Nintendo's Revolution is nigh

Nintendo's next-gen console is two to three times as powerful as the GameCube, backward compatible, and online; system confirmed for 2006, prices not; DS goes online and Game Boy Micro announced.

Nintendo held its pre-E3 press conference this morning and confirmed speculation that it would announce its contribution to next-generation gaming. Plans for its future console, the Revolution, were revealed at an auditorium off Hollywood Boulevard. Nintendo is the last of the "Big Three" game-console makers to reveal its next-gen plans. Microsoft took the lid off its future console, the Xbox 360, last week, and Sony unveiled the PlayStation 3 yesterday at its pre-E3 conference.

To cheers from the crowd, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata proudly held a "Revolution prototype" aloft in his hand--but did not hook it up to any displays or turn it on. The Revolution design didn't follow suit with its curvaceous competitors, the concave Xbox 360 and the convex PlayStation 3. In fact, its simple rectangular design could easily be mistaken for a modem at first glance. However, like its competitors, the unit can stand vertically or lie supine.

Screenshot: >> Click here