Panasonic 'Q' First Look

austinij writes "National Console Support has purchased and taken apart the Panasonic 'Q', a Nintendo Gamecube/DVD player device in one. Pictures and brief descriptions are included. Lets hope for a review soon! " That just looks so nifty. I've heard of DVD players including PS1 support in the not so distant future too. Apparently its fairly inexpensive to do it now.

got one

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah I live in Japan and have had one of these for weeks. It is a dvd player and gamecube motherboard put into the same box and only share the dvd drive. It looks cool though and I am happy with it. I would assume if one had a dvd-r i would be easy to pirate games. The manual specifically says it can read dvd-r and cd-r disks

Re:Does this mean...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nintendo does this all the time. Back in the N64 days they've licensed the console to Sharp so they can integrate it with a 29" color TV - yes, a TV with a N64 built-in!

Nice machine...

[Zoid]

Unforunately, Panasonic has no plans to release this unit in the US. For now, it's a Japan area only device.

It's too bad, the idea of a shiny gamecube that can play DVDs is pretty cool. I'm also wondering if the lack of sales outside of Japan is related to piracy issues--you can fit 5.25" discs into it. One of the reasons the Gamecube uses smaller 3" discs is to prevent piracy since it's hard to get a hold of something that will make them.

Lik Sang (a company that make mod and game copying kits) also disassembled the Panasonic Gamecube [lik-sang.com] including probably better pictures. They also modified it to play US games (remove the territory lock out). They mentioned it was a bitch to open--something like 45 special screws. Doesn't sound like a fun job to modify.

Re:Anti-Piracy???

[bats]

Nope. The Gamecube takes smaller discs not because Nintendo is concerned about privacy issues, but because they want to save money. The Ultimate GameCube FAQ [ign.com] describes how the DVD forum requires a $20 fee per unit for everything that can pay DVDs. In order to keep their price point (ie -- Xbox), they choose not to include that functionality. The Panasonic 'Q' combo unit costs more partly because of the DVD playing penalty.

Here's the official word

[qurob]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011102/tc/tech_p anasonic_nintendo_dc_1.html [yahoo.com]

Friday November 2 2:26 PM ET

Panasonic Says No DVD/GameCube Hybrid in U.S.
Audio/Video

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A hybrid DVD player and Nintendo (news - web sites)
GameCube video game console set for a December launch in Japan will not be
released in the United States at all, a spokesman for Panasonic said on
Friday.

Earlier this week in Tokyo, Panasonic, the consumer electronics brand of
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (6752.T), unveiled the "Q,'' which
is a combination of a DVD player and Nintendo's new console.

"It's simply a Japan device. ... Right now there are absolutely no plans for
U.S. marketing,'' said Kurt Praschak, a Panasonic spokesman.

The GameCube itself uses a smaller disc than the standard DVD format and is
unable to play DVDs. The two companies announced earlier this year that
Panasonic would produce its own unit with licensed GameCube technology.

Panasonic plans to sell the device from Dec. 14 in Japan for the equivalent
of around $325.

The two main competitors to the GameCube in the U.S. console market, the
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Xbox (news - web sites) and the Sony
Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T) PlayStation 2 (news - web sites), both can
play DVDs.

The GameCube will launch on Nov. 18 at a retail price of $199. The Xbox
launches on Nov. 15 at $299. The PS2, which launched in the U.S. in November
2000, also sells for $299.

Nintendo has said repeatedly in the past that its hardware is secondary to
its games, and that it is not concerned with putting features like DVD
playback in its devices.

A Nintendo spokesman said he was unaware if there were any licensing
restriction in Panasonic's deal with Nintendo that would keep the "Q'' from
being released in the United States.

More pictures to drool over

[qurob]

1 [coremagazine.com]
2 [coremagazine.com]
3 [coremagazine.com]
4 [coremagazine.com]
5 [coremagazine.com]
6 [coremagazine.com]
7 [coremagazine.com]
8 [coremagazine.com]
9 [coremagazine.com]
10 [coremagazine.com]
11 [coremagazine.com]
12 [coremagazine.com]
13 [coremagazine.com]
14 [coremagazine.com]

Re:Consoles & DVD's?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Not to cast doubt on your argument, but then why didn't Nuon [nuon-dome.com] succeed? There are a few products [mjsg.com] available, but not the breakout success you'd expect from simple product differentiation."

I think it would be lack of marketing/brand (I've never heard of either of them but I have heard of Nintendo), the software does not seem as compelling (compare Nuon's games to the gamecubes line up). An even better example would be the PS2 where outdoor ads tout it as being a "games movies music" machine.

Re:Consoles & DVD's?

[iainl]

Oh dear. Something weird going on with the mod system when its only the posts at 0 or -1 that remind people for the nth time. Not everyone loses money on console hardware sales [actsofgord.com]. This is one myth that just won't go away.

Piracy

[drwiii]

I doubt piracy will be a problem, unless someone finds a BIOS hole like they did on the Dreamcast.

GameCube games have a visible security thread on the inside ring of the minidisc that is checked by the system before it boots, good luck trying to duplicate it with any kind of burner.

Re:Site taken down by hosting company.

[Anonymous Coward]

We killed it via bandwidth limits I assume.

Re:Go with GCN and an external DVD player

[DRO0]

The only bummer these days with multiple devices is wiring. I shelled out $75 (US) the other day for a switch box and S-Video and audio cables to hook up the DirectTV, VHS, and DVD and switch between them with the box. $75 is that much in the grand scheme of things but man I have a lot of wires behind the TV, to the point that if I ever have to wheel out the TV I have to move all the wires so I can wheel all the way back in against the wall.

So one nice thing about multi-function devices is that you eliminate a lot of extra wiring.