Long wait for Nintendo's new console

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Just saw this on my BBC Technology RSS Feed:

Gamers could be in for a long wait before they get a chance to see Nintendo's new home console in action.

Nintendo officials at the E3 games expo in Los Angeles suggested that the first opportunity to try out the Revolution would be at next year's show.

The machine was unveiled on Tuesday but few details were given about the machine or when it would go on sale.

In contrast, rivals Sony and Microsoft have provided detailed technical information about their new consoles.


Just ramping up the specs does not guarantee success," said Mr Merrick ... Being the first one out of the box also does not guarantee success
Jim Merrick, Nintendo

Both feature powerful processors, as well as advanced graphics and display capabilities.

"Nintendo doesn't want to get into a specification shouting match," said Jim Merrick, the company's European Marketing Director. "I just don't think that it is relevant."

Numbers battle

The Japanese games giant has let some details trickle out about the Revolution. At its core will be a new processor from IBM, codenamed Broadway, and a graphics chip from ATI.

It will also be able to play DVDs, have built-in wi-fi, an SD memory card slot, and 512Mb of flash memory.

Absent from E3 have been any technical demonstrations of the technology, or any trailers of games for the console.

Microsoft's Xbox 360
Microsoft's Xbox 360 will be in the shops by Christmas
"Right now the battle is all theoretical, the battle is all about numbers that are really without a basis for the consumer, so we don't feel the need to jump into that," Mr Merrick told the BBC.

"Nintendo is not just trying to take the current paradigm for gaming to the next logical step, putting the processor of the month, the graphics chip of the week and as much memory as you can afford.

"That is not where we are going," said Mr Merrick.

Look and leap

Nintendo lags behind its rivals in the number of consoles sold.

According to analyst firm Jupiter Research, Sony's PlayStation 2 leads the way in the US with 43% of the games console market.

Microsoft's Xbox is in second place with 19%, and Nintendo's GameCube has 14% of the market.

But Mr Merrick pointed out that this was more than just a numbers game. He said that Microsoft may have sold more consoles, but at a loss, whereas Nintendo was making a profit.

He said this was "a time of profitability" for the GameCube, as millions of people own the console and were buying games.

Sony PlayStation 3
Sony's PlayStation 3 is dubbed a "supercomputer for entertainment"
And the company seems in no rush to leap into the next generation of consoles.

"Just ramping up the specs does not guarantee success," said Mr Merrick.

"Being the first one out of the box also does not guarantee success," he added, citing past consoles that had fallen by the wayside.

Microsoft is rushing to be the first. Its Xbox 360 is due to hit stores worldwide before Christmas.

Sony is planning to release its PlayStation 3 in the spring of 2006. But is has not said whether this just applies to Japan or the rest of the world.

Nintendo has said the Nintendo will come in 2006, without offering any clues as to when during the year.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4565265.stm

I must say that it looks to be the nicest console of them all!

grimloch

those yokes do look quite snazzy, i like the red one myself

sometime is 2006 might be a very long wait, ah well

BloodBath

Nice colours but they are a bit bland. The ps3 looks like a console from the 80's at certain angles. I'd like to see some other covers for the 360. The casing can be changed on them can't it?

jonnybadd

Afaik only the front plate on the 360 can be changed.

On the nintendo note, I think its a good idea to take their time and make sure the hardware is functioning correctly before releasing it on the world, i was very dissapointed with some of the 360 games footage.

Giblet

I'll end up buying all 3 anyway.

RobertFoster

lend us a fiver will you Giblet?

Rew

Dumb ass BBC reporter:

Nintendo has said the Nintendo will come in 2006, without offering any clues as to when during the year.

tman

He who laughs last...

i'm really starting to look forward to owning one of these bad boys now
really looking forward to owning all 3 actually, but the revolution is the only one i'm likely to buy within the first 6 months of launch (chances are it'll have a fairly competetive price tag. there's no ****ing way i'm paying €400 for a goddamned console!)

LegacyUser

What the hell has been so interesting about the revolution? Has anything been shown at all yet?

grimloch

tman wrote:

He who laughs last...

i'm really starting to look forward to owning one of these bad boys now
really looking forward to owning all 3 actually, but the revolution is the only one i'm likely to buy within the first 6 months of launch (chances are it'll have a fairly competetive price tag. there's no ****ing way i'm paying €400 for a goddamned console!)

do you reckon theyll be less than 400? maybe after a price cut or two i suppose, i cant remember how much the ps2 went down after i foolishly payed 380 pounds for it

BloodBath

Ps3 and xbox360 are expected to be around the 400-500e mark. The revolution doesn't have half the hardware either of these 2 have judging by their 2-3 times the power of a cube statement and the size of it so i'd say it might launch at about 200-250e. Nintendo aren't trying to directly compete with the other 2 this time around it seems. Good decission tbh.

petes

BloodBath wrote:

Ps3 and xbox360 are expected to be around the 400-500e mark. The revolution doesn't have half the hardware either of these 2 have judging by their 2-3 times the power of a cube statement and the size of it so i'd say it might launch at about 200-250e. Nintendo aren't trying to directly compete with the other 2 this time around it seems. Good decission tbh.

Agree with the not directly competing but not sure that they are going that way. I think Nintendo are taking the piss tbh. Showed fook all of the revolution, said its 2-3 times more powerful than the gamecube but I dont put much reliability on that. Either they have something absolutely fantastic up their sleeve or they have seen the "specs" and not the "lies"* from both Sony and Xbox and are having another look at revolution. I hope its the former. Ive said before that Ill probably end up with all three. Damn Nintendo for making me think about things.Grr.



*by lies i mean the ****e marketing spiel they always come out with.

Retr0gamer

Microsoft has already released some technical waffle and bar charts that mean nothing to anybody but microsoft tell us means that the xbox360 wipes the floor with the PS3. I think most people know the answer from looking at the demos.

What the hell has been so interesting about the revolution? Has anything been shown at all yet?

Thats what's so interesting about it

Stompbox

I feel bad about saying this but the XBOX 360 and the PS3 will crush the Revo

LegacyUser

It is a joke. They have these game shows to show the consoles and games off and Nintendo are arsing around. They deserve to fail.

AdMMM

I think Nintendo are just surprised by the power of the new Xbox and the PS2. They more than likely have the finalised specs of their own machine, but they just aren't up to par with that of the PS3 or Xbox 360!

The Mario, Zelda and Pokemon licenses will I think hold out for Nintendo at the end of the day however and the Nintendo brand is just too good to miss for many!

KdjaCL

IBM and ATI are making the chips for the Rev, i would imagine they wont be far off as with last round Msft Ninty and Sony in order of power.


kdjac

Ciaran500

cheesedude wrote:

It is a joke. They have these game shows to show the consoles and games off and Nintendo are arsing around. They deserve to fail.

Just cause the other major players showed off their consoles doesn't mean Nintendo have to. :rolleyes:

RobertFoster

Ciaran500 wrote:

Just cause the other major players showed off their consoles doesn't mean Nintendo have to. :rolleyes:

Plus, there's other expos.

dearg_doom

RobertFoster wrote:

Plus, there's other expos.

Good call, haven't Nintendo always been more interested in having big announcments at the Tokyo Toy Show(or whatever it's called:)) than E3?

evad_lhorg

how many times do i need to say it... SPACEWORLD!!!!!!! there will be a spaceworld show this year!

petes

evad_lhorg wrote:

how many times do i need to say it... SPACEWORLD!!!!!!! there will be a spaceworld show this year!

Go on say it again.