Slashdot Mirror
GameCube Outsells PS2, Xbox After Price Cut
Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz for their story that the GameCube outsold the PlayStation 2 by 20 per cent in the U.S. last week, as well as "racking up more than twice the sales of the Xbox - with a 145 per cent lead over Microsoft's console", following the GameCube price cut to $99 of a couple of weeks back. The piece suggests "we'd expect to see the console slip behind the PS2 in the rankings next week", but also argues that "...unless Microsoft reacts to the recent price-cuts, it could be outsold by the Cube this Christmas in the USA, as Nintendo rolls out one of its strongest ever ranges of first and third party titles."
First of all, we don't know what's going to happen to PS2 prices as the holidays approach. I think some kind of PS2 bundle is likely. Secondly, at $50 per game, how many games can most casual users afford. And if they waited until now, they are probably casual users. Thirdly, how many of the people now buying Gamecubes already have PS2s and a stack of games for them? We have 5 consoles switchable into our livingroom wide-screen. The PS2 gets most of the play.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
A guess as to what that means -- the price cuts tend to prompt a lot of purchases of a second or third system. Given that there is (I believe) a much larger installed base of PS2s and Xboxes in the US, there is a much larger market for second-thought GameCube purchases.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Yes, $99 at this time of year is going to spurn alot of sales by owners of the other two consoles. Anyone who considers themselves to be a 'True Gamer' cannot ignore the stellar titles that have shown up on the GC. Platform is irrelavant when it comes to good games!
However, come the end of november you won't be able to find a cube ANYWHERE. Every little kid without a game system is going to be getting a gamecube for xmas. The installed base is about to go up. Way up.
I don't really mind double posts on
Most people only get one or two consoles, very few buy more than two active consoles. I used to have a N64, then bought a PS1 back in the day, now I own a PS2 and just picked up a GC last week as my second console. What Nintendo has done as put themselves in the position to become the second console in most people's home. If Microsoft dropped the Xbox to $100 first, theres a good chance many of the recent GC purchasers would have went the the Xbox as their second console. Now that Nintendo has virtually established themselves as the 2nd Console of choice, Microsoft just lost that entire market..again.
On a side note, I picked up Legend of Zelda, Metroid Prime and Eternal Darkness with my cube and have been playing Zelda non stop for the past week. Great fun, totally justified the Console purchase. The other 2 games are still in the shrink wrap..greatly underappreciated system.
I'm actually looking to pick up a GC in the future. I'm not much of a console gamer, but with the price and selection of games coming out in the next two months a GC looks appealing.
Looking at the games I'm sure alot of the mid-20 year olds who grew up with the original NES are in the same boat. I was a huge TMNT fan, and guess what is coming out for GC next month, a new TMNT game. Also, I spent alot of time in college playing MarioCart on the N64, and low and behold they are putting a new version of that out.
I think GC is going to win over alot of thier old customers unleashing some games that remind young adults of thier first NES games.
I believe that these price cuts will substantially increase the Cube's user base. The Game Cube has a fantastic array of superb 1st and 3rd party games that are far and above the mediocre PC ports that are made for the X-Box. If you crave original console action, you should buy a Game Cube.
The Game Cube is portable, has fantastic graphics and the most comfortable controller ever made. For 99 bucks, everybody should buy one and give them to a kid that they know.