Softimage GameCube Development tools complete

US 3-D development specialist Softimage has announced that it has finished work on the several GameCube development aids it has been working on in collaboration with Nintendo.

The tools and libraries are designed specifically to help developers and programmers of GameCube projects get the most out of the machine. It is an industry first for a games hardware manufacturer such as Nintendo to team up with a third party and release a development kit add-on so long after initial software development started.

“Through the continued close collaboration between the R&D teams of Nintendo and Softimage, we’ve been able to provide game developers on the cutting edge with a higher level of richness and flexibility,” said Michael Stojda, managing director of Softimage. “Nintendo has always been a strong user of Softimage products. We are proud that they are using this new version of Softimage 3D to produce their upcoming Nintendo GameCube release titles.”

The development middleware will enable coders to easily include complex features such as multiple UV texturing, interactive normal editing, polygon hide and unhide, enhanced vertex color shading, dopesheet control for shader, and custom fcurve. Essentially, your GameCube games will look better, perhaps, than games on any other home console.

“Softimage has provided development tools which have helped us challenge the current definition of interactive video game experiences, while meeting the demands of our developers,” said Nintendo’s Hisashi Yuasa, general manager licensing department. “For over six years, Softimage tools have contributed to several of our most successful titles with a graphical richness and intensity that would be difficult to achieve otherwise.”

“Softimage 3D was used in the creation of many award-winning Nintendo 64 titles such as Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time,” noted Takao Sawano, manager of Nintendo Cube LTD's Entertainment, Analysis and Development. “It is currently used for the creation of coming Nintendo GameCube titles, such as Luigi's Mansion , Super Smash Brothers Melee, and Pikmin.”