Speculating over the Original Intentions Behind the Gamecube’s Hi-Speed Port

March 10th, 2008

Got a GameCube? Ever wondered what that Hi-Speed port on the bottom of the Cube was really all about? You know this one:

Back around the time the Gamecube and it’s hardware specifications were first being shown off at E3 2001 Nintendo stated that the Hi-Speed port was basically a port for any console add-ons or peripherals down the track and that for the time being they weren’t sure what any of these expansions may be. I can’t remember exactly but I believe that the default assumption was that it would be similar to the Nintendo 64’s Memory Expansion port which later housed the Expansion Pak. That is, some sort of additional processing power for the console.

Eventually a year and a half later Nintendo released the GameBoy Player which was the only such peripheral to ever take advantage of this port. Which kinda makes me a little suspect as to what Nintendo were originally planning to use the port for. So I’ve thrown together some ideas of my own which I think would have been realistic of Nintendo and the hardware, feasible as well as useful for the consumer.

CPU or RAM Upgrade

Much like the N64’s Expansion Pak the Hi-Speed port would have likely been some sort of small upgrade to the system to give it an added advantage in whatever Nintendo could have considered the Gamecube was lacking.

There are two reasons why I believe this is likely firstly Nintendo’s history with expanding a consoles hardware. With the Super Nintendo they used a series of chip upgrades to the game cartridges and with the Nintendo 64 they had the expansion pak, so a further opportunity to upgrade their platform’s hardware is logically sound. Secondly the name Hi-Speed gives the hint that whatever plugs into it will add “speed” or power to the console.

Harddrive

Remember the Memory Card 59s and how annoying they were? Then Nintendo finally released the 251 followed by the 1019 and finally the 2043. It is so ridiculous and confusing. You know that they messed up because they kept on releasing games with free memory cards. In anycase a portable harddrive would have solved all of these problems.

Judging from my own perception, from the size of the Hi-Speed compartment and the technology back 5 years ago a small 128mb harddrive would have definitely been feasible . That is equivalent to a Memory Card 2043 by the way.

Obviously Nintendo didn’t put much effort into putting the Gamecube online so really the harddrive would have just been an “invisible” storage unit (rather then used to store additional content). Which isn’t such a bad idea for someone like myself whom has roughly 6 GameCube Memory cards. Once again this one is quite likely, firstly because Nintendo had the issue of memory card storage and secondly because the Hi-Speed port was a Parallel port which is old technology used (superseded by USB technology) for floppy disks, portable harddrives etc.

DVD Player

This is another technology new to Nintendo which often conflicted them. On one hand Nintendo didn’t want a DVD player for the Gamecube but on the other it released the Panasonic Q in Japan which was a metallic, silver Gamecube with a small LCD screen and DVD player.

This is where I believe a DVD player add on could have been in the works. Nintendo has a good relationship with Matsushita and had plenty of reasons to include a DVD player. The main reason being that people liked the idea of having a “free” DVD player with their console. I believe that if this one was to have taken off then it would had a similar design to the GB Player.

Wii-like Peripherals

Yes, yes we do like peripherals. Or so I believe Iwata-San (back then he had just overthrown replaced Hiroshi Yamuachi) was saying. This one is going to be difficult to prove because I can’t quite remember it myself. But I vaguely remember that once before when questioned about N5 (the code name for the Wii) Iwata stated that he wanted to add further life into the Gamecube with additional peripherals.

There is a relationship here and I hope that you have spotted it. ^_^

Basically these peripheral never really were released on the Gamecube (you could say otherwise with the microphone, bongos etc) and migrated over to the Wii. The Wii Zapper, Balance Board and even the Wii mote itself are all examples of what these Gamecube peripherals could have originally intended to be. It does make a lot of sense. Hence I believe that this would have been another likely idea being kicked around over at NCL. Now if only I could back that claim up. ><

Celebrate the Release of Super Smash Bros Brawl by Honouring a Rare Gem

March 6th, 2008

As of writing it is only a couple of short days until the release of the hotly anticipated, fan-service title; Super Smash Bros Brawl for the Wii. Among the Nintendo crowd this is huge news as it as a celebration of all things Nintendo and then some. Unfortunately I must admit my own interest in this title has been dampened considerably by what has been an almost uncontrollable fan fare, infact it is something which as a Nintendo fan I am very concerned about.

You see even though I am, have and probably always will be a fan of the big N, the fan following that this game has garnered is beyond fanatical. Now don’t read me wrong here, this series is a strong, respectable franchise in itself and just like everyone else I will undoubtedly enjoy it to it’s fullest. Smash Bros definetly deserves a large fan fare but it is the side effects of this fan fare that have me quite worried.

I recently posted an article for the Retro Gaming with RacketBoy blog where I looked at key forgotten Nintendo franchises. The reason why I chose to write about that particular subject matter was to push a stronger message out to a larger readership. Too many great games are dying at the expense of other games. All of the games that I listed have sacrificed themselves to other, sometimes better sometimes worse but overall much more hyped games.

This is where Super Smash Bros Brawl fits in. Ironically, desite being essentially a celebration of everything Nintendo, the Smash Bros. fan base in a way destroys this spirit.

You see game publishers love hype and they want people to get carried away with the hype so that their game will see more exposure. For consumers I think that this is quite dangerous because it removes what I call ‘level headed’ thinking. It ensures that consumers make choices based on preconcieved ideas instead of product research or through sampling the game before purchase. In all in what this means is that not all games are created equal hence, as a result we have a selection of forgotten, niche titles which are great games crying out for a purchase.

This is a problem within all mediums I think. Unfortunately by nature as long as we have some preconcieved ideas or experiences with games then we will always be biased in our selective choices. We trust franchises (read: brands) that have earnt our trust, we buy a game which we was on the side of a bus or on TV or the game that our friends told us is cool. This is natural and this is fine. It is okay to anticipate a new game. It is only when this hype clouds our judgement that we have a problem, something which I feel Smash Bros has done for a lot of people.

I do want to stress that Smash Bros is not alone here, it is one of many, many titles under the same umbrella. I chose Super Smash Bros Brawl though obviously because of it’s relevance but also because it is probably most guilty for creating such an uncontrollable degree of hype. It was also a fitting choice for Nintendo in particular, to quote myself from the guest written article;

“This is truly a frustrating and sad situation. Nintendo has built up three of their strongest properties so much so that these other great titles simply can’t stay afloat.”

There is simply too much irony, isn’t there? Nintendos franchise heavy fighter killing off other franchises.

To further expand upon this concept I want to use the recent example of Endless Ocean (more here). Despite this game’s unique, meditative perspective on our medium and despite all of it’s unique qualities, how many Smash Bros fans do you think will buy or even care about this game. I suspect very few and this is the unfortunate problem. I suspect that Endless Ocean will sell well enough due to Nintendo’s Blue Ocean marketing stratergy so to provide perhaps a better example think of Pilotwings 64 and Super Mario 64 at the time of the Nintendo 64’s launch. Yes, case in point. I am sure that you can think of other examples so please share them in the comments.

This is just the way it is though, it is just simple gaming economics. Nintendo as a publisher puts all of it’s releases for a certain release window aside and portions out the advertising budget according to what they believe will sell.

Conclusion

I have for a long time been concerned about this issue, it is not going to go away. Aligning ourselves with a brand is natural, it is human nature. We have all been a fanboy at one time or another and are probably in some ways biased even once we do get out of fanboy territory (for example myself and Metal Gear Solid). As long as we are aware that this is occuring and maintain a ‘level headed’ perspective then there is no reason for concern. As gamers, maintaining this ‘level headed’ perspective is important as it allows us to be more open to new play experiences.

So I want to set a challenge for you readers. I want you to celebrate the release of this game which in itself is a celebration of all things Nintendo by either: researching, honouring or even buying a forgotten, niche game from the past. It doesn’t even have to be Nintendo, thats fine. Do some research, look past the hype and tell me what you have learnt or what games you remember below.

That guest post might be a good start on some ideas, there are more games listed at the end of the article.

Link Out (12/2/08)

February 11th, 2008

Its been over a month since my last Link Out. I might try and make this segment a monthly segment as it will allow me to build up a stronger list of better links. For those who have just joined us in the past month, this segment is where I share the love and post up links to my favourite, recent articles circulating the internet. Think of it as a form of supplementary readings with my tick of recommendation.

I think that I have found a great assortment this month. Here we go:

The Rad Project

I linked to this site in my Totally Rad Retro Video Review but I want to mention it again. This site basically compares the difference between the NES gameTotally Rad and it’s original Japanese version; Magic John. Magic John was ‘Amercanized’ for its western release, so its interesting to draw the comparisons.

The Best Old-School Games of 2007 – Retro Gaming with RacketBoy

RacketBoy looks over this user selected list of the best retro games of 2007. It reminds me of what a great year 2007 was for games be it new, old, remade or compilated. Theres also a number of those fan service games from 2007 that I was talking about previously.

Wrecking Crew Retro Review – The BBPS

I was planning on doing a retro review on this game a while ago. But I don’t think that I will now, I’ve already shared my thoughts on the game and will be covering it in other ways in future. So in it’s place, I post this link.

Turok 2 Retro Review – VideoGames Blogger

Another game that Matty Jay and I wanted to put up for review. Well you can basically scrap that idea as astrotriforce from Video Games Blogger posted up this downright excellent review of the game. It covers everything that I wish I had time to write about. Excellent review.

Metal Slug Not Really in HD – 8 Bit Joystick

Yeah, some of these links are pretty old, I remember reading this one ages ago. Still a good read on something that I was unsure about

The Simpsons Game Cutscenes - Siliconera

Like a lot of people I’m not interested in forking out full price to buy The Simpsons Game just to wade through some meh gameplay to get to the cutscenes. Luckily Siliconera found someone whom has kindy ripped the cutscenes from the game.

The Wii’s Success: It’s time for developers to put up or shut up - Infendo

One of the best, hard hitting articles that I have read for some time. Really lays the smack down on whinging third parties. There’s a couple of minor points in the article that I do disagree with but overall Infendo nail this one.

Seven Ways to Make Money Gaming

I love games and I need money to keep that love alive. Fortunately I can combine the two. Keira from Write the Game runs thru seven of the best ways to make the cash.

Earthbound Calendar Is A Ness-essity – Press the Buttons

Even though Nintendo still continue to withhold the EarthBound series from us singlet wearing Australians, I still have a distant love for Earthbound (ah yes, ’scratch and sniff’). Matty G posted up some great calender images based on the series. I originally wasn’t sure if I was going to post this, as the lame pun in the title was giving me second thoughts. ^_^

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