Revolution SDKs cheaper than PSP ones, say devs; final dev kits expected to be made w

IGN's hearing from studio insiders that Revolution SDKs are selling for about $2,000, "which is thousands of dollars cheaper than a PSP SDK, let alone an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 one," paving the way for riskier titles with smaller investments to appear on Nintendo's next system.

Citing the 1,000-dev-kits-shipped statistic from the recent Engadget interview with Reggie Fils-Aime, IGN Revolution went ahead and talked to "a half dozen studios around the globe for further details about the nature of the kits." Apparently, "three revisions of the development kits have been sent out to studios" so far, with "minor tweaks" and boosts in power (to a GameCube with wired Revolution controller attached) accounting for the different versions. Larger, more committed publishers may already have access to updated hardware and a wireless remote.

An "official fourth SDK prototype" will soon be sent out so the likes of EA and Ubisoft can start getting their playable demos ready for E3, but final dev kits aren't "expected to be made widely available" until June. While this doesn't change the consensus that the Rev will only be "roughly twice as powerful" as the 'Cube, at least this similarity in architecture will make development of next-gen titles easier (and more exciting with the innovative new controller). A $150-$200 price tag would certainly help the system's marketability as well. The proof will be in the playable pudding.