Nintendo E3 Conference for May 17th, 2005 (1 Viewer)

[David Galindo]

Should be very interesting to see if Nintendo reveals the Revolution...

Conference starts in 3 hours.

 

[WadeB]

This was pictured in USA today:

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

 

[Ken Chui]

IGN's Gamecube site has regular updates on Nintendo's Revolution (the conference just ended). No images or videos posted (from what I can see), but the live report has some very interesting tidbits for both casual and hardcore gamers.

- smallest Nintendo console to date (the reporter uses the term Mac Mini-sized).
- can be placed horizontally or vertically
- play 12cm (DVD) discs and Gamecube software (backward compatible!)
- users will be able to download NES, Super NES and N64 games
- will be online

I'm anxious to see and hear more.

 

[Rusty Ray]

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

 

[Ken Chui]

I was hoping for a silver unit as well (to match the rest of my HT gear). I wonder if they will offer a DVI output for LCD monitors (so I can put this in my office ).

 

[DeanC]

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.

 

[David Galindo]

Huh, the micro is interesting. If its really cheap, its a definite pick up for me.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

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.

 

[DaveGTP]

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

 

[DeathStar1]

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.

 

[Ken Chui]

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

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

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!)

 

[Morgan Jolley]

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.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

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.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

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!)

 

[Morgan Jolley]

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.

 

[Ken Chui]

According to the press conference details, the Revolution will come with 512 MB of onboard flash memory for data storage. Will memory cards be available as an option? Possibly.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

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?

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

That would hold like 70 NES games, no?

 

[DeathStar1]

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'..