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Gamecube Software Support Waning?
Thanks to Shacknews for pointing to a CNET News report discussing the declining amount of titles being planned or released for the Nintendo Gamecube. It quotes an Activision spokesman as saying "I think it's good for the industry as a whole if you have three strong players, but that's not the direction it's going." Is the Gamecube third-party software support on its way out?
Anyone else read that and assume it was a networking thing? (noone say anything starting witht he letters beo)
Jesus saves, everyone else takes full damage from the fireball.
No longer having to field 3 phone calls a day from the 2 people who own gamecubes.
http://www.remix.net/
(Read that like Ballmer would.)
The problem for Nintendo is and always has been lack of quality titles from 3rd party developers. Their in-house games are high quality, but you can't support a console on one must-have game every 4 months.
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
Nintendo produces enough quality games by themselves, that I'd still buy a Gamecube if every single third-party developer dropped dead.
For $200 - you can get a nice little box that hookes up to your TV and can play Zelda on it. Just for that, it's $200 well spent. If you're a poor SOB, sell it for $100.
Hell, XBOX owners think the same thing - they practiaclly can call it the HALO-BOX.
Me: Herd you got an XBOX.
XBOX user: Yeah! It's got Halo. (Shows me the level with the Jeep-thingys on the beach)
Next month:
Me: Played anything good recently.
XBOX user: Yeah! I got Halo. (Shows me the level with the Jeep-thingys on the beach)
--
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
For as long as I can remember, Nintendo hasn't had a monster catalog of games available. Sony's Playstation had more games available than the SNES or N64, PS2 has more games than Gamecube. However, that's not the reason that I (or other gamers, I assume) buy the console. It's not about how many games are available, but how many that you would actually *want* to play. It doesn't matter that every possible sports title is available on PS2 if I'm not interested in playing sports games.
My take on things is, the games that are available for the Gamecube are good, high quality games that people want to play. As a result, I don't think that Nintendo is going away any time soon.
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
the stories' title makes the author sound like a ps2 or xbox apologist. it looks to me like someone in the editing office has an axe to grind against nintendo by giving a weak story such a strong FUD-filled title...
anyway, the real meat to the article is in the last couple of paragraphs where the author explains that nintendo knows they have work to do and they are doing it.
Nintendo has what _should_ be a very easily used platform: IBM processor, ATI graphics card, pretty straightforward architecture. The Sony PS2 has all kinds of heavily proprietary hardware, yet it has the vast lead in third-party software. Is it Nintendo's traditionally draconian licensing schemes, the mini-DVD format, what?
MORTAR COMBAT!
Some flaws in the argument in the article
A)The article says that sales for the gamecube hardware are behind previous estimates
)The xbox sales actually exceed gamecube sales by a very small percentage; also doesnt state that estimates were a few thousand units behind or millions-big difference,
Isn't a lack of games what killed platforms such as the Atari Jaguar and Sega's Game Gear? Even if the games that do come out for the GAMECUBE are sensational, it will still have to compete with a platform like the PS2 that has a massive catalog of PS2 and PSX games available. I guess it comes down to quality vs. quantity. And quality didn't help the BetaMax.
Its because microsoft can afford to buy all the third party gaming titles (rare) and therefore fewer games will be released for the gamecube. they are doing the same shit that got them into trouble in the 90's, using their wealth and monopolistic position to squash any potential competition. the only reason that MS lost over 1 billion dollars last year on the xbox was because they were spending all that coin on buying third party gaming titles. so 2 or 3 years down the road, the only games that will be released will be for xbox or playstion.
Forget my previous post, i hit submit before i could finish...anyway....here's what i wanted to say....
Some flaws in the argument in the article
A)The article says that sales for the gamecube hardware are behind previous estimates
1)The xbox sales actually exceed gamecube sales by a very small percentage;
2)also doesnt state that estimates were a few thousand units behind or millions - big difference, if only a few thousand behind no big deal, right?
B)The gamecube was developed with third party players in mind. The N64 was impossible to program for (according to game companies), and nintenod knew this and came out with the cube to make game development much easier.
C)If you follow gamecube news at all, all you hear about is how nintendo needs to up third party development, which i personally think it's doing , and nintendo knows it needs to do this, and as the article states it is in the process of attracting game developers.
D)Anything that's not on the cube can be played on pc, anything that is not on pc cannot be played on the cube:zelda, metroid, mario kart, etc.. (xbox fanboys:halo is coming out for pc)
I honestly cant think of one game that i want to play that is *console specific* that cant be played on another medium, besides gamecube games.
Free operating systems run on all the others; obviously that's the real reason GameCube is in decline. The solution is clear: Nintendo needs to release a Linux port! (A NetBSD port will appear, as if by magic, a few weeks after.)
It will be fun to run it under the gCubix GB emulator that runs on Linux.
Substitute Apple for Nintendo and we've got the "beleagured black sheep" of the computer industry, still trying to do things on an "obsolete" model, with no third-party support, and no hope for the future.
Both companies are of course still profitable and control a great deal of mindshare in their collective industries, but that doesn't stop the pundits from predicting gloom n doom again and again.
Nintendo owners are used to a certain level of quality IMHO, and also the fact that we tend to get 3rd party titles well after they are out on other consoles doesn't help. Take Splinter Cell for example, after it's M$ xbox exclusive run, it came to pc and ps2 and LAST gamecube. Don't expect things to sell if your not willing to make the effort. This ongoing resentment twoard Nintendo is getting old.
Ubuntu- Linux for human beings.
For games that come out on all three systems, is there a perceivable difference between platforms (ps2, xbox, gc)?
I have this guess that's the case and the cube unfortunately falls behind the others in graphics, but i don't have the systems to do the comparison.
Anyone know of any comparisons of the same game on multiple systems out there?
My view is the same as a few people who posted here: Even with a waning third party support, Nintendo itself is able to publish some excellent games for the cube. PS2 is technologically backwards, and nearly all its good games can be played either on the PC or on the Xbox (or even the gamecube). The Xbox's advantage is Xbox Live, but many of its good single player games can be played on the PC (halo is comming too)...
:D
The gamecube already has an AMAZING list of great single player games, all exclusive... and I am sure nintendo is planning to lure in some third party developers (and famous names in the business as well). Take Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid games)...he's going to start doing exclusive stuff with nintendo and the cube.
But if you are in doubts, check out the highest scoring games of the cube and the xbox at IGN.com. You'll see that nearly all good xbox games are either multi-platform, or are coming out for the pc, while nearly all gamecube gems are exclusive titles...
Now dont get me wrong, i have an xbox and love it, but i think that if you have a good pc, the Cube is a great console to get, because of all the amazing exclusive games it has...or get both consoles and be really happy
However, Splinter Cell is fucking amazing on XBOX!
:-( Sold the GC on ebay and bought the XBOX. I'm no fan of Microsoft, but the system is great...
BMX XXX is fun, also... and I'm not just talking about the strippers.
I've rented some enjoyable star wars games for xbox, nothing great. The sports games are excellent.
I owned a GameCube first, and then was pretty disappointed with the graphics. It's not noticeable on a small TV, but I was lucky enough to get a 50" HDTV, 16:9, and there is no comparison between XBOX and GC for graphics, even on non-HD games.
It's also nice getting 5.1 DD surround sound on most games for XBOX.
I had Mario Sunshine and Metroid, but didn't bother finishing either one.
And while I've seen Halo being played on it, never thought it looked that great.
Or did you say DOOM3-BOX?
Ouch!
Bought XBox, GameCube when both were released.
XBox gigantic and noisy, controllers sucked, especially for my seven-year-old son with whom I do most of my gaming. Halo was stupendous, Jet Set Radio Future was trippy-excellent, most everything else was underwhelming. I'm bored with the console FPS stuff that is nearly all you can get for it. I bought probably 12 titles and rented several, but after it collected four solid months of dust, I sold it.
GameCube was a totally different story. Small, quiet, with genius controllers. Then the WaveBird wireless controllers came out and I couldn't believe how perfect they were. Several top-notch games that I have basically never stopped playing after I beat them: Pikmin, Rogue Leader, Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime, Zelda, Godzilla:DAMM, Monkey Ball, Eternal Darkness, and several others I'm spacing right now. Mario Sunshine and StarFox were clever but had little staying power.
Clearly I'm skewed towards the out-of-the-ordinary games that for some reason rarely show up on PS2 or XBox. (This is why we still bust out the Dreamcast once in a while.) But the GameCube could disappear today and I'd be forever glad I got one--it has been simply awesome.
Forget the FUD--GC has sold enough units to make Nintendo $$$, and the GameBoy juggernaut will keep them in business forever. Play the games you like, forget about the "big three" competition gossip--it's for industry hacks.
I've been slowly waning myself off of using the PC for gaming and getting more games for my Gamecube.
I've never been much of a fanboy, but the Gamecube and Gameboy Advance are turning me into one.
It started with Golden Sun on the GBA, continued with Eternal Darkness when my wife bought me a GC for Christmas, expanded to include her when I brought home Animal Crossing, and I was pretty much converted to a fanboy when I picked up Metroid Prime & Metroid Fusion. Now I'm looking forward to buying Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, MGS 3, Ikagura(sp?), and many more to come in the next few months.
My only concern is the lack of online games. Right now only Phantasy Star I & II are online. I think Nintendo realizes that online gaming is a big thing and they are moving in that direction. But I couldn't name any titles that are coming out with online support. I HOPE Animal Crossing II comes out with online support, that would really make it the "killer app" for the GC.
The only other thing, besides the lack of online gaming, that could make me want to buy an Xbox would be if Doom3 does not come out for the GC. Right now I haven't heard of any plans to realease it on the GC. I'm far enough behind the PC power curve that buying an Xbox to play Doom3 would be much cheaper than buying the hardware upgrades for my PC.
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
If you read the trade press and Nintendo press releases it's clear that Big N has already addresses this and you can expect to see a lot more high quality GameCube titles in the future.
You can play both of those games on the game cube as well. And the game cube was the only system to offer BMX XXX uncensored, AFAIK.
-Mike
Hah!