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Nintendo Revolution Prototype Has No Working Disc-loading Mechanism

The Engadget & Joystiq Interview:

Please take our . Nintendo Revolution prototype has no working disc-loading mechanism Posted May 19, 2005, 6:35 PM ET by Vladimir Cole Related entries: , ,

Joystiq and got our grubby fingers on the Nintendo Revolution box (yes, the one behind the locked door in the secret room guarded by a beefy muscleman). We picked it up, we played with the buttons, we poked, we prodded, and we slipped a CD into it. Oops! We werent supposed to do that. Guess what happened?

The CD just fell into the box. No mechanism grabbed the edge of the CD and pulled it in slowly, even though the box was plugged in. The CD just slid in cleanly and quickly except for brief resistance at the entrance. There wasnt any scraping or messy sound to it, so the CD didnt collide with any internal mechanism that one might expect it to collide with were such mechanisms present. To get the CD out, we just tipped the box over and it slid right back out. Really, it was as if the CD had been dropped into a small, rectangular box with smooth sides.

All that glowing slot does is just glow.

When we picked up the Revolution and turned it over in our hands, we noticed that was hefty and had a good, solid feel to it. All of the cables and plugs looked like they were functional as well. There was nothing obviously fake about this prototype except for the funny CD mechanism, but this is certainly curious. We also shook the box vigorously to see if there were any loose or moving parts inside of it but there were no sounds; everything appeared to be fixed inside the box.

Does this mean that the actual unit on display is a pure dummy model with a few weights inside it to give it heft? Does this indicate anything about how far along Nintendo is with the development of the Revolution? If we were to load a disc into the Xbox 360 or the PS3, what would happen? Is the lack of a working slot-loading mechanism worrisome, or typical in a prototype at this stage of development?

Edit: Anybody know if the Xbox 360 or PS3 models have working drive mechanisms?

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» (5/22/2005) » (5/22/2005) » (5/21/2005) » (5/21/2005) » (5/21/2005) () Reader Comments Posted May 19, 2005, 6:41 PM ET by Kevin

Doesn't suprise me at all, It's a prototype. Not a working prototype just a prototype, which basically means right now this is what we think we're going to make it look like. They can always cange their minds. They've already said it's going to play discs so obviously it'll have a wokring one when it comes out. Posted May 19, 2005, 6:42 PM ET by

What is a prototype? Posted May 19, 2005, 6:43 PM ET by Dave C

why would it have working internals? we know the final design will be smaller and that this 'reveal' was just a stall in the face of sony and microsoft, so I'd be suprised if it was a working box, at no stage were there plans to show it working, they can't show us the controllers for a start! Posted May 19, 2005, 6:46 PM ET by klinko

Nintentdo stated a few days ago that it was empty. I saw it in a Yahoo! news story. Posted May 19, 2005, 6:48 PM ET by

HAH OMG NINTENDO SUX!or rather, its not coming out for over a year. jesus. that box is going to change so much over the next 12-16 months Posted May 19, 2005, 7:09 PM ET by Patrick

"What is a prototype?"Holy crap. Google or is more help needed? Posted May 19, 2005, 7:09 PM ET by

#4: This isn't a "ha ha Nintendo sux" post, so don't take it as one. This is just some observation on the state of the prototype that we were shown. Prototypes have all sorts of purposes. Depending upon the purpose, prototypes may be non-working, functionally working, or both functionally and aesthetically complete. It's clear that this isn't an engineering prototype, but rather an aesthetic mockup for the gaming community to give Nintendo feedback on what they think of the system. If this were a functionally complete prototype as well, then that would be telling. It would show a higher level of investment in the "small box" idea and a real committment towards a direction. An essentially empty box shows less committment to this version of the revolution. In other words, it's clear from this prototype that Nintendo has not invested in miniaturizing the hardware that's going to go into this box. If both the PS3 and Xbox 360 have invested in working prototypes, then that would indicate that those boxes are further along the development pipeline, giving us all a better sense of where the big three are in their launch plans. Posted May 19, 2005, 7:11 PM ET by sasha

I hope they keep that design Posted May 19, 2005, 7:29 PM ET by Matt

According to IGN the drive works fine. Were you all even allowed into the secret room?Nintendo says the final unit will be smaller and lighter. Posted May 19, 2005, 7:30 PM ET by

Also, for the record: this was THE box that's being kept in Nintendo's locked room behind roped-off areas. Posted May 19, 2005, 7:30 PM ET by

Could it be that the "revolution" we saw was only a hoax (and therefore an empty box) and the "real" revolution will be revealed before E3 is over? Posted May 19, 2005, 7:33 PM ET by

I doubt IGN actually tried to put a CD into it. IGN wrote, "The interesting bit is that the drive easily takes both sizes without any fuss. Gamers just drop any GCN or Revolution title in and it automatically works."Since there are no Revolution titles available for dropping into the box, they did not in fact test this out. They can't know that it automatically works. They are talking about the how the eventual final product will work. Posted May 19, 2005, 7:39 PM ET by durka dur

You have the best name, Vladimir. Posted May 19, 2005, 7:50 PM ET by Colin Hill

That is very disturbing... Posted May 19, 2005, 8:02 PM ET by ROY179

Do you think they'd have real hardware for ANYBODY to touch anytime soon? What would happen if that box were to walk away?None of the 3 systems shown have working anything. And sony went wacko with all sorts of ports on the PS3 lol, but they missed the Firewire and PCMCIA ports that were supposed to be on the PS2.You're so gullible McFly... Posted May 19, 2005, 8:02 PM ET by

Hysterical! Posted May 19, 2005, 8:04 PM ET by HDen

#5, I don't support the idea that Nintendo did not 'invest' in making the necessary hardware for their console. Because a console is empty inside doesn't mean that Nintendo hasn't done anything for the mecanism that goes inside of that box. Maybe they just wanted to show the look of the console, and if they state that it will smaller in real life, than it will since they cannot just go ahead and say things that will not be true. A prototype for such a convention is designed when one knows that it will be possible and not only because they 'think' they will be able to fit the hardware inside.Yes, it's true a functioning prototype would have been better, but does that mean that one that doesn't is equal to no investment in the purpose that the company has set? Posted May 19, 2005, 8:06 PM ET by poison

when i read that mental article i got a mental picture of some monkeys being taken into a room by nintendo engineers wearing lab coats, and being left in the room alone with the revolution, and they pick it up and start shaking it and poking it and stuff.also, prototype guys, just wait it out and see what its actually like. Posted May 19, 2005, 8:13 PM ET by

yeah, it's just a prototype and if it is filled with weights then I am sure it was incase someone tries to run off with it. Did that happen at last years E3? Posted May 19, 2005, 8:18 PM ET by Stoneman

Folks,I've just been told by official sources that the CD-slot is really an X-Box 360 expansion port... Posted May 19, 2005, 8:21 PM ET by Kenton

i hate how people are going out of there way trying to diss nintendo. especially engadget. every article is nintendo sux, lets kiss microsofts ass and the ps3 is a fridge. i know i can at least get one amen on that. Posted May 19, 2005, 8:25 PM ET by Matt

I'm willing to bet the final model will do what it is advertised to do "Gamers just drop any GCN or Revolution title in and it automatically works. Nintendo indicated that the drive is one of the first to intuitively do that."Nintendo has an EXCELLENT history of making the highest quality hardware of any console/handheld maker. Posted May 19, 2005, 8:26 PM ET by Tom

Um, not to surprise anyone, but NONE of the three consoles shown have working hardware inside. All the demos are being run off of dev kits, which are giant PCs/Macs. All three of them are mock-ups that they'll eventually squeeze the hardware into. This is a non-news item for people who don't understand what's going on. Posted May 19, 2005, 8:31 PM ET by Stupor Mario

I once found a bunch of "pocket modems" for sale at a surplus store for $2.00 apiece. They were weighted plastic mockups of a then-farfetched 2400 baud modem the size of a pack of cigarettes, complete with fake (plastic) parallel port interface and standard DC adaptor socket.I'm sure they just don't want the example they let people manhandle to get stolen somehow.. who knows, these days someone could pull something crazy! I know you were thinking about it. Posted May 19, 2005, 8:33 PM ET by swarmster

Amen, Kenton. The Xboxes on display were empty boxes, too. The games were running on Apple's G5s.Is Microsoft doomed, too? Posted May 19, 2005, 8:37 PM ET by Kenton

"Amen, Kenton. The Xboxes on display were empty boxes, too. The games were running on Apple's G5s."Haha. Microsoft running the games on Apples. Oh the Irony. I heard something about that. :D That you can actually see a shot of one of them in the MTV event. Posted May 19, 2005, 8:44 PM ET by Sergio

They're all non-functioning prototypes. And no wonder, given that some people keep shaking the things. Wouldn't want any real components to get broken. Posted May 19, 2005, 8:52 PM ET by Tom

A little disappointed in Engadget, letting an obvious rookie to the business make a "news" post like this. Posted May 19, 2005, 8:54 PM ET by Kenton

#24 "They're all non-functioning prototypes. And no wonder, given that some people keep shaking the things. Wouldn't want any real components to get broken."Indeed. Posted May 19, 2005, 8:57 PM ET by

this is the worst thing that could have happened... Posted May 19, 2005, 8:59 PM ET by Kenton

Yes Engadget, it's extremely unprofessional to pick up the console and try to stick a cd in it. If it's true that you did that, then you are fools. If it is not true then you are liars.Just my opinion... Posted May 19, 2005, 9:00 PM ET by Adam

#25: Agreed. Guys, these things are almost a YEAR away from launch. Of course you can't drop your favourite game into the thing and have at 'er. If they had a working system, why the 2006 launch? This is all PR - I'd be surprised if there is ANY genuine, working hardware in any of these things.Only a few years ago (before your 'blog revolution') you wouldn't have seen this thing until 30 days before launch. Because everyone is rumour-hungry, these E3 launches happened to fuel the engine you yourself create. "This is what its going to do, and roughly what its going to look like." So why don't you sit back, relax, open a beer, and say "Neat. Nice of them to give us this insight. I'll stay tuned!"Yeesh. Get a life. Posted May 19, 2005, 9:03 PM ET by

Oh yeah, I just tried a game on my personal 360. It loaded right-n-fine. :P Posted May 19, 2005, 9:10 PM ET by al

What i don't get is that they claim it'll be smaller, but since this is a non-working prototype, why didn't they make it smaller already. It's not like they actually need to cram stuff in there. Posted May 19, 2005, 9:12 PM ET by

"Only a few years ago (before your 'blog revolution') you wouldn't have seen this thing until 30 days before launch."Apparently, you don't recall that the PS2 was unveiled in 1999 (released more than a year later), and the PS1 was announced and (sort-of) unveiled in *1993*! (Concept drawings of the Sony/Nintendo project were released by Nintendo at that time... obviously, the final system was significantly altered before it was actually launched.)If you want to go way back, the Atari 7800 was also announced two years before it was unveiled, then wasn't actually released until two years after that! (Yes, *four years* from announcement to launch.)So I'm not sure where you're getting your info from; the "blog revolution" has nothing to do with seeing consoles so early. Posted May 19, 2005, 9:15 PM ET by Scott

True story:I once toured a machine shop we were evaluating to see if they could do some work for us. One milling machine was putting out thousands of small blocks of steel about 4" x 1" x .5", with a threaded hole in the middle. I asked the guy what they were for, and he picked up a black office phone from a table. The blocks attached to the inside of the case. They were weights designed to make the phone feel like a substantial, high quality piece of equipment. Posted May 19, 2005, 9:22 PM ET by DWA

Nintendo couldn't afford to be left out when Microsoft and Playstation each have working models now. They should have. They should have kept their design a secret. By the time the new nintendo comes out people are going to be less excited about the other two, and a spectacular unveiling would send people rushing to the stores....sadly they've kinda ruined that. Posted May 19, 2005, 9:23 PM ET by DWA

#33 & #34. Not really. Nintendo has actually revealed basically nothing. They could still blow our brains out. Iwata said it will be a while before they reveal what it is that is so special about the Revolution. Check the IGN interview. Probably we won't know until next year. I choose to be optimistic. Posted May 19, 2005, 9:59 PM ET by

When Nintendo said that the final design would likely be smaller than that mockup, it was very telling. This means that Nintendo has put together the Revolution, got the hardware working, and fit it into a box. If they had not gotten the hardware to work in that box, what would be the point in telling you it would likely be smaller. The stragety then would be to make the box as small as you thought it would be in the end and call it a day.When the DS hardware was finally introduced, it was clear that it was much farther along in its development than the PSP which was announced a whole year before. Nintendo simply won't show it working until they are ready to show you. That is the way they are. The empty box has no bearing on how far along Nintendo is in development. Posted May 19, 2005, 10:03 PM ET by extrmb7

an address to #23 and #24...don't forget that all those games are still in the alpha stage, and not the final version. They were all made on G5s, and are probably not playable on 360s until the final version. Posted May 19, 2005, 10:05 PM ET by Tom

who cares? all the sytems are prototypes.. slow news day? Posted May 19, 2005, 10:18 PM ET by evox

I thought it was common knowledge about weights in products. Logitech ALWAYS has had weights in their optical mice. It does make them feel more soild, but take em out for gaming!Anyways. Did you smell the console? I smell everything and I want to know the next gen systems will smell like...even the prototypes. Also...How many cds does it take to jam a revolution? I bet i can fit 6 in the slot at once. Posted May 19, 2005, 10:18 PM ET by evox

Maybe I'm missing something, but how is this any different than the Xbox 360 systems, which were actually a couple of G5s hidden under a table? Posted May 19, 2005, 11:36 PM ET by

If you want to go way back, the Atari 7800 was also announced two years before it was unveiled, then wasn't actually released until two years after that! Posted May 19, 2005, 11:39 PM ET by rye&ginger

Fools.I got friends who work for Rockstar and Radical games, and they say all they get is wares for PC/Mac to create the games with. with well over 6 months even for the 360 to arrive, To have a working hardware prototype is not a big issue. Optical disc drive tech is not that Revolutionary...is it? :D Posted May 19, 2005, 11:45 PM ET by

They should have kept their design a secret. By the time the new nintendo comes out people are going to be less excited about the other two, and a spectacular unveiling would send people rushing to the stores. Posted May 20, 2005, 12:10 AM ET by NesstheMess

You know, I've always assumed that people misunderstood what the blue light was. Note the rectangle in the centre of the front face? The one that looks VERY MUCH like a cd/dvd drive? Ohhhhhh. Right.I realize that EVERYONE ELSE thinks that the blue light is where the discs go, but .... wouldn't that DRIVE be a useful place to put them?If so, this article is BS. Posted May 20, 2005, 12:35 AM ET by Someone

This is not the REAL nintendo revolution, and I have proof. I will show you if you want. All you have to do is ask the right questions. Posted May 20, 2005, 1:04 AM ET by The Truth

#46. "Someone"Stop getting all matrix on us and show us the damn proof. Posted May 20, 2005, 1:11 AM ET by bryan

you guys need to chill out. you should be thankful that we have such a great news source outside the mainstream that will actually tell us what we want to know. news.com would have just chewed up a press release and barfed it back out onto a page. if i was at E3, this is exactly what i would have been trying to do- getting my hands on one of these things and playing with it to see whats up. the fact that engadget does this kind of stuff and writes from a perspective more like ours and less like invited in media puppets is part of what makes engadget great.this is definately a LEGITIMATE NEWS ITEM because of all the speculation surrounding nintendo being a little vague and possibly intentionally decieving because they have something big up their sleeves. you can say the "nintendo on" stuff is just a stupid rumor all you want, but there are some facts that make the whole idea hard for me to dispel, whether the video is fake or not. not to mention the fact that nintendo had almost nothing to show but this box, which they even said isn't what the actual unit will look like, it will be smaller. so the possibility that they just threw something together because they felt like they needed to show something at E3 or be publically crucified also makes this worth reading about. Posted May 20, 2005, 1:14 AM ET by Someone

It truly is a shame that you cant get your numbers right # 48. Posted May 20, 2005, 1:19 AM ET by eXceL

#46 You sir are a dumbass. Take a look at the pictures of the Revolution next to CD, good luck trying to put that CD anywhere else but into the blue light. That blue light happens to be a slot loading drive, there's no try on the Revolution.Honestly mate... Get a clue. Posted May 20, 2005, 1:27 AM ET by bryan

lol excel you took the words right out of my mouth.... your post was really funny though, where mine was just going to be plain mean Posted May 20, 2005, 1:27 AM ET by Anders

You should have been a little more careful. That glowing box you were holding, apart from being an appearence model that is simply that, so people can look at the appearence and say 'wow', and the internal engineering always follow the aesthetics in a product like this.Back to my point. The box you were holding was is probably one of about 5 in the world, they are custom made and unlike final products are made usually almost entirely by hand at a very expensive cost. Prototypes for such a product might cost upto $10,000 a piece. Thats why theres thugs at the door protecting it. Posted May 20, 2005, 1:47 AM ET by

I know that nobody is going to get this far down and read the comment, but it seems a valid news story. If the "top secret back room prototype" is still just an empty, non-functional box, it is worthy of mention.I wish everyone would cool it on the "X console sucks" comments. You haven't played any games, haven't seen the production models, haven't laid a finger on them. Remember kids, god hates console fanboys. Posted May 20, 2005, 2:03 AM ET by Someone

I will give all the information i know right now.I have been playing N-Game for a couple days now, and haven't myself completed it yet (as all the clues have not been distribuited yet) To myself, this is the truth, but you as a reader will only see this as an opinion. But this is not my opinion, these are simply my speculations of all the things i've seen while playing the N-game. So sit back, relax and prepare to read. I started playing the game, as most people the second i watched the leaked video of the Nintendo ON. IGN.com reports it as a "must see vidoe" and was on the front page for a moment of time. IGN.com is a site dedicated to video games and technology, not rumors. Yet the video was a must see? This is what jump started my curiosity, and led me to play more of the N-game. I searched it up, and started reading in forums about a guy who calls himself "Aries". This guy made several predictions, and to me is the "nostradamus" of the gaming industry. This man's several predictions came true, (although i do not know if all of them did) but still, it was amazing. He said that we would be "punk'd" a couple weeks later and would play something simaler to what happened in the movie "the game" I instantly knew that i had to finish this game, and spent an entire night in the forums researching. apon my findings i found this. &Sound familliar? it is indeed the technology they describe in the leaked video of the Nintendo ON. and guess who its owned by? NINTENDO.(as you can read for yourself)later that night i started examining the video and found that the word "reggie" was repeated several times starting when the castles start flying by, at first they are spread apart, but get closer and closer untill you hear consecuitive "reggie"'s when the camera hits the top castle, *Notice the number* if anything, this part of the video has quite some significance, when the reggies stop the numbers stop as well (which seems strange since the camera is still moving)This was it, this was the answer! the numbers flashing were 211348824. I tried everything, but i couldnt crack the code, so i decided to sleep on it and try again in the morning. That morning, the all informative forums pointed me to a site www.smashbrothers3.com i went there and the music that claims to be the "opening theme" was the same music used in the Nintendo ON video, this was another clue, when entering the site i saw a puzzle piece at the bottom of the page, so this website was a nother piece of the puzzle, i examined it thoroughly to find only one strange thing. the numbers 428843112(in the "the pokemon" section of the web site, where it talks about trying to catch jirachi that many times) i couldnt figure out what this number meant, so i left it alone and moved on with my investigation. on more forums, it was found taht may 19th played a critical role in the clues about the revolution. so i had to wait till the next morning untill i could find my clue. That morning was an interview held with reggie, but no clues were left behind, i started to lose faith untill i watched the video again and noticed that he never denied The Nintendo ON being real, this was my only shred of hope, and i lost hope, and stopped searching, it wasnt untill about 11:00 that i went back on the internet and looked at www.smashbothers3.com but something was durastically different, the whole site was removed except for the numbers 428843112. it was clear to me that this had to be a clue and i had to figure out what it was. i took the 2 most important pieces of the puzzle and put them together, and what i found was, 428843112 was actually the flashing number from the Nintendo ON video backwards! this was my proof, this was all that i needed, but i will continue my search for the rest of the pieces of the puzzle, a lot is left out, there are more clues in the forums i had barely talked about "Aries" who i think has a big part in the N-game, but i will leave all that for you to find yourself, and play the N-game. for some, this article here only makes the plot thicker, as if the prototype was a fake, then how did that japanese guy (i really hate remmebering their names) say he was playing super smash brothers 3 against reggie? and wouldnt such a guarded prototype be the real deal if he's played it? think about it....play the N-Game.*Note* while i was writing this www.smashbrothers3.com went down, and unfortunately i never took a screenshot of the website :(this is what i can share with you, choose to believe or not to beleive or maybe i should pull some real matrix bullshit nowwill you take the red pill? or the blue pill?*note* I hate that movie! Posted May 20, 2005, 2:05 AM ET by Biggie

I'm sure Nintendo will add a drive mechanism before i get to touch one... Nintendo talked about the console just to remind everyone that they are making a next gen machine too. But seeing as it won't ship until late 2006 I'm not that worried... now if you told me that all xbox360 playable demos were really running off of G5 then i would be worried :o Posted May 20, 2005, 2:08 AM ET by

One day, those Revolution prototypes are going to end up on eBay for a pretty penny, along with those press release Zelda videos on the DS cards. Posted May 20, 2005, 2:15 AM ET by

Wrong, all of you are all wrong.Frankly I'm a bit surprised no one else has figured it out. Blue light at the slot... only accepts Blu-Ray DVDs. Duh. The cleansing blue light actually detects non-compatible format discs and bypasses the drive mechanism altogether. Fortunately for the Samsonite monkey playing with the box, it was only a prototype. Production models will actually release a toxic nerve agent if the incorrect disc is inserted. Posted May 20, 2005, 3:25 AM ET by Ean Frick

You guys do know it's not even in production right? I doubt the dies for injection molding are even made yet.It's amazing how much smoke and mirrors go into these game expos in order to impress the crowds and stir up publicity. I bet there were many sleepless nights spent getting many of these things together. Posted May 20, 2005, 3:32 AM ET by doul weapons

So what you're saying is that you believed that nintendo, who announced essentially no details about their new console other than it will be backwards compatible and can play NES, SNES, and N64 games, had a real working version of the console? Man, talk about falling for hype.Nintendo didn't showing anything playable on the console. Hell, they haven't even announced any games yet.They haven't announced the hardware specs either, and no dev kits have gone out to developers.I would recommend that you think a little bit before you start acting like news like this is outrageous when it's rather obvious.I could say the same for PS3 which also had no playable anything on the floor, yet everyone assumed right off the bat that all the videos they showed in the press conference were real gameplay. Xbox 360 had the only actual gameplay shown, and I'd still bet that half of their games shown in the press conference were pre-rendered vieos and not actual gameplay.People seem to believe everything they see without thinking rationally about the practicality of it all.Sorry, i'm a little cynical at the moment, i'm just a little tired about fanboy-syndrome making everyone crazy. And no, you're not all fanboys, but seriously, think a little bit before you jump to conclusions. Posted May 20, 2005, 4:30 AM ET by mike

IGN or whoever are dumbasses. Nintendo invented this industry. Are you suggesting they don't know how to build a console.. or they don't have the resources..Of course not, that would be lunacy.you picked up a prototype and stuck a CD in there. Oops.Dev Kits aren't even out yet. Why would they bring a working model to e3? So some dorks could sneak in and claim "FIRST POST" on the revolution? Posted May 20, 2005, 4:41 AM ET by Kasz2004

Guys lets face it. altho Nintendo had a very bleek showing at E-3 on the fact that they didnt show any of the revolution besides the backward combatability. This is just the begining becuse i know it and so does every one else. E-3 is not Nintendos big show off day. they want to show off the stuff they made for there big market which every one knows is really Japan not America. Space World and the Tokyo Game show are Nintendos big shows. I mean yes i would have liked to see the revolution at E-3 but i wasnt getting my hopes up. and about the disk loading mech. Nintendo didnt want anyone to mess around with the real deal and steal there ideas again. :) and no im not a Fan boy just something ive noticed over the past few years. Posted May 20, 2005, 5:17 AM ET by

What a hilarious non-story and a waste of everyone's time. I don't know how you guys are more concerned about what this means and less concerned about what it means that all the Xbox demos on running on Apple Powermac G5 towers instead of prototype hardware. Posted May 20, 2005, 5:50 AM ET by Brad

Xbox 360 is a mockup and will launch end of 2005.Revolution is a mockkup but will launch in 2006.Ignorance is bliss... Posted May 20, 2005, 6:04 AM ET by

I guess you guys dont read press releases thoroughly. Learn from Klinko. (#4) Posted May 20, 2005, 6:20 AM ET by FreeStyle

Check out this Iwata interview in THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER. Iwata confirms that they are working on a new type of interface(read controller)."Q: When you talk about the new interface, do you mean something on the screen or in the hand?Iwata: Unfortunately, I really cannot say anything right now, but at least I can tell you that you will use your hands. (Laughs.)" Posted May 20, 2005, 6:39 AM ET by Monstructer

Utter BS. IGN reports the Revolution works perfectly:It's sad to see bias on the big N everywhere. Even Engadget doesn't like them for some ignorant reason. Posted May 20, 2005, 6:59 AM ET by

I heard that the XBox360 demo units weren’t really doing anything either - there were Apple PowerPC computers behind them running the actual games!~Grauw Posted May 20, 2005, 7:14 AM ET by ScopeShot

............Can anyone say "Prototype"? Posted May 20, 2005, 8:13 AM ET by Dude

I think Nintendo should take a cheap $50 slot loading DVD-ROM drive and shove it into the Revolution prototype just to appease the Engadget boys even though it was only a mockup... Posted May 20, 2005, 8:17 AM ET by justin

What about the two different disc types that will be used by the revolution. Has anyone seen a slot load drive that accepted both sizes? Seems like that could cause some problems Posted May 20, 2005, 8:53 AM ET by nick64

Don't bash Nintendo guys, PS3 and X-360 didn't have any playable units but the main fact is that PS3 and X-360 showed some software to demonstrate what their console 'could' do. Nintendo on the othe rhand is playing it safe and keeping it secret, the main fact is that their previous 'innovative' ideas have been taken from their rivals, by keeping it low-key their ideas won't get stolen. Though lack of a demo or anything can upset many gamers. btw, has any site taken photos of rev inside that secret booth? Posted May 20, 2005, 8:56 AM ET by nick64

#55-That makes absolutely no sense at all. If you can't prove that that website you talk about was real, you can't make us believe you. :/Get a life, and stop making all that stuff up. You make no sense at all. Posted May 20, 2005, 9:06 AM ET by Chris

I had a slot loading clarion car CD player back oh say.. 7-8 years ago that took mini CD's. You had to push the mini CD in on the side and the mechanism pulled it in. Maybe Nintendos claim is that you can just push it in anywhere on the slot and it will take it in, because otherwise this is ooold technology. Posted May 20, 2005, 9:10 AM ET by Ryan M

re: someone.What drugs are you on buddy? Posted May 20, 2005, 9:22 AM ET by

Folks -- no matter what IGN says, that thing was a dummy slot. The drive absolutely was not working.Not that we expected it to work: mostly we just shrugged and said, "Hmmph, prototype." But this shows us what sort of prototype this is. A purely visual one meant to generate feedback on the visual design of the system. This was not an engineering prototype.And as another commenter noticed, since this was purely visual, why not make it smaller? Why say, "the eventual unit will be even smaller" when there's really no machinery inside of it? Posted May 20, 2005, 9:26 AM ET by

Those pointing to the IGN article as evidence that these things were functional should read it carefully. It's clear that they didn't actually see anything really running.a) The devices were 'powered on', but that only means the blue lights worked. Since they obviously weren't connected to displays, how could you tell anything else? IGN would definitely have mentioned if the machines had displayed anything at all - note that they didn't even know whether it was HD or not.b) The 'takes two sizes' comment is clearly based on comments from Nintendo staff.As for the size, I would guess that they are currently confident of building the design at that size, hence creating mock-ups in the same size (possibly making some attempt to match weight also). Obviously they hope to miniaturise it further. Personally I hope they change the design too, it's not really very cute, is it? They seem to alternate between 'cute' (SNES, GameCube) and 'evil' (N64, Revolution). OK so given the ridiculous number of colours they normally release in I'll probably be able to get a pink one with Hello Kitty stickers, but...It's entirely unsurprising that nobody has a working prototype yet, particularly Nintendo since it currently looks like they will release last (according to story today on BBC news). I don't see any reason why Engadget shouldn't post a low-news story like this though; it's mildly entertaining, if maybe not quite as entertaining as the 'xbox360 = mac' stuff.--sam Posted May 20, 2005, 9:27 AM ET by Kirk

#75....because of marketing. I don't know about you, but I'd love to get my hands on that Rev design as is. To know that the REAL deal will be smaller is simply a bonus. We live in an age where smaller is better...Nintendo knows that, so they are marketing the Rev to be smaller...simple as that. Posted May 20, 2005, 9:38 AM ET by fush

To "Someone" who is going crazy with conspiracy theories:Interesting, but by looking at the patent I can tell it is for the N64. At the bottom of the page, in the description of the controller, it specifically mentions "3 handles", as well as an A button (which we know Revolution won't have) a B button (Rev also won't have), a D-pad, and an analog control stick. This patent seems to be based around the problems the Super Mario 64 team was having when trying to keep Mario in frame at all times. Witness the camera problems that still weren't quite worked out in the final game.As for all the number stuff, someone can easily be trying to lead you on, as a simple reversing of numbers is no problem for anyone to do. Posted May 20, 2005, 10:34 AM ET by

Why couldn't the Nintendo ON be one of these "ARGs?"Look at this rumor control from GameSpot:Rumor #2 talks about details of the revolution. The article reads..."However, the poster remained coy about what the exact "Revolution" would be. 'I’m not going to tell you the revolutionary aspect of the system. Nintendo has some cool pre-E3 plans for that.'"Now, I don't know. I hear what "someone" thought was the word "Reggie" in the Nintendo On video. I'm not sure it actually says "Reggie," but I could see it construed that way. The video is certainly of extraordinary quality for a fan mockup, but it ends abruptly as if it were unfinished. Why go through all that trouble and not even fudge an ending? Have we not seen the entire video?If this is an ARG, it is a hell of a lot more interesting than "I love bees" or "Our Colony." The video is really amazing and interesting to watch. Also, if it is an ARG, it isn't as blatantly obvious that it is. That would make it that much more intriguing.Then again, if it is an ARG, and the media or a sufficient number of fans recognizes it as such, it might be orphaned.In the end, who knows? I like watching the video. I only wish I had a higher quality version and the ending to it. Posted May 20, 2005, 10:47 AM ET by

oops.I said, "Then again, if it is an ARG, and the media or a sufficient number of fans recognizes it as such, it might be orphaned."I meant to say, "Then again, if it is an ARG, and the media or a sufficient number of fans DO NOT recognize it as such, it might be orphaned." Posted May 20, 2005, 11:04 AM ET by Pixbit

Has anyone seen the complete Nintendo ON Video? Posted May 20, 2005, 11:10 AM ET by

'ARG'? Are we being taken over by pirates?YARRR!!! AVAST!!!Really, what does ARG stand for? Posted May 20, 2005, 11:52 AM ET by cain

i would have taken out the disc taken out a marker and wrote "WTF nintendo engadget.com" and put it back in they would have most likely have opened it again, you could have used as a suggestion box. Posted May 20, 2005, 11:59 AM ET by

Its a prototype, what did you think? Posted May 20, 2005, 12:20 PM ET by Erich

Obviously the writer of this article hasn't seen the "xbox360 is actually 2X G4s" articles Posted May 20, 2005, 12:54 PM ET by Just Some Dude

IGN.com made a pun about 3d images being projected onto your retinas in the article about Hands-on Revolution.The people involved in this strange marketing scheme for Revolution, if it is true, which I'm thinking it is, are clearly obssessed with eyes. You have eyes on Ign.com, Nintendo.com, the Revolution logo, continuous talk of eyes all over this supposed scheme, and yet, nothin'.Eyes were even focused on in the Nintendo On video. The eyes there were used with the word "feel games". If this is a marketing scheme, I sure hope I find out why they keep talking about eyes. Posted May 20, 2005, 1:31 PM ET by Clint

"Someone" - You really need to look at that patent a little more closely. It is absolutely what post#79 said, a means to solving the problem for Mario 64. Patents are filed and the design goes into production usually years before the patent actually makes its way thru the patent office. It looks to me like this patent was applied for in either 94 or 96. No way was the Revolution being planned then. I love the internet subterfuge that is going with the new consoles. I can't stay away from the blogs to get more dirt.All that said, I hope that the ON Video is real and VR is really coming to my living room. Posted May 20, 2005, 3:22 PM ET by

Furthermore, neither smashbrothers3.com or smashbros3.com are registered to Nintendo (or anyone that even looks like they are from Nintendo). Posted May 21, 2005, 2:06 AM ET by andrew

no idea on the drives but I LOVED seeing the 2k sports people fix a hung Top Spin for 360 earlier and actually see a g5 under the counter - This is not because I like macs, but because I like to see macs crash in front of mac fans :) Posted May 21, 2005, 8:02 PM ET by Kuyu

The macs crashed because they are running microsoft software. If these games ran in Tiger, then M$ would be out of business. Posted May 21, 2005, 11:26 PM ET by 33ffd

@andrewI hope you realize they are not running Mac OS on those G5s, but instead a custom OS. Sorry to kill the joke ;) Add your comments

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Nintendo Revolution Prototype Has No Working Disc-loading Mechanism