Nintendo still keen to Revolutionise E3

Nintendo has confirmed that it plans to unveil its next-generation console, codenamed Revolution, at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in May, but the company is still considering how best to announce it without giving too much away.

Speaking in a recent interview with Japanese magazine ITmedia Games, Nintendo of Japan PR Office Manager Toyoda Ken said, "we are still looking at E3 as a launching pad for the 'Revolution' platform, and are deliberating if we should feature the actual console, visuals, or simply illustrate the concept behind it".

However the Nintendo man said the company was cautious about saying too much. "While we are aiming to make some form of positive impression, we also want to avoid giving away too much, and are therefore currently in a dilemma about the situation," he added.

Still on Revolution, he said Nintendo had "absolutely no intention of approaching our new hardware with the intent of making it an extension of the line of hardware we've released up to this point," which almost certainly rules out "GameCube 2" as the official moniker-to-be.

"The fundamental approach to making things at Nintendo will not change," he said when asked about external pressures, before adding it was safe to say Nintendo was "embarking on a different direction than our competitors."

E3 is definitely the target though, as Nintendo is not considering any Nintendo-only events "at this stage".

As a final word on Revolution, Ken took a minor swipe at competitors Sony and Microsoft, both of whom have made stat or tech-heavy announcements in the past, by saying, "fun isn't something that can be expressed in figures, and we are ever mindful of how we can illustrate the difference offered by our particular brand of fun".

Toyoda Ken also said that the DS would feature prominently at E3 - particularly on account of the show's proximity to its 11th March European launch date. "Following the upcoming release of the DS in Europe, we are looking to use E3 as a means of generating additional momentum for the platform," he said.