I was one of the most bitter people when I heard that HDTV support had been nixed from the Revolution, but in my anger and despair I have been thinking about it a lot at the same time. It seems that it actually might pay off in the end. Here's the way I see it:
The more I think about it, the more I think Nintendo is on to something. Smaller dev houses are going to be hard pressed to create the kind of content required to be on the 360. At BARE MINIMUM they will need to have 720p, Xbox Live support, and they have to still offer a product that measures up to what the competition is offering if they want to compete. Developers on the PS3 will be met with similar demands and constraints. Imagine the disc space needed for textures to look good on an Xbox 360 game with those demands, it's going to fill a DVD rather easily for a large game.
On the other hand, the Revolution doesn't force that on their supporting devs. These guys can implement the bells and whistles to the product as they see fit or to the extent that they can afford it. Basically the evolution of their project is up to them from the concept stage to the day it's sent of for pressing. Teams like Treasure will be able to know that they are welcome to put out niche titles or pet projects that have been in the making for years without the development costs skyrocketing into the multi-million dollar numbers that could limit their freedom. Features won't have to be nixed in order to make time for REQUIRED online implementation in some manner.
It's more of an open-arms approach by Iwata than the demanding and whip-crackin' practice Allard and Kutaragi are presenting. I'm happy that we're assured that most games next-gen are going to be in high-definition and online, but I'm not so sure that it should be a minimum requirement. It's that sort of direction that can get "the next Katamari Damacy" sensation canned before it gets of the ground.
With all that said, I still wish the Revolution AT LEAST supported HDTV resolutions...
The more I think about it, the more I think Nintendo is on to something. Smaller dev houses are going to be hard pressed to create the kind of content required to be on the 360. At BARE MINIMUM they will need to have 720p, Xbox Live support, and they have to still offer a product that measures up to what the competition is offering if they want to compete. Developers on the PS3 will be met with similar demands and constraints. Imagine the disc space needed for textures to look good on an Xbox 360 game with those demands, it's going to fill a DVD rather easily for a large game.
On the other hand, the Revolution doesn't force that on their supporting devs. These guys can implement the bells and whistles to the product as they see fit or to the extent that they can afford it. Basically the evolution of their project is up to them from the concept stage to the day it's sent of for pressing. Teams like Treasure will be able to know that they are welcome to put out niche titles or pet projects that have been in the making for years without the development costs skyrocketing into the multi-million dollar numbers that could limit their freedom. Features won't have to be nixed in order to make time for REQUIRED online implementation in some manner.
It's more of an open-arms approach by Iwata than the demanding and whip-crackin' practice Allard and Kutaragi are presenting. I'm happy that we're assured that most games next-gen are going to be in high-definition and online, but I'm not so sure that it should be a minimum requirement. It's that sort of direction that can get "the next Katamari Damacy" sensation canned before it gets of the ground.
With all that said, I still wish the Revolution AT LEAST supported HDTV resolutions...
