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Inside The Nintendo GameCube
Mortin writes "Icrontic.com has ripped apart a Nintendo GameCube. They document the entire procedure with a myriad of pictures. It's neat to see how clearly the Xbox and GameCube differ in respect to physical hardware." Luigi's mansion looks cool. The Star Wars game wasn't very fun. But the cube is so tiny, it's cute!
The link is already slashdotted. I couldn't find a cache on Google. Here is an alternative link to another gutting of the Gamecube. All this Gamecube gutting reminds me of Ben Heckendorn's next project at VCSp to make the Gamecube into a portable... watch for it.
As to WHY they use them, no idea. I suppose it convinces a handful of would be 'fix it myself' people to bother opening the console, though the people that have enough of a clue to do repairs themselves won't be put off by it really. So maybe it reduces any potential liability a little further than just the 'no user servicable parts inside'.
The triangular head screws on GB/GBC/GBA probably have some basis in nessecity, the screws are smaller and require less clearance room than regular philips screws of a similar size.
I haven't seen the GameCube's screws yet, but I suspect they're the same screws as used on SNES and N64 consoles and carts, and (although much smaller) on GB/GBC/GBA carts.
In the end, they only people they stop gaining access to the machine/cart is the casual tinkerer, and perhaps thats the real intention, as those are the people more likely to rip a console apart, then be surprised when it no longer works, and demand a replacement under warrenty.
The types of fasteners are selected more based on the marterials they are being used with, and the tools expected to be used during assembly, than on any dark concept concieved to keep you out.
:)
:)
An ill-fitting driver on the assembly line can ruin a product, and/or cause slow-downs during the production run. When seconds count, it is important to be able to grab, fasten and move on as quickly as possible.
They use power-screw drivers, and one of the considerations is the torque that is fed back to the operator...once when the fastener bites and again when the head shouders down. The tool needs to grab only enough to drive properly. If it can't free itself from the head of the fastener easily, it's a problem...if it fits too loosely into/onto the fastener, it's too easy to jump out and damage the product.
The reason these are not 'common' is that they are custom made by hundreds of different vendors, worldwide, and they are focusing on the assembly line environment. They don't design it so you can tear it apart on the kitchen table because you're not a factor. If this looks like they are building in anti-tampering, you need to stop thinking along those lines. They're not even thinking about you, except how fast they can get it to you in exchange for your wallet
You people are too conspiritorial
24 megs of that really fast stuff.
16 megs of auxillary RAM for audio and disk buffering.
3 more megs of that really fast stuff inside the graphics chip.
Totalling 43 megs.
...and 12 milion polygons is a gross underestimation by the big N. Think of it as a minimum you should be able to expect, not a peak.
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
> Too bad IGN, Nintendo, and your "relative" have
t em &id=2408
> no facts to back that up. In our area, the XBOXES
> are outselling the GCN at LEAST 3:1, with EB going
> through entire shipments of 10+ in a day, while
> GCN shipments of the same size take about two
> days, if not a little more.
And where are your facts? eh?
everything I've seen and heard says that the gamecube is selling excellently and the xbox is selling well but notvery well. the gamecube sold out in about 3 days, and nintendo had to increase shipments of another 200,000 boxes to the us, with an estimate of 1.3 million by Christmas.
http://www.cube-europe.com/news/221101a.html
Oh, and by the way, GameCube had the BIGGEST LAUNCH EVER! that's right, bigger than the xbux
http://www.planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=i
so, uh, neener neener neener!
Having an ATI GPU doesn't give me worm and fuzzies. Everybody has driver problems but ATI's problems are bad enough that people yawn at the new Radeon even though some say its as fast or faster than the Geforce 3.
Maybe they spent so much time on the Flipper, the PC chipsets played second fiddle.
Jesus saves....And takes 1/2 damage.
What? You think nothing can be Easier than DirectX now? Now you think No company can compete with Microsft here?
Nintendo has been making DirectX like software since before Microsoft even created Windows 1.0.
Who do you think is better at making development software, Nintendo whos been doing it for 20 years, or Microsoft?
Redstorm and all these PC companies love Microsoft, but their games arent as good as alot of Japanese game companies.
Sure Microsoft will have the support of all American developers, but the Japanese developers prefer the game cube.
Just like some people prefer Linux over Windows.
The reason Gamecube is the easiest to program for, is if you look at the games, all of them look good, theres not a single ugly Gamecube game.
Look at Xbox or PS2 and i can find some games which look like shit, worse than Dreamcast, these games show that the system is hard to program for.
Dreamcast game was easy to program for too thats why the standard dreamcast game looked pretty good.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
As long as they both sold out, it's pretty hard to guage which has greater demand at this point, so stop spreading your Microsoft-bashing FUD.
There's one small, but important detail that you got wrong. The GameCube's graphics chip was designed by ArtX, which was later bought by ATI. Flipper was finished before ATI purchased ArtX- ATI just took the opportunity to add its logo to the GameCube.
"I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
"Decepticons FOREVER!!!" - Ravage
The PS1 became popular because it had a simple API set that was easy to develop for. The games looked like garbage, but there were a lot of them, and they could be copied if you had 20 bucks for a mod chip.
/ATi Hardware. Nintendo claims that delopers are going to be able to port games to the cube quite quickly....I belive that. If anything, xbox games will be fast ports. From what I hear the move from Direct X 8.x to openGL is not that hard to make now that Direct X has matured.
The PS2 is a lot harder to develop for, however I guess developers have figured out the guts and made well needed tools by now.
The only thing that is really selling the PS2 again is games. It can play the old ugly PS1 games and I got a jump start in the next-gen market. Developers have phisically had muuuch more time with the PS2 on the market.
However, Game Development for the xbox and Cube should be fairly rapid. Developers already have tools for Direct X 8 and Open GL games, and many developers are also use to the Nvidia / Intel hardware and the IBM
Unfortunatly, Sony scrapped the one thing that made the PS1 so popular. Now they are just riding on a brand name, the heat of an old console, and the obviouse advantage of a jump start in the next gen market.
Don't get me wrong, the PS2 is going to sell well, but Sony is kind of screwing their future if you ask me. Ine about 3 months there is going to be a ton of xbox and cube titles.... things are going to get intese. When Super Smash Brothers, Zelda, and Metroid Prime come out we are going to see a jump in Cube sales for sure....trust me.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
I dont think Nintendo is targeting kids with these ads.
Let Slashdot be the judge.
Zelda ad 1
Zelda ad 2
Zelda ad 3
Luigis Mansion
GameCube
Xbox commercial
Xbox2
Xbox1
Xbox site Has the rest
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac