Miyamoto talks Revolution

Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed more details of the next-gen Revolution console, including news that we could well see new Pikmin and Luigi's Mansion games on the platform.

"Nothing's set in stone yet, but the interface we're creating for the Revolution is well suited to Pikmin," Miyamoto told US magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. "I think it would be a good match."

As for Luigi's Mansion - "The director often says, 'Make another one! Make another one!' and I want to use Luigi," Miyamoto said, adding that Nintendo is 'thinking about' bringing Smash Bros. to the DS as well as the Revolution.

He confirmed the publisher's intention to make its back catalogue of games available for download, revealing that the possibility of making games like Mario Party playable online is currently under consideration.

"If our discussion goes well, and if the technical aspects of Revolution also go well, that's possible," Miyamoto said.

He confirmed that the Revolution won't feature an Ethernet port, but that you'll be able to connect an adapter to the USB socket. "Considering where the machine will be placed in the household, we think it would be difficult for people to route the typical Ethernet line to it," Miyamoto explained.

"Also, we're considering connecting the DS with the Revolution via Wi-Fi," he added - reiterating a point that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata had made just prior to E3, which perhaps got lost in the deluge of information at the time.

Unsurprisingly Miyamoto refused to reveal any details of the top secret and much-hyped Revolution controller, but he did say he believed it would prove very popular with gamers and eventually become the industry standard.

And just because the controller features a new design doesn't mean it won't work with all types of multi-platform games: "We designed the controller so it can play any of the different conventional [gameplay] styles," Miyamoto said.

He went on to explain Nintendo's decision to make the Revolution's DVD player an optional extra, telling EGM: "The majority of households already own a DVD player or two. We don't want them to spend extra money just to have a console which happens to have a DVD capability.

"And the DVD player isn't going to be an attachment," he said. "It's going to go inside the machine so you won't even be able to tell the difference." In other words, there will be probably some kind of slot on the console which the attachment slides into so you don't have any big bits of plastic sticking out anywhere - perhaps similar to the way the GameCube's broadband or modem adapters can be inserted.

Miyamoto dismissed critics' claims that the Revolution won't be able to compete with its rivals in the graphics stakes, telling EGM: "Even if you look at Zelda on GameCube, I don't think that looks inferior to what the competition is touting as 'next-generation' visuals."

And there are more important things to worry about than high definition telly, Miyamoto argued. "The majority of people won't be playing our system with an HDTV, though with the Revolution, 480p resolution will be standard.

"We are not making light of graphics and technology - we are trying to make the best-balanced machine that will appeal to the most people."