Come the Revolution

I've been thinking about the three new console announcements over the last couple of days. While I think that the XBox 360 and PS3 are going to be wonderful machines that will give us some fabulous-looking games, I actually think that Nintendo may have been very clever in not joining the power race.

Because they are concentrating on making the console more accessible to developers, it may be the console of choice for developers who want to concentrate on gameplay as a priority. For those who want substance over style, it could be that the Revolution will offer much more in the way of variety.

We all know that development costs for games appearing on the 360 and PS3 are going to shoot through the roof, so for many developers and publishers it might just be more cost-effective to put money into developing for a less costly, but still very powerful, system.

One thing you've got to ask yourself is, how much of the PS3's power is the average gamer going to see when they're playing their games in their bedrooms on a 15-inch portable TV? I bet you're going to have to look really hard to tell the difference between the PS3 and the Revolution. :)