Nintendo at E3 (Gamecube & GBA)

[RCK]

In a few hours, the E3 show will start with the Nintendo Pre-E3 Press Conference, and the company promises to "unleash" GameCube.

If you love exceptionnal games, you should check the net every hours for the full coverage of the show.

Usefull links:

Nintendo
http://cube.ign.com/
http://www.nintendojo.com/
http://www.tendogamers.com/
http://www.planetgamecube.com/
http://gamecube-fr.com/dossier/e3/ ( French )
http://www.nintendojofr.com/ ( French )

General
http://www.e3daily.com/
http://www.llamanation.com/


Enjoy !

Great just what the world wants...another sodding games console.

Perhaps it's just me...I want to be able to program, draw and all that boring crap and not just play games.

Think I'll be in the minority of the population in not owning a Playstation, Dreamcast or N64.

I won't start on the Microsoft X-Box or I'll just use up all the web space )

[RCK]

Yes, please don't start speaking about X-box or PS2

I really enjoy playing Zelda series (all), so that's why I'm awaiting upcoming news about the new opus.

[RCK]

And I won't speak you about the underground N64 scene (which is dying now...)

Fan games / hack / crack / intro / demos / tools / mp3 players ...
You can always program everything which have one processor

I was proud to follow this great scene during 4 years now.
more info ?

http://www.dextrose.com
http://www.elitendo.com
http://tcsr.cjb.net/
http://www.disorder.org/

[Ian]

I voted no, but I don't think it sucks, the problem is the big N has lost the plot (when it comes to home consoles) and it won't be long before they finnally give up the ghost and start devolping the (In my opion) best games for other systems as Sega have done now. When Sega announced they were devolping for the PS2(which I own) their stock price shot up, and in the world we live in at the moment stock price is the only thing that matters to the big bosses at these companies.

Nintendo won't be able to support the Game Cube with Gameboy/Gameboy Advance sales. Case in point the N64, technically supperior to the Playstation, but where as one of them is still around and going strong, the other has been all but offically killed of for about 3 years.

[RCK]

I really don't think that Nintendo "won't be able to support the Game Cube with Gameboy/Gameboy Advance", but it's my point of view, and I don't want to start the classic war of which is the best console...

All of this is good for gaming world, and that is the important point.
(with Zelda series also )

The two first video (Star Fox : Dinosaur Planet & Donkey Kong Racing) really rocks, but I'm waiting for home titles from nintendo (Zelda / Mario) that we will see tomorrow

Moreover, the Panasonic's Gamecube-ready DVD player is coming for lower price than PS2. (confirmed)

[Burge]

Gamecube will rock your world, there is no doubt about that. As a loyal N supporter I am eagerly waiting E3 and all the exciting announcements!

[LaundroMat]

Moreover, the Panasonic's Gamecube-ready DVD player is coming for lower price than PS2. (confirmed)

Yes, but:
* How much will the total package cost (GC & Pana DVD)?
* Sony is known for their quick reaction to market prices. My guess is that we can expect at least two price drops for the PS2 in the near future: when the GC appears and when the X-Box appears (if the X-Box won't be more expensive than the GC ofcourse )

FYI - I own a PS2 and plan to get me a DC as well when I find a second-hand one for a low price. I'm not biased against any other system (like the true gamers say "It's the games that count"), except the X-Box, for which I feel an almost natural aversion. Dunno what it is, but I just don't like it, and I never will. I guess it's that Gates guy. He's the typical wanting-to-be-cool-but-never-will-be rich kid. (Not my idea, I read this on a forum somewhere, and liked the description).

[RCK]

I think we are all agree with the X-Box status.
About the price, just check the news below.

Yomiuri Online reports that Matsushita, better known as Panasonic, will be showcasing their DVD-ready Gamecube at this year's E³. The system will run you about $315, according to Yomiuri. Below is their translated article.


Matsushita Electric Industrial today (May16) made known the fusion machine (DVD Player and Nintendo's Game machine) will release at the middle of September. Matsushita develop the fusion machine from the help of nintendo.

An experimental model is exhibited at the international show held (E3) at 17th in American LA. Matsushita Electric Industrial is ready for the confrontation of Sony Computer Entertainment's "Playstation 2" to precede.

Sale schedule and Softwares will also be announced at this show. The fusion machineis allowed to play Nintendo's abundant Gamecube softwares and play the DVD video.

Price is around 39,000 Yen, and will use the refernce of the PS2 new model (Open Price) & Gamecube (Price Unknown) to decide the price change in the future. For the Christmas Season reason, it is planned to sell the fusion machine at Mid September as Nintendo GC.

[Amiga1992]

I rather have Nintendo focusing on their 2D wonder little machine: the Gameboy advance

It's 2D, it's portable, and it rocks. And Nintendo completely owns teh portable market, so tehy can't go wrong with it. However, things can get pretty bad for the poor Gamepube. Nintendo's stupid president also said that if not enough interest for the machine is shown at the E3, they will scrape the project. Now, one thing Nintendo should do is kill their chairman.

I will never get a Gamecube. The last 'next-gen' machine I'll be buying is the Dreamcast, the rest is garbage.

I'm getting my Gameboy Advance in a week, anybody else took the plunge for the wondeful little machine? It's gonna get Wings soon, and it looks just like the Amiga version!!!

I think I will be getting one as soon as I can.

I finish uni and start work soon, so I am going to need something to keep me entertained on the train journeys to and from work. Plus some of my friends say they are going to get one and you can link 4 of them together apparently - and this is the best bit. Apparently you can link 4 of them together to play the same game off just the one cartridge. I am looking forward to it coming out over in the UK.

[RCK]

First videos and pictures of the upcoming GCN games can be found there !
http://e3.nintendo.com

May 15, 2001

Mark your calendars for November 5th and November 8th. On November 5th, Nintendo's GameCube system launches to American retail. On November 8th, Microsoft's Xbox console launches to American retail.
Which one will you buy?

Check out IGN Xbox for all the details on Microsoft's launch. As for GameCube, at today's press pre-E3 press conference, Nintendo announced the November 5th stateside release date, and referred us to the upcoming Japanese financial briefing for information on price and quantities. The system will launch to Japan on September 14.

[Ian]

Here's something I found at 3DFiles.com, it appears as though everything has been down graded on the Game Cube, things don't look good

Before:
Gekko: 405 MHz
Gekko's front-side-bus: 1.6 GB/s
Flipper: 202.5 MHz
Embedded RAM's latency: 5 ns
Embedded RAM's bandwidth: 12.8 GB/s
Main RAM's bandwidth: 3.2 GB/s
Sound processor: 101.25 MHz
A-RAM (A = auxiliary): 16MB of DRAM (at 100MHz)
System's max floating point performance: 13 GFLOPS
Disc Drive data transfer rate: 16 Mbits/s - 25 Mbits/s (or 2 MB/s - 3.1 MB/s)

After:
Gekko: 485 MHz
Gekko's front-side-bus: 1.3 GB/s (due to Flipper's reduced clock)
Flipper: 162 MHz
Embedded RAM's latency: 6.2 ns (due to reduced clock)
Embedded RAM's bandwidth: 10.4 GB/s (due to reduced clock)
Main RAM's bandwidth: 2.6 GB/s (due to reduced clock)
Sound processor: 81 MHz
A-RAM: 16MB of DRAM (at 81MHz)
System's max floating point performance: 10.5 GFLOPS
Disc Drive data transfer rate: 5 Mbits/s - 16 Mbits/s (or .6MB/s - 2MB/s)

http://www.planetgamecube.com/news.c...n=item&id=1505

As you can see, everything was downgraded, except the Gekko's clockrate. But the memory bandwidth, and Flippers speed has taken a dramatic hit. Even the sound processor is clocked lower.

Not really relavant I know, but it proves the point that the big N "might" be making sure that they don't lose big time like Sega have with the Dreamcast, I think you can get a brand new Dreamcast for about £100 in the UK, a hefty lose for Sega.

Michael "TYP" says: HM.... The combination must either give equal performance at a lower cost, or higher performance at the same cost. Nintendo wouldn't dare DOWNGRADE the power.

[Amiga1992]

PFF, Screenshots. They mean shite to gameplay, so they don't surprise me at all. How can you tell how much fun a game can be just by looking at a screenshot? Either you have superpowers, or you don't give one bit about gameplay Also, machine specs don't mean crap to me. Who cares what the thing has inside as long as the games it delivers are fun? I judge every machine by its games, and each game it's based mainly on its gameplay, so it doesn't matter, to me, which machine got "DA KILLAH SPECZ" or "DA BEST GFX, FOO", I just play the one with the gams which are most fun. Even if they look like arse

I rather go and play Keystone Capers on my Atari 2600.

Good luck with that GBA purchase Gibby, I think you won't regret it The 4 player link is indeed possiblem, but the "one cart 4 players" linkup is available in some games, and it's a bit limited. Since, in essence, what the server machine does is uploading the other GBA's with the game in memory, space limitations apply. To mention one example: If you try to play "1 cart 4 ply" with F-Zero, each player won't be able to choose a car of its choice, everyone will use the same. A small gripe, anyway, since 4 player F-Zero must be really FUN! I thought this should be mentioned anyway, so you don't make yourself some false expectations

[RCK]

I posted screenshot cause videos should have been too bigger
(and that board doesn't deal with NGC, this thread is only here cause important actuality at E3)
But if you want to feel the gameplay, (and if you have one good internet connection), just download all the videos, and then judge

latest news:

Sega announced today that it plans to bring an initial 10 titles to Nintendo's next-generation GameCube console. The company's first three GameCube offerings include Phantasy Star Online Version 2, Super Monkey Ball and Virtua Striker 3 Version 2002.

"We will be a major player on GameCube," said Charles Bellfield, Sega's vice president of marketing and corporate affairs, in an IGN conference call. "We have a relationship with Nintendo to deliver online content through GameCube with Phantasy Star Online as the first example. We'll be looking to extend our expertise with Nintendo GameCube in the online world."

Nintendo released a GameCube software index to the press today at E3, and there were several surprises. The list has been copied below:

- 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker
- All-Star Baseball 2002
- All-Star Baseball 2003
- Animal Forest
- Batman
- Crazy Taxi
- Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
- Diddy (Donkey) Kong Racing
- Donald Duck
- Eternal Darkness
- Extreme G3
- Hot Wheels
- Jeremy McGrath Supercross World
- Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius
- Kameo: Elements of Power
- Largo Winch
- Legend of Zelda
- Legends of Wrestling
- Luigi's Mansion
- Madden NFL 2002
- Mario Kart
- Metroid Prime
- Mickey
- Monkey Ball
- NBA Courtside 2002
- NFL Blitz 2002
- NFL Quarterback Club 2002
- NFL Hitz 2002
- Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2
- Pikmin
- Rally Simulation
- Raven Blade
- Rayman Tribe
- Rogue Spear
- Rugrats
- Scooby-Doo
- Spider-Man Movie
- SSX Extreme
- Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2
- STARFOX Adventures: Dinosaur Planet
- Super Smash Brothers Melee
- Tarzan
- Tetris Worlds
- The Powerpuff Girls
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
- Turok Evolution
- Waverace Blue Storm

[Tim Janssen]

I have never bought or ever will buy a gameconsole. However, I have to admit that games appearing for consoles (especially on Sega Dreamcast) appeal me more than on pc.
Playing games is fine, but after some weeks I want to do lots of other things with a machine. Sure, I can go to the shops and fork out many $$ for a new game, but my interest will soon wane.

That is why I love the Amiga so much: playing games, painting, writing and composing songs on a single machine. No console will ever match that.

[Ian]

You Can't tell how a game will play by watching a video of it either, just think I posted a picture of FF8 intro sequence, running on Playstation 1, and told you it was an in game shot, would you be impressed.

I think you would. Gameplay won't be an issue with nintendo games, as they are always (90%) of the time great, it's the third party games that you will have to judge.

[RCK]

Agree.

But when I'm seeing this short video (2 Mo) of the upcoming Smash Brother on GameCube,
I'm feeling that gameplay will be excellent, what I couldn't say before with only the screenshots.

[Amiga1992]

Agree with Ian, a video tells about gameplay as much as a screenshot.

And, without 3rd party support, you can expect what will happen to the amchine, eh? Look at the N64. Only good games it got, are those done by Nintendo. If they don't bring teh thirdparties with their GC, the machine will be a flop.

They have them with the GBA. I mean, every damned great dev is working for the little machine, and a lot of softcos which were in the shadows, have resurged and are kicking serious ass in the little portable. Hudson is back and looks mean, and Konami seems to be back in shape, like in the good old days! Also, Cinemaware is BIG onto GBA development. And we have SEGA, what else can I ask?

Screw this Gamepube. After I get a Dreamcast, I'm buying only old consoles.

[Amiga1992]

And let's not talk about Metroid... They completely bastardized what Metroid is all about. Luckily teh GBA version will still be great