Nintendo Reveils Revolution

[Rudeboy2025]

Pics

Let the battle for the digital den begin — again.

Nintendo Co. on Tuesday was the last of the three major video game console makers to preview its next-generation system, called Revolution. The Japanese company had a tiny surprise, too.

Revolution will face stiff competition from Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and

Sony Corp (SNE.N).'s PlayStation 3 as the manufacturers vie to attract a more diverse audience with products that serve as digital entertainment hubs instead of just serving up video games.

After years of promoting their existing consoles with big-budget games, the three companies touted sleek new technology this week on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, an annual industry meeting that begins Wednesday.

The ability to play older games was addressed by all three makers, with backward compatibility meaning owners of the new systems will be able to play games created for the existing Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2.

Nintendo went a step further, announcing Tuesday to applause and cheers that Revolution's built-in wireless Internet will provide downloadable access to the thousands of games in company's 20-year-old library, going back to the original Nintendo Entertainment System.

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president, did not provide many details on the Revolution but he showed an enthusiastic audience a black prototype box with a blue, front-loading disc drive as well as a picture of several possible color schemes, ranging from silver to bright yellow.

He said the final box will be about the size of a stack of three DVD cases.

Details on Revolution's high-tech innards were less specific than what is being provided by Microsoft and Sony.

Aside from the included Wi-Fi networking, the Revolution will have wireless controllers, two USB 2.0 ports and slots for DS memory cards. Nintendo did not say anything about the processor or graphics chips that will be used to power the machine, other than that they are being developed by IBM Corp. and ATI Technologies Inc.

"This is the console where the big idea can prevail over big budgets," Iwata said.

With Xbox 360 and PS3, meanwhile, snazzy technology able to deliver cinema-quality graphics and sound has been the center attraction.

Xbox 360 will have three speedy processors and custom graphics chip from ATI, a removable 20-gigabyte hard drive and wireless capability for cable-free access to the company's Xbox Live online multiplayer service.

And while Xbox 360 can play movies, music and television, it won't replace the desktop computer as an ideal nerve center for such content, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said. The company on Tuesday announced an extender for its Media Center operating system that allows users to stream media from the desktop onto their Xbox 360.

"We think the PC is the best hub for that," he said. He later added, "It's the most general purpose of the devices."

PS3 is to boast Cell processors, jointly developed by Sony with IBM and Toshiba Corp., that are purportedly 10 times faster than current generation computer processors.

But beyond all the techno-lingo, important details for consumers — including price and game costs — still haven't been announced. The Xbox 360 will be the first to market, due around Thanksgiving, followed by the PS3 next spring and the Revolution sometime next year.

"They are all pursing strategies that really play to their own strengths," said P.J. McNealy, a senior analyst at American Technology Research. "At this point it is primarily marketing and position, that's the main goal here."

In 2004, the PlayStation 2 led the U.S. console wars with 43 percent of the market, according to Jupiter Research. The original Xbox was a distant No. 2 with 19 percent, followed by Nintendo's GameCube at 14 percent. The remainder included handheld game systems.

Jonathan Epstein, a video game agent for United Talent Agency, said the rise of broadband Internet and more processing power has fueled these new consoles' ability to move beyond games alone. And that could help grow the market for games beyond the traditional young male audience.

Nintendo's surprise announcement was a tiny redesigned Game Boy Advance called Micro, available this fall for an undisclosed price. The silver device, about the size of an iPod Mini, is a redesign and doesn't offer any new technology, officials said.

"This is just another kind of edgy element that we're adding to the mix," Nintendo of America spokeswoman Perrin Kaplan said.

New types of interactivity were the main thrust of Nintendo's hopes to broaden the $10 billion U.S. game market.

"Electroplankton" for Nintendo's DS handheld lets gamers manipulate fish and other sea creatures to create rhythmic sound effects and music. "Nintendogs," already available in Japan, employs the DS' microphone as you shout orders to get your digital pup to do tricks like sit and roll over.

Source - Yahoo

[nsane]

Nintendo went a step further, announcing Tuesday to applause and cheers that Revolution's built-in wireless Internet will provide downloadable access to the thousands of games in company's 20-year-old library, going back to the original Nintendo Entertainment System.

now, that's just bad ass! :rolleyes:

[Rudeboy2025]

When I read that, my jaw dropped. :rolleyes: Thats just fucking amazing.

[nsane]

i updated the first post with some REAL pics :rolleyes:

[D0GG]

*wow, that is one smooth hand...*

[nsane]

you know people actually have that job because they have good looking hands :P

that person prolly does nothing but hold stuff in pictures, and make more money than all of us combined :rolleyes:

[D0GG]

Yes, I saw this on an episode of Sienfeld a few years back.

[Rudeboy2025]

I posted those at first but they just didn't look right. I guess I was wrong.

[Chicano666]

Amazing.....

[Zeus_Hunt]

I bet it is a Japaneese hand ..............

[erRor67]

its funny how first Microsoft reveils its new XBox thus getting the ball rolling. So then Sony has ta release details and that leaves Nintendo.. which also released info... :rolleyes: Oh, the competition :P

[nsane]

so far, it looks like nintendo and ps3 are winning. XBOX2 sounds like a VCR when compared to em :rolleyes:

[Guest Gir489]

so far, it looks like nintendo and ps3 are winning. XBOX2 sounds like a VCR when compared to em ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, you wish.

*cough* removeable HD *cough*

[LemonHead2089]

Yeah, you wish.

*cough* removeable HD *cough*

so does PS3... ;)

[erRor67]

Not just that. PS3 will also have the new BlueRay disks with 50 gigs of storage and support memory sticks... beats XBox by a long shot.. ;)

[Guest Gir489]

What's BlueRay? ;)

(Why isn't Lite here backing me up!?) The one time I need that Microsoft-freak! ;)

[Rudeboy2025]

Not just that. PS3 will also have the new BlueRay disks with 50 gigs of storage and support memory sticks... beats XBox by a long shot..

Ya damn straight!!!! ;)

[LemonHead2089]

What's BlueRay? ;)

erRor67 just told you what it was.

PS3 will also have the new BlueRay disks with 50 gigs of storage and support memory sticks... beats XBox by a long shot.. ;)

So basically its about 10 4.7 GB Blank DVDs put into one. thats the disks the new PS3 games will be put on. so that means we get A LOT MORE playing time. beat that Xbox! ;)

[Zeus_Hunt]

What's BlueRay? :D

A little more precise info

Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of leading consumer electronics and PC companies (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc can hold 25GB, which can be used to record over 2 hours of HDTV or more than 13 hours of standard-definition TV. There are also dual-layer versions of the discs that can hold 50GB.

While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD-RAM use a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made backwards compatible through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup and allow playback of CDs and DVDs. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser (405nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it's possible to fit more data on the disc even though it's the same size as a CD/DVD. This together with the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 is what enables Blu-ray Discs to hold 25GB/50GB.

With the rapid growth of HDTV, the consumer demand for recording HD programming is quickly rising. Blu-ray was designed with this application in mind and supports direct recording of the MPEG-2 TS (Transport Stream) used by digital broadcasts, which makes it highly compatible with global standards for digital TV. This means that HDTV broadcasts can be recorded directly to the disc without any quality loss or extra processing. To handle the increased amount of data required for HD, Blu-ray employs a 36Mbps data transfer rate, which is more than enough to record and playback HDTV while maintaining the original picture quality. In addition, by fully utilizing an optical disc's random accessing features, it's possible to playback video on a disc while simultaneously recording HD video.

Blu-ray is expected to replace VCRs and DVD recorders over the coming years, with the transition to HDTV. The format is also likely to become a standard for PC data storage and HD movies in the future.