I was wrong, Project: Dolphin's official name is not StarCube, but Gamecube (or maybe with a capital 'C', the official Nintendo reports are always in caps). Gamecube will be the ultimate game machine. I am kinda expecting to see my Gamecube logo stolen and placed on websites all over the place. Sigh... that thing took forever to make... And please stay away from my DVD image, it looks like crap and I know it, get something better to steal.

     The Cube

If the name didn't tip you off already, the console's shape is a cube (roughly 6 inches per side). It comes in 5 flavors-- I mean, 5 colors; Black (yes!!), silver, gold, blue (more like purple), and a redish-pink. The controllers also come in matching colors. The plastic is not translucent, luckily the translucent phrase is out for good. Ports for up to 4 controllers standard. Two memory cards: Digicard, which is a new flashcard technology (like the ones used with digital cameras, more on this later. Not only does the GC (I am not writing it fully again.) support the normal video and audio outputs, but since these are DVD's, has digital audio AND video out. Those who have nice home theatre systems will be amazed by the sound quality, and for the few who have an HDTV, you will be witness to some of the greatest digital performances ever. Of course, it will still look great on normal TV's, as well. This IS Nintendo we're talking about. It also has a 56K modem; Nintendo already has prototype broadband modems (probably cable) that will fit perfectly into the first serial port. It also sports a handle on the back,w hich, apparently, is a trend in Japan. I think it will be useful in other countries as well, seeing how many miles my N64, SNES, and PSX have traveled with me so far. It woud be nice if the handle was retractable like Apple's new G4 Cube, but that's ok.

     Proprietary DVD

These discs are not only a good way to stop illegal copying, but stream faster than normal DVD's. So no huge loading times like PSX. If the developer encodes the disc right, loading times will be short.

     Expansion Ports

As always, the GC will have several expansion ports. The "Hi Speed Port" is not something to increase the speed of the GC, as if it wasn't fast enough... Buy rather is a high speed parallel port. Umm... No one really knows what this will be used for except for the Big N. The first serial port will be used for the broadband modem, and maybe something else. The second one can be for anything really... Even if Nintendo doesn't decide to utilize them, perhaps a 3rd party developer will. Nintendo likes to keep their options open as usual.

     Digicard

The Digicard is Nintendo's fancy name for "memory card." It's basically the same size as a PSX memory card. It can hold up to 4Mb (which is about .5 MB. Mb=Megabits; MB=Megabytes, 8 bit=1 Byte; no, this is different from 128-bit) flash memory. It's expected to be able to write pretty fast, but we know it won't be slow. It's most likely that 3rd party developers will make high-density Digicards, like the vast assortment there are for PSX (of course, those always have some huge flaw).

     SD-Digicard Adapter

If you're not using the digital out port, then you have some options, including the SD-Digicard. A whatawhata? A Super Duper-Digicard? Yes, weird, long, but I'm sure you'll all memorize it soon enough. This adapter will enable the GC to utilize a 64 MB (no typo) San Disk (SD=San Disk, wow it took me hours to figure that out..) memory card. It can be used to download things from the internet, digital cameras, and of course, game data. 64 MB is enough to be the only memory card you'll ever need. If you have no life, I mean, are a hardcore gamer with tons of games, a 128 MB version will also be available eventually. And the big use, the ability to write and re-write game data. This was the key factor in the 64DD's success, however, Nintendo didn't use it quick enough for the system to be a hit. This will allow you actually change games. For instance, you could load new baseball teams onto your game, update player stats with their real-life stats, and more. Or like Mario Artist (the only 64DD game to really use this ability) which allowed players to create their own vehicles, characters, textures, etc. But wait, the system can also write to this without your help, and can (as quoted from IGN) "Players could enjoy seeing their games change over time with things like growing trees, decaying bodies, or even seeing the bullet holes in one of your character's outfits from a battle fought years before. With NintendoÕs imagination, the possibilities are endless." And yes, I know for a fact that Nintendo will utilize this to its fullest. We can only hope that developers will, too.

     Controllers

The controller kinda reminds me of the PSX controller, but with the buttons totally re-arranged. Like the N64, the GC will also have 4 controller ports standard. This allows us to believe that Nintendo will release some more awesome multiplayer games (Perfect Dark 2 comes to mind...). It has 12 buttons: Control Pad (4), A, B, Y, X, L, R, Z, and Start/Pause (Yes, the controller says Start/Pause, therefore, no developers should use this button for something else, I want my goddamn pause button!!). However, Nintendo is going for the innovative change, which could either be great like the N64 controller, or be a hideous freak of nature. The Z button is still a trigger... but... It's not on the bottom. Instead, it's right above the R button. Which strikes me as very odd and now I'll have to re-adjust my trigger finger when blowing my brother's head off in Perfect Dark (yes, I know for a fact that you will read this, so ha! What are you gonna do? Run me over with the giant hamster that has fork problems? Huh?!) Also, it has two analog sticks: the normal one from the N64 which is on the top left (the control pad pad is right below it where the left analog would be for the PSX), and a new one: the camera stick (right bottom, where the right analog would be for PSX). This camera stick will be great with some games, but I think it may cause some problems. With the N64, you could be using your right thumb to hit the action buttons, and then slide your index finger down to change the camera angle. But with this, I think it will be odd to move my thumb down to the camera stick, and my index finger to hit the buttons. Whatever, I'm sure I'll (and everyone else) will adjust. Although, I wonder what will the camera stick's purpose be for games that normally wouldn't require camera buttons/stick? Maybe like an aiming stick for 1st person shooters, camera stick for normal games, and then.... I dunno what else, I guess it's up to developers to make a good use out of it. Now back to the buttons. L and R are where you would normally find them on the top left and right. The A button is in the middle of the right side, and above it in a circular direction are the B, Y, and X buttons. Making A the primary button that you will be hitting the most. I think it's kinda neat how they're arranged. Although B has no relation to Y and X, I think Z would make more sense, but Z is the trigger that isn't in a trigger position. Whatever, there is some weird things with this thing...

There are actually 6 models, in 5 colors. Duh? There's the standard controllers that come in 5 colors to match the GC. Then there's the new one. If you remember correctly, I predicted this would happen: the 6th model is wireless. A wireless adapter plugs into a controller port, and you can use the controller from roughly anywhere in the room. I'm assuming Nintendo will release more colors for this is it turns out to be a good seller. Another neat thing is, you don't have to use a GC controller on some (??) games. Instead, you can plug in a Game Boy Advance (the new 32-bit GameBoy, GBA). This is going toward multiplayer games, for instance, a football game. Rather than let your opponent see what plays you're about to make on screen, you can choose your plays on the GBA so your opponent will have to get up and and look over your shoulder. I'm sure this ability will get abused rather quickly, but only for those who dish out the extra $100 (US) for it.

     Does this Thing Ever End?!?!

buk buk buk... I think that's basically it. I'll just sum it up here with some of the tech specs. The GC can easily render 9+ Million polygons (with effects on (anti-aliasing, lighting, textures, etc.)) easily. In a demo at Spaceword 2000, they showed 128 Mario's, all composed of about 700 polygons, plus about a hundred boxes (which all had designs on each side) on a 3D plane that eventually began to tilt, spin, buldge, and spout mountains, while the Mario's were running around, rolling around, falling off the plane, picking up and throwing boxes, easily at 60 frames per second. The system is 128-bit, I forgot how much RAM but I think it was around 40 MB, I could be wrong (N64 has 4 (expandable to 8) MB). The processor is a 405 MHz PowerPC processor by IBM, called "Gekko." Damn, that's more than my Mac... It's not a super charged G4e/G4+ as I originally thought, Motorola owns the rights to AltiVec technology. If it was, Nintendo would have to pay royaltees to Motorola on every Gamecube sold, which would bump up the price a tad.

What games are in development?!? Here's what I can figure out so far:

Super Mario128
New Zelda title (Which is the best looking game I have ever seen so far)
New Metroid title (not made by Nintendo, however, but still awesome looking)
Perfect Dark sequel (By Rare, again; Joanna's looking even better now)
Banjo Kazooie or whatever it's called sequel (whoopy! Was the 1st one really that good for a sequel?)
WaveRace sequel
Po-gay-mon game
I am expecting a Donkey Kong game to come out eventually
Killer Instinct 3 :)
There are other sits out there that list them all; this is not a Nintendo site unfortunately