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.

Comments

DVD players with PS1 support...

[sailracer6]

Do you mean... the PS2?

Bah.

[wo1verin3]

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.

Re:Bah.

[msouth]

well, being a lot smarter than you, I would put bread in my GameQube...

Does this mean...

[Uttles]

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...

Re:Consoles & DVD's?

[Artifex]

Why would DVD manufacturers be interested in attaching something that would really cut profits?

The answer is pretty simple, actually. Adding console functionality to a DVD player (which already includes display conversion electronics and a drive unit, along with rudiments like power supply and case) is probably much cheaper than producing a whole console. Coupled with the fact that the console vendor (Sony, Nintendo, et al) might be enticed to partially subsidize the production (because the loss to them per unit would be less than for a full console), and the fact that consumers will be willing to pay somewhat more for a combination unit (which is probably priced much less than the DVD unit and the console would cost together if bought separately), it's probably a break-even or better situation.

Besides, even if they ended up losing 5% of their profit margin on the machine, but sold more units as a result, they'd still go for it. The DVD player market right now is crowded and commoditizing (products with similar features compete on price), so almost any differentiation is something to be sought, from a development and marketing standpoint.

Too late?

[zrk]

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?

More pictures to drool over

[qurob]

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Several issues to clear up.

[Frag-A-Muffin]

Here are a few answers that may clear things up for you.

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! :) 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! :)

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 /. 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. :)

Anyways, hope that helps someone. Anyone! :)