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The Revolution's Power And Launch Date
IGN is reporting on new details for Nintendo's next-generation console. They have discussion of the Revolution's graphical power, and some reflection on when the console might launch. From the former article: "Based on the information studios have relayed to us, Revolution is truly poised to cater to an altogether different game market than either Microsoft or Sony with their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles respectively. Nintendo's machine will simply not deliver the same graphic horsepower as its competitors. Revolution is all about the controller and what it can do for gameplay experiences. When Revolution was initially unveiled, a Nintendo executive said it would be 'two-to-three times more powerful than GameCube.' The company never commented on Revolution's horsepower again and we were later told that the initial statement was incorrect. However, according to development houses, that description accurately sums up Revolution's power. "
I'm starting to worry about the Revolution. I'm as much of a Nintendo fan as anyone but I don't see this working out that well for them. I mean Microsoft already has their system out; Sony will have their system out soon. And Nintendo doesn't even have a launch date. The controller seams kind of cool, but more of a gimmick than functional.
There are no rumors about a revolution. Rumors are treason.
No developer that chatted with us had, or was willing to share, details on the console's GPU, Hollywood. One studio said: "As soon as we find out what it can do then we'll know if Revolution will just be like an Xbox or something a little more."
So all this speculation is based on guesstimates of the main CPU's power and the amount of system RAM? That tells us approximately 0.9% of squat about the graphics capability of the Revolution. Thanks for wasting my time, IGN.
I love it how even though nobody is even using a revolution dev kit, they are commenting on system specs, of witch they obviously don't have.
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Maybe I'm just not picky, but I haven't really been terribly upset with the Cube's graphics. In fact games like Metroid Prime 1 & 2, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Resident Evil 4, and it would seem the new Zelda are just graphically stunning. (in fact Wind Waker was too, in a completely different way). Three times that is almost overkill. The Xbox 360 I would say, from what I've seen, is barely hitting that metric, except of course it can do HD, which really only matters for 5-10% of gamers anyway. Sure it's early, and I'm sure by the time we're almost done with the 360 it'll far surpassed anything I can differentiate (would anyone have possibly imagined a game that looks as good as Shadow of the Collosus could have come out of the PS2 when it launched in 2000?), but we're hitting the photorealistic barrier pretty hard as it is. There's only so much more graphical power is going to be able to accomplish. However, hype is everything, and having an "underpowered" console isn't going to help Nintendo regain their hardcore group. It seems like they've given up on them anyway. Which is fine, they aren't terribly good gamers anyway. With online I'm going to have to interact with fellow Revolution gamers and it will probably be a good thing that it won't be filled with the sort of people who eat marketing hype like candy and actually care about graphical powers that might possibly result in a fractionally better looking game.
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I'll take good games over good graphics any day
If they bundle the original Super Mario Brothers, and Duck Hunt onto the console at launch.. then I'm in man! I haven't shot ducks in duck hunt since I took a shovel to my old NES!
If i wanted to hear bullshit, i'd go to church.
The entire controller is motion-sensitive?
what?
So basically, you can't even shift your body once you start the game, otherwise your character will end up doing some funky jig. Dunno about the rest of you, but that seems mildly uncomfortable to put it mildly.
And what if you don't sit in a position that keeps the controller level? I use a beanbag, and my TV is several feet above the floor. So I'm usually at an angle towards the TV. Will Solid Snake be perpetually looking up as well since my controller is raised 45 degrees?
You know, I'm thinking that 2x-3x as powerful as the gamecube is about the same power as the 360 (and PS3 as well). People flipped out about that statement originally, assuming it meant the revolution was going to be some underpowered system, but every 360 game I see looks pretty much like this generation with less compression on the textures and higher res video.
I'm not too worried about the revolution giving us some good games, but I'm worried about mainstream gamers opening their eyes outside of MTV and IGN enough to see the potential.
Based on my contacts at a few dev. studios, they all seem excited about developing for the system and the overall feel I have received is that it will be about 2x as powerful as a Gamecube powerwise.
However, folks tend to forget that the Gamecube offered 8 layer texture mapping... 8. That is huge, however, the GC was simply not powerful enough to really do anything meaningful with a screen full of 8 layer polys.
If the graphics chip ends up being a slightly updated GC chip, I'm cool with that. I have seen what can be done in demos on the GC and sweet Jebus is it amazing!... yet only graphic demos.
So if the system ends up about 2-3x as powerful with a 1.5x GPU you now have a very capable system that can produce graphics plenty pretty enough to look stunning even on a HD set.
I truly believe that the folks who are mainly concerned with numbers and horsepower will stay away from the Revolution - or maybe buy one in addition to another system - and that is FINE. There are so many families and casual gamers out there clamoring for a simpler system that the numbers will eclipse us "hardcore" gamers. While we are strong, we are few in the grand scheme of things. Realize that more Billions of dollars are pulled in by many forms of entertainment like Barbie dolls annually than out beloved hardcore gaming demographic. When Nintendo taps this wide market, Sony and MS will soon be doing an about face and targeting them too.
I wish Nintendo and the true spirit of gaming nothing but the best, and I will be purchasing a Revolution on day 1 and have my pre-order in as soon as they become available to help show the amount of initial interest and garner as much developer support as possible.
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The color screen as I remember it is still better in some aspects than what I've seen of the DS. I did mostly play it with the adapter, which developed a break. I liked the "Psychic World" on it better than the Master System version. Then there was this cloudy maze game where a dragon's egg followed you, and if you got far enough it turned into a dragon. It had cursed swords that you could not unequip. Would still have it too, except for a situation I'd rather not get into.
As someone else said, it could calibrate the stick on startup. What he forgot is it could auto-calibrate on booting, so the player doesn't have to.
Moreover, games will use different movements for actions, so simply shifting on the sofa won't automatically do something on-screen. Worst-case scenario is the character is in a dangerous situation and the player has to pause before shifting themselves. How inconvenient is this to most people? Not very. For those with hemorrhoids who need to squirm, I suggest applying Preparation H before playing.
for the programmers. Sure, Solaris for the Atari 2600 is amazing, but it'd be a heck of a lot easier to write the same game for the NES. More horsepower means less time spent optimizing and more on stablizing and tweaking gameplay.
As a side note, I like the idea of the controllers. When I get old and decrepit and can't hold a ps2 controller I can still play a Revolution.
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I know of a system that doesn't require high definition, but still enables people to become completely absorbed in a photorealistic, life-like world. The system is designed around using incredibly complex models and taking in billions of scattered rays of light off them from a particular viewing angle and running it through a process that similar to anti-aliasing, but 1000 times better. It's called a television broadcast.
Seriously, my family's HDTV takes a satellite signal from an S-video (i.e. low def) cable and puts out one incredible image. Yes, I can't see all of the skin pores all the time and clothing textures and faraway grass may look slightly blurred, but overall the picture looks VERY sharp, and it is definitely photorealistic enough to make watching a good movie an engrossing experience.
My point is that even if a system doesn't have a high-def output, it can use all of its horsepower in creating more polygons, more textures, more AA/AF, higher framerates, etc., etc., etc. Incidentally, this could have the potential create a more photorealistic image from the same horsepower than if the graphics were produced for ultracrisp high-def. This is especially true if you are sitting more than four feet (1.3 meters) away from your TV set while playing.
See this is the problem. Introduce something NEW, and the sheep think they will want to play the same old games still. WAKE UP BUDDY! If you want yet another Solid Snake game, then stick to your Playstation or Xbox. Meanwhile, the Revolution is promising NEW KINDS of interactive entertainment.
This is why the Revolution will sell more than expected, maybe more than the PS3. The Rev will debut for probably $200-$300 less than the PS3, yet on your television, in the commercials for the games THEY WILL BOTH LOOK THE SAME.
Seriously now, $400 U.S. or $500 CAN. Who cares, I spent that on my last video card for my PC. It is only fair that console owner pay the price for consoles killing the supply of good games for the P.C. Hardcore camers used to spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars to get the biggest and baddest gaming PC, and most still do, can you say W.O.W. That's what made PC games "10 times" better than consoles at the time. The time has come that consoles are aproaching the capabilities of a PC. Before you start saying that it's not all about graphics, I have to say, absolutelly. The 360 is not just about a box with better graphics, yes it does have better graphics, and processing power. But it can become the centre of your home entertainment unit, if you have a home network it is further enhanced. For instance, my 360 is hoked up to my home network, I can watch recorded shows which are stored on my PC, I can browse, create playlists and listen to all the music on my PC. Also, I can hook up my wife's Ipod, or my digital camera, or my pocket PC. Try doing that with a Gamecube, better yet the PS3, hmmm. I ask you this: Is the PS3 going to support it's very own PSP. Rummor has it that it will not, but you can stick the memory card in it. Is the PS3 going to have a hard drive? How about the Revolution? To be perfectly honest, I was going to wait for the PS3. This is the first box I bought since the Turbo Graphics 16... Yeah, I know! I moved to the box because I want to play games other than FPS, I got sick of having 4 different gamepads and none of them being supported by certain games, Tired of having to go and buy a new video card at least once a year. The 360 is an easy move from P.C. gaming to console gaming. You don't loose much and you gain consistency.
The uncanny valley effect is about *robotics* and NOT computer graphics. It's the things that walk & talk and pretend to be human that give some people shivers, NOT things they see on a screen.