Eurogamer has some more information on the new Graphics Processor being designed for the long-awaited Revolution from Nintendo.
According to ATI's John Swiminer, the GPU (codenamed Hollywood, presumably because, as a successor to Flipper, 'Free Willy' just didn't sound right) will not be based on any current PC architecture. There's even musings it may be a totally new design in comparison to it's cousin driving the Gamecube.
"It is designed the same as the Flipper was - from the ground up for a specific console. [It's a] totally different sort of architecture from what you might find on the PC. Certainly, there are some underlying values - you know, how you get graphics on the screen - that's there. It's not, for example, like we took a PC design and said 'oh, you know what? If we tweak this and test this, it will work in a console'."
The question still remains as to just how powerful the Revolution will be - and Swiminer didn't shed any more light on the issue, reiterating only that the focus of the design and the manufacturing of the Revolution is centred around gameplay and innovation rather than technical prowess and flash graphical functionality.
Does this go to prove once and for all that Nintendo knows there's no point competing in the 'most lifelike graphics' tit for tat competition? Plot? Innovation? It's not like they're strangers to it.
Personally I feel Nintendo has always been able to hit the right buttons in terms of gameplay and you can't argue that its consoles have been defined by the Zelda and Mario series of games. Maybe with the release of the Revolution later this year, we might see a return to those old fashioned game concepts which got us into consoles in the first place. Dig-Dug 2006 anyone?
Muse some more in our forums.
According to ATI's John Swiminer, the GPU (codenamed Hollywood, presumably because, as a successor to Flipper, 'Free Willy' just didn't sound right) will not be based on any current PC architecture. There's even musings it may be a totally new design in comparison to it's cousin driving the Gamecube.
"It is designed the same as the Flipper was - from the ground up for a specific console. [It's a] totally different sort of architecture from what you might find on the PC. Certainly, there are some underlying values - you know, how you get graphics on the screen - that's there. It's not, for example, like we took a PC design and said 'oh, you know what? If we tweak this and test this, it will work in a console'."
The question still remains as to just how powerful the Revolution will be - and Swiminer didn't shed any more light on the issue, reiterating only that the focus of the design and the manufacturing of the Revolution is centred around gameplay and innovation rather than technical prowess and flash graphical functionality.
Does this go to prove once and for all that Nintendo knows there's no point competing in the 'most lifelike graphics' tit for tat competition? Plot? Innovation? It's not like they're strangers to it.
Personally I feel Nintendo has always been able to hit the right buttons in terms of gameplay and you can't argue that its consoles have been defined by the Zelda and Mario series of games. Maybe with the release of the Revolution later this year, we might see a return to those old fashioned game concepts which got us into consoles in the first place. Dig-Dug 2006 anyone?
Muse some more in our forums.
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