I'm personally betting on Nintendo adopting HD-DVD as it's disc format for Revolution, which would indeed allow playback of standard DVD discs (as well as GameCube discs, based on the same technology), and DVD playback is an added bonus

As for standard wireless controllers, it's great to have that confirmed, but it was pretty much as expected, given Nintendo's fantastic Wave Birds.

The real gem here was the high-definition comment, something Nintendo was cautious about with GameCube. Microsoft has certainly raised the bar, and there is a certain amount of parity in terms of features that gamers will expect.

If you read between the lines a bit, however, there is more cause to be excited. If Perrin is willing to start talking about the size of the unit, that means the hardware must be nearly finalized, so there is little reason that Nintendo would continue to hold back the system at E3.

Five days left ...

I cant wait to see it, if its that tiny they have to have a mockup or something at E3...


more? playable? who knows, Shock the World Nintendo!

This is a little more detailed than what IGN reported. Wireless controllers and DVD playback? That's okay with me. I hope they do the controllers like the Xbox 360 which apparently allows you to plug the controllers into the console to charge the battery and play games at the same time (an idea they OBVIOUSLY stole from me).

Rick's right though. If they know the size then they've got something pretty finalized. Kaplin couldn't say anything if all they had was a dev kit.

This blurb of news was perfect timing. Everyone saw the Xbox 360 and went "meh" so Nintendo releases some minor info and everyone's excited.

We don't necessarily need HD media to play "HD games." Xbox 360 only uses DVD9 also. Chances are the blu-ray capacity in PS3 will go to waste more than not.

Modern PC games like Half Life 2 fit on a DVD and look killer in high-res modes.

There's definitely a lot of hardware parity with Xbox here. Nintendo can't give consumers any excuse to dismiss Revolution. While I hoped for a shockingly small mac mini-sized unit, it may be considered a "toy" to some again.

Wireless better be through an adapter like the GC...I want my cord controllers!

Bill, No Longer shall you be tethered to the machine!!! As Nintendo gave a sample of this generation, they shall put into full stride next generation, Nintendo shall set you FREE!!

say it with me now,

Nintendo shall set you FREE!!

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Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
Wireless better be through an adapter like the GC...I want my cord controllers!

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cords are for poo poo heads. the truest test of skill is betting a button masher (bloody roar 4) while in the bathroom (with the tv in the living room.

Then I, sir, am a poo poo head! I just like having the option if I so wish it... (Uh oh, that sounded like Ian-speak! Arg!)

"Wireless with an option to wire it to the sytem to charge." you know i bet they were browsing
OUR forums when they found that idea...i could have sworn somebody came up with it here.


SIZE COMPARISON

http://theperm.tetrametrics.com/Images/revolution.jpg

3 dvd cases next to a gamecube

FYI: To put it into perspective, the DS is about 1.25" thick also. There's hella power in that little Revolution.

Someone had to say it... What if Revolution could double as a pseudo-portable, with optional battery and screen? It'd cost a lot more than PSP total, but.... damn my imagination to Hell.

But if they did it with GameCube, it just seems even more possible with Revolution. I'd say a console/portable hybrid could be revolutionary... Makes the idea of speaking to other Revolutions and the DS more interesting.

previously reported quotes from Squares Iwata

The stance Square Enix takes on the new networking plan in relation to Revolution is the most intriguing. "What increased our interest further," states Wada regarding the networking plan, "is that the next step is already being prepared for Revolution." Nintendo's networking plan is, according to Wada, "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 finishes off on the note of support from Square Enix: "From here on, we'll have to challenge ourselves with content in response to what Nintendo offers. We would like to give strong support."

Your comparison is a little misleading, Permy...You have a GameBoy Player!

I don't know what to say, so, uh. SHINE GET.

I doubt its a hybrid.... well i dont nececarily doubt it...


When the Third Pillar was announced i thought it would have been a hybrid, based on the fact that Nintendo had those LCD Screens at E3...


but i dont nececarily believe it can be that realistic... especially when it comes to battery concerns.


I also dont think its that 3D Glasses thing so who knows

I would have gone to E3 this year if it wasnt for that stupid Art history final which falls exactly on E3 and which the professor happened to specifically say "dont even think about planning any trips that day". Ugh, its gonna be one heck of an E3

anyway, very exciting stuff. Not drowning in hapiness over the whole DVD thing though. Its cool but i feel like Nintendo's thing was to go against the whole "turning video games into extreme media devices" idea. Now its like they were just kinda late with it.

But whatevers good for the biz i guess

That's nice and all... welcome to 2000 Nintendo.

I'm way more excited about the 360 at this point. I hope Nintendo can compete at E3. Just get the online service right, and keep up technologically....

Apparently Matt IGN is excited about Revolution.

Which is cool, because he said in some mailbag that if he started showing excitement for the Rev, we'd know it would be good.

Which is crappy, because whatever excites Matt IGN is likely to suck.

Well after being unbelievably dissapointed by that lame MTV xbox 360 "special" this news is 28.34 times as intersting and exciting. (I'm not saying the next xbox is doomed...I'm saying that special SUCKED). Those quotes from Iwata coupled by this news and the small form factor of the revolution...could Nintendo have made it more confusing? They not only have kept the specs and info away from the media but also have us on wild goose chase. I've never heard so many outlandishly strange rumors and ideas before a console launch as for the Revolution. Now we wait for E3 where one of 2 things can happen:

1. They surprise us beyond our wildess expectations and ACTUALLY deliver, crushing the competition with it's innovative approach
2. They release something like the DS with very mixed reviews and opinions and create an even smaller niche for themselves this next gen.
(there would be a third option where they match the xbox 360 in most ways and deliver another plain jane console with the same old features but this simply isn't going to happen)

Anyway I am REALLY hopping they throw us a bone at E3...otherwise I will finally have proven my suspicion they get some sort of sick pleasure out of teasing us fans...revealing promises of greatness and then chuckling as we all go nutts, pulling speculation out of the smallest news as we disect it to death :S

I dunno NInty's usually good at hinting at whats to come. That whole extra screen concept for the DS pretty much arrived from their whole gameboy/gamecube interactivity. Just think about it the reason fourswords and FFCC can be ported to the DS so easily is because its the same concept. So I wonder if when the rev is released we will be all like "wth why didnt we see this comin?" I dunno thats just my concept tho. . . . .

If it's going to be that small, maybe they could put suction cups on the bottom of it so I can stick it to the side of my TV and save even more space.

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If it's going to be that small, maybe they could put suction cups on the bottom of it so I can stick it to the side of my TV and save even more space

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I can hear the commercial now... nanan nanana nana Bat-Cube

http://theperm.tetrametrics.com/Images/mockup2.jpg

yeah there could of been a mistake all of this time instead of translating revolution it was retrolution. Retro is the future lets pretend that we are cool like we used to be . . . . :/

Now thats a mockup!
Go go Nes Rev!

REGGIELUTION, BANZAI!!!

BUST OUT THE NEXT-GEN DUCK HUNT!!

Nintendo's finally learning from their past mistakes. I think we can expect lots of Nintendo success very soon.

I find it quite humorous that the chances of this Revolution news will overshadow the revealed of the Xbox 360, and all the Revolution news is on is just basic things .

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Originally posted by: ThePerm
http://theperm.tetrametrics.com/Images/mockup2.jpg

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Perm ... I want to go on record as saying that our of all the designs I've seen, that one got me giggling. I'd love to see "Revolution" end up being a throw-back console. High-Tech on the inside, 80's Retro on the outside.

I actually read a little over on Patadox about Sony / Microsoft / Nintendo and what Nintendo has up their sleeve. Not bad: here's my favorite excerpt:

So, what Sony and Microsoft have to divine is this: is Nintendo keeping their cards close to their chest because they've got the winning hand - or are they just waiting to see how badly they've lost?ft>

www.patadox.com

Not bad, and fairly unbiased.

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Right now, I'm going to assume they mean standard or dual-layer DVDs. The format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is still going on, and Matsushita (Panasonic), supplier of the GameCube's disc drives, is on the Blu-ray (Sony) side of the fight. If Nintendo is looking to extend that partnership, then the format used might be up in the air, especially with the HD/BR unification talks still going on.

But gee whiz, how are they going to pack their revolutionary stuff into that thin a package?

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Okay, I see a lot of people talking about how much the MTV XBox 360 special sucked, and was an example of "what not to do."

So what exactly was it, why did it suck, and what did Microsoft do wrong there?

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Originally posted by: The Omen

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Right now, I'm going to assume they mean standard or dual-layer DVDs. The format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is still going on, and Matsushita (Panasonic), supplier of the GameCube's disc drives, is on the Blu-ray (Sony) side of the fight. If Nintendo is looking to extend that partnership, then the format used might be up in the air, especially with the HD/BR unification talks still going on.

But gee whiz, how are they going to pack their revolutionary stuff into that thin a package?

---

The format war is long over, with the final specs due sometime within the next month. Sony and Toshiba decided against the war, and joined forces, taking the best of both formats and combining them. I would hope that means play on standard dvd players. The Revolution will hopefully be using these discs.

I am very excited about the new console. I can't wait until E3 frankly.

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There using the Blu-Ray technology and the HD-DVD software and the final name and format will be announced during E3. So expect Sony/Nintendo to use the what ever format the call it.
Props to Ian Sane for the wireless controller-plug--in-to-charge-thing, he said that a few good weeks ago(I smell lawsuit). This is almost too much anticipation for me to handle. Couple E3, Episode III and my vacation all back-2-back-2-back and I think I going to collapse.

Sony and Toshiba have always been talking. Toshiba has denied that a truce was coming. In fact they just released a new 3-layer spec for HD-DVD (45 gigs) a few days ago. Doesn't sound like the war is over at all.

gally: See the 360 threads for talk about the show.

I thought the XBox show on MTV was, for lack of a better term, corny. It felt really contrived, with all of these "Hollywood" people shucking a product they obviously knew nothing about. It was MTV fake. "THIS IS THE FUTURE OF HOME ENTERTAINMENT! IT'S GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD! UHHH...WHILE YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT THAT, CHECK OUT...THE KILLERS!" Whatever.

The segment with Sway at XBox headquarters made me cringe. Actually, so did Leto interviewing the two guys from Rare. It was a whole lot of fluff with a bunch of FMV clips, and not enough actual gameplay details. For example, a demonstration of the new XBox Live service would have been nice. They completely glossed over that.

It was a live-action equivalent of the phrase, "OMG THE XBOX 360 IS TEH BESTS EVAR!!!!11!1!!! LOLL!!!11!!"

I'm glad I didn't miss anything with the MTV special. I was interested in seeing what they had planned.

I'm hearing that a lot of the games aren't really impressing people graphically. A lot of folks are blaming this on the developers, which is probably part of it, but I think we're finally beginning to see what Nintendo and a lot of other folks have believed all along: there's not that much left to improve. This will be the fifth generation since the NES, and I think the hardware manufacturers are putting in 20% of the effort of those five generations to squeeze out maybe 5% meaningful extra performance.

Edit: oh yeah, this is supposed to be about Nintendo! I'm glad to hear about DVD playback. Like someone else said, I was glad Nintendo left it out this generation, it felt like it was making a statement, but that didn't pan out in terms of sales. I think it's worthwhile to include it just to match the other company's specs.

It all sounds good to me so far. Smaller is indeed better, and wireless controllers=me happy.

Perrin Kaplan drops some tiny details on Revolution the night of the Xbox 360 reveal.

By now, everyone knows just about everything there is to know about Xbox 360. Nintendo, on the other hand, has kept a fairly tight lid on the details of their next console, codenamed Revolution. All that has been known until now is that it will feature wireless connectivity, similar to the Nintendo DS.

Today, Perrin Kaplan (Nintendo's Vice President of Corporate Affairs) has divulged some info about Revolution to The New York Times. The article is mostly about Xbox 360, but Kaplan did give some interesting information on two facets of Revolution, including it's size, described as horizontal, and no taller than three stacked DVD cases. That's pretty small, but why use DVD cases as a frame of reference? The answer will make many Nintendo fans quite happy.

Unlike GameCube, the new system will play DVD's, Ms. Kaplan said, and will feature a wireless controller. It will play GameCube games as well as a new class of high-definition games, with new emphasis on online play.

Gamers, rejoice.

I'm not sure what happened to this thread ... sorry about your comments, everyone!

Anyhoo ... I'm personally betting on Nintendo adopting HD-DVD as it's disc format for Revolution, which would indeed allow playback of standard DVD discs (as well as GameCube discs, based on the same technology), and DVD playback is an added bonus

As for standard wireless controllers, it's great to have that confirmed, but it was pretty much as expected, given Nintendo's fantastic Wave Birds.

The real gem here was the high-definition comment, something Nintendo was cautious about with GameCube. Microsoft has certainly raised the bar, and there is a certain amount of parity in terms of features that gamers will expect.

If you read between the lines a bit, however, there is more cause to be excited. If Perrin is willing to start talking about the size of the unit, that means the hardware must be nearly finalized, so there is little reason that Nintendo would continue to hold back the system at E3.

Five days left ...

Three stacked DVD cases? The PS2-70k is slightly flatter than two. Well, it's good to hear since the height of the GC became annoying at times.

5 days? Exactly 4...

Oh man. Okay what did I say again?

Oh yeah. Microsoft stole my idea about wireless controllers plugging into the console to get recharged.

I think I said something else about liking the size and stuff.

I like how some key issues regarding the Gamecube have already been addressed. People complained about no DVD-playback so they added it to the Rev. People complained that the Cube discs were smaller so they went with something more standard. People complained about no online so right here from the get-go they're talking about online play. People complained when Nintendo removed the component connection so here they are talking about HD games. And finally people didn't like the shape of the Cube so they made it smaller and more horizontal.

Although we don't know much yet they haven't revealed something where my response is "oh man, they're STILL doing that?" Anything they screwed up on the Cube hasn't been revealed to still be screwed up on the Rev so obviously they're learning something.

I bet that the handle on Revolution will be bigger than the console itself, LOL.

...and I was all like, "Xbox 360? More like 3-sucks-ty!" Umm...oh yeah, my usual harping on how graphics aren't going to matter as much next-gen, plus I'm glad that Nintendo is including DVD playback even though I don't want it that badly myself because I think it's wise to have similar features to the competition.

But, but... I liked the Mini Gamecube Discs...

Something tells me Microsoft is gonna have the physically biggest console yet again this generation.

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In its final form, Revolution will be about the thickness of three standard DVD cases and only slightly longer. The versatile Revolution will play either horizontally or vertically, allowing the user total flexibility in setting up a gaming session wherever they have a television.

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I might add that Nintendo of Europe just published some more interesting details on the Revolution. Not sure if I'm allowed to cite from Nintendo itself, but I'll dare do it since the link seems to malfunction for users from different parts around the globe.

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Nintendo, the world leader in video game innovation, has stated loud and clear that they are not to be overlooked in the next generation home console race with the revelation of several unique features of the company's next console system, code name Revolution, to key media outlets.

According to the early information, Revolution will combine powerful technology and gaming-focused features in Nintendo's smallest home game console yet.

In its final form, Revolution will be about the thickness of three standard DVD cases and only slightly longer. The versatile Revolution will play either horizontally or vertically, allowing the user total flexibility in setting up a gaming session wherever they have a television.

Thanks to Nintendo's hardware development partners IBM and ATI, the small system will be packed with power that will enable it to wow players with its graphics. Nintendo's legions of loyal fans will be happy to learn that Revolution will be backward compatible, playing both Nintendo GameCube 3-inch disks along with its own standard, double-layered DVD disks in the same self-loading media drive.

In the next generation, the addition of the Internet will be important to all consoles and particularly important to Nintendo. Revolution will be wireless Internet ready out of the box.

There's much more to Revolution that will be revealed over the coming months, but the combination of its compact size, wireless Internet, backward compatibility, quick start-up time and quiet, low-power operation add up to the start of a great game system. Get ready for the Nintendo Revolution in 2006!

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Yeah its in NOAs page too

so now the HD DVD - blue ray its officially not happening, right?

Maybe since the console design is almost finalized we'll finally hear about dev kits arriving at dev houses.

At this point all I want is a screenshot of the console itself, assurance that the console will have better specs than X360 and confirmation of U3 engine compatibility.

Heh, Rick.

Hmm... self-loading? Somebody tell me what that terminology means. Is it the sliding disc tray (press a button and it loads itself) or the suck-in-the-disc slot?

something big must be going down cause if you look at the top left of nintendo.com they have a count down meter to the e3 show.. thats the first time i seen them doing that

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The Xbox 360 thing on MTV was a total embarrassment. I hope Nintendo watched it closely and learned what NOT to do.

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"The versatile Revolution will play either horizontally or vertically, allowing the user total flexibility in setting up a gaming session wherever they have a television."

Cool. That's a minor feature but's nice to have nonetheless. The Xbox 360 can do it. The PS2 can do it so I assume the PS3 will be able to as well. So the Rev should be able to do it. Matching the competition is very important and I've been ragging on Nintendo forever for consistently not doing that. I'm really liking all I'm hearing so far. Now let's hope the controller isn't a power glove because right now that's one of the only things that could sink my excitement. Nintendo's trying this time and I like it.

Though how would this work for backwards compatibility? The PS2 has a little edge that holds the disc when it's on its side. I assume that here there will be two different disc sizes so how will that work? With a top loader that's easy to do but I don't know how they can do that with something that can be placed on its side. Obviously they HAVE figured something out but I'm curious to know what.

about the self loading thing:

I'm not sure what they mean, but with such a small system, i doubt there is room for any extra motors required to operate a disc tray that comes out or one that sucks in the disc. Most likely it will be like the PStwo and have a lift cover. Which also goes along with the idea that it will consume very little power and be quiet.

I jus treally hope that Nintendo can manage to fit some awesome hardware inside a package that small. Because if it isn't at least a little more powerful than the Xbox 360, that's just one more notch against people buying a Nintendo console, especially considering how much later it is coming out.

I'm still picturing "Mac Mini" when I hear this. I hope they have at least an expansion port of some sort.

Something I'd like to see: Bootable firewire or something on the back so they could offer expansion hardware. I'm picturing little mini top-loading devices that could allow backwards compatibility with other Nintendo systems.

C'mon guys, you know you could build a top loading NES player that plugs into this thing for practically nothing, and there's a huge market there.

"Still, the fact that it has by and large countered the new Xbox specs is a good sign."

where? I havent seen any Rev specs at all.

So two out of the three home consoles will be going with DVD9. I wonder where this will leave Sony with all their Blu Ray space. With rumors that the PS3 will be hell to program for, will developers actually take advantage of all that space, or will it go to waste on HD movie clips?

The Rev is sounding quite microscopic! That's cool since I don't have much console room underneath my TV, even after I remove the GC from the mix.

Nintendo tried with the GameCube. It's not like they didn't improve third party support or give up cartridges like everyone wanted. The thing is there's always something to screw up. How about a 2GB harddrive that can't be upgraded, or a launch lineup that only has two games? I do agree that Nintendo is making lots of good choices, I just don't want to get my hopes up too much. I'd prefer not to feel like an Xbox fan watching MTV.

Edit: *Agrees heartily with Bill's post below.*

Ninty started working with ATi LONG before MS did, and Ninty will have extra time to fine-tune...To think the Rev won't be more powerful than the 360 is silly...

"Ninty started working with ATi LONG before MS did"

Which means when they started working together, graphics cards were less advanced.

Just being devil's advocate.

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Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
Ninty started working with ATi LONG before MS did

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Not quite...

Two separate teams worked on the systems...

That still doesn't mean Rev's card is better. They had less to work with than X360 because they started earlier.

Ian doesn't seem to be negative anymore, so I'll be your lightning rod of hate.

*shakes fist*

DO NOT DAMPEN MY GLEE!

"Ian doesn't seem to be negative anymore"

And all it takes is Nintendo to not do stupid stuff. We'll see how E3 goes though. I'm still concerned about what the Revolution's big "secret" is. But the stuff they have shown is cheering me up so much that I'm more willing to cut them some slack and be optimistic.

As for graphics the Rev comes out later. The later a console comes out the better its graphics are. It's just common sense. Plus looking at the Xbox 360 shots I'm thinking graphics from a technical perspective really are starting to plateau and art direction, animation, and attention to detail is what's going to make the difference graphically.

Yay, I will be able to play GC games on Rev, but I still have to keep GC because of GameBoy Player...ain't that not so good.

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Two separate teams worked on the systems...

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Does anyone else intensly dislike wireless controllers? I've found them to be unreliable every time I've ever used them, both from a "running out of power in the middle of a game" standpoint and a response time standpoint. I wish the next gen systems weren't forcing wireless on us (how are they going to make an adapter so I can plug GOOD controllers into the X-Box 360 if they're wireless?).

There is no part of ati...art x's prez is the prez of ati now....

just how nintendo got kirby'd ati got kirby'd too

Shin, I've never once head of anyone have problems with wireless controllers. They last for like 80 hours on two AA batteries...The response times are identical. The Wavebird has a fair warning system on it. It's like the most raved peripheral of all time. The only thing it doesn't do better than a regular controller is rumble. My cough is like 10 feet away from my tv, chords are a pain. Three of my controllers have chords, but my main one is proudly a flawless wave bird.

I don't get all these anti-wireless (internet too) feelings.

im the same way...i give everybody else regular controllers...and i use the wavebird

I just don't like them. I tried a Wavebird and wasn't impressed, and I don't own one (80 hours on 2 AAs is still less than infinite power through a cable). And I consider lack of force feedback to be a very glaring flaw in the design.
I just wish we were given the choice instead of being forced to use wireless.

Rumble is like the most overrated controller feature ever...

And I think a charge-chord is extremely liekly, anyway.

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Originally posted by: Artimus
Rumble is like the most overrated controller feature ever...

And I think a charge-chord is extremely liekly, anyway.

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You say force feedback like it's some sort of heavy tech thing. It's called rumble on the Cube, mr

Interference is inevitable with wireless technology. I experience it with my WaveBird occasionally, even within a few feet of the Cube. The WaveBird is far from "perfect," as I consistently hear it labelled. That said, for me it's too convenient to consider using wires when not necessary. If they make significant improvements to the already very good performance of the WaveBird, I would expect them to make wireless standard. They could still provide tethered controllers optionally, if they're going to still have ports for alternative input methods from current and/or next gen peripherals.

oh and whoever legacy is at the penny-arcade forums...its perfectly alright to host a copy of my picture..i would log onto penny-arcade and say this..but i forgot my username and password and it seems penny-arcade has a less then handy password and username retrieval.

All I know is the WaveBird is the best wireless out there when EGM put it to the test, matched up with the wireless controllers for PS2 and XBOX. One thing you can do is mess with your neighbors with it. My Neighbor down the hall was playin his Cube and uses the Wavebird. I just so happen to remember his set number. I set my Wavebird to the same number and next thing I know is he's shouting"What The Hell!" Oh and there was that Soul Calibur 2 tounament going on at my friends house. When it dawn to me that I had my Wavebird in my backpack full of games. I turned it on and started to go through the dial until I found my friends number. Oh it was priceless seeing his ass getting kick and saying stuff like theres something wrong with the controller. (Evil Laugh) Bwa ha ha ha ha! I know thats mean but I could'nt resist.

BASTARD...actually...we all figured it out. Was quite funny.

Wait a sec--I always thought once a WaveBird receiver listened to a controller after the system is turned on, it will ONLY listen to that contoller. At least, that's what I've seen happen. If I initialize two wavebird receivers on 2 different channels, then change one so they share the same channel, they don't seem to interfere. Did I miss something?

TYP for the win....

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Originally posted by: Kamek_X
All I know is the WaveBird is the best wireless out there when EGM put it to the test, matched up with the wireless controllers for PS2 and XBOX. One thing you can do is mess with your neighbors with it. My Neighbor down the hall was playin his Cube and uses the Wavebird. I just so happen to remember his set number. I set my Wavebird to the same number and next thing I know is he's shouting"What The Hell!" Oh and there was that Soul Calibur 2 tounament going on at my friends house. When it dawn to me that I had my Wavebird in my backpack full of games. I turned it on and started to go through the dial until I found my friends number. Oh it was priceless seeing his ass getting kick and saying stuff like theres something wrong with the controller. (Evil Laugh) Bwa ha ha ha ha! I know thats mean but I could'nt resist.

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