ars technica has a great article that ruminates about the rumoured launch date of the Revolution (Thanksgiving next year) and about how powerful it will be (twice the GameCube).

Personally, I think it will be more powerful than twice the GameCube, and I have no thoughts whatsoever about the launch date. But ars technica has some interesting conclusions about a potentially weak Revolution:

The lack of power in the console is striking for another reason, too. If you’ve read Jeremy’s excellent article on game development, you know that studios push heavily for cross-platform titles. With a serious discrepancy between the Revolution and its contemporaries in raw power, this could have three potential effects. The least-likely effect is that the Revolution becomes the Lowest Common Denominator, and ends up being the platform that games are designed for initially. On the opposite side of the spectrum there’s the possibility that Nintendo becomes too niche, and falls further out of the game release cycle than they are now. The last, mostly likely option is that Nintendo’s cross-platform games are moderately customized for the console, with little to no effect on how games play on the offerings from Sony and Microsoft. Will this end up creating a gaming universe where Sony and Microft duke it out on the high-end, while Nintendo is off in its own world? Perhaps. Some would already characterize the current PS2/Xbox/GameCube scenario as precisely that.

Revolution launch, pricing, and scheme? Cheap, SD, and fun.

You’ve been waiting for it, and here it is.

The official unveiling of the Nintendo Revolution will be on May 9th of next year at a press event at the Kodak Theater.

Gizmodo - Nintendo Revolution May 9 Unveiling

Interested in the Nintendo Revolution? Then 1up.com has an article for you. They talk about several things, including the new controller and whether or not it’ll be used as a gimick. And whether Revolution games will be shorter than other games:

Revolution seems more geared towards family fun, so games of epic scope seem less necessary. There is concern about games being too gimmicky and not having long-term replay value beyond the initial concept, but I have confidence that many games will be addictive and provide long-term enjoyment with friends. There will be must-have games, as well as some duds. I think the games produced by Nintendo will be worth the price of admission. If long-term play becomes an issue, they could always make a game where you perform daily exercises with the pointer and watch your character get bulked up over time.

Developers also think that gamers will buy the Revolution in addition to the PS3 or Xbox 360, but that there will be a smaller installed base. This could cause problems:

I do have concerns as a developer. If the Revolution doesn’t offer a large enough install base, it will be a tough sell for companies to focus their development efforts on a single platform. At The Behemoth, we are a small team and can only make one game at a time. It’s great because we have tons of creative freedom and make the games we want to make. We serve a niche audience but we still have to watch our bottom line. The question arises as to whether we want to make a really cool, unique game for a very large potential audience, or if we want to make something for a niche platform with a much smaller but dedicated audience. If we come up with a game idea specifically for the Revolution that is just too fun to pass up, I’m sure we’ll do it. The other scenario is the Revolution will get a port of a game that works on the other consoles as well.

But on the issue of HD the developers are split. Tom Fulp from The Behemoth says “I don’t consider lack of HD support to be too big a deal at the moment. I’ve always been more of a frame-rate nut myself; I like my frame-rates fast and smooth.” But Randy Pitchford of Gearbox says “I’m an HDTV user, so for me this is a big deal. I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal in the market when the Revolution launches, but it’s going to be a much bigger deal in 2008 or 2009.” I agree with Randy!

1UP.com - Revolution Developer Roundtable

First half operating profit free-falled 51% for Nintendo, as GameCube sales took a serious turn up a dead-end road.

Nintendo, known for games featuring characters such as Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokemon, is expected to report a decline in revenue for the full year as GameCube console and software sales taper off and as it is hurt by a price cut for its DS portable game machine, which it launched about a year ago.

Bad third party support. No online play. No DVD player. Gosh, I hope Nintendo learns a lesson as it designs the Revolution. Give people what they want!

CNET News - Poor GameCube sales zap Nintendo

I had to smile at Nintendo Gal’s post about the Revolution.

Some dude at UBS Investment Research said that the Revolution would be the last Nintendo console and the Gal rips him a new one.

Good job Nintendo Gal!

Uh, well. On the other hand, if trend continues I think the dude may have a point. The PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Xbox 360 look to mop the floor with the Revolution. I wonder if Nintendo should become a software shop like SEGA? I seriously hope that doesn’t happen. Three-horse races are always better than those with two.

Nintendo Gal - Market Analyst On Revolution, Last Console?

I just found this article and so I have to continue yesterday’s topic about HD on the Revolution.

It looks like 82% of home in America will have HDTV access by 2010. Now, that doesn’t mean that they’ll have HDTV televisions, but this is still an indicator that HDTV is on the move and gaining momentum.

I don’t think it’s a wise move for Nintendo to play themselves out of the game. It’s like their folding their hand without even seeing the cards.

HD Beat - 82% of homes HDTV equipped by 2010

Revolution has no HD.
Wait, Revolution migh have HD…

Uh, nope. It doesn’t.

* Million Dollar Baby SPOILER WARNING *

I just watched Million Dollar Baby yesterday, and man the ending is a bummer. The chick was doing so well! So much potential. Knocking ‘em out all the time. And then BAM. That’s it. All over.

Is that what it’s going to be like with the Revolution? It’s going to have a good processor, good graphics, an interesting controller. But BAM, no HD. Today that might not be such a big deal, though my friend Steve is disappointed (he’s a current GameCube owner and will be buying an HDTV when he can). But what about 3 years from now? The HDTV landscape will be a lot different by then, and an SD console will be severely lacking.

The PlayStation 3 (PS3) and XBox 360 both support HD. And not just halfway. All Xbox 360 games have to support at least 720p. We don’t have word yet on what Sony will be mandating, though current thinking is that they won’t be that stringent (unfortunately). But the point is that both consoles will do HD extremely well.

What about the Revolution? Zilch. Nintendo: do the right thing. Support HD!

1UP.com - No HD For Revolution News Story

Nintendo has again stated that their next-generation console will be priced competitively with the competition.

“Value has been a key card for us this generation and we’ll continue to play it,” Fils-Aime told CNN’s Chris Morris. “Do I expect us to be at a lower price point than our competition? Yes I do. Have we determined a price yet? No we haven’t.”

With Microsoft’s Xbox 360 set at $400 for the usable version, and Nintendo vowing to keep their price cheaper, Sony would be in deep fly-droppings if they released the PlayStation 3 (PS3) with a large price premium over the competition.

(That’s not saying they won’t do it. They seem to be messing up a lot recently. Well, actually, the rumour mill is churning with bad news that Sony doesn’t bother to refute. Either way, it makes Sony look bad.)

TVG - Revolution Price Position Re-Affirmed

Nintendo’s European marketing chief Jim Merrick said that they will attempt to launch the Nintendo Revolution simultaneously in several markets. And by simulateneous, he means better than the DS’s 14 week spread.

I could live with that. His exact wording is “With DS, we were 14 weeks, which was the tightest Nintendo has ever been with a console launch and that was an achievement. But with Revolution, we expect to do better than that. That certainly is our goal.” So I don’t think he means better by a day. That’s not really better. Let’s say he means better by at least two weeks. That would leave a 12 week spread as the Revolution is launched, probably in Japan, Europe, and North America. Twelve weeks is just three months. A three month wait is really not such a bad wait. Totally within the realm “I’m not gonna get jealous”. Longer than that though…

Now, which is the bigger company, Sony or Nintendo? A better question might be, which is bigger, SCE or Nintendo? Well, Sony is definitely bigger. Sony Computer Entertainment might be about the same size, is my guess. Anybody know for sure?

So the question then becomes: If Microsoft can do it, and Nintendo can do, can Sony/SCE do it? Can Sony release the PlayStation 3 (PS3) in multiple markets nearly simultaneously? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say yes, yes they can. They do have the resources. So what’s stopping them? Seriously.

Next Generation - Revolution’s ‘Almost Simultaneous’ Global Launch

If you’re a Club Nintendo Platinum member in Japan, you’ll be getting a free bonus. Yup, check your mail every day from now on, because there could be a package waiting for you!

What is it?

The new Nintendo Revolution controller?

Psyche!

Nope. It’s a TV remote that looks a lot like the Nintendo Revolution controller! (Pictured here.) Even though it’s not the controller, I still think that’s pretty cool! It must be costing Nintendo a bundle to send this out to all those Club Nintendo Platinum members. Uhh… how many of those are there? I have no clue. I didn’t even know there was such a thing.

I wonder if Sony thinks this is a good idea and will start sending bananas or boomerangs to Sony club members? That prototype PlayStation 3 (PS3) controller could also pass for a croissant. Mmmm…. croissants.

SPOnG.com - Nintendo Ships Revolution Controller Early

Rumours and more rumours. I put little credit behind this one, but found it interesting nonetheless. What do you think of a $99 launch price tag for the Nintendo Revolution? I would wager that the controller alone would take up a large chunch of that, so I don’t think it’ll happen. But what if it does? I think that everyone and their dog might pick one up, just to try out the new controller.

Joystiq - Nintendo sets Revolution launch price at $99?

Recently some supposed specs for the Revolution have been doing the rounds, and I’ve reported on them myself. I’ve heard from several sources now that these rumours and totally inaccurate. This is quite disappointing, because the specs were quite impressive and would have put the Revolution in the same league as the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Recently, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata reiterated previous statements that the Revolution wouldn’t be as powerful as the Xbox 360 and PS3.

“If you are just going to compare the spec sheets and spec numbers, Revolution may not have an equal or higher number as the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. But the fact of the matter is that if people are going to connect our machine and their machine to an ordinary TV set at home and try to compare the differences, I really don’t think that they can tell such a huge difference between the machines,”

Rather, Nintendo seems to be putting all their emphasis on innovative hardware and gameplay. This may even be a good direction for them. For all those hardcore gamers out there who buy more than one system, the first system will be an Xbox 360 or PS3, but in many cases, I’m betting the second will be a Revolution. I’m not saying that’s enough, mind you, but it’ll help. And if you’re like me, you’ll be really curious as to what Nintendo comes up with.

IGN - Revolution Less Powerful

Jim Merrick is Nintendo’s head of European marketing. He’s recently been interviewed by C&VG, and he gave away some juicy morcels.

Nintendo had several objectives with their new controller - interesting new gameplay was just one of them. They also wanted something accessible, like a TV remote. The resemblance isn’t unintentional. The new controller can even be used to turn the new console on and off, just like a TV remote.

Mr. Merrick thinks the new controller has so many different ways of using it, you won’t miss the relatively fewer buttons. For example, to control an airplane you can bank left, right, dive, pull up, do a loop, and not press a single button. And he says that when combined with the analog stick on the nunchukk accessory, that you’ll never go back to using a traditional controller for first-person shooters.

The new console will continue to support existing GameCube controllers. That’s a backwards compatibility that Sony and Microsoft won’t be offering with their PS3 and 360. They’re also working on a classic-style controller with a hole wherein you slot the the free-hand controller. I saw a mockup of this somewhere on the net a while ago and thought it was a bunch of baloney, but evidently I was wrong.

C&VG - INTERVIEW: JIM MERRICK

Someone (codenamed ‘Han Solo’, so you know it’s gotta be good, right?) claims to have the inside scoop on the Revolution’s specs. Here they are:

• CPU: 1 IBM Custom PowerPC 2.5 GHz
• GPU: ATI Custom based RN520 core, running at 600MHz, HD support still undecided, though this GPU is physically capable of it
• 512 MB of RAM
• PPU chip (Physical Processing Chip) with 32MB of RAM
• Sound chip with DD5.1 and DTS7.1 support

Supposedly the CPU will lag a little behind the PS3’s Cell and the GPU will be ahead. Of course, a large part of this is pure speculation.

The thing that caught my eye was the PPU. Is this anything like the AGEIA stuff whose library Sony has licensed?

This is really quite interesting. Everyone always assumed that since Nintendo was being so quiet about its system and not talking up the specs, that it would be behind the other two consoles. If these specs are close to accurate, then the Revolution won’t be giving up anything to its two competitors.

ArsTechnica - Nintendo Revolution specs revealed?

Quick, who’s the current generation’s market leader? PS2, right. Second? Xbox, right. Third? GameCube. Nintendo’s relationship with the video gaming public has gone from darling to black sheep. The GameCube, while it does have some pretty good games, is embarrassingly behind the other two consoles.

Nintendo is hoping to change all that with their new controller. I’ve heard some people call it gimicky, and it kind of looks that way at first. But upon further reflection, I think these controllers could be really fun. And fun is really what video games are all about, right? So what if you’re waving your arms about like a possessed monkey. Maybe the monkeys know how to have all the fun!

My friend Steve has a GameCube and is wondering whether or not to get a revolution. He doesn’t like the fact that it doesn’t support HD. His TV is started to act possessed as well, flickering brighter and darker as we try to dodge other monkey balls. So Steve will be getting a new TV probably sooner and not later. And it’ll be an HDTV. Needless to say, he wishes the Revolution supported HD.

But you know, in a way, I hope he does end up getting the Revolution. I am really curious about these controllers, and I think that some really fun games can be made with them. Nintendo of Europe’s senior director of marketing, Jim Merrick, believes the controller “Certainly could make us market leader.” But I somehow doubt that. But I sure am looking forward to what kind of games Nintendo has in store for those controllers.

gameindustry.biz - Rev controller ‘could make Nintendo market leader’