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Nintendo Learns from Mistakes with GameCube
kukyfrope writes "Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's Executive VP of Sales and Marketing, talks about what went wrong with GameCube and how Nintendo will not make the same mistakes when launching Wii. Reggie admits that the initial software lineup for the GameCube was simply not 'diverse and strong enough from a first and third-party perspective,' and by Nintendo's showing at E3 2006, the Wii will launch with a wide variety of games for may types of gamers."
Note what he's saying, though: it's not just 3rd party support (honestly, I couldn't care less about where the game comes from) this time. Here he's saying "yeah, the launch titles weren't diverse enough - period."
That's a big deal. And actually, I personally think that the problem with the N64 was 3rd party support, and the problem with the GameCube was first-party support at launch. The Nintendo launch titles for the GameCube were.. well.. less than stellar. Note here that I'm going to glom first and second party together, as I'm never sure which ones are first or second.
Here's Nintendo's at launch titles for the GameCube:
Even afterwards, it, uh, wasn't that much better. Soon-after-launch titles:
Uh. Yeah. That's... not that stellar. Not even that many, either. It's not that they were bad games. It's just that they were... well, few. And not Mario. Or Zelda. Instead, Wind Waker showed up a year later. Mario, nearly a year later as well. Both felt like too little, too late.
There's still plenty of time for Nintendo to screw up, mind you, but delaying Twilight Princess to the Wii launch (which virtually everyone thought that was what they were doing when they announced the delay) is actually quite smart. If they can get a good fraction of the titles at E3 out the door by launch, they're going to have a much, much more successful launch than the GameCube.
Nintendo's GameCube offerings were the grand total of Luigi's Mansion and Wave Race: Blue Storm.
Day one isn't as telling as the launch window, which covers the entire period from launch in November to roughly December 18 (a week before Christmas). What came out on December 3, 2001, was a smash hit that sold a lot of GameCube consoles.
I'm going to glom first and second party together, as I'm never sure which ones are first or second.
:)
The first party is Nintendo.
The third party is any outside developer.
The second party is YOU. What Gamecube games did you release?
Kidding aside, Pikmin was one of the best games released this decade. Kind of like Katamari in its uniqueness, except no waiting for the usual long Sony load times. This factor alone has kept me a Nintendo fan - the PS1 was absolutely horrid for the amount of time you had to wait, and even in the best PS2 games (Grand Theft Auto, I'm looking at you) I'm often spending half of my playing times waiting for some stupid cutscene or the next level to load.
Quality over quantity in my book, any day. I'd be happy if Wii only ends up having 10 games I like, because as with the N64 and Gamecube, they'll be GOOD.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
They made $4.5 billion profit last year.