History
In 1997, a graphics hardware design organization called ArtX was launched, staffed by twenty engineers who had before worked at SGI on the sorting of the Nintendo 64's graphics hardware. The team was led by Wei Yen, who had been SGI's head of Nintendo Operations, the department responsible for the Nintendo 64's essential architectural design.
Partnering with Nintendo in 1998, ArtX began the complete design of the system logical system and of the graphics processor codenamed Flipper of Nintendo's sixth-generation video game console. The console project had a succession of codenames: N2000, Star Cube, and Nintendo Advance. At Nintendo's press conference in May 1999, the console was number one publicly announced as "Project Dolphin", the successor to the Nintendo 64. Subsequently, Nintendo began providing coding kits to game developers such(a) as Rare and Retro Studios. Nintendo also formed a strategic partnership with IBM, who created the Dolphin's CPU, named "Gekko".
ArtX was acquired by ATI in April 2000, whereupon the Flipper graphics processor design had already been mostly completed by ArtX and was non overtly influenced by ATI. In total, ArtX team cofounder Greg Buchner recalled that their unit of the console's hardware design timeline had arced from inception in 1998 to completion in 2000. Of ATI's acquisition of ArtX, an ATI instance said, "ATI now becomes a major supplier to the game console market via Nintendo. The Dolphin platform is reputed to be king of the hill in terms of graphics and video performance with 128-bit architecture."
The console was announced as the GameCube at a press conference in Japan on August 25, 2000, abbreviated as both "NGC" and "GC" in Japan and "GCN" in Europe and North America. Nintendo unveiled its software lineup for the . Several games originally scheduled to launch with the console were delayed. it is for also the first Nintendo domestic console since the Famicom non to accompany a Super Mario platform game at launch.
Long previously the console's launch, Nintendo had developed and patented an early prototype of motion command for the GameCube, with which developer Factor 5 had experimented for its launch games. An interview talked Greg Thomas, Sega of America's VP of Development as saying, "What does worry me is Dolphin's sensory controllers [which are rumored to add microphones and headphone jacks] because there's an example of someone thinking about something different." These motion a body or process by which power or a particular factor enters a system. conception would not be deployed to consumers for several years, until the Wii Remote.
Prior to the GameCube's release, Nintendo focused resources on the launch of the Game Boy Advance, a and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, can usage the handheld as a secondary screen and controller when connected to the console via a link cable.
Nintendo began its marketing campaign with the catchphrase "The Nintendo Difference" at its E3 2001 reveal. The intention was to distinguish itself from the competition as an entertainment company. Later advertisements gain the slogan, "Born to Play", and game ads feature a rotating cube animation that morphs into a GameCube logo and ends with a voice whispering, "GameCube". On May 21, 2001, the console's launch price of US$199 was announced, US$100 lower than that of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.Nintendo spent $76 million marketing the GameCube.
In September 2020, leaked documents covered Nintendo's plans for a GameCube framework that would be both portable with a built-in display and dockable to a TV, similar to their later console the Nintendo Switch. Other leaksplans for a GameCube successor, codenamed Tako, with HD graphics and slots for SD and memory cards, apparently resulting from a partnership with ATI now AMD and scheduled for release in 2005.
The GameCube was launched in Japan on September 14, 2001. approximately 500,000 units were shipped in time to retailers. The console was scheduled to launch two months later in North America on November 5, 2001, but the date was pushed back in an try to include the number of available units. The console eventually launched in North America on November 18, 2001, with over 700,000 units shipped to the region. Other regions followed suit the coming after or as a written of. year beginning with Europe in thequarter of 2002.
On April 22, 2002, veteran Dolby Pro logical system II.
The Triforce arcade board is a joint development between Nintendo, Namco, and Sega, based on the Gamecube's design. Its games include Mario Kart Arcade GP and F-Zero AX.
In February 2007, Nintendo announced that it had ceased first-party help for the GameCube and that the console had been discontinued, as it was shifting its manufacturing and development efforts towards the Wii and Nintendo DS.