Hi all! I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the break in my bi-weekly articles. I took a long-overdue break for a week, and upon my return Cube-Europe was undergoing technical difficulties. There was also the small matter of me actually purchasing my GameCube this week!

Yes, it may stagger all of you that a writer at Cube-Europe got a GameCube any later than launch day, but it's true. I physically couldn't afford one and was buried alive with University work. I technically still can't afford one, but I couldn't wait any longer! What this delay has meant is that I have a different perspective on the current state of flux and debate over Iwata-san's recent comments after his succession to Yamauchii-san.

A lot of you have had your GameCubes for a while now, have become accustomed to its appearance, the games you use on its and the way they look. For me, the magic has not worn off yet, and I still approach every game like a kid in a sweetshop, wowing over the texturing in Pikmin, the animation in Luigi's Mansion, the stadium effects in ISS2 or the purity of the game design and raw addictiveness of Super Monkey Ball. I can't believe the jump in the graphical quality since the N64, and having used an Xbox extensively, would definitely say that it offers nothing ahead of the GameCube in terms of looks or features to your average Joe. The Xbox would love to claim to target hardcore gamers, but there is scant evidence to support that in my opinion when the massive majority of the Xbox games are little more than shelf fillers. If anything, for the true "hardcore" gamer, the Nintendo titles like Super Monkey ball and Luigi's Mansion hold a much longer appeal for seeking out every secret, beating every high score and exploring every possibility than rival Xbox (or PS2) games.

As someone who thinks that the GameCube is a truly amazingly launched system in Europe, I would like to think of Iwata-san's comments in a different way. The GameCube has arrived in Europe and sold much, much better than games journalists would have expected. Many Cube-Europe readers have been upset with an apparent pro-Xbox standpoint that EDGE magazine seem to have taken in recent weeks � but might like to note that they seem to have completely dropped their GameCube bashing in June's issue, ahead of their reporting of E3 and with the large GameCube sales numbers as they were going to print. Note the very interesting article by their regular feature writer 'RedEye', where he notes that the GameCube is for kids � in the same way as Star Wars, ET and Toy Story are for kids � they don't exclude anybody and are still absolutely great. In this territory (Europe), and indeed in the USA, the GameCube has exceeded expectations. Ironically it is in Japan that the console is struggling somewhat. Having hit their targets, and established a good base for themselves, Yamauchi-san stepped down and Iwata-san stepped up to replace him. What this essentially means is that having laid some solid foundations, Yamauchi-san is now leaving the 'creative' direction for the GameCube, and Nintendo's future direction, to Iwata-san. Iwata-san will arrive in this highly prestigious position, eager to see what can be improved: a "we have done really well, now what could we have done better?" type mentality. The answers to this problem lie in Iwata-san's recent statements, and should help to assuage any worries that we GameCube owners might have.

Ask yourself this: Over the period of time leading to the GameCube launch, what was the single most annoying so-called 'counter-argument' against the GameCube offered up by Xbox and PS2 fans? For me it's a close call between "The Games are all for Kids" and "You can't play DVDs on it". Time and again these comments crop up, from a PS2 fan in a forum, to a "electronics specialist" in a newspaper, to a spotty oik working in Dixons. As a fan of Nintendo's style I know that these comments are utterly pointless things to say. Why would I want to watch DVDs on a 16" portable TV? If Mario64 was a game for children only, then do I ever want to grow up? Sadly though, there are those who will be sucked in by advertising hype, who will choose brands ahead of quality and so on. I believe that Iwata-san wishes to address these issues once and for all.

Nintendo have been labelled, often justifiably, as arrogant on numerous occasions. They stick to their trusted IPs whilst introducing a few new ones every so often, they steer clear of many genres of games simply because they feel that they don't offer much of a gaming experience. Nintendo, with all its expertise and talent would never produce a Halo, although they would produce a Metroid - two very different games. Most of us would agree that this is a good thing � Nintendo do certain types of game brilliantly, why tar their reputation by making a hash of something that hundreds of other companies do? However, this is an issue to address, so how best to solve it? Well, Iwata-san's recent comments, and Nintendo's recent business moves I think show us the way: 2nd party collaboration. This is not the Microsoft style of "They make great First Person shooters�lets buy them!" but rather a case of providing close links and hardware ties with other developers, investing heavily in them and being rewarded with great games. It's a system that has worked superbly with Rare for many years, and is now producing results already in the form of Eternal Darkness and Metroid. Soon we will be able to add a Starfox title from Namco and F-Zero from Sega / Namco. There is evidence to suggest that Nintendo are putting out the feelers with companies such as Capcom as well (Exclusive Resident Evil games for example), and we know that Square are gradually working towards releasing their content on the GameCube. This shows a clear intent on Nintendo's part to increase the variety of games on the GameCube. They realise that they are not specialists in many areas of gaming, so they give the big players incentives to release games on the GameCube, collaborating where possible.

Where Iwata-san made comments about gaming hardware, the press have taken him to mean that Nintendo may duck out of hardware production. Nintendo "can't be optimistic about the game market" said Iwata-san, referring to hardware. "No matter what great product you come up with, people get bored. I feel like a chef cooking for a king who's full," he said. Now I can understand thoroughly the plausible perspective that Nintendo might be about to "do a SEGA" and ditch hardware manufacture, but I personally don't think it will happen. Nintendo have a long and proud association with hardware, and have spent many years and invested a lot of money in making laboratories and factories dedicated to producing their hardware. The age-old arrogant streak in Nintendo would also rather see them make Gameboy games only than make games for other people's platforms. My personal take on Iwata-san's comments is that their future consoles will either have more "multimedia" aspects to them (DVD player for example) or will be more upgradeable, or both. Whilst it's not what Nintendo want to do, they may feel that they have to pander to the consumer to a degree. Perhaps deals may also be done as with the Panasonic "Q", where Nintendo hardware becomes part of DVD players, or set top boxes etc.

Perhaps mainly due to my wave of excitement surrounding my GameCube, I am over optimistic about it, but as I see things it is as close to being a perfect fit for console gaming in the current market as you are going to get. It is easy for developers to use and powerful enough for them to make what they want on it. Someone stated in the round table recently that Doom 3 showed what graphics would be achieved on the next round of consoles, but there really is nothing stopping the GameCube achieving the same graphical quality. The GameCube's graphics chip uses a technique called MultiTexturing, and can render 8 textures in one clock cycle. I am unsure as to how many the XGPU can render, but I believe it is 4. Multi-texturing has been around for a while, but mainly on non-NVidia chips, and so has only really just started to catch on now it is supported more, and it is this technique used in Doom 3 to a large degree. Rather than render images with ludicrously high polygons counts, multi-texturing allows you to assign one texture for colouring your image (a bit like wrapping a picture around your object), then further textures of sorts can be used to control how reflective a surface is, what colour it reflects light, etc etc. This makes 3D graphics look absolutely stunning, for a small performance hit. The eagerly awaited PC and Xbox Game, Deus Ex 2 will use this technique and early screenshots are very impressive. This is another example that the GameCube, whilst not boasting the statistics of the Xbox or PS2, will be able to hold its own for years to come, as the apparent performance differences are made unnoticeable through clever use of technology and custom design in the GameCube. I don't think that Nintendo would want to lose this kind of creative control over the hardware they work with, and as a result would be extreme reluctant to give up on hardware.

The GameCube is also nearly perfect for gamers, about as close as you are going to get at this moment in time. It is affordable, compact and very easy to use. The games are already showing a great deal of graphical quality � I feel that the shorter games of Luigi's Mansion and Pikmin show the massive variety of games that the GameCube can handle and also show how graphically brilliant the console is, paving the way for more long-term games such as Mario Sunshine and Zelda. Save perhaps Ico on the PS2, I haven't seen anything from the competition that compares with the subtlety of the graphics in Luigi's Mansion and Pikmin. The controller is fantastically designed, the console robust, portable and, importantly, upgradable. If online gaming takes off, Nintendo is ready. If hard drives suddenly become a must have, the GameCube can have one fitted�but why pay for something now that you will not use for 2 years? As things stand the main allure of the Xbox's hardrive is the fact that you don't need a memory card to use the machine properly and that PC developers can port their games over easier. It has not, however changed the face of console gaming, not yet anyway.

Iwata-san has re-iterated Nintendos aim of shifting 50 million GameCubes by 2005. Stop and think about that. 50 million. The PS2 has been selling well since its launch and has just topped 30 million, with next to no competition. Yet Nintendo want to shift 50 million units, despite competition from the Xbox and PS2 � from Microsoft and Sony, two of the largest companies in the world. That doesn't sound to me like a desire to leave hardware behind. The only way that that will be achieved is by price cuts and high quality software. It won't be long before miniaturisation means that Nintendo can afford to reduce the console's price further. I would guess that you will be able to buy a GameCube for under �100 by Christmas, and then for about �50 by Christmas 2003. The console itself could get smaller too � think of that! Nintendo have a headstart of sorts on the PS2 and the Xbox. Nintendo have the quality offline products coming out between now and around 2003 � 2004. It is only at about that time that Microsoft and Sony can hope that their online projects will reap rewards. Until then, Nintendo may be able to push home an advantage of sorts, providing what the people want at a price they can afford. Sell outs here in the UK of their hardware would seem to suggest that they are on the right track.

Nintendo might leave the hardware business after 2005. They may become even richer if they do. However, I'm willing to bet that they won't. I am also willing to bet that Nintendo themselves don't know that they will be doing in 2005 just yet. If the GameCube is to sell 50 million units as Iwata-san has re-iterated, then it will only come about by Nintendo being on the pulse when it comes to hardware, backed by Nintendo software customised for it. Nintendo consoles are here to stay.


Want to know what the rest of the staff think of Mr. Iwatas comments? Check out the Cube-Europe Roundtable #3