Trionic TriCube

The Trionic TriCube is an upcoming home video game console developed by Trionic. Announced on November 15, 2020, it was Trionic's first foray into the video game console market. It was scheduled for release on July 12, 2021 in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North America, Singapore, and South Korea, and on September 15, 2021 for the rest of the world.

Unlike the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and S, which they both use an x86-64 based processor, the TriCube will use a custom designed ARM-based SoC (similar to the Nintendo Switch). It would support a resolution of up to 1440p at 60fps, with optional support for 4K and high refresh rates of up to 120FPS, though no support for real-time ray tracing.

Development
Development for the TriCube started way back around 2015 under the codename Prism. In January 2020, Trionic started shipping development kits to game developers. These development kits consist of an ARM-based SoC with four Cortex-A76 and four A55 processor cores and an Imagination Technologies IMG AXT-32-1024 GPU. A second version of the development kit was later shipped to game developers in early November 2020, which features an ARM processor with one ARM Cortex X1 core, three Cortex-A78 cores and four A55 cores and an Imagination Technologies IMG BXT-32-1024 MC4 GPU.

The TriCube was announced at a virtual event on November 15, 2020 by Charlie Henderson, the chief executive officer of Trionic. During the announcement, a hardware reveal video was shown, featuring the console's exterior and its specifications, as well as a tech demo, showing the power and capabilities of the console in real-time.

On December 5, 2020, Trionic announced that Charlie Henderson will be hosting a deep dive into the system software as well as a games showcase (in similar to Nintendo Direct) for the TriCube at CES 2021. On December 20, 2020, the pricing and regional availability for the console were leaked online.

At CES 2021, Charlie Henderson hosted a deep dive into the TriCube's system software, as well as technical aspects, performance, and a showcase of games for the console. The event began with a demonstration of each application and feature of the console, then a technical explanation comparing the performance with other consoles (such as the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and the Nintendo Switch), and finally, a showcase of games and applications that would be released for the console. Then, Henderson concluded the event with the official announcement of the console's pricing and regional availability.

On March 10, 2021, Trionic announced that pre-orders for the TriCube will go live on April 25, 2021. According to Trionic, the pre-order will only be limited to one console per person in order to prevent scalpers and bots from reselling the consoles at a higher price and the pre-order would be limited to the United States. In addition to that, the pre-order guidelines will include blocking of bots and implementing CAPTCHA during checkouts. On April 25, 2021, pre-orders for the console went live.

In late May of 2021, Trionic announced that they will host a showcase at E3 2021. This will possibly include additional details for the TriCube console and additional games.

Brazil
Being a country that's notorious for its high price on electronics, Trionic would establish two manufacturing plants in the country in order to curb its infamous import tax. The console and its games would be distributed by Tectoy in Brazil.

India
Like Brazil, the TriCube would be manufactured in-house by manufacturing partners in India in order to curb import tariffs on non-essential electronics.

Mainland China
Due to the strict censorship laws imposed by the Chinese government, Trionic will establish a partnership with Tencent in order to sell the TriCube in China as the Tencent WeCube. In addition to that, video games that are made for the TriCube (WeCube) would be censored in order to meet its strict guidelines imposed by the Chinese government.

Design and form factor
The TriCube will feature a cube-shaped design that bears a design that's similar to the Xbox Series X and S consoles. The console will have ventilation holes on the left, right, and on top of the console (similar to Corsair's Corsair One gaming PC). On the front, it has a power button, two USB Type-A ports and one USB Type-C port, while on the back of the back of the console, it features two USB Type-A ports, Ethernet jack, and a HDMI port. On the bottom of the console, there's a cover that can be opened to add another NVMe SSD.

System specifications
The TriCube will be powered by a custom system on a chip designed by Trionic and Imagination Technologies. It will feature an 8-core ARM-based Cortex-A78C with an integrated IMG BXT-32-1024 MC4 GPU. The processor will run at a maximum clock speed of 3.3GHz (same clock speed as the ARM Cortex-A78 processors). The GPU's peak theoretical performance is up to 6TFLOPs. The GPU will support Vulkan 1.2 and OpenGL ES 3.x/2.0/1.1, though Trionic advised game developers to use Vulkan in order to prioritize on efficiency and performance when developing software for the TriCube, especially when it comes to porting heavy AAA titles to the console. It supports a resolution of up to 1440p and a frame rate of up to 120fps, with optional support for 4K. The GPU would not support hardware rendered real-time ray tracing, a feature that's been popularized on the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and S. However, Johnny Hendrix, the console's lead technical director, confirmed that a software-based ray tracing solution is being developed for this console and it would be slated for release on day one of the console's launch. The console would feature 16GB of LPDDR4X RAM with a peak bandwidth of 34.1 GB/s, and integrates Bluetooth 5.1, and 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6). A version of the console with 5G cellular connectivity is slated for release near the end of 2021. The TDP for the custom-made SoC can vary from 10W to around 25-35W, depending on the application and usage.

The TriCube would feature an internal 512GB PCIe Gen 3 NVMe SSD, which it can be expanded through a second NVMe slot. While it is slower than the SSD of the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox Series X and S, it will have a sequential read speed of up to 2,540 MB/s, and sequential write speeds up 1,100 MB/s. The console will also supports the Oodle Kraken compression engine and the zlib compression engine.

The TriCube will support Dolby Digital (max 5.1ch), Dolby Digital Plus (max 7.1ch), Dolby TrueHD (max 7.1ch), DTS (max 5.1ch), DTS-HD High Resolution Audio (max 7.1ch), DTS-HD Master Audio (max 7.1ch), AAC (max 5.1ch), and Linear PCM (max 7.1ch). Like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, which they both feature spatial 3D audio in games, the TriCube will also have support for spatial 3D audio in games and movies. Hendrix stated that they might not include the feature at launch, due to cost and technical considerations.

TriCube Controller
The TriCube Controller bears a strong design resemblance to the Stadia and Xbox Series X and S controllers. On the front of the controller, it features a D-pad, SHARE button, MENU button, MODE button (which it can be programmed by the developer), HOME button, action buttons (A, B, X, and Y buttons), and two analog sticks. The top of the controller features four shoulder buttons (L1, L2, R1, and R2) and a USB Type-C port for power. On the bottom of the controller, it features an extension port and a headphone jack. The controller features an internal rechargeable battery, which it can be charged via the USB Type-C port. The controller supports motion detection via a three-axis gyroscope and three-axis accelerometer and vibration.

Applications
During the "deep dive" event at CES 2021, Charlie Henderson stated that the TriCube will support streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Crunchyroll, HBO Max, Hulu + Live TV, and applications, such as YouTube, Spotify and Twitch. In addition to that, Henderson also stated that the TriCube will be capable of streaming at a resolution of up to 4K HDR and at an audio format of up to 7.1 surround sound.

Games
Games for the Trionic TriCube would only be obtained through digital download, due to the lack of a cartridge slot. Though, plans for a cartridge version of the console were confirmed by Johnny Hendrix, which it would be slated for release in early 2022 in markets where internet connectivity is limited. All of the games are region-free (except China) and they're tied to the user's Trionic Online account instead of the console.

At the CES 2021 "deep dive" event, over 12 games were announced for the TriCube, with more to announce in the following months. These games include the following:


 * 1) Takoyaki Rampage
 * 2) Ori and the Will of the Wisps
 * 3) Streets Of Rage 4
 * 4) Hades
 * 5) Bugsnax
 * 6) A Plague Tale: Innocence
 * 7) Shadow Squad
 * 8) Hitman 3
 * 9) Cyberpunk 2077
 * 10) Superflow
 * 11) Battle Island
 * 12) Dawncloud

System software
The TriCube will run on a proprietary operating system named Trionium OS. The operating system will be created from scratch in mind, with some components and drivers derived from Android, FreeBSD and Linux. During the CES 2021 "deep dive" event, Charlie Henderson stated that the operating system would have a set of API libraries that would be easy and familiar for game developer to port their games from PC/console to the TriCube, especially for AAA and indie games.

User interface
The TriCube home screen shows the username and the time at the top left corner of the screen. Below that is the grid showing all software that are downloaded and installed on the system, as well as access to the Trionium News, Trionium Browser, Trionic Store, Captures, and System Settings.

Trionium News
The Trionium News is a news portal dedicated to video game news. Similar to the News function on the Nintendo Switch, users can read news and updates from first party or third party video game developers.

Internet Browser
The Trionium Browser is an internet browser that is based on the WebKit browser engine. The browser natively supports HTML5 content out of the box, including DRM-protected content. The browser also supports WebGL as well.

Trionic Store
The Trionic Store is a digital distribution service made exclusively for the Trionic TriCube console. It allows users to purchase and download from the store, while also allowing users to update, uninstall or redownload applications that they own in their library.

Captures
The Captures function stores captured screenshots and videos. Pressing the "SHARE" button will save a screenshot to the main storage of the console, while holding down the button for 5-10 seconds would save the video after 5 minutes of recording. These screenshots or recordings can be shared on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

System Settings
The System Settings option allows users to change the settings of the console, such as the date and time and managing applications.

Trionic Online
Trionic Online is an online service that provides online functionality for the Trionic TriCube. It is used to power the online features of the Trionic TriCube, including online multiplayer, Trionium News and the Trionic Store. A Trionic Online account is required for some of the online features of the TriCube, such as downloading/installing games and online multiplayer.