Revolution specs from IGN

[Legend]

Revolution's Horsepower
Studios give us the inside scoop on the clock rates for Broadway and Hollywood. How do the CPU and GPU stack up on paper?
by Matt Casamassina

March 29, 2006 - Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said that his company is not interested in waging a technology war against Microsoft and Sony, whose next generation consoles promise more power and in turn high-definition graphics. The Big N's still-codenamed Revolution system is in contrast designed to be quiet, small and affordable. Nintendo has invested millions in an innovative new controller that has the potential to permanently change the way people play games - for the better, the company hopes. As a result, players would be hard-pressed to find any Nintendo executive willing to go on the record about Revolution technical specs. In fact, former Nintendo of Europe marketing chief, Jim Merrick, indicated in an interview last year that the company may never divulge details on Revolution's horsepower to the public.

Obviously, Nintendo is unable to take the same approach with game studios, many of whom are currently working with Revolution development hardware and in possession of finalized system specifications. IGN Revolution is in regular contact with software houses making titles for Nintendo's new generation system. Last year we relayed to our readers initial system specs based on insider reports. Today, we present updated information on Revolution's "Broadway" CPU and "Hollywood" GPU, which are provided to Nintendo by IBM and ATI respectively.

For today's report we spoke to a variety of trusted development sources, all of whom are in possession of Revolution development hardware - some more finalized than others. The studios who updated us with this information have asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, but we can verify that the specifications forwarded to us are current and come by way of either official Nintendo documentation or benchmark tests with working Revolution kits.

Insiders stress that Revolution runs on an extension of the Gekko and Flipper architectures that powered GameCube, which is why studios who worked on GCN will have no problem making the transition to the new machine, they say. IBM's "Broadway" CPU is clocked at 729MHz, according to updated Nintendo documentation. By comparison, GameCube's Gekko CPU ran at 485MHz. The original Xbox's CPU was clocked at 733MHz. Meanwhile, Xbox 360 runs three symmetrical cores at 3.2GHz.


Nintendo's Revolution console, as seen on-display at the Game Developers Conference 2006
Clearly, numbers don't mean everything, but on paper Revolution's CPU falls performance-wise somewhere well beyond GameCube and just shy of the original Xbox. However, it's important to remember that the CPU is only one part of the equation.

Revolution's ATI-provided "Hollywood" GPU clocks in at 243MHz. By comparison, GameCube's GPU ran at 162MHz, while the GPU on the original Xbox was clocked at 233MHz. Sources we spoke with suggest that it is unlikely the GPU will feature any added shaders, as has been speculated.

"The 'Hollywood' is a large-scale integrated chip that includes the GPU, DSP, I/O bridge and 3MBs of texture memory," a studio source told us.

The overall system memory numbers we reported last December have not greatly fluctuated, but new clarifications have surfaced. Revolution will operate using 24MBs of "main" 1T-SRAM. It will additionally boast 64MBs of "external" 1T-SRAM. That brings the total number of system RAM up to 88MBs, not including the 3MB texture buffer on the GPU. By comparison, GameCube featured 40MBs of RAM not counting the GPU's on-board 3MBs. The original Xbox included 64MBs total RAM. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 operate on 512MBs of RAM.

It is not known if the 14MBs of extra D-RAM we reported on last December are in the current Revolution specifications.

"The external RAM can be accessed as quickly as the main RAM, which is a nice touch," a developer we spoke with alleged.

Lots of numbers, but what do they all mean? The short answer is that Revolution is exactly as Nintendo has publicly stated: a console whose primary focus is not quadrupling raw horsepower, but rather a potentially gameplay-changing new controller. Nintendo's new hardware supports this innovative new peripheral and not the other way around. Looking back, it makes sense.

In early 2004, Nintendo's former president Hiroshi Yamauchi said that it was unnecessary to accelerate the release of next generation consoles; that current machines were more than adequate. The Big N announced that it would release a series of peripherals to extend the life of GameCube, but only halfheartedly supported the approach with limited microphone and bongo-enhanced titles.

Sources close to Nintendo have, however, told IGN Revolution that the company was experimenting with in-development GameCube controllers very similar to Revolution's freestyle-style unit. The problem research and development faced at the time was that these controllers encountered unavoidable latency issues, which made them nearly incompatible with fast-paced software. Apparently the Big N overcame this particular hurdle.

Whether or not Revolution is, in fact, a vehicle for the new freestyle controller or not, systems specs rarely tell the whole story. We would remind readers that during an era when polygon numbers meant everything, GameCube's polygon peaks were lower than PlayStation 2 and Xbox. However, few would disagree with the assertion that Resident Evil 4 - a title developed from the ground-up for Nintendo's system -- was one of the prettiest games of the generation.

A spokesperson for ATI had no comment, except to say that the provider was excited to be working with Nintendo on the Hollywood GPU.

IGN Revolution contacted Nintendo of America for comment, but the company did not return our query in time for publish.

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/699/699118p1.html

now I am officially worried. tell me this is an April Fools joke...

 

[Ty]

The replies to this ought to be interesting....

 

[JasonLD]

If true..then this might be the first console in a long time that is profitable from day one...and without shortages. If there is a shortage..blame might be the controller, not the console.

 

[DudeMiester]

They might as well just make hand-helds like the DS and PC games for the rest. I think they're wasting their time with the console. In fact, they would be better off just coding software and developing periphial hardware for PCs, targeting the multimedia living-room computers. Maybe offer their own branded computer like that, instead of a proprietary console. Not only would the MPC be way more powerful, but since the software would work on all PCs, they could use off-the-shelf parts and ports would be much easier, they'd get a lot more sales and a lot less expense.

I mean, if you're going to lock people into hardware, at least give it some unique value, like with the PS3 and Xbox360, which have features PCs won't see for at least a couple years.

 

[Inane_Dork]

Well, this certainly gives perspective on why Factor 5 and Silicon Knights left the Nintendo fold. And it gives some insight into the UE3.0 thing.

 

[nintenho]

The replies to this ought to be interesting....

your telling me.

 

[Legend]

I just see it as impossible for a new gaming console to have only 91M of RAM, let alone a 0.7GHz CPU.

with that low RAM, this is hard to believe. I'll give it a couple of days till IGN either confirms it or announce it as a stupid April Fools joke.

 

[one]

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29577

 

[Legend]

oops. I didn't notice that thread.

sorry

 

[SugarCoat]

They might as well just make hand-helds like the DS and PC games for the rest. I think they're wasting their time with the console. In fact, they would be better off just coding software and developing periphial hardware for PCs, targeting the multimedia living-room computers. Maybe offer their own branded computer like that, instead of a proprietary console. Not only would the MPC be way more powerful, but since the software would work on all PCs, they could use off-the-shelf parts and ports would be much easier, they'd get a lot more sales and a lot less expense.

I mean, if you're going to lock people into hardware, at least give it some unique value, like with the PS3 and Xbox360, which have features PCs won't see for at least a couple years.

Can you buy a PS3? Then why are you talking as if its for sale. The Xbox360 has done nothing so far a computer cant do, and promises nothing major for games a current computer cant do now or in the future. It has some new hardware and innovations but the output picture will not drastically change in terms of effects or immersion due to anything the Xbox360 does exclusively. Much of the same can be said about the PS3 or at least whats known about it.

This console will be embraced, i do not know if the above specs are correct, but the console itself will quite problably sell well do to the fact that Nintendo plans to market it to gamers young and old and at a price that wont dent your wallet. You dont seem to understand that the very same people that are attracted to the Xbox360 and PS3 ONLY because of graphics capability and hardware, will problably find quite a bit of appeal to the Revolution based only on the uniqueness of its controller. Thats what a tech junkie does. And despite its lackluster support for HD resolutions, it will look markedly better on an HD television.

If your argument can be used against anything, it would be against the very consoles you defend. When will computers have a controller that will manipulate human movement allowing you to interact on a level never before capable in all games? Will the PS3 and Xbox360 be able to do this at any point in their life? If anything the Revolution will be the ONLY platform that will retain its unique qualities all the way through its life cycle. Hardware and technology wise its the PS3 and Xbox360 that are going to look like crap two years from now, offering nothing new. No new stepping stones, no new ideas that recent years and console releases havent done before going all the way back to the Atari. Some could argue that they're already there. Regaurdless of the hardware under the hood in those two consoles, they will inevitably be selling consoles off popular/hyped titles, not console capabilities, a few years from now. In lamen terms, the hardware capabilities touted by both Sony and MS have a very limited shelf life when it comes to selling/marketing. The revolution is the only one unique to that rule. Every year is important to console sales, not just the first one or two, dont forget that.

Just look at how well a game like DDR did, and the reason it sold so well was because it was quite a bit off the beaten track of basic gaming. Now imagine a console based completely around and supporting that idea. Nah man, you got your thinking ass backwards. Technology and hardware improvements are fantastic and all, but the Revolution is supporting an idea that is a guarantied seller. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for it to get adopted (key reason why the console will be marketed at a lower MSRP), but i can promise Sony and Microsoft will incooperate more and more ideas like this into their future platforms in addition to what they improve in the hardware.

 

[aaaaa00]

Will the PS3 and Xbox360 be able to do this at any point in their life?

Hell yes.

If the rev-mote takes off, you can bet serious money that Sony and MS will be working to clone it as quickly as possible.

A controller is just a peripheral -- it'll end up bundled with games that can use it. Precedent has been set for this -- the bongo drums with DKJB, the guitar in Guitar Hero, the DDR pads (of many flavors).

It's not like a remote pointing device is a new invention: http://www.gyration.com/en-US

 

[c0_re]

For Nintendo's fans sake I really hope this is a joke.

 

[SugarCoat]

Hell yes.

If the rev-mote takes off, you can bet serious money that Sony and MS will be working to clone it as quickly as possible.

A controller is just a peripheral -- it'll end up bundled with games that can use it. Precedent has been set for this -- the bongo drums with DKJB, the guitar in Guitar Hero, the DDR pads (of many flavors).

It's not like a remote pointing device is a new invention: http://www.gyration.com/en-US

ah but then they would have a problem of needing mass support for games and devs willing to do work for this new controller to be competitive at any level against the Revolution. To copy its idea in entirety so to speak. The time alone would be a few years. It will take that much time for either company to decide to dedicate money to R&D of their own to such a project. Conclusion being, its not a threat this generation. Not on a widespread basis. Revolution will have the advantage of its controller being in the minds of devs from day one.

I never said a remote pointing device was a new idea. Anyone for a game of duck hunt? The controller the revolution is going to be using will be the most advanced for any game, let alone platform, though.

 

[aaaaa00]

ah but then they would have a problem of needing mass support for games and devs willing to do work for this new controller to be competitive at any level against the Revolution.

I'm of the opinion that the rev-mote won't be useful for anything but a few gimmicks in most games. You won't need widespread support, because most games won't use it properly, like the DS's second screen and touch pad.

For the few games that do use it brilliantly, the model of bundling a special controller is well understood and employed fairly commonly today. Guitar Hero, DKJB, DDR, Eye-Toy, etc.

So I don't see the rev-mote being a huge advantage for Nintendo this generation which won't be copied quickly if it really takes off.

 

[SugarCoat]

Ah well then. I cant argue against opinion, i almost always lose.

 

[Tars Tarkus]

If you think in terms of RE4 on Gamecube being a baseline for Revolution I'm not sure why people are "worried" about not enjoying the actual games that come out.

 

[hey69]

If you think in terms of RE4 on Gamecube being a baseline for Revolution I'm not sure why people are "worried" about not enjoying the actual games that come out.

yeah mario64 was a cool baseline back in the years of N64 . would you have to see that generation games until now also ?

 

[aaaaa00]

Ah well then. I cant argue against opinion, i almost always lose.

My opinion can change, I suppose it will when I actually play the games.

I've used one of those gyration mice and it's pretty neat, but it's not something I'd trade my regular mouse for.

 

[thundermonkey]

If you think in terms of RE4 on Gamecube being a baseline for Revolution I'm not sure why people are "worried" about not enjoying the actual games that come out.

I'd say with what we know something around Chaos Theory being seen a lot right off the bat. Being 2x an Xbox as one dev put it, with minimal improvements after.

Games should look pretty enough for the masses.

Console should be cheap, software should be cheap(er) then the next-gen norm. It's got a very shiny look. Which everyone likes. The controllers interesting in itself. It seems like it was designed around something the everyday person would have no trouble understanding. The base remote, no attachments. It's form is perfect for the mass market. I mean, these people know more about remotes then they do a philips head, or a jamb.

With the added functionality of the analog attachment, games become much more interactive. You want to give female gamers a game to care about? Give them a powerful female character, and let them feel that girls power. Give them her strength. What other input device could reproduce a feeling of strength? Pressing a button or slamming your enemy into a pillar? A button press or hitting them with some wreckage?

This controller if utilized correctly could have a massive impact on game immersion. Will it feel the same pressing a button to duck after just lowering the controller? Will it feel the same pressing a button to swing a sword after swinging it yourself?

Lot of question marks in that post. If all things pans out like I'm hoping they do (not just for Nintendo's sake, but mine too) Nintendo might not make off with the first prize, or even second, but they will have most definitely stopped their downward slope each passing generation.

The console will only be marginally more powerful then the most powerful competitor last gen, but will be priced well enough to those that can't really tell the difference. If it's all cheap enough, it'll sell.

 

[Squeak]

Seeing as the baseline resolution (or maybe indeed the only possible resolution) is 3 times lower than that of its competitors, a modern (better than Flipper and NV2a) ~250Mhz VPU could be enough to pull off the same pixelshader stuff as 360.

If loading is as lightning fast as GC or faster, it could be used as a kind of a virtual ROM.
Making the ~100Mb RAM suddenly not seem so limiting.
After all remember that GC only had 24Mb, 2.5 times less than xbox, yet it's games compare very favourably with it.
In fact games such as Metroid Prime/Echos look as good or better than the best xbox titles.
It's always seemed a bit daft, that we have all this data on the disc and the only thing keeping us from using it directly is the latency of the drive.
Most DVD drives today are fast enough to fill 100Mb in a couple of seconds, yet the mechanical latency of the drive bring that up to tens of seconds.

My only worry is the CPU, but maybe the ease of programming, OoOe and large cache will counter the slowness a bit.