Nintendo iQue Gets International Release, Linux Depot On Mars?

Thanks to Lik-Sang for its update on the status of Nintendo's iQue 'TV game', the Nintendo 64-based controller previously featured on Slashdot Games. The update notes Nintendo have "...confirmed their plans of an international release of the iQue Player... [and now] seem to have announced a release in other... countries of Asia and South America." It also references a forum post in which a user reports "the iQue Depot [which delivers N64 games to the iQue's flash memory] is powered by Linux and connected with some kind of network through wireless." He also notes some 'interesting' tech support beliefs: "The iQue Depot has got a camera built in to the top of the screen... I cannot see why... The girls at [Chinese department store] Jusco told me that this camera is the antenna, and it is connected to Mars (I am not kidding) and the reason why the iQue Depot does not flash my card is that the signal to the Mars is now not good because of bad weather condition."

Comments

yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll bet those Chinese chicks are hot.

Not that you slashdorks would know what that meant.

Interesting.

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

This goes to prove my theory that Japan, China, and Germany are really odd countries.

Amazing

[drinkypoo]

I actually got rid of my N64 because I never played the damn thing any more (since buying a gamecube which came with the N64 Zeldas.) Now I'm actually thinking about buying one of these things and enough stuff to hook up four controllers - but only if they come out with Super Smash Bros. (I can't really picture them not doing so.)

Re:Amazing

[Anonymous Coward]

Mario Golf is a must-have game for N64.

Re:Amazing

[Anonymous Coward]

Why bother with all that? The 2-game pack is $100, the controllers $30 each, and the multiplayer adaptor $70. Yes, those are import prices, but why bother spending a bunch of money on old hardware and games (not to mention waiting for them to actually be released in the rest of the world) when you could get a $100 GameCube, a $30 party game, and 3 extra controllers? Especially when you only want it for Super Smash Bros. If you haven't tried it yet, Super Smash Bros Melee (the GameCube sequel) is much better.

Re:Amazing

[wahsapa]

mario golf on gamecube i think it the best one yet

iQue vs original N64, i'm not getting it

[real_smiff]

hmm, i'm looking at that pic on LikSang of the iQue mulitplayer adapter, which costs 70 USD, and wondering how is that better than an N64? Why not just put the console in that box and plug it into the TV - it looks like the multiplayer adapter does plug into the TV (rather than controller->TV) anyway! You can get N64 game carts for very little on eBay now. Apart from the "gee-wiz" factor and nice design what other reasons are there to spend so much (relatively) for this kit? I mean if you live in a country with the N64 available (and now officially "dead", although i remain a fan & user), which most of us do? (although eBay gets about everywhere, even poor countries, doesn't it).

Also note that the z-trigger isn't on the back of this and it's probably heavier to hold.. all stuff that interests me anyway :)

Despite all this negativity i applaud Nintendo for re-inventing their old hardware in smaller, neater designs... now can we just have a built in screen and call it a proper portable N64 please :) (j/k, the future is the GBA 2, or whatever they call it, with low power processor).

Re:iQue vs original N64, i'm not getting it

[Anonymous Coward]

The whole point of the iQue is electronic distribution. It's a third-world system designed to be as inexpensive as possible, in an effort to combat piracy on the basis of price. (If the real thing is so cheap, the pirates have no market for their inferior product.)

In other words, N64 used full-sized carts - better for long-term storage, retail distribution, rental, collecting, etc. iQue uses small, flashable media that you bring into a store and flash with downloadable games. No packaging costs, no manufacturing costs = cheapest possible way to provides games to people in poorer nations where counterfeit carts and other forms of piracy are the alternative.

Re:iQue vs original N64, i'm not getting it

[drinkypoo]

It strikes me that they could actually be planning to make a portable N64 based on the iQue technology. Think about it; 200MHz MIPS cores are pretty amazingly low power these days, as are video-resolution LCDs. Battery technology continues to improve, meaning the cost continues to drop. The only question is, can they come up with a low power, single chip 4MB RDRAM? If not they will have to do substantial redesign, which diminishes the value of reusing the platform.

I guess the other question would be do they think it's worthwhile. Clearly Sony is aiming for a certain (high) level of performance in a handheld which is probably unnecessary. The N64 might be a powerful enough system.

Incidentally, does anyone know if the Dreamcast platform is still licensable from Sega? And if anyone is using it for anything? It would be interesting if you could make a low-power version of that. It would make a dandy game system and it already runs WinCE so it be the ultimate gaming PocketPC - if you could get enough of the old DC developers onboard to make smaller versions of their games.

Re:iQue vs original N64, i'm not getting it

[DeadScreenSky]

Incidentally, does anyone know if the Dreamcast platform is still licensable from Sega? And if anyone is using it for anything?

Sammy's 'new' arcade platform, the Atomiswave, is actually just stock Dreamcast hardware with a new case and some attachments (including a cartidge reader for the games). Though fairly low power, I personally think it is still a little too powerful for a portable version just yet.

Re:iQue vs original N64, i'm not getting it

[LocalH]

...just like the FDS, you mean?

Oh yeah, that other thing that didn't get officially imported.

Re:iQue vs original N64, i'm not getting it

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, that's exactly what I mean.

The original post doesn't take regions into consideration. It's not like iQue is coming to the U.S., for example.

Jusco

[TheLink]

I believe Jusco is a Japanese company.

Oh boy!

[pat_trick]

Looks like another thing I can buy and stick on my shelf to keep my Barcode Battler company.

That Mars bit.

[torpor]

Could actually just be standard Japanese "shop-girl" marketing 'schtick'.

Japanese shop-girls are often given weird lines and marketing gimmicks for their application in 'ditziness' factor.

Calculated, fashionable, weirdness...

Re:That Mars bit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah? How many Japanese shop-girls are there in China?

Prior to the announced release of the iQue in South America and other thrid-world regions, China was the iQue's only native market. You'd know this if you'd RTFA, or had ever even heard of this product before.

And if I anyone say "same thing" about the way Japanese and Chinese people act....heads will splode.

Re:That Mars bit.

[torpor]

Yeah? How many Japanese shop-girls are there in China?

okay, have it your way. Chinese shop-girl, then.

Same thing, different tectonic plate.

And yeah, before you say 'duh', in my experience, Chinese shop-girls can be just as ditzy as the Akihabra kind ...

Re:That Mars bit.

[Anonymous Coward]

My way? Idiots shouldn't try to marginalize the facts.

Anyway, my experience is different from yours. Chinese "shop-girls" have nothing in common with their Japanese counterparts. If you've been to Hong Kong or Shanghai in the past 2-3 years you'd know what I mean. Besides, if you think spewing ditzy nonsense in an attempt to explain away simple technical facts is standard operating procedure in the electronics shops of either China or Japan, you should do yourself a favor and _actually_ visit sometime, instead of trusting that every store is like the maid cafes you've heard about on the internet.

Consider your head sploded. The Chinese and the Japanese are far from the "same thing," to use your words.

Re:That Mars bit.

[torpor]

Consider your head sploded.

okay, well, a) i've lived in japan, and b) i've been on two trips to china, including shanghai and a layover in hong kong, in the last 5 years. and i met plenty of ditzy sales-girls, hoo boy ... maybe one too many.

so i'm not particularly freakin' on your 'netboy' comment, cute as it was.

as for your willingness to call someone an idiot, i think its only a matter of you being proud of your own smartness at 'proving someone wrong', so i won't take an offense. but it is you who are the idiot.

Re:That Mars bit.

[Anonymous Coward]

You're both retarded. Thanks.

Video

[yanos]

here

Now, whats the deal with the antenna to mars?

Re:Video

[drinkypoo]

If the mars rover starts platform jumping, it will all become clear.

alternatively; NASA could lose contact with the rover, and when the next probe passes over they get a nice high-resolution digital photograph of a bunch of rocks stacked up into a Nintendo logo. Bonus points if they find a source of water, tap it, and build a statue of Mario peeing on Sonic.

Perfect Dark

[77Punker]

What Nintendo needs to make are shovelware games for the Gamecube or an enhanced N64 at a cheap price so that game like Perfect Dark can be played at a decent framerate.

I know what the camera's for...

[Luigi30]

In Communist China, iQue watches you?

Outsourcing?

[wolssiloa]

are we being outsourced to Mars now? damn Martians...