The Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named Dolphin during development; officially abbreviated as GCN by Nintendo of America) is Nintendo's fourth home video game console, belonging to the sixth generation era—the same generation as Sega's Dreamcast, Sony's PlayStation 2, and Microsoft's Xbox. The GameCube itself is the most compact and least expensive of the sixth generation era consoles. The GameCube was released on September 14, 2001 in Japan; November 18, 2001 in North America at USD $199.95; May 3, 2002 in Europe; and May 17, 2002 in Australia.