Revolution functions mooted: Nintendo coy over E3

Hardware showing in doubt…

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Revolution functions mooted: Nintendo coy over E3
Another day, another set of expectations being set for Nintendo’s mysterious E3 plans. We attempted to lay the matter to rest of late, combining pretty much everything we had hear to date. However, the rumour mill continues to rumble around, this time with tidings from an interesting source; the personal site of Broken Saints creator, Brooke Burgess. As you may be aware, Broken Saints began as an online anime comic which eventually launched a successful DVD. The studio was linked to Nintendo with a GameCube adaptation of the comic widely expected, though nothing was seen.

Broken Saints has been in talks with various Hollywood studios of late about its franchise, as well as several major games companies. Anyway, here are Burgess’ thoughts reproduced in full.

As you’ve read in the last couple of posts, I’ve yapped with journalists and developers who are pretty confident regarding some of the Revolution’s features. I had been hearing about these bits and bobs for months, but as a diehard Nintendo fan there was nothing to really spark my passion - especially considering the Cube’s lacklustre software showing several YEARS into its life cycle. But, for the sake of the lazy multitudes, here’s a quick feature recap:

GYROSCOPIC CONTROL: Several sources have suggested that the new control scheme will SUPPORT positional shifts a la Kirby’s Tilt ‘n’ Tumble. This means that not EVERY game will require you to pull a Pisa, but that Nintendo is championing the integration of this feature into at least one of their launch games. Talking with several developers, we agreed that this could work well for navigation games and maybe some sports experiences…but it’s nothing they’d be eager to program for.

TOUCHSCREEN INTEGRATION: I’ve heard from more than one reputable source that either a DS style touchscreen or an actual proprietary PDA device with be part of the new controller. As you discussed yesterday in COMMENTS, this makes sense with Nintendo’s technology partners, the creation of the DS, and Nintendo’s push towards ‘tactile’ experiences. Not a hard thing to program for and most likely a smart move, as Microsoft and PS3 will almost assuredly support some sort of integrated screen/handheld configuration.

WIRELESS: I popped up some clues yesterday regarding what I’ve heard about their wireless plans, and can most assuredly state that the unit will ship with wireless controllers like X-Box 2. But as IGN and others have pointed out, Nintendo’s pushing hard with their wireless technology and partnerships, and my sources support that it will go well beyond mere controller connection and into the realm of some serious data transfer: touchscreen/pda and machine, player-to-player, Rev to DS, Rev to PC, and Rev to Rev (both in-home and with locally based wireless ‘tribes’).

Okay. No major revelations there, but I bet its got you thinking about future game design and interactive potential, yes? Yes…but for me, the first twinge of excitement regarding this machine didn’t come until the final pieces of the long-rumoured DISPLAY puzzle fell into place:

- the IGN boys posted this regarding a patent for Nintendo’s upcoming display technology, which I linked to a few days ago. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to glean that this conceptually portrays a form of 3D image projection.

- at a major film conference called ShoWest just last month, a panel featuring George Lucas, Robert Zemekis, James Cameron, Robert Rodriguez, and a satellite feed from Peter Jackson has studio reps, journalists, and theatre owners seriously jazzed about their plans to integrate cheap digital stereoscopic 3D (like recent IMAX features or the old school Captain EO experience at Epcot) into ALL major chains by 2007. Lucas even showed several minutes of the original STAR WARS with remapped visuals that popped off the screen and hovered in front of audience members. When an agent friend of mine was chatting with Rodriguez (there to pump Sin City and discuss his experiences with Spy Kids 3D), he mentioned how they were aware of a game machine beating them to the mainstream 3D market.

- the next day, I contacted another strangely influential industry pal/pundit and shared my thesis purely for fun’s sake (and perhaps some extremely lame bragging rights). The final shiny block of tetrisy knowledge slid into place when he excitedly shared the following - that the Big N had shown a real-time 3D add-on for GameCube behind closed doors…AT LAST YEAR’S E3. It has since gone MIA. This is the sound of four rows dropping.

More details and potential software discussion to follow…for now, I’m eager to hear YOUR thoughts. How will stereoscopic 3D gaming usher in the ‘Revolution’ that Nintendo has been trumpeting? Will it end up nothing more than a Virtual Boy style gimmick, or will custom 3D glasses become the big fashion accessory of 2007 and beyond? With graphics chip codenames like Hollywood and Broadway, does this signal Nintendo’s plans to make more cinematic games that mimic the upcoming 3D theatrical experience? If (and, from what I’m hearing, this will be a VERY big IF) Nintendo shows their hand at this year’s E3 by giving everyone at their annual press conference a pair of 3D glasses to wear, will players care?


SPOnG contacted Nintendo today for official comment, receiving only, “As previously announced, Nintendo plan to share its vision of its next generation console codename Revolution at E3 2005." When pushed further, only a “We do not comment on rumour or speculation.”

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Comments

Showing the 20 most recent comments. Read all 61.
Ditto 2 May 2005 10:30
42/61
I agree with PreciousRoi.

I just don't see how the N64 was revolutionary. It was one of the most evolutionary consoles out there - an obvious move into 3D with a (fairly) poor unresponsive controller, fairly poor graphics and framerate with mutiplayer and only a few excellent games.
OptimusP 2 May 2005 11:22
43/61
Well, it's true that you can call every revolution a evolution. Even the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution are being called evolutions by historians. The problem is that they research the object so much they kill the magic around it (damn you science!).
So for all the pessimists out there, the N64 wasn't really a revolution. But it is the blueprint of 3D-gaming to date, it was the console that said "and this is the way it should be done, now go home you 3D-wannabe's!"

Does more power lead to new game experciences? Partly yes but you need some bloody good teams that can use that power into something that can used in games. Take HL2 for example, before it was released you allready had games that used some very impressive physics but gameplay-wise it added zippo. Valve really used it's physics engine for gameplay reasons.
The problem is, after physics what other aspect of real-life can you use gameplay-wise? Yes we can have better AI and better physics. Time-altering gameplay exists allready too but isn't really spectacular (maybe Big N has to show everyone how it should be done...again, what leads to my believe that the Revolution will have a hard-disk so that Nintendo can have all their 64DD ideas worked out).

So quite frankly, how do you get new games? Change the control-interface, change the way how we control games and boom, new games get!
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PreciousRoi 3 May 2005 08:12
44/61
Joji wrote:
And who was the talking about Atari 5200? Don't make me laugh. Next thing we'll hear is that Atari invented the control pad which is total bs. The Atari 5200 also wasn't playing games in total 3D, was it? Doh!


what does "total 3d" have to do with analog controls? hell, you need two analog sticks to move around in "total 3d" anyway dont'cha? Whats so great about the invention of the control pad anyway? One of the main reasons I was completely unimpressed withy the NES was the use of the pad. Its an evolutionary step backwards from a joystick actually... I wouldn't even WANT credit for that if I did "invent" it, which actually I may have, messing around with a broken 2600 joystick board...but, please don't tell anyone, I'd rather let Nintendo or whoever get the blame for that.

Oh yeah, laugh all you want, the 5200 had an analog joystick, and they were quite common on Apples and PCs at the time. So sorry, Nintendo was at least a decade and a half or more late with their implementation of analog controls.

So I still don't see where the N64 "changed the way" anyone once played, aside from providing a temporary home for Nintendo franchises. You can say that about mebbe 3 consoles, ever(4 if you count the C64), and the N64 isn't one of them.

C64>n64
PreciousRoi 3 May 2005 08:16
45/61
I just don't see the n64 as a blueprint, except in the sense that Nintendo wisely left most of the design elements of the n64 in a dusty drawer somewhere and moved on. I'd call it more of an series of experiments, many of which were complete failures, some of which were not.

I'd say it was more like, "Here's our attempt at 3-D, maybe one of you guys can do a better job, Lord I sure hope so...we would have tried harder and done better, but we're Nintendo, so we don't have to."
kid_77 3 May 2005 10:57
46/61
PreciousRoi wrote:
Whats so great about the invention of the control pad anyway? One of the main reasons I was completely unimpressed withy the NES was the use of the pad. Its an evolutionary step backwards from a joystick actually

Is this sarcasm? Because if it is, my detection powers are waning. Do you honestly prefer 'sticks to 'pads? 'Sticks have to be played on a surface, because they're too ungainly when used just in the hands. The only games I prefer 'sticks to pad's are Street Fighter and flight-sims... but I can't remember the last time I played either.
PreciousRoi 3 May 2005 12:36
47/61
Not at all, maybe theres a question of meaning though...

I hate the d-pad, you might be confusing d-pad with gamepad, which is basically a console controller. I don't call console controllers "pads". I give Nintendo no credit for "inventing" a box with buttons and wires coming out of it, we had those already, I give them full blame for emasculating the joystick to make the d-pad and making it the ubiquitous control method prior to the introdution of the Dual Shock. Also, Joysticks come in many flavors as well, many of which require no surface at all. You mistake the "Arcade Joysticks" (which are used primarily for the fighting games like Street Fighter, etc.) and specialized analog Joysticks for Flight sims and mebbe the occasional giant mecha game availible for the consoles for 'sticks in general, which include the analog units in all 3 console controllers, as well as the older digital units. Not that d-pads don't have their uses, just not as a primary control, but if I ever need 4 buttons, there you go, its perfect.

For instance, though I was not aware of it at the time there was a 2-button version of my favorite 2600/C64 Joystick availible for the NES, the Epyx 500N I believe it was called. It was ergonomically designed for the palm of your hand, and used high-quality microswitches, which make it far and away superior to both the Atari 2600 joysticks and the NES controller.
config 3 May 2005 14:02
48/61
This is the only Epyx 500 stick could find (500XJ). It was branded and distributed by Epyx in the US, but it was actually produced Konix in the UK, and known as the Speedking - a very fine, solid joystick IMO.


PreciousRoi 3 May 2005 17:26
49/61
yeah thats the one, I still have a few lying around in a box with an old C64...

I was in a FunCoLand a year or so ago and I saw one in the bargain bin for the NES with a second button where the smooth bit is in the molding nest to the other one. 500XN or somesuch...

that was about the best bit of kit you could get for the 2600/C64 and made the standard Atari sticks (and NES pad) look like dog poop by comparison. Definitly one of the best 3rd party controllers ever, if not the best.

OptimusP 3 May 2005 17:45
50/61
You can soak as much in the past as you will but Nintendo's inventions are now the standard of videogame control and no one has come up with anything better so they must be doing a good job. And those joysticks are not analog, more what I like to call "hydraulic": the longer you keep it in the 1 position, the more it gives, giving an analog-esque way of control but in no way giving the speed and effectiveness of true analog control.

And so yes, the N64 was the first homeconsole that brought 3D in a good way because everything new Nintendo made for it is now a standard or still being in a experimental phase (many 64DD ideas).
And this is starting to look more like those holocaust debats where one party starts dishing the facts because they have the opinion no one could do something like that.
PreciousRoi 3 May 2005 21:57
51/61
oh bullshit. not to mention LIES

And I thought the bit about the Revolutions was overblown and melodramatic, now you gotta bring up the Holocaust?
wanderingsoul 3 May 2005 23:52
52/61
How could it be considered the best console to deliver something new in a good way by failed attempts at making something what another company improved and made a success?
That's like saying all the flying machine creators are the sole cause for airplanes now. The Wright brothers developed the first true flying aircraft possibly inspired by other inventors, but they were the ones who accomplished true flight, not the others who hit the ground running.
The same could be said about Nintendo. True, they came up with the joystick on a home console, but by no means did they refine and perfect it like Sony did. Same goes with the rumble feature. Now once Sony set the standard, Nintendo had to follow suit with internal rumble and refined joystick.
Yes, it is remarkable that Nintendo first dreamt these ideas, but Sony was the company that made proper adjustments to make them truly work, and for that they must be commended.

And to the post above, Nintendo fans have every right to be weary and melodramatic. It's bullcrap that Nintendo has decided in the past 10 years to be different by alienating themselves. Maybe there's historians fallacy in this, but come on. Virtual Boy? Niche GBA GC link up? Cartridges? Pirate-Proof but over compact storage medium? (GC discs)
And don't gimme crap that they've always been truly innovative either. They milked the hell out of the Game Boy line with generally no true improvements between 1989 and 1998 and even until GBA was released in 2001.
We have to question every angle of Nintendo's motives whether it be from a historical standpoint or not. Melodramatic? Look at the PS2 fanboys or MS bitches, then we'll talk.
PreciousRoi 4 May 2005 02:32
53/61
*blinks in disbelief*

you're so half-right...but in a very blind way
kid_77 4 May 2005 08:15
54/61
PreciousRoi wrote:
Not at all, maybe theres a question of meaning though...

I hate the d-pad, you might be confusing d-pad with gamepad, which is basically a console controller.

I know the difference between a d-pad and gamepad, thank you.

PreciousRoi wrote:
I don't call console controllers "pads".

Fair enough, but all the gamers I know do (don't know if it's a UK wide ellipsis?). Surely you Yanks, being the kings of abbreviation, have a quick term for "console controller"?
PreciousRoi 4 May 2005 09:03
55/61
All of the people I know just call them by either the proper name (i.e. "S" or "DualShock") or just "controllers"...calling them "pads" went out of style with the change of generation from SNES/Genesis to PS.

Wasn't trying to do anything aside from clarify what I meant, I apologise (in the Queen's English no less) if it were taken otherwise...perhaps it was I who was confused about what he meant when he said "control pads"...I assumed he meant the d-pad, which I see as a Nintendo trademark (even if they didn't invent it, they are surely responsible for its being ubiquitous). The thought of attributing the "invention" of the console controller as such to Nintendo was too ludicrous, though many people seem to consider it an accepted fact...they just refuse to believe that there was life before the NES. Even if you narrow the definition down to something similar to the NES controller(small flat box with buttons onnit, and an alternative to the joystick) the Intellivison for example has Ninty beat. Fond childhood memories, nostalgia, and ignorance of the truth cannot change history, no matter how much the Ninty fanboys wish it so.

While I've got you Limeys attention, what was the show with Ian McShane about the art scams? I would have thought with him being on Deadwood, it would have resurfaced over here, but it hasn't, I used to love that show...
kid_77 4 May 2005 09:24
56/61
PreciousRoi wrote:
While I've got you Limeys attention, what was the show with Ian McShane about the art scams? I would have thought with him being on Deadwood, it would have resurfaced over here, but it hasn't, I used to love that show...

Lovejoy was exported to the US? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, what with the successful transition of The Antiques Roadshow. I guess you Yanks are all budding treasure hunters... Wonder if it spawned from those 80's movie greats, like Raiders and Goonies :)
PreciousRoi 4 May 2005 13:51
57/61
yeah, thats the one, it was on A&E (Arts & Entertainment), back in the late 80's I think...good show, I was very impressed with his being cast for Deadwood, especially in THE key role in the show...is Deadwood being aired over there? Don't miss it if you get the chance, very good stuff, if you don't mind the authenticly blue language. A lot of very Shakespearian bits innit, and not just becasue someone always seems to be scrubbing blood off the floor...

Not really sure how popular Lovejoy was here in the States, I think it was one of A&E's flagship shows for a good while...but no one I've talked to remmebers Ian McShane at all, as soon as I saw the first appearance on Deadwood, I told them they were in for a treat...
config 4 May 2005 14:00
58/61
Yeah, Deadwood is (was?) being aired on Murdoch's Sky/Fox/NewsCorp axis of televisual media dictatorship.

Huh. Whatever happened to News Corp buying Eidos?

LOL
PreciousRoi 4 May 2005 15:15
59/61
did you add some kinda "feature" that splits posts into pages?

Can I turn it off somewhere? We hates it, we hates it forever, gollum, gollum...
Ditto 4 May 2005 16:48
60/61
PreciousRoi wrote:
did you add some kinda "feature" that splits posts into pages?

Can I turn it off somewhere? We hates it, we hates it forever, gollum, gollum...


Config posted a notice in the Forums forum.

We'll be able to specify posts per page when the profiles are completed. Presumably this will include an 'all' option. Although keeping it as pages will probably reduce their bandwidth usage, so...
wanderingsoul 4 May 2005 20:45
61/61
Perhaps I'd have a better reply if your responses to my views were a tad more half-hearted and vague.
Btw, I'm playing devil's advocate in many of these posts.
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