The latest on the REVOLUTION rumour mill!

Yay!

No doubt there has been countless rumours spreading around about the very secret black box we like to call the Nintendo Revolution. Well, here is a fresh batch of rumour-butter to spread all over that crispy internet loaf!

Rumour Number 1 - Tilt Sensitive Controller

Some peeps over at the Computer & Video Games website apparently reported that the Rev's controller will have a new type of rumble feature which will respond to a sense of intertia or resistance to the controller being tilted in a certain way. Strangely enough, the C&VG website has now been taken offline.

Here's what C&VG had to say before it went offline:

Originally Posted by Computer & Video Games

It's revolutionary in the same two senses that controller rumble is/was revolutionary: first, it's kind of actually not a huge deal, but controllers will eventually all have it because it is pretty neat; and second, it involves revolving. Simply, the Revolution controller will provide resistance to being tilted. No doubt this is done by some application of a tilt sensor such as the one in WarioWare: Twisted combined with rumble technology.

After all, rumble is just done by some off-balance widgets inside the controller spinning really fast. If they were balanced, they could provide enough rotational inertia — the same thing that makes bikes and motorcycles harder to tilt the faster they're going — to perform this trick.

The "could" is why Nintendo hasn't come out with it yet. Yeah, they say they don't want it to be copied, which is valid because I'm sure it will be, just not anytime soon. What's really happening is Nintendo is trying to make this work with wireless controllers, finding the optimal trade-off between spinning the widgets fast enough to produce a good, strong effect and keeping the controller from eating batteries too quickly. Oh, and it has to be cheap and reliable, too.

Why this isn't just another Revolution rumour: I'm hurt, I really am. You think I would do that to you? Well, even if you don't believe me this time, I'm betting you will in the future. So there.

Interesting. But in my personal opinion, I hope this isn't the only new thing the controller has to offer.


Rumour 2 - NURB graphics

Apparently some dude over at the Gaming Age or whatever forums said this, that the Revolution would be enhanced for NURB style graphics, which is an alternative from the traditional polygon method. Now, I know there are people that know more about this, and I had some trouble getting my head around the concept so correct me if I'm wrong. It seems that NURBs create a whole ton of mathematical calculations to create a curve of any shape. The object it produces can be recalculated independant of resolution and therefore the shape does not lose clarity. This method apparently can create more complex shapes with less machine power, which kind of fits.

Anyways, I haven't actually read the stuff at the forums. It sounds kind of plausable considering what has been speculated to be the Rev's capabilities, but you know, never trust stuff that has only appeared in forums


Rumour 3 - New Info Soon

According to big Matt over at IGN Cube, there is going to be some new info announced about the Revolution sooner than later. Most probably before the Tokyo Games Convention in September. Yay.


And that's it from me. Remember, this isn't fact, these are all rumours. The most beliveable one is probably the last one, but the first two are definately most interesting aswell, if you dig rumours.

Turrah!

Well it al sounds good, the NURB graphics intrigue me, the controler, well, yeah, and there better be new info soon.

Hey Beane, havn't seen you around much lately.

Cool info i think the rev sounds pretty cool! i've already chacked on a coupkle of insiders to the rev and it sounds really great and i know some games that will be on it and they are all great!

mikestroe ^_^

I hope this is only the technical 'revolution' of nintendo's controller. I also hope that the shape and button placement is quite new and good as well. As for the NURB graphics, well, that soulds plausible, since nintendo said the revolution would not be as powerful as x360 or ps3, but you would still say 'wow' when turning on the machine.

Thanks for the info, I think i am going to buy the revolution over the ps3 for xbox 360.

I heard on gamespot message boards that the info may be revelaed this Saturday...Well, the Revolution revealing is just around the corner. People waited since E3, a month won't kill them. The Rev controller better be good, I'm basing my whole next gen descicion on how good the Rev is.

I'm not too excited about the NURBs thing... they're mostly useful for creating pretty, smooth surfaces without a lot of effort on the MODELLER's part. Polygons are actually much more efficient for the hardware to render. It's like connect-the-dots versus actual drawing.

I'm getting the rev no matter what the rumors are. Some rumors won't affect me (the third one) and some of them just intrigue me more (the first two).

The thing I really don't want to happen is have the Rev controllers be wireless only, because that would just plain suck. I have wireless controllers now, and they wig out a ton, consume batteries like I consume food, and can sometimes send the signal to the wrong receiver, rendering them useless IMO. To save batteries and make them last more than 5 hrs, I turn them off during cutscenes and bits of time in which I'm not using them (Mario Golf, my dad's turn takes average 5 minutes...). When I turn them back on, they wig out and screw my hit up, making me always get nothing better than Par. And during other games such as Super Mario Sunshine, and Resi 4, it can be a phreaking pain in the butt. And from my point of view, there is absolutely no benefit in a wireless controller. They don't even have rumble! That's why I prefer my normal cord controller.

So unless Nintendo counters this, I vote NO on the Rev. controllers. Blech. That might be enough to prevent me from buying it. That's a scary thought.

Originally Posted by Linkmaniac27

I'm getting the rev no matter what the rumors are. Some rumors won't affect me (the third one) and some of them just intrigue me more (the first two).

The thing I really don't want to happen is have the Rev controllers be wireless only, because that would just plain suck. I have wireless controllers now, and they wig out a ton, consume batteries like I consume food, and can sometimes send the signal to the wrong receiver, rendering them useless IMO. To save batteries and make them last more than 5 hrs, I turn them off during cutscenes and bits of time in which I'm not using them (Mario Golf, my dad's turn takes average 5 minutes...). When I turn them back on, they wig out and screw my hit up, making me always get nothing better than Par. And during other games such as Super Mario Sunshine, and Resi 4, it can be a phreaking pain in the butt. And from my point of view, there is absolutely no benefit in a wireless controller. They don't even have rumble! That's why I prefer my normal cord controller.

So unless Nintendo counters this, I vote NO on the Rev. controllers. Blech. That might be enough to prevent me from buying it. That's a scary thought.

Why wouldn't you want wireless controllers? They're convenient, and they will be the standard on all three next gen consoles. I'm sure that there will be a rechargable unit, so as long as you don't play 10+ hours in one sitting, you'll be okay. I think they will use a lithium battery like the DS, so you won't need to buy your own (I assume).

Wow thats some pretty nice info right there.... Its good to see Nintendo looking outside the square where Sony and Microsoft get caught... Hopefully the Rev will have a few more things which hopefully make it somewhere on pal with the Xbox 360 and PS3

I can't wait to here some official news from Nintendo. I'm pretty confident they will deliver something new, fresh and cool.

Neat quriks.

But it's far from enough to be the deciding factor in the console wars. In the end, I doubt it will redeem the Revolution at all. But all in all, some good features. And it looks like their effort was actually directed in the right-- erm, scratch that. I was just hoping Nintendo would stop stooping itself to the class of "economy console" -- they should've learned that having a cheaper console dosen't really hope. Well, I don't think price is too big of a concern anymore.

Originally Posted by Shiek 84

Why wouldn't you want wireless controllers? They're convenient, and they will be the standard on all three next gen consoles. I'm sure that there will be a rechargable unit, so as long as you don't play 10+ hours in one sitting, you'll be okay. I think they will use a lithium battery like the DS, so you won't need to buy your own (I assume).

I supposed that people just don't want to be bothered with recharging and switching batteries. Wired controllers won't exactly get in your way anyway. Besides, if you are too far away from the screen, you can't enjoy as much fun because, well, it's obvious, the screen will be too small.

Now, if they will use lithium battery like the DS, what would happen if that battery is dead? Dead as in, its lifetime is up? Do you suppose that people can get the battery from Radioshack? Let's say that they can, how much would such battery cost?

But I would take they would have an USB attachment when the batteries are dead.

Wishlist is the future.

What would be even better is if the controllers came with a battery re-charger.

Originally Posted by jehuty

What would be even better is if the controllers came with a battery re-charger.

Sadly Nintendo loves to go on the cheap side

Originally Posted by V99

Sadly Nintendo loves to go on the cheap side

I'm not sure about that, I got an extra stylus with my DS, and they made Pictochat inbuilt!

Originally Posted by Ninboy

I'm not sure about that, I got an extra stylus with my DS, and they made Pictochat inbuilt!

Because it was cheaper than tethering for the former, and couldn't monetize the latter.

Responses to the rumors, respectively:

1. Nintendo already has one-shot tilt-sensative controllers with Kirby's Tilt 'n' Tumble and WarioWare Twisted. Related speculation bases around patents and licensing agreements being read into. As noted in the past, this doesn't work in the tech sectors, where companies tend to subscribe to "publish first, patent later" philosophies.

2. Current-generations consoles are optimized for NURBs rendering already. NURBs algorithms are relatively simple. Tuning them, however, is relatively hard, and in current modeling applications is relatively inconsistent and proprietary. Which is why you won't hear many developers bragging about their real-time in-game NURBs calculation algorithms.

3. Next person who cites a "new info soon" article/interview/quote gets punched. This becomes more and more like "megaton." Yes, we'll probably see something at TGS, but that's always been a given, and doesn't require and speculation or re-enforcement. What it doesn't justify is us hearing on a weekly basis since E3 from every imaginable source that we'd hear more "soon."

Yes, I'm bitter.

Originally Posted by thetwilight

yeah there supposed to reveal everything really soon and probaly at TGS.YEAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Yes you beat me too it but still. According to Gamecube Cafe, the Revolution will in fact be unveiled during The Tokyo Game Show. Nintendo may even show games like Mario 128. Go to GCCafe for more information.

Originally Posted by Linkprry

Yes you beat me too it but still. According to Gamecube Cafe, the Revolution will in fact be unveiled during The Tokyo Game Show. Nintendo may even show games like Mario 128. Go to GCCafe for more information.

That's great. I was skeptical when Spong was reporting (they're infamous for being a poor source), but Gamecube Cafe is a pretty reliable source. They were the first to confirm that a Zelda trailer would be shown in March (the GDC trailer), and they were correct. So it looks like we'll finally be getting our Revolution info!