Nintendo GameCube Game Disc and Wii Optical Disc |
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| Media type | Read-only optical disc |
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| Encoding | Digital |
| Capacity | GCN 80 mm: 1.4 GB Wii 120 mm: 4.7 GB (8.54 GB dual layer) Wii U 120 mm |
| Read mechanism | Laser |
| Developed by | Nintendo & Panasonic |
| Usage | 80 mm: Nintendo GameCube game media 120 mm: Wii game media 120 mm: Wii U game media |
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|---|---|
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Nintendo optical discs are the optical disc format used to distribute video games released by Nintendo. This includes the Nintendo GameCube Game Disc and Wii Optical Disc. The physical size of a Nintendo GameCube Game Disc is that of a miniDVD, and the Wii Optical Disc is the size of a DVD. It was announced that Wii Optical Discs can be used in the Wii U, while the GameCube disc can be used in the Wii for backward compatibility. A burst cutting area is located at the inner ring of the disc surface.
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The Nintendo GameCube Game Disc (DOL-006) is the medium for the Nintendo GameCube, created by Matsushita (Panasonic),[1] and later extended for use on the Wii through backward compatibility.[2] The GameCube Game Disc is a 1.4 GB,[3] 8 cm miniDVD based technology which reads at a constant angular velocity (CAV). It was chosen by Nintendo to prevent copyright infringement of its games,[4][5] to reduce cost[6][7] by avoiding licensing fees to the DVD Forum and to reduce loading times. This also limits the consoles from being used as general DVD or BluRay players.[8][9]
The GameCube Game Disc was criticized for its relatively small storage: some games with large amounts of data had to be placed across two discs. Full-motion video scenes and audio had to use more compression to fit on a single disc, reducing their quality. Prior to the Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo consoles traditionally used cartridge-based media.
For the Wii, Nintendo extended the technology to use a full size 12 cm, 4.7/8.54 GB DVD-based disc (RVL-006), enabling it to have the benefits of the Nintendo GameCube Game Disc, while having the standard capacity of a double-layer DVD-ROM. Although the Wii can use double-layer discs, all titles were single-layer prior to the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[10][11] With the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo has admitted that some Wii systems may have trouble reading dual-layer discs due to a dirty laser lens.[12][11] Nintendo repaired systems with dual-layer problems,[11] and later released a disc cleaning kit for users to purchase.[13]
The Wii U is backward compatible with Wii Optical Discs, though not GameCube discs.[14] Reportedly to control costs, the Wii U will also use a unique disc format developed and supplied by Panasonic. With capacities of 25 GB (single layer), 50 GB (double layer) and 75 GB (triple layer).[15] The technology is said to be similar to that of a CH DVD disk, but with the power to handle more layers. The special disk type is unusable on other devices.[16] This information is unconfirmed by Nintendo.
Each Nintendo optical disc contains a burst cutting area (BCA) mark, a type of barcode that is written to the disc with a YAG laser. The data stored in this BCA mark includes an encrypted table related to the hardware-based copy-protection mechanics, in addition to 64 bytes of un-encrypted user-accessible data.[17]
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 physical specification, and can be seen between radius 22.3±0.4 mm and 23.5±0.5 mm. There is also six additional evenly spaced small cuts just outside the BCA radius, which are related to the copyprotection used. These small cuts can clearly be seen if the disk is held in front of a strong light source.[18]