The other week(at long last) I managed to get my hands on a Nintendo Gamecube, I was stood in electronics boutique tore between buying a X-box or Gamecube.But I made the decision and it was the right one aswell…..
The Gamecube is the latest games machine from Nintendo, due to the N64’s(supposed)poor performance not many people have much faith in the Gamecube, however it is one of those things which you either love or you hate(like Marmite).
The Gamecube is a small box shape which comes in a choice of colours,purple or black. The Gamecube has all the standard console buttons on it, such as the on/off switch and the reset button. The game cube has a handle on the back of it, this has had a lot of critisim,however it makes it one hell of a lot easier to carry around. On the base of the Gamecube there are various ports which all serve for different reasons,one of the ports is for future use of a modem so the Gamecube can participate in online gaming. The controllers plug in at the front of the console(up to four at a time) and there are two memory card ports under the controller ports.
The controller for the Gamecube is the best controller for any console, it takes ideas from all games machines and blends it all into one. It is like a bigger version of a Playstation controller, it has a big button on one side of it and all of the other in game buttons are around this one. The controller has both a analogue stick and a direction pad. One of the great ideas of the controller is that the camera controls are a little analogue stick on the right hand side of the controller, this makes it extra easy to get the camera angle you want which is important in some of the Gamecubes 3D games. The shoulder buttons on the top of the controller are a grove shape and they are what makes the controller so comfy to hold. The controller also has a built in rumble pack which delivers quiet satisfying rumbles.
The graphics on the console are visually very pleasing and easily contend if not beat the PS2 graphics. All the objects in the games are very smooth and fast running and there is very little fog in the games.
Nearly all of the games come in surround sound capabilities. However unless you have a sound system connected to your TV you will have to buy one, however(surprise surprise) Nintendo have bought out a special sound system specially for the Gamecube, I cannot tell you anything about this sound system though as I do not own it or no of anyone who does.
The cables which you use to connect the Gamecube to the TV are scart cables(at least that’s what you get in the box),so you need to make sure that your TV is compatible with scart cables. If your TV is not compatible you need to make sure that you buy the Nintendo Ariel box(sold separately) so that you can actually use your game cube!!. Also beware,Just because your Gamecube uses scart cables it does not mean that it runs on 60hz so if you want it to run on 60hz you have to buy a separate scart cable which is a bit of a rip off in my opinion!!!
All the instructions you receive with the Gamecube are really detailed and very easy to follow, you should have your Gamecube up in running in no time at all. However you can not tune a channel for your Gamecube, you have to play it through your AV channel.
The Gamecube comes all very well packaged, it is all packed very cozely into its box, however once it has been taken out,it is very hard to but back in(for transport purposes) so if you want to move it around with ease and comfort you will have to buy one of the Gamecube carry bags(yet another scam). The box has all the usual stuff on it about the console nothing particularly interesting.
The Gamecube games are very unique, in the fact that they come on tiny disks. They are about the size of the smaller section of a disk tray on a PC. This is very useful and makes it extra hard for people to make pirate copies of game cube games and selling them on.
The Gamecube is great, however it has a lot of competition and the competition are bigger and more popular than Nintendo, yes Sony and Microsoft. In my opinion the Gamecube is better then both, although the X-box has better graphics, Nintendo are willing to give games a try which Microsoft and Sony would never dare trying just in case it didn’t sell millions, however Nintendo are willing to take this risk and that’s what makes them appeal to me. He fact of the matter is that Nintendo’s N64 has but a lot of people off of buying the Gamecube as they believe that all of the games will be childish and thew and far apart, don’t believe it.
The Gamecube on its own cost £129. There are currently not many good Package deals around as it is such a new machine, however there are a thew out there. Do not believe that you are saving money on a package deal when really your not it just sounds good(I made this mistake). Games for the console are currently between £40-45, however I’m sure that the prices will drop in the near future.
This games machine is truly brilliant, however not everyone will see it that way. But if I were you I would give the game cube a chance!
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