Nintendo E3 Conference for May 17th, 2005

This was pictured in USA today:

http://img.engadget.com/common/image...09967495890464

http://www.i4u.com/ has more pics of this as well as pics of the gameboy MICRO... man that thing is tiny!

Wow play every Nintendo game ever? But I think its if you go online on the system. There's always a catch.

I wonder though if rumours hold true if you can play all the gameboy games.

Love the Micro. But it again is back to the Gameboy Advance style. I like the SP as my favorite system by Nintendo still.

Online is free with this. Nintendo refused to do online for years because of extra fees. Every first-party Nintendo game (DS included) will be online for free. I wonder if you need to pay for the older games to play them, though.

It looks sexy. Very different from their previous consoles. Very simple. I'm liking the wireless stuff for all the next-gens.

I'm curious about the games. They mentioned Metroid, Zelda, and Mario, but nothing else.

Remember that Nintendo does not have rights to every oldschool game. Agreements made need to be made for 3rd party games.

THat would be great if EVERY GOOD game for the NES gameboy, and SNES could be downloaded, burned to DVD and played on the Revolution. It means I can FINALLY get rid of all my old game systems and only have one in the house.

IS there a release date for this yet? My old Gamecube died on me and I need to buy a replacement, but will hold off untill the revolution is available.

Not formally from Nintendo, although one of their key suppliers have hinted at a possible summer 2006 date.

Im not up on my gaming tech, so can someone please explain to me the concept of this "online" feature which would allow us to play older Nintendo console games?

That's really the biggest push for me, and I would slap down the money on street date if these specs hold up... but does it basically mean that you will log onto a server and have to literally "download" and wait to receive a game to play?

Would it than be saved on your hardrive for playback whenever you like, with all the basic functions and capabilities of the original gaming consoles (save game, load, etc.) for playback at your leisure as if you owned the actual oldschool game cartridge (only no need to insert it cause it's already on your drive) - or would you need to go online to re-download it each time you wanted to play?

OR, do you literally "play online"?

Meaning you have to be logged onto a Nintendo server or website or whatever to actually play?

Someone please explain this to me because I find this option intriguing and if I will literally be able to play all the oldschool NES, SNES and Gameboy games that I grew up with and fell in love with 20 years ago, there's no question as to which next-gen gaming system I will be buying!


PS - Someone mentioned downloading and burning the games onto disc, what would be the advantage of this if they are available for free as was mentioned?

Is this only if Nintendo would charge you for each download and if so, does that mean that everytime I'd want to play Contra or Metroid or something, I'd have to pay for it??





(The last system I owned was a PS2 and sold it cause I got bored of the games. I'd rather stick with my NES and Genesis!)

Nintendo announced at their press event and in a recent news article on Nintendo.com that the Revolution is coming early next year.

I'm guessing the old games system would work like this: you download a game, save it to a memory device (most likely a memory card, but since these games are so old they're extremely tiny and you can fit a lot of them), and then play them as though you're using an emulator. This service is (I'm 99% sure) going to be free. Nintendo didn't want to do anything online-based until they could do it at no extra cost to the consumer in the form of subscription fees. Every first-party game will be free to play online.

Thanks Morgan!

So if I wanted to download 95% of the classic NES console games to save on my hardrive, do you think I'd end up running into memory issues down the road and would the emulation technology be refined so as to exactly replicate the original games right down to the key functions, credits and soundtrack scores?

I'd just be worried that the technology would be faulty like what's often available currently for online download from "pirate" sites... What Nintendo did with the recent DS Gameboy originals was great and a fitting tribute, I just hope they offer the same quality with these downloads.

Btw, are you literally going online to a website, as we are right now (at HTF) and downloading the games, or would there simply be a key function on the Revolution menu screen that would bring you to a screen with a list of available downloads?

(Hope it's the latter!)

It would be done through the Revolution connecting to the internet. I think Nintendo even wanted it set up so you could log on with the console without needing an ISP.

I doubt they'll have a Harddrive. Most likely, they'll be doing some sort of emulation rather than re-coding their games to work on the Revolution. Also, the only games they definitively can use would be their first party Nintendo games, not sure about other companies' games.

So if I have a wireless connection already, I would basically hit an option to log onto a web browser and literally hop online via my monitor (pj screen) and plug in Nintendo's website and download the games?

That would hold like 70 NES games, no?

Question..

Is the DVD Function an add on, or built in to the system? I think it would be a smart idea to have it built in so they can at least compete with the other companies on that level for the people who don't 'care about just games'..

Personally, I think Nintendo should just come out with one of those multi-game disc sets for the Revolution sort of like the oldschool NES cartridges that had like 60 games on them. They could have one for the NES and Gameboy and a seperate 3-disc game set for SNES packaged in retro-modern style cartridges as a throwback to the vintage gaming systems. I'd much rather spend $100 on that and own the physical disc than download games to a memory card. They could even include a bonus insert booklet with each game with a rundown of Nintendo games and memories over the years. Theyd have to keep it straight to format though with all the original screens, menus, key functions and scores. Wouldn't that be a great idea?

Hmmmm I just pulled out my boxed Gameboy Pocket with the Donkey Kong game. The Gameboy Micro will be almost the same as the pocket except the better resolution screen, but the screen will be smaller than the Pocket, but use of course the recharging batteries instead of triple AAA batteries.

The GBP also was silver coloured and the biggest screen for all gameboys, including a better black and white screen viewer.

Why is the micro going away from screen protection again? The SP was the best system cause it played all gameboy games, frontlit screen, a closed cover everything. The DS had the same and power switch on the inside which would've been better for the SP.

Now the micro has all the switches on the bottom, and cartridge slot too? And back to exposed unprotection of the screen again. The SP is the micro system not the new one.

That amount of memory would allow for 2000 NES games, or 256 SNES games.

Most NES games are 256 KB, with the biggest being 512 KB.

Most SNES games are 2 MB, with the biggest being 4 MB.

It's kind of amazing that they could fit a game like Donkey Kong Country on a 4 MB cartridge.

Out of curiousity, how large are N64 games, since you are supposedly able to download and play them as well. The idea of being able to play all the different consoles through the Revolution is a great concept, and practically guarantees a buy right there. However, if the system is download once to onboard memory, and then play whenever you want, it almost seems like Nintendo would be underestimating how many games people would really be downloading... Would 512 meg be enough for a hardcore gamer who is downloading tons of games for every console (serious question, I'm not trying to slam Nintendo in any way, I really am curious)?

I believe N64 games are between 8 MB and 64 MB... but I could be wrong.

Mario Kart 64 is a 16 MB game.

Well, I guess 512 could be large enough, assuming there is free downloading. Then, I could just delete one of the games I downloaded to free up space and get a new one. This would be fine, as long as game saves and scores are still saved, even after deleting the game. That way, if I downloaded the game again, I would still have my score records and saved games there to use. I think this would be pretty important.

Can't wait to hear some firm details on this feature, not to mention the next-gen Nintendo games!

I'll be dissapointed if I'd have to delete games in order free up space for more downloads. I really think Nintendo would do better in simply offer a 2-disc collector's set of their classic NES titles for sale, complete with retro style packaging to look like the old gaming system and original game play. The same with Gameboy and possibly a multi-disc collector's set for SNES. I'd rather have the few game discs available to pop-in at will than downloading online. It'd also be extra revenue for the company, I'm sure many would plunge for it. Seems much simpler, unless of course they offer extra memory chips and a really simple context.

You could fit every single NES game ever made on a like 16MB flashcard. NES games are all measured in K, and very small amounts of K .

And probably most of the SNES games ever made on a 512MB cartridge, easy - they are a couple of MB each at most. N64 games are bigger (8MB-64MB). Only one N64 cartridge was 64MB apparently, Resident Evil 2.

Thanks for the info Dave, I'm definitely getting ahead of myself here :b (I also keep forgetting that games with so much pure entertainment used to come in such small packages!)

-Matt

Blaster Master

Best....game....ever!