34 replies to this topic

[Ze_ro]

VidGameKing said:

as for nintedo being the last "true" dedicated console, I've never actually seen it like that, but hey! your right, they are a dedicatd console, not a PC in the living room!

What I meant was that Nintendo was the only company that was solely a video game business. For both Microsoft and Sony, video games are just a small part of their overall business. I'm not sure why I dislike that... perhaps I feel that video games don't really matter to them as much as they did to Sega and Nintendo... whatever the case is, I'd rather see Nintendo win the race.

joeybastard said:

IMHO, the Gamecube is overall far superior to the other systems.

Well, I don't know about that... it's definitely more powerful than the PS2, but more powerful than the X-Box? To be honest, everything since the Dreamcast has looked pretty much the same to me anyways. I'd rather have a Gamecube because of the games though. Call them kiddy if you want, but I'd rather be playing Mario Sunshine, Legend of Zelda, and Mario Kart Cube than playing Halo, Grand Theft Auto, or Metal Gear Solid.

AtariDude said:

I think the problem with the gamecube is that it really looks too much like a toy and has drawn away adults from it.

You're probably right. Nintendo has always been about the kids. The problem is though, that they're still playing things as if it's the 80's. The audience that loved the NES has grown up, while Nintendo sort of hasn't. Now that the people who loved Super Mario Bros are 25-30, they're less interested in "childish" games.

Although there's still lots of kids in the demographic, I think the more important group is the early-to-mid-20's people. They'll be spending a lot more money. Heck, half the kids I see in video game stores are still buying Gameboy Color or N64 games since their parents wouldn't buy them a new console. I doubt Nintendo is making much money off of EB selling $20 copies of Perfect Dark...

King Atari said:

I bet Nintendo comes up with some competition. They wouldn't take a threat like that lying down, if it happens, that is.

They must have something in the work. Even before the GBA was out the doors, I'm sure they had ideas floating around as to what the Gameboy Future would be like. What worries me is that we might get a repeat of the Saturn.

"What's that? The Saturn you say?" Yep. Back when Sega was making the Saturn, they were mostly making it to compete with the Jaguar, 3D0 and SNES... then Sony came out with the PSX, and Sega got scared (And rightfully so). They sped up development, threw extra hardware on it (they added extra 3D stuff to it near the end, which likely explains why the thing was so hard to program for). In the end, all their marketing tricks and accellerated development backfired and only made things worse. Hopefully Nintendo won't make the same mistake.

... at least Nintendo doesn't have any big mistakes hanging on their shoulders like Sega had with the 32X...

--Zero

[MegaManFan]

Ze_ro said:

... at least Nintendo doesn't have any big mistakes hanging on their shoulders like Sega had with the 32X...

--Zero

Virtual Boy, anyone?

[Clock]

Yes Nintendo has made some mistakes, like using mini DVDs for the Cube. That must have cost them a lot of sales. How many cosole owners also use them as regular DVD players.... I know of a few people who purchased PS2s and Xboxs because they double up as DVD players.

Sure the console looks nice and small, but it is less flexible. But if they do make a new portable Cube that uses minidisks then perhaps they are very clever and will have a portable with a huge library of games at launch.

I don't think that will happen for quite a few years.

IMO Nintendo will be ok for about 24 months and then the problems will start. I don't think the Cube will be the success they hoped for, I hate to say it but MS are just buying the games market and with their money, who can stop them. The GBA has been very good for Nintendo but with no real worldwide competition that is not surprising. If and when Sony release a new portable, will it be all that great? Will Nintendo have something new to beat it? It will be interesting to see.

Nintendo can see what is happening and I am sure they have a plan of action. I sure hope they are good for it.

[CJ]

My guesses:

GameBoy next will launch with Mario 64.


Psp will launch with FF7.


It'll be interesting to see where things go. If Nintendo keeps the third party support, then I think it'll be along the lines GBA next 70% Psp 25% other (nokia etc) 5%


Nintendo 64 was selling like crazy for the first year in America...until people started relizing that Sony had (literally) all the third party support.

[Mendon]

Clock said:

Yes Nintendo has made some mistakes, like using mini DVDs for the Cube. That must have cost them a lot of sales

From what I understand, Nintendo used the mini disks primarily as a means to stop piracy, which is rampant on the other normal disk size systems.

Since I don't have any burnt copies of any game for any system and don't really read anything about this type activity, has it worked? Are there burnt copies of GC games all over the place? Or has using the mini-disk prevented this from being a problem for Nintendo?

Mendon

[Lost Monkey]

Clock said:

Yes Nintendo has made some mistakes, like using mini DVDs for the Cube. That must have cost them a lot of sales. How many cosole owners also use them as regular DVD players.... I know of a few people who purchased PS2s and Xboxs because they double up as DVD players.

But at the same time, because of the format, piracy is again running rampant on both the Xbox and PS2.. this is not a problem on the GCN.

The biggest problem that the GCN seems to face is not the competition, but the "LCD" public image of Nintendo as a kiddy machine maker.

I pesonally don't understand the mentality of people who actually believe that an adult/teen/child sittiing on a couch with a controller in their hand appears more mature based on what controller they are holding... ...because to me, EVERYONE looks like a kid when they are playing a videogame... AND THAT IS A GOOD THING!!!!

But there is definitely something to this business on feeding on insecurity in order to work the public opinion into actually believing that one "toy" is more suitable to a "mature" lifestyle. Because it is working...

Last year, I bought an N64 with about a dozen games from a 12/-13 yr old kid who had put it for sale in the newspaper. I asked him if he was selling it to buy a Gamecube. His response... "Uh, no.. those are for KIDS!" I guess he had forgotten how much fun he'd had with all the Pokemon games he had just sold me...

[ElectricTroy]

Funny.... I see tons of pirated Gamecube games. It's easy. You buy a 3" blank DVD online, reprogram your DVD burner to write in the opposite direction, and then start copying. (No I'm not copying GC discs... I'm just repeating the instructions).

So the idea that GC discs are not copyable is a myth. They can be copied almost as easily as PS2 or XBX games.

[Lost Monkey]

ElectricTroy said:

Funny.... I see tons of pirated Gamecube games.  It's easy.  You buy a 3" blank DVD online, reprogram your DVD burner to write in the opposite direction, and then start copying.  (No I'm not copying GC discs... I'm just repeating the instructions).

So the idea that GC discs are not copyable is a myth.  They can be copied almost as easily as PS2 or XBX games.

I never stated that GCN games cannot be copied. I stated that piracy was not a problem on the GCN.. and it isn't. At the same time, there is no real proof that the GCN has been hacked, and when it does happen, it will become common knowledge PDQ.

[Ze_ro]

I don't think piracy on any of the new consoles is really all that bad. Certainly not compared to what was happening with the PSX. Not many people have access to DVD burners at the moment, so copying these games yourself isn't easy. This will probably change in the future as DVD burners come down in price, but without a really fast connection, downloading 4 Gig DVD images isn't going to go very well either.

--Zero