Xbox And Gamecube's New Hardware Bundles?

Thanks to the Gaming-Age forum regulars for pointing to info on the EB Games site showing Microsoft's Xbox hardware bundle for Christmas, consisting of the online-friendly Star Wars: Clone Wars, Tetris Worlds, and 2 free months of Xbox Live, priced at $179. Meanwhile, GameInformer.com has a rumor (via unconfirmed sources) of a Zelda-related GameCube hardware bundle this Xmas, including "...a bonus disc that will include the following Zelda games and goodies: Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Zelda Documentary." While this GameCube bundle is still a rumor, new Player's Choice budget titles from Nintendo have been officially confirmed, including (from September 25th) Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, and Super Mario Sunshine for $29.99, and Star Fox Adventures, Pikmin, and Luigi's Mansion for $19.99.

Comments

New Zelda Stuff?

[the_riaa]

I certainly hope that if this is true, that Nintendo would have the sense to also release this Zelda-packed bonus disc for sale commercially for all their loyal customers who already have made the jump and purchased a Gamecube. I applaud them for adding more titles to the Player's Choice lineup (looking forward to Star Fox Adventures for $19.99 finally), but if they screw all the current Gamecube owners over by making this Zelda anthology a holiday bundle exclusive, then I for one will not be happy. Besides, the games listed are four of my favorite games ever, and to have them in one tight package would be great. And for those wondering where Link to the Past is on that list, I suspect that's because of impending release of Zelda: Four Swords on Gamecube coupled with the already released GBA port of LttP.

But will this help move more Gamecube units? I would imagine so. Everybody likes getting good, free stuff - especially when they're ponying up the cash required for a system nowadays. I for one took advantage of the Sunshine Bundle coupled with the free Metroid Prime offer - and I felt great about it. Not only did I get two great games with my system, but I didn't have to pay extra. Last time I checked, Xbox and PS2 didn't have a lot of appealing bundles (GT3 was nice, and the GTA3/VC bundles will be nice too). Oh, and I'm sure the free Zelda:OoT bonus disc helped make Wind Waker preorder numbers soar through the roof.

Heh

[acxr is wasted]

I just beat Zelda II for the first time earlier this summer. That's, like, 13 years!

Hardest game ever!

Desperation

[Drakon]

Have either of the other consoles gotten close to what the PS2 is still selling at? I look at this as an act of desperation to be profitable before 2004 numbers roll in.
See what Gord had to say when the GC was released (link on the page for Xbox stuff)
I honestly don't see Sony losing it's grip on this market. Especially since the PS3 is promised to play PS2/PSX games.

Re:Desperation

[edwdig]

Ignore Gord. A large part of his reasoning that the GameCube will bomb is because he claims Nintendo intentionally designed the system to be less powerful than the PlayStation 2. If you spend 5 minutes playing a GameCube exclusive game, you'll release the GameCube is significantly more powerful.

He was constantly misinterpreting Nintendo's statements. The above issue came from "Rather than try to go for the best possible performance, we tried to make an easy to develop system with above standard power." Translation - better than PS2 technology, but not going crazy to outdo Microsoft.

He also compared Nintendo's polygon count, which they stated was a very conservative minimum to be attainable with a full game engine running to Sony's numbers for the theoretical maximum the system could do.

Zelda Bundle Probably Real

[edwdig]

Over the summer, I did a marketing research survery about video games for Nintendo. Although the woman running it wasn't allowed to say who the survery was for, when we asked, she did say "It's probably for who you think it's for."

Most of the survey was spent establishing perceptions of the 3 major consoles. Another major part was breaking into groups, and deciding what each of the 3 companies would need to do to win the next round.

The last part is where it became obvious the survey was for Nintendo. We had all mentioned how we all liked old Nintendo games, and that was one of the biggest things Nintendo had going for them (the group was all people in their early 20's). The woman asked if bundling a "Nostalagia Pack" which contained several old games would make us more likely to buy the system. Everyone agreed it would.

Finally, we were asked why Metroid Prime didn't sell big, and then why Zelda didn't sell big.

Took about an hour and a half, and I got $50 out of it. It's the second time I did one of these surveys for Nintendo. The first time was when the SNES was fairly new, and Nintendo Power was about to start their merchandice catalog. The survey was about how we liked different merchandice, and we got a free game for doing it.

Re:Zelda Bundle Probably Real

[edwdig]

It's been a while, so I don't remember details too well.

I think the consensus on Metroid was that most people don't know about Metroid, due to the last one being during the SNES days. I don't remember anyone saying anything bad about the game.

For Wind Waker, I think the graphics turned people off initially. But if you did get people to play the game, they usually changed their mind about it. The game being too easy came up too. I know one guy who only owned an Xbox was under the impression that most GameCube games are really easy. The people who did have the game complained it was too easy. I know several of my friends watched people play it, and considered getting a Cube for it, but decided against it because the game was too easy.

Milking Halo for all it's worth....still

[unclethursday]

Notice that the bundle for the Xbox has Tetris Worlds (MSRP $20, also included in new Xbox Live kits), and Star Wars: Clone Wars (Not sure of the MSRP on that title).

So far, North America is the biggest territory in which Halo hasn't been bundled, ever.

Halo has been bundled, and still is bundled AFAIK, in Australia since shortly after the Xbox launch in that territory, and the Xbox sees healthy sales in Australia.

Last Chrstmas there was a bundle option in Europe that included not only the Sega GT 2002/JSRF disk, but also Splinter Cell (which had just been released) and Halo. This boosted sales in Europe as well.

Yet, even though it is the best selling Xbox game ever, Halo isn't bundled in North America (which would increase sales of the Xbox, even now), nor is Halo part of the 'Platinum Hits' titles.

Still, I suppose when you only have one consitently selling title on your console, you don't lower the price on it; but Microsoft could see more sales by putting Halo in the 'Platinum Hits' line, or by bundling it with the console.

2 years at $50 is a bit much. But, I suppose by keeping it at $50, it does lower the operational losses on the Xbox division (it does sell pretty consitently, still). Now, if people would only wake up and see that while Halo is a great game, it isn't worth $50 anymore....

Thursdae

Re:Milking Halo for all it's worth....still

[JFMulder]

You should remember that Canada is also part of North America, and we've had the Halo/Amped/Xbox bundle since February. They're still selling them at 279.99CAN$, so I'll quite a deal, since an Xbox alone is 259.99CAN$. I bought mine 3 months ago and haven't regretted since.

IIRC, FFX still hasn't seen it's price lowered either, or not much. Microsoft and Bungee are no more guilty then Sony and Square. That's one law of marketting : as long as it is selling well, there's not reason to lower the price.

Well, hello down there!

[Inoshiro]

"So far, North America is the biggest territory in which Halo hasn't been bundled, ever."

Do you know what an Xbox Adrenaline pack is? It's a bundle of 1 Xbox system, 1 Controller S, 1 copy of Amped, and 1 copy of Halo for an MSRP of 279.99 Canadian.

You're either ignorant that Canada has Adrenaline packs, or you willfully don't include Canada in your view North America (27 million people can be wrong! ;)). Either way, you should do research on what you post on Slashdot before posting it.

You're not ignorant of the fact that Microsoft's more than happy to keep selling Halo at a higher MSRP than most first-gen titles. I don't think you'll see Halo go Platinum Hits until Halo 2 is out -- Microsoft can't afford to have its own home-grown title that's universally well known selling at budget prices unless it has another title to back it up. Besides, as you point out, Halo still sells well at its current price. With the constant perception that the GameCube is a system only for younger people, Microsoft has to keep Halo expensive in the US so they can keep their older demographic happy.

Re:Well, hello down there!

[unclethursday]

Either way, you should do research on what you post on Slashdot before posting it.

Blasphemy if I ever heard it.

That's like RTFA before posting, it's simply not done on /.

Thursdae

Re:That's kinda interesting..

[PainKilleR-CE]

Anybody else seen that at other Blockbusters? (I still can't figure out why I got that so cheap.)

I got the same thing. The lady behind the counter that sold it to me said they had a fairly large number of copies of the game and they weren't selling very well (probably because of the bundle deals). I picked up the $20 Metroid Prime and then got Zelda Wind Waker with my GameCube when I found out the GameBoy Player bundle didn't include a game.

To the anon response:
No, they weren't previously rented games or anything like that, they were definitely new. I'm also pretty sure they're still selling them for $20.

Re:how about a Mario Disc

[edwdig]

Why can't Nintendo do this for Mario. Throw Mario 1, 2, 3, Wolrd and 64 on one disc and I'd buy that for $24.99

Because they've been very successful at selling those games individually for the GBA at $35 each. Granted, they can't do that for Mario 64, but hey, maybe the next GameCube Mario game will bundle Mario 64 for free.