Welcoming Remarks
As the press trickled into the Bayside Convention Center in Dorchester, Massachusetts they were greeted by a stage seating a few Nintendo icons, and some newer faces at Nintendo, who were increasingly learning the ropes. The stage sat Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, legendary game designers Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Iizuka and Satoru Iwata, Nintendo of America president, Minoru Arakawa, and Nintendo treehouse translator Bill Trinen.
After the crowd had trickled in and settled down, Hiroshi Yamauchi (translated by Bill Trinen) opened, “Thank you for being here, last year was a crucial year in our company’s fruitful history. I cannot say in good faith that the Nintendo 64 was the success we hoped it to be, though ahead of its time in many ways. I will say, however, that our depth of exclusive, in house, and contracted games sets us apart from the competition in many ways. Developers like Rareware are the keystones of our business. In fact, while I have you all here, let me say this with one hundred percent certainty, Rare is not going anywhere. In fact, we are going forth with a full acquisition, and a deal with the Stampers is already in place.”
Hiroshi Yamauchi’s change of heart as of late was evident, and brought on by the failure of SEGA, and his company’s absorption of their rival. He did not want to go the way of SEGA, in fact, he’d rather die than let Nintendo fall in the hands of a rival. And so, he began one of the most memorable parts of the speech.
“The minds of SEGA have provided us with so much insight to developing both machines and games, and we’ve noticed some common critiques. ‘Nintendo doesn’t care about graphics’ they say. Ahh, but you’ll forget that the Nintendo 64 brought better graphics than both competitors, and that we pioneered graphical fidelity with great games like Donkey Kong Country. ‘Nintendo is a kid’s toy, not a mans machine’ they say, but they forget Goldeneye, Super Metroid, even Zelda, as well as the brand-new Conker. ‘Nintendo doesn’t have as many games’ they say. While there is some truth to this, we’ve consistently delivered some of the greatest games the industry has seen, year on year.
One studio that consistently has crossed our mind in these regards is Rareware, a company so ingrained in our culture, they ought to be a part of us. And so they will be! Obviously, we’ve also brought in the talented minds from SEGA who will help us produce a dearth of new releases for our next console. What did you think, Nintendo would have our own conference and not mention our new console? *chuckles* Of course, in just a little bit you are going to see more of both our brand-new console and our refined GameBoy. You’ll also see more of some games previously shown, and a whole bunch of new titles too. We also have some surprises in store for you. I’d like to let some of our most important people offer you some welcomes as well, now.”
Yamauchi handed the microphone to Miyamoto, “Welcome everybody! I’m excited to show you our newest games we have prepared for you.”
Next, Iizuka, “Hello, welcome to you all, I’m very excited to bring to you our games to our new home at Nintendo, thank you!”
Next, Iwata, “Hello, and welcome. We are very excited to show you the future.”
Lastly, Arakawa. “Welcome everybody! I’m so excited to show you everything we’ve been working on.”
The conference opened without a hitch, and everyone was antsy for the next part.
Connectivity: The Future of Nintendo
The next conference, Connectivity: The Future of Nintendo, was given by Nintendo of America president, Minoru Arakawa. Minoru opened up with a presentation on internet services offered in the past by both Nintendo and Sega. Next, the iconic Starman flashed on screen, and faded into text: StarNet coming soon.
“StarNet is our next adventure into internet connectivity. Launching with our next console later this year, it will cost $49.99 a year, or $4.99 a month if you prefer monthly. This service will allow you to have online connectivity with your friends, connect to your GameBoy Advance, and even download certain titles. In fact, we’ve decided our next console will come with a 56k modem built-in for online fun, but you’ll hear more about that later.”
More details were unveiled about StarNet: A new wireless technology would allow owners of their new console to connect to the GameBoy, a 20gb hard drive would be available for separate purchase allowing new updates to titles, as well as downloads of their favorite past games.
Owners of the Sega Dreamcast would receive a free year of StarNet, and buying Nintendo’s new console would also give adopters a free six month trial. Arakawa went on to explain internet gameplay, and interactions between the Gameboy and Nintendo’s new console.
The conference went well, with reactions all positive for the new StarNet.
Nintendo Squared
Hiroshi Yamauchi took the stage, on the screen behind him flashed images of past consoles, before the GameCube prototype, unveiled at Space World last August, popped onto the screen. It morphed from purple to silver, then faded out. Mario and Link flashed around the screen, and then it faded to black. A dolphin appeared on screen, swimming in an ocean before jumping in between what appeared to be an N and a 2, the dolphin formed the shape of a caret.
“This, is the Nintendo Squared (stylized N^2).” The crowd looked shocked at the elevation the design had taken since last year’s “purple lunchbox”. This machine looked like the future, with a sleek silver shell, blue LED lights, and what appeared to be a DVD player. The audience roared with applause. It looked like a whole new machine. *
“Last August, we previewed to you the Nintendo GameCube. Well, in the past few months, we’ve worked, with Sega engineers, to refine this next generation gaming experience. We present you the Nintendo Squared, the ultimate next generation machine. From cutting edge technology, to multimedia and internet support, we’ve given you the very best with this console.”
Press flyers were distributed with the details of the new Nintendo Squared:
• 737 MHz PowerPC “Gekko FX”**
• 243 MHz ATI “Flipper”***
• 32MB Main 1T-SRAM, 24MB Main DRAM, 4MB embedded video 1T-SRAM, 2MB Sound RAM
• 56k Modem, Broadband Ethernet port as well
• Wi-fi technology for connecting the GameBoy Advance
• Accepts DVD-ROM and CD-ROM
• WaveBird wireless controllers (up to 4)****
Yamauchi went on to explain, “While these changes are very nice, they unfortunately have increased our expected launch price. We will be launching the GameCube at ¥34,999; $299.99; £299.99, in line with competitors. We’ve decided to launch worldwide in November of this year. November 18 in Japan and North America, and November 23 in other regions.”
“We hope you enjoy this new console we’ve created for you. We’ll be showcasing some of its software later in the event.”
*The Nintendo Squared looks a lot like the Panasonic Q without the arches on top
**A custom version of the Gekko coming from the 750FX rather than the 750CXe
***Flipper with 50% higher clocks, much like the ATI Hollywood chip
****Nintendo decided to have one pack in WaveBird as the default controller.
See more of Space World come part three, as we dive into the refined GameBoy Advance, Nintendo’s software line up, and third party offerings, thanks!
