At least three revisions of Revolution development kits have been sent out, and with more than a thousand kits now out there, we take a closer look...

Nintendo really seem to be keeping to their desire to lower development costs - with the software development kit (SDK) for the Revolution costing only $2000. While this may seem a fair amount, compare that to the PlayStation 2's SDK which cost $20,000 per kit when it first came out, and you can see the difference. Importantly, the PS3 and Xbox 360 kits cost even more.

Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime revealed yesterday that over a thousand Revo SDKs had been sent out, which fall into three kit revisions. The first development version was just a GameCube console with a wired Revolution controller attached. The second was more or less the same, with just a few minor changes. The third, shipped in January, showed a boost in CPU power, while big publishers have now recieved an additional version, which apparently shows the system as truely next-gen in it's capabilities.

A fourth official SDK is now on its way for developers preparing for E3 in May. It will feature 90-95% of the system's final achievable performance - so the game demos we see at E3 could be close to what the launch titles will look like - though graphics always improve as a generation progresses due to developers being more familiar with a system as time goes on.

Apparently though, developers are happy with the performance of the system - as the uniqueness of the controller makes up for any lack of power. "At first, we were discouraged that it would be less powerful than Xbox 360," one developer said, "but once we got everything working with the controller, our concerns faded." Final developments kits are scheduled to be sent out in June of this year.

While it's certain the system will launch at a lower price than others in the next-generation, exactly how much lower is still a matter for debate. IGN however is quoting some developers as saying the system could launch for under $200, possibly even $150 (�125, �85).