Gamecube compatible iMac?
OK, we all know that the gamecube uses PPC chips, though not the same ones that are used in Macs. So what's stopping Apple from shipping an Gamecube-compatible iMac?
There are undoubtedly a number of technical difficulties with this, such as providing a drive that reads both Gamecube disks and conventional CDs and DVDs. And there are undoubtedly a number of relatively subtle difficulties involved with translating Gamecube instructions to the Mac. But these would all appear to be soluble problems.
You might want to say that Nintendo would come down on Apple like a ton of bricks, but would they? They've already licenced the basic Gamecube design to another manufacturer, Matsushita. Moreover, if Nintendo make a loss on each Gamecube sold, then Apple would be doing them a favour if people bought more Gamecube games and fewer Gamecubes.
I've raised this before, but I've never seemed to provoke much enthusiasm for this idea. I think it's your classic win-win deal: Apple gets a unique selling point for the iMac, and Nintendo extends the reach of the Gamecube with no effort whatsoever.
What do you think about this?
There are undoubtedly a number of technical difficulties with this, such as providing a drive that reads both Gamecube disks and conventional CDs and DVDs. And there are undoubtedly a number of relatively subtle difficulties involved with translating Gamecube instructions to the Mac. But these would all appear to be soluble problems.
You might want to say that Nintendo would come down on Apple like a ton of bricks, but would they? They've already licenced the basic Gamecube design to another manufacturer, Matsushita. Moreover, if Nintendo make a loss on each Gamecube sold, then Apple would be doing them a favour if people bought more Gamecube games and fewer Gamecubes.
I've raised this before, but I've never seemed to provoke much enthusiasm for this idea. I think it's your classic win-win deal: Apple gets a unique selling point for the iMac, and Nintendo extends the reach of the Gamecube with no effort whatsoever.
What do you think about this?
Comments
<strong>OK, we all know that the gamecube uses PPC chips, though not the same ones that are used in Macs. So what's stopping Apple from shipping an Gamecube-compatible iMac?
There are undoubtedly a number of technical difficulties with this, such as providing a drive that reads both Gamecube disks and conventional CDs and DVDs. And there are undoubtedly a number of relatively subtle difficulties involved with translating Gamecube instructions to the Mac. But these would all appear to be soluble problems.
You might want to say that Nintendo would come down on Apple like a ton of bricks, but would they? They've already licenced the basic Gamecube design to another manufacturer, Matsushita. Moreover, if Nintendo make a loss on each Gamecube sold, then Apple would be doing them a favour if people bought more Gamecube games and fewer Gamecubes.
I've raised this before, but I've never seemed to provoke much enthusiasm for this idea. I think it's your classic win-win deal: Apple gets a unique selling point for the iMac, and Nintendo extends the reach of the Gamecube with no effort whatsoever.
What do you think about this?</strong><hr></blockquote>
a gamecub simulator will be very simple to made, because of the use of a ppc chip. However the major problem , is the specific gamecubes disk. Perhaps nintendo have a license of this specific kind of disks preventing other to use this technology. I think it's the major problem of the gamecube.
HappyDrunk.
<strong>OK, we all know that the gamecube uses PPC chips, though not the same ones that are used in Macs. So what's stopping Apple from shipping an Gamecube-compatible iMac?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah. Great.
We could call it the OS X-Box.
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
<strong>
Yeah. Great.
We could call it the OS X-Box.
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
Great name! That's what I'm going to refer to my G4 as from now on.
A GameCube compatable iMac2 would be great, but I don't think it's going to happen. The PowerPC used in the GC is quite similar to the PowerPC used in the current iMac?s, but the problem is that the iMac contains a graphics processor that doesn't even have 1 tenth of the of the power of the graphics processor in the GC. The Gamecube can push in the region of 10 million polygons a second, an iMac can manage 800,000 at best!
A much better idea would be for Apple to buy up SEGA, and put some exclusive titles out on the Mac, such as Shenmue 3, Jet Set Radio Future, Virtua Fighter 4, PSO2 etc, etc.
Sega could always release Chu Chu Rocket on the PC, since it's a flash game.
Mmm, Chu Chu Rocket.
Too bad there aren't any more Dreamcast games, though I hear Shemmue 2 is gonna be released in Europe. Wonder if its possible to play it on an NTSC machine...
HappyDrunk.
And guess what? Macs don't have Flipper chips in them. Suddenly it's not such a simple leap from the "PPC based" GameCube to the Mac, eh?
<strong>Too bad there aren't any more Dreamcast games, though I hear Shemmue 2 is gonna be released in Europe.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It has already been released - I am halfway through the game, and those who like the first part will love the sequel. It's just bigger and better, but overall the same game.
Due to the fact that it is a PAL version I doubt you will be able to play it. Or is there some kind of boot disc for the DC (we have one for the PS2 so we can play NTSC games and RegCode 1 DVDs)?
Concerning the main point of this topic: Apple has nothing to do with console makers and I doubt this is going to change soon. The markets are totally different - Nintendo needs to sell GCs to have an installed base. A machine which also capable to play GC games does not count. Great for Apple, bad for Big N - so this case won't occur.
Sega have a utterly incredible back catalogue of games, plus some future classics in development.
They could make a load of money just publishing games for Macs, Mobiles, PDA?s and Gameboy Advance. Of course it goes without saying that would put a hold on all future XBOX Sega games !!! ;-)
Lets not forget the 4 million plus loyal sega fans out there who might just consider buying a Mac just to play the latest versions of Shenmue, PSO etc.
Furthermore, they are features that, if properly implemented, keep their value even when the hardware itself has become 'dated' -- in contrast to games which continually demand bleeding edge hardware. A two year-old computer is still as good today for writing papers, balancing books, sending e-mail and playing music/movies. Computers sold today will still be good at editing home video, or photos, and burning discs with A/V content. Better stuff will come out, but the real limitation is your ability to supply the content. A crap artist with great tools is still a crap artist!
Contrast to games, where you depend on others to supply the content, and so are always left needing the latest devices that can deliver it. Does it make sense to spend 1000-3500 on such devices when you can spend 200-300?
Anti-computer gaming rant aside. Games are fun, no doubt. If a multi-purpose computer can also deliver games, great! But my computer has more important things to do. Now other peoples' may not, and it is then that the console becomes especially compelling: Why pay for Multi-function, when you don't really use it? I think that a lot of people don't yet realize how foolish/wasteful the computer as gaming system really is. The new consoles (and those that come after) will undoubtedly highlight the point.
Remember Connectix` Virtual Game Station? No, gaming companies like to keep the system to themselves...
For those who want to play "Shenmue 2" PAL on their NTSC Dreamcast machines, you just need a bootdisk called DC-X and you will be introduced in the world of Ryo Hazuki ;-)
Flipper was developer by ArtX, not ATI. ATI bought ArtX after the Flipper design had already been completed. There are no current ATI products that use Flipper technology.
Nintendo may be a little different. They have a very strong brand but they are a toy company. Have you any idea what they make on merchandising and handhelds alone? About 400 million a year on pokemon! How exactly does this fit in with Apple? It's a lot of money, but it isn't worth the time. The companies have virtually nothing in common. Anyone buying a Gamecube is doing so for a simple cheap way to have fun -- $200 is fine for that. Who's going to pay $1000-1500 for that?
Who knows, he might even do some homework on it !!!
Cheers
adam
You've probably gotten much better gaming value out of your consoles. Smile, you made the right choice!
Thanks for your input -- this is the kind of informed response I was looking for. FWIW, it seems to me that the Gamecube's raw specs are actually relatively modest. Tom's hardware cites a polygon rate of 6-12M/s: see
<a href="http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/01q4/011204/console-03.html"; target="_blank">http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/01q4/011204/console-03.html</A>; .
In the meantime, the same site cites a polygon count for the GeForce 2MX well above that, namely 20M: see
<a href="http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/00q2/000629/geforce2mx-03.html"; target="_blank">http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/00q2/000629/geforce2mx-03.html</A>; .
In short, if Apple were to produce a motherboard that didn't choke the GPU, it would appear on this very limited analysis that gamecube emulation in a GeForce2MX-based system might just be feasible.
Matsu:
I don't quite see why the thought of a gamecube-compatible iMac bothers you so much. It's not so much a case of buying either an iMac or a gamecube as a case of buying some other personal computer + a console as well. As for the longevity of the system, it seems to me that console games stay on the market for much longer than most computer games.
<strong>OK, we all know that the gamecube uses PPC chips, though not the same ones that are used in Macs. So what's stopping Apple from shipping an Gamecube-compatible iMac?
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Actually, the Gekko IS a PowerPC chip but it's been modified for the gamecube - the instruction set was expanded beyond normal PPC and it was modified a couple of more times to eliminate potential bottlenecks in the system. I don't think it would be an easy thing to emulate it - not to mention an iMac coule never handle the number crunching in its current design.
I got this info from cube.ign.com - there's an interview with two of the top engineers from the gekko team there.