Report: Revolution coming in mid-2006
Earnings call by memory technology company Monolithic Systems says Nintendo's next-gen system is coming next summer.
Less than a week after an MTV listing revealed that the Xbox 360 will ship in November, another outside party has apparently pegged the release window of a rival next-generation console.
As part of its quarterly earnings call yesterday, Monolithic System Technology Inc. had its executives field the customary inquires from analysts. In a statement before he began fielding calls, interim chief executive officer and chief financial officer Mark Voll made a statement about the memory-technology firm's plans for the coming year--plans that involve a certain major Japanese game company.
While there are dozens of such calls every day, the Nintendophiles at GameCube Advanced noticed Voll's remarks contained a nugget of game-info gold. "During the quarter, we announced that NEC electronics will now use our 1T-SRAM embedded memory technologies on their advanced 90-nanometer process," said Voll, "and that the initial designs to be incorporated will be used in Nintendo's next-generation game console, code name 'Revolution.'"
Then, according to a transcript of the call, Voll said, "We are excited to be a participating member of the Nintendo team once again, as Nintendo will roll out and success game console to the GameCube in mid-2006." (Emphasis added.) Presuming that the transcriber misquoted Voll saying "a successor game console" as "and success console," it means that Nintendo's next-gen console will arrive just over a year from now.
As of press time, US Nintendo reps said they were waiting for an official response to Voll's comments. However, the executive's statements seem to confirm widespread speculation that the Revolution will arrive well into 2006, roughly the same time the PlayStation 3 is expected to launch. Sony has indicated it will begin mass production of the Cell processor, which will power the PlayStation, at the beginning of next year.
Monolithic System Technology--more commonly known as MoSys--developed the 1T-SRAM to offer "a combination of high density, low power consumption, high speed and low cost that other available memory technologies do not match," according to the company's Web site. In March, it announced it was extending its existing partnership with NEC to the chip-maker's new 90nm process generation of chips. MoSys has offices in Sunnyvale, California, and Yokohama, Japan.
Hot Stories
Newsmakers
-
Dragon Age: Origins Interview with Ray Muzyka
We chat with Ray Muzyka about some of the features in Dragon Age: Origins. Full Story
- Posted Jul 8, 2009 4:06 pm PT
-
Left 4 Dead 2 Doug Lombardi Interview
We talk to Doug Lombardi about Left 4 Dead 2 at a recent preview event in London. Full Story
- Posted Jul 3, 2009 4:42 pm PT
Featured Stories
-
Sony dismisses Activision threats, PS3 price cut rumors
Sony Corp. CEO Sir Howard Stringer brands third-party publisher's comments as "noise," SCEA CEO Jack Tretton says other consoles don't deliver the same value. Full Story
- Posted Jul 8, 2009 1:15 pm PT
- 1066 Comments
-
PS3 MGS4/Killzone 2 bundle now available
Best Buy begins offering rumored $400 retail configuration, which packs in 80GB console with nearly $90 of top-rated games. Full Story
- Posted Jul 7, 2009 11:19 am PT
- 504 Comments
-
Battlefield 1943 suffers server snafu
EA Dice's multiplayer-only downloadable shooter experiencing matchmaking technical difficulties after Xbox 360 launch this morning. Full Story
- Posted Jul 8, 2009 12:48 pm PT
- 167 Comments
-
Blizzard: Free-to-play WOW 'possible'
Lead designer Tom Chilton says the multiplatinum MMORPG champion could abolish monthly subscription plan by adopting microtransaction system. Full Story
- Posted Jul 7, 2009 12:43 pm PT
- 366 Comments
-
Square Enix retires Eidos publishing label
Japanese pub consolidates operations in Europe and NA, confirming some headcount reduction; British company's name will live on through dev studios. Full Story
- Posted Jul 7, 2009 11:15 am PT
- 151 Comments
Recent News
Site Blogs
-
Battlefield 1943 Review Coming Monday
Battlefield 1943, the latest entry in the venerable Battlefield series, arrived on the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network this...




0 Comments