This article is about the Nintendo game console. For the Linkin Park tour, please see Projekt Revolution.

Project Revolution is the code name for the next Nintendo video game console. Presently, not much information has been released about Project Revolution. The system is expected to be demonstrated at E³ in May 2005 [1].

Nintendo has announced that IBM has been working with the development of the CPU, codenamed "Broadway". IBM was previously involved with the development of the processor in Nintendo's current system, GameCube. Nintendo has also announced that Canadian graphics card maker ATI Technologies is involved with the GPU in San Francisco , Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced that the Revolution will be backward compatible with GameCube games and have built-in Wi-Fi for online playing, provided by Broadcom Corporation. [2]. Nintendo's executive vice president of sales and marketing Reginald Fils-Aime stated during the conference that the console will be released in 2006 [3], about the same time as Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox Next.

Nintendo has stated that they wish for their new console to provide more than simply better graphics over its predecessor. It is not yet known how they will achieve this but it is speculated that it may provide new methods of interaction.

Rumors

• The future Microsoft and Nintendo consoles may use similar technologies. Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft have all contracted IBM for CPUs, but only Nintendo and Microsoft have contracted ATI to develop their next-generation GPU hardware.

• Project Revolution could have connectivity with the Nintendo DS.

• Revolution's largest innovation is speculated to be incorporated in the next controller. There is a rumor from a magazine in Japan called "The Diamond Weekly" that the new console's controllers will not have the traditional A / B buttons or the d-pad, which have been present since the NES era in the early 1980s. It's worth noting that Nintendo has, since 2001, invested a great deal of money and resources into the company Gyration , which focuses on creating controllers for the PC using gyroscopes. Nintendo has previously included motion-sensors in the game cartridges for titles in the Wario Ware and Kirby franchises.

• Another theory is that the controller of the Revolution will be touch sensitive, in similar fashion to the Nintendo DS.

• In Issue #144 (April 2005) of Game Informer, there was a brief confirmation that the revolution's controllers will indeed be touch screens. However the validity of this statement is yet to be proven.

References

• N-Sider, October 2004 in-depth FAQ, updated on all the known details about the Revolution.
• Gyration, Press release involving Nintendo investment
• IGN GameCube FAQ
• Slashdot discussion on Revolution - March 11, 2005
• Game Informer interview with Reggie Fils-Aime