News From Lik Sang

Release Date / Price Point

While the Xbox 360 and PS3 have unbelievable graphics, and are just bursting at the seams with raw power, if you think about it, the gameplay of titles isn't really much different to that of Xbox and PS2 games. Some people like it like that, but there's a growing number of gamers and non-gamers in search of something fresh. What they search for is the Nintendo Revolution.

No release date other than "2006" has been announced, nor any price points, although Nintendo are aiming for this to be significantly cheaper than their competitors, hoping people will buy the Revolution and a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Nintendo has a long tradition of delaying hardware and releasing last, but then again with the Nintendo DS they beat Sony out the door, so perhaps we'll be surprised.

The Games and Online Functionality

Naturally it's too early to talk much about games, but what we do know is that Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata said how he'd like Mario, Metroid, Zelda and Smash Bros. out on the Revolution as soon as possible. "Personally I am pushing very strongly on Mr. Miyamoto to make Mario one of the launch titles for the Revolution," he said in an interview with G4TV. While these are the same 'old' games we've played on GameCube, and the N64 before that too, remember of course it makes no sense to announce just the names of original titles in development.

While the level of backwards compatibility of PS3 is impressive, and Microsoft is trying, no one beats the big N here. The Revolution will play every single first party Nintendo game, all the way back to the Famicom (NES). There's 221 such games for the NES, SNES, Satellaview (SNES Add-On), N64 and N64: DD. These titles will be stored on 512MB of internal flash memory, which is enough for anywhere between around 50 to over a thousand titles to be stored. Then there's still GameCube to count too, with a library of over 550 games. The Revolution drive accepts your mini GC discs, and hidden under covers on the top of the console are four GameCube controller ports and two memory card slots. These let you use your existing GC controllers, plus the microphone, bongo drums and dance mats.

Games for the previous consoles will be downloadable on Nintendo's "Virtual Console" system, for a yet undecided fee. Despite hopes, the titles will not be free, although Nintendo have said they might run such offers like one free download with a new game purchased. Currently they are talking to third parties to try and get them to publish their past titles for download also. Since it's based on emulation, even titles from former rival Sega may be there. In an interview with Famitsu magazine, Sega's Yuji Naka, head of Sonic Team and Sega's Software R&D said "I hope Sega games will be playable as well." While emulation is nothing new for PC, the chance to play these classics with a real controller, on a TV, how they were meant be played, is nothing short of exciting.

The Controller

The main twist of the Revolution lies in the controller, which was surrounded by so much speculation and rumors across the internet, many wondered if Nintendo could live up to the hype they built. They did though, as while we were all wondering about touch screens and gyroscopes, Nintendo were building a much simpler and original controller. In the rectangle shape of a remote control. Using two small sensors with a range of 10 to 15 feet by your TV, the Revolution will detect your exact position in the room, on all three axes. Even motion sensing arcade machines don't have this sort of technology, but next year you'll have it in the palm of your hands. The controller its self also detects rotation and direction, giving you precise and natural control in every imaginable sense.

On the top corner is an On/Off button, then below that, a d-pad, buttons, then four LED lights to show you which of the four controller "slots" you're using. If you hold it on the side, it's looks like an enhanced NES pad in ceramic white or one of other various colors. On the rear of the controller, there's a large "B" trigger, then the battery compartment. Fixing a common complaint gamers had with Nintendo's previous wireless Wavebird controller too, a rumble feature has been built into this new pad. Meanwhile at the bottom is an expansion slot for peripherals like the "nunchuck controller". This, which won over many of the western developers, is a "pod" giving you an analog-stick to hold in the other hand, with Z1 and Z2 triggers underneath.

Using a modified Metroid Prime 2 engine, this device was shown off as players ran around with the analog-stick while using their other arm to point the main controller where they want to shoot. Since the Dreamcast days, companies have tried putting a d-pad or analog stick on a light gun to give you such freedom, but none even came close to what they aimed for. Now Nintendo have leaped over them and produced a device more natural and precise than a keyboard and mouse!

Even Peter Moore, corporate Vice President of Xbox, said at the Tokyo Game Show "I want to give ...