The problem with Nintendo is that the average Gamecube owner only seems to buy first-party software. Take me for example. I own (or owned) Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Super Smash Brothers, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2, and Luigi's Mansion, all first party software (except Star Wars, which is second-party). Besides those titles, the only third party games I have are SSX: Tricky, Madden 2003 (got it for free thanks to my "work" on the game), and Tony Hawk 3. Notice that those 3 third-party games are all major "franchise" games, too. Now, think about upcoming games. I KNOW that when Zelda; The Windmaker, F-Zero, and 1080: White Storm are released, I'll definitely be picking those up. But what about third-party games? At this point, I couldn't care less. I bought my Gamecube mainly for Mario (excellent), Metroid (excellent), and Zelda (can't wait!). Developers have gotten wise to gamers like me, which is why you're seeing a bunch of exclusive third-party GC titles being canceled this year. And with all due respect to DaDa, the game expert, I'd personally bet against Microsoft. That is, unless they shelled out major cash to gobble up EA Games, which would give them virtually a monopoly on console games.
I have both XBox and PS2 and honestly its not that much of a difference. Hell if Halo had been offered on PS2 I wouldnt have purchased the XBox, although I am glad I did because Splinter Cell is pretty damn cool. Of course my wife is now talking about having kids so soon I can junk both of them. I wouldn't bet against Sony, either. The man has a vision. Check the Newsweek with the affirmative action cover.
Hey mateo if it makes you feel any better, Splinter Cell's going to be released on PS2 (and I think GC) in early March. That, combined with The Getaway and Devil May Cry 2 (oh how I wish FF X-2 was being in released in America the same date as Japan, March 11) makes the typical post holiday lull somewhat less so.
I was going to buy a new gaming system after I sold my dreamcast. But now that there's 3 different ones, I can't make up my mind. I'm thinking about getting my dreamcast back and saying to hell with the new systems.
Yes, but you're talking about an established game franchise that Nintendo was able to lure to their side (after siding with the "enemy" for a long time). Resident Evil already has a built-in fanbase, much like Square will if/when they release a Final Fantasy game for Gamecube. It's a given that those games will sell well. I'm talking more about titles like Eternal Darkness, Die Hard: Vendetta, Phantasy Star, and heck, even those Disney games, like Mickey's Craptacular Race-a-Thon (or something stupid and kiddie like that). Those are the titles that have "fallen into the shadow" of Mario and Zelda. If you're exclusive to the Gamecube, and your company is NOT named Nintendo (or owned by them), you're going to have a hard time selling games.
I agree with Dada, I believe that the GC is the better system. The problem with the last 2 systems has been Sony's ability to get 3rd party exclusives. Resident Evil, Grand Theft Auto, Devil May Cry, and now the Getaway. The reason Sony has the money to pay those exclusive licenseing fees is because Sony already is a huge Corp. with loads of cash. Hopefully, it will play out like the WWF vs WCW battle. WWF was there first, WCW was created by a large company(Turner) and used their resources to draw the big names over but couldn't hold it together for long. I hope Sony falls asleep at the wheel while Nintendo finds something new to blow all our socks off. I hope they find it quick because nostalgia gamers won't be around forever. There is a whole generation of wannabe gamers who don't give 2 sh!ts about Mario, Samus, and Link. Hey, is anybody preordering the new Zelda to get the Ocorina of Time GC port? That alone is worth the 50 bucks if they touch up the graphics a bit. Ocorina of Time is my favorite game of all time. Hey Dada, why don't you try something like that. Non linear games are the best, if somebody could do something like Ocorina of time or Morrowind for the GC, I'd crap my pants. You know what would be a cool game, take ideas from GTA, Morrowind, and Zelda, mix em up, put them in the wild west, and give a person a chance to become an outlaw or a lawman. That would be a bad ass game. Has anybody ever tried something like that? I guess it would work better online, kind of like the Wild Wild Everquest
I had the Dreamcast too. Same problem as the Nintendo: WHERE ARE THE GAMES? I would just recommend staying away from the Gamecube until a bunch of games come out.
The GameCube third party support isn't great. I have six Nintendo made games, four Sega made, and Tony Hawk and Rouge Leader. So half my GameCube library is Nintendo. But Capcom has some new games coming out that look really nice, I'm not sure if they will be exclusive or not though, but they are developed for the Cube and will be released for it first. And a new Final Fantasy is going to be great. I'm looking forward to playing Ocorina of Time again, I've already got my Wind Waker preorder and now I just have to wait.
I have a cousin living in Mexico who is really into the video gaming industry. In Mexico, Nintendo has dominated since 1985 with every system leading in sales. Playstation 2 is second and X-Box is in third. Nintendo software would be a big acquisition for X-Box, expecially after the Sega deal.
I bought a Game Cube back in December and I'm still happy with my decision. I have six games so far: Eternal Darkness, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Super Monkey Ball 2, Tony Hawk 4 and Animal Crossing. That's enough quality games to keep me busy for quite a while. Heck, Animal Crossing alone has kept me entertained for the past 3 weeks or so. Eternal Darkness: finished it twice -- will go through it a 3rd time for the major ending Mario Sunshine: about 50% complete Metroid Prime: 70% complete Tony Hawk 4: about 20% complete Monkey Ball 2: hardly touched it so far Animal Crossing: play this every day.. the online trading aspect makes it super By the time I'm done with all these games, Skies of Arcadia will be out, and then Zelda (I pre-ordered last week). Plus, if for some odd reason I need another game, I can always pick up something like Super Smash Brothers Melee, Star Wars:Rogue Leader, Starfox Adventures, Pikmin or NFL 2K3 Of course PS2 has a larger library, but the Game Cube certainly has enough titles to keep me satisfied, unlike the N64 which had jack-squat.
So fadeaway, Animal Crossing has been a good buy for you? I really like the sound of the game. It's concepts are so original and new, but I have to admit to being scared of the "p***y" label that goes along with buying any game like that. I will probably break down and get it eventually.
say it aint so!!!!!!!!!!!!! the gamecube hella sucks, but man i still play my NES deluxe w/ techmo bowl and double dribble woohoo!!! haha say it aint so........say it aint so
Raven I've probably logged more hours playing Animal Crossing than all my other games combined. It's like crack. You just have to check in every day to see what they're selling at the store, dig up new fossils, see if any special visitor is coming to town, etc... There's just so much to do, and there are special in game events that keep drawing you back. For example, every Saturday a special character appears who will give you a new song (to play in the stereo in your house). Also, once per week, a special character will wash up onto the beach who will give you a rare item. There are a million little things like that to keep you interested. As for the "wussy" label, I could care less. If you don't want to buy a game because of some stigma attached to it, then it's your loss because it's a great game! I even put Metroid Prime aside for it. PS: Have you even played a Harvest Moon game? It's the closest thing I can think of to Animal Crossing. AC is much, much deeper, though, and will keep you interested for a lot longer than Harvest Moon. If you do get the game, http://www.dallasmac.com/acc/index.php is the best site for online trading, etc..
How does the online trading work? Do you have to buy a special card reader to be able to trade your items?
One person goes to Tom Nook and asks for a code for an item and gives the other person's name and town name, then Tom Nook gives them a password that the other person can type in to receive the item. The person that gets the code has to have the item in their catalog and will have to pay for it, so the other person will get a code for an equal item and then the codes are traded. I haven't actually traded anything but this is how I understand it to work. There are cards you can buy if you have the GameBoy Advance and an e-reader, I'm not too familiar with what you can get from those though. I just wonder how long it will be before somebody cracks it and is able to get every item.
Well, people have already found Universal Codes, which automatically give you a random item that isn't in your catalog. I don't use them, though. The site I mentioned above has an ebay-like system for trading codes. You make a trade and type in the code for the person you are trading with, but they don't get to see their code until they enter yours first. If you get a bad code, you can leave negative feedback. It's a pretty good system.
Are you a Nintendo hater or something? Anyway, that will never happen...Nintendo is just too prideful of a company to form such an alliance with a competitor, especially an American one like Microsoft. I think Nintendo would rather dissolve itself rather than support a competing console. And even that is unlikely to happen, considering that the company is still very profitable....IIRC, they were pulling in around $500 million in profit per year. On the down side, I am disappointed that Nintendo continues to be conservative and seemingly a step behind the competition. They are in 3rd place in the US, and the Xbox's lead over the GC expanded quite a bit during the holidays, outselling the GameCube by roughly 400,000 units during the month of December. Splinter Cell has outsold Metroid Prime (Nintendo's flagship title) during December. Nintendo's advertising has not been good this gen. And as long as they keep raking in the dough, I don't see them changing their ways all that much. The GameCube's target audience is kids...but even kids these days are much more likely to want a PS2 (or their parents are most likely to buy the PS2 if there is indecision on the console of choice) because that is the "cool" console and many other people have one. The mainstream's perception of Nintendo largely continues to be that the company is kiddy despite Nintendo's attempts to correct this. I think that the GC is mostly selling to people who are already established Nintendo fans....put another way, most people are buying the GC for the first-party games. I've been happy with my GC purchase and feel that it's library stands up well to PS2's and Xbox's. But I feel that the GC could be selling much better than it currently is, if Nintendo was more prepared, more aggressive in terms of enlisting quality 3rd party support and exclusives, and if they did a better job of marketing their console and its software. Nintendo could learn a thing or two from Sony and Microsoft.
