Source: Google.com
Nintendo Revolution Like a "Souped Up Xbox"?
Leo Chan - Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 | 10:40AM (PST)
As opposed to a souped up Xbox 360, or PS3
Since Nintendo is entertaining the notion of shying away from delivering full tech specs for their next-generation Revolution game console, IGN has spoken to developers currently exploring Revolution game development in hopes of discerning some possible info. Current word from these developers point at the Revolution featuring a maximum of 128MB memory, and the article seems to suggest that this included the additional graphics memory used for textures and whatnot. Any additional memory expansion will probably not be utilized for gaming.
""To be honest, it's not much more powerful than an Xbox. It's like a souped up Xbox," a major third party source revealed to us. "But it's the controller that makes the difference and the controller is really nice."
Asked if it was developing for Revolution, one major third party source said that it was well past the experimental stage and was evaluating what types of games might work on the platform. "We are looking at it quite differently. It's like another current generation platform for us. But it's such a nice controller that it opens up a lot of possibilities. It's very different and it's very precise.""
The article is quick to note that no actual final Revolution development kit is available yet, as developers are currently resorted to using modified "GameCube-based kits" to play with and draw their not-so-final conclusions. In addition, developers and industry insiders were not able part with the exact details of the Revolution GPU itself.
For comparative purposes, the GameCube had 24MB of system memory, plus 16MB memory used for game textures. Of course, IGN's article is wont to compare the Revolution memory to the Xbox 360's considerably meatier 512MB of system memory, though this is shared between the CPU and GPU. In short, Nintendo doesn't seem to be kidding when they say that sheer graphics horsepower would not be their focus for the Revolution.
It appears the gameplay really is the thing for the Revolution. If Nintendo celebrity/guru Shigeru Miyamoto is to be believed, there are more suprises in store for the console's controller as well. Here's hoping Nintendo fans will be impressed once that particular secret is loose.