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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?
(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)
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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
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!
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.
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.
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
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 can comment on TH:PS3, TH:PS4, Spider-Man, TimeSplitters 2, LoTR, Harry Potter, SSX Tricky having actually played them on multiple platforms. And I've read every "platform shootout" review on IGN when games come out for all 3.
The results are almost always consistent. XBox pushes more polygons while maintaining some more advanced lighting effects. GC next, PS2 third unless the developers gave short shrift to a certain platform.
You're completely wrong--the GameCube is obviously more capable than the PS2 for video. Both have limitations, but even with the giant developer community, great support from Sony, and years more to learn the tricks of the platform, PS2 games rarely show better than the same GC titles. Again, generalizing. And the XBox beats both easily, again with some exceptions.
GameCube has great sound when there's real DPLII support (which is most of the time), PS2 games vary wildly, but the XBox DTS output is the best. Yes, I've had all 3 hooked up to my surround sound setup, and component video for GC and XBox.
GameCube suffers from slightly less storage, and so FMV sequences are sometimes badly compressed.
Having said all that--who gives a crap. Good games look, sound, and play great on all 3 (if you can handle the dain-bramaged XBox controllers). Full motion video rarely adds to a title. Games are for playing, not for comparing. EA will always shovel out crap that underlines how the game industry--with happy exception of Nintendo first-party stuff--has completely forgotten what makes gaming fun. GameCube easily holds its own in the fun department.
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
I had the reverse of your experience, perhaps because I'm not so focused on the marginal eye-candy improvements of the XBox. Splinter Cell looks awesome--but that entire genre is pretty played out, IMHO. I've got a 36" HDTV that had the XBox and GC hooked up via component, and I think calling the GC graphics "disappointing" is a stretch. Did you buy my XBox on E-Bay? Sorry it was so dusty.
BMX XXX? Come on, that game blew. Not literally--that might have helped it. It was one of the weakest "extreme sports" titles I've seen.
You didn't finish Metroid Prime? You are no longer worthy to comment on this topic.
Agreed. I think the port will be pretty straightforward. I was at last year's OSCON where the "SpongeBob Squarepants" developer talked about how easy it was to port Python to the GameCube...drool.
I think the real trick will be burning a distro onto the mini-DVD, reversed spin direction format.
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