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SAN JOSE--Nintendo's next-generation Gamecube video-game console will run on a 485-MHz IBM CPU based on the PowerPC processor, which could make it easier for programmers to develop games for the product.

The insight was offered at the Embedded Processor Forum here this week. The Gamecube is due to launch in Japan on September 14, and then in the United States on November 5, Nintendo says.

Building the new Gamecube around an existing architecture such as the IBM PowerPC CPU is a key benefit for the console, an analyst says.

"Developers are able to get their games to market a lot faster, because so much code exists for the PowerPC," says Richard Doherty, director of research at The Envisioneering Group.

The console will also feature a sound and graphics processor from ATI Technologies, called Flipper.

Both the ATI processor and the PowerPC processor are designed for the end user to play the games on a standard television, Doherty says.

"Nintendo is going for what most people are going to play these games on, and that's television screens," he says. Competitors are getting ahead of themselves by trying to get their consoles connected to anything from high-definition televisions to computer screens, Doherty adds.

Inviting Developers to Familiar Architecture

"This is an easy-to-program architecture," says Dean Amini, director of advanced personal technologies for IBM, who described the setup in the keynote address at the conference.

The IBM CPU, called Gekko, runs a 485-MHz PowerPC processor, using 4.9 watts of electricity, Amini says. The system bus features a bandwidth of 1.3GB per second, and the chip has 256K of L2 cache on board.

"The principal role of Gekko is to run the game scripts and the intelligence that gives characters their personalities," Amini says.

The Flipper chip, from ATI Technologies, has 51 million transistors. About half are used for DRAM and color rendering, says Tim Van Hook, a fellow at ATI.

Flipper contains the graphics processor, the audio digital signal processor, and the input/output processor, according to Van Hook. The bulk of the processor is used in creating texturing and surfaces on the console, he adds.

"The Gamecube got richer graphics to market more quickly that the competition," Doherty says.

Great Games Remain Key

Games are what sell consoles these days, but without a decent platform to work with, game developers can run into a dead-end, Van Hook says.

But all the technology in the world is not going to sell a game console by itself, he notes.

"It's not really a technology sell; when your kid screams that he wants a Gamecube for Christmas, it's not for the megahertz or the DRAM, it's so he can play the games," Van Hook adds.

ATI uses NEC for the console's embedded DRAM, with 16MB of 80MHz DRAM for audio memory, and 24MB of main memory, Van Hook says.

The Flipper input/output processor also runs Matsushita Electric Industrial's optical disc interface to read the games, four game controller interfaces, two memory card interfaces, two high-speed serial ports, and a high-speed parallel port, says Van Hook.

The Gamecube also supports digital video processing, "even though it is not really targeted as the all-in-one home entertainment system," Van Hook says.

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