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GC

What the F? D-Pad Disappears?

by Max Lake - November 16, 2000, 7:25 pm EST
Source: Firing Squad

Come one, come all--and see the freak GC controller!!!!!

As part of its coverage of the Fall Comdex consumer electronics show, Firing Squad strolled by ATI's booth to discover a display dedicated to Nintendo's GameCube. As many of you may remember, ATI acquired Art-X not too long ago, bringing the company in on the ground floor of the console business. Additionally, it now seems that ATI are integrating members of Art X for production of its own high-end graphics chip. Although no GC software demos were shown off, there was a display case showing off a purple GameCube, along with a mini-DVD, controller alongside the "Flipper" motherboard. Click any of the pics below for bigger versions:


But wait! There's something wonky with that controller! If you take a close look at the controller on display, the handles are quite a bit longer and there's no D-pad-and in its place is the "Start" button. Prior to Space World, the presence of the D-Pad on Nintendo's "next-gen" controller was a hotly debated issue. However, when "GameCube" was revealed to the world, its controller (which you can also peep here and here to compare with the design shown above) featured a D-Pad. So… What in the heck does this mean?!

It's likely that the controller seen at Comdex is an earlier version, less streamlined version of the design; the one that prompted the whole "no D-Pad scandal." We're currently poking our noses around to see what we can find out on this. In the meantime, what do YOU think?

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