Nintendo's Pre-E3 Surprise - HOAX!

[Zadoc]

In a radio interview with the Japanese pop radio station,月の最初日, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata elaborated on the recent bombshell announcement that Nintendo’s next home console, dubbed “Revolution,” will feature neither a D-dad nor “A” and “B” buttons, fixtures which have become standard equipment on every Nintendo controller since 1985.

“It was a shock to many to learn that the Revolution will have no D-pad,” Iwata-san said to an eager Japanese gaming public. “When my friend, Gumpei Yokoi, designed the D-pad in the 1980’s it was a revolution in the gaming world. No console before the Famicom had control as advanced as what a D-pad offers. No console since the Famicom has since come out that it absent of a D-pad. When Nintendo innovates, all game companies pay attention.”

The distinguished Nintendo president went on to disclose how a home console will operate absent the standard D-pad.

“Today it is a new year, and that is joyous. So it is with joy that I announce that the Nintendo Revolution will not only be without conventional controls, it will not come with a controller. The Nintendo DS will be used as a controller. We believe that connectivity is the future of gaming. This new concept is revolution in connectivity. Imagine using a stylus on a DS touch screen to control Mario on the TV.”

Nintendo plans to unveil their Nintendo Revolution console to the press and to the public at this year’s annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) which will be held in Las Angeles from May 17th through the 20th.

Satoru Iwata took over as President of Nintendo Company, Ltd. in May, 2002 when Hiroshi Yamauchi resigned. Yamauchi built Nintendo into the video game powerhouse that it is today.

Gumpei Yokoi not only invented the D-pad for Nintendo, but he was also the architect of the popular Game Boy, which has enjoyed worldwide sales of over half a billion games since its inception in 1989. Yokoi left Nintendo in 1995 after the failed launch of the Virtual Boy, a Game Boy spin off which featured virtual reality and 3D. In 1996 Yokoi was hit and killed on a Japanese expressway after a minor accident.

Famicom is the Japanese name for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) which debuted in the United States in 1985.

01/01/2005 Filed: Marc Lügner



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[GobopopRevisited]

Wow... just Wow...

This kinda sucks. I'm wondering how it will play GameCube software... which makes me wonder if this is in fact, legit.

There has to be some sort of standard controller input if "Revolution" is going to be backwards compatable... Nintendo isn't stupid enough to make an entire console designed arround the concept so many people turned down for FF: Crystal Chonicles and tLoZ: Four Swords Adventures...

[drwily008]

I love nintendo but .........OH BOY. I knew they'd try to force consumers to buy the DS through the revolution. So now they can justify bringing out a new handheld in less than a full year.

[SamuraiSmurfette]

grrr...I really don't like the ds...Pointy corners, tiny stylus.
Just not comfortable for long-term gaming.
But at least, it gives consumers a reason to actually buy the darn things,
I mean, they'd have to!

[MegaDrive20XX]

Phew....this really changes my judgement....

So lemme get this straight...if I want a D-pad...Im gonna have to buy a DS? Okay,....I'll pass...a whole other system just to play a gamecube game?

[towerofsong]

This really doesn't seem like a good idea. I love the DS...but I just can't see that working.
But i like being proven wrong

[Charlesaway]

More than that, I just can't justify paying $150 for a controller.

And I personally don't see how this will help push 'Revolution' units into the marketplace. It's just baffling. I'll believe it when I see it too, I guess.

[Zadoc]

Originally Posted by GobopopRevisited

Wow... just Wow...

This kinda sucks. I'm wondering how it will play GameCube software... which makes me wonder if this is in fact, legit.

I don't think that Revolution and Gamecube were every going to be backwards compatable. Nintendo announced in December that the Revolution won't have A/B buttons or a D-Pad.

I just imagined that it would use the Atari MindLink as a controller!

[goatdan]

This doesn't make any sense...

The console will operate without the use of a D-pad... Okay. That makes sense. Analog control only would be just fine with me but...

The Nintendo DS will be the controller? The Nintendo DS has a D-pad. I saw it today when I was playing around with one. It's pretty hard to miss.

So this 'announcement' means what exactly? That the revolution will only be able to control games through the touch screen? If so, damn is backwards compatiblity going to be a STUPID feature.

I'll wait for E3. What he said makes no sense to me...

[goatdan]

Originally Posted by Charlesaway

More than that, I just can't justify paying $150 for a controller.

And I personally don't see how this will help push 'Revolution' units into the marketplace. It's just baffling. I'll believe it when I see it too, I guess.

Me neither... unless the Revolution comes packaged with a DS for about $200.00 in the future. Then, I'd be okay with that.

Originally Posted by Zadoc

I don't think that Revolution and Gamecube were every going to be backwards compatable. Nintendo announced in December that the Revolution won't have A/B buttons or a D-Pad.

No, Nintendo announced that the Revolution would be backwards compatible at the video game developers conference, which is definitely a more accurate place to get information than a radio show where Iwata is trying to get the public pumped up. I'm guessing (based on my post above and thinking a little more) that something major was lost in translation here, or Iwata didn't really announce much of anything...

[GobopopRevisited]

Originally Posted by Zadoc

I don't think that Revolution and Gamecube were every going to be backwards compatable.

Iwata announced in his GDC keynote, that it would be... it was one of the hottest topics on the RR a few weeks ago.

[Blackjax]

Jeez... I really hope this is just BS... I just can't imagine this being true...

But if it is.... this is Nintendo's third strike in the console market...

the mediocre reception of both the N64 and the GameCube (save it NintenZombies, you have to admit neithe console exactly lit up the market) and now if you need a $150 system JUST to play another console...

it's just stupid. This would be market suicide for Nintendo if they did this. Is it April 1st yet?

[max 330 mega]

well... if this does end up being legit.. all i can say is glad i already got my DS... but WTF!!! 4 DS's for multiplayer!??!
this has got to be a joke..

[squirrelnut]

Bullshit meter is off the charts on this one.

A. Why would Nintendo make someone buy a console to play another one?. Yes, maybe as an add on controler like a SP, but I find that statement to be 100% fraudulent

B. No link to the news article.

C.

01/01/2005 Filed: Marc Lügner

Very old news (upwords of 3 months)

D.

Gunpei Yokoi was tragically killed in a car accident in 1997. An unfitting end to one of the greatest hardware designers of all time.

article says 96....

E.

“Revolution,” will feature neither a D-dad nor “A” and “B” buttons, fixtures which have become standard equipment on every Nintendo controller since 1985.

Famicom had a d-pad and A&B buttons back in 84. Game and watches also had them too. Bad facts=bad reporting.

F.

In 1996 Yokoi was hit and killed on a Japanese expressway after a minor accident.

As I stated before he was killed in 97. Plus how can he be killed in a minor accident?

So yeah.. extreme bullshit!

[max 330 mega]

it better be bullshit, nintendo better not fuck themselves over right from the start on this system.

[scooterb23]

I'm really hoping for an adapter so I can use my Virtual Boy as a controller for the Revolution.

I await eagerly the reports from E3.

First blush - if this is true...it sounds like a really really poor idea.

Second thought - We bitch now because systems don't come with games. Can you imagine paying X amount of dollars for a new system, and it comes with no controller as well?

[shoes23]

If they actually go with that design its going to be a risky gamble. On one hand, it would be an evolution in the controller department. On the other, I think there are not a lot of people willing to pay for a next gen console and then shell out another $200 for two DS's so they can play 2 player games. If its true this is another Nintendo console I'm going to pass on.

[tholly]

yea....thats bullshit

no company would be dumb enough to do that

if they do, then all i have to say is "Goodbye Nintendo"

just think of families with 4 kids that want to play a multiplayer game

$300 home console + $600 for 4 ds "controllers" + $30 memory card + $50 game + $35 better video cable + $60 for 4 stupid link cables if you can't use wireless connectivity for controller

plus, no rumble feature for any previous or new game while all other systems will likely have it

the money on this would cost more than a steel battalion set up

[goatdan]

Originally Posted by squirrelnut

F.

As I stated before he was killed in 97. Plus how can he be killed in a minor accident?

Although I agree with most of your assumption, this one is more or less true. Yokoi was in a minor accident, but was killed when he was struck by another vehicle when he got out to inspect the damage to his car. So he actually was killed on a Japanese expressway after a minor accident.

[spoon]

Probably bad translation.

My guess:

Consumers will also have the option to use the DS as a controller somehow. Think.......conectivity.

[Jasoco]

Somehow I highly doubt Nintendo would be this stupid, but of course I've been wrong before. I sure hope I'm right.

[classicb]

Originally Posted by spoon

Probably bad translation.

My guess:

Consumers will also have the option to use the DS as a controller somehow. Think.......conectivity.

I'd agree. There have been many rumors around the internet about the next Nintendo machine using touch pad controllers and that would make sence to use the DS also as a controller but not only (that would be too stupid for even nintendo to do).

[Bluteg]

Does it say anywhere in this article that the ONLY Revolution controller would be a DS? I think it means that a DS CAN be used as a controller. I know Nintendo would not do that, or at lesat I hope.

[Evan_G]

Considering the Revolution is backwards compadible, one would have to assume that GC controllers will work in it.

[JJNova]

Not necessarily, they could just make it utilize similar commands. Like the GC Controller does with Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask