After the recent interview with Reggie Fils-Aime at Engadget in which he said that over one thousand development systems had already been shipped out to various software companies, IGN did some checking around to see how things were going.

Most developers have received several kits over the last few months, with the first being no more than a Gamecube with a wired Revolution remote attached. There have been slight tweaks in the later kits, but nothing dramatic. IGN was told that anyone used to programming Gamecube games can get Revolution projects up and running "in no time," as the two systems are very similar in make-up. They also say that the Revolution is roughly twice as powerful as the Cube.

Most of the studios seem unconcerned with this apparent lack of technical might:

Asked whether or not Revolution's horsepower was insufficient, one development source said no. "At first, we were discouraged that it would be less powerful than Xbox 360, but once we got everything working with the controller, our concerns faded," he explained.

Other studios IGN Revolution has been in contact with have echoed this enthusiasm, always admitting that Nintendo's new console will be less powerful, but stressing that with the emphasis on the innovative controller it simply won't matter.

Perhaps most important to the Revolution strategy -- aside from the controller itself -- is the issue of cost. Due to the lack of bleeding edge technology in the system, sources inside the studios said the Revolution could ship for $200 or even $150, putting it hundreds of dollars below the competiton. While there's no official word on what the price will be other than "below $299", IGN notes the Revolution dev kit costs $2,000, which is thousands of dollars cheaper than even a PSP kit. Revolution Report states the PS2's SDK cost a whopping $20,000 at launch.

Nintendo has been playing the pricing game since the N64 -- though that wasn't the greatest of successes due to the system being cheaper but the games being much more expensive -- but it looks like this is the first generation it could really pay off. With developers getting sick of the rising cost of making games and consumers getting sick of the rising cost of playing games, a not so top of the line but much more affordable solution is going to look all the more attractive. Let's just hope the controller proves to be worthwhile and doesn't sink the whole prospect.

Source: IGN