Nintendo Shuns High-Definition TV

Company says that good-looking games aren't necessarily good-playing games.

Sony and Microsoft may be convinced that the high-definition era is here, but Nintendo isn't buying it. While Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will both support HD TVs out the box, right now it seems that the Revolution will not.

Nintendo's says its cadre of mascots will look just fine in SD

"Nintendo doesn't plan for [Revolution] to be HD compatible as with that comes a higher price for both the consumer and also the developer creating the game," Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan told IGN.

HD TVs make it possible for games, movies and television broadcasts to be shown with much better clarity. At present, adoption of HD TV is gaining momentum in the US and Japan while it's just starting to creep into the European market.

Current estimates put HD TV penetration at around 12 percent in the US, with similar levels in Japan. In Europe, the HD push is only beginning and adoption is still in the single-digit range.

Nintendo has again made clear that, perhaps more than Microsoft and Sony, it is focussed on gameplay above all.

"It is a technological fact that games will still look incredibly beautiful and play incredibly well without the high cost of making them HD compatible," said Kaplan.

"HD may be one of the technologies of the future. Is it the gaming industry's only future? We don't think so."

It's a romantic attitude, but one that even ardent supporters are finding hard to bear lest cognitive dissonance set in. The most driven of these have gone so far as to start up an online campaign (found at www.1080up.com) to get Nintendo to change its approach to HD.

Public campaigns such as this seldom have any effect on video game makers, but with Nintendo's new console still being a long way off, it's not unfeasible that we may see HD support in Revolution yet.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games