The rarely-used Digital AV port on the back of the GameCube console is to be removed from future revisions of the hardware in a move designed to save production costs, Nintendo has confirmed today.
The change will take effect on GameCubes shipped from April 1st in Japan, with the new version of the console then gradually making its way to other territories, presumably as stocks of the older version are depleted.
The removal of the port isn't big news for European gamers, since no game or video cable ever released here has supported any of its features; however, for American and Japanese gamers who want to use the progressive scan or HDTV functionality of the console, Nintendo plans to continue to make a version of the console with Digital AV support available.
In Japan, this console will be sold as a bundle with the Digital AV cable itself, while in North America, Nintendo of America has announced plans to allow new Cube owners to trade in DigitalAV-less consoles for systems with the port.
News source: Gamesindustry.biz
