The "Nintendo Games" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Mysteries have always been rather intriguing to me and since the current mystery of the video game console world will have the next Mario and Zelda game, it only seems logical that we delve into the Dolphin Cube mystery just a bit.
What we know: CPU dubbed the "Gecko" based on PowerPC architecture, which means it will be somewhat similar to Apple's Macs. Of course this is old news, but what I find intriguing is the new Apple G4 Cube which is, as you might have guessed, a cube (8" x 8" to be exact). Then you toss in that Nintendo's official name for their next-gen hardware is most likely StarCube, and it makes you go hmmm. Coincidence, I think not. If the system looks anything like the G4 Cube then it more than makes up for the funny name.
Mystery number two is, well, that there's a mystery in the first place. Lets see Nintendo has a special design team headed by the creator of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong etc, etc. in which development of the ultra secret project, the next generation controller is the order of the day, or year. Can you imagine how many ID cards employees must carry at Nintendo? I just picture everyone running around in white lab coats with Mario's insignia strategically placed on the pen pocket. Just picture the guys at Sony sending a spy over to Nintendo's Headquarters to do the Mission Impossible thing. You know, guy descending from the air shaft above, being held up by some cord. As he masterfully avoids the infrared sensors trying to just grab a glimpse… Ah it's a movie in the making. Seriously though, the Nintendo controller I suspect will somehow solve the one annoying problem with 3-D gaming. The Camera! How intuitive the Camera is can make or break a game. I'm sure we have all played games in which it was great, but the angles were so bad that cheap deaths were common place. Maybe it will be a special "Camera stick" in which you can lock on to your desired angle. Other then that I can't imagine what all the secrecy is all about. Obviously, it will connect with GameBoy Advance, that's a given, but what else?
Now how about the software, from what I've gathered it would appear that Nintendo is trying to push the envelope into "4-D" gaming in which everything is based on a real time, perhaps the first test was Majora's Mask, which is based on a 72-hour clock. I'm sure all games won't use this principle, but with powerful AI the possibilities are endless. Moving us that much closer to playing reality. Gone will be the days of "triggered" events. Where when you show up it automatically "happens". Rather depending on your arrival you could be early or late, thus triggering another myriad of options. Making any game seem to come alive. It just brings a tear to my eye. But regardless of what Nintendo does, I expect this to be the next logical step in the evolution of gaming. And to be honest it's far more important to me then just higher poly counts, Beautiful FMV (i.e. zero interactivity), and other 32 and 64-bit rehashes. But in the end only time will tell.
What we know: CPU dubbed the "Gecko" based on PowerPC architecture, which means it will be somewhat similar to Apple's Macs. Of course this is old news, but what I find intriguing is the new Apple G4 Cube which is, as you might have guessed, a cube (8" x 8" to be exact). Then you toss in that Nintendo's official name for their next-gen hardware is most likely StarCube, and it makes you go hmmm. Coincidence, I think not. If the system looks anything like the G4 Cube then it more than makes up for the funny name.
Mystery number two is, well, that there's a mystery in the first place. Lets see Nintendo has a special design team headed by the creator of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong etc, etc. in which development of the ultra secret project, the next generation controller is the order of the day, or year. Can you imagine how many ID cards employees must carry at Nintendo? I just picture everyone running around in white lab coats with Mario's insignia strategically placed on the pen pocket. Just picture the guys at Sony sending a spy over to Nintendo's Headquarters to do the Mission Impossible thing. You know, guy descending from the air shaft above, being held up by some cord. As he masterfully avoids the infrared sensors trying to just grab a glimpse… Ah it's a movie in the making. Seriously though, the Nintendo controller I suspect will somehow solve the one annoying problem with 3-D gaming. The Camera! How intuitive the Camera is can make or break a game. I'm sure we have all played games in which it was great, but the angles were so bad that cheap deaths were common place. Maybe it will be a special "Camera stick" in which you can lock on to your desired angle. Other then that I can't imagine what all the secrecy is all about. Obviously, it will connect with GameBoy Advance, that's a given, but what else?
Now how about the software, from what I've gathered it would appear that Nintendo is trying to push the envelope into "4-D" gaming in which everything is based on a real time, perhaps the first test was Majora's Mask, which is based on a 72-hour clock. I'm sure all games won't use this principle, but with powerful AI the possibilities are endless. Moving us that much closer to playing reality. Gone will be the days of "triggered" events. Where when you show up it automatically "happens". Rather depending on your arrival you could be early or late, thus triggering another myriad of options. Making any game seem to come alive. It just brings a tear to my eye. But regardless of what Nintendo does, I expect this to be the next logical step in the evolution of gaming. And to be honest it's far more important to me then just higher poly counts, Beautiful FMV (i.e. zero interactivity), and other 32 and 64-bit rehashes. But in the end only time will tell.
Mysteries have always been rather intriguing to me and since the current mystery of the video game console world will have the next Mario and Zelda game, it only seems logical that we delve into the Dolphin Cube mystery just a bit.
What we know: CPU dubbed the "Gecko" based on PowerPC architecture, which means it will be somewhat similar to Apple's Macs. Of course this is old news, but what I find intriguing is the new Apple G4 Cube which is, as you might have guessed, a cube (8" x 8" to be exact). Then you toss in that Nintendo's official name for their next-gen hardware is most likely StarCube, and it makes you go hmmm. Coincidence, I think not. If the system looks anything like the G4 Cube then it more than makes up for the funny name.
Mystery number two is, well, that there's a mystery in the first place. Lets see Nintendo has a special design team headed by the creator of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong etc, etc. in which development of the ultra secret project, the next generation controller is the order of the day, or year. Can you imagine how many ID cards employees must carry at Nintendo? I just picture everyone running around in white lab coats with Mario's insignia strategically placed on the pen pocket. Just picture the guys at Sony sending a spy over to Nintendo's Headquarters to do the Mission Impossible thing. You know, guy descending from the air shaft above, being held up by some cord. As he masterfully avoids the infrared sensors trying to just grab a glimpse… Ah it's a movie in the making. Seriously though, the Nintendo controller I suspect will somehow solve the one annoying problem with 3-D gaming. The Camera! How intuitive the Camera is can make or break a game. I'm sure we have all played games in which it was great, but the angles were so bad that cheap deaths were common place. Maybe it will be a special "Camera stick" in which you can lock on to your desired angle. Other then that I can't imagine what all the secrecy is all about. Obviously, it will connect with GameBoy Advance, that's a given, but what else?
Now how about the software, from what I've gathered it would appear that Nintendo is trying to push the envelope into "4-D" gaming in which everything is based on a real time, perhaps the first test was Majora's Mask, which is based on a 72-hour clock. I'm sure all games won't use this principle, but with powerful AI the possibilities are endless. Moving us that much closer to playing reality. Gone will be the days of "triggered" events. Where when you show up it automatically "happens". Rather depending on your arrival you could be early or late, thus triggering another myriad of options. Making any game seem to come alive. It just brings a tear to my eye. But regardless of what Nintendo does, I expect this to be the next logical step in the evolution of gaming. And to be honest it's far more important to me then just higher poly counts, Beautiful FMV (i.e. zero interactivity), and other 32 and 64-bit rehashes. But in the end only time will tell.
What we know: CPU dubbed the "Gecko" based on PowerPC architecture, which means it will be somewhat similar to Apple's Macs. Of course this is old news, but what I find intriguing is the new Apple G4 Cube which is, as you might have guessed, a cube (8" x 8" to be exact). Then you toss in that Nintendo's official name for their next-gen hardware is most likely StarCube, and it makes you go hmmm. Coincidence, I think not. If the system looks anything like the G4 Cube then it more than makes up for the funny name.
Mystery number two is, well, that there's a mystery in the first place. Lets see Nintendo has a special design team headed by the creator of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong etc, etc. in which development of the ultra secret project, the next generation controller is the order of the day, or year. Can you imagine how many ID cards employees must carry at Nintendo? I just picture everyone running around in white lab coats with Mario's insignia strategically placed on the pen pocket. Just picture the guys at Sony sending a spy over to Nintendo's Headquarters to do the Mission Impossible thing. You know, guy descending from the air shaft above, being held up by some cord. As he masterfully avoids the infrared sensors trying to just grab a glimpse… Ah it's a movie in the making. Seriously though, the Nintendo controller I suspect will somehow solve the one annoying problem with 3-D gaming. The Camera! How intuitive the Camera is can make or break a game. I'm sure we have all played games in which it was great, but the angles were so bad that cheap deaths were common place. Maybe it will be a special "Camera stick" in which you can lock on to your desired angle. Other then that I can't imagine what all the secrecy is all about. Obviously, it will connect with GameBoy Advance, that's a given, but what else?
Now how about the software, from what I've gathered it would appear that Nintendo is trying to push the envelope into "4-D" gaming in which everything is based on a real time, perhaps the first test was Majora's Mask, which is based on a 72-hour clock. I'm sure all games won't use this principle, but with powerful AI the possibilities are endless. Moving us that much closer to playing reality. Gone will be the days of "triggered" events. Where when you show up it automatically "happens". Rather depending on your arrival you could be early or late, thus triggering another myriad of options. Making any game seem to come alive. It just brings a tear to my eye. But regardless of what Nintendo does, I expect this to be the next logical step in the evolution of gaming. And to be honest it's far more important to me then just higher poly counts, Beautiful FMV (i.e. zero interactivity), and other 32 and 64-bit rehashes. But in the end only time will tell.