The Nintendo Revolution
 

Rumors and Conjecture and evidence of the next Nintendo console has been published.

When I looked at the controller I thought it was upside down. But the triggers would be too far down, near the pinkies in fact. So that controller looks like it's actually ride side up, to be held like an airplane yolk. Very cool...

There's only one thing I can say...

Thankfully, these predictions and prototypes almost never actually become the final product. Ok, I do understand the whole "innovation" thing going (I can see how those controllers could work), but that's probably the ugliest product I've ever seen. Dare I say... it's uglier than the Pontiac Aztec?!

Why, I remember when the X-Box was originally "graphically predicted" to be in a huge "X" shape, about the size of three current X-boxes stacked on top of eachother, and was to be made out of what looked like aluminum.

Interesting. It does seem to definately follow "The Nintendo Way." I suspected it to have weird controllers, especially since Big N has been plunking money down into gyroscopic technologies.

Also, did anyone understand that frame/visual frame mumbo-jumbo?

But its all rumors. It reminds me of the old days when the Nintendo "dolphin" (the gamecube, for those of you not in the know) was speculated day in and day out on the internet. Pictures of what it was thought to look like included a controller with a game-boy like screen and buttons where buttons shouldn't go.

There is no way that the new console is going to look like that. And nothing is really known about it (though I have to admit I haven't really been following it). We all might as well wait for E3 or 2006 to find out what's really going on rather than rely on rumors.

Look, it's common knowledge that their "projections" of what the consoles look like are always off. That doesn't matter anyway. Comment on the important stuff.

- The Rubbing controllers

- The Fixation Points

- The bold claim that Nintendo will get trounced.

Their claim that Nintendo will be trounced is essentially baseless. They use the factual specs of the console as evidence to their blunt statement, without elaborating any futher. Also, they go futher on this topic by speaking only on the rumors. Since the "rubbing controllers" and such are based on the information of an "inside source," they should probably just be dismissed as rumors until some hard evidence rises. The only way to predict if Nintendo is going to "pull a Sega" could really only be seen when an actual list of lauch games are made and when factual and complete specs of the system are produced.

Now, as far as the controllers are concerned - I have no problem with chaning the format of controllers. If you recall, Nintendo was the first to make a console using a pad instead of a joystick - which actually was somewhat of a revolution for its time. So if they, or anyone else for that matter, could make the controller work and work well, I'd be fine with it.

The "Fixation Points" thing I understand, but only to the point of it being a concept of visual perception. The only way I could truly speak upon it would be to see it in action (And that's if Nintendo even intends to do so).

When I read the fixation points thing, I get confused because it sounds like they're going to make the visual experience even more complicated. Warping virtual space to keep important objects in view? I just get this vew of a wall warping around so I can see an enemy behind it or something equally stupid. Of course, I'm probably completely misunderstanding, and I'll have to wait until I see it.

The rubbing seems retarded. I'll agree with Apathy, though. If Nintendo can pull it off, all the more power to them.

As for them getting trounced: No. They say right in the article that Zelda will be one of the launch titles. There are still lots of people who buy Nintendo consoles JUST for Zelda. Mario is another big name. If they can pull in a few more strong launches, they might just trounce the PS3.

I like how gyroscopic controls could work, and at the same time, they could be very very difficult to use. Imagine if you will, a flying game that used gyroscopes to work, tilt the entire controller back, the plane begin to rotate upward, keep it there and the plane does a complete loop. These gyroscopes could be great for making tiny, percision movements, however I just keep getting the feeling that at some point I'm going to be playing, someone is going to distract me and I'm going to suddenly jerk the controller sideways and smash into a wall or something.

The rubbing controls, could be good depending on how much of the game requires you to use the actual rubbing. for instance imagine a game like Splinter Cell, where in order to lockpick instead of rotating the joystick slowly, you slowly rub across the controller in the right direction.

I don't see Nintendo getting trounced just yet. The revolutions approach (if the finished project uses any of this technology) is radically different then any other systems. Out of what I've heard about the 3 next gen consoles, the Revolution is the only one doing more than raising specs. From what I've heard the PS3 and the Next X-Box just seem like the same system as they're predicessors with improved processors.

Oh and if Mario, Zelda and Smash Bros are launch titles, then I know a bunch of people who will buy it for just one of those titles.

Yeah, like commenting how Nintendo has yet to announce hardly anything in that article. Its all rumors and from sources who claim, but will not tell how or why, they have seen the device, which Nintendo claims isn't even fully developed.

I also like how this article claims Nintendo is going to failm next session automatically to the PS3, not even mentioning that in many ways the PS3 has even less details out han the Revolution, rumor or not. And to top it all off, they make Nintendo to be what popular belieif is and not fact, a 'scrappy underdog of the console war'. They have to stress the fact that everything Nintendo states is conjecture, while turning around and basically claiming themselves that anything announced from Sony or Microsoft is Canon and WILL come to pass. And probably most annoying of all, everytime there's a similarity between the two systems, the have to make it appear that Nintendo is following the example of Microsoft or Sony, when it might as well be that the other two companies might be taking Nintendos lead. Case in point, Microsoft now hiring both IBM and ATI to develop CPUs and GPUs for their system, a move Nintendo already did 5 years ago with the GameCube.

And how about these little gems:

"Nintendo will finally get in the game with some online gaming support. Nintendo is set to create a service like Xbox Live. The early version of this service is what Nintendo is using to provide connectivity to the Nintendo DS."

Let's not go into the fact that its been a known fact that the Revolution is going to support out-of-the-box WiFi support allowing for world-wide online gameplay. But oh, its just a system 'like that of XBOX Live', which is entirely ground-based.

"The Revolution will not support connectivity with the DS but will link up to Nintendo's next handheld game system."

Oh, and they forgot to mention the little facts that the Revolution is going to be able to connect to the GameCube.

And the best quote of them all:

"Nintendo is going to get trounced."

And who made you the overseer of the Future? I think you all have to agree, even those who want Nintendo to die for whatever reason you have, that this is a pretty bold claim to make.

Its articles like this that I find have little idea of what they're talking about and I tend to just not pay attention to.

And there whole rubbing controller. I LOVE how these people think they make a rumor up, and then they go with it as far as they can to make fun of the system, because of something THEY thought up. What if its NOT rubbing. What if its NOTHING you've ever seen. People were making a million different ideas for what the GameCube controller was going to be like and guess what, in the end, the GC controller looked 100% nothing like any of them.

God, these articles are dumb as hell. Even IGN, who is excessively going on and on about Revolution rumors and spouting needless opinions did a MUCH better job than this crap. I'd suggest if people want to read about some more solid rumors, and actual FACTS about the new Revolution, go read IGNs 6 page article about it. I mean, IGN even lists the different departments of Nintendo and what portions of the Revolution they're working on. This article, on the other hand, simply chooses to state it knows all and make up stuff to make the Revolution look bad.

The new Mario game is going to be on Gamecube, according to IGN (I think). I trust IGN more than Stuffo. And that design is completely impractical. You don't use spheres in hardware because components are meant to go into a boxlike pattern. You either waste space or have to stagger stuff, and that's just undue hassle. Did the geniuses who decided that the Revolution will use gyroscopic stuff consider the advances Nintendo is making in gyroscopic Gameboy games (Wario Ware: Twisted, anyone?)? The power/reset buttons are too old skool - the Gamecube's buttons are set in and they're nice like that. And the controller ports are too flat - the new GC ones work well and are nicer-looking. I doubt the buttons will be set into the controller. Those things are hard as hell to press, and I don't get the same satisfying feel from a touchpad. Trust me, they're not gonna go with complete gyroscopic movement - it just gets boring after a while, it leads to carpal tunnel a LOT faster, and it ticks a lot of people off. If Nintendo's gonna be innovative like they say they are going to be, they're gonna be smart on how they do it.