First Nintendo IQue Reviews 261
Major Payne writes "I have found two reviews for the exclusively in china released Nintendo IQue Player which is capable of emulating Nintendo64 as well as SNES Games hardwarewise.
English one is located over at Dextrose.com and is a bit more technically advanced than the German one. Both reviews are very detailed though and interesting to read. I also think those two are the world first reviews for this new hardware and there is also some interesting leads on how to hack the device to make it even more interesting to the rest of the world."
Re:64Mbit flash cart? (Score:4, Informative)
Translations between Megabyte and Mbit not meant for you Tom - I know you know the difference
The largest N64 game is 512-megabit (64MBs) -- titles like Resident Evil 2 and Silicon Knights' forthcoming Eternal Darkness put that baby to use.
http://ign64.ign.com/mail/2000-10-09.html
Maybe it's a 64 _Megabyte_ flash?
The Fish (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Nintendo's Winning Strategy (Score:5, Informative)
2) The top selling games for the GC are outselling the top selling games for Xbox. There's nothing to do about PS2 and GBA.
3) Several multiplatform games sold better on the Gamecube than other consoles, and for a hard core gamer there are several exclusive non-Nintendo titles not found on Xbox or PS2.
4) In Europe, the average buyer of a Gamecube at launch was 23 years old. Mature games like Resident Evil sold above Capcom's expectations.
I can back up everything above, it's easier if you just admit to being clueless and posted what you _thought_ was true.
Re:Emulation for 7000 games.. (Score:4, Informative)
I've seen these "7000-in-1" combos myself, and they're mostly like, 20 or so games with different code hacks where you'll start on different levels or so.
Re:Nintendo's Winning Strategy (Score:5, Informative)
Hanging by a thread? Really - why post when you don't know what you're talking about. Guess why they were voted one of Japan's most successful companies ever
Now consider Microsoft - losing money on the Xbox, only making money on Office and Windows. If there's any one company of these three that's going to stop making consoles it's Microsoft.
Re:Emulation for 7000 games.. (Score:1, Informative)
Re:The Name (Score:4, Informative)
-Adam
Small observation ... (Score:5, Informative)
Keeping this in mind
Sunny Dubey
PS: Some of you might be thinking: "Hey, the Sega dreamcast had a D-PAD just like the Nintendo ones!". Which isn't true, you just have to flip open the controller to see why that is so.
Re:Ugh. Nice idea but... (Score:3, Informative)
When Nintendo announced a lowcost-videogamesystem for China in September 2003 freaks from all over the world wondered what type of hardware they planned to release. The very first rumours expected sort of a 'GameCube Light' but on TGS 2003, a few weeks later, Nintendo stated that they will release a system to distribute localized classic SNES and N64-Games in China on 21st November 2003.
The Name of that videogamesystem is 'IQue Player' (roughly translated: God's Toy)
Nintendo's strategy is quiete simple, they want to sell lowcost hardware and cheap games to the chinese whose economy is going very well over the last years. More and more chinese people earn good money and want to spend it, still, they dont earn as much as the usal worker in western countries. Thats why the idea is to sell a affordable hardware and classic games. The Games can be transfered to an IQue flashcart in a lot of stores in the big cities in China where they only cost around $6 per download. By using a digitally signature they lock a flashcart to the bought unit. That fact, together with the ridiciolous low prices on the game downloads is Nintendo's strategy to prevent people copying the games. If you think about it, its a good idea to offer games for download at only 10% of the usal price. Its about to be prooved though, that this distribution channel is being accepted by the chinese people.
We ordered the System from import gamers first choice store, Lik-Sang.com. They sell two versions of the system which differ in the content on the bundled flashcart. In the Bundle priced $99 you would receive the full games Dr. Mario and Mario64 as well as 3 trial editions of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Wave Race and Starfox64. Bundle #2 costs $199 and features the full versions of all 5 games. The games are the good old Nintendo64-Versions but in chinese language.
Why would this IQue Player be of interest to western gamers?
IQue combines some very neat features on a very small space. Actually the complete system is integrated in the controller unit, this means. there is the reader for the bundled 64Mbit-flashcart, a multi I/O-port for video/audio and a USB-connector, probably supposed for linking-capability. All you have to do, is to connect the device directly to the TV-Set. Technically its an advanced Nintendo64-System which is capable to hardware-emulate SNES-Games too. However, don't cheer too early. Before we can call this a portable V64/SWC with integrated N64/SNES there is going to be some hacking required by someone.
Let's take a look first at everything and speculate afterwards about possibilities some people might already thought about including a few starting points.
When ordering at Lik-Sang.com, you get a package with the following:
- IQue Player
- 64Mbit Flashcart with the pre-stored games (differs depending on the type of bundle you have chosen).
- Power Supply
- chinese instruction manual
(we have a scanned version of that manual on Dextrose)
- one AV/Sound-cable (incl a neat power supply connector)
- four scratchcards you would use to download new games in china
Funny thing is, that the controller pretty much looks like a Dreamcast-controller rather than a N64-controller. One also notices that the former Z-Trigger has moved from the bottom of a N64-Controller to lower left side of the IQue Player beneath the shoulder button. The flashcart is being inserted in the slot at the frontside of the IQue while the AV/Sound-Cable is being connected to the backside where it doesnt disturb the gaming experience at all. Above the Multi I/O-Connector there is small USB-Connector. The rest of the button layout has been transfered from the N64 and extended by a on/off-button which is also being used to reset games and exit to the main menu of the IQue Player.
After connecting the IQue to the TV-Set, you will notice that all menus are in (simplified) chinese language. Its not a big problem though, since there are only two menu options. First one leads to th
Re:Small observation ... (Score:4, Informative)
I've opened up many, many controllers, and the directional pads all work the same. They may look a little different, but underneath the outer casing all of them use the exact same premise. All a directional pad is is a solid piece of plastic that is able to tilt in order to press one or two of the four buttons in the controller. That goes for the Playstation controller too- it only looks like they're separate buttons, underneath they're connected.
Re:Nintendo's D-pad patent? (Score:5, Informative)
Though, I'm not sure of the exact patent number, but the following I *think* is it: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=P
(Tepples grabs a PS1 controller.) The PS1 digital pad is actually one piece of plastic, not four like on the WonderSwan. When it's under the player's thumb, the "break" between the four raised portions of the pad feels more like a recessed area than a break because the size of the average player's thumb fills in the gap.
I believe the "breaks" are all one needs to avoid this patent.
Then how exactly did Sega get away with a + shaped D-pad on the Dreamcast controller? I'm too lazy to take apart my Dreamcast controller at the moment. If you're referring to the fact that the cross juts out from a disc hidden under the plastic housing of the controller, that can't be it. I've taken apart a Super NES controller, an N64 controller, and a Game Boy Advance system, and Nintendo D-pads jut out from discs as well. However, I can see that there are small sloped faces on the inside corners of the plastic of the Dreamcast D-pad. Does that have anything to do with it?
I don't remember too well. Either in some old edition of "EGM" or "Next Generation", one of the editors specifically spells out why the DreamCast controller doesn't violate Nintendo's patent.
I would just like to add: This has to be the one of the most annoying patents in video gaming ever. I've played with too many irratating and badly designed "directional circles", heh
Re:Multiplayer? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Ugh. Nice idea but... (Score:2, Informative)
Yeah, the GameBoy Light came out in what, 1998? Not great time-wise, but still long before the GBA hit and rocketed handheld gaming through the roof.
Maybe you're talking about the GBA SP, in which case Nintendo waited just long enough for WLED technology (for front/side-lighting) to become cost effective WRT manufacturing costs, battery life, and gaming performance.
Backlit color LCDs are still expensive, still eat away at battery life, are still relatively poor displays for fast sprite movement, and definitely look worse in the sunlight than an unlit color LCD (which what a GBA SP screen is, when you turn the light off - a feature that is itself unavailable with backlit LCDs).
Re:Ugh. Nice idea but... (Score:2, Informative)
That same interview detailed why the SNES controller has two concave buttons along the thumb's tip and two convex buttons under the rest of the thumb: instant blind thumb positioning. Great idea, something I thought was a definite improvement over the orignal Super Fami controller's design.
Re:Hmm... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Okay, troll (Score:1, Informative)
The price drop HAS helped Nintendo in the states though, the installed base has been shooting up rapidly lately and Gamecubes are currently outselling the XBox and even the PS2 in the US(how long that will last remains to be seen)
Of course the hottest gaming device in the world right now is the Gameboy. It's outselling everything, hehe.
Nintendo's main problem is they STILL don't know how to treat 3rd party developers, though it IS improving, slowly. Their arrogance during the console revival of the mid 80's to early 90's has come back to haunt them, hehe.
Microsoft on the other hand will gladly foot the bill for game development on large titles from 3rd parties just to help boost their position.
Re:That was quick (Score:2, Informative)
Note that there was a first source leak was a dissasembly, but the second one was clearly workable and real. A group is working on it too for pc, but not sure how it is, haven't tested it.. http://www.ultrahle2064.com
Someone has ported it to the XBOX, which means that they ported it to directX. I suppose you could backport it in reverse yet again, if you really wanted to run it, but there are other emulators around, such as the excellent Project64.