According to IGN, a major third-party source was quoted concerning
the Nintendo Revolution as saying (rather anonymously): "To be honest, it's not much more powerful than an Xbox. It's
like a souped up Xbox." Having 128MB of RAM will do that to you. "But it's the controller that makes the difference and
the controller is really nice."
Not only that, "third parties have been partially briefed by Nintendo representatives about the Revolution hardware,
its overall horsepower, and the Big N's plan for the console," and some have confirmed an earlier (mis)statement that
the Revolution will only be "two-to-three times more powerful than GameCube"—without
counting the Hollywood graphics chip, of course. IGN's other big caveat: these devs are still working with
"GameCube-based kits," revealing that nothing's set in silicon quite yet.
These devs don't want to identify themselves to the public, for obvious reasons, but matching hi-def resolutions has
never been the Big N's stated aim with its next-gen system. "Rather, the company hopes to make the console small, quiet
and affordable." Not being able to easily reuse assets from PS3, PC, and Xbox 360 games will hurt portability (and,
hence, profitability), but it is hoped that more original games will make their way to the system once it gains a
sizeable foothold in households worldwide.
[Thanks, TheMayor, Timpac,
kekleon64,
Playbomber, and
Buttonbasher]
Engadget
TUAW