It makes perfect sense now.
When I get a new idea for something I like to get it out there quick before someone else thinks it up, so it will be known that I was the originator of the idea (e.g.
Kill Bullet Bill). Nintendo thinks the opposite way, and is probably afraid someone will not only copy it but
make it better. So why not show Revolution after Microsoft and Sony already unveils theirs?
TRACKBALL! They were gonna put a trackball on their controller but Microsoft went ahead a showed it first. Now they're scrambling, trying to create some new function that would appear revolutionary. Eh, probably not, but something like that could happen. It really makes no sense to withhold ideas and concepts, not without little hints. Even the ultra secret Segway project supplied hints...though no one guessed it would turn out how it did. Hype is a powerful marketing device. Nintendo is too backward to realize that. They rather strap a GameCube to some poor fool and have them demonstrate it on the street.