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NES (Games) Classic Games (Games) Emulation (Games) Entertainment Games

First Nintendo IQue Reviews 261

Posted by CmdrTaco from the thats-a-crazy-toy dept.
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."
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First Nintendo IQue Reviews More

First Nintendo IQue Reviews

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  • Ugh. Nice idea but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Amiga Lover ( 708890 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:55PM (#7654110)
    That thing looks horrible. It's very cool keeping old tech alive for so many reasons. The games were good, the price can be good now, 10 years later, and it's VERY good to have newer geeks see what was possible on limited hardware

    But damn, for a device that's going to sell in the millions, getting the design right first go doesn't cost any extra afterwards.

    Games may have a reputation of being just "kids toys" but they don't have to look like a fisher price gadget

    • Re:Ugh. Nice idea but... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Guppy06 ( 410832 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:16PM (#7654242)
      "That thing looks horrible."

      You're not supposed to look at it, you're supposed to hold it and watch the TV. So long as it's comfortable to hold in your hands, why do looks matter?
    • A new Nintendo System?
      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 st

    • Re:Ugh. Nice idea but... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by greygent ( 523713 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @02:12PM (#7654538) Homepage
      It probably looks nice to the Chinese. Nintendo has a good habit of developing different case designs for specific markets.

      For example, the Japanese version of the NES was a rounded, shiny cherry red case. The US version was a more conservative boxy gray.

      The Japanese version of the SNES was an ugly... well can't even describe it. I owned one and didn't like the shape at all. The American version was much more appealing to me (an American).

      • Re:Ugh. Nice idea but... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Wolfier ( 94144 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @04:13PM (#7655163)
        That's the thing. When I saw the US version of the SNES I went "WTF is this ugly box".

        To me the Japanese design of the SNES box is way more aesthetical.
      • It probably looks nice to the Chinese. Nintendo has a good habit of developing different case designs for specific markets.

        How 'bout a red star?

      • I've heard rumors Nintendo used a "boxy" shape for the U.S. version of the SNES/Super Famicom (instead of the rounded Japanese/European versions) because they figured players would set drinks on top of it. Supposedly they were worried that folks in the litigation-happy U.S. would accidentally spill their drinks and sue Nintendo for it; by making the system box-shaped they could claim they had already done everything they could to prevent spills and thus inoculate themselves from lawsuits. That's what I've

        • Re:Ugh. Nice idea but... (Score:2, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          You probably read the Nintendo Power interview which described why the top of the cartridge slot was curved. The reason you state is mentioned as the exact reason why they curved it.

          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.
      • Yeah, like the way that they changed the buttons on the controllers from being labelled right to left to being labelled left to right.

        Oh wait.

        (Using one of the few canned jokes I don't totally hate)(I feel like David Spade)
    • But damn, for a device that's going to sell in the millions, getting the design right first go doesn't cost any extra afterwards.

      Think of how long it was before Nintendo made a Game Boy System with a lighted screen. :P

      • Re:Ugh. Nice idea but... (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        "Think of how long it was before Nintendo made a Game Boy System with a lighted screen. :P"

        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
    • Don't forget, it's also a lot of circuits to put in the controller! Sure, the technology has improved a lot from the orignal N64, but it's still not easy to squeeze it all into that little space - looking at the photo of the circuit board proves that. So, at least part of the "bad design" (which doesn't look too bad to me) is probably due to space constraints.

  • Nintendo's Winning Strategy (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:55PM (#7654114)
    With ideas like this, Nintendo's shaky position in the console game world will be strengthened. Look for them to follow this up with a version that places Original 8-Bit Nintendo games, which is just what the gaming world is clamoring for.

    Saving up for a PSX? Forget it. Nintendo is the future of the gaming world.
    • Nintendo's shaky position in the console game

      Nintendo's position in the console game is extremely strong. They're collecting heaploads of money on the GBA and on games for the GC.
    • Nintendo already has a product which plays NES games, which is to say the e-Reader accessory for the GBA. I wouldn't be surprised if when nintendo brings out their next handheld in the US, they bring out the GBA in their secondary (tertiary?) markets.
    • Have you seen the tremendous amount of products with Nintendo character brands? Licensed products are all over. Licensing is also a way to generate revenue.
    • Check this [dcemulation.com] out!

    • kudos (Score:3, Insightful)

      by bartyboy ( 99076 )
      Kudos to the moderator(s) who gave this a +1, Insightful. I think your tolerance level for sarcasm has become so high that you don't even know when you read sarcasm anymore.

  • Emulation for 7000 games.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:56PM (#7654117)
    Somewhat off topic but, I was recently in the mall with a friend when we came up to a small shop thats near the food court. Some shady guy in a suit was running it, and they had 6 TV's with these little game controllers. They boasted a selection of 7200 games, which was amazing. It played just like the real game plays, new controller. What was more interesting was it seemed to have NES, SNES, and ATARI games. I just don't see how thats legal, and even more, how is it legal to sell something for $49.99 with 7 thousand titles?

    • Re:Emulation for 7000 games.. (Score:4, Informative)

      by RyuuzakiTetsuya ( 195424 ) <.taiki. .at. .cox.net.> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:13PM (#7654228)
      the original copyright owners are either broke or don't care.

      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.
    • how is it legal to sell something for $49.99 with 7 thousand titles?


      Just Because its in the mall doesnt mean that its legal. The comic shop in the mall near me used to install the Play Station Mod Chips for 50 bucks, and if you knew the guy he would burn games for 10. The Funcoland had a working famicon and super famicon for you to goof around with. Plus plenty of record stores sell cdrs of live performances.

      Not everyone follows the rules, and im glad they dont.

    • Short answer: it's not legal.

      Emulation is illegal in all cases but two:

      1.) The game has been released to the public domain

      2.) The emulated game was released LEGALLY and you've paid for it.

      I'm not saying that I don't use emulated games; that would be a complete lie. I'm just pointing out that there's no way in hell that the 7,000-in-1 is legal.

    • However, it's not hard to do. Modren PCs are WAAAAAY more powerful than old videogame systems. Thus, it isn't out of range for them to emulate them, and indeed it's done all the time. Go to www.zophar.net if you want information on the emulation software itself. They have emulators for all sorts of different consoles and computers that runs on all sorts of different OSes. This is all legal.

      Now the illegal part comes in the games themselves. zophar.net maintains a selection of public domain roms, and there

  • Emulation, eh? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Deraj DeZine ( 726641 )
    So does it have a fast-forward button, then? What about saving states? If it can't do either of those, it's useless to me =)
    • Can it upgrade my TV to run in 1024x768 with antialiasing?
  • The controller looks way more like a Dreamcast controller than it does the old N64 one.

  • 64Mbit flash cart? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by tomstdenis ( 446163 )
    Um, aren't most N64 games just a tad bigger than that?

    Tom

    • Re:64Mbit flash cart? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Troed ( 102527 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:06PM (#7654183) Homepage Journal
      Built in compression maybe? I agree that 64Mbit (8 Megabyte) is a bit small. Zelda : Ocarina of Time is 32 Megabyte (256 Mbit)

      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?
      • Many N64 games are already highly compressed in order to fit any significant amount of data on a cartridge, so compression will not help you here. Either they are only distributing smaller games, they are distributing "lite" versions of games, or as you suggest, the cart may be 64MB and not 64Mb.
      • Just in case anyone's confused, no, Eternal Darkness is *not* coming out for the iQue (that anyone knows of) - that's just a very old quote from the time when ED was going to be on the N64. However, it would be interesting to see Silicon Darkness dust of the old N64 version, finish it up, and release it for the iQue - it looked quite good (graphics-wise) for an N64 game, and the old N64 demos had some levels that never made it into the finished GameCube project, including a level where you played as one of
  • Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Too many connections in /usr/local/httpd/htdocs/kunden/web9/html/_dx/_dx_s ettings.php on line 9 Eine Verbindung zum Datenbankserver ist zur Zeit nicht moglich ...

    Enter joke about their server being run on the IQue here...
    • Actually, my 2GHz computer(running M$ Widows eXtreme Programming, a popular and good operating system) can hardly emulate the N64 properly...

      Of course, if the server was running over a GBA link cable, that's another story.
      • Your system has tons more power than an n64. It's just that the emulation isn't very good yet. I assure you, you would murder any 6-year old system if you both were running natively compiled code.

  • Memory cards for OUR games (Score:5, Interesting)

    by kyndig ( 579355 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:00PM (#7654154) Homepage
    Well someone definately had their thinking cap on when they developed this idea. It'd be interesting to see if Nintendo can port that technology to their current systems sold here in the US. Being able to download a video game onto a blank cartridge for playing might just get me back into gaming. The pricing for the games are outstanding, I'd definately pay $6.00 for a game. These current prices of $40.00+ for just one game though is a definate turn off.

    • Indeed, I would too :^)

      I really hope they bring this thing over here, if they have a nice, fast, and functional distribution scheme it would be worth it. I'd prefer it to be able to link via USB to my laptop, but I kinda doubt they'd do that, it would probably be hacked quite quickly ;^)
    • Keep in mind that China also gets new games, DVDs, and a variety of other products for significantly cheaper than here in the US as well. I believe they're trying to curb piracy by introducting realistic prices.

      But then again Nintendo used to be big on the ultra-expensive cartridges. Eliminating all of the ROM chips or whatever they used should bring the manufacturing costs way down. Whether this will actually matter (or they'll just pad their pockets with the extra money) I'm not sure.
    • It'd be interesting to see if Nintendo can port that technology to their current systems sold here in the US. Being able to download a video game onto a blank cartridge for playing might just get me back into gaming. The pricing for the games are outstanding, I'd definately pay $6.00 for a game. These current prices of $40.00+ for just one game though is a definate turn off.

      If you want to play 5-10 year old games, why not just buy them used on eBay for the same price?

      A modern console game isn't going to
    • It'd never happen dude... Instead you'd have to pay full new game price, and you'd get some sort of "greatest hits collection" of a few games they think you'll want, plus a bunch of shitty ones they know you don't, so they can justify charging full price.
    • The pricing for the games are outstanding, I'd definately pay $6.00 for a game. These current prices of $40.00+ for just one game though is a definate turn off.

      That's one of the downsides of living in the First World, isn't it? Entertainment companies know you have the disposable income to spend $40 on a game and so that's what they'll charge you.

  • Dextrose's webserver... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...was just caramelized.

  • Huge Controller (Score:5, Funny)

    by LordoftheFrings ( 570171 ) <(null) (at) (fragfest.ca)> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:03PM (#7654168) Homepage
    Is it just me, or does that controller look bigger then an XBOX controller? I mean, I'd enjoy the portability, but I'd like to be able to, you know, move my HANDS after playing some Zelda for a few hours.

  • The Name (Score:2, Interesting)

    by worst_name_ever ( 633374 )
    I wonder what Garmin [garmin.com] will have to say about Nintendo ripping off the name of their existing product [garmin.com]...

    • Re:The Name (Score:4, Informative)

      by stienman ( 51024 ) <adavis&ubasics,com> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:38PM (#7654340) Homepage Journal
      I wonder if Garmin even sells the iQue [garmin.com] in China. Chances are good they don't, and they probably don't have a trademark for the name there. Even if they did, the devices are in two seperate markets, and could easily coexist with the same name.

      -Adam
    • It doesn't matter what they'll have to say as two identical trademarks can exist in two separate vertical markets (assuming the goods or services put forth in the registrations don't overlap.)

      Unless Garmin registered the iQue trademark with an explicit mention of interactive gaming electronics, Nintendo would be safe, no matter what Garmin thinks.

      As a matter of fact, you could sell Xbox toilet paper if you wanted to; I doubt Microsoft included personal sanitation effects in their filing. ;)

  • The Fish (Score:3, Informative)

    by TheRedHorse ( 559375 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:10PM (#7654206)
    A translated link, using The Fish [altavista.com] for the German article is here [altavista.com].

  • Luckily, it is not for the Spanish market... (Score:5, Funny)

    by koali ( 175176 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:16PM (#7654245)
    The name is pronounced roughly like "Y que?", that's "So what?" in Spanish.

    Cue-in Mitsubishi Pajero and Nissan Laputa jokes...

  • I personally don't get this (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mcc ( 14761 ) <amcclure@purdue.edu> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:20PM (#7654258) Homepage
    I unfortunately can't comment on the articles, as one is in German and the other is currently squashed flat by the Slashdot Effect. But I've looked at the iQue and I honestly just do not see the attraction. I mean, for the specific case of the Chinese market it makes a lot of sense, it looks really cool, and it was a neat idea from Nintendo's perspective. But for the rest of the world, I can't understand why people would want one. An iQue is, what, $115-$150? Go on Ebay, you'll consistently find an N64 with something like 12 games for $80 or so and a Super Nintendo with a few games for probably less than $30.

    Meanwhile the iQue will not ever be able in the end to play *all* the games for either of these systems, and at the moment it can only play a handful. And as new games are released for the iQue, as I understand how the system works, you will only be able to add them to your memory card if you can somehow get it to China. No?

    The N64 controller really sucked, but just having a better controller doesn't seem worth paying lots more money for a much more limited console.

    If my commentary here is made obsolete once the linked articles become readable, I apologize.
    • for the specific case of the Chinese market it makes a lot of sense

      Maybe that would be part of the reason why it's currently intended only for the Chinese market.

      Even if Nintendo DID decide to release this thing in other countries (which they haven't actually announced) I don't expect it would be without some changes.

      Keep in mind that Nintendo's consoles were often at least slightly different from region to region until the N64.
    • Someone will likely come up with hardware that allows you to write the flash carts in the comfort of your own home eventually. You could also just buy flash carts (nintendo is bound to sell replacements) which already have certain games on them.
    • Chinese market it makes a lot of sense, it looks really cool, and it was a neat idea from Nintendo's perspective. But for the rest of the world, I can't understand why people would want one.

      Yeah, really dumb move making a product for only 1/4th of the world's population.

  • Small observation ... (Score:5, Informative)

    by phoxix ( 161744 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:38PM (#7654341)
    For those of you that don't know, Nintendo holds an infamous patent on the D-PAD. (The directional pad). This is the reason, why only on Nintendo gaming pads will you find a prefect cross as the D-PAD. Other systmes will include clumsy circles (X-BOX) or individual buttons (Playstation).

    Keeping this in mind .... its rather interesting to see that the iQue doesn't have the D-PAD .........

    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.

    • Nintendo's D-pad patent? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by tepples ( 727027 ) <tepplesNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @02:10PM (#7654519) Homepage Journal

      For those of you that don't know, Nintendo holds an infamous patent on the D-PAD

      What's the U.S. patent number? It's not listed in the embossed text on the back of my NES controllers, just "Nintendo controller, model no. NES-004, made in Japan", and I don't have my original NES packaging. I need to know the number in order to know when it was filed.

      Other systmes will include clumsy circles (X-BOX)

      Clumsy? The Microsoft implementation of a circular D-pad may be clumsy, but I've tried several other brands of controllers with a circular D-pad with a cross-shaped raised portion, such as the Gravis GamePad Pro USB, and they weren't as clumsy as you seem to claim.

      or individual buttons (Playstation).

      (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.

      "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

      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?

      • Re:Nintendo's D-pad patent? (Score:5, Informative)

        by phoxix ( 161744 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @04:51PM (#7655348)
        What's the U.S. patent number? It's not listed in the embossed text on the back of my NES controllers, just "Nintendo controller, model no. NES-004, made in Japan", and I don't have my original NES packaging. I need to know the number in order to know when it was filed.

        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=PT O2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=4&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r =186&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ptxt&s1=nintendo&s2=direct ional&OS=nintendo+AND+directional&RS=nintendo+AND+ directional [uspto.gov]

        (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 :^) Sunny Dubey
        • "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 :^) Sunny Dubey"

          Isn't that the point of patents? You come up with a good idea, patent it, and then it's YOUR idea. Why isn't a 4-direction switch a good, logical, unique idea. It seems like a good idea to me. It's not like it's not original. What's the problem? sure, it is annoying for Nintendo's competitors. But isn't that
          • Well I'm sure I played with a D-pad on game-and-watch in 1982. So after 21 years by all rights a patent should have expired. But it doesn't seem to work that way in the USA (hell, someone was awarded the patent for bar-codes in the 1990s!)

    • Re:Small observation ... (Score:4, Informative)

      by EvilFrog ( 559066 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @02:20PM (#7654582)
      Uh, no. False.

      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.
      • "They may look a little different,"

        The functioning is the same (kinda hard to patent a button, unless you're Amazon :) ), but the patent was on the plus-shaped design. That's why they all "look a little different." Everybody was trying to skirt the edge of the patent without actually violating it.
      • Uh, yes. Next time, pay attention.

        He's talking about the appearance of the directional pad on the exterior, not the inner-workings.

        Nintendo products have that square cross. Other systems don't. The technology is the same, yes. Nintendo holds the patent on the look and appearance--that angular cross directional pad. Other systems have circular forms or other designs.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • "For those of you that don't know, Nintendo holds an infamous patent on the D-PAD. (The directional pad). This is the reason, why only on Nintendo gaming pads will you find a prefect cross as the D-PAD."

      No, they held a patent on that design, dating back from their first use of it in the Game & Watch .vs systems (LCD games that had two circular controllers, each with a plus-shaped directional pad and a single button). The patent expired just in time for Sega to use the design in their Dreamcast contr

  • Portible in the making (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MilenCent ( 219397 ) * <johnwh@@@gmail...com> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:40PM (#7654348) Homepage
    I didn't know that the entire system was the controller! Snap an LCD screen onto that video-out and you'd have a portible N64/SNES! Of course if they sold that the might cannibalize any market for the GBA in China.

    I'd love to own one of these, but alas, not in Chinese. And the controller is a bit clunky as well. But the possibility that it can run SNES games is really cool, and it makes real sense. I'd imagine that it wouldn't cost Nintendo very much to just throw in the entire SNES hardware, though space considerations in the controller would counteract that I suppose.

    I wonder if it's possible to buy "dumb" controllers to hook up to it in order to play multiplayer games? Dr. Mario 64 had multiplayer as a primary draw. With just two out ports (one of thise for video), I'd imagine for more than two players you'd need some sort of hub. But that could get expensive if you needed a separate iQue for each player.

    On the other hand, it'd make possible interesting games of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, in which not only did each player have his own screen, but his own graphics hardware.
    • I wonder if it's possible to buy "dumb" controllers to hook up to it in order to play multiplayer games?

      Yeah, it's already announced. I'm buying one as soon as it comes out, too. The second controller is a 'dummy' (i.e. no console inside) that hooks to the main controller via a 'controller hub'.

      Up to 3 additionnal controllers can be hooked this way.

  • "Emulate"? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by oberondarksoul ( 723118 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @02:02PM (#7654479) Homepage

    Sorry, but the IQue doesn't 'emulate' an N64. It is an N64, albiet one downsized into a controller and using flash cards instead of cartridges.

    In response to other posts: yes, it is switchable to use PAL or NTSC - just solder the correct points on the PCB and you're away. Hopefully though, we won't need to - I would love to see these in shops outside China as a budget games solution, much like those Atari Controller-esque machines. Of course, with much better games...

  • Multiplayer? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Quobobo ( 709437 )
    Okay, okay.. I only skimmed the linked article, but I'm wondering how the iQue supports multiplayer games. I didn't see any mention of controller ports on the controller (well, the system) in the article.
  • See this EE Times [eetimes.com] article on a partnership between Matrix Semiconductor (3D write-once ROM technology, spun off of Stanford) and Nintendo. Also note the large number of "flash cards" included for the price (4), and a description of using the cards that make it sound like a "write-once" technology.

  • did i miss something? (Score:3, Funny)

    by neoThoth ( 125081 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @05:00PM (#7655395) Homepage
    From page 4 [dextrose.com] of the article:

    The Player, as stated before, is based on N64 Hardware and assembled on very small place using nano technology on a single chip.

    does this mean it can make new games out of materials it consumes?

  • DRM and Nintendo (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Dave_bsr ( 520621 ) <slaphappysal@hotmail.com> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @06:14PM (#7655850) Homepage Journal
    I think the most important thing about this whole story is that this is probably workable DRM on Nintendo's part.

    Write-once chips, downloadable content, closed "player" system. Sounds just like DRM to me. And it goes for super-cheap in China.

    I think this is a good idea on Nintedo's part. They make money (using old content that is now "free" to them) and the people in china theoretically get a cool new mini-system. Nintendo breaks into the Chinese market...

    Very interesting.
  • Has anyone else noticed that the iQue logo is virtually identical to Onstar's?
  • To me a portable video game that requires a TV
    is like a car with no wheels.

    If I have access to a TV I can just play my console.

    I love the N64 + SNES idea though. I'd buy one in a minute if it had a display like the GBA or GP32.

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Top Ten Things Overheard At The ANSI C Draft Committee Meetings: (7) Well, it's an excellent idea, but it would make the compilers too hard to write.

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