From what I gather the current Gamecube uses a PowerPC chip. The next Nintendo console is also likely to go PowerPC. Would this allow easy ports of Nintendo games? Does this open up any possible tech partnerships between Nintendo and Apple?
It could be interesting though. Exclusive Nintendo Games on the Apple, could be profitable for both. I don't believe the chip in the new console is finalized yet, but do you think a 970 is feasible for a home console under $300?
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Plus Nintendo needs to do something big to regain the ground it lost to Sony.
As someone involved in the game industry, I can tell you that there will never be a partnership between Apple and Nintendo, at least for the reasons you presented here. Nintendo's ethics and policies have always been of an extremely self-pretentious flavor, and that sort of thing is, like, totally not them.
I have a feeling their relationship with IBM and ATI will continue, however, unless manufacturing costs become burdensome (Nintendo's practice is to make profit on the cheaply-made hardware itself -- something unheard of in modern times). Something else Nintendo seems to be banking on recently is the nifty, dotMac-like bonuses they're pushing by combining their own hardware, linking up the Game Boy Advance to the GameCube, and whatnot, in a last-ditch attempt to remain relevant as overseers of an entire game platform (the arguable only reason to purchase a GameCube is for the games Nintendo produces itself, which in itself begs them to go software-only).
And if you wanted a technical reason in addition to a political one, the games for the GameCube are very tightly integrated with the hardware they run, and it's not only impossible (or unreasonable) to attempt playing a first-party GameCube game without the controller it was designed for (if you've played games like Mario Sunshine and Metroid Prime, you know what I mean), but even technologies such as streaming and on-the-fly decoding are only afforded by the extreme speed of the tiny disc. Much of the game is dependent on the precision of a single chip, single GPU, and single disc drive, so to have it run even on the comparably small number of Macs in existence would require intensive reworking of the code, so it's not as "quick and dirty" as you might think.
Not to mention that the GameCube hardware is now $99, which all but nullifies the purpose of any such collaboration with the Mac Maker (God, I really am starting to hate that epithet).
Why, I play the role of amateur analyst. By "involved," I didn't mean that I had an actual job in the industry. Yet. But after much observation of key players and attendance to a few E3's, you can tell what's going on.
Nintendo is almost a manifestation of the Tokugawa Shogunate in digital videogame form. They're self-sufficient and cocky about it, and on a massively corporate level (unlike the Reign of Jobs). It started with the 50-plus-year influences of Hiroshi Yamauchi, and now that he's retired, the person who's taken his place, Iwata, seems content with continuing those methods. There's a book called Game Over that chronicles Nintendo's fearlessness and non-cooperation as a videogame company from the early eighties, onward, and what's written there pretty much sums up the mindset of the company. And if recent news is any indication, things are only getting worse.
It could be interesting though. Exclusive Nintendo Games on the Apple, could be profitable for both. I don't believe the chip in the new console is finalized yet, but do you think a 970 is feasible for a home console under $300?
(edit)
Plus Nintendo needs to do something big to regain the ground it lost to Sony.
Why would a GameCube need a 970? It runs great on the current chip, IMHO.
Comments
(edit)
Plus Nintendo needs to do something big to regain the ground it lost to Sony.
I have a feeling their relationship with IBM and ATI will continue, however, unless manufacturing costs become burdensome (Nintendo's practice is to make profit on the cheaply-made hardware itself -- something unheard of in modern times). Something else Nintendo seems to be banking on recently is the nifty, dotMac-like bonuses they're pushing by combining their own hardware, linking up the Game Boy Advance to the GameCube, and whatnot, in a last-ditch attempt to remain relevant as overseers of an entire game platform (the arguable only reason to purchase a GameCube is for the games Nintendo produces itself, which in itself begs them to go software-only).
And if you wanted a technical reason in addition to a political one, the games for the GameCube are very tightly integrated with the hardware they run, and it's not only impossible (or unreasonable) to attempt playing a first-party GameCube game without the controller it was designed for (if you've played games like Mario Sunshine and Metroid Prime, you know what I mean), but even technologies such as streaming and on-the-fly decoding are only afforded by the extreme speed of the tiny disc. Much of the game is dependent on the precision of a single chip, single GPU, and single disc drive, so to have it run even on the comparably small number of Macs in existence would require intensive reworking of the code, so it's not as "quick and dirty" as you might think.
Not to mention that the GameCube hardware is now $99, which all but nullifies the purpose of any such collaboration with the Mac Maker (God, I really am starting to hate that epithet).
Nintendo is almost a manifestation of the Tokugawa Shogunate in digital videogame form. They're self-sufficient and cocky about it, and on a massively corporate level (unlike the Reign of Jobs). It started with the 50-plus-year influences of Hiroshi Yamauchi, and now that he's retired, the person who's taken his place, Iwata, seems content with continuing those methods. There's a book called Game Over that chronicles Nintendo's fearlessness and non-cooperation as a videogame company from the early eighties, onward, and what's written there pretty much sums up the mindset of the company. And if recent news is any indication, things are only getting worse.
Originally posted by LiquidR
It could be interesting though. Exclusive Nintendo Games on the Apple, could be profitable for both. I don't believe the chip in the new console is finalized yet, but do you think a 970 is feasible for a home console under $300?
(edit)
Plus Nintendo needs to do something big to regain the ground it lost to Sony.
Why would a GameCube need a 970? It runs great on the current chip, IMHO.
Originally posted by CubeDude
Why would a GameCube need a 970? It runs great on the current chip, IMHO.
They're talking about NextGen hardware.