Arguably the biggest news at this year’s AOU Arcade Expo was the unveiling of Sega, Nintendo and Namco’s new arcade hardware. Known as TriForce, the very concept of the GameCube-based system has set the world alight, with speculation as to its seemingly unnecessary role gathering pace by the day.
It seems unnecessary in as much as both Namco and Sega have recently released comparable systems, the System 246 and Naomi 2 respectively. Why would these stalwarts of the arcade industry want to team up to release what amounts to a competitive product?
At the AOU event in Japan earlier this week, the first TriForce game was shown in running form. On display at Sega’s booth and running on TriForce hardware using GD-ROM media was Amusement Vision's World Cup Champion Football Series A 2001-2002.
The game was billed as being 70% complete and was fully playable with initial reports being favourable as to its performance, both technically and in terms of gameplay.
As far as the future of the platform goes, it seems almost certain that TriForce marks the first move by Nintendo into online gaming. In what must be seen as a brave move, it appears that Nintendo is planning on building a community of ‘play-anywhere’ GameCube players. The concept of having data communication between a home console and an arcade system is far from new. It was first introduced by SNK who released memory cards that were compatible between its AES Neo Geo home system and its MVS arcade system. Sega tried the same idea, introducing VMU communication between its Dreamcast and Naomi arcade system. The problem both companies encountered was that arcade hardware is often housed in generic cabinets that did not allow for a bespoke communication port. There was also the problem that both the Neo Geo and the Dreamcast were not big-selling machines. The small user bases for both consoles were simply not enough to dictate trends in arcades around the world.
Sega has also managed to implement online link-up between home console and arcade in Japan. At this point in time it is possible to play Capcom Vs SNK 2 online, between Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 and the Naomi arcade system.
Nintendo is hoping to bring these concepts together. Armed with games from Sega, Namco and Capcom (with more to be confirmed in the coming months) and backed by Sega’s expertise in the field, Nintendo will realise a culture of play that can be accessed from anywhere in world, with no tangible difference in the experience. Being able to play a game at home in the evening, remove the memory card, pocket it and then resume play in the arcade the following afternoon, if successful, will revolutionise the industry.
It seems unnecessary in as much as both Namco and Sega have recently released comparable systems, the System 246 and Naomi 2 respectively. Why would these stalwarts of the arcade industry want to team up to release what amounts to a competitive product?
At the AOU event in Japan earlier this week, the first TriForce game was shown in running form. On display at Sega’s booth and running on TriForce hardware using GD-ROM media was Amusement Vision's World Cup Champion Football Series A 2001-2002.
The game was billed as being 70% complete and was fully playable with initial reports being favourable as to its performance, both technically and in terms of gameplay.
As far as the future of the platform goes, it seems almost certain that TriForce marks the first move by Nintendo into online gaming. In what must be seen as a brave move, it appears that Nintendo is planning on building a community of ‘play-anywhere’ GameCube players. The concept of having data communication between a home console and an arcade system is far from new. It was first introduced by SNK who released memory cards that were compatible between its AES Neo Geo home system and its MVS arcade system. Sega tried the same idea, introducing VMU communication between its Dreamcast and Naomi arcade system. The problem both companies encountered was that arcade hardware is often housed in generic cabinets that did not allow for a bespoke communication port. There was also the problem that both the Neo Geo and the Dreamcast were not big-selling machines. The small user bases for both consoles were simply not enough to dictate trends in arcades around the world.
Sega has also managed to implement online link-up between home console and arcade in Japan. At this point in time it is possible to play Capcom Vs SNK 2 online, between Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 and the Naomi arcade system.
Nintendo is hoping to bring these concepts together. Armed with games from Sega, Namco and Capcom (with more to be confirmed in the coming months) and backed by Sega’s expertise in the field, Nintendo will realise a culture of play that can be accessed from anywhere in world, with no tangible difference in the experience. Being able to play a game at home in the evening, remove the memory card, pocket it and then resume play in the arcade the following afternoon, if successful, will revolutionise the industry.
Read More Like This