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Nintendo GameCube Preview
ravedaddy writes: "We've all seen the hype over the Sony PS2 and Microsoft X-box but things have been fairly quiet on Nintendo's front. So will Nintendo's GameCube pack a punch powerful enough to pound its competitors in overall sales and immersing game play? We won't know for another six months, but the authors of this preview piece were able to sit down with one of Nintendo's partners, ATI Technologies, to discuss some of the specifications of the GameCube and how its architecture is designed to compete. There is quite a bit of info on the 'flipper' 3D chip from ATI in there."
Nintendo has a deal with Panasonic to release a version of GameCube that has DVD playback, so if you wnat it, you can always pay the extra money to get it. But it's smart on Nintendo's part to not force it on consumers, but rather give us a choice.
The whole reason they didn't work with the N64 was mostly because of the lack of a decent storage medium. The N64 carts are tiny and seriously compared to, say, the Playstation's CDs, hence the switch.
It also had something to do with a sort of falling out with Nintendo themselves. I remember reading about the production troubles with the Nintendo/Square team up on Super Mario RPG, and I guess the tension it created, combined with Nintendo's adherence to the cartridge medium, solidified Square's move to the PSX. The fact that Sony shoved money down their pants didn't hurt.
There's been talk of Square developing for the Xbox, so anything is possible. If the system is solid, why wouldn't they want to make games for it? The storage question is practically a non-issue (unless Nintendo still insists on using its crazy licensing and production practices, as the Gamecube does use a proprietary format for the games).
I can see them making Gamecube games. But that's just my take.
J
Is it just me, or are the consoles out now or coming out in the near future ridiculously overpowered?
With the meager game offerings we've seen from PS2 thus far, and some of the other previews, it really seems that these GPU's (3d cards-I believe Nvidia has GPU patented) are far too powerful. It makes sense to me that companies should take a more modular approach, perhaps similar to indrema's upgradeable GPU. Right now all these super-powered graphics cards are doing is raising the price of the console,which doesn't go too well with the consumer.
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It cant even play DVDs. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot. How will the average 10 year old convince daddy to fork out 300 quid on a console without the old "but you can watch your DVDs on it" excuse. I think this will really backfire on Nintendo in the long run. And besides, dolphins are a popular icon in japan (the japanese version of Office 2000 here has a dolphin as an office assistant) but they dont really cut the mustard in the west where we need initials to get us going. Unless they remarked it as the ND256+ or something like that no one in the west will want one.
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Let's not forget that Nintendo isn't exactly strapped for cash or expertise. They might be a bit impoverished compared to the entire Sony corperation, but they're by no means poor. Last I heard, they had something like $15 billion in the bank, so they can afford some major marketing and absorb a few hits before they need to really make money back.
Besides, they still have Shigeru Miyamoto and a truckload of mascots. Mario, Zelda and (ugh) Pokemon aren't going to be seen on the PS2 any time soon, and they can all sell machines like crazy.
According to the interviews I've read with some of the Nintendo head honchos, they've learned their lessons from the N64's lack of a decent storage medium and its kiddie focus. The Gamecube should fare well.
J
I have to admit, I'm more than a little worried about Nintendo.
:)
It will be difficult for them to recover from the mistake of not using CD's in the N64. I just hope they've learned their lessons, and there aren't any more technical 'surprises' in the Game Cube. They've lost a lot of ground to Sony, and now Sony has launched the PS2 months before Nintendo's next-generation system will be ready.
If Nintendo goes down for good, the days of the console price wars are over, and I for one will miss that. Also, I suspect that having two heavyweights keeps game prices down. As much as I love Sony's consoles, I hope the Game Cube to kicks ass and really raise the bar on home entertainment.
Microsoft, though, can go to hell
Please please please mod me up! I'm serious! Pathetic, but serious!
you would think that by now all console manufacturers would notice that just about all gamers want BROADBAND and not modems. The Playstation2 comes w/USB ports out the ass. Why not just add in an ethernet port? Why include a modem and not ethernet. That is my idea at least.
.02
In the article they mention that they finally went to an optical medium for the data storage. I personally prefered the quick load times on the N64 to the slow constant loading on the PS1. That is just personal opinion though.
Just my worthless
The interesting thing to note is that while the PlayStation 2, like the Sega Saturn is suffering from developer confusion (I.E. developers have a whole lot to learn before they can take advantage of its capabilities) the GameCube is designed from the ground up to be a developer-friendly platform.
I read an interview with someone -- maybe Shigeru Miyamoto? -- about how when the N64 launched with Mario 64 showing off what it could do, developers were blindsided by the difficulty of programming for the system. They assumed a Mario-like game would be easy when in fact the platform had a number of bottlenecks and quirks that made development difficult. GameCube is apparently meant to address such difficulties.
-JF
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