Damage Control 4th Edition: More on Revolution to Come?

As the last words were spoken today at the Nintendo Press Conference, only one question was left in our mind…. So where’s the ‘Revolution’? Sure, the actual console was shown in physical form and some minor details were released, but was there anything truly revolutionary about what was shared. In the opinion of many conference attendees, the idea of being able to download 20 years of Nintendo content sounded utterly amazing. However, this new feature in no way creates the paradigm shift in gameplay that Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, had claimed there would be upon the introduction of the Revolution.

So what does this mean and how does it relate to this article? Well, as it now stands, there have been multiple rumors and speculations about what it is that makes the revolution so revolutionary. In this feature article, some of these topics are going to be discussed and dissected. Why you ask?... There has to be a reason why Nintendo hasn’t blown the cover on their Revolution and we at NintendoNow are here to uncover that; Nintendo isn’t going to simply watch as Sony and Microsoft spill the beans - there has to be something more!

While much of what is going to be discussed from here on out is complete speculation (so don’t take it as fact), some of it is just completely unexplainable! So let’s get down to business…

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About two weeks ago, a blog appeared on brokensaints.com that was meant to be a speculative posting about what Brooke Burgess, an industry insider, felt would be included in the Nintendo Revolution. Our forums began discussing this blog and many were convinced that what he said was true. It wasn’t until a few days later when a person on the blog going by the name of Aries, a man claiming to be a former Nintendo Employee, began posting everything he knew. At this point, the blog exploded with excited Nintendo fans hoping and dreaming that all of what Aires said would become fact. If you’d like to read these postings for yourself, head to our forums

So that’s all good and dandy, right? Some guy claims to be a former Nintendo Employee and everyone believes him...but doesn’t it seem odd that his credibility went undisputed? Well, it actually was. In fact, Matt Casamassina of cube.ign.com had a lot to say about why he felt Aries was completely bogus. He claimed that nobody but people as high up in the Nintendo company rank as Reggie himself could have access to information such as what Aries provided. Nonetheless, GameSpot had a quite different take on what was said. In their conclusion to one of their rumor related assessments, it was said that only E3 could let us know for sure; they weren’t even able to disprove anything that Aries said. The more interesting part about GameSpot’s article, however, is that it linked to our forums here at NintendoNow (link shown above). Many people were going to the actual Broken Saints blog to see Aries’ prophecies, but somehow, NintendoNow truly put it on the map and GameSpot noticed this.

Do I smell a Nintendo/IGN conspiracy? IGN/GameSpy did just become Nintendo’s online provider just days ago. Could this mean Matt was doing a little cover-up, or just playing along in an elaborate scheme of elusive Nintendo advertising?

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And here’s where it gets interesting!

The following are excerpts from actual Aries posts:

“Another thing I forgot to mention was on the backward compatibility;
apparently the Nintendo’s new console will be able to play the games
from past consoles such as GC, N64, SNES, and yes NES. I believe this
feature shall intrigue many people out there and could possibly lead to
what I call “New Classics” so look forward to that. For now I have to
seriously catch some shut eye E3 will be here soon enough.” -Aries

Is this not EXACTLY what was talked about today in Nintendo’s Press Conference? How could some random individual know about Nintendo’s 20 year content plan for backwards compatibility 2 weeks prior to the actual Nintendo Conference?

This wasn’t the only piece of information Aries stated would happen and actually did. For one, he got the wireless controllers, Super Smash Revolution Online, and more. He even mentioned Square-Enix and their strong liking of what Nintendo had in store for us in the near future, and a little over a week later, a quote from Youichi Wada, president of Square-Enix said this: (The original article can be found here)

“It gives the image of taking the real world seamlessly into the virtual world," he said. "the means of building a community will be completely different, and support and services will also change." -Wada

"What increased our interest further, is that the next step is already being prepared for Revolution. [Nintendo's networking plan is] not just a portable, not just a console -- it's exactly what we wanted in that it's the birth of a completely new platform." -Wada

 "From here on, we'll have to challenge ourselves with content in response to what Nintendo offers. We would like to give strong support." –Wada

Again, an Aries Prediction came true…but here is what is most intriguing:

“I’m not going to give out the secret. It’s going to be very fun; wait
until E3. Nintendo is going to roll out a trojan horse: something that
looks innocent and weak and them bam, it will be unveiled. Just don’t
make up your mind on the first day of E3.

My credibility will be proven on May 19th. I have already given you a
hint about what will happen in the next few weeks. Pay close attention
to some of the Nintendo related stories that will begin to pop up. So
far, many have already been reported. Pay attention. And on the 19th,
don’t automatically try to write me off. There is a big suprise in
store for everyone. I’ve said that 100 times, but I can’t stress it
enough.” -Aries

What does this mean? If you believe that Aries is telling the truth, then it means we’ve got much more to be excited about coming up on the 19^th.

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Not satisfied yet, NintendoNow did a little more searching and one of our Execs here at E-mpire created a thread about his conspiracy theories. He had this to say:

“I mean, not to get too much hopes up or anything, but just about EVERYTHING the real Aries was claiming, has come true up to this point. Ok, there were some things that didn’t fit in exactly, but hey…don’t forget he only worked for Nintendo till 2004 (IF in fact he did). Even the disappointment right now was predicted by him. He also mentioned the prank Nintendo would pull on us this E3 and that we’d all get punk’d just like in the movie “The Game”.

But that’s not all of it. Right before the press conference, there were four short clips on the Nintendo.com website which would be activated when trying to click on something. It showed some people in discussion on how they would fill in their E3 showing. So they got to talk about the press conference on tuesday and some party on wednesday, and then they still got something planned for thursday and friday which they wouldn’t elaborate about, saying we “have to wait”. One of the clips also showed Reggie saying: “don’t make me do it! I’ll take your name.” and the last one showing a frowning WTF?!-like face.” –Mach (E-mpire Exec)

To view this thread, click here.

So wait. Now Nintendo themselves are doing some crazy stuff? It would seem so, apparently.

Nintendo has said themselves many times now that they would be showcasing something about Mario 128. Have they yet?... NO!

And now, a short clip is posted on the main Nintendo website claiming there to be something more to come on Thursday and Friday (19^th anyone), but it’s suddenly taken down? Seems fishy if you ask me. 

There’s even more, though! Look on the Nintendo main website and on the front page you will see an image with a sign including, in bold letters, “Nintendo Now”. The image doesn’t link to anything (as they wouldn’t technically be able to link to us) and has no explanation. This makes us here at NintendoNow quite intrigued and puzzled to be honest. Is Nintendo trying to pull an advertisement campaign akin to recent viral campaigns? Are they trying to direct their readers to our forums because of our putting the Aries issue on the map?

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While the Aries and Nintendo main site rumors are interesting, everyone is talking about the latest Revolution Mock-Up Video. (What's funny is that IGN was the only main site to host it... coincidence?) If you have yet to see this masterpiece, below is a link to the video:

Mock-Up Video From IGN

Initially, many people were astounded by the professionalism that went in to creating such an amazing video; the huge Mario Castle created out of thousands of tiny Mario castles alone was a technical feat only a skilled professional could pull off. Eventually, however, it was brushed off as a fake and merely a cool watch for Nintendo fans to hopelessly ponder. But is there more to the video than most people think?

Just this last week, Nintendo of America's vice president of corporate affairs, Perrin Kaplan released a few details before the actual E3 conference stating that the console would be “very, very sleek.” While this may be a coincidence, does it not seem odd that in this Mock-Up video appears the words “the most sleek”?

Today at the Nintendo Press Conference was something even more astonishing. Reggie Fils-Aime mentioned multiple times that we all need to think with our “Right Brain”. A comment such as this isn’t very common, but for some reason also appears in the video as the name of the headset: “The Brain”.

Does this mean that the video may be a part of a possible elaborate marketing plan? Who knows…we’ll just have to wait!

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While I must reiterate the fact that all of the previous comments are based on speculation, one can only wonder how all of these tidbits of information seem to come together quite comprehensively. Only time will tell the truth, but be rest assured that NintendoNow will be sticking around the Nintendo booth quite religiously come this Thursday.