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Nintendo GameCube Game Disc
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Media type: | Read-only optical disc |
|---|---|
| Encoding: | Digital |
| Capacity: | 80mm: 1.5 gigabytes 120mm: 4.7 gigabytes (8.5 gigabytes dual layer) |
| Read mechanism: | Laser |
| Developed by: | Nintendo & Matsushita |
| Usage: | 80mm: Nintendo GameCube game media 120mm: Wii game media |
The Nintendo GameCube Game Disc is the medium for the Nintendo GameCube, created by Matsushita, and later extended for use of the Wii. The GameCube Game disc is also playable in the Wii through backward compatibility.[1] The GameCube game disc is a 1.5-GB, DVD9, 8-cm miniDVD based technology which reads at a constant rate from disc edge to disc center[2], while the Wii Optical Disc is a 4.7-GB, 12cm DVD based. It was chosen by Nintendo to prevent copyright infringement of its games,[3] to avoid licensing fees to the DVD Forum, and to reduce loading times.
The GameCube disc was negatively commented for its relatively small storage, as some games with large amounts of data have needed to be put on two discs. Full-motion video scenes and audio also had to be more heavily compressed to fit on a single disc, reducing their quality. Some felt Nintendo was replicating the move the company made with the Nintendo 64, where it chose a physically larger, lower capacity storage cartridge medium instead of the more compact 12 cm CD-ROM based technology Sega Saturn and PlayStation utilized. Prior to the GameCube, Nintendo video game consoles traditionally used cartridge based media. The GameCube Game Disc also has less capacity than the physically smaller 6.5 cm PSP UMD which can hold up to 1.8 GB (double layer)[4], though UMDs are based on newer technology.
For the Wii, Nintendo extended the technology to use a full size 12-cm DVD-based disc, enabling it to have the benefits of the GameCube disc (such as fast loading time) while having the standard capacity of a normal DVD-ROM.
Each Nintendo Gamecube disc contains a BCA mark, a type of bar code that is written to the disc with a YAG laser. Another example of DVD media with BCA marks is the failed DIVX format.
A BCA mark is visible to the naked eye. It should not be confused with the IFPI mark that is on all optical discs. BCA is described in Annex K of the DVD physical specification, and can be seen between radius 22.3mm (+0.0/-0.4mm) and 23.5mm (+/-0.5mm).
 BCA Mark on an 80mm DVD |
 The Super Smash Bros Melee disc |
 Nintendo GameCube Game Disc in Wii drive |
- ^ Casamassina, Matt (2006-09-12). IGNcube's Nintendo "Revolution" FAQ. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ Dipert, Brian (2005-08-04). Beating the blue-laser blues. EDN. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ GameSpy Staff (2003-07-30). Beginner's Guide: GameCube. GameSpy. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
- ^ Whitlock, Matt (2004-12-14). The Playstation 2, XBOX, & GameCube. TechLore.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
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