This page will contain wikis about Gamecube, as they become available.Nintendo GameCubeThe Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named "Dolphin" during development; abbreviated as GCN) is Nintendo's fourth home video game console, belonging to the Sixth generation era; the same generation as Sega's Dreamcast, Sony's PlayStation 2, and Microsoft's Xbox. The GameCube itself is the most compact and inexpensive of the sixth generation era consoles. The GameCube was released on:
The GameCube was first introduced in volume #145 of Nintendo Power magazine. Luigi's Mansion was the first cover game (volume #150). Launch titlesThe GameCube launched in North America with the following twelve games: OverviewA Platinum Nintendo GameCube with two controllers, a memory card, and five games (Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Soul Calibur II, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door).Unveiled during Spaceworld 2000, the Nintendo GameCube was widely anticipated by many who were shocked by Nintendo's decision to design the Nintendo 64 as a cartridge-based system. Physically shaped similar to a geometric cube, the outside casing of the Nintendo GameCube comes in a variety of colors, such as indigo, platinum, and black (also a limited edition Resident Evil 4 platinum and black game console). In Japan, the system is also available in orange, or in limited edition colors like Crystal White, Mint Green, Copper, and White with black pinstripes. The Nintendo GameCube uses a unique storage medium, the GameCube Optical Disc, a proprietary format based on Matsushita's optical-disc technology; the discs are approximately 8 centimeters (3 1/8 inches) in diameter (considerably smaller than the 12cm CDs or DVDs used in competitors' consoles), and the discs have a capacity of approximately 1.5 gigabytes. Contrary to popular belief, GameCube discs are not physically read any differently from a standard DVD disc, but are encrypted and contain a 'barcode' unreadable by most DVD-ROM drives. This move was mainly intended to prevent piracy of GCN titles, but like most anti-piracy technology, it was eventually cracked. By exploiting a flaw in Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II, users were able to connect their GameCubes to their PC's and run homebrew programming on the console. [1]. Later, a special debug mode in the GameCube drive was discovered which allowed the console to read and play from standard mini dvdrs. The Nintendo GameCube does not have any DVD-movie support. Common reasons cited by Nintendo for using this format are to lower piracy, provide faster loading times, and to make the system cheaper (to avoid DVD-licensing fees) and more compact. The lack of DVD movie support was also a double-edged sword; it did not appeal to the mass audience that turned to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox due to their built-in DVD support. Despite the protection of a non-standard disc format (essentially a miniature DVD-ROM with non-standard sectors and filesystem formatting), a number of modchips such as the Qoob and ViperGC have been released that, when used in conjunction with a modified bios, allow the use of a standard or 8 cm DVD-ROM to load backed-up, homebrew, boot-leg or pirate software. There was also a DVD-capable variant released by Panasonic in Japan, under license from Nintendo. Called the Q, it was a modified GameCube that could also hold standard-sized DVD discs and play back both formats. However, it was never released outside Japan and production ceased in December 2003. The Q's different footprint also left it incompatible with the Game Boy Player. The GameCube system also has the unique capability to connect to Nintendo's portable system Game Boy Advance and SP. The system does not link to the Micro due to the fact that its slot is too small. Such a connection between the two systems allows the transfer of game data. Examples of this functionality include the use of the Game Boy Advance as a controller for the game played. Subsequent information related to game play may be displayed on the Game Boy Advance's color screen for added convenience or to avoid the cluttering of the display on the television screen. This functionality has also been used to unlock "secrets" such as new levels or characters when two games, a Game Boy Advance game and its GameCube equivalent, are connected together. Up to four Game Boy Advance systems can be connected to the GameCube through the GameCube's four controller ports for multiplayer play. A special Nintendo GameCube to Game Boy Advance connection cable is required for each Game Boy Advance system that is to be connected to the GameCube. A fair variety of GameCube games implement this innovative functionality, while Nintendo encourages its continued use. The GameCube was designed for ease of portability, with its small size complemented by a carrying handle. However, this feature over other consoles was minimal since its inexpensive production and selling price were its main advantages. Interestingly, with the addition of the Game Boy Player accessory, the GameCube becomes a nearly perfect geometric cube. Despite being more compact than the PlayStation 2 (being that it was released over a year after and kept the power supply separate from the console), the GameCube has superior graphics processing power and better ProLogic sound, but no optical output. The controller has the traditional directional pad, two thumbsticks, and eight buttons: A, B, X, Y, Z, L, R, and start/pause. Keeping up with the Nintendo 64, it features no select button, but the C buttons have been replaced by an analog C stick, instead. The thumbsticks do not have added "clickable" button functionality—unlike other such consoles of the era—but both L and R shoulder buttons are analog, being able to detect pressure applied to them before "clicking," essentially doubling their functionality. The GameCube also had a network adapter released during the holiday season of 2002, but Nintendo did not promote or support online gaming anywhere as heavily as Sony or Microsoft. The only high profile title that required the adapter was Sega's Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II. Instead, Nintendo focused more on Game Boy connectivity. Two separate adaptors were made, one for dial-up phone lines and one for broadband connections. A unique feature of the Gamecube are a few Easter Eggs included in its startup sequence. Tap the "A" Button repeatedly to spin the Gamecube logo. Also, holding the "Z" Button while the system boots will replace the normal xylophone musical sequence with squeaks, followed at the end by a child laughing. Software libraryThe GameCube currently has over 550 games available in its library. In addition, over 25 titles are currently in development. The GameCube features games with the following ratings:
Source: ESRB Key first-party titlesThe Nintendo GameCube software library contains such traditional Nintendo series as Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. Some of the more popular first-party titles include: One of the defining aspects of the Nintendo GameCube is the rejuvenated relationship between Nintendo and its licensees. Unlike previous generations in which Nintendo was seen by some as bullying its third-party game developers, Nintendo openly sought game-development aid on the Nintendo GameCube. Sometimes, Nintendo would merely request that a third-party developer produce a game based on the third-party's own game franchises; other times, Nintendo would request that the third-party developer produce a game based on Nintendo's own game franchises. Nintendo often took an active role in cooperating with a developer. This policy from Nintendo resulted in many exclusive third-party games for the Nintendo GameCube, and the arrival of multiformat titles on the platform. Because of these efforts, GameCube owners tend to support first-party games more heavily than third party games, whereas the reverse is true for PlayStation 2 and Xbox owners. Market shareDespite Nintendo's efforts, the GameCube was unsuccessful in recapturing the preceding Nintendo 64's market share, and the sixth generation was taken over by the PlayStation 2. Nintendo's family-friendly franchises such as Pokémon gave the GameCube the reputation of being a "kiddie" console that failed to appeal to the teenage and adult market[2]. Many third-party games popular with teenagers or adults such as first-person shooters and the controversial Grand Theft Auto series skipped a GameCube port in favour of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Also, due to Nintendo's lack of support for the online capabilities of the GameCube, as opposed to Microsoft and later Sony who actively promoted online gaming by releasing first-party online titles and soliciting developers, many multiplatform games with online functionality were released offline-only on the GameCube. Although online support was added in late 2002 and both Sony and Nintendo followed a similar decentralized online model (in contrast to the centralized Xbox Live), lower sales of the GameCube versions of games during its launch year precluded developers from including online support. The 1.5 gigabyte proprietary disc format may have also been a limiting factor since Nintendo's rivals used the 4.7 gigabyte DVD. However, the Nintendo disc still had sufficient room for most games, although it had less extras than other versions (for example, the Spider-Man Xbox release featured extra levels not in the Gamecube port). The strong preference of GameCube owners for first-party titles has also put the system at odds with major third party developers. Cross-platform games—such as sports franchises released by Electronic Arts—sold far below their PlayStation 2 and Xbox counterparts, prompting developers to scale back or completely cease support for the GameCube. After several years of losing money from developing for Nintendo's system, Eidos Interactive announced that it would end support for the GameCube, cancelling several titles that had been in development including Hitman 2 [3]. Since then, however, Eidos has resumed development [4] of GameCube titles. Also 2K Sports, who have not supported the Gamecube, will release Major League Baseball 2K6 in spring 2006 [5]. During the second half of 2003, due to sagging sales, Nintendo had to cut GameCube production in order to sell off surpluses and issue a profit warning [6]. Since then, sales have rebounded due to a price drop to $99 USD and the release of the The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition bundle, which spurred sales. GameCube sales have continued to be steady, particularly in Japan, but the Gamecube is still in third place in worldwide sales [7]. The GameCube has not performed to expectations due to being unable to match the sales and market share of its Nintendo 64 predecessor. However, this has been offset by the growing size of the video game console market which has allowed Nintendo to carve out a loyal following even though its market share decreased. The GameCube had a strong hold on the children's market and its low price compared to the PS2 and Xbox kept it competitive. Nintendo also reassured nervous investors by stating that they would "only exit the software business at the same time they would exit the hardware business"; in other words, that they would not discontinue their console business to focus on developing games like Sega had done after the failure of the Dreamcast. Unlike Sega, Nintendo has strong cash reserves so it could afford to match price wars whenever Sony or Microsoft lowered the price of their console. Also before the price wars, it was estimated that Nintendo lost the least amount of money or even made a small profit on each sale of a GameCube, compared to its rivals who sold their consoles at a loss[8]. Major second and third-party titles
ScreenshotsGamecube Logo Easter Eggs
Hardware specificationsThe following are hardware specifications provided by Nintendo of America. Some benchmarks provided by third-party testing facilities do indicate, however, that some of these specifications, especially those relating to performance, may be conservative. Central processing unit
Graphics processing unit
Audio specifications
Other system specifications
(Even though DDR-SDRAM is significantly faster, since the PowerPC 750CXe can not address DDR-SDRAM, it is not used.)
MediaA GameCube Super Smash Bros. Melee discThe GameCube Optical Disc is the media format used by the Nintendo GameCube. The disc is a proprietary version of the eight cm DVD (MiniDVD) format. The capacity of the disc is 1.5 GB. Games with large amounts of voice acting or pre-rendered video often need to be put on two discs. ControllerThe standard GameCube Controller totals eight buttons, two analog sticks and a D-pad. The primary analog stick is on the left, with the D-pad below it. On the right are four buttons; a large green "A" button in the centre, a smaller red "B" button to the left, an "X" button to the right and a "Y" button to the top. Below those, there is a yellow "C" stick, which has a similar function to the right stick on a PlayStation. The start/pause button is in the middle of the controller. On the top of the controller there are two analog shoulder buttons marked "L" and "R" which are moulded to fit index fingers. Slightly above the "R" button is the "Z" button. In a late design change, the "Z" button was oddly positioned above the "R" trigger. Originally, Nintendo was not going to include it, but game developers asked for it to be put in. Some unofficial controllers also have "turbo" or "macro" buttons, but these only modify the actions performed by other buttons. The controller is a standard wing grip design, and was designed to fit well in human hands. The L and R analog shoulder buttons, the main innovation, have when fully depressed an additional 'click' if the buttons are depressed further. This serves as two additional buttons on the controller without the need to actually add physical buttons. Various games use this structure to varying levels of success. Like most analogue controllers, the GameCube pad self-calibrates when the console is switched on, setting the current analog stick and L and R buttons' positions as "neutral", which may cause problems if these controls are not actually in their neutral position at the time of calibration. Holding down X, Y and start/pause for three seconds will recalibrate the controller at any time. Unplugging and reconnecting the controller, and in the case of the wireless Wavebird controller, turning the controller off and back on, will also force a recalibration. Accessories/peripheralsThe Game Boy Player Wavebird Wireless Controller
MarketingNorth AmericaNintendo has used several advertising strategies and techniques for the GameCube. The earliest commercials displayed a rotating cube video, which would quickly morph into the GameCube logo. A voice whispered "GameCube". This was usually after the normal commercial for a GameCube game. Later on, Nintendo incorporated a video clip before the normal clip for the GameCube game would begin, similar to the brief PlayStation 2 logo before a commercial featuring the game. It basically rotated around what appeared to be the top of a GameCube console, with the lettering being slightly 3D. The lettering would begin as a wave, only to settle on the top of the pictured console. Subsequent ad campaigns had Nintendo advertising with a "Who Are You" tangent, essentially marketing the wide range of games Nintendo offers. The idea behind the "Who Are You?" campaign is that "you are what you play"; the kind of game a gamer enjoys playing suggests a dominant trait in that gamer's personality. The "Who Are You" logo is similar to graffiti lettering. Most of the "Who Are You?" commercials advertised games developed or published by Nintendo, but some developers pay Nintendo to promote their games, using Nintendo's marketing and advertising resources. One example is the advertisement campaign for Square Enix's GameCube-exclusive Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. SalesNintendo reported that as of January 2006 they have sold a total of 20.61 million Nintendo Gamecube units worldwide. The GameCube currently sells at USD $99. Several bundles are out which include games such as Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, Mario Party 7 and Super Smash Bros. Melee for America. There is a Mario Smash Football bundle for Europe and Super Mario Strikers bundle for Canada. This page about Gamecube includes information from a Wikipedia article. Additional articles about Gamecube News stories about Gamecube External links for Gamecube Videos for Gamecube Wikis about Gamecube Discussion Groups about Gamecube Blogs about Gamecube Images of Gamecube |
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There is a Mario Smash Football bundle for Europe and Super Mario Strikers bundle for Canada. The numeric character references in HTML and XML are "H" and "h" for upper and lower case respectively. Melee for America. The EBCDIC code for capital H is 200 and for lowercase h is 136. Several bundles are out which include games such as Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, Mario Party 7 and Super Smash Bros. The ASCII code for capital H is 72 and for lowercase h is 104; or in binary 01001000 and 01101000, correspondingly. The GameCube currently sells at USD $99. In Unicode the capital H is codepoint U+0048 and the lowercase h is U+0068. Nintendo reported that as of January 2006 they have sold a total of 20.61 million Nintendo Gamecube units worldwide. Due to opposition by monarchists, the word Thron "throne" was exempted from this and left with <th>. One example is the advertisement campaign for Square Enix's GameCube-exclusive Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. A century ago, there was a spelling reform which eliminated the silent <h> in all instances of <th> in native German words such as Thee or Neanderthal. Most of the "Who Are You?" commercials advertised games developed or published by Nintendo, but some developers pay Nintendo to promote their games, using Nintendo's marketing and advertising resources. This is the origin of the spelling (or pronunciation) of the English ejaculation "Eh?" which is not at all like an English pronunciation of the letter "e". The "Who Are You" logo is similar to graffiti lettering. Following a vowel, it often silently indicates that the vowel is long: In the word "erhöhen", only the first <h> is pronounced as /h/. The idea behind the "Who Are You?" campaign is that "you are what you play"; the kind of game a gamer enjoys playing suggests a dominant trait in that gamer's personality. In the German language, this letter is used in the digraph "ch" and the trigraph "sch" to indicate completely different sounds. Subsequent ad campaigns had Nintendo advertising with a "Who Are You" tangent, essentially marketing the wide range of games Nintendo offers. In the German language, the name of the letter is pronounced /haː/. The lettering would begin as a wave, only to settle on the top of the pictured console. Dictionaries mark those words that have this second kind of h with a preceding mark, either an asterisk, a dagger, or a little circle lower than a degree-symbol. It basically rotated around what appeared to be the top of a GameCube console, with the lettering being slightly 3D. a harp. Later on, Nintendo incorporated a video clip before the normal clip for the GameCube game would begin, similar to the brief PlayStation 2 logo before a commercial featuring the game. Some of these distinctions have been preserved in English through Anglo-French: an honour vs. This was usually after the normal commercial for a GameCube game. In some cases, an h muet was added to disambiguate the [v] and semivowel [ɥ] pronunciations: huit (from uit, ultimately from Latin octo), huître (from uistre, ultimately from Greek through Latin ostrea). A voice whispered "GameCube". As is generally the case with French, there are numerous exceptions. The earliest commercials displayed a rotating cube video, which would quickly morph into the GameCube logo. Most words that begin with an h muet (or "a" h muet, interestingly) come from Latin (honneur) or from Greek through Latin (hécatombe), whereas most words beginning with an h aspiré come from Germanic (harpe) or non-Indo-European (harem, hamac) languages. Nintendo has used several advertising strategies and techniques for the GameCube. There is no elision with such a word; the preceding word is kept separate by similar means. Like most analogue controllers, the GameCube pad self-calibrates when the console is switched on, setting the current analog stick and L and R buttons' positions as "neutral", which may cause problems if these controls are not actually in their neutral position at the time of calibration. Similarly, words such as un, whose pronunciation would elide onto the following word would do so for a word with h muet. Various games use this structure to varying levels of success. The h muet, or "mute h", is considered as though the letter were not there at all, so masculine nouns get the article le replaced by the sequence l'. This serves as two additional buttons on the controller without the need to actually add physical buttons. The French language classifies words that begin with this letter in two ways that must be learned to use French properly, even though it is a silent letter either way. The L and R analog shoulder buttons, the main innovation, have when fully depressed an additional 'click' if the buttons are depressed further. In the French language, the name of the letter is pronounced /aʃ/. The controller is a standard wing grip design, and was designed to fit well in human hands. H is silent in some words of Romance origin:. Some unofficial controllers also have "turbo" or "macro" buttons, but these only modify the actions performed by other buttons. In transliterations from Russian, zh may occur for /ʒ/. Originally, Nintendo was not going to include it, but game developers asked for it to be put in. H occurs as a single-letter grapheme (with value /h/ or silent) and in the 2-letter graphemes ch(/tʃ/), gh (either silent or /g/, /f/) , ph (Greek words with /f/), rh (Greek words with /r/), sh (/ʃ/), th (either /θ/ or /ð/), wh (either /w/ or /ʍ/: see wine-whine merger). In a late design change, the "Z" button was oddly positioned above the "R" trigger. The pronunciation /heɪtʃ/ is a hypercorrection formed by analogy with the names of the other letters of the alphabet, most of which include the sound they represent. Slightly above the "R" button is the "Z" button. It is often assumed that the pronunciation /eɪtʃ/ is a result of h-dropping, but in fact the original name of the letter was /aha/; this became /aka/ in Latin, passed into English via Old French /atʃ/, and by Middle English was pronounced /aːtʃ/. On the top of the controller there are two analog shoulder buttons marked "L" and "R" which are moulded to fit index fingers. The pronunciation affects the choice of indefinite article before initialisms beginning with H: for example "an HTML page" or "a HTML page". The start/pause button is in the middle of the controller. In Northern Ireland it is a shibboleth as Protestant schools teach aitch and Catholics haitch. Below those, there is a yellow "C" stick, which has a similar function to the right stick on a PlayStation. It is common in Australian English, often identified with those educated by Irish emigrants in Roman Catholic schools. On the right are four buttons; a large green "A" button in the centre, a smaller red "B" button to the left, an "X" button to the right and a "Y" button to the top. However it is standard in Hiberno-English, and among Saint-Léonard Italians in Montreal. The primary analog stick is on the left, with the D-pad below it. Pronunciation /heɪtʃ/ (and hence spelling haitch) is usually considered to be h-adding and hence nonstandard. The standard GameCube Controller totals eight buttons, two analog sticks and a D-pad. The English name of the letter is generally pronounced /eɪtʃ/ and spelled aitch. Games with large amounts of voice acting or pre-rendered video often need to be put on two discs. Hence, H is used in many spelling systems in digraphs and trigraphs, such as ch in Spanish and English /tʃ/, French /ʃ/ from /tʃ/, Italian /k/, German /x/. The capacity of the disc is 1.5 GB. This may be because /h/ was sometimes lost between vowels in German, but it may also have to do with the fact that Romance lost /h/. The disc is a proprietary version of the eight cm DVD (MiniDVD) format. In German, h is typically used as a vowel lengthener, as well as the phoneme /h/. The GameCube Optical Disc is the media format used by the Nintendo GameCube. In Etruscan and Latin, the sound value /h/ was maintained, but all Romance languages lost the sound — Romanian later re-borrowed the /h/ phoneme from its neighbouring Slavic languages, Spanish developed a secondary /h/ from F, then lost it again, and Castilian /x/ has developed an [h] allophone in some Spanish-speaking countries. (Even though DDR-SDRAM is significantly faster, since the PowerPC 750CXe can not address DDR-SDRAM, it is not used.). (In Modern Greek, this phoneme fell together with /i/, similar to the English development where EA /ɛ:/ and EE /e:/ came to be both pronounced /i:/.). Some benchmarks provided by third-party testing facilities do indicate, however, that some of these specifications, especially those relating to performance, may be conservative. The early Greek H stood for /h/, but later on, this letter, eta (Η, η), became a long vowel, /ɛ:/. The following are hardware specifications provided by Nintendo of America. The form of the letter probably stood for a "fence". Unlike Sega, Nintendo has strong cash reserves so it could afford to match price wars whenever Sony or Microsoft lowered the price of their console. Its lowercase form, [h], represents the voiceless glottal fricative, and its small capital form, [ʜ], represents the voiceless epiglottal fricative. Nintendo also reassured nervous investors by stating that they would "only exit the software business at the same time they would exit the hardware business"; in other words, that they would not discontinue their console business to focus on developing games like Sega had done after the failure of the Dreamcast. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, this symbol is used to represent two sounds. The GameCube had a strong hold on the children's market and its low price compared to the PS2 and Xbox kept it competitive. Its name in English is aitch. However, this has been offset by the growing size of the video game console market which has allowed Nintendo to carve out a loyal following even though its market share decreased. H is the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet. The GameCube has not performed to expectations due to being unable to match the sales and market share of its Nintendo 64 predecessor. More recently, the h infix has become an expected feature of benchmark names (Dhrystone, Rhealstone, etc.); this is probably patterning on the original Whetstone (the name of a laboratory) but influenced by the fannish/counterculture h infix. GameCube sales have continued to be steady, particularly in Japan, but the Gamecube is still in third place in worldwide sales [7]. The h infix marking of "Ghod" and other words spread into the 1960s counterculture via underground comics, and into early hackerdom either from the counterculture or from SF fandom (the three communities overlapped heavily at the time). Since then, sales have rebounded due to a price drop to $99 USD and the release of the The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition bundle, which spurred sales. It is likely to have originated in the fannish catch phrase “Bheer is the One True Ghod!” from the mid-20th Century. During the second half of 2003, due to sagging sales, Nintendo had to cut GameCube production in order to sell off surpluses and issue a profit warning [6]. In science fiction fandom and hacker jargon, the infix of an h is a method of "marking" common words, i.e., calling attention to the fact that they are being used in a nonstandard, ironic, or humorous way. Also 2K Sports, who have not supported the Gamecube, will release Major League Baseball 2K6 in spring 2006 [5]. In Canada, H stands for the Metropolitan Montréal area. Since then, however, Eidos has resumed development [4] of GameCube titles. As the first letter of a postal code:
The strong preference of GameCube owners for first-party titles has also put the system at odds with major third party developers. In thermodynamics, H is enthalpy. However, the Nintendo disc still had sufficient room for most games, although it had less extras than other versions (for example, the Spider-Man Xbox release featured extra levels not in the Gamecube port). In physics, h is Planck's constant. The 1.5 gigabyte proprietary disc format may have also been a limiting factor since Nintendo's rivals used the 4.7 gigabyte DVD. In music, H is a note in the German system, corresponding to B natural; for example, in the BACH motif. Although online support was added in late 2002 and both Sony and Nintendo followed a similar decentralized online model (in contrast to the centralized Xbox Live), lower sales of the GameCube versions of games during its launch year precluded developers from including online support. H is the symbol for the SI derived unit for electric inductance: the henry. Also, due to Nintendo's lack of support for the online capabilities of the GameCube, as opposed to Microsoft and later Sony who actively promoted online gaming by releasing first-party online titles and soliciting developers, many multiplatform games with online functionality were released offline-only on the GameCube. h, hecto, is the SI prefix meaning hundred, 102. Many third-party games popular with teenagers or adults such as first-person shooters and the controversial Grand Theft Auto series skipped a GameCube port in favour of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. In the SI system:
Because of these efforts, GameCube owners tend to support first-party games more heavily than third party games, whereas the reverse is true for PlayStation 2 and Xbox owners. See also Ecchi. This policy from Nintendo resulted in many exclusive third-party games for the Nintendo GameCube, and the arrival of multiformat titles on the platform. Through the popularity of anime (Japanese animation), the old incorrect meaning has become known to fans in the west. Nintendo often took an active role in cooperating with a developer. It has come to mean sexual, as in H games (pornographic computer games) or H suru (meaning "to have sex"). Sometimes, Nintendo would merely request that a third-party developer produce a game based on the third-party's own game franchises; other times, Nintendo would request that the third-party developer produce a game based on Nintendo's own game franchises. In Japanese, H was originally an abbreviation for "hentai" (pervert). Unlike previous generations in which Nintendo was seen by some as bullying its third-party game developers, Nintendo openly sought game-development aid on the Nintendo GameCube. In English slang, H is a term for heroin, a recreational drug that is highly addictive. One of the defining aspects of the Nintendo GameCube is the rejuvenated relationship between Nintendo and its licensees. H or H or H is the symbol for magnetic field strength. Some of the more popular first-party titles include:. In electromagnetism:
Source: ESRB. H is an ITU-T series of recommendations on Audiovisual and multimedia systems and used in their names such as H.323. The GameCube features games with the following ratings:. The file extension .h is used for C header files. In addition, over 25 titles are currently in development. This is because some operating systems use the control character ^H to delete the previous letter on a line. The GameCube currently has over 550 games available in its library. ^H is often used jokingly to indicate the intended deletion of the previous letter (see also W). Also, holding the "Z" Button while the system boots will replace the normal xylophone musical sequence with squeaks, followed at the end by a child laughing. In computing:
Instead, Nintendo focused more on Game Boy connectivity. For many speakers, between two vowels, as annihilate, vehicle. The only high profile title that required the adapter was Sega's Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II. After ex when x has value /gz/, as exhaust. The GameCube also had a network adapter released during the holiday season of 2002, but Nintendo did not promote or support online gaming anywhere as heavily as Sony or Microsoft. For some speakers, also in an initial unstressed syllable, as "an historic occasion"; to retain the "an" and pronounce the H may be considered affected. The thumbsticks do not have added "clickable" button functionality—unlike other such consoles of the era—but both L and R shoulder buttons are analog, being able to detect pressure applied to them before "clicking," essentially doubling their functionality. Initially in heir, honest, honour, hour; for American English usually also herb, and sometimes homage. Keeping up with the Nintendo 64, it features no select button, but the C buttons have been replaced by an analog C stick, instead. The controller has the traditional directional pad, two thumbsticks, and eight buttons: A, B, X, Y, Z, L, R, and start/pause. Despite being more compact than the PlayStation 2 (being that it was released over a year after and kept the power supply separate from the console), the GameCube has superior graphics processing power and better ProLogic sound, but no optical output. Interestingly, with the addition of the Game Boy Player accessory, the GameCube becomes a nearly perfect geometric cube. However, this feature over other consoles was minimal since its inexpensive production and selling price were its main advantages. The GameCube was designed for ease of portability, with its small size complemented by a carrying handle. A fair variety of GameCube games implement this innovative functionality, while Nintendo encourages its continued use. A special Nintendo GameCube to Game Boy Advance connection cable is required for each Game Boy Advance system that is to be connected to the GameCube. Up to four Game Boy Advance systems can be connected to the GameCube through the GameCube's four controller ports for multiplayer play. This functionality has also been used to unlock "secrets" such as new levels or characters when two games, a Game Boy Advance game and its GameCube equivalent, are connected together. Subsequent information related to game play may be displayed on the Game Boy Advance's color screen for added convenience or to avoid the cluttering of the display on the television screen. Examples of this functionality include the use of the Game Boy Advance as a controller for the game played. Such a connection between the two systems allows the transfer of game data. The system does not link to the Micro due to the fact that its slot is too small. The GameCube system also has the unique capability to connect to Nintendo's portable system Game Boy Advance and SP. The Q's different footprint also left it incompatible with the Game Boy Player. However, it was never released outside Japan and production ceased in December 2003. Called the Q, it was a modified GameCube that could also hold standard-sized DVD discs and play back both formats. There was also a DVD-capable variant released by Panasonic in Japan, under license from Nintendo. Despite the protection of a non-standard disc format (essentially a miniature DVD-ROM with non-standard sectors and filesystem formatting), a number of modchips such as the Qoob and ViperGC have been released that, when used in conjunction with a modified bios, allow the use of a standard or 8 cm DVD-ROM to load backed-up, homebrew, boot-leg or pirate software. The lack of DVD movie support was also a double-edged sword; it did not appeal to the mass audience that turned to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox due to their built-in DVD support. Common reasons cited by Nintendo for using this format are to lower piracy, provide faster loading times, and to make the system cheaper (to avoid DVD-licensing fees) and more compact. The Nintendo GameCube does not have any DVD-movie support. Later, a special debug mode in the GameCube drive was discovered which allowed the console to read and play from standard mini dvdrs. [1]. By exploiting a flaw in Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II, users were able to connect their GameCubes to their PC's and run homebrew programming on the console. This move was mainly intended to prevent piracy of GCN titles, but like most anti-piracy technology, it was eventually cracked. Contrary to popular belief, GameCube discs are not physically read any differently from a standard DVD disc, but are encrypted and contain a 'barcode' unreadable by most DVD-ROM drives. The Nintendo GameCube uses a unique storage medium, the GameCube Optical Disc, a proprietary format based on Matsushita's optical-disc technology; the discs are approximately 8 centimeters (3 1/8 inches) in diameter (considerably smaller than the 12cm CDs or DVDs used in competitors' consoles), and the discs have a capacity of approximately 1.5 gigabytes. In Japan, the system is also available in orange, or in limited edition colors like Crystal White, Mint Green, Copper, and White with black pinstripes. Physically shaped similar to a geometric cube, the outside casing of the Nintendo GameCube comes in a variety of colors, such as indigo, platinum, and black (also a limited edition Resident Evil 4 platinum and black game console). Unveiled during Spaceworld 2000, the Nintendo GameCube was widely anticipated by many who were shocked by Nintendo's decision to design the Nintendo 64 as a cartridge-based system. The GameCube launched in North America with the following twelve games:. . Luigi's Mansion was the first cover game (volume #150). The GameCube was first introduced in volume #145 of Nintendo Power magazine. The GameCube was released on:. The GameCube itself is the most compact and inexpensive of the sixth generation era consoles. The Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named "Dolphin" during development; abbreviated as GCN) is Nintendo's fourth home video game console, belonging to the Sixth generation era; the same generation as Sega's Dreamcast, Sony's PlayStation 2, and Microsoft's Xbox. It is considered particularly useful for Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II and is difficult, though not impossible, to acquire outside of Japan. The keyboard requires the use of two controller ports, and contains both Roman and Japanese hiragana characters. An ASCII keyboard controller, resembling a standard GameCube controller pad stretched to accommodate an alphanumeric keyboard in the center. A dance pad, included with Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix. This official Nintendo accessory is currently sold in Japan only. SD Card Adapter, for games exhibiting the SD Card logo like Animal Forest e+. Commands are issued when you hold the X button on the controller. Odama also includes a microphone clip to clip on to the controller. Microphone, which plugs into memory card slot, for use with Mario Party 6, Mario Party 7, and Karaoke Revolution Party. DK Bongos for use with the music games Donkey Konga, Donkey Konga 2 and Donkey Konga 3, and the Donkey Kong platform title Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. In PAL regions, an RF cable for connection to older televisions, and an RGB SCART cable for high-quality connections. Several are available from Lik-Sang, however, a game supporting 480p combined with the Component Video cable above, and the VD-Z3 (which has a monitor pass-through) or this can give Progressive Scan display quality on a computer monitor. Allows GameCube play on a standard computer monitor. VGA Adapter. See System Specifications above and Official Information.). Less than one percent of GameCube owners used 480p, therefore the digital output was eventually removed from the design to reduce the system's manufacturing costs. Component video cable (for progressive scan (480p) support) which requires a GameCube with Digital Video Output. Game Boy Player (to play Game Boy games on the television, using either a GameCube controller or a connected Game Boy Advance). Modem or Broadband adapter (for internet or LAN play). Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Advance cable (for games that support connectivity between the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance). A maximum of 127 files can be stored on a memory card). Memory Card (59, 251 or 1019 blocks. Wavebird (RF wireless controller). There are also specially shaped controllers, such as a blood-spattered chainsaw released to coincide with Resident Evil 4.). There are also many limited edition controllers available such as a split Platinum and Red, with the Mario "M" logo replacing the regular GameCube logo seen on standard controllers. Controller (Standard colours include Indigo, Black, Spice (Orange), Platinum and Indigo-clear. [4.3"(H) x 5.9"(W) x 6.3"(D)]. Physical Measurements of Entire System: 110 mm (H) x 150 mm (W) x 161 mm (D). Power Supply: AC Adapter DC12 volts x 3.25 amperes. High-speed Parallel Ports: 1. High-speed Serial Ports: 2. Digital Video Outputs: 1 *. Analog Audio/Video Outputs: 1. Memory Card Slots: 2. Controller Ports: 4. Approximately 1.5 gigabytes in capacity. Producer is Matsushita (Also known as Panasonic). Diameter is 3 inches in length. Based on DVD technology. Disc Media:
Average access time is 128 milliseconds. Drive type is Constant Angular Velocity (CAV). Disc Drive:
81 MHz in speed. Approximately 16 megabytes in capacity. Auxiliary RAM:
Sustainable latency of 10 nanoseconds. Approximately 24 megabytes in capacity. Main RAM:
System Floating-point Arithmetic Capability: 10.5 GFLOPS (at peak) (MPU, Geometry Engine, HW Lighting Total). AC3 signal through "digital out" with D-Terminal cable. "Dolby Pro Logic II" in analog audio out. Sampling Frequency: 48 kHz. Digital Signal : 16 Bit. Encoding: ADPCM. Simultaneous Channels: 64 channels. 4 kilobytes of ROM. 8 kilobytes of RAM. Data Memory:
Instruction Memory:
Real-time decompression of display list. Real-time hardware texture decompression (S3TC). Anisotropic filtering. Trilinear filtering. Bilinear filtering. MIP mapping. Environment mapping. Multi-texturing, bump mapping. Virtual texture design. Alpha blending. hardware nurbs. 4 pixel pipelines (4 x 162 MHz = 648 MPixels). 8 hardware lights. Subpixel anti-aliasing. Fog. Image Processing Functions:
24-bit Z-buffer. 24-bit RGB / RGBA. Pixel Depth:
Main Memory Bandwidth: 2.6 gigabytes/second (at peak). Texture Read Bandwidth: 10.4 gigabytes/second (at peak). RAM type is 1T-SRAM. Sustainable latency of 6.2 nanoseconds. Approximately 1 megabyte in capacity. Embedded Texture Cache:
Approximately 2 megabytes in capacity. Embedded Frame Buffer:
Producer: ArtX/Nintendo (ArtX was acquired by ATi Technologies in 2000 and is now a part of ATi). Name: "Flipper". L2: 256KB (2 way). L1: instruction 32KB, data 32KB (8 way). Internal Cache:
External Bus:
CPU Capacity: 1125 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1). Clock Frequency: 485 MHz. Manufacturing Process: 0.18 micrometre IBM copper-wire technology. Core Base: PowerPC 750CXe, 43-mm² die (modified PowerPC 750 RISC with 50 new instructions). Producer: IBM. Name: "Gekko". Hold the Z buttons on four controllers (one in each port) for another set of sounds. Hold the Z button before and while the logo starts to hear squeaking and children laughing. Holding the A button will spin the logo completely, and enter the console main menu regardless of whether there is a disk inserted. Tap the A button repeatedly to make the logo spin. Ltd, based on Nintendo's own game properties). Wario World (from Treasure Co. Viewtiful Joe series (Capcom). Tales of Symphonia (Namco). Super Monkey Ball series (Sega). Star Fox series (from Namco, based on Nintendo's own game properties). Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series (Factor 5). Sonic Mega Collection (Sega) and (Sonic Team). Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (Sega and Sonic Team). Sonic the Hedgehog series (Sega and Sonic Team)
Soul Calibur 2 (Namco). Resident Evil 4. Resident Evil (enhanced remake). Resident Evil Zero. Resident Evil series (Capcom)
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (Silicon Knights). EA Sports games (Electronic Arts). Adults Only: 0. Mature: 45. Teen: 204. Everyone (E10+): 18. Everyone: 287. Early Childhood: 1. May 17, 2002 (Australia). May 3, 2002 (Europe). November 18, 2001 (North America). September 14, 2001 (Japan). |