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    GameCube Hardware Speculation

    Well that title should send a few people off.....

    This is what I am thinking. On the bottom of the cube we have 3 extensions. With the release of the GB Player Nintendo have basically said there will be no stupid 64DD type addon. But we have a port free. With all the recent speculation of Nintendo and local network esque gaming I figure its gonna happen like this.

    The Serial Port 2, will be the LAN adapter, but in true nintendo style it won't be CAT5 (standard) it'll be Nintendo cabling in a similar setup to the GameBoy, even using the GBA cable hub setup, but I doubt it. The reason it won't be standard is because if it was, then folk could use the BBA, but then some folk don't have the BBA, or they use the 56k Modem. So nintendo are thinking, hmm bit more licencing, crazy hardware, baddabing, LAN Nintendo style. The slot is a fine size for a LAN type hardware, and like I say the GB Player makes it impossible to use for anything else.



    The general concensus I've been reading is Nintendo are thinking about Lanning up Mario Kart, or Pikmin 2, or even Fzero and StarFox, its the kinda thing Nintendo keep locked up till the last minute.

    Possible?

    #2
    Possible?[/quote]

    I'm thinking highly probable. I'm thinking an 802.11B module so that machines don't even need to be in the same room, and even if you are you're won't be constrained by cables.

    If you have a couple of TV's in the house you just hook your cubes up, turn them on and the machines find each other, establish and ad-hoc network and you're good to go.

    802.11B chipsets are dirt cheap these days and all the handsoff, ad-hoc networking can be done by Rendezvous/ZeroConf.
    No real user interaction required.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Baroque
      802.11B chipsets are dirt cheap these days and all the handsoff, ad-hoc networking can be done by Rendezvous/ZeroConf.
      No real user interaction required.
      It'll be an absolute travesty if 802.11* isn't standard on all consoles from now on. It's a complete pain trailing cat5s everywhere, esp with BB being so prevalent.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Super Stu
        Originally posted by Baroque
        802.11B chipsets are dirt cheap these days and all the handsoff, ad-hoc networking can be done by Rendezvous/ZeroConf.
        No real user interaction required.
        It'll be an absolute travesty if 802.11* isn't standard on all consoles from now on. It's a complete pain trailing cat5s everywhere, esp with BB being so prevalent.
        There you go. We have all the tech to make it as close to idiot proof as snapping it into the systems backside and turning it on, running the game and going. And the technology is cheap enough to be sold off the shelf for less than the cost of a game, there should be no problem.

        I really believe it's LAN gaming Ninty choose to work on (As it sure as hell shouldn't be online), it's going to be wireless. Anything which involves running cables is just insane, and the 11Mbps .11B provides is more than enough to handle data transport needs.

        This is the horse I'm backing for E3, I could be wrong but I think I'm right .

        Comment


          #5
          You ferkin' genius Baroque, I hadn't even considered that. Makes sense, and what a concept. Although I can't see nintendo using a "standard" however, maybe use some branch of whatever they used in the Wavebird.

          Nice idea. Quick, lets patent it.

          Comment


            #6
            Wasn't there talk of Nintendo taking Baroques idea to a whole new level by finding other Gamecubes in your immediate area? Therefore creating hundreds of mini LANS that anyone can connect to. Plug my pc in at home and play visit Area 101 Animal Crossing 2 Village, plug it in round old Nicks and visit Area 345 etc?

            Comment


              #7
              Personally I reckon they'll stick to the bba for link up play, and sell cross over cables for two machines, and tell people to buy hubs for more.

              Wireless would probably still be too expensive for Nintendo, they'd have to sell a wireless adaptor for at least ?80 I reckon if they did it.

              Besides, if you have four GameCubes linked up with four tvs and at least four controllers there are plenty of cables around already.

              Theres no reason why they couldn't use the bba for lan link ups at least...

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Papercut
                Personally I reckon they'll stick to the bba for link up play, and sell cross over cables for two machines, and tell people to buy hubs for more.

                Wireless would probably still be too expensive for Nintendo, they'd have to sell a wireless adaptor for at least ?80 I reckon if they did it.

                Besides, if you have four GameCubes linked up with four tvs and at least four controllers there are plenty of cables around already.

                Theres no reason why they couldn't use the bba for lan link ups at least...
                Sure they could do that, but I'm not sure if they will becuase it can be messy.

                Wireless chipsets are dirt-cheap these days after the release of 802.11A & 802.11G; you can pick up 802.11b cards for less than ?40 in the shops right now. That?s not a discounted price either, full retailer mark up built in.

                As has been mentioned already, and what I was thinking about last night, Nintendo have also done significant wireless work with WaveBird, which means that they've already worked on the engineering aspects of a wireless product.

                As for cables and TV's, remember the Nintendo branded LCD screen Sonic Team were using to show of their PSO Card Battle Game? Add a wireless adapter to that system, it's now as close to portable networked console gaming as you could get. Only Power and Headphones required.

                I'm not saying the more propeller head ideas like that will be done, but it very easily can be done. As has been said, if they don?t use a self configuring IP system, it?ll probably be a WaveBird superset, style product with a throughput rate which could handle the amount of data required.

                Heck thinking about it I?m almost ruling out the existing Wireless standards and counting on it being a WaveBird style RF Transmitter/Receiver which snaps into the underside of the Cube.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by JibberX
                  Although I can't see nintendo using a "standard" however, maybe use some branch of whatever they used in the Wavebird.
                  Aha!
                  You picked up on that too, the entire "WaveBird Tech on Steroids" idea came to me last night as I was soaking in the bath. Great minds and all that.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Hubs and wires just isn't Nintendo's style. Relying on third party harware......I don't think so.

                    Option1:
                    Play Mario Kart against your friends all you need is:
                    2 or more GameCubes
                    2 or more BBAs (will not work if you have 56k modem installed)
                    for Two players, 1 nintendo crossover cable
                    for more than two players all you need is amount of cables per cube nintendo cat5 cables, 1 nintendo super hub and power supply

                    Option2
                    Play Mario Kart against your friends all you need is:
                    2 or more GameCubes
                    Wavelan for each Cube

                    I can see which one Nintendo would go for, in my strange dream world I am thinking up.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Those Carry Handles were there for a purpose. And so is the Wavebird technology.

                      Wouldn't be very practical for us importers though!

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Also, on the wavebird you can select up to 16 different channels......

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Course, that would depend on the bandwidth permitted by the wavebird technology. Also, remember that some sort of hub is needed for multiple machines (2+). I still say 802.11* is a good hunch, as I suspect a number of people will already have wireless hubs and/or routers for dsl etc already.

                          Bit pricey, but we can live and hope, eh.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Super Stu
                            Course, that would depend on the bandwidth permitted by the wavebird technology. Also, remember that some sort of hub is needed for multiple machines (2+). I still say 802.11* is a good hunch, as I suspect a number of people will already have wireless hubs and/or routers for dsl etc already.

                            Bit pricey, but we can live and hope, eh.
                            If it's 802.11 it's going to be 802.11B and not anything else as A & G cost too much right now, and are overkill for the data rate you'd need.

                            You can run multiple 802.11B cards across an ad-hoc network, where one of them acts as a software base station, the only problem is that the collision rate goes up the more cards you add to the ad-hoc network.

                            I'm thinking it won't be 802.11 at all as that's a bit too standardised for Ninty, perhaps it would be a custom job from whomsoever provides the WaveBird chipset to Nintendo.

                            The Hubs may not even be required.

                            We could see a Token Ring style protocol used over RF, they all receive but only transmit in the order you?ve set them to. 1, 2, 3, 4 blah blah blah. Like choosing a channel for your WaveBird. The transmit interval & order for each client is known, they take turns in sending their information while everything else listens, reads it to see if it?s for them and discards it if it isn?t.

                            Either way all the tech for a Nintendo Wireless LAN is in place, if LAN comes and it's wired, not wireless I'd be rather disappointed.

                            If I were to guess, I'd guess a max of four clients on such a system. It might sound small but in total it would allow for 16 players, four on each client.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Link up between GC would be cool via wireless, but not sure how
                              successful it would be, remember IRDA on the Gameboy Colour?

                              If Nintendo use wireless to link up consoles between houses then then need a license, if it developed a new protocol it would have to go though significant amounts of governmental BS. At least in Europe.

                              Neil.

                              Comment

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