GameCube's G4 processor might produce more games for Apple

[twek]

hi all,

just thought i'd start off my account here with a topic about how gaming companies coding for the gamecube might find it easier to either port or write new games for the macintosh platform.
this might have been brought up already but it seems like a good sign that nintendo decided to use the g4 for their new system. and once these game companies fuss out all the optimization issues with the altivec engine, they might be more inclined to give it a go with osx.

maybe this is already happening.

anyway, i finally registered to macrumors after reading it for months... hello to everyone!

 

[iGav]

It'd be nice to think that developers will see the mac platform as an alternative gaming platform to the PC, and the ingredients are already there such as quite a large installed user base and large sales with the iMac...... as well as some cool hardware and forthcoming innovative products....

and glad to have you here......

 

[PCUser]

Actually, sorry to say it, but... the GameCube uses a custom IBM PowerPC G3 dubbed "Gekko" at 485MHz manufactured at a 0.18 micron process, not a G4. No AltiVec.

 

[twek]

true enough

ah, right you are. well, it still holds true that the gamecube is the only other major computing device using the powerpc processor (besides some ibm servers that only apply to esoteric server applications).
it's still a good push for the processor and i'm sure some of the low-level cpu instructions cross over between platforms therefore opening up the potential for more programmers.

 

[bobky]

I just wish it was out already (UK) well not long left, 3rd May. The GC will be the macintosch of the console market, well at least in europe. Sony already have a huge installed base and M$ has dropped the xbox by a hundred pounds equalling the PS2, But my hopes are nintendo will approach europe with a bit more drive, un like that of the n64.

 

[LethalWolfe]

The only console that *might* have some basic game code cross over is the X-box since it's using a Windows varient. But code for a console game and code for a PC game are two very different things. Also, most console developers don't make PC games, and vice-versa. So it's not like they can just run it down the hall to the "PC division" or something. Plus most cross platform games suck. PC gamers don't want the "feel" of console games, and console gamers don't want the feel of PC games. The best example is probably save points. PC gamers want to be able save whenever they damn well please, while it's perfectly acceptable to have to complete a mission/level before you can save on a console. But now I've gone off on an unrelated rant...


Lethal

 

[Gelfin]

Not as simple as that...

Even if there's a standard CPU at the core, there's way more to a machine than the processor, and you'd still have to either write a GameCube emulator or add code to every game to support the broader base of Mac hardware. There's also the question of how GameCube games expect to be able to use the hardware. On the console they don't have to account for a thick operating system and multiple open applications.

It might be slightly easier to port a GC title to Mac than to PC, but it wouldn't be especially easy.

 

[jefhatfield]

Re: true enough

Originally posted by twek
ah, right you are. well, it still holds true that the gamecube is the only other major computing device using the powerpc processor (besides some ibm servers that only apply to esoteric server applications).
it's still a good push for the processor and i'm sure some of the low-level cpu instructions cross over between platforms therefore opening up the potential for more programmers.

AS400 has some models with powerpc processors, or the last time i heard a while back