Capcom, Sega Drop Gamecube Software Prices

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.

Comments

Seems like?

[SandSpider]

"Seems like good news for gamers."

What, lower prices? I doubt that. I mean, I think you're going out on a limb there. Gamers, see, they are usually better off if they pay more money. Honestly, you'd think you didn't hear the outpouring of dissent when all the console prices lowered. The game companies, they're trying to ruin us, I tell you!

=Brian

Great move for the companies all around

[Babbster]

The biggest area of suffering for the Gamecube has been in the third-party area. All of the Nintendites have already bought a Gamecube for Zelda, Metroid, Mario and the rest but people who are more interested in third-party games have bought a PS2 (most likely) or an Xbox (to a lesser degree, mostly for the perception that third-party games look better on Microsoft's hardware). With the royalty and price drop, this will bring in people who might have at least a little interest in Nintendo first-party games but tend to buy mostly third party.

For Sega, which has been in financial trouble for quite a while (since the 32X?), this could give them a much-needed boost by exposing more people to their games and, maybe more importantly, their characters/franchises (Sonic in particular).

I'm not a die-hard Nintendo fan (or Xbox fan or PS2 fan for that matter) but I certainly hope this, combined with the Gamecube/Gameboy Playter deal (amazing at $150), gives Nintendo the boost they're looking for. If it does, it could portend a similar drop in prices for first Xbox games and finally PS2 games (Sony has the least incentive to drop prices due to their current "mega-dominance").

Kudos to Nintendo for once again leading the way in terms of bringing down prices.

Re:Great move for the companies all around

[Babbster]

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. :)

very nice for GC sales

[Filiks]

If Sega releases NFL 2K4 for $50 on xbox and PS2, but only $40 on GC, I'd bet there will be many more sales for the GC. If that makes it worthwhile for publishers to produce games for the GC, they will. As long as the GBA is keeping the books in the black, Nintendo can afford to do this in hopes of selling more consoles. Nintendo makes plenty of money from in-house titles anyway.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[gmhowell]

Bad logic. The people who already have an Xbox or PS2, but don't have a GC will not buy a $100+ machine just to save $10. Unless they are severely retarded. For the handful of people (myself) who don't have a current generation console, it may be an issue.