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Panasonic Stops Production Of GameCube-Based Q
cdneng2 writes "Gamesindustry.biz has the
scoop that Matsushita (Panasonic) has stopped
production of the Nintendo Q system. For those of you who weren't aware, the Q system was an integrated Gamecube and DVD player. Too bad it wasn't offered in the United States
at all." IGN Gear had a review of the Panasonic Q when it first launched in early 2002, and now that "Matsushita intends to cease manufacture of the device immediately", the device's collectible status seems assured.
glad i bought mine a long time ago.
Panasonic likes to play well with others and are one of the foremost of Japanese companies that freely licenses their patents and technologies. But they are also deadly competitive and do not take kindly to serious encroachment of market share by 'partners'.
And that's exactly what Nintendo did by releasing a chrome GameCube. Nintendo set out to capitalize on the Q's popularity by creating a less-costly, feature-lacking clone of the Q and undercut Panasonic's market.
Throw into the mix that Panasonic is more interested in making PVR's now with their Diga line of hard disk recorder/DVD players and it was just a matter of time before Matsushita began seeing better opportunities elsewhere.
Nintendo now has to survive on its own without the benefit of a large hardware powerhouse like Matsushita driving GameCube sales. In a sense, Nintendo killed the Q and now will have to deal with their own bad management.
I have been pwned because my
They're really great looking... I suppose I can get one at inflated collectors prices here in the states soon enough though.
Nintendo's favourite company, Lik-Sang, has modified versions of the Q with multi-region support. Unfortunately it's just too big, heavy and expensive for me to risk importing.
This was a great, if overpriced, device. Functional, geeky, sleek, and just plain cool. If it didn't sell well, it wasn't the device's fault- it was the makers for not marketing it harder, and for perhaps not working on lowering the price point.
All that aside, I wonder how much this has to do with the device, and how much it has to do with politics and not pissing of Nintendo, though I can't imagine why they'd mind. I mean, they get royalties, and the system isn't their main cash cow: that'd be the games. Oh, well. Chalk up another causualty of the console wars!
#define DRM chmod 000
They're probably just pissed about the 3DO.
No, really...the hardware helped to kill the system...They're just showing that they really shouldn't be doing anything as complicated as a console. Marketing was also a problem with the 3DO, but it's obvious that they just don't belong selling this hardware...they obviously don't know what the ppl want (and marketing goes right along with that)...
My guess is that anyone who wants DVD Video support will stick with the PS2 because of the amount of games available for it...Panasonic just couldn't see that...
Now, as for stereos and stand-alone players, they're great...just can't market the stuff they sell...
How did Panasonic even get away with building the Q in the first place? Doesn't Nintendo own the rights to the GC design? That's like me deciding to build and market a new improved PS2 that's able to easily play pirated games.
Maybe I'm just stupid, but that doesn't make any sense at all to me. Is Nintendo related to Panasonic or something?
My sig can beat up your sig.
They are nice looking machines, though...
I don't care about anything. It looks sexy! Really sexy.
The correct link to the SCPH-50001, the improved PS2. (Not the PSX)
Buaaaah... XBox or PS2 owner who needs to justify his purchase by trolling over the Gamecube here at /.
;-)?
Man, that's really pathetic and nobody buys this "But Sony's stock quotes are better and therefore their games are better" bullshit anymore.
Why don't you just get a life? (and a Gamecube
If the stupid thing hadn't have been prohibitively priced for importing, I might have gotten one.
:(
But I still want one...