BBC Article about the Cube

[BigSky]

Mind you there are technical wrongs in this article, as pointed out by the Polygon Count comparisons, but that's mainstream media for 'ya.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/ent...00/1577013.stm

By the BBC's David Gibbon
On 14 September, video game giant Nintendo finally showed the world the power of its next generation console.

The GameCube's Japanese launch saw gaming fanatics travel from far and wide to see just what all the fuss was about.

Around 300,000 consoles were bought within three days of going on sale and most who bought one seemed to be pleasantly surprised.

On opening the package, the most surprising revelation is the small size of the GameCube. It is only slightly larger than Sony's portable PSone console, making it great for those who have very little space to store the machine.



Explore a ghost house in Luigi's mansion

Its striking purple colour and small square shape fuels the impression this is a toy - though the technology inside makes this anything but.

The GameCube also comes with its own, quite unnecessary, carrying handle and an open top lid, giving easy access to the proprietary disk drive.

Retailing in Japan for 25,000 yen (£142m), the GameCube also comes pre-packaged with one controller, a step down transformer which changes the Japanese voltage to make it useable in the UK.

It also includes three launch games: Luigi's Mansion, Wave Race: Blue Storm and Super Monkey Ball.

The best of the three is Wave Race: Blue Storm - a sequel to one of the Nintendo 64's most popular jet ski games which offers a single, two and four player mode.



Super Monkey Ball has you guiding a 3D plane

Graphically, this is undoubtedly one of the best water-based games ever. The effects are truly stunning and offer reflections and waves so real that you almost get the feeling this is not a game at all.

Luigi's Mansion sees you exploring a ghost-filled house to rescue your brother and features some excellent shadow effects, while Super Monkey Ball involves manoeuvring monkeys trapped inside translucent spheres by tilting 3D planes.

The controller that comes with the machine is one of the most innovative ever seen, featuring seven buttons, two analog sticks, a D-pad and a built-in rumble device.

Although it also looks like a toy, after just a few hours play it is plain to see that its clever design offers unprecedented control when compared with the competition.

The controller sits in the hand very well indeed and all of the controls are within easy reach, which is ergonomically pleasing.

Surprise

The GameCube comes with four controller ports and the much talked about ability to transfer characters from the GameBoy Advance - though this has yet to be seen.

The front-end interface that controls the GameCube is very easy to negotiate. The simple on-screen graphics may surprise some - but the scroll down options make it very easy to use.

You are first asked to select regional time and other settings and then it is ready to play. One detail to note is that the small DVD discs are only eight centimetres in diameter, so care must be taking as they can so easily be mislaid.

Comparing polygon performance with each of the main consoles, the GameCube comes out worse. While it can move six to 12 million per second, the PlayStation 2 can reach 66 million and the X-Box an astounding 125 million.

Exclusive

However, GameCube's CPU and graphical processors are fast and this coupled with Nintendo's pedigree of producing quality games - the most important factor of all - should see the console triumph.

Many critics have claimed the GameCube is nothing but a toy - and to quash this idea, Nintendo have recently signed a deal with Japanese game giant Capcom that will see the next six titles in the Resident Evil series exclusive to GameCube.

As one of the most popular video game franchises in the world, this is a major coup for Nintendo and should help ensure its next-generation console becomes a major success.

[smelialichu]

Not a bad article, the polygon count bit is wrong as you pointed out. The gamecube is more powerful than the ps2 but less so than the Xbox. I haven't read a single negative thing about the gamecube here, most articles are hyping it. Nintendo is more popular here.