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4th June 2003:
Next Nintendo console rumours surface
With both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 2 sending the rumour mill into overdrive in recent months, you might think Nintendo was missing out, until now...
Posted by Marc Hull - GameCube - UK and Europe

Despite the fact that none of the next-generation consoles are expected to launch until 2005 at the earliest, rumours have still be spreading super-quick across the Internet about the next wave of gaming hardware. Microsoft went on record earlier this year stating that the next Xbox would be smaller than the current design, and that they were aiming to release it before Sony launches their PlayStation 3. Meanwhile, Sony were strongly rumoured to be showing off demo units with the projected power of the PS3 to developers behind closed doors at this year's E3, and we've already received confirmation that titles like Grand Theft Auto 4 are already in development for the console. However, with Nintendo being fairly quiet on the whole 'new console' subject in recent months, many have come to believe that the GameCube may be their final foray into the next-generation hardware business. Fortunately, the signs are now pointing in completely the other direction.

Earlier this year, you may remember that Nintendo signed a contract with ATI to secure graphics chipsets for their consoles, and while the company currently supplies the graphics components for the GameCube, the contract seemed to imply that ATI would also be providing components for future Nintendo devices. At the time the contract seemed a little premature, since the GameCube had been out for less than a year so even planning another console would usually still be a couple of years away. However, at this year's E3 Nintendo published an unusual press release where they admitted that they had taken the wrong approach with their recent consoles, putting them outside the wide market range of competitors, but instead of announcing a much-feared drop out of the hardware business, reaffirmed their commitment to retake the lead in the console market. It is now rumoured that Nintendo partly blames timing for why the N64 failed to overtake the PlayStation and why the GameCube is not matching sales of the PlayStation 2; both consoles appeared over a year after their respective competitors, giving them a lot to catch up on.

Today the rumour mill went into overdrive as 'anonymous developers' leaked to various sites on the 'net that Nintendo have approached them concerning their new hardware. Not surprisingly, the company wants to give their new console the best start possible if they want to have any chance of going against the next Xbox and PlayStation, and the current rumour is that a release as early as Spring 2005 is on the cards. If this is true, we'd be expecting to see technical demos of the hardware's capabilities as early as this Winter with games demoing at next year's E3.

However, despite sites reporting this as near-fact, we'd suggest everyone to take any of the above with a pinch of salt. With many good games taking years to produce these days, development kits for the next GameCube would have to be distributed pretty soon in order to meet the Spring 2005 deadline. Nintendo themselves would also want to shift development to the new hardware in order to produce a good set of first-party launch games, and if this year's E3 was anything to go by they show little signs of lowering their support for the GameCube. Some parts do make sense though - it's likely that Nintendo will want to launch their next console before their competitors, and that is why the ATI deal was finalised so soon. ATI will probably end up providing a variant of their Radeon graphics chipset which is currently beating nVidia's GeForce 4 in many tests (note that nVidia is likely to be behind the Xbox 2's graphics powers).

Whatever turns out to be true, it's looking increasingly likely that the GameCube will NOT be Nintendo's last console, making the next-generation battle a three-horse race yet again. As soon as we hear any more details on any of the big three new consoles, you can be sure to find it posted on our news page!

Marc Hull

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