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Nintendo Declares GCN Most Popular Console Ever

PhReaKyDMoNKeY writes "According to IGNCube, Nintendo has declared GCN the fastest selling console ever. Additionally, Nintendo claims that Luigi's Mansion is the most popular launch title in history as well. I couldn't seem to find the actual press release, but here's a related news story from Nintendo's site. I don't know how valid the claim is, since it's in their best interest to exaggerate, clearly, but it seems like the console demand in general is pretty high. " Now mind you every store in town seems to have plenty of Gamecubes in stock, but if you want an X-Box, you have to kill for it. Fortunately most people in a video game store are like 12, so I can destroy them with my mind bullets.

20 of 535 comments (clear)

  1. Not quite. by Cyclone66 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Ok sales doesn't translate to popularity. It's a lot more complicated than that.

  2. Re:Mind Bullets? by GooseKirk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's telekinesis, Kyle!

    How about the power... to move you?

  3. Why you can still get them by Nerds · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now mind you every store in town seems to have plenty of Gamecubes in stock, but if you want an X-Box, you have to kill for it.

    Two reasons:
    * Nintendo shipped about twice as many GameCubes to start with.
    * The second shippments have already arrived in many places.

    --
    My other .sig is 'The Art of Computer Programming'
    1. Re:Why you can still get them by Osty · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The initial shipment of X-Boxes was 200,000, ...

      I love the way the initial shipment of XBoxes keeps decreasing in the eyes of the /. posters. First it was 350,000 units, then 300,000, and now it's only 200,000. And still Microsoft hasn't released numbers yet, so all of those are pure speculation. I'm guessing that the shipment was closer to the 350,000 mark, if not higher. As well, Microsoft is shipping 100,000 units per week through the holiday season.


      Anyway, let's just wait until Microsoft releases some numbers before we go speculating too much, eh?

  4. Supply and Demand by CMcTortoise · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft just failed to meet the demand for the XBox. Nintendo made several hundred thousand more units, so their supply is more suited for the corresponding demand. Yeah, it might be the best selling console, but that's just because there are more units out for sale.



    And, if the Gamecube is a hundred bucks less, let Nintendo milk capitalism for all it's worth.

  5. Playstation 2 by Junta · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How could they do any better than Playstation2 did this early? The only way they may be selling more Gamecubes than Sony sold Playstation 2s is by having more available... Playstation 2s completely sold out for a long time... I would think it would be quite some months before you could make a call like that... Since I can go to the corner K-Mart and pick up a Gamecube, I find it hard to believe that they are doing better now than Sony did last year when there were no Playstations 2s to be had moments within hitting the shelves.
    Besides, the X-Box and Gamecube are only marginally better hardware-wise, if at all, yet the game selection is horrid thusfar. I predict it will be like the original Playsation all over again, first to market does better even in the face of superior consoles that follow, through sheer numbers of available titles.
    But if the Gamecube truly *is* more popular, we'll have to wait until about April of next year to see for sure..

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    1. Re:Playstation 2 by DarkZero · · Score: 4, Insightful
      "Biggest launch recently" and "most popular console ever" are very, very different things. Biggest launch recently? Yeah, that goes to Nintendo. But most popular console ever? I'd say that'd go to the best selling console EVER, not just the biggest console launch recently (yet certainly not ever).

      The PlayStation 2, with over 20 million consoles sold, is more popular than the GameCube. Their launch records have nothing to do with that.

  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. Launch success vs. system lifespan success by zsazsa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Remember when a certain console that cost $199 at launch sold 410,000 units in the first week?

    Look where it is now.

    Not to knock it -- I love my Dreamcast, and especially now it is an incredible value.

    Ian

    1. Re:Launch success vs. system lifespan success by Bimble · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not obsolete if there are still unique games out for it, and it's still worth playing. I'm not speaking as a Dreamcast fanboy - I have that and a Playstation 2, so there's no envy there. The graphics on the PS2 are nice, but the games haven't demonstrated as huge a leap over the Dreamcast as the Dreamcast did over the PS2. You have to watch closely to see any difference between Dead or Alive 2 on both platforms, for example. And "value" is pretty accurate - it's $50 for a Dreamcast, then $20-$30 for a Crazy Taxi version that's not much different from what you'd buy for $40-$50 for the $300 Playstation 2. Shenmue and Soul Calibur are easily worth more than what they cost right now, and Jet Grind Radio is a fantastic game that can be found in bargain bins for $10-$15. Those last three are games you can't get on another platform - if you haven't played them, you'll get good value picking them up now.

      I'm not putting the PS2 down - I bought it, and I like it. But so far I've been more impressed by the games Dreamcast had out by this point in its life than what the PS2 has out now. A console is only as impressive as the games you can play on it.

      --
      Naked.
    2. Re:Launch success vs. system lifespan success by Jace+of+Fuse! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I love my Dreamcast, and especially now it is an incredible value.

      I would feel my Dreamcast had MORE value to me if Sega hadn't decided to throw in the towel on the system.

      Stop making them? Okay, I can half-way understand that when there is a surplus of units.

      But to stop making games for the system though? C'mon!? Some stores have stopped stocking the games. Many of the last games to be released were cancelled. And a lot of the best games that were out for the system are no longer in stores, hard to find online, and not even in the pawn shops. All that's left on the shelves are games that nobody wanted or games that everybody has.

      Shen Mue 2 not being released though, that's the one that really bothers me.

      At least there are still emulators one can play with...

      --

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      Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
    3. Re:Launch success vs. system lifespan success by Jerf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Just what we need, another Dreamcast fanboy/cocksucker trying to feel better about the sorry excuse for a gaming console he has.

      What really pisses off fanboys like you is everything you've ever said is wrong. The DC rocked, and measured objectively, is currently the best console on the market by any measure except hype, and potential graphics capability.

      It's got the best games, the most games, the cheapest games, the cheapest hardware, the cheapest console by a factor of six, and the widest selection of games. The graphics simply aren't that inferior to anything else on the market right now, because one of the dirty secrets of the graphics industry is that it take about an order of magnitude improvement in graphics technology to really be noticable, and not get lost in non-optimized graphics engines.

      The only hard part is that scavenging the games is hard now. But I'll put my DC collection up against your fanboy console choice anyday. I've got more Class A games in my collection then the XBox or the Gamecube has total games, period. You can almost combine the two.

      And guess what? I can still buy one of the new ones if I want! What have you been doing the last few years?

      Dirty secret: The DC was the best console in the late nineties. If you can find the games (try used shops), it's still the best for another year or so. If jackasses like you hadn't dissed it, Sega would have been rewarded for innovation, instead of penalized by a market dominated by fanboy idiots.

  8. Re:NYC by Nerds · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, I'm just out of Philly, but it's similar here, all of the electronics stores are out of GC accessories. Stragely enough, Target has plenty of them, and they're selling the controllers for thirty bucks, five dollars less than everyone else.

    Then again, I guess it makes sense for XBox stuff to be around, since a) there weren't as many XBoxes to sell at launch b) most of the people who got them were preorders and those came with a second controller anyway and c) the GC seems to have more games where people want four controllers to play with friends (Super Monkey Ball, Wave Race, and Smash Brothers next week).

    --
    My other .sig is 'The Art of Computer Programming'
  9. Re:GBA by bteeter · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Their monopoly in portable gaming is well earned. The Gameboy/Gameboy Color/Gameboy Advance are all great systems. Not great technically necessarily - but they are a hell-u-va lot of fun. The games are well suited to the system, and the system is well suited for gaming.

    I don't see any competition on the market at all. Fortunately, it isn't really a bad thing since the GBA and GC systems are pretty cheap, as are the games.

    Take care,

    Brian
    --
    Do you want a free Palm m100?
    --

  10. There is NO Xbox shortage. by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't kid yourself. There is no shortage of XBoxes. Microsoft is very carefully and deliberately manipulating the distribution and marketing of the XBox to create an astroturf-like imitation of the "Tickle-me Elmo effect." They want people to believe that XBox is so hot that you'd better run out and snatch one before they're all gone, but the reality is that everyone who wants an XBox will eventually get one. Mark my words: inventory will find its way into stores in plentiful supply two weeks before Christmas.

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  11. Are you dyslexic? by Cryptnotic · · Score: 3, Insightful
    GCN isn't the acronym. What would that stand for? Game Cube Nintendo?


    No, the correct acronym is NGC (Nintendo Game Cube).

    --
    My other first post is car post.
  12. The Gord knows all by Nindalf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    His argument is basically - Wellllll, the Playstation sold the most console ever sooooo that means the Gamecube will be the worst system ever.

    Actually, it's more like, GameCube is a less powerful system, with few games, with less developer support, which doesn't play DVDs, didn't actually have strong opening sales, is aimed primarily at small children but with inappropriately fragile media, and is trying to enter a market which is already deliriously in love with it's competition.

    Everyone who likes video games wants the PS2, and will buy the PS2 in preference to anything else. GameCube is relegated second system status in a market where few buy a second system, and then it's most commonly to correct their mistake of overenthusiastically picking up the less popular system (he backs this point up with hard numbers).

    The point that it would take a couple of years for Nintendo to sell as many GameCubes as there are PS2s out there is a bit of an aside, an explanation of why the developer support is weak, since the GameCube market is going to be miniscule compared to the PS2 market for some time.

    But the way he says it is entertaining.

    1. Re:The Gord knows all by Nindalf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      For some reason, Nintendo sold millions of consoles to people who don't like video games.

      Note that it has not yet actually sold one million GameCubes.

      Note also that you have a very weak grasp on the difference between hard facts and vague marketing hype.

  13. Flavor? by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Saying you don't like the "flavor" of current PS2 games is just about like saying the only flavor you do like is white bread and water!

    Don't get me wrong, I'm definatley in the camp with GC being more powerful than the PS2 and will probably get one befoore too long. But the PS2 has quite a broad range of truly great titles - take Devil May Cry, MGS2, Frequency, SSX Tricky (GC also), Grand Theft Auto 3, ICO (amazing adventure puzzle game, light action), GT3, Rayman, Twisted Metal Black, Klonoa 2 (GREAT 2d/3d platformer), Zone Of The Enders, Herdy Gerdy (OK, not out yet but looks to be amazing). I left out a lot of decent games that while not amazing, are at least fun to play.

    Granted, there's nothing like Pikimin or Luigi's Castle for the PS2 (unique games like that is a great reason to get a GC). But I have to say there's a lot of great variety out for the PS2 to satisfy just about any taste, even not considering the rather huge PlayStation library you have access to as a bonus.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  14. Microsoft Also Declared Dumbest Company Ever by Boztok932 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Gamecube has every right to declare itself the most popular system ever because even if it weren't true (tho it is), it would win by default because Microsoft apparently did not have a television last Christmas. The demand for the PS2 was among the highest the world had ever seen for a console, Sony underestimated this, and lost HUGE when they knew that last year was when they were going to have to install their fanbase before the upcoming XBox and Gamecube were launched. They screwed up and didn't launch enough units. Now XBox has made the same mistake again, so there will be a lot of purple boxes under Christmas trees this year. What does that translate into? Well developers go for the easiest platform to create games on (already Gamecube), and now not only that, but they will have the second largest base users to sell to! Only a moronic company WOULDN'T develop for gamecube..why would you develop games for a system that only 300,000 people have versus a system that 700,000+ people have? Microsoft f'd up big this time, I fear...dare I say it...that we will soon be calling it Microsof xBOB....remember MICROSOFT BOB?!! Nintendo has learned from its mistakes and other's....it has learned very well.