Nintendo's Revolution Begins in 2005

Company prepares to change the industry

Nintendo's distaste for the current direction of videogames is well known. Company president Satoru Iwata has been outspoken in his belief that the current model is broken and something is needed to put the medium back on track. What is needed, according to Nintendo, is Revolution.

Is this the last traditional console from Nintendo?

Revolution is the codename for Nintendo's upcoming home console and, judging by recent comments from the company, it seems that the name is more than just the fancy posturing normally associated with hardware codenames.

Exactly what it is, though, no one knows at the moment.

There has been speculation that Nintendo is on the verge of radically altering how we control videogames, in part by eschewing the current controller paradigm that the company itself introduced in the mid-'80s with the NES. But no one outside of the company knows for sure.

Nintendo's chief of public relations, Ken Toyota, said that Revolution would be shown off at this year's E3 in May. But the company has not decided yet in what form the new hardware will be shown, for fear of showing too much too early.

"We don't have the slightest intention of making a machine that follows the same path as conventional game hardware," said Toyota. "Right now, we are thinking of how we can accurately convey to people at E3 the different path that the Revolution will take and how it will change the way that games will be enjoyed."

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games