Revolution?

Leaked specs for Nintendo Revolution.

* 1 dual-threaded IBM Custom PowerPC 2.5 GHz core with 256KB of L1 cache, 1MB of L2 cache, and maybe a rumored L3 cache as well.
* 256MB of 1T-SRAM for an ATI Custom-based RN520 600 MHz GPU that will support up to 2048×1268 resolution, though HD support is still being decided.
* 512MB of 700 MHz 1T-SRAM for the Revolution’s main memory.
* And an extra 32MB just for a Physical Processing Unit (PPU) chip to help the CPU and GPU with the processing load.

If this is true (and it is very likely to be considering the person who leaked this also leaked the Xbox360 specs previously), then it looks like Nintendo is really betting everything on a gimmicky control scheme and casual gaming. One 2.5 Ghz core is way behind PS3 with its 7 Cell SPUs on top of a 3.2 Ghz core and Xbox360’s three cores running at 3.2 Ghz each. As I said, if Revolution’s control is really revolutionary, someone, be it Sony, MS or a third party developer, will make a similar controller for PS3/360. But if Revolution’s controller totally flops with everyone except casual gamers, then it will be too late to try to squeeze in a better CPU to bring back the hardcore ones. The worst case scenario is if it flops with both hardcore and casual gamers, in which case Nintendo can say goodbye to the home console business and stick with handhelds. Highly unlikely… but anything’s possible at this stage considering we still don’t know how well those Revolution games work and whether anyone other than Nintendo, and maybe Sega, will actually be able to create good games with the controller.