The layout seems perfectly designed for the next generation of 3D action and adventure games, but the unsymmetrical shape and four face buttons means fighting game fans should start saving for arcade sticks immediately. Once I saw the controller being comfortably used by Nintendo representitives and endorsed by others who had tried it, I began to understand the philosophies Miyamoto expressed as motivation behind its design. It will be interesting to see how big a selling point this becomes for the GameCube and whether it reaches beyond the mere novelty of past wireless products. Nintendo has remained mostly quiet on the all-important Internet issue, but what has been revealed shows Nintendo is once again going in an entirely different direction than its competitors. Until the gaming infrastructure is in place, Sega has turned to standard web browsing as the focus of Dreamcast's online plans.
Games are but a small part of their online plans.
Sony has placed all of its eggs in the broadband basket, refusing to introduce an option for narrowband connectivity, the way a majority of American households currently connect to the Internet. A 56k modem from hardware maker Conexant will be available at GameCube launch, but not bundled with the system. Conexant will make a broadband option available further down the line. As of yet, no specific timetable or structure has been announced. A wild card in the next generation race is the connectivity between the GameCube and Game Boy Advance.