Nintendo: You Say You Wanna Revolution...

Nintendo was relatively tight lipped as usual at their initial unveiling of their latest console dubbed the Revolution. We do know that Nintendo isn't competing in the console arms race with raw horsepower. The Revolution is said to be a mere 3-4 times as powerful as the diminutive Cube, which is quite capable of pumping out decent game, but it isn't going to win a toe-to-toe race with a PS3 anytime soon, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing in my book.

As of their E3 showing, the Revolution doesn't really seem revolutionary just yet. We don't even know what the controller will look like which seems to be some giant trade secret within the company. Nintendo's tight-lipped approach has done some PR damage before when people felt left down after speculation got out of hand. We also haven't seen really any concrete details about actual games which we will be playing on the sleek little console.

I actually dig the look of the system they showed. I'm really into the compact electronics and systems like the Dreamcast and Cube (in Black or Silver) really fit nicely on my gaming table.

Nintendo is also pulling a nice move with providing a service to download their catalog of older games using an online distribution method. Everyone out there was quick to say that people already do this for free on their PCs and Xboxes. That's fine and dandy however a lot of people actually do like to buy things in a legitimate fashion. No one was supposed to buy music online after the free for all distribution on the net a few years back but now we're seeing Apple's iTunes music store as a raging success and everyone else is trying to become a player in that arena to get a piece. The want is out there, people are willing to pay if the distribution and quality is there.

Nintendo also showed off their penchant for shining up an old toy for a new run at sales. There track record is long an successful in this category from slapping a coat of paint to old Gameboys and now shrinking the already small GBA SP to a new "Micro" version of the venerable GBA.

While many consider this to be a cheap tactic designed to milk their fans out of more money, I have no such beef with the redesign of the GBA. The GBA is by far one of my favorite systems due to its wonderfully diverse library of excellent titles along with being an excellent portable due to its size, battery life and durability.

The Gameboy Micro will easily find a home in my collection. An ultra portable machine with all of the best features of the Gameboy line including a crisp, bright screen and even the elusive headphone jack which was MIA from the Gameboy SP. Yes it's a bastard move to from Nintendo to resell the GBA and make a killing on removable faceplate sales, but I'm a portable whore. What can I do?

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