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IGN reveals SOME Revolution specs!

M

Mifune

Mehmber
Around when the system was unveiled, didn't some dev say that the Revolution was essentially "a souped up Xbox" performance-wise? Well, it looks like that was correct...except for maybe the souped-up part.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
i am still up in the air about buying a revolution, but still this is the best idea for Nintendo, and if i were in charge this is exactly the route i would have gone. Nintendo already tried going toe to toe with Sony/MS with the Gamecube and it got them nowhere. Things wouldn't have changed this next generation. Graphic whores and techies are going to buy an xbox or ps. Nintendo finally came to grips with the idea that they cannot compete on that playing field. This allows them to enter the market at a low price point and make the controller and VC the stars of the show. Hell, i don't even know if the Rev is going to be a huge success to be honest, but this puts them in a MUCH better position to make waves and be succesful than releasing some $300-400 super system that once again fails to compete with what MS and Sony are offering.
 
D

drohne

hyperbolically metafictive
these specs should only surprise the most self-deluded of ninithings, but from a consumer perspective you have to wonder whether there's any point to the revolution -- the waggle wand could just as well be a gamecube peripheral. of course i can see that nintendo would rather start over than try to build on an established failure.
 
C

citrus lump

Banned
Ninja Scooter said:
. Nintendo already tried going toe to toe with Sony/MS with the Gamecube and it got them nowhere. .
Click to expand...

No DVD
No online
Low 3rd party support
Purple console
etc.

Not exactly going "toe to toe". Although it was a powerful little beast.
 
A

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
Ninja Scooter said:
i am still up in the air about buying a revolution, but still this is the best idea for Nintendo, and if i were in charge this is exactly the route i would have gone. Nintendo already tried going toe to toe with Sony/MS with the Gamecube and it got them nowhere. Things wouldn't have changed this next generation. Graphic whores and techies are going to buy an xbox or ps. Nintendo finally came to grips with the idea that they cannot compete on that playing field. This allows them to enter the market at a low price point and make the controller and VC the stars of the show. Hell, i don't even know if the Rev is going to be a huge success to be honest, but this puts them in a MUCH better position to make waves and be succesful than releasing some $300-400 super system that once again fails to compete with what MS and Sony are offering.
Click to expand...
Logic isn't allowed here. You have to be a drama queen and post "fuck Nintendo and their dumb GC turbo I hope they go bankrupt :(:("
 
G

Gaia Theory

Member
Everytime we are all told (either through spec information or vague statements direct from Nintendo about hardware power) that the Revolution is not full of the horsepower to run games in HD, etc... everyone goes nuts and of course, screams 'teh d00med!'

Nintendo placed their R&D dollars somewhere else. No big deal.

Looking at PS2, XBox and GC gives us some room for comparison here:

Some GC games looked better than Xbox games (regardless of style), though some Xbox games looked better than GC.

Most GC games looked better than PS2 games (regardless of style), though the odd PS2 game gave the best looking GC games a run for their money (FFXII, etc...)

The specs for all of last generations game systems were varied, and in the case of the Xbox over the other 2 machines, quite dramatic. That said, most games looked fairly comparable - not necessarily equal - but comparable.

Gettin' your knickers in a twist over paper specs is pointless. Expecting graphics better than PS3 or Xbox 360 is also pointless.

Instead, try expecting a new way to interface with your games - and perhaps hope that this new way to interact will lead to 'mind blowing' changes that will revolutionize how we play.

note: This is not a how-to on how to diffuse the realization that the Revolution is a less powerful machine (graphically), it is common sense. Personally, I'm more excited that the Revolution is going to offer a dramatically more powerful (interface) way to control games. But to each their own.
 
B

Boards of Canada

Member
There's something about the Revolution's specs that blatantly hint at exactly what Nintendo is doing. Surprised no one brought it up yet.

My friend from BioWare stopped by where I work today. Edmonton rocks!

I can't wait till E3.
 
T

Thraktor

Member
Gahiggidy said:
Why on earth would the extra RAM only be external to the main???!!


Is this mke any sense for the final product... or is this just a quick-solution for the Dev. Kits?
Click to expand...

As I said above, it smacks of being a quick'n'easy devkit solution. I'm no expert coder, but it strikes me that, with a limited amount of main system RAM (24MB), the Gamecube CPU and GPU were likely hard-coded to refuse any requests for memory access past 0x600000, to prevent OS-level crashes when the machine tries to access memory that simply isn't there. As such, any additional RAM added to existing GC chipsets would have to be set up as "external" memory, requiring a seperate access routine that isn't hardware limited. If this dev-kit was using a brand-new CPU which has been custom-designed from the ground up by IBM (find the quote yourself), then it could quite easily get around this limitation by the CPU refusing access past 0x600000 while in "Gamecube mode" and allowing access while in "Revolution mode", meaning that any additional main RAM (if it was to be 1T-SRAM, anyway) could be included in a contiguous segment with the 24MB that a Gamecube game would use.
 
S

Slurpy

*drowns in jizz*
HOLY shit..

I would be the last one to expect specs even comparable to the other 2 systems, as I expect something else out of the machine. But these specs are lower than I ever thought possible. 700Mhz CPU? 240MHz GPU? Less than 100MB Ram? Damn. Wow. Hopefully it works out for them.
 
J

jarrod

Banned
Thraktor said:
I don't quite know the figures (given that this is GAF, I'm sure someone will have looked them up by the time I post this reply), but how much time and money have Nintendo and ATI spent on developing this graphics chip? Only to come out with a 50% clockspeed increase and no added shader support? I know Nintendo's going for low power consumption and cool running, but this thing would have to run at sub-zero temperatures and on a picovolt of electricity to make any sort of investment in this technology worthwhile.

Call me crazy, but it looks like these guys are still working without the actual Broadway or Hollywood chipsets, and while I don't think the specs of those will be mindblowing, these "revmote" devkits aren't really to be taken as an indication of what they're capable of.
Click to expand...
According to ATI, R&D spent on Hollywood was roughly the same as that spent on Xenos (360 GPU). It's also not an overclocked Flipper according to them, but an entirely new design.
 
N

Newzboyz99

Losers! My wife has me on lock!
Yikes....where to start. I am a big nintendo fan but this....just....hurts.

That controller better be the BEST damn thing on the PLANET because when Rev is sitting side by side with a PS3...its gonna be brutal if that controller is anything even remotely gimmicky. Add to that the fact that dumbass Nintendo already has shown the controller, leaving themselves vulnerable to copying from Sony. BTW, does Nintendo NOT realize that every SINGLE generation Sony has copied at least ONE of their controller features....gonna happen again.

One price point...this thing CANNOT and I MEAN CANNOT be more than $99 bucks. Anything more and people will just save that money and put it towards a PS3/XBox 360. I am actually gonna be damn interested to see how this cheap route will fair this generation.
 
M

Mooreberg

Member
citrus lump said:
I'm all for innovations in control. I also enjoy being able to tell what I'm looking at is. ;p
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not getting where the assumption comes from that there cannot be an advancement in control and graphics at the same time. This isn't gonna be pretty... literally.
 
B

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
citrus lump said:
Although it was a powerful little beast.
Click to expand...

Thats where Nintendo went toe to toe.

I also agree that it would have been futile to go toe to toe with Sony and Microsoft. Let the two behemoths duke it out while you rake up some more fans.
 
C

citrus lump

Banned
I wonder if this cheap route is in response to Microsoft shortening console lifecycles. Could we see another Nintendo in 2009/10 when Microsoft launches early again?
 
A

ahmad

Banned
Hmmmm, so it is not even an Xbox. The controller better do wonders. I have faith in Nintendo.

I bet that tomorrow Nintendo is going to issue a statement regarding this news, or maybe a screenshot.
 
Pimpbaa

Pimpbaa

Member
jarrod said:
According to ATI, R&D spent on Hollywood was roughly the same as that spent on Xenos (360 GPU). It's also not an overclocked Flipper according to them, but an entirely new design.
Click to expand...

If this is true, then this is very good news. Having a GPU with some more modern features will help tons and it doesn't need to be a beast to make good graphics at standard definition resolution. It may be premature to make judgements on what it will be capable of just going by basic system specs. Some more detailed GPU info will give us a much better idea.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
I can imagine PS3/360 -> Revolution ports being the equivalent of old Arcade -> Genesis ports...

mortalkombat3ingame2g8xv.gif


uhh.gif
 
B

bigNman

Member
I dont get it. They managed to create a next gen console with the gamecube whilst still not losing money and selling it at a reasonable price. I realise the controller will cost more to produce but these specs are pathetic. It wouldnt be so bad if they had moved to a new architecture for the CPU and GPU but its the same fuckin tech :(

I read the news expecting a 1ghz CPU and 330mhz GPU. I didnt think it could get lower than that lol.
 
C

citrus lump

Banned
ahmad said:
Hmmmm, so it is not even an Xbox. The controller better do wonders. I have faith in Nintendo.

I bet that tomorrow Nintendo is going to issue a statement regarding this news, or maybe a screenshot.
Click to expand...

Hopefully a photo realistic screenshot of Metroid Prime 3 with the caption "STFU"
 
R

Ranger X

Member
Basically a boosted Xbox + a PPU ?

For the strategy they seem to adopt this sounds about right. Watch the price point guys. It's gonna sell for fucking cheap and it's gonna omgwtf cheap to devellop for. Makes perfect sense with the money crisis that is starting to show imo.
It's gonna be a hard task for Nintendo but i think that with the right marketing it may just work well.
 
J

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
There hasnt been a single other post from Matt or from anyone on the IGN blogs/forums?
 
B

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
Newzboyz99 said:
One price point...this thing CANNOT and I MEAN CANNOT be more than $99 bucks. Anything more and people will just save that money and put it towards a PS3/XBox 360. I am actually gonna be damn interested to see how this cheap route will fair this generation.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't believe this thing is going to be $99. That would be pricing it at the same price point the GCN is now. Looking at the hardware, one would say...yeah, $99 looks logical. Saying that it has to be $99 is NOT factoring the controller. As its already been, the Revolutions remote (meaning the Remote and the Sensors) will add a nice amount to the final cost.

I'm expecting the Remote to be expensive to produce and also Nintendo pricing it to make up for R&D.

Also, I would like a PPU in the system but that would add even more to the cost. Not sure how much a PPU is to manufacture but its being sold for $299.
 
R

Ranger X

Member
_leech_ said:
I can imagine PS3/360 -> Revolution ports being the equivalent of old Arcade -> Genesis ports...

mortalkombat3ingame2g8xv.gif


uhh.gif
Click to expand...


We will have to "suffer" from Doom3 / Ninja Gaiden type of quality visual. End of the world really.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
citrus lump said:
No DVD
No online
Low 3rd party support
Purple console
etc.

Not exactly going "toe to toe". Although it was a powerful little beast.
Click to expand...

you honestly think having dvd and being silver/black from the start would have made a goddamn bit of difference? Honestly?

They had some decent 3rd party support for Gamecube (RE exclusive, Star Wars games, Soul Calibur, Sega/Capcom stuff) and it did nothing to help their standing. Many of those games sold less than expected even though they were better than the similar n64 offerings. Nintendo's own games scare away 3rd parties because that is, for the most part, what Nintendo consumers eat up in droves. Having a 2 billion ghz processer or 11 megs or v-ram or whatever the fuck wasn't going to make 3rd parties give Nintendo any more support than they have in the past.

i think the problem is a lot of people have this pipedream that somehow Nintendo is going regain dominance of the videogame market like they used to and everything will go back to normal like when you were in 4th grade. Not gonna happen. No matter what. The market has changed completely, and nintendo has changed completely. They are not the same company they were 15 years ago. You people need the Rick Petino treatment. "the NES ain't coming through that door folks." Nintendo needed to accept the fact that they are now the quirky, niche, hell even kiddy toy company and embrace that, rather than trying to fight it and saying "OHH LOOK HERES ETERNAL DARKNESS! CAN WE SIT AT THE BIG TABLE NOW?"
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
Ninja Scooter said:
you honestly think having dvd and being silver/black from the start would have made a goddamn bit of difference? Honestly?
Click to expand...

Add in not fucking around with their biggest first party games, and I would say so.
 
C

citrus lump

Banned
Wyzdom said:
We will have to "suffer" from Doom3 / Ninja Gaiden type of quality visual. End of the world really.
Click to expand...

It goes both ways. Some games will still look like Tubeslider, Serious Sam and Ribbit King.
 
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