Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo Profits Up Amid GameCube Worries
Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz for their report on Nintendo's announcement of significant first-quarter profits, around $95 million (11.5bn Yen), "buoyed by stellar Game Boy Advance console sales, foreign exchange rate gains in Europe and the well timed re-emergence of the Pokemon brand." However, the article cautions that GameCube's current prospects are "...looking increasingly bleak, with a mere 800,000 units of the underperforming console selling through from April to June. Targets of six million have been set for the end of its financial year, but it's looking unlikely that it will reach this unless it's prepared to heavily discount the console in the run up to Christmas - something Nintendo has traditionally been reluctant to do." What can Nintendo do to get out of this hardware slump? Update: 08/05 20:43 GMT by S : According to this Reuters report, Nintendo sold just 80,000 GameCubes to retailers worldwide, not 800,000.
Nintendo is a niche console. The people who own it will buy the big games no matter what. They don't need market saturation because they have a significant base of loyal fans/customers. These people are a steady, reliable income stream.
See also: Apple Computers.
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
What can Nintendo do to get out of this hardware slump?
Well, they could start selling more risque titles a la Playstation, but I don't think that's where they want to go. Nintendo has always been a family-oriented company and they'll just have to accept the lower market share associated with that theme.
Couldn't have said it better.. Mario, Pokemon, Link, and Samus can only get you so far..
End result? The company is on the rocks, the employees get griped at and have hours cut, and the people responsible (game makers for not making games that move systems and retailers for building up unreasonable hype) scratch their heads.
"Infants flesh will be in season throughout the year." -Swift
Deep discounts like the $100 one I bought from Wal-Mart last night that included the Mario game? How much cheaper can they make it? I don't know if this is their new price or my particular Wal-mart just had a sale going on or something. They just had a standard wal-mart price sticked on it that said $100 and no other info.
Yeah, its too bad they are marketing Eternal Darkness (a kickass game IMO), and Resident Evil to 8 year olds
...
I own both a GC and a PowerBook. My list of purchased games for GC is Super Smash Brothers, Zelda, Eternal Darkness, and Jedi Outcast. ED and JO i bought for $20 each. As regards to the apple, I bought quicktime pro.
Now, how do i fit in your uniformed opinion that all GC and Apple owners are raving mad consumers?
This
Nintendo has a major problem with their business strategy: their relationship with their developers. Nintendo still has the mindset of a console superpower and therefore treat third party developers like crap. I have developed for Nintendo before and this could be seen as a rant, but if they want to shape up that should be their focus. The reason PS2 and XBox are doing well is they support and encourage their third party developers (Heck Micro$oft even paid for the development of a lot of projects during the early XBox days) Nintendo on the other hand makes the debug kits and SDK hardware impossible to afford for small companies and the cart and burn fees are much worse than the same fees for Xbox and PS2.
"Xbox and PS2 can break the limit of 1 per household because they can run Linux,"
Come on now, did you really just type that statement? I know many an XBox and PS2 user, many of them nerds, geek, whatever. How many actually run Linux on them? Zero. While fun and interesting to have Linux running on you console, is there really a need? The consoles were designed to do one thing, play games. And that's what most people use them for. To say that the Gamecube is failing to sell because it doesn't support Linux is ridiculous.
Ill buy a second GC either when the price comes down or when I can find an importer that carries one of the 'special edition' Japanese GCs that I might want. I may also buy a PSOne to save my PS2 from an early death, due to the number of PS1 titles I play, and eventually if the PSX price comes well below their currently estimated retail price I may buy one of those to replace my PS2 (or move the PS2 to another room).
That being said, the only real reason I want another GC is because I'd like to have a GC/GB Player in the other room, rather than using my GBA-SP when someone's watching something on TV I don't really care about. I don't play PS2 or XBox games enough to really want another one, though if they were significantly lower in price it wouldn't be a big deal to get another one.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
They can get on Square's ass to release Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. I'll buy a GameCube as soon as that game is released.
If it would have come out this year like it was originally expected to, that would probably boost their profits and console sales.
Since Square is waiting until Feb 2004, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
800,000 _is_ a small number.. GC wants to sell 6 million GC's.. which is nothing, since Sony already sold 30 million PS2s..
I'm not the devil.. just his advocate.
PS2 had a massive lead going in. Nobody would ever catch them.
The X-Box has higher sales in US, while the GC has higher sales overseas. Overall, both are about equal, with the GC with a slight edge.
The idea that somehow the GC is far in third-place, is frankly strage. There is a lack of third-party games for it, which is true. (Although, to be honest I don't miss much, at least when it comes to X-Box).
The unwritten rule, I suspect is that third-party companies want to keep out of the way of Nintendo..which one can't really blame them over.
Sony sold 30 million PS2s between April and June? Wow -- what's that bring their total to? Eleventy bajillion?
Reading the article is helpful. Understanding what you're reading is even more helpful.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
Xbox and PS2 can break the limit of 1 per household because they can run Linux (ie become a family or personal PC) and because they have networked games.
But honestly how many people do you actually expect will be modding their other consoles. That is a VERY small percentage of the population, probably not even enough of a number for either company to report or be concerned with.
On the other hand the fact that Nintendo products historically are built to last, and the PS2 seems to be built to break (disclaimer, I've had mine for almost 3 years with no problems). Therefore Sony sells lots of replacement PS2s I imagine (no numbers to back that idea up of course).
i would venture to guess that the slump in nintendo sales, at least expected sales, is not due to nintendo, but rather the industry. how many of the same type gaming systems do i need? the consoles should be basically given away and make the money on the games. just like the cell phone industry...give away the phone and profit on the subscription.
DARE TO FIGHT ME?
It's not underpowered. Performance is on par with XBox. They just need to lose the kiddy image. The hardware itself is amazing.
When I go to the local EB, I look over the racks of all the systems... (I own a GC and a PS2, as well as a "gaming" PC... no Xbox just yet). What do I see? Under PS2... crap, crap, GTA (also on PC), crap, crap, port, port, port, GTA VC (also on PC), crap, crap... under Xbox, crap, crap, Halo (on PC soon), crap, crap, port, port, port, crap, KoTOR (on PC soon), and Live (not a game, but a selling point). On GC, however, its Mario, Link, Metroid, Mario Golf, Animal Crossing (was that the name of it?), in addition to the other crap and the ports. (I havent gone into games that are "coming soon" like the new StarFox and Fzero and Mario Kart and Mario Tennis...)
The GC doesnt have many games, but the PS2 has alot of games that arent good. The Xbox, I have played and enjoyed, and Live is very appealing, but the games just arent there... I'd rather play Halo on my PC with a mouse than with the joystick, and kotor will be better on the PC as well...
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
samsung gamecube? can you please explain this?
...Nintendo, which actually gives away dev kits...
According to Nintendo, a GameCube dev kit costs upwards of $10,000. Not to mention, "Financial stability is expected," which means they don't just loan them out to just-starting developers.
Not that Sony isn't expensive either. And I can't imagine Xbox dev kits being too cheap anymore, either.
Okay, set up Gamecube Soul Calibur 2 next to XBox Soul Calibur 2...
How long has Nintendo been in the video game business? Most people I know who had a NES back in the 80s have continued to buy Nintendo products, particularly for the Mario/Zelda/Metroid franchises. Compare this to Sega -- they had Sonic, occasionally Phantasy Star, Lunar, etc. but nothing with the fan appeal that would keep people coming back to the system (the disappointment in the range of games available for a couple of their more expensive platforms no doubt didn't help).
Many Apple users continue to use Apple computers despite the expense and limited software offerings because they perceive value in the platform that has only been reinforced by their experiences. Apple users are something like 10% of the PC market yet software companies are still able to produce Apple-only applications and enjoy success. You might not be buying many applications, but you bought a PowerBook where a less than loyal individual would probably realize the vast price difference between that and a $700 laptop from Dell and perhaps waver a bit.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
I think he means the Panasonic "Q" model which plays DVD's and GameCube discs and has not been released outside of Japan (and therefore only plays Japanese movies and games).
Schnapple
Yeah.. that's why there isn't a single Pokemon game on the GameBoy Advance yet.. only for the Gameboy Color..
Where were they giving them away? Perhaps they give them out for cheap at first to attract developpers to the console, and then jack up the price when it gets more lucrative.....
Maybe I can score a next generation dev kit in a few years...
"Nintendo on the other hand makes the debug kits and SDK hardware impossible to afford for small companies and the cart and burn fees are much worse than the same fees for Xbox and PS2."
The various fees for producing GCN games were lowered last April. That's why Sega games and other titles from Capcom and Konami are coming out at cheap prices, like 59.99$ CDN or less. Capcom can publish new games at 49.99$ CDN and still earn great profit!
And this is completely ignoring the efforts of Nintendo to work together with 3rd party developers. Miyamoto has made himself available to Capcom, Konami, Sega, and other third-parties, while leaving his titles to mainly be built with his remote supervision. This has led to many great contributions by those companies to the GameCube product library.
Nintendo's changing how they do business, they have been for years. That you're ignorant of it shows you haven't been following it since Hiroshi Yamauchi stepped down.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
you
are
incorrect.
Ok, if you are buying a bunch of PS2s and Xboxes because you can turn them into PCs, you are such a tiny fraction of the populace as to not matter. Of the 10 million Xboxes out there, how many are running movies, etc? I'd guess less than 1 in 100. For the PS2 I would guess less than 1 in 1,000, since there are 50 million out there.
I own 2 GameCubes, 2 Dreamcasts, 1 Xbox, 1 PS2, 2 NES, etc. Multiple GameCubes will make sense once more system-link games come out, much like multiple Xboxes makes sense for system-link parties (no one cares about PS2 system link, which is why Sony's dropping the i.Link port on future models).
What GameCube needs are just games that appeal to wide audiences. Games that sell on GameCube are games that wouldn't sell on PS2 or Xbox, and vise versa. A lot of people want GTA on Xbox or Halo on PS2, but not one of the GC owners cares about those two games. The GameCube market is not shooters and violence, remarkably enough. The trouble is that most development companies in North America are geared towards that because of the PS2, which they can shovel that stuff out on no problem.
I expect once more people start porting Japanese games to GCN in North America, it'll get more sellers. IE: Ikaruga is a good sleeper hit on the GCN.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Oh yeah.. let me go run out and buy them.. oh wait.. I can't.. Because they aren't out yet..
My bad.. looks like ruby and saphire are out.. didn't notice..
And they look the same. Oh... and Link is the best new character. For as much as everyone wanted it, Spawn is just mediocre.
They're ported titles (from the arcade no less). Very little system tweaking. Sorry.
Maybe repackage it - not calling it the "Game cube" but maybe just the "n-cube"- make it look sleeker, less childish. Make games that appeal to a somewhat older audience. No, not pr0n, but something a little more than that farm game and pokemon.
Then again, it may be hopeless. PS2 has the games, Xbox has the hardware - where is Nintendo's edge?
Nintendo has improved things so much since the N64. The Gamecube is a really great machine, with a set of killer gamecube specific titles (already mentioned in this thread), that cause people to buy gamecubes just so they can play those titles. I know I did.
However, Sony got so much market share with the PS1, back when all the other console manufacturers had their heads far up their asses, that it's pretty hard to come back and gain ground. Still, I'm sure they have, compare the market share of the N64 to the PS1, and I think you'll see the Gamecube is doing a lot better.
The GBA and the level of integration they offer with it is exceptional. The new Playstation hand held is Sony trying to copy them, and I'm sure it's going to kick ass (I have a PS2 and I'll buy one of the Sony handhelds for sure). None the less I'm already convinced that my Gameboy Advance SP is going to remain my favorite hand held console. I don't need a killer CPU, and larger screen, for my portable player. I don't need portable movies and music (esp. since DRM will make sure I have to pay $15-30 for each disk). I need something small, sexy, long battery life, with great games - that's the gameboy advance SP.
The GBA SP is great also because it plays Gameboy Color and Gameboy games as well. Very smart. Gameboy Player lets you play all those on your TV (Great purchase, strong incentive to buy a cube, GBA games are great and are great to play on a TV. Friends have come over to my house and spent 60+ hours playing Golden Sun on my gameboy player). Unfortunately everything from the N64 and back is lost, but I'm sure the next edition of the GameCube will support GameCube games. Nintendo has recognized how great for Sony it has been that the PS2 plays PS1 games (I love that I can play dance dance revolution PS1 games on my PS2, plus super puzzle fighter).
The one area Nintendo does seem to still mess up on, is their high licensing fees, which discourage development by destroying profit for game makers. I don't know why Nintendo doesn't wake up and halve those. It would work great, games would drop $5 and developer profits would increase $5. Customers and developers both happier, more units sold, maybe less money for Nintendo in the short term but a better chance for market share growth.
The gamecube is the fun family console. If I was buying one console system for my 12-or-under kids I would buy a gamecube probably. They're also a great secondary console for houses that already have a PS2 or XBox and want to get in on Nintendo games. With Cubes being cheap and coming bundled often with killer games like Metroid Prime, Gamecube is in a great position to be that second console. I'm pretty sure that's where the future of the gamecube really lies, being the second console for grownups, and the first console for kids. They won't beat Sony any time soon, but hopefully they'll obtain a growing market share.
---
I support spreading santorum
And whats kiddie to you? The graphics? The gameplay? The title? Is Mario, Zelda, Metroid kiddie games? Do kids want to play them? Yes. Are they fun as hell? Yes.
Instead of worrying about whether or not a game you are playing is kiddie, maybe you should grow up and try playing it for fun
Why would you think that the Hardware is under powered. I own all three systems and it's quit obvious that the Game Cube blows away the PS2. It's a close second to the XBOX. I would really recomend spending some time with a game cube. It's a pretty great system.
I'm not sure they really need to do anything.
Is the gamecube slumping? Yes, but it isn't Nintendos cash cow right now anyway, the gameboy is. Most of the people crying for nintendo to improve the gamecube position are analysts outside the company. Sure more profit is always good but nintendo is hardly in any sort of danger right now. No big projects forth coming? Nintendo can be notoriously tight lipped at times, look at the Gameboy advanced SP, no info on it even leaked much earlier than a month before launch. They could be hiding a couple aces, and its not like MS or Sony have killer aps slated for this year either.
The big picture could change though. Sony's Portable is going to give a serious challenge for the mature gamers (18+) but its cost is going to be too high to capture the younger gamers at first. Nintendo is leaning very heavy on that portable leg and if it gets kicked out from under them they are going to be headed down the road Sega just recently hopped along if they don't get their claws into something else. Its hard to say though if this could happen over night. Sony venturing into the portable market is very similar to the launch of the game cube: a superior (in most respects) console against the entrenched behemoth.
Also keep this in mind: Sony's profits were very low last quarter, while their console is doing well, the company as a whole did not perform as well as Sony would have liked. Neither Nintendo or MS is so far behind that they couldn't rise up and close the gap quickly. If the market fragments with the next generation, Sony is the one with the most to lose, to go from 80% to 33% is a huge loss while virtualy any outcome would be better for Nintendo and MS since they together control only about 20-30%
I stop rambling now...
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
I can give anecdotal evidence to back up the claim that Sony is selling more replacement units than either of the other two companies combined. I work part-time in a videogame store, and rarely does a shift go by where I don't sell some poor soul a new PS2 to replace theirs that either stopped reading blue discs, stopped reading silver discs, stopped reading DVDs (generally they pick one to stop reading), or crapped out entirely. So yes, I can support the claim that Sony's numbers are padded with replacement units, whereas I have never even heard of a Gamecube breaking. I've sold a few replacement X-Boxes, but the numbers seem small enough to be written off as an acceptible factory defect percentage.
--
FoolsRun
Gamecube does... what Grand_Theft_Au_DON'T!
(you're supercool if you get that reference)
Nintendo didn't play the spec game that Sony and MS did. Sony said "97M polygons!" MS said "100M polygons!" and Nintendo said "6-12M polygons." Sony and MS were talking max theoretical, Nintendo was talking real. An i875P chipset has a max theoretical memory bandwidth of 12.8GB/sec. Has anyone seen any bandwidth measurements of even half that?
As someone once said to me about the xBox:
"The Dreamcast was a 75MHz toy, the xBox is a 700MHz machine, people will treat it better!"
Nintendo knows better, I know better, a P90 used to be hot stuff and now it's being used to level a table. Nintendo is the ONLY one of the three that isn't having frequent problems with thier drive units. PS2 drives go out quite often, XBox drives go out so often I tend to question if they're DESIGNED to go bad.
If you think education is expensive, you should try ignorance -- Derek Bok, president of Harvard
I'd go with the GBA SP personally, more titles and portability
MoRe... LaTeR... -=PJK=-
Nintendo's profits up. Still selling lot's of the Cube, Sony's profits down 98%, MS cuts staff in Japan, but they just have to point out Nintendo's loss? What IS IT with people to overlook everyone else and just laugh at Nintendo, making wads of cash I would love to make, unlike MS losing every day and Sony in a huge moneypit.
Why is it so important to have a DVD player in your console? The GameCube is $50 cheaper than the PS2. Conveniently, you can buy a real DVD player for $50. One with a real remote that doesn't cost extra. One that plays VCDs and MP3 CDs flawlessly. One that your friends can borrow without borrowing your console.
They should just ditch the free game and make the price $100 for the system alone. That $100 price tag will attract more people than the free game i think. People aren't very rational. They can continue to offer the bundled version as well for $150 too i suppose. Maybe even offer a $25 mail in rebate for it *eg*
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I don't know why that is, maybe they want to see the "big guy" fail and the underdog come out on top, although no one who's been paying attention at all would think Nintendo has been the "big guy" since the SNES days, and they'd have to be insane to think of Microsoft as the underdog even if they've only just now entered the console biz.
Regardless of how this fucked up perception came about, no amount of pointing out the strengths of the GameCube, real or imagined, and no amount of pointing out the inequality of the treatment will change anything.
A lot of the population is influenced by the media. If this goes on for long enough, people will buy into the idea that the GameCube is toast and sales will go down, and then the media will have something real to hang their predjudices on.
The only way Nintendo can beat this bad rap is to turn things around and do so well that no one can deny that they're beating the XBox. Until they can do that they will always be a failure in the media's eyes.
They need a price cut before christmas, i don't care if they've been reluctant to do that in the past, they need to get over that. Being priced the same as the competition only works if you're percieved as well or better than them. The GameCube price should be $100. As someone else pointed out the $150 with a free game works out to the same value, but Nintendo needs to rub people's faces in it. They can also have the $150 with game version include a $25 mail in rebate. As people on slashdot have complained before, those things are a ripoff, but they do help sales, and at not much cost to the bottom line.
Nintendo needs to beg, borrow, or buy more 3rd party developers. They need to improve their reputation and relations with outside coompanies and get more games on the system.
They need to get more mature games on the system and kick the kiddy image. I know, sex and violence does not make a good game, but it does affect sales. Miyamoto doesn't have to make the games himself, Ninetndo can get 3rd parties to make them, but the games need to get made.
They damn well better be working on the GameCube2 or whatever it's called! It needs to be backwards compatible, and it can't have the usually Nintendo slippage. If they can beat the PS3 and XBox2 to market by a few weeks (this is critical, if they release it too far ahead, Sony and Microsoft will go the "wait a bit longer for better technology" spiel) and have a ton of GameCube games that work on it, they could pull off some major sales and get a head start in the next round.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I quit my job in cube land because in was distracting me from what I enjoyed in life. I'd rather work for what I enjoy, than have what I enjoy be marginalized by 9-5.
:)
You could always try and become a game developer. You just need artists/story writers with you
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Can that number really be right? According to this chart at MagicBox the GameCube sold 4,500 unites the week of May 19th - May 25th. This Dengeki Chart says the GameCube sold 13,000 units in Japan for the week of July 21st through July 27th. So we know that sales have increased since the 4,500 a week amount, so let's say that 4,500 is the average for April - June, which is still probably low.
4,500 units a week over 12 weeks gives 54,000 units. They sold 54,000 units in Japan and only 26,000 in the entire rest of the _world_?
I think Reuters screwed up, and of course no one will read the correction they post later. Just one more bit of evidence for the percieved bias against the GameCube. What do you want to bet that if they'd made the same mistake for XBox someone would have stopped to question such an absurdly low number before the article was printed/put up?
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Keep modding me down, fanboy. Again this is the same tired argument. Those three games are touted as the franchise. Many people buy the console just to play those games. But, in terms of sales figures not my opinion, those three games are not enough to get people to go out and buy the console. My GC just sits there waiting for something to play, while my PS2 get a work out. Mario was so cutsey it was sick. It was not nearly as good as the previous Marios. Metroid and Zelda both went in new (not bad) directions.
The console is marketed towards kids. Kids buy the console. There is nothing wrong with that, but don't say that the primary target of the Gamecube is not children.
2 of my friends both have all 3 systems. I have the xbox and ps2. If a game comes out on the cube and another system more often than not they'll buy it for the other system. Take Soul Calibur for example, Both plan on buying it for the xbox. Even though both are huge fans of Zelda playing on the gamecube controller is a hassle. The botton config is weird. It's one giant button with 3 orbiting smaller buttons all set up in the most awkard places. Not to mention that the d-pad is tiny and the cord is extra short. We have to play in front of the tv. Not with the ps2 and xbox controller. They both just feel better. Sometimes it just comes down to small things that affect out choices as a consumer.
Yeah that Mario game sure made me (and my friends) sick. So sick that I played it for around 50 hours, and it made my friends so pathetically sick that they purchased the console after playing it at my house.
The only time my PS2 is used is when a decent RPG comes out, otherwise its all GameCube for me. There is around a dozen games that Im waiting for for my GC, and around 2 or 3 for my PS2.
About your statement regarding Nintendos primary target to be children, well they pretty much say time and time again that they create games for all ages to enjoy, where as they have others (Silicon Knights, Capcom, etc) create the games that are specifically for adults. Personally I tend to pick up the Nintendo created games more often than not, which is what most GC owners seem to do.
I disagree. I like the GC controller much better than te XBox controller. THe PS2 controller is fine though... I do muss my N64 controller config though...
Correct, since only one developer/publisher has the rights to do Resident Evil, Capcom. They own the Resident Evil games.
Oh, wait, RE4 is coming out for the GC. And Resident Evil (Remake) and Resident Evil 0 both sold over 1 million copies each, worldwide, on the GC.
Well, guess that messed up that argument.
I'll give you that the majority of publishers seem to see the GC as a 'kiddie console', yet, when you look at it, the genuinely 'kiddie games' put out by these publishers don't sell well on the GC. Konami saw that with their (idiotic) thinking that their Disney Sports games would sell on the GC.
And, while RE and RE0 sold well, Eternal Darkness didn't. Which is unfortunate, as it's a great game.
Thursdae
Can't think of anything to say here
And because good karma was really keeping me down...
It's not about what games are made. All the systems make games for all types and ages of gamers. Saying that only hints at the real issue.
Image
Sprite saying that image is nothing was merely a sly remark about their own campaign. In all honesty, it is all about image. Image is what makes Apple, a company with 3% market share, seem like a powerhouse in terms of units sold. It's what keeps Linux off the desktops of the masses because it seems like a geek only thing. And image is what is really hurting the sales of the GC.
Does apple really sell all that many units? In the greater view of all computer sales, no. Is linux all that hard to install, not really. Is the GC a kiddie system? Only as much as PS2 or Xbox. The difference is the image portrayed by the console.
If you look at how the various consoles market themselves, you notice that Sony and Microsoft spend a lot of money to make their systems look mature and cool. The serious gamers (like those reading this) will look past that, but the casual gamers on the other hand won't. They'll buy into the hype, and believe what they are told. "PS2 and Xbox are cool, they are what real gamers play. GC is for kids." Then there are the up and coming hard core gamers (read kids). The same group that Nintendo is supposed to be targeting (complete bs in my opinion) sees this and thinks, "i don't want that, I want to be older and cool," so they don't buy GC's either.
Did nintendo do this deliberatly? No. But they also aren't helping matters. The gamecube looks like a kids system. It's big, it's multi-colored, it has a handle. This design could possibly be hard for some casual gamers to accept. Especially in a time when consoles are being made to look like they fit next to a dvd, vcr, tivo and other home electronics equipment.
The most interesting thing is, Nintendo knows how to fix these problems. Look at the GBA. In it's original form, it did alright, it wasn't a flop, but it wasn't anything spectacular. The problem, it didn't appeal to the casual market. It was big, it was multi-colored, it ate batteries. It was just not something casual eople were looking for.
Now look at the GBA SP. They redesigned it to fit the trends of portible devices. Made it smaller, sleaker, sexier. Gave it rechargable batteries like every other portable device. Suddenly, you can't keep them on shelves. Every toy store in America had them on back-order at some point (i had to travel all over town to find one and they had been out for months). It was just a matter of image. It's the same product, essentially. Same games, same basic hardware; just redesigned to be cooler to the mainstream market.
Of course, I could be wrong...
Slashdot...it's like Fox news, but without the biased sl...or maybe not.
Cord too short? buy a Wavebird, Nintendo's wireless controller.
For me, it's precisely how good the controller is that makes me rather play multiplatform games in the cube rather than in the other two consoles, even though the terrible jaggies on most multiplatform PS2 games is a major factor too.
Wave bird would be nice if it wasn't an extra expense seeing as how they already have 4 controllers, now if they an extension cable I would def get that. But once again I just don't like the cube controller as much as the xbox pr ps2 controller.
"Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
I actually was thinking the same thing (in reference to Soul Calibur). I have all three consoles, but generally feel let down by the XBox title selection. (but that's just me.) XBox Live doesn't excite me at all.
:)
What really changed it for me was when I recently played the SC2 demo on the GC. It works amazingly well and looks positively stunning. (SC 2 is going to be an awesome game, btw.) Maybe it was because I was used to the DC controller, but the GC controller felt really good playing SC. It worked so well in fact that I pre-ordered the GC version of SC 2 and bought a wavebird.
I am most pleased with my purchase of a Gamecube, despite the smaller title selection and perceived weakness in the console arena. I have been quite unimpressed with the XBox title selection, with most first party titles not being very interesting to me at all. My PS2 has the requisite group of titles, but I see it beginning to show its age compared to the other two consoles. (I play Activision Anthology far too much on it anyway....heh)
It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
I prefer the GC's controller so I buy most of my titles for it if they are out for both platforms.
In fact the only games I still fire up the PS2 for are Winning Eleven Six, SOCOM and GTA VC.
I'm sorry that GC sales are flat, but I feel it's superior to the PS/2 so I'll keep buying the games.
There's a Mad Catz extension cord for 7 bucks and I got a couple Nintendo extension cords for like 6-8 bucks and I have like 10-12 feet of cord now.
http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/213663.asp
Its easy to sell 30 million ps2's here's how they did it: 5million people buy ps2, They break and have to buy another, rinse, and repeat. I'm pissed cuz my POS ps2 broke.
Additionally, DVD currently has 70% of the video market, meaning that most people that want a DVD player already have one. I don't want to watch DVDs on my PS2, hell, at this point I don't even want to play PS1 games on the thing, because from all accounts the PS2 could die on me next week and I'd be completely SOL for all 3 uses. Time to pick up a PSOne and another DVD player to make sure the PS2 will last long enough for the next price drop.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
And, while RE and RE0 sold well, Eternal Darkness didn't. Which is unfortunate, as it's a great game
I just picked up Eternal Darkness last week for $14, new.
I'm waiting to see if they're going to release the full RE pack (all of the titles in one set) like they did in Japan before I pick up any RE titles on the GC. I figure if I can pick up that, Soul Calibur 2, and a couple of other titles, I might be able to put my DreamCast away.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Read what he said before blurting out with the standard Nintendo line.
Nintendo market to the younger kids, and have even STATED this themselves. They keep on saying that they are NOT after the same market as Sony and Microsoft - is it REALLY that hard for you to see why the GC 'is for kids'?
And for your information, yes I do own a GC. I hardly ever play on it though - Mario Sunshine annoyed me like Mario 64 did, and Zelda felt far too dated to me. Games have moved on since the last Zelda game. Super Monkey Ball was good, though.
I put my books on Amazon, Smashwords, Demonoid, ISOHunt and Pirate Bay. Search for 'Michael Cargill'
Why buy a DVD player and a Game console? I dont' want my game console to play DVDs. I have a DVD player for that, and it does it better than an XBox or PS2, while still playing things like VCDs and MPEG files.
It's not a problem for people that just want a game machine. Besides... Who can't go out and buy a $70 DVD player if they can afford a $200 game machine (plus games)? Why is it hurting it? Most Gamecube owners really could care less. The majority of them already had a PS2 or DVD player in the first place, before buying their Gamecube.
I have an Athlon with a gig of RAM for my Linux box. Why in the hell would I want to run Linux on an XBox? If I had an XBox, it would merely be for JSRF, PDO, SegaGT, and the other good games (albeit few excellent exclusives). I wouldn't buy it for Linux.
The hack factor is nice, but in reality, I've got a great PC that can do the Linux job... AND play games.
This is not far-fetched. I know many people that have purchased at least two PS2s. Some of them have import systems as well as domestics. Others had to buy replacements. When taking into account that the GameCube has a warranty period that is 4 times as long as the PS2's or XBox's, then there are a lot fewer replaced Gamecubes. Also, it's important to note that the PS2 has had more than a year's head start on the other two machines...
It's it obvious that the PS2's replacement rate and head-start would contribute to having 3 times the number of sold GameCube machines. Having a larger game library with backward compatibility does help as well. I seriously think that a lot of zealots totally overexaggerate the Gamecube's "failure". It's done quite respectably, and still has some of the best games of the big three consoles (in my opinion).
The Wavebird is a must for any Gamecube gamer. In fact, I'm going to buy a second one. It's really great on batteries as well.
I like the Gamecube controller a lot as well. The Wavebird is actually a bit larger than the standard controller - heavier as well. So it fits well in my big hands. The PS2 controller isn't bad at all. It's very well designed, but I'm not much of a fan of the new all-analog design. Certainly, the XBox's S controller in much better than the original, but I still don't care for the new controller. However, I'm one of the few people that actually liked the Dreamcast controller. Some people claim that the XBox controllers are similar to SEGA's controller, but they just do not feel the same.
As for which is best for Soul Calibur? None of them. Soul Calibur should be played with an arcade stick.
They look practically identical. We have all three versions. The only thing that the XBox has over the Gamecube version is better HDTV support, which smooths the graphics out a bit. Realistically, how many people have televisions which actually make this mean anything? I'd rather have Link than Spawn, seeing as I don't have a $2000 TV.
You are just wrong. Ever wonder why the Gamecube version of a multi-platform game usually comes out last? That's how long it takes for the developer to squeeze the game down to the Gamecube. You might lose polys, colors, AI, movies, something, but you always lose with Gamecube.
there's no official report for 2003, but Nintendo's report from March 2002 shows GC units sold at 380,000 and GBA with 1,709,000 for the year. That's over a year ago, I wonder where this year's report is?
a te ments_5-30-02.pdf
http://www.nintendo.com/corp/report/financialst
I'll try to find similar numbers for PS2 and Xbox.
The only way you would lose any of that with a GameCube port of a game that's been released on the PS2 is if the developer crammed the PS2's non-video RAM full of data and code. The 4MB of video RAM in the PS2 is certainly not going to require either of the other systems to cut back on the textures (and the throughput on the PS2 isn't high enough to make a difference in graphics quality either).
The XBox can do higher quality graphics if you have a higher resolution display (ie HDTV), but at the basic television resolution you're not likely to see much difference on a well ported game (until you get to the PS2 version, which will look worse than either unless it was a quick port from the PS2 to the other 2 consoles).
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Actually, I know 7 people that have XBoxes. Of those 7, 6 have modified them for uses (PRIMARY USES) beyond playing games. They all use them as media centers. They occassionally play games on them, but find them better for showing baby pictures to parents on the big screen TV. For gaming, they pretty much stick to the PC.
That's not what MS wants them to be used for (when selling at a loss).
Lets see scanning post for the word video...nope, I didn't use it. Its good you concede the overall point though, however subtly you do it. There is more to hardware limitations than texture quality and anti-aliasing, as we all know.
And you only mentioned the RAM aspect. I was looking at the overall. You lose ROM with the Gamecube disc. Good-bye assets. And how is the backup data storage doing?
Its a fact, some third parties are dropping support for the Gamecube (see Sega Sports as one example) because it is harder to work with and returns less in $. They couldn't ship any of the 2k3 series without crashes due mostly to hardware limitations, then announced its not worth it. No 2k4 for you.
If it was the most powerful you wouldn't hear these complaints.
This is a good point. I own a iBook and all the nintendo consoles. I have pc's and macs at home, but i always feel more akin to buying macs. And come to think of it - all my friends who are mac users - are also nintendo fans. How many others out there are nintendo/mac fans?
Not to flame here, but I think thats the point. Nintendo games are no longer fun for some people because they are intentionally simple. I want a challenge. I beat Zelda without dying even once. WTF? Thoughout the game I kept thinking that I was over it, but I paid for it so I felt obligated to beat it. My GC has since be relegated to GBA player duty.
A valid point here is that you can't really stack a DVD and Gamecube since the Gamecube wasn't designed with Americans (outside of fanboys) in mind. Opening from the top is pretty silly in this age of home entertainment centers and the uniquely tall size (especially with the GB player) make it unsuitable for most standard entertainment centers.
This is a fatal design flaw to me. If it won't fit with the design of my house (a pretty standard American design) why would I buy it? PS2 and XBOX own on that point hands down and going away. More proof that Nintendo has nothing but contempt for Americans.
Hey you know where it would fit perfectly? My kid's room. LOL.
Well, I dont know. Mario Sunshine got a huge amount of flak cause people said it was way to hard. Then Nintendo makes Zelda easier, and they still get shit for it. Cant please everyone I suppose.
Ahh, such a well thought out analysis. You choose game consoles to match your interior decor.
Strange, the GameCubes at work fits into the entertainment center in the confrence room just fine. That's the only case i know of where the owner bothered putting them into any kind of entertainment center. Most of my geek friends just have them sitting on the floor next to or in front of the tv, or stacked on top of each other with the GameCube on top.
Oh, but you're an interior decorator so such an arangement wouldn't work for you. Guess the rest of us will have to get by making our decisions based on which console has the best games.
LOL
Maybe this discussion forum is a little too advanced for you. Perhaps you might want to consider the AOL chatrooms instead?
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Only if the ROM you are talking about is FMV, mainly.
There've been a few 2-disk GC games, but, overall, the vast majority of games out there can easily fit on 1.5 GB. Unless there's a lot of FMV to eat up space, 1.5 GB is normally quite enough for console games.
Its a fact, some third parties are dropping support for the Gamecube (see Sega Sports as one example) because it is harder to work with and returns less in $.
Sega Sports titles were dropped because they weren't selling very well, not due to the hardware. And, if you look at the other consoles, the only one that Sega Sports has any margin of market share is on the Xbox. This is, in part, because many an Xbox fanboi has something against EA (probably EA telling MS to fuck off with Live).
Sega Sports games, while good (and NHL 2K3 being worlds better than EA's NHL 2003), simply don't have the name recognition. An example is the fact that Madden outsold NFL 2K3 by a huge margin (well over 5:1, maybe even over 10:1), on the PS2 alone. The Xbox had a better market share for Sega's NFL title, but EA still blew Sega out of the water on sales there.
Since the GC versions of the Sega Sports titles sold even less than the PS2 and Xbox versions, it makes sense to drop them, really.
I'm surprised you didn't bring up Acclaim's dropping of the Cube. Of course, anyone who knows anything about gaming knows that Acclaim makes shitty games, and they'd do the entire world a favor if they'd just stop making games all together.
Thursdae
Blarg
And you only mentioned the RAM aspect. I was looking at the overall. You lose ROM with the Gamecube disc. Good-bye assets. And how is the backup data storage doing?
a mes/new s/28463.shtmla mes/new s/28287.shtmlg ames/new s/28146.shtml= 3636
I only mentioned the RAM aspect because ROM isn't even remotely an issue when it comes to developing a game. At best, there would be complaints about the higher cost of developing a 2-disc title, when in reality there's already a higher cost involved in developing the content to fill more than 1.8 GB of space. How many of the titles on XBox and PS2 actually use the full space of the DVD? GT3 wasn't even a launch title in Japan, yet it was the first PS2 game to even use DVD at all (the previous titles as well as many of the US launch titles used CDs). As time progressed, most have moved to using DVD, but it has hardly been a necessity to go over the size of a GameCube disc for the vast majority of titles, even with large amounts of pre-rendered video and full CD-quality soundtracks.
Its a fact, some third parties are dropping support for the Gamecube (see Sega Sports as one example) because it is harder to work with and returns less in $. They couldn't ship any of the 2k3 series without crashes due mostly to hardware limitations, then announced its not worth it. No 2k4 for you.
If it was the most powerful you wouldn't hear these complaints.
Can you cite any press releases stating the GameCube being less powerful is the reason they (or anyone else) have dropped the GameCube? The reason I've usually seen stated is that the titles don't sell as well on the GameCube. In fact, when Sega announced they were dropping the Sega Sports line from the GameCube, they pledged to continue support with their entertainment titles (Sonic, Super Monkey Ball, etc) which do quite well on the cube.
http://www.gamepro.com/nintendo/gamecube/g
(EA pledges 20 games for the Cube over the next year)
http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/financial/g
(THQ axes 20 externally developed titles, 1/3rd of which were cube games)
http://www.gamepro.com/nintendo/gamecube/
(Sega drops Sega Sports from Cube, pledges 'entertainment' titles)
http://www.gamerfeed.com/index.php?story
(Acclaim drops Cube, but maintains all currently in-development Cube titles)
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Marketing?
Yeah, I loved the tv spot for the new Resident Evil series on the Cube. Not to mention all the ads in the gaming magazines.
Oh, wait... I never saw those.
Where was the huge marketing push by Nintendo to get people to buy these games?
My gamer friends didn't even know that the RE was rereleased, and had never even heard of Eternal Darkness.
So, if Nintendo is marketing these more mature games, I would like to know how many *hundreds* of dollars they've spent in this marketing blitz...
I dont choose them to match my decor, but they have to be functional with it. I guess function and form escape you though? I don't know about you, but in a grown-up's house stuff doesn't just sit on the floor. Maybe when you are a big boy you will pick up your toys.
And, though I am not an interior decorator, was that a thinly veiled homophobic statement? Talk about AOL quality discussion. So Gamecube fanboys are also homophobes, check. GG
And yes, the LOL was a direct insult. I'm glad you picked up on it. Enjoy it.
Nope, i'm 28 and about as grown up as i ever plan to get, sorry if you've gotten old and bitter. My girlfriend may make me pick up the place a bit once she moves out here, but if so i'll just have to manage the difficult task of figuring out how to put the GameCube and PS2 on a shelf. Although i'm sure it will be a difficult task given that you haven't been able to manage it, but i'm sure i'll eventually prevail.
And, though I am not an interior decorator, was that a thinly veiled homophobic statement? Talk about AOL quality discussion. So Gamecube fanboys are also homophobes, check. GG
GG? What's that? Sorry i don't keep up with the latest kiddie slang.
I didn't say you were a homosexual, and i'm not sure why you were so quick to jump to that conclusion. Isn't that whole "all homsexuals are interior decorators" thing a myth anyways? If it makes you feel better, i can call you an artiste instead, except that i know a lot of artists and none of them worry about what the GameCube looks like either, and come to think of it, they've all figured out how to fit it into their entertainment centers as well.
No, what i was trying to emphasize was the stupidity of picking out a console based on what the console looks like and how it matches your furniture. If you're really that much more concerned about what the console looks like on your shelf (oh wait, you haven't figured out how to put it on a shelf yet, sorry) rather than what the games look like on the screen, i'm really not sure why your opinion should matter at all anyways.
And yes, the LOL was a direct insult. I'm glad you picked up on it. Enjoy it.
I picked up on the part where you sounded like an idiot. Somehow missed the part where i was laughing at anything other than you. But keep it up, you make a great twelve year old.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I know reading is hard, but i said that i was "about as grown up as i ever plan to get." I didn't say i was done maturing.
I just refuse to submit to an societally determined notion of what's "growing up" and accept definition that as a synonym for mature. I intend to continue developing deeper and better relationships with my friends and family, promoting beneficial change in the political and social systems of the US, expanding my mind by continued education, and among many other things, continue to enjoy the entertainment provided, in one of it's forms, by well done video games. However not among the "many other things" is stressing out about whether or not my consoles are sitting on the floor in front of the tv or are sitting on shelves in an entertainment center.
I can only imagine you have never seen a big boy entertainment center. The "shelves" (more like cubby holes) are a set height and width. I know Disney has taught you that if you wish it, it will come true, but the size is set. The Gamecube is too tall for them. If this concept is too tough for you to grasp I suggest you take some fundamental math classes and familiarize yourself with simple concepts such as size and possibly newtonian physics and concepts like matter.
Sorry to disapoint you, but i've seen them at home when growing up, i can see one right now in the confrence room at work, i've seen them at stores, and i've seen them at some friends' houses.
Guess what? Every halfway decently built entertainment center i've seen has pegs that allow you to place the shelves at any level you want and thereby provide room to store whatever type of consumer electronics on it that you wish. I suggest you familiarize yourself with such simple concepts as comparison shopping and look before you buy.
I've got a small entertainment center that fits just my tv and some DVDs, and using advanced mathematical and physics knowledge that i picked up at college i was able to judge the size of the tv and adjust the shelves so they contained it nicely.
Assuming your mail-order bride does arrive, maybe the wench can help you lift your toys off the ground. I'm sure she will be of the stout type and able to help you construct "shelves" for your den.
Wow, you started out the whole flaming thing by insulting my ability to read, and now have scaled upwards to insulting my girlfriend. I can see why you were scared to log in to write this comment. Congratulations, you've managed to even pass below the threshold of good taste to which i am willing to descend to meet you. No matter how viscious, uncouth and unintelligent you may be, i'm not going to stoop to insulting your friends and family.
If she wants me to move the stuff, i'll go out and buy an entertainment center, however unlike you, i am smart enough to look at what i'm getting before i purchase it, and i'll get one with moveable shelves and use my already demonstrated spatial sense and engineering ability to assemble the device in the correct layout to accomodate the devices i wish to place in it.
Way to back-peddle on your homophobic insult, though. Real nice work. Its already posted for everyone to see though. I need not say anymore on that issue.
Sorry, you can try to put words in my mouth all you want, but i'm not the one who thinks that all interior decorators are homosexuals, I do think that interior decorating is a pretty useless field regardless of whether it's practiced my heterosexuals or homosexuals, especially when applied to matters such as which console to purchase. Making decisions based on such irrelevant criteria is even more imbecilic than choosing which entertainment center to buy without considering what features would be most usefull to the application to which you will be applying it.
Real quick
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Hey, I responded to your anonymous comment below if you care. (This would be a lot easier if you were brave enough to take credit for your own words.)
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
"Opening from the top is pretty silly in this age of home entertainment centers"
Actually, I love top-loading. The mechanism is much simpler and harder to break than a front-loader. Plus, there's no delay between when you press the open button and the thing actually opens.