Gamecube Overview
The Gamecube is
an awesome machine to say the least. All (or most) of its features are
designed to increase the quality of the games without spending too much
time on needless extras. The thing I like is that the extras, such as the
stuff on PS2, can come later. There are plenty of expansion slots for that.
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Let’s start with the game medium itself. Nintendo has finally given up the cartridge format in favor of a disc. The disc itself is a 3.15 inch (8 cm) DVD-like disc; to make it easier to visualize, that is exactly the same size as the top to a Dannon yogurt cup. It is a patented proprietary design that the Matsushita company designed exclusively for Nintendo. Its capacity is about 1.5 gigabytes, which is a third the size of a normal 4.7 gigabyte DVD. This means that the Gamecube disc holds less information than the PS2’s, but game designers will probably never use that much anyways. The smaller capacity is made up for by the advanced data compression. It uses S3TC texture compression for images, and MuSyx for audio compression. So, the disc won’t be filled up with a lot of uncompressed data. To prevent piracy, the discs are encoded with a very high level encryption scheme. Even the most experienced hacker would probably never be able to crack it. The drive actually has a faster read time than a normal DVD. The Gamecube’s DVD has a 128 nanosecond access time and a data transfer rate ranging from 16 megabits/second to 25 megabits/second (real-time transmission of high-quality, full-screen video requires about 10 megabits/second, depending on the compression). The rapid data rate combined with incredibly fast RAM and data buffers can make load times almost instantaneous. This is a big plus because I hate how disc-based games have to load something every few minutes. The disc-based medium also means that Nintendo games will be a lot cheaper to produce. You’ll probably be paying less for the Gamecube Zelda than you did for Ocarina of Time or any other cartridge game. |
The
memory card is another proprietary design made specifically for the Gamecube,
called Digicard. It has a capacity of 4 megabits (about 0.5 megabytes)
of flash memory. This is less than the PS2, but it makes up for it by being
more efficient, probably faster, and being cheaper. Nintendo says that
the Digicard will be very efficient for game play.
The Gamecube will also has a Digicard adapter that enables players to use a 64 megabyte San Disk card. It can be used to download images from digital cameras, and information from the Internet. There may be games that can utilize data like this. The San Disk’s can also be used to store game data. This means that subtle changes in the game can be recorded and used in later sessions. More than just your place in the game can be saved. As IGN puts it: “Players could enjoy seeing their games change over time with things like growing trees, decaying bodies, or even seeing the bullet holes in one of your character’s outfits from a battle fought years before. With Nintendo’s imagination, the possibilities are endless.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. |
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The video output has some really cool features.
Not only can the Gamecube send normal analog video and audio to your TV,
it can also export digital video. You can hook this puppy up to a high-definition
TV for unparalleled quality. HDTV’s are at least twice the quality of normal
TV’s. Think of the awesome possibilities.
The Gamecube also has great potential for expansion. It has two serial ports and one “high-speed” port on the bottom. No one really knows what these things are for, but they might serve some purpose later on. Then again, they may never be used at all. Did you ever notice the ports at the bottoms of the Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo, and the original Nintendo? I always wondered why they were there. God only knows what they’re supposed to do. Hopefully the ports on the Gamecube won’t be so mysterious. |
Now the controller. It is similar to the N64’s in some ways, but in some ways it isn’t. It had the analog stick and the d-pad like the N64. It has all the familiar buttons, but in a different arrangement. The Z button is on the top of the controller, in front of the R button. The design is a little weird looking, but it’s simple and ergonomic. It’s not horrendously complicated like a Playstation controller with countless buttons that do God-knows-what. |
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Official Specifications
MPU (Microprocessor Unit): IBM PowerPC "Gekko"
Hints
at What May Come of Zelda
Of course, I saved the best for last. Spaceworld gave the world a few indications of what the Gamecube Zelda game might look like. Nintendo created a demo video of Link fighting Ganondorf. This isn’t actually part of the game, it’s just a video sequence. No one really knows if the designers have actually gotten this far into programming the game, but I doubt they have. Still, you never know. Rumor has it that Zelda will come out in the fall of 2001. These screenshots are amazing. If all the game play is like this, the game will be unbelievable. I cant wait to see real demos of Gamecube Zelda.
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