The other day Revolution Report's Senior Editor, Shawn White, managed to snag an interview with ATI's Public Relations Manager, John Swinimer. ATI are responsible for the graphics card in the upcoming Nintendo Revolution, code-named "Hollywood", they also designed the Gamecube's graphics card, code-named "Flipper".

Swinimer gave lots of background information about the design process involved with the console's graphics processor.

"Hollywood is a specific design and is in no way reflective of PC technology. Even when the Flipper chips came out, people were asking that question: "Is this a spin-off of something done on the PC?", and the answer is no. It is designed the same as the Flipper was -- from the ground up for a specific console."

Sadly, Shawn forgot to ask about HD support and ATI's view on the no-HD stance Nintendo have taken. Swinimer goes on to tell us about lots of other considerations.

"ATI has graphics chips inside many consumer electronic designs and heat is definitely a consideration, so we definitely take that into consideration when we are designing new chips. There's a lot of technology you can put into the chip now that can reduce the level of [heat] output."

All in all we learn quite alot about the development and design process and also restores faith in the level of commitment from the graphics giant.

We all know that the Revolution won't be able to match the rival Xbox 360 or PS3 in sheer graphics power, but that didn't stop the Gamecube. We hope Nintendo will make up for it in other departments.

You can read the full interview over at Revolution Report.

[source revolutionreport.com]