Nintendo: Revolution Solution?

It's official: Nintendo has gracefully bowed out of the next-generation arms race. And you know what? It might be the smartest thing they've ever done. After high-profile technological demonstrations of next-generation wizardry from both Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo's conference was comparatively low-key and understated. There were no obnoxiously attractive audience plants, no pre-rendered game demos, no outlandish sales claims, no smoke and mirrors... but no revolutions either. Nintendo is clearly moving in a different direction from their bigger rivals, and this years' E3 made it more painfully obvious than ever.

The Big N focused much of the event on software offerings for its GameBoy Advance, DS and GameCube platforms, reiterating its long-standing reputation as a games company rather than a tech firm. Nintendo representatives trotted out a host of games starring corpulent plumber Mario (Mario Baseball, Mario Party 7 and DDR Mario Mix) and a DS game called Nintendogs, a.. ahem, puppy simulator that allows you to... ahem, fondle dogs with the stylus. The quirky game has proven to be a system-seller in Japan and has helped the DS keep ahead of Sony's PSP in overall sales. Time will tell if American gamers -- who are completely capable of owning real dogs -- will bite.

A trailer for the new Legend of Zelda game was shown to a cheering audience, and though it sports a more photorealistic style, the new game is still rife with creative animated flourishes and looks to offer the same engrossing gameplay that fans expect. Perhaps responding to pressure from the PSP, Nintendo unveiled yet another GBA model, the ultra-compact GameBoy Advance Micro. The unit boasts the brightest screen of any Nintendo portable to date, and its slim form factor -- about the size of a cell phone -- allows it to be comfortably concealed in your favorite pair of pants. A headphone jack is graciously included on the new model.

The company's biggest announcement was the Revolution, a network-enabled console capable of downloading Nintendo's entire back-catalogue of video games dating back to the 8-bit days. Wi-fi and GameCube compatibility were revealed, as well as a svelte black case design not much bigger than a hard-bound book. No technical specifications were announced (rumor states that the machine will only be 2-4 times as powerful as the GameCube) and the joypad design was conspicuously absent. Most disappointing was the utter lack of details concerning next-generation game projects; other than incarnations of the company's flagship characters, precious little software was confirmed to be in development for the new platform.

Nintendo's commitment to game innovation has never been more clear than it was this year, but with a nearly non-existant next-generation showing at the world's largest video game expo, the Big N seems resigned to accept their fate as an also-ran incapable of keeping pace with the "big two". Without saying as much, Nintendo has effectively revealed their strategy to focus on software innovation rather than hardware muscle, and seem ready to carve out a different market from the Xbox and PlayStation brands. While no doubt upsetting to long-time Nintendophiles, this provides the perennial game-maker a unique opportunity to position themselves as a lower-cost, lower-tech alternative to the Microsoft-Sony heavyweight slugfest.

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