Top Five Reasons You Can't Blame...
(I also posted this at AtariAge and GameFAQs but I thought you guys might like to see it also) Due to the good response I got for the first episode of "Top Five Reasons You Can't Blame..." I decided to do another one (and possibly a whole series provided ESPN doesn't try to sue me! ). With the Sixth Generation of video game consoles around the corner at the dawn of the Millennium, Nintendo decided that their newest console (Project Dolphin, later to become the GameCube) was ready for a disc based format. But again, Nintendo made a controversial decision to not adopt the DVD format that had taken off the past few years, with their chief competitor, the Playstation 2, being the only Sixth Generation console with standard DVD playability (the Xbox required an optional accessory). Instead, Nintendo insisted that they wanted the GCN to be a "pure" gaming console and nothing else. Unfortunately for Nintendo, the new 1.5 GB Game Disc format though over double the size of CD-ROM and 1.5x the size of Dreamcast discs, was still dwarfed in size by the 8.4GB capacity of DVDs, which like the previous generation, handed the RPG genre to Sony on a silver platter (where the extra space for cutscenes/voice acting is most vital). Thus, Nintendo once again did not have as strong third party support as they did in the NES/SNES days (though they did somewhat better than in the N64 era), and Sony once more was the clear runaway winner in the "console wars". But now I present to you, the Top Five Reasons You Can't Blame the Nintendo GameCube for NOT playing DVDs: 5. CONSOLE AFFORDABLITY: With the PS2 and later Xbox starting at $300 upon their release, Nintendo knew that to add DVD compatibility would drive up the cost of the GCN, and Nintendo clearly wanted their console to be affordable. Thus by sticking with their "games only" strategy, the GCN started at $200, which was not only $100 cheaper than their competitors, but was still much more powerful than the PS2 and almost as powerful as the Xbox. 4. FAILURE OF PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS: Nintendo had clearly witnessed previous attempts at "luxury consoles" that tried to be jacks-of-all-trades back in the early 1990s. That is, consoles such as the 3DO and CD-I that tried to be a multimedia home entertainment console were not only too expensive (up to $700!!!), but didn't focus enough on the games to be taken as seriously as a gaming console. Though the PS2 was ultimately the runaway winner of the Sixth Generation, it was ultimately because of the library of games, NOT because it did "other stuff". 3. ANTI-PIRACY: As Nintendo has always jealously guarded their copyrights and taken a very strong anti-piracy stance, they wanted to be sure that their GCN would be very hard for pirates to crack. They also knew that using the same ol' DVD format that everyone else uses would be cracked quickly by pirates. The result was a format that was very unique in that the discs spun the opposite of DVDs and the laser was read in the opposite direction of a standard DVD player. It is not surprising that by the time pirates had "cracked" the GCN so to speak, the GCN was on the tail end of its lifecycle anyway. 2. THE GAMECUBE IS A VIDEO GAME CONSOLE, NOT A DVD PLAYER: Unlike Nintendo's competitors, Nintendo has always been first and foremost about games. Sony and Microsoft, in contrast, started out as home entertainment and computer software companies (respectively) and even today is their primary business focus, as if the video games are just a "on the side" venture by comparison. Nintendo reasoned that they had a major edge in their video game tradition and experience (the GCN was Nintendo's fourth console, PS2 Sony's second, Xbox Microsoft's first), not to mention all their blue chip exclusives (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, even SONIC for awhile) that would NEVER be on their competitors. Furthermore, by not worrying about multimedia gimmicks, Nintendo was able instead to create accessories focusing on GAMING that neither Sony or Microsoft even offered, such as the only wireless controller of the Sixth Generation (Wavebird), using the GBA as an additional controller for games that used it, and best of all, the Game Boy Player which added a HUGE library of both classic (GB/GBC) and current (GBA) games to the GCN's games roster. Like the N64, they also included standard four controller ports which once again the PS2 required an optional accessory. 1. MOST ALREADY HAD A DVD PLAYER: By the time the GCN was released in 2001, the DVD format had been around for at least 4-5 years. Nintendo wisely figured that most who wanted a DVD player already HAD a DVD player, either as a traditional DVD player, DVD drive on a computer, the PS2, or perhaps all three!! Thus Nintendo felt it was useless to drive up the cost of the GCN and waste resources on being yet ANOTHER DVD player and focused their energies where they felt it counted, on the games. |
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Comments
Go Nintendo!
Speaking of which, anyone gotten Hulu to work on the Wii? The player won't load for me.
My question is, what is the Wii's excuse.
License fees for the decoding technology.
It would have added $10 per console, and Nintendo would rather put that money in their pocket.
Given how many consoles they've sold...that decision netted them a couple hundred million dollars.
^ DLC. You have the internet at your disposal.
Speaking of which, anyone gotten Hulu to work on the Wii? The player won't load for me.
If you're using the Opera Browser on the Wii there is probably no way to play most web-based video, since I was under the impression that non-computer-based versions of Opera don't have a license for the two most recent versions of Flash, and very probably don't have access to Silverlight, either.
^ DLC. You have the internet at your disposal.
Speaking of which, anyone gotten Hulu to work on the Wii? The player won't load for me.
Hulu blocks video access for all current gen systems. Originally you could view hulu vids on the ps3, but now they are blocked. I don't know why exactly, I guess Rupert Murdoch is just a dick. Apparently the site is soon to become a subscription service.
1. MOST ALREADY HAD A DVD PLAYER:
By the time the GCN was released in 2001, the DVD format had been
around for at least 4-5 years. Nintendo wisely figured that most who
wanted a DVD player already HAD a DVD player, either as a traditional
DVD player, DVD drive on a computer, the PS2, or perhaps all three!!
Thus Nintendo felt it was useless to drive up the cost of the GCN and
waste resources on being yet ANOTHER DVD player and focused their
energies where they felt it counted, on the games.
I don't know that I agree with this. I bought my PS2 in 2001 and it was my only DVD player for a long time, and partially the reason that I bought it. I don't know that I would have bought a cube instead, but I think it is unfair to say that Nintendo not including a DVD player didn't affect sales. I would say with the Wii it doesn't matter, now due to most people having DVD players or other systems that will play DVDs, but I don't feel that this was the case in 2001 at all.
I think with the "Wii 2" they should have DVDs only because by the time that comes out, DVD players will be much cheaper.
That won't change the fact that a license to decode a DVD will still cost the same $10 that it costs today.
It has nothing to do with the hardware expense.
In the end it boils down to piracy piracy piracy. Nintendo has historically valued anti-piracy. That's why we didn't get a the disk expansion for the NES, why N64 was cart based,and why GC had mini-discs: floppies and CDs were too easy to pirate.
So how does the Wii check for pirate-discs? Does it still counterrotate, or does it verify with the online uplink or something?
In the end it boils down to piracy piracy piracy. Nintendo has historically valued anti-piracy. That's why we didn't get a the disk expansion for the NES, why N64 was cart based,and why GC had mini-discs: floppies and CDs were too easy to pirate.
So how does the Wii check for pirate-discs? Does it still counterrotate, or does it verify with the online uplink or something?
It probably is based on non-consumer-writable sectors like the PS1/PS2 discs. It's pretty effective, and can only be overcome with hardware modification or hot-swapping.
Online connectivity isn't required for the Wii, so anti-piracy measures have nothing to do with that feature.
Also, I doubt rotating in an opposite convention would matter. If everybody knew that's the direction of spin, then you can just write the pirate disc memory space in the reverse order. If anything, that would be the EASIEST countermeasure to defeat.