here is the press
release for you to read
NINTENDO GAMECUBE
CONSOLE AND PORTABLE GAME BOY ADVANCE UNVEILED
Systems Set New
Interactive Entertainment Standards
Nintendo, the
company that revived the entire video game
industry in the 1980s, opened new worlds of video
game play today at the Spaceworld trade show in
Tokyo by simultaneously unveiling the new
Nintendo GAMECUBE console and the portable
Nintendo Game Boy Advance. While each system will
be the most powerful in its category, they have
been designed to work together to provide a game
play experience that is unprecedented and totally
unique to Nintendo.
Game Boy Advance
is powered by a 32-bit processor developed by
ARM, Ltd. in the United Kingdom. Its screen size
increases by 50 per cent, and screen resolution
is up 60 per cent thanks to a new, reflective TFT
colour LCD using a high contrast white panel. Its
processor runs 17 times faster than that of the
Game Boy Colour; it's capable of displaying
32,000 colours simultaneously; boasts PCM sound
playback for infinitely improved audio; and with
a special cable, allows up to four machines to be
linked for full, four-player action.
Game Boy Advance
will be available in Japan in March 2001, and in
North America and Europe next July. The system
will retail for approximately 9800 yen in Japan
(or $90), while Western Hemisphere pricing has
not yet been announced. Ten titles were
demonstrated at Spaceworld, including the eagerly
anticipated Mario Kart Advance. Game Boy Advance
also is fully backward compatible allowing the
system to play all existing Game Boy and Game Boy
Colour titles.
"Our current
Game Boy Colour holds a more than 90 per cent
share of the portable video game market around
the world, and in fact, is selling better now
than any other time in its 11 year history,"
says Peter MacDougall, Nintendo of Canada's,
president. "The industry has always wondered
when someone would invent a 'better' Game Boy.
Well, now we have."
Nintendo GAMECUBE
sets new technical standards in a compact
(6"x6"x4.3"), transportable
housing. It features a highly customized, 405
Mhz, copper wire central processor from IBM; a
revolutionary graphics co-processor from ATI with
Mosys 1-T SRAM memory embedded directly onto the
chip; and 40 MB of memory, including one of the
largest implementations of static memory in
consumer product history. This integrated design
creates the fastest and most efficient video game
system ever brought to market.
Storage media
comes in the form of a small (8 cm diameter),
1.5GB proprietary optical disk from Matsushita.
Accessories will include a 56K modem and (future)
broadband modem; the 'Wavebird' wireless RF
controller; (2) Digicard slots for either 4MB
flash memory cards or a 64MB SD-Digicard adapter;
and a variety of high speed ports and both analog
and digital AV outputs.
Nintendo GAMECUBE
will launch in Japan in July of 2001, and in
North America in October 2001. "In my
experience, there have often been theoretical
claims of high performance for game hardware, and
although people were very impressed by the
figures, the actual products haven't even
delivered one-tenth of the claims," says
Shigeru Miyamoto, the master Nintendo game
designer. "It is a given that the Nintendo
GAMECUBE will offer better graphics and higher
quality sound, but more importantly it will allow
developers the freedom to concentrate on
creativity without worrying about technical
limitations."
Dozens of
developers around the world are in possession of
tools to create Nintendo GAMECUBE games, and
dozens of titles are in development. Exact games
will be announced closer to launch, but will
certainly include some of the household names
that have propelled Nintendo to sales of over a
billion video games worldwide in only a decade
and a half.
The systems not
only excel in their own right, but connect to
offer a continuous, transportable form of
interactive entertainment. The two cutting-edge
technologies combine in a number of ways: * Games
can be created to allow data transfer in either
direction between the systems. As a result,
designers can develop games that may be played on
either device;
* The Game Boy
Advance portable system can be used as a discreet
controller to direct action on the Nintendo
GAMECUBE;
* While the
Nintendo GAMECUBE runs on normal AC power, Game
Boy Advance can be powered by disposable
batteries or rechargeable batteries;
* Modem
accessories for both systems can connect players
to the Internet or each other to exchange data,
post scores, download characters, and for
head-to-head play.
"For several
years, virtually every advance in our industry
has focused solely on improving the 'look' of
games. While our new Nintendo GAMECUBE and Game
Boy Advance not only will create the best looking
games, more importantly, they will transform how
players think about interactivity," explains
MacDougall.
----------------
In the
Conference call they expended on the press
release
They also gave
interesting statistic like in 1998 the ratio for
the console's software and the portable hand held
software was 7 to 3, in 1999 it was 1for and has
from January 1 of the year 2000 until now the
portable software outsold the software's console.
Metroid one of
their favorite character that was not introduce
on the Nintendo 64 will be back on the Game Cube.
The Game Cube was showed in 5 colors in Tokyo but
no color has been confirm for the launch.
They also confirm
that they spend an average of 400 millions
dollars in marketing and that the Game Cube and
the Game Boy Advance will get their fair share.
They emphasize
that it is very developer friendly and that the
combination of both consoles will bring us games
that we has never seen before. Like being able to
choose our football formation or pitch location
on our Game Boy Advance while playing on the Game
Cube. the game will be more involving then ever
and a deeper gameplay.
So far they have
24 developers working on games right now more are
to come. A minimum of 5 games will be out at the
launch. More information on the specific price,
date and games will announced at the E3 2001 in Los
Angeles.
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