Let the Revolution Begin!

At a pre-E3 press conference in L.A. today Nintendo revealed further details about it's champion in the next round of next-generation consoles ware, Revolution. Set to arive sometime in 2005, Revolution, will offer gamers a "link to the past" and a gateway to future ways of getting and utilizing games and entertainment.



The new console boasts features compact design, approximately the size of three standard DVD cases stacked together. A variety of prototype colors are being showcased during E3. It will come with a silver stand and can be set up vertically or horizontally. The Revolution will offer a bay for an SD memory card that will let players expand the internal flash memory. The system will also offer self-loading media bay that supports two disc formats - GameCube and the new 12-centimeter optical discs used for Revolution. An add-on can also be applied to the system that will let users play standard DVDs.



The Revolution will offer backward compatibility, letting players use their games from the GameCube. But a more exciting prospect is Nintendo's plans to give gamers access to downloadable content from the company's 20 year old game library - including games from the Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and even the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It would be nice if they offered content for those platforms from other companies (and maybe they will), but having access to that much content is pretty exciting.



On the hardware end of the spectrum the Revolution will feature 512 megabytes of internal flash memory, wireless controllers, two USB 2.0 ports and built-in Wi-Fi access for online play. Revolution's technology is a processing chip developed with IBM and code-named "Broadway," and a graphics chip set from ATI code-named "Hollywood,"



Of course, no new game system would be complete without some major franchises, and Nintendo has lined up a number of the usual suspects including Mario, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Donkey Kong and Metroid. Nintendo is also promising both big budget development studios and independent developers that there is room for both to produce and release games, and that for its part Nintendo has created an environment that works with all kinds of games.



We'll have more on Revolution as we head into E3, so stay tuned!