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GameCube Production to Halt
avayre writes "Nintendo is to press the pause button on production of its GameCube consoles while it clears inventory of unsold machines. the company's president said on Thursday. But Satoru Iwata promised the struggling games company was developing a radical new product to be announced next year -- however he gave few details save to say it would be a departure from mainstream gaming consoles 'that will have a big impact on the world.'" My prediction is that it's just downtime until Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles ships. That'll help move those units that are gathering dust.
lets not forget the last time nintendo tried to 'innovate' and developed something 'radical' and 'never before seen' in game hardware.
methinks they should stick to making awesome games, and handheld game systems that you can play for more than 2 hours. (imo, the feature that kept the gameboy on top all these years despite better-equipped rivals).
(btw: i think this whole thread counts as console-war trolling)
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
Yes, clearly, once one gets old enough one has no use for anything but gratuitous violence. :) I personally like the "mostly harmless" adventure games, like mario and zelda, even with their lack of blood and gore, because the puzzles are just as interesting and challenging as they are in more "adult" games.
think *anime*
Where's the mario Kart gc? or the other really fun to play games that are nintendo?
But this seems to be the complaint I have with all the platforms right now. Multi-player games are rare outside of sports games. Mario Kart has always been a big seller and the version for theN64 completely rocked and was one of the games that kept that platform alive for as long as it was (goldeneye is another)
But the biggest problem with the GC is that cince it's aimed at the kid market, the kids cant afford the games. Sorry, your game is NOT worth $50 - $60 bucks. $20.00 to $40.00 is the range that is acceptable to kids with a paper-route and certianly inside the parents instant purchase model.
Playstation2 is killing because if the "classics" line if $19.95 games from last year and older.. I see those constantly picked through and bought while noone is really looking at the overpriced games.
I believe the GC to be a superior machine. I own it as well as the PS2 and the PS2 is kicking it's arse because of the large amount of low-cost games that are available.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
that Microsoft buying Rare could have done nothing but harm Nintendo's cause. If you think of the games that Nintendo have become famous for, most people would name those that have had Rare input: Goldeneye, Perfect Dark etc. With Rare out of the picture, the "inconsistent flow" of "attractive software" would be anything but improved.
the group had stumbled with the Game Cube console and conceded that it had made a strategic mistake by not ensuring that it had a consistent flow of attractive software for the Game Cube.
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
...is that it is just another console system. The market is simply unable to support more then two consoles effectively, especially with all the various exclusive titles and multi-platform release titles that exist today..
However, it is just a console, like the Xbox and the Playstation. They are hardly worth their time...
By the time they are worth their time, they will have evolved into full computer systems that are closed systems, similar to the early computer market when C-64's and their ilk reigned supreme. (Meaning no upgradeability.)
A few years after that... Somebody will release a "Back to Basics" console system with simplistic controls, quality graphics and easy to follow storylines that will take the market by storm...
That might take ten years or more though...
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
Teenagers in the U.S. seem to belong to the category that they don't want to look like they're doing something immature. If they do anything viewed as potentially "un-cool" then they risk being "un-cool." The problem is, the stuff they turn to in order to be mature and cool are games where they run over hookers and shoot random people in the streets (i.e. GTA III).
Nintendo clearly hasn't been aiming for that crowd, and I for one am happier for it. I grew up with the NES, and since then have owned every console they've put out. They continue to make games that I get a great deal of enjoyment out of (Legend of Zelda : The Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness, etc.), and they are consistantly failing to sell as well as other more mediocre games on other consoles. Worldwide, the GameCube and the Xbox are even in sales, but you would never know it by talking to a teenager. It's a shame too, because Nintendo has stated that if they ever stop making a console, they will leave the market rather than make games as a third party. If that should ever happen, the world will have lost one of the most influential and innovative developers in existence, only to be replaced with games focusing completely on graphics and/or violence.
"Chances of RHIC-induced Armageddon are exceedingly rare, but... you never know." - MIT Physicist Bob Jaffe
I think the real problem is that the biggest market for games tends to be the teen-to-early-20s, where a lot of people are more worried about appearance than reality. Hell, I had a 9 year old looking down at a good portion of my game collection because it was either 'for kids' or 'boring' (the latter being the large number of RPGs, the former being the Nintendo titles he already has and played through at least once). All he wanted to play was GTA because that's what kids think is cool.
I have a PS2 for RPGs and Tekken primarily, and bought GTA3 and Vice City because I occasionally enjoy them. I also bought GT3 for it because it's simply the best racing game I've played to date. I have an XBox primarily for Halo and have bought a handful of titles for it, both exclusives and multi-console titles, and find that the multi-console titles are usually best on it, so I'm not disappointed (and I'll probably buy KOTOR this weekend, as it seems to be the 2nd must-have title for the XBox, and given that it's both Star Wars and the 1st well-received exclusive (until it comes out on PC) RPG on the system, it obviously appeals to me). The GC is simply the system I've bought the most games for recently, and that I've played the most since I bought it. Part of that is because I bought it recently, and am playing catchup buying older titles, but another part of it seems to be that the games are just fun without having to put a lot of time into them, which means I can play a game without having to have a lot of spare time (ie all of those RPGs on the PS2 that I usually play on the weekends and often don't touch all week). Also, it helps that I haven't had a Nintendo console since the NES, and there's a good amount of nostalgia involved with Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. without having gone through it all with the 2 systems between then and now. Oh, and that Game Boy Player with Wario Ware and Castlevania.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Nobody wanted to develop for it. No developers = no games which = no customers.
The dev kits were insanely expensive, and you had to write for a screwed-up dual CPU system. Not easy.
For the one billionth time. Metroid is not a FPS game! It's "First Person Adventure". SO much emphasis is placed on exploration and learning about the Chozo and what happened to them. In fact, the monsters are just there to kill time and put some action into the game.
If you want a fast-paced FPS, buy Hhalo or Quake. But I, and everyone else told the world (in ever single review out there) that Metroid was not an FPS title. It's nobody's fault but your own, if you went into it with different expectations.
On the other hand, Zelda did have its flaws. I wasn't too terribly fond of the "Water World" theme, but I found that the rest of the game was quite awesome. And the gameplay was top-class.
...I find Nintendo's losing market share rather perculiar. The only real difference between the two competitors, is that one releases many more adult theme games than the other. Funny, because by the looks of it, it appears that the GC has 3 good 'kiddie' game per 1 good adult game from PS2.
But what is even more funny, is that if Nintendo continues on the same track of creating fun family games, it's going to end up back on top, due to a generation of gamers settling down, getting married and having kids. I've had 5 friends in the last year talk about what console they should get for their rugrats and each one ended up with the GC, because of the family oriented games.
Mad Hatter
Actually, you're NOT Nintendo's target market. You're Sony/Microsoft's target market. Nintendo's market is for the late teens to early 30's that plays video games for fun, not to engage in the violence that they can't perform in the real world.
And when the hell did the console market become a war? A PS2 in a home doesn't preclude a GameCube in the same space. I've had a PS2 for a couple of years now, and I love the thing, but I want a GameCube because Nintendo offers games that the PS2 and XBox don't. While they focus on thud-and-blunder/race/shoot/crush/bitchslap games, Nintendo focuses on making games what they should be -- fun diversions that make you think a little bit, and put a smile on your face.
Case in point -- my girlfriend digs video games. Watch her play Final Fantasy X or something similar on the PS2, and you'll seldom see her smiling...she's more focused on making sure her characters are levelling up, finding shit, etc. With a game on a Nintendo system, you see a lot more grinning, hear more smack-talking, and generally get the impression that the experience is more rewarding than gaming on the PS2.
Don't get me wrong, though -- we're not throwing out the PS2. I still need my Madden fix, which is great fun, SOCOM's good after a long day at the office, and I bought Robotech: Battlecry for the PS2 b/c I didn't want to wait for the GameCube version (though I would have had to buy a new one). But, yeah, a GameCube will definitely be taking up a space on our entertainment center in the near future.
XBox? Why bother?
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