More Revolution Details Revealed

As well as showing off its new baby, Nintendo spilled a few more beans about next year’s Revolution console. Although, this being Nintendo, it was typically coy and mysterious. Refusing to be drawn on any kind of spec, it instead held the console aloft and discussed the philosophy behind it. Traditionally, we were told by Satoru Iwata, the games console was three components in series: a controller, attached to a console, attached to a TV. Now, Nintendo say, a fourth component has come into play: the internet. The relationship of the four components is also transformed by the addition to the mix of wireless technology. Use your imagination, it said.

The minds of fanboys around the world duly ran wild. We know the Revolution has wireless internet access. We know that the controllers are wireless as well, but crucially, we’ve yet to see them. As usual, Nintendo just wants to make your brain work. People left Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 unveilings impressed by - and in no doubt whatsoever about - the suitably large amounts of power being discussed. The Nintendo console left us with nothing but questions, as we started fantasising about the possibilities. A controller with a touch screen, perhaps? We know that the Revolution is to be backwards compatible with a huge array of old Nintendo games. If the controllers have a screen on them, then presumably you wouldn't even need to use your telly to play the downloadable NES and SNES games, and could just take the controller about the house with you.

Before we get carried away, let’s just say that the idea of a Nintendo-ified living room, containing a TV, a Revolution, the internet, a wireless handheld of some description, all compatible with the WiFi DS, if you have one, makes us drool with pleasure. We begin to see how Nintendo’s policy of connectivity, merely dabbled with on the 'Cube and GBA, might really start to come of age.

Physically, the Revolution is small too. And it became clear on stage that the white bit at the bottom is a detachable stand of some sort. Does this contain the wireless router? Questions, questions...

As well as the fans, Nintendo courted developers. The Revolution, it said, was an escape route for people who couldn’t afford today’s spiralling development costs. These days, dev budgets commonly run into eight figures. It promised that games on the Revolution would be cheaper and easier to code, emphasising that the machine is really just the canvas on which teams can express their creativity. And in the same breath, Nintendo’s three biggest IPs were mentioned: Zelda, Mario, Metroid are all in development already for the Revolution, and third-party support was following. Already in the works, we are told, is a version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

So there you have it. Nintendo offering developers a way out of the 'bigger, better, faster' rat race, and offering instead a medium for taking video games to new places. And a message to gamers that if we want to change the way we think about gaming and open our minds to innovation, then this is the only next-gen console to take on that journey.