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GC

Dolphin to be 256 bit?

by Billy Berghammer - August 31, 1999, 7:52 pm EDT
Source: Newsweek

256 bits?! Boy, I'm stuffed!

Yes, I rubbed my eyes as well when I say the link over at Nintendorks. Holy SHIT! If this is real, it will be absolutely unbelievable. Newsweek has a tasty article called Who's got game? Uh, I'd say Nintendo will. Here's a clip of what will eventually pitch tents worldwide.

Nintendo is leapfrogging 128-bit technology with a 256-bit, 400-megahertz IBM PowerPC chip in its upcoming console, code-named Dolphin, also due in 2000. It hasn't done any demos, but confidently state that the new system will "meet or exceed" PS2. Ironically, it's the simplest of technologies that is keeping the company healthy in Japan, where the Nintendo 64 has struggled. The portable 8-bit Game Boy, with its 1-megahertz processor, has sold 80 million units since its 1989 release, making it the best-selling videogame system in history. More advanced machines have failed to unseat Game Boy because in the handheld market performance matters less than size, battery life and a bundled copy of the highly addictive Tetris. Game Boy outsells all of the state-of-the-art consoles in Japan, including the moderately successful Nintendo 64. Since that's largely due to the wildly popular Pokemon, Nintendo hopes to boost sales of N64 by selling a device that connects it to the Game Boy, letting kids battle Pokemon on their TV sets in high-resolution color.

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