Eurogamer interviews Jim Merrick

Nintendo Europe's senior vice president Jim Merrick was interviewed today by Eurogamer at the Nintendo Europe Summit in Frankfurt, Germany. In this lengthy discussion, Merrick revealed more information on Nintendo's upcoming console code-named Revolution, set to launch sometime in the 2006 fiscal year.

After reading the article, I was able to pick up on a multitude of key points:

• Nintendo may develop a massively multiplayer online game for the Revolution - it would require approval from either Shigeru Miyamoto (Director EAD) or Hideki Konno (producer EAD)
• The 512 MB of flash memory storage for retro downloads is expandable
• The slot-based disc drive will handle both the GCN and Revolution formats
• A number of third parties have expressed permission for Nintendo to make their back catalogues available for download -- Merrick notes that not every game ever published on a Nintendo console will be present
• When asked about a potential price point for game downloads, Merrick rhetorically responds, "What would you pay for your favorite game of the 16-bit era, say?"
• By implementing the Digital Management Rights system (DRM), Nintendo might offer movies, music, demos, and full games for download
• Merrick makes it clear that Nintendo will support neither the Blu-Ray or HD-DVD formats -- a dual-layer proprietary disc is most likely
• The Revolution will be present at E3 2006 for hands-on interaction along with games
• Third parties are presently hard at work at Revolution games and will announce them at their leisure
• Hideo Kojima is developing an exclusive title
• Europe might see the Revolution before Japan and the U.S.
• "Revolution" is still a codename for the console -- no word of when the true name will be revealed
• Mark Rein's (Epic) derogatory controller remarks were completely unfounded because he has yet to get his hands on it or a developer kit

This recent news update has been well received by fans in the Nintendo community. Nintendo's seemingly hush-hush policy has put fans on edge in the awaiting of more news.

You can read the entire article here: Jim Merrick gets connected