Andre
1st April 2005, 07:11 PM
From: Gamesarefun.com
Nintendo's worldwide president, Satoru Iwata, has done an interview with Japan's Nekkei Buisness News and talked a little but more about Nintendo's upcomming console, code named Revolution.
Iwata hinted upon some things talked about during his keynote presentation at the Game Developers Conference, as well as the thought of how the Revolution will control.
When asked about online capabilities, Iwata confirmed that the Revolution will come with WiFi (802.11), capabilities out of the box; but it is unkown if this will be 802.11b at 11 Mbps, or the faster 802.11g at 54Mbps, personally I'm hoping for the 802.11g, myself. He also said it would definitely be able to be used for wireless local area network (LAN) gaming; but he also hinted that the Revolution should be Internet gaming ready out of the box as well.
"The next-generation console will follow along the same line as the DS [for wireless LAN]," he said. "The ideal is for users to be able to connect to the Internet without having to think about it."
During his keynote presentation, Iwata mentioned how he'd like for gamers to get online with thier Nintendo DS handhelds without having to worry about certain WiFi security issues such as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) passcodes and and WiFi Protected Access (WPA) passcodes. His current comment on the Revolution WiFi networking capabilities sounds like he wants the same for the next generation console. Of course, how this would work in practice is as yet unkown. One possibilty is to work with WiFi access point and router manufacturers to allow firmware updates that will just allow a DS or Revolution to connect without the WEP or WPA access restrictions, but this is just a thought of my own.
Speaking of controllers, Iwata mentioned that he thinks controllers for current consoles "may satisfy the hardcore gamers, but they've become too difficult for more casual gamers."
I dunno, I think most people can work current controllers well enough...
As to how the Revolution will change controllers? Well, Iwata didn't comment specifically about that. He also said no comment to the rumors of a Nintendo DS-style touch pad on the controller as well.
"For the next-generation console, we plan to introduce a friendly user interface so that, for example, a mother who's watching her child playing a game might say, 'Oh, I'd like to try that too,'" he said. "However, user interfaces are devices that can easily be imitated by other companies, so I can't reveal any details right now."
Nintendo is currently believed to be showing off the Revolution, or at least videos of possible games and concept videos of games for the Revolution. So more information about the controllers should hopefully be available then.
One other thing Iwata mentioned, which is good news, is that developer reaction to the Revolution is better than expected (which hopefully means dev kits have shipped out to at least some developers). Part of the reason, he stated, was becasue Nintendo is commited to helping keep development costs for the Revolution as low as possible. One way Nintendo is doing this is to continue to use the software libraries and application program intefaces (APIs) from the GameCube. This works out well for developers, because they will already be familiar with how to program for the Revolution, and will only have to worry about taking advantage of the hardware for things like graphics and game play as opposed to having to learn all new APIs and software libraries.
Source: Nekkei Buisness News
http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=4642
Nintendo's worldwide president, Satoru Iwata, has done an interview with Japan's Nekkei Buisness News and talked a little but more about Nintendo's upcomming console, code named Revolution.
Iwata hinted upon some things talked about during his keynote presentation at the Game Developers Conference, as well as the thought of how the Revolution will control.
When asked about online capabilities, Iwata confirmed that the Revolution will come with WiFi (802.11), capabilities out of the box; but it is unkown if this will be 802.11b at 11 Mbps, or the faster 802.11g at 54Mbps, personally I'm hoping for the 802.11g, myself. He also said it would definitely be able to be used for wireless local area network (LAN) gaming; but he also hinted that the Revolution should be Internet gaming ready out of the box as well.
"The next-generation console will follow along the same line as the DS [for wireless LAN]," he said. "The ideal is for users to be able to connect to the Internet without having to think about it."
During his keynote presentation, Iwata mentioned how he'd like for gamers to get online with thier Nintendo DS handhelds without having to worry about certain WiFi security issues such as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) passcodes and and WiFi Protected Access (WPA) passcodes. His current comment on the Revolution WiFi networking capabilities sounds like he wants the same for the next generation console. Of course, how this would work in practice is as yet unkown. One possibilty is to work with WiFi access point and router manufacturers to allow firmware updates that will just allow a DS or Revolution to connect without the WEP or WPA access restrictions, but this is just a thought of my own.
Speaking of controllers, Iwata mentioned that he thinks controllers for current consoles "may satisfy the hardcore gamers, but they've become too difficult for more casual gamers."
I dunno, I think most people can work current controllers well enough...
As to how the Revolution will change controllers? Well, Iwata didn't comment specifically about that. He also said no comment to the rumors of a Nintendo DS-style touch pad on the controller as well.
"For the next-generation console, we plan to introduce a friendly user interface so that, for example, a mother who's watching her child playing a game might say, 'Oh, I'd like to try that too,'" he said. "However, user interfaces are devices that can easily be imitated by other companies, so I can't reveal any details right now."
Nintendo is currently believed to be showing off the Revolution, or at least videos of possible games and concept videos of games for the Revolution. So more information about the controllers should hopefully be available then.
One other thing Iwata mentioned, which is good news, is that developer reaction to the Revolution is better than expected (which hopefully means dev kits have shipped out to at least some developers). Part of the reason, he stated, was becasue Nintendo is commited to helping keep development costs for the Revolution as low as possible. One way Nintendo is doing this is to continue to use the software libraries and application program intefaces (APIs) from the GameCube. This works out well for developers, because they will already be familiar with how to program for the Revolution, and will only have to worry about taking advantage of the hardware for things like graphics and game play as opposed to having to learn all new APIs and software libraries.
Source: Nekkei Buisness News
http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=4642