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GameCube - Doubles U.S Share, UK Status, Zelda Bundle
nakedxray writes "Yahoo posted a Nintendo press release earlier this morning claiming that the GameCube has almost doubled its marketshare in the U.S, rising from 19 percent to 37 percent. The $99 price point seems to be paying off. Now, how about those online games?" Nintendo are again lagging in UK sales, however, as "the Xbox is now outselling Nintendo's machine by over two to one", according to GI.biz, although a UK variant, including Mario Kart:Double Dash, of the allegedly forthcoming U.S. Zelda bundle may help revitalize Nintendo's hardware in that market. Update: 11/04 20:59 GMT by S : The U.S. GameCube Zelda bundle is no longer 'alleged', since it's due on Nov.17th for $99, and the Zelda disc is available separately "by [consumers] registering their Nintendo GameCube system and two... hot holiday titles... [or] by subscribing to or renewing their subscription to Nintendo Power magazine."
I like UK choices--the Commodore 64 to be specific. I can't say it fared too well for the Lynx or the Jaguar video game systems. I hope the sales of XBox aren't forshadowing something.
I think you can take this to mean that they probably will do the promotion, but can't say so since retailers would obviously be upset if you told potential customers to wait before purchasing. of course maybe not, either way I am waiting to see what happens before running out for a gamecube.
so if everyone who has a console has all 3 consoles, is total marketshare 300% ? (nintendo has 100% of the market, PS2 has 100% of the market, and Xbox has 100% of the market)
I have come to realize that consoles boil down to: PS2: the ultimate for RPGs and some sports/action. good for sitting at home alone and gaming XBox: Great for sports and action (and another other typical "North American" styled game. good for a night of drinking and gaming w/ friends Nintendo: Fun. Though I only buy nintendo products looking at 1st party games... and nintendo makes amazing games. Ive had more success w/ 3rd party for sony than any other company, and xbox has so far seemed one of the best for sports games.
Wouldnt you like to be a pepper too?
wtf, Zelda's a good start, but I'd much rather see a new version of Mario All-stars, with Super Mario World, Mario 64, and SMB 1-3.
THERE IS NO DATA. THERE IS O
Its nice to see GC getting some more respect. Its easy to throw in lots of expensive hardware and make it work, but to have about 4 mb of ram in a system and produce the GC's graphics, well that is a system. Leave it to MS to make something bloated and inefficient.
Supposedly, there are going to be two other ways to get the bonus disc besides getting the bundle. You can either subscribe to Nintendo Power (total cost: $20) or buy two of four games (Mario Party 5, Mario & Luigi, Mario Kart DD, and 1080 Avalanche) and register them online (total cost: $80 minimum, since M&L is a GBA title).
Maybe we won't need to shell out $100 for another Cube after all...
Goo goo g'joob.
...Pokemon Colosseum comes out. I'll pick up a few FPS and flight sim games too. Rebel Strike looks like a winning game.
What a steal, a PowerPC for only $99. Hmmm, what could I do with 5 of these? a $300 Apache web cluster, and a $200 MySQL cluster......... seems pretty appealing to me.
Me gonna go write me open source software and grow long beard and smokum some weedus and ummmm hide from people
I recently started working part-time in a UK shop and have been steadily selling consoles for the last few weeks in the build up to Christmas. What I noticed is that when the price of the GCN dropped to 79 there was a flurry of sales but that appears to have dried up somewhat now. PS2 sales have been steady and strong, DVD playback is surprisingly still important to people, as is the wide choice of games including PS1 games (great for younger kids). Xbox is barely shifting despite currently being bundled with four games. I've sold 1 Xbox, 3 GCN and a lot of PS2s in five days of work.
I currently own a PS2 and GCN. Might get an Xbox but I doubt it as the two consoles and PC give me plenty of choice.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
Sorry PS2 guys, Mario will forever beat your iconless system.
Yeah, gee, that was my main consideration when I picked my console... does it have a mascot?
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Don't think of it as a mascot, think of it as a legacy mark. Face it, the Mario legacy has stood the test of time. The only one from another company that even compares is Sonic, they had to make good popular games to obtain that status as well. So far Sega has proven itself as a good 3rd party provider. They had some good consoles, but with the exception of GameGear they were never undoubtably the best on the market. (and that unfortunately failed anyways) They were the best on the market several times, but there were other systems close enough that they just cut each others throats. I'm thinking Jaguare vs. 3DO vs. Saturn. Then it was DreamCast vs. PlayStation and the "lets wait for the PS2".
I'll admit, they got the short end of the stick on that, but as a 3rd party developer they strengthen the other systems.
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well sorry, but I don't follow game news that much, and got the email from nintendo back the day of the original story when it was still iffy if the "box art" seen was real at all. but now that its official I guess my initial perception of the email was correct. :)
I don't have a current console, much preferring PC games (back to C&C:Zero Hour after this note), but the $99 price tag from Nintendo was tempting. Not tempting enough, though. But now I can get four Zelda games for free? Sweet. Sign me up. Sure, I'm only one customer, but Nintendo will make a few bucks. Game Cube, an extra controller, memory card (I assume these are still needed?), and a copy of that Metroid game. Just for starters.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Cause thats what a nintendo power renewal or sub costs.
How could they possibly skip the best game in the series?!?!?!?!?!? A Link to the Past was the finest Zelda game ever. They skipped right over the SNES. Anyone know why or have any ideas? I guess they could probably rerelease it on its own to make more money but why jump from Zelda II to Ocarina? (What about the awful Philips CDi versions too? Not that I want those attrocities to be rereleased.)
I may just have to get the shiny Platinum 'Cube along with Zelda since it's only $99. I've had a black one from launch day, but it would be nice to have a 2nd GC for LAN titles. Who am I kidding... fucking Mario Kart!
Maybe Nintendo should do a reality show with 4 people living in a house with 4 rooms, 4 GameCubes and 4 GBA SPs.
I'm on top of my game like I'm standin' on Xbox.
...I'm getting me a new magazine subscription. I never really wanted Nintendo Power before, but if they're giving something away that I would typically pay $20 for, then it's worth it...
Anyone else remember the old Dragon Warrior subscription deal, way back when?
Ok, this is too great of an opportunity for me to pass by. Despite the fact that I've got a PC, a PS2, and a library of unfinished games, I've got to pick one of these up.
Question: other than the new Zelda and Metroid, what are the best titles out there for the Gamecube that I can't get on my PS2?
When I saw the word 'Nintendo' I immediately clicked inside but the article caused me great confusion. Wasn't the article supposed to forecast the death of Nintendo? What the hell? I demand the truth!
Actually, the endless stream of cheesy Mario-related crap is what kept me away from Nintendo for ages.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I know I want to get the Zelda disc, but the question is which of the 3 methods should I go for? Buying a 2nd Gamecube has never been an option for me, so that's out. That leaves the other 2.
I already have Mario Kart: Double Dash on preorder, so to get it using the register 2 games method is a possibility. I'll only need 1 more game. However, of the other 3 listed, I'm only remotely interested in Mario Party 5. Would this game be worth it?
The other option is what I'm leaning towards, if for no other reason than it's the cheapest. I've never had a subscription to Nintendo Power (always seemed like a waste of money to me), but since it's cheaper than what I would be willing to pay on the Zelda disc anyway, it might be the way to go.
So what do other Slashdotters think? Keep in mind that I don't know a whole lot of people that would play MP5 with me (I understand MP5's strength is in its multi-player). Is Nintendo Power or Mario Party 5 a better deal?
Intelligent responses welcome, flames will be met with marshmallows.