Accessorize your Cube
Pick up the pieces to complete the lunch box puzzle
Although Microsoft has already spent a certain percentage of their $500m advertising budget promoting their peripherals and third party contracts in that area, Nintendo, who launch their competing GameCube console two days prior to the Xbox, have kept surprisingly quiet on the subject. On Friday though, they broke the silence and spoke to Core Magazine about hardware and cost. The most obvious extra peripheral here is the supplementary controller. Identical to your average GameCube controller which we examined in depth during E3, the controller will probably come in alternative colour schemes as well (although Nintendo hasn't confirmed this), and will retail for 2,500 yen (£14). Joining the controller (although not physically, as with the Nintendo 64), is the standard memory card, with a 4Mb storage capacity. This will be broken down into 59 storage blocks, to be distributed between games as you see fit. The price has been set at 1,400 yen (£8). Other peripherals Nintendo has mentioned include replacement AC adapters (3,000 yen) and S-Video (2,500 yen) and Component (3,500 yen) cables. All of the above will be available with the console on its Japanese and American release dates. Furthermore, Nintendo aims to make several further peripherals available, although release date and pricing information on those is scarce. Amongst them are the wireless "WaveBird" controller, 64MB SD Memory Card adapter, GBA link cable, 56k modem adapter, and broadband adapter. Related Feature - Nintendo's E3 announcement