Gamers, world wide have been eager to find out what Nintendo has been preparing for its past years. Months ago, there were rumors the code name, "Dolphin" for Nintendo's next gen console was replaced with "Star Cube". Recently, the big N announced the confirmed title, "Game Cube" for its system. Below, is a grand shot of the Game Cube, exclusively from SpaceWorld 2000. If you don't believe us, see for yourselves.
As the name, Game Cube goes, the system is cube-shaped. In my view, it looks more like a Fisher Price tool box. No hard feelings, but was Nintendo taking pills when designing the controllers? On the other hand, the controller is most likely designed to adapt to the gameplay and comfort of the player's grip. Although many of you will disagree with the name and its looks, keep in mind it's not the name that makes up a console. The following are the Game Cube's official specs -
MPU (Microprocessor Unit): IBM Power PC Gekko (integrates power PC CPU into custom, game-centric chip)
Manufacturing Process: 0.18 microns Copper Wire Technology
Clock Frequency: 405 MHz
CPU Capacity: 925 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1)
Internal Data Precision: 32bit Integer & 64bit Floating-point
External Bus Bandwidth: 1.6GB/second (peak)
External Bus Bandwidth: 1.6GB/second (peak/32bit address, 64bit data bus 202.5MHz)
Internal Cache L1: Instruction 32KB, Data 32KB (8 way) L2: 256KB (2 way)
Internal Cache L1: Instruction 32KB, Data 32KB (8 way) L2: 256KB (2 way)
System LSI: "Flipper"
Manufacturing Process: 0.18 microns NEC Embedded DRAM Process
Clock Frequency: 202.5MHz
Embedded Frame Buffer: Approx. 2MB
Embedded Frame Buffer: Approx. 2MB Sustainable Latency: 5ns (1T-SRAM)
Embedded Texture Cache: Approx. 1MB Sustainable Latency: 5ns (1T-SRAM)
Texture Read Bandwidth: 12.8GB/second (peak)
Main Memory Bandwidth: 3.2GB/second (peak)
Color, Z Buffer: Each is 24bits
Image Processing Function: Fog, Subpixel Anti-aliasing, HW Light x8, Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multi-texture Mapping/Bump/Environment Mapping, MIPMAP, Bilinear Filtering, Real-time Texture Decompression (S3TC), etc.
Other: Real-time Decompression of Display List, HW Motion Compensation Capability
*The following are System LSI sound functions*
Sound Processor: Special 16bit DSP
Instruction Memory: 8KB RAM + 8KB ROM
Instruction Memory: 8KB RAM + 8KB ROM
Data Memory: 8KB RAM + 4KB ROM
Clock Frequency: 101.25 MHz
Maximum Number of Simultaneously Produced Sounds: ADPCM: 64ch
Sampling Frequency: 48KHz
System Floating-point Arithmetic Capability: 13.0GFLOPS (peak/MPU, Geometry Engine, HW Lighting Total)
Actual Display Capability: 6 million to 12 million polygons/second
Actual Display Capability: 6 million to 12 million polygons/second (Display capability assuming actual game with complexity model, texture, etc.)
System Main Memory: 24MB Sustainable Latency: 10ns or lower (1T-SRAM)
A-Memory: 16MB (100MHz DRAM)
Disc Drive: CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) System
Disc Drive: CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) System Average Access Time Data Transfer Speed 16Mbps to 25Mbps 128ms
Media: 8cm NINTENDO GAMECUBE Disc based on Matsushita's Optical Disc Technology
Media: 8cm NINTENDO GAMECUBE Disc based on Matsushita's Optical Disc Technology Approx. 1.5GB Capacity
Input/Output: Controller Port x4,
Digicard Slot x2,
Analog AV Output x1,
Digital AV Output x1,
High-Speed Serial Port x2,
High-speed Parallel Port x1
Power Supply: AC Adapter DC12V x 3.5A
Main Unit Dimensions: 150mm(W) x 110mm(H) x 161mm(D)
According to Nintendo, Game Cube is expected to hit Japan, July 2001 and U.S., October 2001.