Nintendo Teases On Revolution

Nintendo vice president for corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan has given later details concerning the next-generation Nintendo console, currently codenamed 'Revolution', in a brief interview excerpted in the New York Times. Kaplan, likely strategically leaking information to deflect a little attention away from the Xbox 360 launch, described the Revolution as 'very, very sleek' – horizontal and no taller than a stack of three DVD cases (a little over two inches). This implies a very different approach to the design of the console compared to the GameCube and Nintendo’s previous machines, suggesting a new attempt to court fashion conscious older customers. Perhaps most interesting, though, was Kaplan’s assertion that the Revolution will play DVDs – implying that this would be the primary storage medium for games, though this is not explicitly confirmed. This marks a significant change in tact for the company. Kaplan also reconfirmed that the console would be backwards compatible, and that it would use wireless controllers as standard, with new games being described as "high definition", with an emphasis on online play. Although analysts have suggested that the Revolution will only be featured in a limited form at E3 next week, and playable consoles are certainly not expected to be on show, further information is still expected at Nintendo’s pre-E3 conference on May 17th.