software would wa
Hmmm (Score:1)
Isn't it going to be like the old Sony 'Yaroze' (or however it was spelt) system where you could develop for the Playstation, but with crappy limited libraries? I'm sure they'll still digitally sign stuff, so we won't be able to compile straight to it. It's a nice gesture though.
Re:really? I'd be very suprised... (Score:3, Informative)
Not really. Reportedly Nintendo makes a profit on it's consoles, unlike Sony and Microsoft. Also, Nintendo is the #2 game publishing company in the world, behind only EA; I don't think hardware is their main revenue stream.
Re:really? I'd be very suprised... (Score:2)
Not bloody likely (Score:1)
GameCube disks don't spin backwards.. (Score:2)
Re:GameCube disks don't spin backwards.. (Score:1)
Re:GameCube disks don't spin backwards.. (Score:1)
don't the gamecube disks put track zero opposite edge of the disk than usual, ie. outer instead of inner...
So does the second layer of standard DVD-ROM. There are deeper copy prevention measures on that 8cm GameCube disc.
See Mods for a PC example (Score:3, Interesting)
Frankly, if Nintendo does this, everyone wins. Nintendo gets cash from extra Revolution sales and the extra game sales that extra Revolution sales would bring. Modders and Indie developers get easy access to the largest gaming market (consoles), get experience working with that market (something that is difficult to do when you aren't part of a large corporation), get their names out there, and make money. Gamers get a large number of new games, mods, maps, and other extras, some of them even for free.
No Way. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No Way. (Score:1)
Re:No Way. (Score:1)
I think the press release means "indie" as in "at least one profitable published title for the Microsoft Windows platform".
Re:No Way. (Score:2)
Viruses? (Score:2)
Amazing (Score:1)
Here's why this probably won't happen (Score:2)
Mac Mini (Score:1)
Sony only gets money from DVD sales if those DVDs are made by Sony.
But now that Sony owns both Columbia Tristar and MGM, it becomes even more likely that a given person will buy Sony's DVD Video titles.
Eventually, a combination of manufacturer insight and economic circumstance will intersect, a system with true, official homebrew capability will be made
It's already here, and it's called a Mac Mini (520 USD with TV output option).
I think its possible they will allow home dev... (Score:1)
GAME BOY backwards compatibility (Score:2)
Backwards compatibility is a first for Nintendo.
Not exactly: GBC plays GB games. GBA plays GBC and GB games. Nintendo DS plays GBA games. And with adapters, Super NES plays GB games, and GameCube plays GBA games.
Different licensing for different data media? (Score:2)
Re:Different licensing for different data media? (Score:1)
Maybe what they could do is tier the licensing so that people can use the sdk free but only burn to CD-Rs and RWs, then charge more for DVD/R/RW/RAM and regular pricing for the Blu-Ray or whatever they plan on using.
If you're suggesting limiting homebrews to 700 MB, then it wouldn't be hard for publishers to circumvent that. GBA games are no larger than 32 MB, and a lot of current GameCube and even PS2 and Xbox games use far less than 700 MB if you strip out the FMVs.
Re:Different licensing for different data media? (Score:2)
Re:Different licensing for different data media? (Score:1)
Maybe the mini-cds instead of the full CD-Rs.
The 180 MB of an 8cm CD-R is still a shitload compared to even Nintendo DS cartridges, which are currently at 16 MB to 32 MB and which Nintendo plans to enlarge to 128 MB over the system's lifetime.
mabie Sony will release a linux kit for PS3 (Score:2)
Download service (Score:2, Informative)
With the Internet and the online community thing being central to Nintendo's strategy this time around, perhaps they'll allow limited independent minigame development. Indie developers would submit the final source code to Nintendo for approval and QA, and, if approved, the encrypted executable would appear in the minigame download section of Revolution's downlo
On the GameCube (Score:1)
Revolution prototype box at E3 has two USB ports on the back next to the video and power ports, which marks the first time an industry-standard port has appeared on a Nintendo console.
Not the first time. The GameCube broadband adapter has a standard RJ jack for a cat5e Ethernet cable.
Re:On the GameCube (Score:1)
More likely that the devkit will be cheap.. (Score:1)
Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft all have ways of getting you to develop for their
console - all of which include some kind of "developer console". The black
original Playstation, Microsoft's big XNA kit, Nintendo's "Dolphin" boxes etc.
with Codewarrior, DivX, Musyx with Dolby licenses and so on. and all this stuff
costs hundreds of thousands of dollars BEFORE you start coding the game on it.
Maybe Nintendo are going to drop the price of entry into the console market? Given
the easier production of their new media (
I don't think Nintendo needs to worry... (Score:1)
The Future? Not this revolution. (Score:1)
First off- Nintendo are notoriously tight on letting other wares running on their systems (come on, the disc spins backwards on the GC if I remember rightly!).
Secondly, whilst the games industry really needs this revolution to occur, the revolution isn't going to be the one to make it happen.
I have looked into my dark crystal ball, and I have seen what I believe to be the future- this generation of consoles will suck the blood (money) from the