Revolution Channel @ IGN launched!

Wow, finally a section the Rev can call its own. IGN has finally launched their Revolution channel at, you guess it:

http://revolution.ign.com/

As with anything new, an article was posted regarding the Revolution's graphical prowess (or lack thereof?) and general tech. The full article, for the lazy:

Revolution Tech Details Emerge
Devs give us the scoop on performance power and RAM capacity. Exclusive information revealed.
by Matt Casamassina

December 5, 2005 - Nintendo has during recent months remained publicly quiet on its next-generation console, codenamed Revolution, but even so the company has taken behind-the-scenes steps to prepare development studios for the platform. We spoke with multiple software houses either creating software for or experimenting with the machine in its still incomplete stage and have been able to compile some new technical details.

Readers are advised to make two notes before continuing with this article. The first is that developers are still working with incomplete Revolution hardware. Most studios are, in fact, developing on "GameCube-based kits," according to major software houses we spoke to, which have asked to remain anonymous. The second is that developers are still without final specifications for Revolution's ATI-developed graphics chip, codenamed Hollywood.

That stated, many third parties have been partially briefed by Nintendo representatives about the Revolution hardware, its overall horsepower, and the Big N's plan for the console. 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.

"To be honest, it's not much more powerful than an Xbox. It's like a souped up Xbox," a major third party source revealed to us. "But it's the controller that makes the difference and the controller is really nice."

Nintendo has said all along that sheer horsepower has not been a priority with Revolution. Rather, the company hopes to make the console small, quiet and affordable. It is very likely for this reason that the Big N chose not to make Revolution compatible with the emerging 720p, 1080i and 1080p high-definition video resolutions, which are focuses for competing consoles.

Metroid Prime 3 for Revolution as shown at E3 2005. A giant leap in graphics or a marginal improvement over GameCube?

Gamers holding out for Nintendo to reverse its stance on the HD front may be in for a disappointment. Revolution will not have the RAM capacity to store and display an abundant source of high-definition textures. Third parties have revealed to us that the console will top out with 128MBs of RAM, and possibly even less. One studio would not give us an exact figure, but did say, "The same as GameCube plus an extra 64MB of main RAM." That number is by comparison nearly triple the amount of memory in GameCube. However, it is a far cry from the 512MBs present in Xbox 360.

One studio we spoke to hinted at the possibility of accessing further Revolution RAM, but its comments were cryptic. "There is more RAM that you can use, but Nintendo is using that for general memory, like game saves and all sorts of other things. You could use it, but you can't rely on it." This comment seems to suggest that developers might be able to tap into Revolution's 512MBs of on-board Flash memory, but to our knowledge such a solution would be too slow to utilize in games.

Still, the studios we spoke with are still very intrigued by Revolution and are not ruling out the possibility of additional graphic horsepower. 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."

Asked if it was developing for Revolution, one major third party source said that it was well past the experimental stage and was evaluating what types of games might work on the platform. "We are looking at it quite differently. It's like another current generation platform for us. But it's such a nice controller that it opens up a lot of possibilities. It's very different and it's very precise."

Finally, quizzed about publishers' internal reaction to the device, a source responded: "People are interested, but they're still taking it all in at the moment. I'm sure [Nintendo is] going to get a fair amount of support. Probably a lot of people will initially look at existing franchises and whether or not they can kind of do customized versions for Revolution using most of the assets they've got. But whether they'll say, "Okay, let's do something completely original for it," that's the other question because it could be quite expensive to do that. Not as expensive as doing a PS3 or Xbox 360 game. But if you're a third party and you want to do cross platform, if you're doing a game on 360 you can do it on PS3 or PC using the same assets and that does make it a bit easier."

Nintendo has consistently downplayed the role of horsepower with Revolution, often saying that graphics have reached a "saturation point" in today's games. Nintendo bigwig Shigeru Miyamoto has suggested that players might not be able to tell the difference between the new Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and some high-definition games.

The Big N will reveal much more about Revolution beginning early next year, according to company executives, and will show first games at the Electronics Entertainment Expo 2006 next May in Los Angeles. Stay tuned for more.

Source: revolution.ign.com

Discuss.

[Ghaleon]

i can't tell the difference between those graphics and gamecube's.

:S

[P4NC4K3Z]

:S im worried about the graphics too..they look the same to the gamecubes

[theONE]

i dont give a big care about graphics.. yeah i want near the near the ps3/360... but i really just want a revolution

[chuddy_2001uk]

Remember those graphics are of a movie that was played while Mr. Iwata was talking about the revolution and how there will be Metroid Prime 3 but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's the final product.

[Neumie]

nintendo said that that doesnt represent the revolutions graphical grunt. but oh dear if its merly a souped up xbox then third parties may leave it be. this is worrying as porting a 360 or ps3 game to the revo would require alot of work as all the textures etc. would have to be totally redone. 128mb of ram is really bad, i was expecting at least 384MB or at the very least 256 :S.
At the same time this conflics with what Rare said a month or so a go. They said that perfect dark zero could run on a revo quite easily. Maybe he meant control wise rather than graphics wise.
Still this could be bad news from a 3rd party support point o view.

[Euan]

I really couldn't give two flying fecks about how the graphics look, to be honest. The graphics this-gen were at a pretty decent standards, there were no real letdowns, and plus, the Revolution will never be a primary console for pretty much most of the "real" gaming population, with the poorish lack of communication etc, plus the lack of announced games so far.

Anyway nice to see IGN devoting a portion of the website to the Revolution, and I'm pretty glad to see there's one or two more games announced than I thought (but dear oh dear, only one or two more...)

[ShadowMarth]

Bout time they started the Rev channel. Tired of them flooding the Cube channel with Rev news and then saying there's not enough information to start one.

[17R3W]

The funny thing about graphics is:
show someone a zelda TP trailer and they're probably remark "it's pretty much like watching movie". (or my dad remarked "(link has) come along away from walkin' around slashing bushes")

I have some gripes about a game like "Gotham Racing" but how much better does it really have to be then Zelda TP or MGS4?

So long as you don't have a high def TV you probably won't be able to notice much difference between the three systems.

Even more new tech details about the Revolution from, you guessed it, IGN:

More Revolution Specs Uncovered
Developers come forward to reveal new performance details on Nintendo's next-generation console.
by Matt Casamassina

December 6, 2005 - Just yesterday IGN Revolution launched with technical details on Nintendo's next-generation console, codenamed Revolution. And today more development sources have come forward with both clarification and even more tech specs. The latest news begins to paint a clearer picture of Nintendo's aim with its next platform.

We cannot stress this enough: Revolution is not being positioned as a competitor to either Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Nintendo has instead chosen to design a console that will be very affordable for consumers. For that very reason, say developers in the know, the Big N has opted out of filling the system with a massive supply of expensive RAM.

In yesterday's article, we wrote that Revolution would include 128MBs of RAM, or possibly less. Developers have clarified the makeup based on officially released Nintendo documentation. Revolution will build on GameCube's configuration of 24MBs 1T-SRAM and 16MBs D-RAM (40MBs) by adding an addition 64MBs of 1T-SRAM. The result is a supply of memory in Revolution that totals 104MBs. That number does not consider either the 512MBs of allegedly accessible (but hardly ideal) Flash RAM or the Hollywood GPU's on-board memory, said to be 3MBs by sources.

Revolution's Broadway CPU, developed by IBM, is an extension of the Gekko CPU in GameCube, according to official Nintendo documentation passed to us by software houses. The Hollywood GPU, meanwhile, is believed to be an extension of the Flipper GPU in GameCube. Since developers have not gone hands-on with the GPU, they can only go on Nintendo documentation, which is limited.

Exact clock rates were not disclosed, but one development source we spoke to had this to say of the Revolution CPU and GPU: "Basically, take a GameCube, double the clock rate of the CPU and GPU and you're done."

We presented that description to another informed studio, which clarified that the clock rates may even fall short of doubling those on GameCube.

"The CPU is the same as Gekko with one and a half to two times the performance and improved caching," said a source. "Our guys experimented with it and think they'll be able to get about twice the performance as GameCube."

"It's a gamble for the Big N," said another source. "It's not about horsepower for them -- it's about innovation and gameplay."

We've also been able to unearth firm details on the storage capacity for Revolution discs. Recent rumors suggesting that the discs can hold 12GBs of data are false. In fact, Revolution discs can store 4.7GBs of data on a single layer or 8.5GBs when double-layered on a single-side. This is a massive jump from the 1.5GB capacity of GameCube discs and more than enough storage capacity for any non-high-definition game.

Readers discouraged by Revolution's seeming lack of horsepower when compared to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 should remember that Nintendo is not interested in competing in the high-definition gaming arena, and as a standard-definition console, Revolution is more than capable. Capcom's Resident Evil 4 remains one of the most gorgeous games this generation and it ran on GameCube, a console at least half as powerful according to developer reports.

Software houses we spoke with also waxed on the immediate advantage to Nintendo's approach with Revolution, which is, of course, system price. Every developer was in agreement that Revolution should launch with a price tag of $149 or lower. Some speculated that based on the tech, a $99 price point would not be out of the question.

Stay tuned for more as it develops.