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Capcom, Sega Drop Gamecube Software Prices

Posted by simoniker on from the more-bounce-to-the-ounce dept.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Nintendojo report discussing the price drop, to $39.99 in the US, for a number of forthcoming Gamecube games. It appears that Nintendo has reduced its royalty rate for all third-party publishers, so not only can publishers like Eidos, Rockstar, and Acclaim choose to put some titles out at $39, Capcom and Sega seem to be releasing all their titles at that price (including Viewtiful Joe, Billy Hatcher, and more.) Seems like good news for gamers.

1 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Great move for the companies all around by Babbster · · Score: 2, Informative
    I used the word "perception" mainly in reference to visual quality. Unfortunately, most multi-console Xbox games are developed first for the PS2 and then ported up. As Itagaki of Team Ninja at Tecmo points out, most ports end up relying on the Xbox graphics subsystem to improve the game (in terms of, for example, hardware anti-aliasing) and don't tweak the game at all to take full advantage of what the Xbox has to offer.

    Even more striking is the fact that a few games (most notably the recent Need for Speed 2: Hot Pursuit) can actually SUFFER in the transition because the developers don't optimize their code for Xbox at all. This can result in games that are even worse for the Xbox than the PS2 because of sloppiness.

    Overall, though, games are indeed better on Xbox if only because most developers are smart enough to enable Dolby Digital. It's the one area where I think Xbox completely blows away the competition - Pro Logic II and software DTS (in rare PS2 games) are just no competition. Even when games ignore the center channel (which happens too often), the level of sonic immersion is immeasurably better on the Xbox.

    Anyway, my point is that multi-console people should find out as much as they can from users, pro reviews, etc. before settling on which version of a multi-console game they will get instead of assuming that the Xbox version will be a lot better...Unless it has Xbox Live compatibility, in which case the choice is absolutely crystal clear. :)