Well I talked with my friend at length tonite and manage to get some info.Some GOOD info.
First, he said that EA had 15 total projects for the Revolution but that most wouldnt start development until next year.Some wouldnt start until 07. He also said that his source for 15 Rev games may not be correct/accurate but he said that Nintendo was knocking at their door early on with the Rev.He also stated that a FEW were actually old games that are being reworked for Nintendos online service(?) He said he knows that Tiger Woods,FIFA, and NFS were already WAY into development and that an F1 racing game was also in the works. F1 seems odd since I thought that EA had given up that series but thats what he said. He also said that EA was doing a new game exclusivly for the Rev and that its a bizzarre puzzle game that he predicts will rival Tetris in popularity, i.e. that people would be talking about/playing it for YEARS to come. He said it was exclusive because there was no WAY for the other platforms(PS3/360) to be able to CONTROL it. AND that there was another game that was controller specific that he wasnt privy to yet.
A little background on my friend. He's strange to say the least. Brilliant programmer,drinks a TON of coffee and smoke cigs like theres no tomorrow. His mind wonders and its was awkward trying to get info from. We are friends(of course) but not like *best* friends. And since it had been a year since we spoke it was weird trying to get him to talk.Does that make sense? I mean, if it was one of my running buddies i'd been all OVER him for info but in this situation it was kind of strange. It would have made me feel like a jerk or weird or ... something.
We started talking about the time he sent me the Dreamcast controller/mem card pic thru email years ago (he then pretended not to know what I was talking about: ) and this led to me buttering him up for the Revs new "amazing" controller. I told him" dont worry man, I'm not gonna say anything" he said that it wasnt that he didnt trust me but rather that if the info got out that by *accident* that it would be his ass. I said "number 1: i'm not saying anything & number 2: how in the world could it come back to YOU. Didnt a lot of people get to see it? He said that when he was with this guy from the "mystery" company that developed the controller with Nintendo that it was he and about 15 other EA people. I asked how there were games already in development from them (EA) when they are just now getting the controller. His answer was that his dept/division wasnt a part of any of the games and that other EA employees had been using the controller for several weeks and no one else knew. Top secret stuff.
So, after continuing to prod/probe he starting giving me more and more info...
From: dajzilla | Posted: 9/8/2005 7:17:48 PM | Message Detail
Heres what he said:
The person who brought in the controllers was NOT with Nintendo but rather another company that Nintendo was developing the controller with.There were 4 controllers each in their own box. The boxes had both Japanese and English text. The text said " GO UP GO DOWN GO ON" on one side and "GO FORWARD GO BACKWARD GO ON" on another side of the box and "GO LEFT GO RIGHT GO ON" on another side and another side said "GO IN GO OUT GO ON".He said that this was under a text *logo* that said "GO ON". Each box was a different color. He said his was pink and that he *thinks* the other boxes were green, purple & black. He said the boxes reminded him of an ipod box. I said that it seemed strange that they would already have commercially printed boxes and he agreed but he did say that we would see the Rev a lot sooner than most people expect. I asked him he thought for sure that these would be final boxes or just something for the company and he said that he didnt know for sure but felt it WAS the final design because it was sleek/cool and had Nintendos logo on there as well as the "mystery" companys logo(which, he said, was MUCH smaller and down in the corner of the boxes). He did say about the controller, that it took him about 15 min to get used to it and he said that 10 min of that was taken up with pulling his jaw up off the floor. He said EVERYONE was just looking at each other in awe. I said "come on" he said "wait...just wait".
He said that he also was shown layouts of the packaging for the system itself. He wouldnt tell me anything about that. I tried (especially since he went into the controllers box details so much) but he wouldnt. He asked me if i'd seen pics of the Rev from E3 and I told him yes(duh) he then said that the system they showed was just a mock-up(duh again) but that the final design was different. Not much,he said,but definatley different.
I asked him why this guy from the 3rd party controller team would be showing them designs for the packaging and he said "oh, Nintendo was there as well, I just didnt talk with them too much. I spent all day with the other guy". He said that his long run with Ultima was over due to EA needing him on a Rev project.
He said he was pissed off about leaving the team he worked with for so long but that it was gonna be interesting to work on the Rev. To say the least.
After talking more about what i've been up to,etc,etc he did ask me if I still had my Virtual Boy (yes, I bought one of these and have been catching hell from him ever since) I told him yes I still had it in the closet and he then said " as lame as that system was I can tell you that it will be considered the father to the Revolution but not in a bad way". I then threw out all inabitions and BEGGED him to tell me about the connection but he said "nah..you'll see soon enough".
He then gave me one last but I think most important *clue*. He said theres a reason why the Revolution wont be Hi-Def. I said "why?" he said "too expensive for the tech that Nintendos pulling off with this thing".
wow...
So thats it. Take it for what it is. I couldnt get any SOLID info about the controller itself but not too shabby to say the least. I'm sure i'll get booed and hissed here and I can understand and wont be pissed at anyone for not believing. But,thats what I was told. It took me awhile to decide whether or not to post this. I fell like an ...well you know. I mean I shouldnt be saying this after telling him that my lips were sealed but he didnt,therefor I didnt, say anything about the controller. : )
That and the fact that this guy seeing this here is a million to one. He doesnt read these forums. He's way to busy smoking cigs and drinking coffee and writing code...I hope.
, was dieser Junge hier niederprahlt. Sollte es stimmen wird Nintendo wohl wirklich noch ein ernstzunehmender Gegner für Microsoft&Sony. Aber der Text gleicht mehr noch einem Märchen aus 1001 Nacht. Aber auschliessen kann man ja eigentlich fast nichts da man nichts von offizieller Seite weis. 
