DOLPHIN SURFACES IN 2000
December 26, 1999

The most powerful of the next generation game consoles is Nintendo's project code-named Dolphin. Although Nintendo and its third-party publishers have yet to drop any official game announcements, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and other big guns have revealed that they are deeply involved with Dolphin projects. The completion of these games will likely determine the actual Dolphin launch date.

The games may not be ready, but most of the hardware is ready to rock. The Gekko Central Processing Unit chip shown here may seem tiny, but the Dolphin's 400 MHz CPU is the most powerful game console CPU in history. Gekko uses Big Blue's 0.18 micron copper technology, which gives it the speed to blaze by the competition.

Gekko CPU

At the heart of the Dolphin is the Gekko CPU. Clocking in at 400 MHz, the Gekko avoids over-heating thanks to the heat dissipation properties of IBM's 0.18 micron copper technology. IBM is the only company with the facilities to manufacture these chips in mass-market numbers, which will help to keep Dolphin's price tag reasonable.

ArtX CGP

The Custom Graphics Processor from ArtX, Inc., in Palo Alto, California, was designed by a team led by Dr. Wei Yen — the chief designer of the N64 graphics chip. In the area of graphics, Dolphin should be a big hit.

Matsushita DVD

Dolphin features a DVD drive produced by Matsushita, more well-known under the Panasonic brand name. DVD discs store an enormous amount of data, many times the capacity of a CD-ROM. This is critical for storing added video, audio, and detailed 3D graphics.

S3 Compression

S3 texture compression technology from S3 Incorporated is embedded directly onto the ArtX graphics chip. The six-to-one compression ratio will result in saved game memory, but far more important is the fact that the decompression of textures is handled automatically by the graphics chip. The results will include elimination of bluriness, blockiness, and repetition of the same elements on the screen.

MoSys

MoSys' patented 1T-SRAM technology is used in Dolphin to embed large, high performance memory directly onto the ArtX graphics chip. It eliminates the transmission times between memory and chip. Gamers can expect more detailed graphics moving at higher framerates.

Source: NintendoDolphin.net