Obvious Diversion

Nintendo is clearly holding it’s cards close to it’s chest. No controller was shown, no game demos, and no specifications. All we got to see was the Nintendo Revolution console design and I’m pretty sure that if I touch it I will learn how to kill things with a bone. That’s a compliment to the designer in my book.

So, why all the secrecy? It has to be all about the controller design and the games that take advantage of it. They’ve got something pretty crazy up their sleeve and I’m dying to know what it is. Motion sensors, built-in touch-screens, and voodoo magic have all been thrown around as possibilities, but we’ll really just have to wait and see. Until then, it’s clear what they did reveal: Nintendo is going to be a very profitable company in the years ahead.

Twenty Years of Gaming Available in an Instant

The best feature we know about is that the Nintendo Revolution will be able to play the last 20 years of Nintendo content. Every NES, SNES, N64 and Gamecube title will play on this machine. For the older games I can only assume you’ll be able to browse the entire catalog online, pick out your retro gaming classic and instantly play to your heart’s content. This is huge. Nintendo is going to make massive amounts of revenue off of games that finished development years if not over a decage ago. Third parties with old Nintendo classics like Castlevania and Bionic Commando will be lining up to get in there and this gives Nintendo an incredible bargaining chip for support. If you think this feature is small beans you are out of your mind. While Microsoft is talking about how you’ll be able to buy new outfits for your characters with you hard earned cash online (lame), Nintendo is offering 20 years of classic gaming available the instant you want it. Wow. If evaluating a new console is all about how much fun you’ll have with it, then Nintendo is going to provide me with plenty of fun. I, of course, will probably provide Nintendo with plenty of cash.

Gameboy Micro

Making Gameboys is like printing money for Nintendo. The new Gameboy Micro is an easy win. It looks like it will win over casual gamers with ease and slip into any pocket an ipod mini isn’t currently occupying.

Zelda so Pretty

Although support for the Gamecube is dwindling as it hits the end of it’s life, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess looks gorgeous and is sure to be a winner. Nintendo devotees will more than likely be entertained by Zelda enough to wait until after 2005 to buy a new console.

x + y + z = ?

There’s too much we don’t know at this point to make any serious judgments, but it’s clear to me that Nintendo isn’t going anywhere. The Revolution’s support for twenty years of games is one of the smartest things I’ve seen in a long time and should be an incredible source of revenue. The Gameboy Micro is going to help Nintendo keep market share in the portable market. The truth though is that we still don’t know what they’re up to, not until we see that controller.