GameCube Really And Truly For Sale

Several readers have submitted the news that the GameCube is now officially for sale. With the GameCube and Xbox newly on offer, and the still-amazing PlayStation2 still hanging on, and dirt-cheap, high-power PCs on every corner, it looks like the predicted deaths of both console and PC are still some ways off. On the whole, I'd rather have the Mandrake Gaming edition (mentioned previously) than a new console.

Comments

I dunno about that.

[trilucid]

"GameCube and Xbox newly on offer, and the still-amazing PlayStation2 still hanging on, and dirt-cheap, high-power PCs on every corner, it looks like the predicted deaths of both console and PC are still some ways off."

Actually, in my mind at least, that's actually an indication of the problem(s) to come for hardware companies. The fact that high-powered systems are everywhere you look means the market will become saturated with "more of the same" at some point.

Already, PC hardware manufacturers are facing vanishingly small profit margins (except for Apple, which always makes it a point to sell their stuff at a price that actually makes some money). Yeah, I know all the stuff about various tech leaders making sweeping statements about "never needing more than 640K of memory" and such, but we really are headed for a "meaningful speed" cap on this.

The gaming market will probably be the last of the hardware sectors to really feel the crunch in this respect, because new games always drive hardware to the limits (unlike business apps, which run fine on my old P2-266). One could say that companies like Microsoft drive hardware with new (arguably bloated) OSes that require bigger & badder computers to run well, but even that has to stop at some point.

Basically, there will be a point soon where even gaming consoles will all be "fast enough", which will mean bad news for hardware manufacturers until the "Next Big Thing" emerges to max out even cutting-edge stuff. Will it be "true virtual reality"? Who knows? I for one will be interested to see...

Re:I dunno about that.

[dimator]

Basically, there will be a point soon where even gaming consoles will all be "fast enough"

...except that it has never been about hardware performance. If it was strictly about polygons and mip-mapping, then the PS1 would not have been competition for the N64, because PS1 games all looked like shit. It's about fun games, and blockbuster titles like MGS1, Gran Turismo, Zelda, Mario, etc., make or break a system, which is why console makers love to see "exclusively for XXX" so they can have an advantage over console YYY.

Re:I dunno about that.

[90XDoubleSide]

"Fast enough" can be an issue for someone running a word processor and internet programs, but in graphics, it is very easy to require exponentially more processing power by increasing the level of detail, and lets face it, games have a long way to go in the level of detail area. For an example of how much power you need to do detailed 3D, look at Pixar's rendering farm. They have combined processing power of 1.5THz, 8TB of RAM, and 27TB of disk space, and it still takes them hours to render one frame.

Re:They are late

[wadetemp]

I have. I personally know 3 mothers who were camped out at ShopKo at 4:30 this morning. One of them (mine) was picking it up for my younger brothers and sisters back home as a Christmas present. If I personally know 3 people that were there before opening, I'm pretty sure that ShopKo's first-come first-serve lot of 30 units was gone 5 minutes after the store opened.

come on

[nomadic]

On the whole, I'd rather have the Mandrake Gaming edition (mentioned previously) than a new console.

No you wouldn't. Come on, admit it.

Linux != Gaming

[EchoMirage]

On the whole, I'd rather have the Mandrake Gaming edition (mentioned previously) than a new console.

This is humping Linux for Linux' sake, but of course, it's FUD. Linux is not a gaming platform - we've seen a plethora of evidence for this. The Linux gaming companies can't turn sustained profits, games get released months (sometimes years) after their other-platform counterparts, and support is sketchy, at best.

Timothy saying he'd rather have M:GE instead of a GameCube would be like me saying I'd rather use my bicycle to travel from LA to Boston instead of taking a plane. Sure they both serve essentially the same function, but one is more practical in an exponentially more obvious way.

If you're going to parade Linux around, at least do so intelligently in markets where it actually has the edge.

Actually, I'd like to go X-country on my BikeE ...

[timothy]

Eh, I don't really care about what is or isn't (considered) a "gaming platform" -- the Mandrake release sounds interesting because it would let me play with a computer game that looks sort of interesting (the Sims) without paying for either a new piece of hardware (console) or another OS (some variety of Windows). I've seen screenshots from the Sims, and I know a lot of people are fascinated by it, but I've never played, myself. Since I'm likely to buy a boxed Mandrake 8.1 anyhow, the price difference isn't much, making it much more tempting as an experiment.

Re: "markets where it actually has the edge," I'm not saying that you should want to buy the Mandrake gaming edition, or anything else. I like fireworks, Honda Goldwings, and Korean food, among other things -- if you prefer to spend your money and attention on things I don't like, well ... OK, that's your choice to make. Since Linux is for the moment at least my OS of choice, games that run under Linux have the edge in my one-person market.

Maybe one day I'll care enough to buy a game console, but so far and for the most part the actual games leave me cold. Tastes vary, situations are complex, etc.

And really, it was an offhand (but truthful) statement of preference, not a demand that anyone else agree. Chill :)

timothy

Consoles with OS's

[JollyTX]

I don't want consoles with operating systems, dvd players, harddisks, web browsers. That's what PC's are for. When I fire up my PS1 or N64, I expect them to load the games quickly, without crashes.

I think it's a good thing that the gamecube doesn't have these things. "Do one thing, and do it well".

And btw, Zelda 64 is the greatest game ever. ;)

Re:Consoles with OS's

[Osty]

I don't want consoles with operating systems, dvd players, harddisks, web browsers. That's what PC's are for. When I fire up my PS1 or N64, I expect them to load the games quickly, without crashes.

First and foremost, I've not had my XBox crash yet. Also, I don't expect it to crash any time soon, either. But believe what you will.

Consoles have had on-board "operating systems" for a while, now. Especially any console that uses CDs (though the old Sega Master System had a built-in game that would fire up if you turned it on without a cart). These on-board OSes are typically used for playing music CDs and managing memory cards. As far as DVD players go, what do you want instead? More low-capacity CD-ROM's? Some proprietary CD-ROM hack (like Dreamcast)? Or the coming standard of DVD? With the latter, at least you get high capacity (4.5GB per XBox game, for instance) and cheap production (because you can leverage existing DVD presses). Actually playing DVD movies is only optional, as with the XBox (it costs money to get a license, for CSS decoding for instance, and there's no point including that in the box itself unless you're aiming to be a DVD player. so make an addon, let anyone who wants to play DVDs buy that.) A hard disk is a good addition, imho, if only because it lets me save money on memory cards (I don't carry my memory cards to other people's consoles, so I don't care if the storage is local to my machine). Plus, it opens up the door for programming tricks like caching level data on disk rather than streaming it from DVD (no console has enough RAM to cache in RAM), thus decreasing load times and allowing for much larger levels. And finally, web browsers. Well, I'll agree with you there. But then again, if you're going to provide online capabilities for your console (Dreamcasts's built-in modem or XBox's built-in ethernet -- add-on's for PS2 and GC don't count, as no peripheral has ever been bought by more than 10% of a console's owners), you may as well give the users something to do with it until games exist that take advantage.

Where launch times are concerned, I've noticed that my XBox launches games much faster than my Dreamcast or PS1 (mainly because I don't have to sit through the Sony bios splash or the Sega bios splash). All I do is hit the eject button (thus turning on the system and instantly bringing up the menu, after an XBox splash), put in the DVD (in the process of getting the DVD out of the box and putting it in the tray, the XBox splash is done and it's waiting patiently at the menu), and close the drive. The game spins up in a second or two, and then it starts. Some games, like NFL Fever 2002 take the first boot to write some files to the hard disk, but this only takes a minute or so, and is well worth it afterwards -- NFL Fever 2002 only takes a scant few seconds to get to the "Press Start" screen after the first time running it. (and no, you don't have to reboot your XBox after NFL Fever installs files to the disk.) Anyway, comparing to N64 is a red herring, because you're talking about a cartridge system versus CD or DVD-based systems (Dreamcast, PS2, XBox, Gamecube). There's going to be lag time

Hmm, titles speak...

[WWWWolf]

Compare:

"XBox Released" to "Blah, it just happened - who cares?"

and:

"GameCube Really And Truly For Sale" ... to "The day when our Lord and Savior shall return has come!"

Somehow, I get the impression that Slashdot is somewhat biased towards one of these systems =)

Anyway, I hope the console market will find a good direction too... and at least my sister will shut up when GC comes to Europe and she'll be able to get one =)

(And remember, verily, we shall speak like Shakespeare, for ever and ever...)

Re:PS2 still rules.

[cybrthng]

Even if Xbox goes where Jaguar and NeoGeo went, It will have some awesome games to go along with it.

I don't know what is up with "fanboys" and console loyalty, but to me, it is about the fun and the games.

I will buy and Xbox, and i'll get my nephew a GameCube, i have no interestd in Pokeman or Mario, i played that back in the 80's when it was fun for me, kind of burned out on that.

People will buy whatever they want, but it is way to early to forecast the death of anything. People say the DC died a horrible death, but it still chugs along. Most stores have long since wiped out the N64 shelves or have moved on to used games only, but even out here in Amishville they carry a great selection of DC games as well as every new release..

buy what you want, but no one is right. Jaguar has some awesome games. And as far as people missing the bandwagon, thats what it appears to me as.

Re:PS2 still rules.

[Jace of Fuse!]

My bets? Xbox goes the way the Jaguar went. It will die, but at least have better numbers than ATARI was possible of. '

Of the XBox failes (not likely) it will be more of type of failure the Dreamcast had. A big buzz at release and a quick fade with a remaining and steady fanbase.

It isn't even SANE to think the Xbox will fail in any way similar to the Jaguar.

The Jaguar wasn't even truely 64 bit, had a horrid selection of first and third party games, had hardware that was very similar to the already ancient SNES, and had a price-tag in the area getting close to the vastly superior NeoGeo.

No games. Crappy Hardware. No fanbase. High Price. Atari's 64 Bit Gagwire. Do the math.

The XBox may not dominate. If any one of the three dominate, it will probably be the Playstation 2 simply because it's already situated well in the market. But I doubt even the PSY will dominate any more than the XBox will fail.

Me personally, I'm investing more into building up a Gamecube game library, then buying Xbox and PSX/Y titles on a see-them-as-they-come basis. Well, really, I do that with every system, but I already have a larger list of "I-gotta-get-it" titles for the Gamecube -- and none of THOSE are even out yet.

Re:PS2 still rules.

[erasmus_]

So basically you're interpreting the fact that Microsoft did a better job with manufacturing and distribution to mean that their console is inferior. I think that's really good logic - Sony made less units initially (with many problems leading to recalls, I might add), so b/c it was hard to buy one, it must be better. Right. Go read the Wired article about the mfg of the Xbox to get a better insight as to why there are plenty of units available to those who want them.