Slashdot Mirror
GameCube Resurgence Via RPGs?
Daetrin writes "GamesAreFun.com is reporting that Namco's Tales of Symphonia RPG for GameCube sold 200,000 copies in its first day of release in Japan. It also reports that Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles for GameCube has sold over 350,000 units since its Japanese release last month. Perhaps the influx of RPGs will help revitalize the low GameCube hardware sales in Japan?" IGN Cube has hands-on impressions of Tales Of Symphonia, and GamesAreFun also mention the "73,000 pre-orders in Japan" for GC farming RPG Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, which comes complete with a plush cow if you pre-order Stateside.
Stop talking about Normal People like they're a bunch of mindless sheep. You're the mindless sheep, fucking slashbot.
I was not certainly talking about normal people like sheep, but in the videogame userbase you see two patterns:
First one is the "normal people" pattern. They don't read videogame magazine, they don't know who the producers are. What they care however is to have a good, easy videogames to play. They count A LOT in the videogame biz however since they are in vast numbers and they buy a lot of games.
The other one is the "fandom" pattern. They are the contrary.
I was only trying to say that this was a move aimed at the fandom, but that Nintendo needs to target the common people as well.
By the way: this is also the opinion of one of the XBox team honchos (see this article), of Carmack and even Miyamoto as well.
By the way, my name's not Slashdot, but I like to fuck very much. :D
"I am slashbot, hear me roar!"
Nintendo has done a lot to win back video game publishers: witness such amazing events as lowered royatly rates, parterships for developing titles (Sega/Namco/Nintendo F-Zero), and farming out franchise characters for use in third-party titles (Link in Soul Calibur 2).
;)
Nintendo also has the crap games for the masses. They get the EA games the same as the PS2 or Xbox.
So why isn't the GameCube more popular, since they did everything you said to do (except they did it before you posted here)? Because no one cares. They have a PS2 already (single console owners), or they have an Xbox (multiple console owners). Almost everyone who wants a GameCube has one; the rest either don't know they want it because of Nintendo's less than stellar advertising campaign, or will buy the Xbox version.
Soul Calibur 2 and Madden 2004 prove exactly how different the audiences are. Right now, for every 3 PS2s in the North American market, there is 1 GCN and 1 Xbox (numbers aprox: PlayStation 2 18,485,673; Xbox 5,682,847; GameCube 4,429,930).
How are these two games proving this? Madden 2004 came out on all 3 systems the same day. Madden 2004 for the PS2 has sold 35 to 1 versus the GameCube version (it has sold about much better on the Xbox; ~5 to 1). Soul Calibur 2 for the GameCube has sold 5 to 1 verus the PS2 version -- despite the number of potential PS2 Soul Calibur purchasers being 3x the number of GameCube purchasers. It's even managed to sell more than the Xbox version, again even though they Xbox market is bigger.
These numbers tell us a few things. Most people who only own a PS2 only care about the so-called "crap" games for the masses. They are happy with their crap games on their system with slow load times and jaggy picture, even if they could potentially get it better elsewhere.
If they person owns multiple consoles, chances are that the GameCube is a second console; the Xbox or PS2 is the primary. If they Xbox is the primary, they will probably by the Xbox version of multi-platform titles because the Xbox version "will be better." Even if the PS2 is the primary console, chances are the owner will play mainly Nintendo titles on the GameCube because their games come out first on the PS2 compared to the GameCube.
It also tells us that people will buy for the GameCube when there is incentive to. The PS2 and GCN versions of SC2 have PL2 and widescreen; the GCN version also supports 480p. The Xbox triumphs over this with its 720p support and Dolby Digital audio. So why is the GameCube version selling more copies? Because Link's in it, duh!
I think the strong sales of Soul Calibur 2 on the GameCube despite the existance of an Xbox version will show third parties that GameCube titles will sell well when there is a reason to buy them. So far most of what the Xbox and GameCube get for third-party titles are warmed-over PS2 ports. Nintendo is trying to bump up the third-party exclusives because they know that people won't buy those titles in any noticable quantity because of the widely-held belief that, "the Xbox version is always better."
Hopefully this example from Namco will show third-party publishers that simply porting a title is not enough; if they are willing to put in the effort to make each version distinct and worth owning, they will sell more copies than they would've otherwise. If they support the more powerful hardware (Xbox and GameCube) by truly using the features available to them, they will also sell more copies as compared to the PS2 version recompiled and slapped on a mini-DVD.
Time will tell. Hopefully Nintendo will be able to make good on their promise to beat Sony to the 2005 next-gen console launches.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Nintendo has done a lot to win back video game publishers: witness such amazing events as lowered royatly rates, parterships for developing titles (Sega/Namco/Nintendo F-Zero), and farming out franchise characters for use in third-party titles (Link in Soul Calibur 2).
Yes, the lower rates and technological partnerships are something new for Nintendo, but the farming out of franchise character isn't.
Nintendo has already let Mario, Luigi and Zelda to be stars in third party games, see Mario is Missing for the PC, Mario Typist (also for the PC), and Mario Hotel and Zelda for the CD-I. Thanks heaven Nintendo now has a tigher quality control on videogames with his own characters, so we have great third-party games like Mario Tennis and Mario Golf (I can't remind who was the publisher for the former, but I am positive the latter is from Camelot, that was doing "funny golf game" also on PSX).
It also tells us that people will buy for the GameCube when there is incentive to. The PS2 and GCN versions of SC2 have PL2 and widescreen; the GCN version also supports 480p. The Xbox triumphs over this with its 720p support and Dolby Digital audio. So why is the GameCube version selling more copies? Because Link's in it, duh! ;)
Link feels so "outside" the Soul Calibur paradigm :(... at least Spawn is a character that has a charisma comparable to Cervantes' (is Cervantes in SC2? Haven't played it yet... think that yesterday evening I was playing with the first, SoulEdge on PSX)
Hopefully this example from Namco will show third-party publishers that simply porting a title is not enough; if they are willing to put in the effort to make each version distinct and worth owning, they will sell more copies than they would've otherwise. If they support the more powerful hardware (Xbox and GameCube) by truly using the features available to them, they will also sell more copies as compared to the PS2 version recompiled and slapped on a mini-DVD.
I can remember someone bashing PS2 because all the XBox games in the end had lower resolution textures and models only because they were also on PS2 :D
Time will tell. Hopefully Nintendo will be able to make good on their promise to beat Sony to the 2005 next-gen console launches. Hopefully I would have enough to buy all the most important consoles and enough time to play all the most important games, whoever makes them.
"I am slashbot, hear me roar!"
The only reason I bought a Ps2 was because of 2 game titles..no more, no less. Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy. And seeing as FFX-2, FFXI and FFXII will be released on the Ps2, I am one happy puppy.
Now, If I were into furries and cereal box characters I would have bought a non dvd playable game cube. Nintendo just doesn't have the titles, and even if you have chronicals, I have heard that a gameboy advanced is almost a neccesity...I think I'll stick to the Ps2.
It's always funny until someone gets hurt. Then it's just hilarious. -B.Hicks-
Link feels so "outside" the Soul Calibur paradigm :(... at least Spawn is a character that has a charisma comparable to Cervantes' (is Cervantes in SC2? Haven't played it yet... think that yesterday evening I was playing with the first, SoulEdge on PSX)
iirc Cervantes is an unlockable character in SC2 (I unlocked most of the characters this weekend so I'm not completely sure, I just know that he's definitely in there).
I'd say the only reason Spawn doesn't feel right in SC2 is because I know he is an outside character. He also has one or two moves that are a little outside normal for SC (ie shooting green crap across the screen, similar to the fireballs and other distance attacks in Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat).
The original XBox controller also seems to work really well, imo, for the game, and has gotten me through my inability to find the SC2 arcade stick in any local stores quite nicely (to the point where the only reason I really want that arcade stick is to have a multi-platform arcade stick for my other games).
When it came down to it, the added video and audio modes are pretty much what sold the XBox version over the GameCube version for me. Sure, Spawn seems to fit better than Link, but that's a non-issue to me. In fact, I'll probably buy the other two versions when they're budget titles just to get to play Link and Heihachi in Soul Calibur.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Well, ok, now you and AC go and fetch figures and try to demonstrate that there is a third force that is interesting to the videogame market, expecially when we are talking about figures of sales that go from 200.000 people upwards.
I agree with you, that there are effectively 2 forces of video-game-buying people... those who know what they're getting, and those who don't. Those who don't, like you said, don't read magazines, don't look up reviews, and don't care about publishers, or developers. We are those who do. I believe what the other guy was alluding to was that he doesn't believe there are 2 forces... he believes there's only 1 massive force. You and I disagree with him, obviously.
Generally, when I see GameCube sales for a game like Soul Caliber that are much higher than the ratio for GameCube owners to PS2 owners, I tend to think those are the "know-nots" that are buying it, just because Link is on the cover. I also concede that this is a rather bad example, because the GameCube actually does have higher technical abilities than the PS2, so the "knows" actually go along with the "know-nots" and purchase the GameCube copy. In a perfect example, the GameCube owners would be in a 1:1 ratio with PS2 owners, and we could show both sets of people the same game, with a different character on the front... and knowing what those people know, they would choose one or the other. Then we would have definitive data on whether box art, or different characters, or technical abilities effect actual sales.
"It's better to have a gun and not need it than need a gun and not have it." ~ Christian Slater, True Romance
No kidding. I now have more Gamecube titles than any of my other [currently supported] consoles. In my opinion, there are plenty of really good games on other consoles, but the best games are found on Gamecube (though they're mostly first party). I'm really looking forward to Tales of Symphonia and Crystal Chronicles as well.
All the gamecube really needs is more memory and a better advertising campaign. Maybe Nintendo will get that right next time.