The Specs

• What is known or as close to known as possible.
• The prototype was a simple rectangle design.
• It’s black, though rumored that other colors are in the works.
• Like it’s competitors can be used horizontally or vertically.
• The system will be two to three times more powerful than the GameCube. (By comparison, Sony claims the PS3 is dozens times more powerful than the PS2).
• There will be 512MB of onboard flash memory.
• It will have two SD memory card slots.
• The system will be backward compatible with GameCube discs.
• It will also be able to play DVD’s but may require “an internal attachment” to play DVD’s.
• The controllers will be wireless.
• Rumors of what might be.
• Controllers are not known, but this is supposed to be the key of the Revolution. It’s so key, Nintendo is afraid of competitors copying their idea before they’ve had a chance to dazzle the market with it.
• Rumors have the controllers having touch screens or gyroscopes.

The Games

• Very little was announced or shown about new games, but Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated that the following games were in the works.
• A new Mario game
• A new Zelda game
• A WiFi version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles from Squar Enix
• Metroid Prime.
• Super Smash Brothers, Online and available at launch.

Online

• Nintendo announced that the console will be online and have a service similar to that of Xbox Live.
• Through the use of their online service (which is rumored to be free out of the box), users will be able to download and play the entire catalog of old Nintendo systems, including the NES, Super NES, and N64.
• It is not known if users will have to purchase these games and if these games will be stored to the internal Memory or the external SD memory cards.

What We Don’t Know Yet

• Most everything is still up in the air.
• The most important unknown is the controllers. Will they supply the industry changing gameplay that people are now expecting?
• Though the specs are not known, many expect the Revolution to be the weakest next generation machine technically.
• This stems from the fact that Nintendo has always be a profitable company and would rather play it safe and make money in third place than wow everyone and grab market share.
• The release date is still unknown but a timeframe of 2006 was given by Mr. Iwata at E3.