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Panasonic 'Q' First Look
austinij writes "National Console Support has purchased and taken apart the Panasonic 'Q', a Nintendo Gamecube/DVD player device in one. Pictures and brief descriptions are included. Lets hope for a review soon! " That just
looks so nifty. I've heard of DVD players including PS1 support
in the not so distant future too. Apparently its fairly inexpensive
to do it now.
DVD manufacturers make money selling DVD players.
Console manufacturers loose money selling consoles (but make money on royalties on the games).
Why would DVD manufacturers be interested in attaching something that would really cut profits? Unless the companies name is "Sony" I'm assuming they aren't getting a cut of the game royalties...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Do you mean... the PS2?
It's called a PS2.
Or that dork from Star Trek?
I am not on crack, damnit.
Just a bunch of small pictures of the PCB's, etc. I can't see any of the interesting bits - i.e., the part numbers of the IC's.
Well, now I know the connectors glow blue. That's rather neat.
If i woke up, walked to the kitchen, 10 bux says that I'd put the toast in the GameQube, and put the DVD in my toaster.
Does this mean that Nintendo is allowing "clones" of their hardware so that any 3rd party that wants to include GameCube functionality can pay them some royalties and BAM, now your TV has a built in GameCube (or something similar)??
I'm ignorant as to the Nintendo-Panasonic relationship and I don't know anything about their hardware licensing but if they are planning on letting 3rd parties have access to it, they might be onto a really good idea. I know it's a completely different situation, but remember how Macintosh used to keep everything Mac, no 3rd party, but PC's were all about the 3rd party? Well we see how that turned out...
~ now you know
Wasn't the whole reason Nintendo made their gamecube small, so that it wouldn't accept standard 80mm disks to prevent piracy (since the smaller disks, especially writeable, are harder to come by)???
I don't see Nintendo being happy about this...
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
Gee whiz, I bet sony wish they'd thought of that...
Reminds me of the Panasonic branded 3DO, only this sounds more useful and will probably have more games (though I did love my 3DO). Nintendo should have the name recognition to help this thing along too. And it looks even more like a DVD player than did PS2- so lots of guys can sucker their girlfriends & wives into buying a new 'DVD' Player :)
Besides the obvious "I want one" factor, think if the following were incorporated into this:
1) Cable/SatTV decoding
2) mp3/mpeg/avi/etc. player
3) tivo capabilities
what you basically have is an inexpensive all in wonder unit. now i dont know the true specs of a gamecube, but if you could drop a hackable os onto it, you already have a media reader and storage capabilities (options) built in.
people with a little expertise should start taking advantage of the big opportunities game companies are dumping into their laps.
"Moving through the masses like a fish through water." syrup
That said, the small amount of information I can gather (looking for gameqube and panasonic gameqube on google produces nothing substantial in English) The website describes pictures, and gives no background information.
That said, would anyone mind filling us in on exactly why we need something to emulate a gamecube? I don't know how they could pay royalties and produce these puppies at a margin well enough to justify its development.
Licensing revenues could be huge for this. Other DVD manufactures put in "Sony Guts" (as the SNL saying goes.) Sony at least breaks even on the parts, and then get licensing fees. I bet Sony might not even really provide the guts, they just get big checks in the mail every week. Hell of a business to get into.
Not to mention they get to milk more money out of their old games.
-Pete
Soccer Goal Plans
Click here
Does this also mean that there will be standards for game consoles now? Even if it is a de-facto standard, it would be nice to just take controllers, memory, etc. from my console to my friends (diff make) console ... oh wait -> someone already thought of that, wasn't it called USB?
Now i'll be able to watch my "super" mario bros DVD movie on my GameCube.....:-) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longter m/movies/videos/supermariobrospghinson_a0a81b.htm
It could be PS2 support. http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000602S0064
While this article is a bit long in the tooth, it could really give it an edge over the XBox and GC... Sony makes more money on the games than the boxes anyway....
Anyway, I can't believe that anyone would buy a console from Panasonic. Sure, these days any company can claim to have more gaming credibility than Pokémon Corp, er, I mean Nintendo, but Panasonic? Wow. I'd buy a TG16 before I'd buy a Q.
God Bless,
Al Gore
Inventor of the Internet
Father of our Country
IIRC, the Panasonic player was not going to come to the US - it was going to be a Japan-only item.
If this is in fact the case, I would imagine that the Panasonic device will be designed from the ground up not to be able to play US discs. (Firmware notes that it is an 80mm disc and refuses to boot it since it knows that all the games in Japan are "normal sized" discs).
What we REALLY need is a software device to allow consoles to provide basic word processing etc. functionality. Instead of having to pay $300 for a game system and $2000 for a computer - why not simply create a $150 hardware and software combo to allow your Gamecube/playstation/dreamcast/nes/whatever to be a wordprocessor for kids to use in school.
Just an idea I had for a while...
-RickTheWizKid
I was going through the internal debate of which game system to buy in December. I was reluctant to buy the Sony because it was out for a year, and they hadn't dropped the price to compete with the Xbox and NGC.
I was favoring the NGC, due to its 4-player capability out of the box(yes I know they others do with silly-ass dongles). However, when I heard that it wouldn't play full-sized DVDs, I was in a quandry - should I wait for the Panasonic player, or should I go with one of the other boxen?
I don't like the Xbox because of who makes it (and it is an acceptable gaming system), and Sony could have stomped the competition by dropping the price of the PS2, sy, by $50, or adding some extras and keeping the price the same, but why they didn't is beyond me.
Many of my officemates have PS2s, and one friend has an Xbox, and another has a PS2.
In the end, I chose to do nothing but wait.
I don't need another PC - I already have a homebuilt kickass system that does everything I need a computer to do. I don't care if you can get it to run Linux (see above).
I want a system to have fun with when I have a bunch of friends over who don't want to stare at their own screens. We already do multiplayer gaming, but with boards, dice, tokens and cards. Occasionally we want something else, and a 4-player gaming system fits the bill quite nicely.
Maybe someone here'll enlighten me on which one to get?
Front Page
Just the pictures
Yeah I live in Japan and have had one of these for weeks. It is a dvd player and gamecube motherboard put into the same box and only share the dvd drive. It looks cool though and I am happy with it. I would assume if one had a dvd-r i would be easy to pirate games. The manual specifically says it can read dvd-r and cd-r disks
Gran Turismo anyone?
Mmmm.... High Resolution Monitor... (Insert Homer Simpson drooling sound)
Get busy living or get busy dying. Carpe diem.
...great for pirates. Seriously. The GameCube HAD an excellent antipiracy mechanism. Now all HK has to do is crack the disc, distrobution is no longer and issue.
Nintendo made an excellent decision as far as anti-piracy goes with the disc size. I personally love them. I have a feeling that the majority of Q purchases are going to be for the purpose of pirating the games in the near future.
Because of the price of the Q, I don't see piracy becomming a big deal. We know that there must be some heavy profit on each Q sold. This is probably to offset the potential piracy that Nintendo expects to occur.
The only reason we even see a Panasonic Q is because Panasonic probably cut Nintendo a deal on the drives that are in every GameCube.
So now, the XBOX isn't the only console which can do this during regular game play. Granted, the game has to support it, but the hardware does.
Unforunately, Panasonic has no plans to release this unit in the US. For now, it's a Japan area only device.
It's too bad, the idea of a shiny gamecube that can play DVDs is pretty cool. I'm also wondering if the lack of sales outside of Japan is related to piracy issues--you can fit 5.25" discs into it. One of the reasons the Gamecube uses smaller 3" discs is to prevent piracy since it's hard to get a hold of something that will make them.
Lik Sang (a company that make mod and game copying kits) also disassembled the Panasonic Gamecube including probably better pictures. They also modified it to play US games (remove the territory lock out). They mentioned it was a bitch to open--something like 45 special screws. Doesn't sound like a fun job to modify.
/// Zoid.
Super Monkey Ball is the best multiplayer game I've played on console, aside from Goldeneye on the N64.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011102/tc/tech_
Friday November 2 2:26 PM ET
Panasonic Says No DVD/GameCube Hybrid in U.S.
Audio/Video
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A hybrid DVD player and Nintendo (news - web sites)
GameCube video game console set for a December launch in Japan will not be
released in the United States at all, a spokesman for Panasonic said on
Friday.
Earlier this week in Tokyo, Panasonic, the consumer electronics brand of
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (6752.T), unveiled the "Q,'' which
is a combination of a DVD player and Nintendo's new console.
"It's simply a Japan device.
U.S. marketing,'' said Kurt Praschak, a Panasonic spokesman.
The GameCube itself uses a smaller disc than the standard DVD format and is
unable to play DVDs. The two companies announced earlier this year that
Panasonic would produce its own unit with licensed GameCube technology.
Panasonic plans to sell the device from Dec. 14 in Japan for the equivalent
of around $325.
The two main competitors to the GameCube in the U.S. console market, the
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Xbox (news - web sites) and the Sony
Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T) PlayStation 2 (news - web sites), both can
play DVDs.
The GameCube will launch on Nov. 18 at a retail price of $199. The Xbox
launches on Nov. 15 at $299. The PS2, which launched in the U.S. in November
2000, also sells for $299.
Nintendo has said repeatedly in the past that its hardware is secondary to
its games, and that it is not concerned with putting features like DVD
playback in its devices.
A Nintendo spokesman said he was unaware if there were any licensing
restriction in Panasonic's deal with Nintendo that would keep the "Q'' from
being released in the United States.
Ok, so, it looks like the guys at National Console Support are already figuring out how to make the thing play USA/JPN games, Im assuming since thats their business. Cool itll play full sized DVD disks, nice on the AntiPiracy side so what, not every game junkie thief has a DVDR sitting around (or am I wrong ?!!??) Soon yes but not yet, this isnt the same as writing over on a CDR,
How different is the small format , since their written from the inside out couldnt you cut down a DVDR after its burnt , or better yet interface a full size dvd
Ant Piracy will last all of about 6 weeks with this, Its a fact, hell the harder they make it the more of a challenge it is, the more succeptible to hardcore crackers trying to find a way around it.
Sig went tro...aahemmm.....fishing........
I modified my Japanese imported GC and I can say that the motherboard and even the outside bracket are identical to the regular version of the GC. The only difference here is the different laser housing, which surprisingly doesn't neccessarily allow for greater piracy. The GC discs are actually burned backwards (from the outside->in), which will make the biggest difference in replicating the discs. While they may not be bringing this product to the US, the modification is a very simple one which I was personally able to do in a matter of minutes. I just wouldn't look at this as the holy grail of GC piracy until there is more research done on the GC optical technology.
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Why does everyone assume this? Please provide some evidence, more than anecdotal. I doubt they lose as much money as everyone seems to believe.
perhaps /. should use geolocation to limit the visibility of stories like this one, at certain times, so the damned links don't get slashdotted...
Start in the east, and slowly move west...
I thought this was the first look.
My life is one big siesta in which I'm dreaming I wished my life was one big siesta.
Here are a few answers that may clear things up for you.
:) Well, I take that back. You probably can, it would just cost more than the actual games right now anyways. Later on in the future? I'm sure someone will come up with something. But unlike the PS2 and XBOX, piracy isn't gonna happen on the NGC any time soon. Nintendo has *ALWAYS* tried to keep piracy to a minimum with their proprietary formats. This is a good thing by the way. It keeps the software developers happy. Which means they'll make games for Nintendo. Which means people like me will be happy! :)
/. crowd, but I like playing games with my friends. Super Monkey Ball and Super Smash Bros. has provided more than their money's worth already. That said, I can't wait til Mario Cart comes out! :) And I pray there'll be a version of Mario Party for it too. As 'kiddy' as these games may be, they definately do the job. It gives us great fun! And that's why I bought it right? So to answer, if you already have a DVD player (I did, in the PS2) then I would recommend a NGC if you have friends. If you do have friends and don't have a DVD player, than your decision is a little tougher. If you don't have friends at all then it doesn't matter what you get, does it? You'll be playing alone. :)
:)
First off, there *IS* a relationship between Panasonic and Nintendo. So to the guy that said Nintendo wouldn't be happy about it, you're wrong. They're very happy about it. Afterall, Panasonic makes the drives the NGC uses. (I think Panasonic also has a hand in the proprietary DVD-like format the cute little 3" discs use!)
Secondly, all things point to the 'Q' *NOT* coming to North America. Single biggest reason. Piracy. I doubt anyone can (at this moment) get there hands on DVD-like 3" media!
Finally, to the dude contemplating what to get. I personally have a PS2 and picked up my NGC at launch. I don't think this is true for the rest of the
Anyways, hope that helps someone. Anyone!
AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
I am insulted at your basal affront to my comment. You attack me when I am posting a legitamate comment unto the masses of el slasho-doto.
You have been labelled appropriately!
Arriba!
I am not on crack, damnit.
We figured.
I was favoring the NGC, due to its 4-player capability out of the box(yes I know they others do with silly-ass dongles). However, when I heard that it wouldn't play full-sized DVDs, I was in a quandry - should I wait for the Panasonic player, or should I go with one of the other boxen?
Go with GameCube and an external DVD player because they can be used simultaneously. With those, you can play the best four-player games, and you can play DVDs for the kids on a separate TV.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Or, to correct matters,
1) PS2 does a serviceable 5.1 DTS in game for SSX Tricky and some of the upcoming EA titles - EA has worked out with DTS how to use one of the two vector units to encode realtime in software.
2) XBox does encode DD 5.1 in hardware (best used in Halo), but that hardware doesn't support DTS (well, it _was_ developed with Dolby, so what did you expect).
3) Gamecube only supports 5.1 through the rare Dolby ProLogic II system (as used in Rogue Leader), and the game hardware has no digital out to supply either DD or DTS. If you can decode it fully though (its backwards compatible to DPL1 for reasonable surround) its pretty good; I thought it almost as good as DD 5.1 when I tried it.
The PS2, XBox and Panny Cube can all pass both DD 5.1 and DTS for DVD playback however, which seems to be the source of confusion.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
The PS2 plays PS1 games.
The Game Boy Advance is about as powerful as Atari Jaguar (i.e. twice as powerful as Super NES) and also plays Game Boy Color games. It also connects to a TV with the third-party TV de Advance.
Nintendo seems to have really raunchy business policies. Suing people, compromising design decisions to protect license fees, etc.
I guess Nintendo messed up when it designed GBA. GBA has absolutely NO independent software creation prevention measures other than checksumming the header and looking for the Nintendo logo (which is legal to reproduce under Sega v. Accolade). Learn how to develop your own software at gbadev.org.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I loved my sega saturn, why I remember when I first got the thing, I told my brother, "that playstation thing that sony has will never have as many games or have as cool a system."
A videogame post by CmdrTaco without bashing Nintendo?! Can it be?! NO! You're not him! You're just somebody who hacked into his account! SECURITY!
iname all the way...although I think it's all under mail.com now. I've had this address for probably four or five years now...
do not read this line twice.
I think that the Japanese market is different for AV equipment. Simply put: Small is "in". Japanese apartments are tiny and few people in the larger cities own a home. A device that doubles up on it's functions for the same space is a big plus. That's why the "Q" exists and why the Japanese market is the target. And they will love it for that reason alone.
I swear by MacOS X. Although I use to swear *at* MacOS 9...
"Service has been turned off for this domain/site. Please contact the domain/site owner for reasons on why service has been turned off."
Anyone with any insight as to why?
I'm Peggy.
GameCube games have a visible security thread on the inside ring of the minidisc that is checked by the system before it boots, good luck trying to duplicate it with any kind of burner.
This has been nothing but headaches for arcade goers. I'm a college student and I can't tell how irritating it was to get carded at an arcade. The way most arcades were doing it (the ones who use cards not tokens) they'd put out two sets of cards, one programmed to play any game, and one that won't play the over-16 games. Alot of the time I'd just end up trading with some poor under-16 smchuck, take his card and go back up to the counter and complain that I was given a under-16 card. I liked to think of it as "freedom-fighting". :)
I swore I clicked on the topic above this one. Please ignore my off-topic rantings above.
I already know how to mod a Japanese cube to play US games (channeltechnology.com), but I don't know how to mod the region of the Panasonic player. If you could, you could have a US version of the player.
Ideas?
Kylie Mingue! LMFAO!
I just can't stand it any more...
Pictures from NCS and CoreMagazine: fourone.org/gameqube
Back in the days when people like us were trying to come up with good ascii-art to impress our local bbs, I had a Panasonic laserdisc player that also played sega genesis games. Man! I was the coolest kid around then, and it didn't require a fiberoptic raid. Those were the days.
Disclaimer: MINAA (Mummy! I'm Not An Animal!)
DVD player + PS1 = PS2
I bought one at launchtime from Lik-Sang. As far as I understand, the DVD unit is a full hardware solution, and possibly the same as one of the medium range Panasonic DVD players. Since most brand-name (Sony, Panasonic, etc) DVD players require a hacked bios/firmware chip to be replaced/added, I'm assuming this will also be the case for the Q.
Some people would like a DVD player with their gamecube. And nintendo makes their money off of the games, so the more systems that are out there that can play the games, the more money that they make.
Why yes I am paranoid! Thanks for asking!
Click here for a picture of how to do it.
Also check www.lik-sang.com for the details.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
(to the tune of "My Sharona," The Kinks)
Oooh my slipjack tuna fish, tuna fish,
when you gonna give me a TIME bo-ONUS?
Will you bite my fishing lure, fishing lure,
twitching at the end of my LINE, time-BONUS?
Never gonna stop, don't give up, but don't break the line
Always get it up, in the boat, with some bonus time
(TIME! TIME! TIME! TIME!)
T-T-T-Time bo-Onus!
Look, a lipless minnow! Mmm, it looks good!
Come and get it, give me a TIME bo-Onus!
Beat the barracuda out, get it first!
Don't you let him fuck up my TIME bo-Onus!
Never gonna stop, don't give up, look "I'm getting good!"
Now I've got "great action" with my new Sega Fishing rod!
(TIME! TIME! TIME! TIME!)
T-T-T-Time bo-Onus!
When you gonna speak to me? Speak to me!
Say the magic words on your mind: "time-BOnus!"
When I lift you from the deck, from the deck
Mutter for the very last time, "Time-BOnus!"
Never gonna stop, don't give up, but don't break the line
Always get it up, in the boat, with some bonus time
(TIME! TIME! TIME! TIME!)
T-T-T-Time bo-Onus!
Pictures |
What do you thinks of the NUON DVD players? I have a N501, I bought it as a DVD player not a game platform. It also has VLM. There is a SDK for it here dev site They say Linux SDK soon.
For The Lazy: The Q's Guts
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
J'ajouterais que les carottes sont cuites!
is it just me or was the Q autopsy kinda lame.. i was hoping from something more than heres what it looks like if you open part of, now we are going to play games on it..
It is interesting how it switches modes instead of the gamecube recognizing that the dvd is not a game and automatically popping up a cool menu much like other systems do when you put in an audio cd..
Which console you should get is a tough decision for some people. The PS2 is already a year old, but it is still the most popular one out there. Don't let people convince you that it is superior on account of the vast amount of games for it, they always count the old PS1 games. If you want to go just by the current number of games, go for the Dreamcast, but if you want to go for the promise of more good games coming in the future, then the PS2 and the XBOX are your options.
The GameCube is cute, and it has four controller slots and its games will never be pirated because they are delightfully proprietary. Do not let the cuteness sway you, it's just not very good. The controller is too small (and lacks the necessary critical mass of buttons), and the graphics are comparable to early PS2 games, and are easily overshadowed by newer games like GTA3, Gran Turismo 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Madden 2002.
If you plan to be playing by yourself a lot, then the PlayStation is an excellent option, because of its excellent single player games (GTA3 & MGS2). Now that the developers have grown accustomed to the PS2, the games are getting awesome.
But if you don't want to be a total bitch, you might consider the XBOX. It does have 4 controller ports, and its controllers are large enough for a man to use, but not too big for a small child. This is a good system for multiplayer as well as single player, and even games that you would expect to be single-player (like Halo) can be played with multiple people. The graphics of the XBOX launch games are better than any other launch, and the cream of the XBOX crop just barely squeak past the cream of the PS2 (GTA3 & MGS2).
Now, I have all three systems, and I find myself using the XBOX the most. The controller is the most comfortable, and the games are the best. The GameCube pisses me off, I just let the little kids use that one. The PS2 is best for Madden and Tiger Woods, but also for its best games (GTA3 & MGS2). But the controller is very thumb intensive, which makes it rather difficult to use with a broken thumb as compared to the XBOX (as I have recently learned, damn it).
And if you are looking for a DVD player, the XBOX is on a level with most commercial DVD players (I also have a high end Sony DVD player for the other TV), once you buy the A/V kit for S-video and digital audio. The PS2 is a shitty DVD player, basically DVD is a bonus feature on a through-and-through gaming system, it's not make-or-break. If you want DVD, go XBOX or go for a specific player.
All in all, in my opinion, go XBOX: it's the best one on the market now, and probably for the foreseeable future.
Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
Although accepting a marriage proposal from a Slashdot AC is the sort of thing I am likely to have on my to-do list, this one is complicated because I am neither female nor single. But I appreciate the sentiment.
But anyway, thanks for putting up the "what do you put in a toaster?" thing, I couldn't remember what the setup was for it.
Liberty uber alles.