Biography
Nintendo first mentioned a successor to the Nintendo 64 on March 3, 1999, a day after Sony's announcement of the PlayStation 2. Two months later, on May 12, 1999, Nintendo of America's chairman Howard Lincoln officially announced the console, which would be codenamed "Dolphin."
In classic form, Nintendo remained quiet for over a year about "Dolphin," preferring to focus on the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color at E3 2000. It wasn't until August 24, 2000, a day before Spaceworld 2000, that the company officially unveiled the GameCube, the end result of the "Dolphin" project.
The heart of the GameCube is a 405MHz, 0.18-micron, IBM-produced CPU called the "Gekko." The Gekko is based on the PowerPC architecture but optimized for game playing. The system's 202.5 Mhz video processor, called "Flipper," was designed by ArtX and is being produced by NEC. ArtX is headed by Dr. Wei Yen, who played a major role in the development of the Nintendo 64's graphics chip.
For its storage medium, the GameCube uses 8-cm discs based on DVD technology that can hold up to 1.5GB. Since they are smaller than traditional DVDs, the GameCube will not be able to play DVD movies. However, Matsushita is developing a DVD player that will also be able to play GameCube software.
The GameCube's controller combines elements from just about every controller before it, as well as introducing a few innovations of its own. In addition to the standard analog stick, D-pad and shoulder buttons, Nintendo has added an analog camera stick, moved the Z-button to the right shoulder and rearranged the button configuration so that there is a large A button surrounded by the X, Y and B buttons. Like the N64, the GameCube features four controller ports.
The regular GameCube memory card holds 4 Megabits of data, but the Digicard Adapter will allow for flash memory cards that can hold 64MB to 128MB, effectively giving the console the functionality of the failed 64DD add-on for the N64. A choice between a 56K modem and broadband adapter will be available for online connectivity, but neither of these add-ons is included with the console.
Unlike the N64 and Game Boy Color, which connect using an adapter, the GameCube will interface directly with the Game Boy Advance to transmit information back and forth. The portable system can also be used as an advanced GameCube controller.
