Revolution
The Chip Codenames
IBMs processor for the revolution is being called Broadway, while ATIs graphics chip is labeled Hollywood. Dont take these names for granted. These have very important meanings. This is unraveled through Iwatas own descriptions from the keynote:
* With Revolution, we are determined to create the new capital of interactive entertainment.
* In the universe of interactive entertainment, there is a planet we call video games. It is the one we know best. But it is only one. Also in our universe are other planets which entertain, but in different ways from current games. It is this part of the universe we are anxious to explore.
* Our
goal is to show players something new, something they may not even know they want
[an example is] PictoChat in the DS. Its not a game, not a competition, but a way for us to better understand how communicating wirelessly might also entertain
[it] also represents just the latest step in something much larger for Nintendo.
Its quite clear what they believe theyre attempting here, regardless of exactly how the Revolution will interact with gamers. Iwata and Co. is merely continuing upon the path that has set Nintendo apart since the early days of Hiroshi Yamauchis rule.
Gunpei Yokoi was Nintendos great innovator. Such devices as the Game and Watch and Game Boy came from this genius, along with a baseball pitching machine, the quarter-wasting Love Tester, and the extending grabber arm, The Ultrahand so often seen ripped off in childrens arcade prizes and dollar store goodies. Who wouldve thought that people would want to keep a game machine in their pocket? This seemed very unlikely to many at the time, and yet as I write this, the portable industrys competition is arguably hotter than the home console battle.
Yokois legacy is seen throughout the current ethic of Nintendo. Be it the Transfer Pak, the Game Boy Camera, the e-Reader, Animal Crossing or anything in between, the simple idea of the simple idea lives on at Nintendo. This is why Nintendo has been opposed to the idea of the massively expanding budget, and is the first explanation for the namesakes of the Revolutions chips.
The games themselves have become much bigger in several ways. They are bigger in a technical sense, occupying more digital space. That, in turn, requires bigger teams, bigger budgets, and bigger challenges in meeting deadlines. This also means that big game companies are getting bigger- by consuming smaller ones. We know that in the next generation, budgets for AAA console games will regularly move into eight digits- and thats before any marketing money is spent. Only the biggest companies can afford such costs. Not surprisingly, the success of our industry- and the profit margins for hit games- has again drawn big interest from larger entertainment companies. But we may not be compatible. Their books, movies and TV shows are exactly the same for every user. But our games let players help write their own screen plays- and their own endings.
This is a truly amazing shifting point for the industry. For the first time, one of the key players has stepped out and acknowledged the fact head on that the video game industry should not strive to be Hollywood.
The codenames are, on the one hand, a mockery. On the other hand, it shows where Nintendo wants to go. Just as Hollywood is synonymous with movies and Broadway is synonymous with live production, Nintendo strives to once again be synonymous with not only video games, but all forms of interactive entertainment.
