The fact that April begins with a day full of pranks did nothing to stymie or dissuade rumors surrounding Nintendo's next home game console, dubbed "Project Cafe." Nintendo itself came forth and confirmed at least one part was true: that the system would officially be unveiled at the company's E3 conference this year, and playable to boot.
New gossip suggests the system's previously-mentioned touch-screen controller will feature unique material simulation feedback that would change depending on what players are touching.
Based on a translation of an article posted at Swedish gaming news site Loading.se, the system could see release as "Nintendo Feel." Living up to that name, the console's controller will purportedly go beyond the touch-screen technology that on-the-go gamers have grown to love in handheld platforms such as the Nintendo DS and iPhone.
According to the site's source, the controller will grant players "the experience of touching different objects shown on screen" and let them "clearly feel the difference between soft, smooth or rugged textures."
The technology itself isn't too dissimilar from the concept behind the Novint Falcon -- a specialized PC controller that uses force feedback to mimic the sensation of grabbing and manipulating various in-game objects.
Game site The Escapist pointed out a more apt comparison: Toshiba's touchpanel tactile feedback demo.
Additional reports beyond just how out-there Nintendo will get with the controller this time have also come out.
Kotaku's inside source told the site the next Nintendo machine will boast a relatively scant 8GBs of internal memory (for game saves, downloadable content, etc.). The system's software medium allegedly fares much better: at 25GBs of data, the Wii successor's physical format would be more on par with standard Blu-ray discs.
Nintendo will pull the curtain back on its next system on June 7th at E3, so expect concrete news soon.
