Nvidia partners with Namco

TOKYO--Major PC graphics card manufacturer Nvidia has announced that it will be providing Namco with its next-generation arcade hardware. Dubbed the "Nvidia System N2 Arcade Platform Solution," it is an all-in-one arcade system based on PC architecture. To be based on Nvidia's nForce2 motherboard, it will also feature a GeForce graphics card, OpenGL graphics API, and the Linux operating system.

According to today's announcement, the first game scheduled for release by Namco on the new arcade machine is a port of Counter Strike Neo, a customized edition of Counter Strike that is currently playable in a handful of Japanese arcades. Additional titles will be announced for the new arcade machine next year.

The adoption of PC architecture seems to be the trend for next-generation arcade machines--Aruze is developing a Linux-based arcade machine named AP-3, and Taito is releasing a PC-based arcade machine named TypeX, although it will run under a special edition of Windows XP instead of Linux.

For its part, Namco has not yet made any official statement on the System N2.