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UK Retailers Dumping Gamecube?
GameCube Europe is carrying a story stating that major United Kingdom retailers are dropping the Gamecube from their stock. From the article: Argos [has] reduced the GameCube from the RRP of £79.99 to only £39.99 and have also reduced the cost of games and accessories by a drastic amount.
I have a sneaking suspicion that they'll start carrying them again when this year's blockbusters ("mature" Zelda, the Pokemon RPG) come out for it. Otherwise, their competitors will stand to gain quite a bit.
--- Bwah?
If you live in the UK, I think now would be the best time to get a Gamecube, if you haven't already. At the current price at Argos, it's selling for cheaper than it is in the US (correct my if I'm wrong, I'm aware of the difference between the pound and the dollar).
There are a good deal of games worth getting for the system that you can find for cheap noawadays. Matroid, the Mario/Luigi games, Zelda Wind Waker, Star Wars, Smash Brothers Melee, amongst others. As an earlier poster stated, they might raise the prices again, so get 'em while they're cheap.
It would be really sad if what caused the failure of Nintendo was not them loosing money, or them not having fans, but companies being short sighted enough to drop support for Nintendo simply because it's not selling as well as Xbox and PS2 stuff. As it is Nintendo could live enitrely on it's fanbase for an indefinate period of time, but if you can't walk into a store and buy the games, then it doesn't matter how many much money you're making. If it ever comes to those dark times, hopefully Nintendo will have the forsight to just open up an online store, or start their own chain of Nintendo stores. Or both.
--The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. --Tycho Brahe (Penny Arcade)
Maybe that's because the Gamecube's cheaper than the Xbox, and parents buying a system for their kids would opt for a Gamecube instead, cause of the lower prices?
MS didn't buy anything, their console is succesful with excellent first-party games and third-party support, something the Gamecube lacks.
MS didn't buy anything, their console is succesful with excellent first-party games and third-party support, something the Gamecube lacks.
I own an Xbox. And I still recognize that Microsoft bought their way into the market. They took huge losses selling their product below cost and on an extremely aggressive advertising campaign. They bought Bungie which made Halo and Halo 2, their best sellers. And Nintendo is still king of first-party games, being the second largest publisher of games in 2003.
the cosmos in 20 words or less: thumbuki.com
What would surprise me though, is if Nintendo just would let this pass without action.
First off, a bit of a disclaimer: I own all 3 current consoles, and I enjoy them all. ...but let's be honest. I own, oh, say 20 games for my PS2. Mostly RPGs, plus Armored Core and a handful of others.
For the Xbox, I own about 15 games. Obviously, Halo, Halo 2... plus MechAssault 2, Breakdown, Burnout 3, Soul Calibur, Rainbow 6, Splinter Cell 2... Anything cross-platform, I get on the Xbox.
For the Gamecube? I have 2 games. Smash Bros and Mario Kart. I had Metroid Prime and Echoes - both were great the first time through for all of a few hours. Wind Waker? Lame concept - Link shouldn't be a fat little kid, but all and all a pretty decent game. Mario Sunshine? It may as well have been called random_generic_platformer01.
That's the problem with Nintendo: Nintendo is the problem with Nintendo.
The Gamecube has awesome hardware. It's without a doubt the coolest console from a hardware perspective. It has damned near Xbox-level performance in a much smaller, sleeker package. The controller? The Wavebird is the best controller ever made (with the Xbox controller S coming in second). From a hardware perspective, it makes the PS2 (and those godawful Dual Shock controllers) seem downright amateurish, and the Xbox seem like it was designed by a neaderthal.
But the PS2 has fantastic 3rd party support, with fairly solid first party support.
Xbox has lacking 3rd party support, but is great for cross-platform games because of its power, and Xbox Live makes all the difference in the world.
Nintendo? They have some of the most solid first-party support ever, but their first party games either...
A) have absolute SHIT for replayability; many of Nintendo's first-party games are definitely worth a rental, but not worth buying. Or...
B) Require that you have multiple friends over to really get the most out of (a design tendancy that obviously favors the younger Hey, come over to my place after school crowd).
Meanwhile, Nintendo's 3rd-party support is virtually non-existant. Their artistic style is almost hopelessly skewed towards Disney animation (and while there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, it's sort of limiting the scope of games that can be made - I mean, just think: if Pirates of the Carribean replaced Depp and co. with a bunch of animated characters styled after the 7 dwarves, would it really have the same flavor?)
So what this console race winds up looking like is Sony's kicking everyones' asses because of their fantastic 3rd party support, Microsoft's hanging in there because of a few awesome games and Xbox Live, and Nintendo's taking the most awesome console to date, and trying to sell it by whoring their own characters out more than a $5 Vegas hooker. Sure, sure, they're "innovative" but have you ever noticed how every time you want to take advantage of one of Nintendo's "innovations" you wind up having to buy a new peripheral?
The best thing Nintendo could do, in my eyes, anyways, is stick to making hardware (because they do a damned fine job of that), license their stable of franchises out to 3rd parties (I mean, just look what Retro managed with Metroid Prime - those fucktards at Nintendo let their most adult-oriented franchise just rot for years and years, cranking out the odd Super Metroid clone on the GBA, and then Retro takes it off their hands and makes one of the best consoles games ever), and try to build a functional platform behind their console; something like Xbox Live.
In the mean time, yeah, the Gamecube may sell as well as the Xbox, but I'd hazard a guess that your average Xbox owner is buying a lot more games than your average Gamecube owner. Maybe that is why stores are dropping it.
I'm 20 and I still play my game cube Every Day
With great games like Super Smash Bros Melee, Metriod Prime, All The Zelda Games and I love the Mario Party games.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
We could sit here and debate what a great library the Gamecube has, but the bottom line is that it's competitors offer a wider selection of games and that's appealing to consumers (and people who play games, I'd think).
Go to the site's gamecube listing. "Offer ends 21st January 2005. " Last thing you do is trust anything from GameCube Europe. They're just as bad as Nintendo Now.
One thing I took notice of that was interesting...Nintendo likes to shout from the roof tops that a game is exclusive to their system. "Only for Nintendo Gamecube." But check out the handful of great first party games on the PS2 for instance...I don't hear people raving about how Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal is a "Playstation 2 exclusive!" You know why? They don't have to play the "Hey, uh, we have some stuff over here, too," game.
If you're serious about gaming there's two letters for you: PC.
If it's not native, you can probably find an emulator for it.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
Earlier this summer I decided that a console system would really be nice. I've been a PC gamer for years, but my latest console was my beloved SNES. Yes, I think that the PC is, in many ways, a superior platform for many games there are plenty of things that a console does better that I was missing. I wanted something that I could just pick up and play some basic, light games on yet still gave me something to really sink my teeth into when I felt like it. I wanted something where I could just sit around and play with some friends or my girlfriend without each of us just staring into our own, distant screens. As far as game selection I wanted something that had a good lock on some exclusive titles that I would enjoy.
After looking at all of these factors I really had to choose the Gamecube as being the best of the batch. It has four player support out of box (unlike the PS2) and a number of great multi-player games that are fun for groups (Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart). It also has some really great exclusive titles (both the aforementioned, Zelda, Metroid, Paper Mario, Eternal Darkness). The major titles I'd be missing are often not only ported to the PC where they're often better (e.g. Grand Theft Auto), but many are originally designed for the PC and only co-developed for consoles. What's left is often multi-platform meaning I won't miss out (e.g. Prince of Persia, X-Men Legends, Tony Hawk). It also has a few revamped PS1 games that I'd wanted a chance to play (Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil) but had missed out on. Online play is something I'd often be able to get better on the PC regardless and while it would suck for a few titles, it was something I could deal with.
Thus, in my opinion, at least, while the Gamecube might not be the best system for someone who will be playing consoles exclusively (I do miss Katamari Damacy, Burnout 3, and some others) if you already have a PC it's probably the best console to pick up to scratch those itches that only a console can.
I remember they did this with the Saturn.., I sat on the shelf of ages and no body was buying, the PS had taken over...
Virgin Mehastores sold it stock of real cheap just before xmas about £35 for the unit and £2-15 for the games...,
I just missed out on it, but and a friend got a crapload of stuff from it even got the crap fishing game with real pole for £5...,he ripped the sensors out of it.
It allso have a full keyboard and modem for the this Web on TV crap...,
Anybody got *nx running on the thing?