Gaming GameCube FAQ

[Defcon5]

Note: Some information might change.


What is the name of Nintendo's new videogame console ? the successor to the Nintendo 64?

Up until Space World 2000, the official Nintendo codename for the console was indeed Project Dolphin. And, for a brief period Nintendo Japan was considering the name Star Cube. However, Nintendo's North American subsidiaries were not happy with the title and therefore a compromise was struck. The official name for Nintendo's next-generation console is GAMECUBE.






Why was the console previously codenamed Dolphin by Nintendo?

During a pre-E3 1999 press conference, Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln admitted that he wasn't sure. Evidently those involved with the development of the console code-named it. Lincoln mused that maybe they liked Dolphins.

When was the announcement made?

The first official announcement of GameCube's existence was on May 12, 1999 at a Nintendo-held press conference in Los Angeles?just one day prior to E3 '99. The company announced the next-generation console's "Dolphin" codename, business partners, development partners and released a brief summary of official system specs. Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln delivered a confident speech regarding the future game machine, which can be read by clicking right here.

When was GameCube fully unveiled to the public?

After more than a year of silence, on August 24th, just one day prior to Nintendo's private Space World 2000 show, the company unveiled and demonstrated GameCube.


What exactly did Nintendo reveal about the console on its August 24 unveiling?

Nintendo revealed the official name, full specs, hardware casing, controller designs, peripheral add-ons, modems, broadband plans, and more. It also showcased several software "demos" running on the console's powerful hardware in real-time and streaming FMV format.

What software was demonstrated at Space World 2000? Some of the demos that were shown include the following:


Meowth's Party

Wave Race Game Cube

Metroid Game Cube

Luigi's Mansion


Zelda Game Cube


Rogue Squadron Game Cube


Rebirth

Too Human


Cars

[Defcon5]

What companies has Nintendo partnered with to make GameCube?

Currently, the companies we know Nintendo affiliated with for Gamecube include Matsushita, IBM, NEC, ATI, Macronix, MoSys, S3, Applied Microsystems, Factor 5, Metrowerks and Conexant.


Matsushita
Matsushita (best known by its Panasonic brand name), the largest consumer electronics company in the world, develops, manufactures and supplies Nintendo with a proprietary disc drive for incorporation into the GameCube. Along with the disc drive Matsushita will also manufacture the 8cm optical discs for GameCube. The discs themselves will also have a highly secure encryption scheme to prevent piracy.

Nintendo's standard version of the GameCube does not support DVD-movie playback, but has created a GameCube/DVD-player combo (seen above) that does. As Howard Lincoln said, "[GameCube]'s technology will be integrated into various Matsushita or Panasonic branded DVD consumer electronic products, enabling consumers to play movies and music as well as GameCube games published by Nintendo and Nintendo's third party publishers." The compact Panasonic machine does just that.


IBM
In a deal between Nintendo and IBM reaching over $1 billion, IBM has designed and now manufactures a unique 485 MHz central processor unit featuring industry-leading 0.18 micron copper technology. The chip, dubbed the "Gekko" processor, is an extension of the IBM PowerPC 750 architecture.

The two companies have also agreed to explore the potential use of IBM technology in other Nintendo products as well.

The Gekko includes a hefty 256KB of Level 2 cache memory and more efficient data management between the processor and the game system's primary graphics chip.

"In my mind, I'd always envisioned what a game like Zelda could look like, and with the N64, I was able to create it," comments Shigeru Miyamoto. "Now, with the Gekko processor, I can see an opportunity to take game designs to a new level."

Speaking at the Nintendo pre-E3 '99 press conference, Howard Lincoln boasted that only IBM possesses the technology to manufacture chips using copper circuitry. "Nobody else in the world can do what IBM does," said Lincoln. "And quite frankly, anything less is simply not state of the art technology."

GameCube processor chips are manufactured at IBM's high-volume manufacturing facility in Burlington, VT.

For pictures of Gekko, click here.


NEC
NEC, manufactures an ATI/ArtX-designed graphics chip codenamed "Flipper" as well as the GameCube's memory components. Flipper will house 3MB of embedded 1T-SRAM. Comparatively, Sony's PS2 features 4MBs of eDRAM on its graphics chip, but also draws upon additional system RAM continuously. Nintendo has 40MB of system RAM to draw on; 24MBs of that is 1T-SRAM and 16MBs of that is A-Memory(81 MHz DRAM).

NEC is spending an estimated 80 billion-yen ($761 million) to construct a factory in southern Japan that will concentrate on the production of GameCube semiconductors. The company began development of the new facilities, located adjacently to its Japan headquarters, in November 1999. Nintendo has reportedly already ordered more than 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) worth in semiconductors for its next-generation machine.


ATI
ATI vested prime interested in GameCube and the console market with its buyout of ArtX, the designers of the graphics chip. ArtX is a graphics engineering start-up based in Palo Alto, California. The company, led by Silicon Graphics Inc.'s former head of Nintendo operations, Wei Yen, has developed the "Flipper" graphics chip for GameCube. Incidentally, Yen and team were primarily responsible for Nintendo 64's graphic architecture.
According to Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln, "Dr. Yen has assembled at ArtX one of the best teams of 3D graphics engineers on the planet." After seeing what GameCube is capable of, that can be considered as fact.

ArtX was acquired by the respected PC graphics technologies company, ATI, on February 16, 2000. The $400 million deal provides ATI a gateway into the console market through ArtX's involvement with GameCube.

"ATI now becomes a major supplier to the game console market via Nintendo," said a company spokesperson."

Basically, the deal doesn't anything as far as GameCube hardware concerned. The ArtX chipset has remained intact and will still be delivered exclusively to Nintendo. The only difference is that ATI will also be drawing profits from it.

Full details on the ArtX/ATI merger can be found right here.


Macronix
Macronix manufactures GameCube's audio DSP which ArtX added to the design of the Flipper chip. Factor 5 also contributed to the design of the audio hardware. It is also thought that Macronix manufactures GameCube's memory cards, called Digicards, as well as the Digicard adapters.


The Digicard memory add-on will be capable of storing 1/2MB of data. However, as that isn't a huge amount there will be a SD-Digicard adapter. This adapter will allow for a connection with Panasonic's SD Memory Cards which currently have as low as a 32MB density, but will be available in 1GB by late 2002. While you'll be able to use any size card of your choice, GameCube is currently being touted to utilize a 64MB SD Memory card. See our entire feature on the SD cards here: GameCube's Memory Advantage.



MoSys
Sunnyvale-based MoSys is the company behind 1T-SRAM technology, which will make the graphics chip and the Gekko CPU work in perfect harmony with each other -- and at blazing speed. There are 24MB of 1T-SRAM main memory that the Gekko CPU and Flipper graphics chip can access. As of the year 2000, this is was of the largest implementations of static RAM in consumer product history.

MoSys first announced its partnership with Nintendo in September 1999. "1T" refers to the single transistor feature while the "S" means that the RAM is static as opposed to dynamic (DRAM). The static nature of the SRAM is intended to give the Gekko chip immediate access to all the info it needs which is what gives the GameCube its incredible speed.

[Defcon5]

S3 Inc. (Sonic Blue)
To better provide texture performance on GameCube, Nintendo called upon S3 for its S3TC texture compression technology.

When the deal was made, Howard Lincoln explained, "S3 will be a major force in accelerating the performance we'll achieve on [GameCube]. With their unique graphics compression technology, developers will be able to provide players with more complex and colorful graphics. Coupled with our previously announced strategic agreements with companies like IBM, Matsushita, ArtX and MoSys, incorporation of S3 technology will make GameCube a console without equal." The exact details of the deal can be found right here. The games demonstrated at E2001 absolutely capitalized on this feature with varied and plentiful texture design.


Applied Microsystems
To ensure that developers had the best development environment available, Nintendo partnered with several software and hardware companies. One of those was Applied Microsystems, Corp. (AMC). It was been selected to design and manufacture the critical development hardware developers will use to create GameCube games.

"We're pleased we were chosen to work with Nintendo on [GameCube]," says Stephen J. Verleye, President and CEO, Applied Microsystems, Corp. "AMC has led the embedded systems tools market for more than 20 years, so we have much to offer this next generation of console."

Initially AMC provided emulation devices to mimic GameCube, but because of the system's final state, real development hardware is being shipped. Early reports suggest the development hardware was so good it only took a matter of weeks to port the emulated code onto the GameCube system hardware. Normally it takes months. The hardware is designed to be efficient and encourages a faster time-to-market.

Other news also suggests the development hardware will eventually integrate tools for online gaming.

For the original announcement see this news story.


Factor 5
The agreement between Nintendo and Factor 5 extends through the lifecycle of GameCube. Factor 5 is providing its acclaimed MusyX Audio Tools (formerly known as MoSys FX) as the primary sound software for the console and its developers. Using it, programmers can compose real-time music and sound effects that can be made to interact with players -- all with a degree of audio quality that rivals studio-engineered streaming music. Also, because GameCube uses a propriety disc format, streaming red book audio is also possible.

Click here for Factor 5's comments on the audio DSP in GameCube

"Nintendo is the first game console manufacturer to recognize the evolution of sound as an integral part of their [GameCube]," said Julian Eggebrecht, President, Factor 5. "Their system will be more powerful than anything else out there, and we're thrilled to work with them."

For a full breakdown of MusyX technology click here.


Metrowerks
The Austin, Texas-based Metrowerks is best known for its CodeWarrior compiler for Nintendo 64. For GameCube, Metrowerks is providing a custom version of its acclaimed CodeWarrior software development tools, which enables developers to create GameCube software using popular programming languages. In a nutshell, CodeWarrior provides a sleek programming environment to aid developers, and efficiently compiles written code so that it may be used in conjunction with the GameCube.

"Our [GameCube]-specific CodeWarrior will streamline the [GameCube] game development process giving designers ease of use and the ability to access the unique features of the [GameCube] system and the Gekko chip," explained Greg Galanos, President and Chief Technology Officer of Metrowerks. "We're pleased to work with Nintendo on this important hardware system and look forward to the results of this partnership."


Conexant
Conexant will build and supply a V90 56k modem as well as a broadband adapter for GameCube. The modem will work in conjunction with the console to allow platform owners a dial-up connection to an online network where they will presumably be able to trade data and play games. The broadband adapter should allow for users with cable or DSL service to use their high-bandwidth services if they so wish. Nintendo has not announced its Internet strategy, but sources say the strategy is very solid and not something Nintendo has glanced over.

"[GameCube] will combine Nintendo's world-class design and beloved franchise characters with the expansion of the world of gaming by an online network," said Genyo Takeda, Nintendo's corporate director and general manager of integrated research and development.

Former Nintendo of America technical director Jim Merrick has recently been promoted within the company and is now heading up its online network for GameCube, still top secret and yet to be formally announced. For the full scoop, click here


Numerical Design Limited
Middle-ware designer NDT has created the NetImmerse 3D Game Engine, which can be licensed by GameCube developers. The engine gives software houses an easy to use software package that includes everything from the API to tools and support, and could shave six months or more off development time, according to the company. For full details, click here



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[Defcon5]

Nintendo GameCube hardware specifications:


MPU ("Micro Processing Unit")
Custom IBM Power PC "Gekko"

Manufacturing Process
0.18 micron IBM Copper Wire Technology

Clock Frequency
485 MHz

CPU Capacity
1125 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1)

Internal Data Precision
32-bit Integer & 64-bit Floating-point

External Bus
1.3 GB/second peak bandwidth

32-bit address space

64-bit data bus

162 MHz clock

Internal Cache
L1: Instruction 32KB, Data 32KB (8 way)

L2: 256KB (2 way)




System LSI
Custom ATI/Nintendo "Flipper"

Manufacturing Process
0.18 micron NEC Embedded DRAM Process

Clock Frequency
162 MHz

Embedded Frame Buffer
Approx. 2 MB


Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM)

Embedded Texture Cache
Approx. 1 MB


Sustainable Latency: 6.2 ns (1T-SRAM)

Texture Read Bandwidth
10.4 GB/second (Peak)

Main Memory Bandwidth
2.6 GB/second (Peak)

Pixel Depth
24-bit Color, 24-bit Z Buffer

Image Processing Functions
Fog, Subpixel Anti-aliasing, 8 Hardware Lights, Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multi-texturing, Bump Mapping, Environment Mapping, MIP Mapping, Bilinear Filtering, Trilinear Filtering, Ansitropic Filtering, Real-time Hardware Texture Decompression (S3TC)
Real-time Decompression of Display List, HW 3-line Deflickering filter




Audio Processing
(Incorporated into the System LSI)

Sound Processor
Custom Macronix 16-bit DSP

Instruction Memory
8KB RAM + 8KB ROM

Data Memory
8KB RAM + 4KB ROM

Clock Frequency
81 MHz

Performance
64 simultaneous channels, ADPCM & PCM encoding

Sampling Frequency
48KHz






Performance


Floating-point Arithmetic Capability
10.5 GFLOPS (Peak)

(MPU, Geometry Engine, HW Lighting Total)

Real-world polygon
6 to 12 million polygons/second (Peak)

(Assuming actual game conditions with complex models, fully textured, fully lit, etc.)




System Memory "Splash"
40 MB

Main Memory
24 MB MoSys 1T-SRAM

Approximately 10ns Sustainable Latency

A-Memory
16 MB 81 MHz DRAM




Disc Drive
CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) System

Average Access Time
128ms

Data Transfer Speed
16Mbps to 25Mbps

Media
3 inch Nintendo GameCube Disc based on Matsushita?s Optical Disc Technology

Capacity
Approx. 1.5GB




Input/Output
4 Controller Ports


2 Memory Card Slots


Analog AV Output


Digital AV Output


2 High-Speed Serial Ports


High-speed Parallel Port




Power Supply
AC Adapter DC12V x 3.5A




Dimensions
4.3"(H) x 5.9"(W) x 6.3"(D)




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Additional Information



More about Cube's Architecture here.
Nintendo promises quick access time comparable to a silicon cartridge. Now Loading Manufacturing cost and time is minimal.
Geometry engine (transformation & lighting) on-board. What is S3TC?

S3TC, which is hardwired into the graphics chip provides a 6:1 ratio for compressing textures. Which means if a developer wants to cram 50MB of textures into GameCube, it will only cost them about 8MB of memory space, and because the technology is part of the graphics chip it won't affect the system resources. What all this means is that GameCube features exquisitely detailed textures with great variance instead of ones that are monotonous and blurry.

If you haven't come to an understanding by now, simply know that S3TC is a very important part of GameCube's graphical abilities; in fact, one of the most important. By employing S3TC in every game from the systems launch forward, developers will achieve stunning graphics. In the end, texture performance is the perfect marriage for GameCube's high polygon pushing performance. As cliché as it sounds, S3TC is the icing on this graphical cake.

What is 1T-SRAM?

MoSys 1T-SRAM technology (which is available in densities up to 128Mbits) uses a single transistor cell to achieve high density while maintaining the refresh-free interface and low latency random access memory access cycle time associated with traditional six-transistor SRAM cells. Embedded 1T-SRAM, as used in the GameCube console, enables designers to get beyond the density limits of six-transistor SRAMs. It also reduces much of the circuit complexity and extra cost associated with using embedded DRAM. 1T-SRAM memories can be fabricated in either pure logic or embedded memory processes using as little as one ninth of the area of traditional six-transistor SRAM cores. In addition to the high performance and density, this technology offers dramatic power consumption savings by using under a quarter of the power of traditional SRAM memories.

[Defcon5]

How does GameCube fare against the competition?



Nintendo has released some rather vague specifications for GameCube, so it's hard to say definitively how much more or less powerful it may be. However, developers say GameCube is a more powerful machine than the PlayStation 2, and the demonstrations shown at Spaceworld 2000 back that up. The following chart compares what we officially know about Nintendo's next-generation console to the competition.


Polygon Power

[Note: We're unable to accurately compare the specifications for the below consoles because the method the companies used to measure performance are so different. Sony and Microsoft's numbers are unrealistic and denote the raw (read: not real) performance of their respective systems, while Nintendo's and Sega's numbers are based on real performance during gameplay. With that said, the figures you see are just smoke and numbers. We refer you to compare the actual games.]

GameCube: 6 to 12 million polygons per second (conservative, but realistic estimate)
PlayStation 2: 75 million polygons per second (realistically first-gen games are more like 3-5 million)
Xbox: 150 million polygons per second (does not consider real gameplay environments)
Dreamcast: Roughly 3 million polygons per second
Nintendo 64: Around 150,000 polygons per second
PlayStation: Around 360,000 polygons per second (lacks comparable effects)
Main Clock Speed

GameCube: 485MHz
PlayStation 2: 300MHz
Xbox: 733MHz
Dreamcast: 200MHz
Nintendo 64: 93.75MHz
PlayStation: 33.86MHz
Memory


GameCube: 24MB of 1T-SRAM (main), 16MB of 81MHz DRAM (main), and 3MB of embedded 1T-SRAM in the graphics chip
PlayStation 2: 32MB Direct Rambus RAM (main), 4MB of embedded DRAM on the graphics chip
Xbox: 64MB of RAM (unified memory architecture)
Dreamcast: 16MB (plus 8MB Video RAM, 2MB Sound RAM)
Nintendo 64: 4MB (+parity) Rambus D-RAM (expandable to 8MB)
PlayStation: 2MB (plus 1MB Video RAM, 512kb Sound RAM)
Memory Bus Bandwidth


GameCube: 2.6 GB/s (Gigabytes per second)
PlayStation 2: 3.2 GB/s (Gigabytes per second)
Xbox: 6.4GB/s (Gigabytes per second)
Dreamcast: 800 MB/s (Megabytes per second)
Nintendo 64: 500 MB/s (Megabytes per second) or about 0.5 GB/s
PlayStation: 132 MB/s (Megabytes per second)
Software Format


GameCube: Proprietary GameCube (Optical) Disc, 1.5 GB capacity
PlayStation 2: Proprietary DVD, 4.7 GB capacity
Xbox: Proprietary DVD, 4.7 GB capacity
Dreamcast: Propriety CD, 1 GB capacity
Nintendo 64: Cartridge, 64MB capacity (so far)
PlayStation: CD, 650 MB capacity



An explanation GameCube's storage format.

Nintendo GameCube Disc: Holds 1.5 Gigabytes of data condensed onto an 8cm in diameter disc. If you compare the data storage capacity of the media to one of Nintendo 64's most popular games, Super Mario 64 (which holds 8MBs), you'll find that the GameCube disc can store 190 times the data -- or roughly twice the amount of a regular CD game.



"This 8cm pocket size disc that can fit in your pocket was designed to be an advanced medium that can be easily inserted/removed from the main drive and is user-friendly for all levels," says Nintendo on its GameCube disc. "Also in the near future, when you consider the merging of TV games in the home and portable games, we are confident that this fashionably-sized disc will lead the way for entertainment in the 21st Century and become the de facto standard for the game industry." When questioned if future handheld devices from Nintendo (beyond Game Boy Advance) would utilize the mini-DVD-sized medium, a company representative hinted that it was a possibility.

The inner curves of the 8cm disc, which feature proper branding, are also key to the protection against piracy -- and like the disc itself, are provided from Matsushita Electric Industrial Company's proprietary technology.

Will these proprietary discs be expensive to make games for?

No. "Proprietary" doesn't necessarily mean expensive -- cartridge manufacturing does. Don't confuse the two. Sega's GD-ROMs are proprietary in nature while still cost effective and easily manufactured. Nintendo's proprietary GameCube discs will not inflate the costs of development, and in fact the company has said that its licensing fees for third-parties are comparable, if not better than those of competitor Sony's for PlayStation 2.

What does the controller look like and how does it function?

The Nintendo GameCube controller features seven buttons, two analog sticks (one of which is used primarily for camera positioning), a D-Pad and built in rumble motor. Nintendo comments: "To make the controller easy to use and feel more stable we have designed two grips and compiled the controls for the left and right hands into two 'systems.'"

Nintendo's next-generation controller has undergone several design changes since its first unveiling at Space World 2000. The initial design previewed a controller with three kidney-shaped buttons that surrounded the big A button and a red start button. As the controller evolved, developers were sent controller molds with longer than standard handles too. See some of the early controller layouts below:



At E3 2001, Nintendo showed off a slightly changed version of its GameCube controller It's the final design, and will ship with the console later this year. Click on the image that follows for a bigger picture of the controller.



The company decided to replace the kidney-shaped B button of the old controller with a rounder, bigger one more similar the A button. Also, the red pause button featured on the early controller design was scaled down in size and changed to the color gray.

Read a detailed article on the evolution of the controller by clicking here

"With the manner in which the buttons on the right side are arranged, the A Button home position can be set, making the role of each button more intuitive," says Nintendo. "In terms of functionality, another analog control stick was added, and an actual analog trigger was added to both the right and left. An even wider variety of operations are now possible. Furthermore, a rumble motor was implemented so the inconvenience of removing/inserting the Rumble Pak and replacing its batteries was eliminated."



In addition to the standard GameCube controllers, Nintendo has also developed the Wavebird -- a wireless version of the regular joypad. It uses an Radio Frequency system and can transmit controller data up to 10 meters -- much more distance than any gameplayers would need while interacting with the console. The console port wireless adapter you see in the picture (to your left) is only in prototype stage and Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has commented that it will likely be more stylish by the time it is released next year.

Have development kits shipped to developers?

Yes. Since August 2000 all first- and second-party houses have been in possession of working development kits. All major third-parties in the US, Europe and Japan have finished GCN development hardware and are working on games. More than 550 development kits have been shipped worldwide. "I would say that all of the developers that are most important to Nintendo, and frankly will be most important to players, are all working on GameCube," said Nintendo's vice president of corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan in a recent IGNcube interview. To read the rest of the interview, click here.

The general opinion amongst those who have GameCube development kits is that the hardware lives up to all expectations and it is considerably easier to program for than PlayStation 2. Click here for more on that.

Will GameCube play N64 cartridges?

No, obviously. The console will only play proprietary 1.5GB GameCube Optical Discs developed by Matsushita. The next-generation console will not be backward compatible with Nintendo 64 games for three major reasons:

1. GameCube's internal architecture is entirely different from that in Nintendo 64.
2. GameCube is a proprietary disc-based console.
3. Backward compatibility is not important enough to justify a significant increase in the price of the console in order to implement it.
Will GameCube be able to play DVD movies?

Two different versions of GameCube are planned. A Nintendo-released "base" unit will not support DVD playback. Nintendo is marketing the console as a videogame machine?nothing else. To this end, the console is very cheap and mass-market friendly. However, a Matsushita-branded version of the GameCube console is also planned for release -- initially in Japan. A US of the GameCube / DVD-player hybrid is also planned for sometime between March 2002 and 2003. This machine will feature DVD playback, but will be more expensive. Read more here.

[Defcon5]

Why won't Nintendo's "base" unit just include DVD playback?

Nintendo claims that it is targeting its GameCube as a videogame console only. However, logic tells us that price is also a major issue. In accordance with the DVD Forum (formerly DVD Consortium), an organization founded and maintained by major electronics manufacturers worldwide, any corporation wishing to release a DVD-branded device capable of playing DVD movies into the mass-market must pay a fee of approximately $20 per unit to the Forum. Therefore, Nintendo would have to pay $20 to the Forum for every GameCube unit shipped?an amount of money that, it seems, is unacceptable. Add to that the fact that Nintendo wants to use copy-protected, differently sized DVDs.

Will Matsushita's DVD capable version of GameCube ship at the same time as Nintendo's "base" unit?

Yes. Matsushita plans to release its DVD-movie playback ready version of GameCube September 2001 in Japan. It will be more expensive.

Will Nintendo release an add-on or upgrade for GameCube that enables DVD movie playback?

Unknown at this time. However, Nintendo has stated time and again that GameCube is designed to be a game machine only, so to release a DVD add-on would clash with the company's philosophy.


Will GameCube be able to play FMV?

Yes. Nintendo's base unit will be able to decode MPEG-2, despite the fact that it won't be able to legally play DVD-branded movies. This means that full-length cut-scenes and cinemas are fully possible on the console.



And because GameCube's media format allows for 1.5GBs of storage, developers are now able to store roughly twice the amount of FMV data with Nintendo's next-generation console than they could with previous CD-based platforms. With that said, though, Nintendo is still focusing its efforts on real-time gameplay as opposed to rendered cut-scenes and movies, and is encouraging most of its development houses to do the same. But as you can see, second-parties like Silicon Knights are already planning on using GameCube's media for FMV cut-scenes.

How does Nintendo's planned N64 add-on device 64DD fit in, if it all?

It doesn't. 64DD is dead in Japan and never coming to America. Nintendo is supporting SD Memory Cards with its GameCube console in order to store and save extra data -- so in this sense the philosophy behind the 64DD lives on.

Will the GameCube have a modem?



Yes. "[The GameCube] will have a function to access the Internet," confirmed Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi. "We are entering the market as a latecomer so the console will have to outperform Sony Corp.'s PlayStation2." The modem(s) -- a 56k and a broadband -- are being built by hardware company Conexant. You can read all about Conexant's involvement in our company profile located at the upper-end of the FAQ.

Will the modem come packaged with the system?

The 56k modem is currently not scheduled to ship with the system, but this could change before GameCube's release. Meanwhile, the broadband modem will be available later.

Where does the handheld market fit in?

Enter Game Boy Advance. The portable will be able to hook up with GameCube for optimal interactivity. Recently in a speech given by Peter Main, Nintendo of America's Vice President of Sales, he stated Game Boy Advance would be an "integral part of GameCube" and that "...clearly you're going to see an interface between the Game Boy Advance and GameCube that is more than happenstance and doesn't require a mechanical device."



From what we can discern, GameCube will connect directly to the GBA in a plug-and-play manner. For instance, users will potentially be able to use GBA to build character experience and then transfer the character into full its full 3D counterpart on GameCube.

[Defcon5]

How much will GameCube cost?

GameCube will sell for approximately 25,000 yen ($204) in Japan and $199.95 in the US. The console will retail for $100 cheaper than competing systems from Sony and Microsoft.

When is GameCube's release date?


September 14. 2001 in Japan and November 18, 2001 the US.

What is the probability of Nintendo meeting its projected GameCube release date?

With Microsoft's upcoming XBox console debuting in the US late 2001, Nintendo would be wise to release the GameCube system as soon as it can afford to. With this in mind, it's entirely possible that the company will in fact release it as planned during the September (Japan) and November (US).



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The GCN Developers, Games and Launch Lineup

First and Second-Party GCN Developers and Games


Nintendo (EAD): Has several announced GCN titles in development and more than a dozen others still yet to be announced. Announced projects include Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Animal Forest, Mario Kart, Legend of Zelda, Mario Sunshine, Marionette, and 100 Marios. Nintendo is expected to announce several additional GCN titles, one or two of which may even launch with the console, at Space World 2001 in Tokyo, Japan this August.
Nintendo Software Technology (NST): Wave Race: Blue Storm. The developer has other, unannounced projects underway as well.





HAL Laboratories: Super Smash Bros. Melee is the only known GCN title that Nintendo's second-party is working on so far.
Marigul and subsidiaries: Doshin the Giant and Dobutsu Banchou.
Camelot: Secret RPG, and "two or three other candidates," according to company heads the Takahashi brothers.
NDCube: Working on GCN software, but specifics regarding what are not known. It is thought that the company, which created F-Zero for Game Boy Advance, could also be developing a GameCube version.
Rare: Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet, Kameo: Elements of Power, Donkey Kong Racing, Perfect Dark Zero and more still-secret projects. Rare registered the domain name for Conker's Other Bad Fur Day, for example, which suggests a GCN sequel could be planned.
Retro Studios: Metroid Prime and Raven Blade. Recent internal reports indicate that Raven Blade, the company's beautiful 3D RPG, is not progressing as planned and in risk of being terminated.



Silicon Knights: Eternal Darkness and Too Human, a futuristic 3D action/RPG that has yet to be shown for GCN in playable form.
Left Field Productions: NBA Courtside 2002 and 1080 Snowboarding 2, which is expected to be unveiled at Space World 2001.
Third-Party Support and Games


Acclaim Entertainment: 12 GCN titles in development including 18 Wheeler Pro Trucker, Crazy Taxi, Legend of Wrestling, Jeremy McGrath Supercross World, All-Star Baseball 2003, Turok Evolution. Extreme-G 3, All-Star Baseball 2002, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2, and NFL Quarterback Club 2002 are scheduled to launch with GCN in the US on November 5, 2001.
Activision: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Spider-Man The Movie are currently planned for GCN release, along with game versions of The Weakest Link and Stuart Little.
Capcom Entertainment: Mickey Mouse and Resident Evil 0. Also has more than half a dozen unannounced projects in the works for GameCube. Expect some announcements and unveilings of these high-profile titles at Space World 2001.
Crytek Studios: Says it will bring its first-person shooters X-Isle and Engalus to GCN.
Electronic Arts: Has more than 10 games in development for GCN including Madden NFL 2002, NBA Street, SSX Tricky, FIFA Soccer, Harry Potter, James Bond, and more.
Factor 5: Developing the highly anticipated Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II with publisher LucasArts. Has also expressed interest in bringing its secret 3D action-shooter Thornado to GCN, but that project has reportedly been put on the backburner until Rogue Leader is wrapped.
Kemco: Working on Batman: Dark Tomorrow for GCN. Also underway with Universal Studios.
Koei: Has two projects underway for GameCube.
Konami: Several projects underway for Nintendo GameCube. Also has deal with Universal Interactive to release GameCube titles based on The Thing, Jurassic Park III and -- believe it or not -- Crash Bandicoot.
Infogrames: Has announced that it has more than five projects underway for Nintendo GameCube, but has not commented on what they are. Versions of games based on the Terminator and Terminator 2 movie licenses are likely.
Interplay: Porting the Core-developed Galleon to GCN.
Midway Games: Nine titles underway for GCN including Spy Hunter and Red Flag Soccer. NFL Hitz 2002 and NFL Blitz 2002 will launch with GCN in November.
Namco: Has several projects in the works for GCN including a hugely anticipated fighter. The company will show off some its of GCN products at Space World 2001.
Natsume: Planned versions of Harvest Moon and Legend of the River King for GCN.
Paradigm Entertainment: Working on several, still undisclosed projects for GameCube.
Sega: Working on more than 10 GCN titles including Super Monkey Ball, Virtua Striker 3 Version 2002, Phantasy Star Online Version 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Swing Entertainment: Developing a GCN version of its game Creatures.
Tecmo: Has one project underway for GameCube. Insiders have indicated that a Ninja Gaiden title is very likely for the console.
Titus Software: Has multiple projects underway for GameCube, one of which is rumored to be a next-generation Robocop game.
Take-Two Interactive: Announced Duke Nukem Forever for GCN. More titles planned.
THQ: 15 GCN titles in development including WWF Wrestlemania 2002, MX 2003 Featuring Ricky Carmichael, Jimmy Neutron, Rugrats, Rocket Power, SpongeBob SquarePants, Tetris Worlds, Scooby Doo and Hot Wheels.
Ubi Soft: Has 19 GCN titles in development including Donald Duck, Batman Vengeance, Largo Winch, Rayman M, Rogue Spear, Tarzan, Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon, a project codenamed Rally Simulation and more.
Vivendi / Bits Corp: Developing Die Hard: Next Generation exclusively for GCN.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How many GameCube titles will launch with the console in Japan on September 14, 2001?

Nintendo will deliver two self-published titles at launch in Japan: Luigi's Mansion and Wave Race: Blue Storm. Several other projects from third-parties will also be available.

[Matt.D]

[color=rainbow] Thatz alot of typing!;) Thanx 4 letting us all know more about the Gamecube.:) [/color]

[Cecil]

Thanks for the info Defcon, That will give me something to read for the next hour.

Err... Matt.D I think he just copyied and pasted it from another site.

[Matt.D]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Cecil [/i]
[B]Thanks for the info Defcon, That will give me something to read for the next hour.

Err... Matt.D I think he just copyied and pasted it from another site. [/B][/QUOTE][color=rainbow] He did? Oh well, he was nice enough to post it here!:) [/color]

[Defcon5]

Yes I did copy it so that people don't make stupid topics asking question that have allready been answeed.

[Treble]

Yeah this is a great source for people who wants to learn more about the Nintendo Gamecube.Its petty great to read if youre not busy and all.

[Defcon5]

See you guys I'm not complety in active anymore.

[Treble]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Defcon5 [/i]
[B]See you guys I'm not complety in active anymore. [/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah i can see that but once the GCN Launches out you'll probaly be way more active.:)

[stratigyless]

What is he a nintendo official

[James]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by stratigyless [/i]
[B]What is he a nintendo official [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=darkblue]Nah, just an avid Nintendo fanatic. :)[/color]

[Defcon5]

Yes a nintendo fanatic. and I can bet I will be moe active around november.

[Guest]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Defcon5 [/i]
[B]See you guys I'm not complety in active anymore. [/B][/QUOTE]

Yea i noticed you werent on much but like they said and like you said you will be more active in November....

[Guest Pikeon]

GC is gonna skyrocket
but this will b big
X-box and GC comn out almost simultaneously
this is gonna mke ppl poor
this will be a big comp. for business

[leo_swinkels]

yeah I herd it was the firs time that two consoles of this size are being released within days from eachother. But I will still wait for the game cube. I definitly must play ssb melee, dinosaur planet and of course zelda when it comes out.

[_Shiro Amada_]

Hey I bought Gamecube yesterday, i have Luigi's mansion and Star Wars: rogue Leader. SW: RL is the greatest game for GC so far...


Food for thought: No ne slept overnight to buy X-Box, people did for Gamecube and PS2.

I bought gamecube on sunday, the day it came out. And I had reserved it, X-Box's were there in bundles! I played X-BOX and the contrrols are like PS2, Dreamcast, Nintendo, and Atari Jaguar controls all in one. And the jewel thingy in the middle looks like something I would get for 25 cents in a gumball machine. X-BOX had loooong loading times, while GC's Rogue Leader and Luigi's Mansion ( I have) had zero load times, not even a loading bar, it just went black for three seconds and boom action time, Munch's Odyssey is way to crappy, its the equivalant of Ps2's Crash Bandicoot game; better graphics but the same old game


[color=indigo]Combined your double post.
- jcgoudy[/color]

[Kuja]

[SIZE=3][FONT=century gothic][COLOR=crimson]are we the only store in the country that took 6 times longer to sell our GCN than our x-circles? sheshhhhhhhh what is this world coming to when im the best systems sales person in the district :)... and i cant sell the best system... shiat :([/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]

[NorykoAngelcry]

Maybe if you told them that you were out of X-Boxs and got a shipment of VCRs instead. . ? =) Most places near Nashville, TN were sold out. . Our Toys R Us had several left, but they got a ton in to begin with, and opened the latest of all stores in Franklin, TN. . so that is pretty understandabe. Nintendo did not sell ALL their systems, but they did really well, and better then the X-Box.

Given the holiday, I strongly believe that Nintendo GAMECUBE will outsell both the X-Box and the Playstation 2. . . watch and see =) Super Smash Brothers and Pikmin will be strong helpers in this cause too.

[COLOR=darkred][SIZE=1] [EDIT]Just read this on IGN. . They are saying that they sold all 700,000 units. . pretty sweet deal, no? :D [url]http://cube.ign.com/news/40030.html[/url]
[END EDIT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[leo_swinkels]

Now I wonder if the x-box sold out as well as the gamecube or if it sold out at all. When I have the money I will definitly buy a gc. But the x-box I don`t know. Maybe if the machine is worth all that money. Game cube is cheap in price and that helps bigtime in the sales.

[NorykoAngelcry]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by leo_swinkels [/i]
[B]Now I wonder if the x-box sold out as well as the gamecube or if it sold out at all. When I have the money I will definitly buy a gc. But the x-box I don`t know. Maybe if the machine is worth all that money. Game cube is cheap in price and that helps bigtime in the sales. [/B][/QUOTE]

[COLOR=firebrick][SIZE=1]I know for a fact that Franklin, TN didn't sell out. I even commented with some laughs to a few friends when I would see an X-Box sitting on the shelf. A parent asked me what was so funny, I smiled and said that X-Box was going to die. She asked me what I meant, and gave my basic run down of all the complaints I had. She asked if her son (10 year old) would rather have the X-Box or the GAMECUBE for Christmas. . .

Me: Well, depends on what types of games he likes getting.
Her: He loves just playing all the games, he played that Mario game for the Nintendo system.
Me: Well, Nintendo MADE the GAMECUBE, and you will see another Mario game for that as well. It also has a ton of other fun games, that are for everyone, but are very pleasing for a young kid to look at.
Her: Ohhh, Nintendo makes that Gamebox too?
Me: Huh? You mean the GAMECUBE?
Her: Ya, that little box system.
Me: That is a GAMECUBE. . the X-Box is the big huge system.
Her: Ohhh, I can never tell the difference.
Me: (mentally smacking my head) Well, the GAMECUBE does have a better sized controller, where the X-Box has a huge one. I don't think he would like to have to use the giant sized controller as much.
Her: Ohhhh, thank you sir, I think I will get him a GAMECUBE then
Me: Good luck :D They are sold out almost everywhere you go, but if you wait a bit into December, you might be able to find one, just keep checking around.
Her: Oh? Well that isn't good. . .
Me: No, but the GAMECUBE sells for $100 cheaper then the X-Box, so it will be worth the wait. :D
Her: Ohhhh, thank you again (runs out of the store, for who knows what reason)

Go Nintendo. . Hmmm. . least I toned down my complaints to what a ten year old would think. I struggled hard not to say any real insults that I normally would have said, LOL :D[/COLOR][/SIZE]