Interview Exclusive: Revolution Report Talks with ATI about Hollywood
Following the Consumer Electronics Show 2006 held in Las Vegas, Nevada last week, Revolution Report had the opportunity to discuss Nintendo and its next-generation console, code-named the Nintendo Revolution …
Context & Ripple Effects
The interview lands mid-drip-cycle for Nintendo's next machine. Through late 2005 the story was built piece by piece: Japan's top creators reacting to the controller in October, then Chris Morris going hands-on with the smaller, lighter wand for CNN in December, then a November patent filing hinting at the Virtual Console interface. What was missing was the silicon — until ATI, the confirmed developer of the Hollywood graphics processor, sat down with Revolution Report right after CES 2006.
That makes this a rare first-party-adjacent source: Nintendo has kept Revolution specifics close, so an ATI interview is one of the few places technical detail can surface without breaking the company's own silence. It also slots into a busy January — Nintendo had just moved into Wi-Fi online gaming with the DS, keeping momentum high while the console itself stays under wraps.
First-order effects
- ATI gains public visibility as the named silicon partner for the Revolution, letting it market its console credentials at CES season while Nintendo controls every other message about the machine.
- Revolution Report secures exclusive material during a news window otherwise dominated by the just-launched Xbox 360 and pre-launch PS3 chatter.
Second-order effects
- Nintendo can keep withholding official specs because suppliers like ATI absorb part of the disclosure burden — a division of labor that lets the company steer coverage toward its controller-and-back-catalog pitch rather than a teraflops comparison.
- If the Virtual Console patent reflects real plans, Hollywood's design brief likely includes supporting emulation of Nintendo's back catalog, tying ATI's chip work directly to the retro-download business model rather than raw horsepower.
Third-order effects
- Console generations are increasingly narrated through component-supplier interviews before official reveals, fragmenting the announcement cycle across partners instead of a single keynote.
- If the back-catalog-plus-novel-controller framing holds through launch, console competition shifts further from spec parity toward differentiated input and library access — a template other platform holders would face pressure to answer.
The trend: Pre-launch console coverage is shifting from official spec sheets toward a drip of supplier and partner disclosures, with each chip vendor becoming a sanctioned leak valve.