German Nintendo conference summary...

August 17, 2005 - Nintendo's GC 2005 press conference entitled "Expand the Definition of Gaming" opened with a teaser trailer that cited its past home console accomplishments. The trailer flashed a series of slogan-esque claims that went as follows: "expanding the definition of mobile gaming" with the Game Boy, "power" with the SNES, "possibilities" with the N64, "gaming experience" with the N64 rumble pack, "gameplay" with the GameCube, "wireless" with the Wave Bird, "functionality" with the GBA, and "how to play games" with the DS. It ended with a question, "So what exactly is the definition of gaming?"

The answer, "Please don't ask us. Because we will always expand the definition of gaming." Finally Revolution appeared with only the numbers 2006 -- its release year -- painted over it.

Bernd Fakesch, spokesman and General Manager of Nintendo of Europe, opened with a speech that highlighted the company's commitment to innovating with games. Much like with the Revolution's unveiling at E3 this year, the enthusiasm for wi-fi gaming possibilities was echoed here too.

Fakesch said, "In the console market, beginning in 2006 our wi-fi capable flagship Revolution will set new landmarks. By 'expanding the definition of gaming' we don't only mean an advance towards new limits of gaming, but also to new potential players. We want to win over new people and inspire them, those who have never thought about taking a controller into their hands -- more girls, young women, adults, and also elderly players. Certainly in the process we won't neglect the fan community. Germany needs new kinds of games and Nintendo is certainly the company that is best-suited to supply them. We hold a unique position in the market. We are among the worldwide leading hardware manufacturers and at the same time we are among the leading software developers. And that's both for handhelds and home consoles. Additionally, we have decades of experience where we have focused our entire know-how on the content of games and gaming fun."

He finally added, "What are the new games of the future really going to look like? The titles of our innovative Nintendo DS give an idea of this."

What we discerned from this is that, indeed, the company wants to continue to offer fresh gaming experiences, much of which will involve wi-fi play but, additionally, gaming for really old people. This, admittedly, perplexes us. The elderly can, at times, barely feed themselves and this isn't the kind of gaming most, let's say, Smash Bros. or Zelda fans would really want. So, we are certainly very interested to see what Revolution has in store to provide such a wide range of gaming.

Later during the conference Nintendo brought up Revolution again, noting that it will be the next big thing and, again, very much wi-fi enabled. It seems the company can't not talk about wi-fi now that it's got the ball rolling. Interestingly, Fakesch said Revolution will have "a large number of novelties." The "novelties" translation, we speculate, may have actually referred to add-on services or peripherals. When asked for more information, he said, "The only thing I can tell you is that very soon there will be important news about Revolution."

Ending the Revolution topics he finished by saying, "We're all wondering what the Revolution controller will look like, but I think right now we should focus on discussing our current products."

Assuming Nintendo holds true to its promises, we'll be hearing more in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can spend your time daydreaming about Revolution's mystery, the controller, and fragging little girls and old people over wi-fi.

Source

Wait, what? o_O

watch the controller be something blatantly normal

if it's something blatantly normal i'm going to scream my ass off.

I bet it's some sort of trick, like THE DS IS THE CONTROLLER, or something. It will probably have been sitting in our faces for months, without us knowing.

...so my gran will be able to play video games next year? That was sudden.

I used to think that, but when a magazine asked shiggy about DS to Revolution connectivity he said it was just something they had in mind.


I myself am sure that there will be at least some connectivity due to both systems have wifi and undoubtedly can exchange data and stuff, but it doesn't seem to be the controller.


Also N64 games you wouldn't be able to play with it, and that'd be one heck of a controller.

I used to hear rumors about there being some kind of proximity radar that would tell the system how far away you were from it, so the angle on screen would adjust itself/camera angle to be perfect in relation to where you were located from the system. Also I heard about it being able to broadcast to channels on your TV all around to house, this would definattely solve any split screen issues, but I doubt the truth to that.

The controller would likely be wireless, support rumble/vibration, perhaps in some kind of dual shock way or more sensitive rumble to give an enhanced realness to it, perhaps a speaker on it? I don't know. I hope there isn't any kind of touch screen on it, that'd make me mad for some reason, if you want touchscreen for revolution just use DS connectivity. The controller would probrably be ergonomically designed for comfort, and I'm sure they address the size of the controller issues (SINCE 5 THRU 95 YEAR OLDS WILL BE PLAYINGZZ LOLZZ) Probrably something dumb like Gyro's or some kind of mouse thing. I doubt it would be a light gun or remote of any sort. Checking patents will do no good.


Whatever it is it better be awesome =\

A controller that changes, perhaps using some sort of light system to illuminate different keys or something could be used to play pretty much any console game

I'd like gloves that simulate a controller in your hand.
It would also be able to simulate ANY object in your hand or make you feel cold/hot, etc. etc. etc.

But I doubt that's it. Why?
Too expensive
Too abnormal (N say they don't want to scare away people with something like VR or e.g. gloves that might freeze your hands)