Rumour: Nintendo Go?
Posted 23 Mar 2006 at 11:04 by Ashley Jones
Anybody who knows the internet will be familiar with so-called "leaked" images, and with the GDC underway a new shot has cropped up showing a "Nintendo Go" logo.
Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata is due to give a keynote address today at the Game Developers Conference, strangely entitled "Disrupting Development". While Satoru Iwata himself has denied that Nintendo will showcase any new information about the Revolution, fans are hoping this is just a decoy tactic, and there will in fact be a plethora of information for us all to enjoy. His keynote address is just a few short hours away (it will take place at 6.30 PM GMT) so we'll know for sure soon.
However for now there is an interesting little image floating around the internet which is causing quite a lot of speculation. Engadget earlier today recieved a rather cryptic photo, supposedly of the "Nintendo Go" logo, which can be found just below.
Keeping in mind that if this image is not faked (which is highly possible) any following talk is pure speculation.
There have been a few theories, one, which I personally prescribe to, is that "Nintendo Go" is the internet service they will be providing. As of now it is currently unnamed, and would be akin to the Xbox Live service, as "Nintendo Wi-Fi" isn't too catchy.
Some people have suggested that, as "Go" means "Five" in Japanese, it is referring to the Revolution, as it will be the fifth home console that Nintendo has released. If it were true hopefully it would be localised when released in English-territories, as "Nintendo Go" echoes the Pokémon anime. Additionally, if it were called the "Nintendo Five" it may be shortened to "The N5", which was its codename prior to Revolution.
It has been noted that the logo looks similar to the N64 and GameCube logos, and the '+' looks like the D-pad on all of Nintendo's consoles, which could related to the backwards compatibility. The sections of Japanese text have also been translated, but they are too loose and broken to have any significance.
Hopefully Satoru Iwata's keynote address will clear a few things up, but having lived through many over-hyped speeches, announcements, meetings and MEGATON!s I'd say don't hold your breath too much. However Revo-Europe will report the news as soon as we know, even if it is disappointing.
Update: Obviously, this rumour has now been proved false.