Revolution Interface

[Teuthida]

First off, let me apologize, I don't have solid proof as that would be impossible, but you do have my word. My cousin (first cousin, my mother's sister's son) works as a software engineer at an independant developer (I can't say the name of the developer for obvious reasons). And I grew up looking up to this guy, I trust him very much, and I know this is real because he says it is, he took the picture himself with his cameraphone (one of several pictures in fact, but only one came out worth looking at, the rest the TV flickered too much).

Anyway, this developer recieved a Revolution alpha kit a few weeks ago. My cousin couldn't say what was in it (in terms of specs), but he did give a good description of how the main interface works. First, here it is:

Huge pic here: http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/revophoto.jpg

Here's the various features he mentioned. He, and I for that matter, hopes that none of these were the "revolutionary" aspects, but they are cool to know, and I like this a lot better than XB360's "Blades".

* The overall style is inspired by the DS OS. This is probably not final, as the options down bottom are displayed in text rather than icons, and "Calendar" was spelled wrong.
* The color theme is customizable, like on the DS. The top bar, the cross and selection hairs, the controller signal block, and the glow around the bottom text all follow a specific color scheme (default is blue). Apparently, other items in the interface have yet to include programmable colors. He said that the main menu will follow whatever you set it to, but everywhere else will remain blue.
* The controller signal box sounds interesting. Each number will highlight green, yellow, or red depending on the signal strength of the controller. Green is normal, yellow is too far away (my cousin saw a noticable lag in response time at a "yellow" distance), and red is out of range. Gray is used for when no controllers are activated for that slot.
* Further, when the signal box is selected, it enlargens into a calibration mode. Any activated controller turns into a 3d boxed numeral (grayed-out icons stay flat), and the number will move around in the direction as the controller. This allows you to calibrate each controller to remove discrepencies between where and how the controller is positioned and where and how the system thinks the controller is positioned.
* Finally, though the front screen looks bland, when you select an option (like Wifi or Settings), all the items "fall off" the grid, which also breaks apart, and pieces go flying around and spinning in all 3 directions for a second or two until they reconfigure into whatever menu the option took you to. That sounds pretty damn cool looking if you ask me. It does the same when backing up, except much faster. It's a shame he couldn't get a video of this.

Well, whaddaya know! This may not be final but at least we got something real to work with! I'm getting more and more excited for Revolution every day! And I'm pretty happy that I get to bring you guys this stuff, I'm just afraid that some people won't believe me.

I know you're just saying, but this guy has never steered me wrong. A few years ago, he told me a thing or two about the Gamecube (like how it had no controller expansion ports) before they became public. Like I said, he's not just any cousin, I grew up around him, he was more like a big brother rather than a cousin. And really now, I hate all these "developer" blogs. They're a bunch of complete bull****. Why would I want to join them?

Hmm... I never thought about asking for a pic of the controller, as we've all seen it. I'll ask him, though, the next time I'm talking to him, which won't be until the weekend. Throughout the week, he lives at a place without the internet, and internet access is really restricted at his office. On the weekends, he's usually at his girlfriend's place so that's when I'll talk to him. But, it'll be another week at least before I can get you pictures, and that's assuming he'll be able to have a go with the kit again and take a picture. It was three weeks after I first asked him for some shots of the kit in action before he was able to get one.

EDIT: Yeah, I thought the bars were a little funky, too, but I took my TV on a random channel and took some shots with my cameraphone, trying my best to get the same angle that he got, and the bars came out exactly the same. I guess it has something to do with the shutterspeed on the camera. Oh, and I don't have any more pictures, that's all he was able to send.




I'll let ya know, but it'll be tricky. The reason why it took so long, and why I can't say who he works for, is that he'll probably end up fired if caught. And I certainly don't want to be responsible for that.

EDIT: He didn't mention much else besides what I said. He did give a little description of "Memory Management" though that I forgot to mention. Basically, it shows the filesystems for the onboard memory, the SD slots, and both GCN memory card slots.





Holy crap, you guys are really making me go out of my way. I just called my cousin (I live on campus, and long distance is expensive), and he said he'll see into getting a better picture, with a digital camera or something. I'll have to let you know on this sometime tomorrow after he gets out of work and calls me.

Got from IGN boards who got from the Revolution Report boards.

First the console...then the controller...now everyone gets all excited about the menu...kinda sad.

[Jonbo298]

So his "cousin" is a software engineer but cant afford internet at home? This guy posting the info says long distance is expensive but yet if he just uses a cell phone, long distance is almost always included in the minutes.

I give him a B for effort and a C for execution.

[Canyarion]

this developer recieved a Revolution alpha kit a few weeks ago

It was three weeks after I first asked him for some shots of the kit in action before he was able to get one.

And that's quite the quality for a cell phone picture.

And like Th... Tue... T... Danny says, who cares about the interface?

[MuGen]

Originally Posted by Canyarion

And that's quite the quality for a cell phone picture.

And like Th... Tue... T... Danny says, who cares about the interface?

Actually my Sony E P910's camera quality is finer than that.

i.e

thats my car btw..

So yeah phones today carry some really quality cameras.

Other than that... everyone else about this seems fishy. I mean, it's exciting to hear about this and all but wouldn't you all rather hear it in an announcement from Ninty?

I know i get overwhelmed when Sony makes an announcement... Developer blogs are evil.

[Dyne]

Fake. Nintendo wouldn't use the Nintendo font.

I guarantee the Revolution interface will NOT be bland like all of these fakes so far. With the controller I expect at least a level of 3D interactivity.

[Teuthida]

I dunno why using the fact that it's bland for a reason for why its fake. Exactly like DS's. Though if it is real wouldn't "Joe" get in trouble now that he's posing with the screencap?

[Dyne]

Gamecube's interface was very dynamic; a spinning cube using the actual resources of the hardware. So why should the revolution's be dumbed down? Why WOULDN'T they play on some neat gyro controller tricks?

The only argument FOR this is that the DS uses it. So what? That makes it even less creative.

I just don't buy it. Even if it is a "developer's kit." I can't see them using the Nintendo font like that and any schmo with some damn Laptop-to-AV cables can recreate that on any screen.

[Jonbo298]

I still call bogus. I want to see him powering up the Rev and going to it before even remotely believing it.

[Canyarion]

Dyne, once again: REVOLUTION DOESN'T USE GYRO TECHNOLOGY!

Ah I feel a lot better now.

And first saying that he'll get in trouble, now posting his face?

[Dyne]

Wait, what?

[Canyarion]

The rev controllers does NOT use gyro technology. That's what a lot of people thought when Nintendo invested in that company.
Nintendo themselves have never used the therm.

Originally Posted by IGN

interacts with a sensor bar placed above, below, or near televisions. The bar contains two sensors that communicate with the controller using Bluetooth technology. The marriage transforms the pointer into a virtual wand of sorts, enabling users to move objects and characters in games simply by moving the peripheral. The sensors read the pointer's every move in real-time space. They can detect up, down, left and right motion, and also translate forward and backward depth. The controller's sensors also recognize twisting, rotating and tilting movements. In short, any motion made by arms and wrists can be translated to Revolution games.

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/670/670513p1.html

There you have it. It's the sensor bar that does the complicated work. The controller only contains a few transmitters. At least that's how I understand it.

[Jonbo298]

I wonder also if we could spin that image a little and see what the date says now in that new image, I'm not surprised he turned the angle so we couldnt see the date this time

[MuGen]

I refuse to believe that developers have little to their disposal..... I mean... a small a$$ tv on what would appear to be a dresser.... I've been in developer studios before on tour and it doesn't look so homely....