Rather than leave the hardware market and go software only, Sega-style, Nintendo is coming back fighting. Buoyed by the success of Pokemon and the handheld Game Boy Advance, it is pitching Gamecube into the battle to reclaim lost territory.

Gamecube contains analogue and digital AV outputs, the former connecting to TV via SCART, Composite video or S-Video; the latter connecting through a Component Video cable to the digital inputs on high-end HDTV sets, supporting progressive scan, non-interlaced, full 60 frames per second (fps), 640 x 480 images of superb visual clarity.

There are just four controller ports and two memory card slots, plus a high-speed parallel port and two serial ports hidden on the base of the unit. At the moment it's unclear what these will be used for, although Nintendo has announced modem and broadband connection options for the near future.

Gamecube also brings us a new, innovative Nintendo controller, with a main analogue stick, four large fire buttons and dual analogue triggers, plus a secondary analogue stick which will be used to control camera movement in many games. It's intuitive, responsive and comfortable, and has a built-in rumble function.

A wireless version, Wavebird, will also be available at launch.

Nintendo's games already have a different look to the PS2 and Xbox titles, with the likes of Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Wave Race: Blue Storm showing off bright colours and a heightened, cartoon-like visual style. The games look amazing, but in a distinctly Nintendo way. If you want gritty realism, you might be disappointed.

The cube can definitely do spectacular, however. Star Wars: Rogue Leader is the closest thing yet to a playable Star Wars film, with graphics that could have come straight from the Special Edition reissues.

The Gamecube's big advantage is its price. At around £199 it will undercut the PS2 and XBox by a comfortable margin, and with Electronic Arts, Namco, Capcom, Ubisoft, Midway and Konami all producing games, it won't suffer from the lack of software that affected the N64.

We'll have to wait until the UK launch next spring to see if Gamecube can win over the mainstream games audience, but it's a strong console that should keep Nintendo's existing fans happy, and possibly make many new ones.

Price: TBC (approx. £199)
Details: www.nintendo.com

Microsoft Xbox

Microsoft's first console really polarises opinion. Its high-performance hardware and the Microsoft's financial clout mean that Xbox is a force to be reckoned with, but serious questions are still being raised over launch delays, software support and the company's inexperience in the video games market.

The system unit itself is oddly conservative: a large black unit with a front-loading DVD drive, four controller ports and raised X-design on top with a glowing green spot at its centre. There aren't any USB or FireWire connections, but two other features set Xbox apart.

First, the addition of an Ethernet port means that Xbox is the only console to be broadband network ready, right out of the box.

Second, Xbox is the first console to include a 10GB hard disk as standard. This will be used to cache graphics and audio data during gameplay, as well as save player data (it won't be used to install games or 'patch' bugs, as some Xbox critics have claimed).

You can connect Xbox to a standard TV via composite, S-Video and RF aerial adaptors. The high-definition AV pack, meanwhile, enables the console to work with high-definition digital TVs, with support for progressive scan images of up to 1,080 vertical lines and an AC3 Dolby Digital output.

Xbox can, of course, play DVD videos, but only if owners cough up for the optional movie playback kit and remote control.

Xbox has some impressive launch titles on its side, with Bungie's Sci-Fi action game, Halo, Argonaut's graphically astonishing platformer, Malice, and Bizarre's stunning revision of Metropolis Street Racer, Project Gotham, all ready to go.

TDK's Shrek licence should capitalise on the film's success, and the new Oddworld game, Munch's Odyssey, will only appear on Xbox.

Versions of SSX Tricky, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Silent Hill 2, Unreal Championship and Sega's Jet Set Radio Future should also help pull in the punters.

Xbox is slated for a UK launch next year.

Price: TBC (approx. £299)
Details: www.microsoft.com/xbox/

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