[Bristol Pete]

Refer to the link. BBC Financial news -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3134651.stm

Cap

I tell you what, if gamecube sales have been weak what are XBOX sales like?

i mean worldwide gamecube has STILL!! sold more worldwide than XBOX and MS are losing millions,

Seems theres just not enough PS2 gamers getting a 2nd console,

A little bit misleading as well when i read the headline it sounded like the gamecube had been cancelled but they have just ceased to clear out stock they obviously have alot built up.

It just shows the year head start the PS2 had was just too much, it will be more interesting next time when all consoles launch close to each other

[colesy]

I will probably buy a gamecube just for MarioKart Double Dash.
That's of course if it as good as the previous Mario Karts.
But I don't think they are using the gamecube to it's full capacity. The Xbox live system rocks, so the Nintendo should get their software houses to create online game pretty quick.
Mario Kart with online play would create some serious uptake in their sales.

[Willy]

Originally posted by colesy
The Xbox live system rocks, so the Nintendo should get their software houses to create online game pretty quick.
Mario Kart with online play would create some serious uptake in their sales.

I thought it was going to have online play. I think they're doing something in conjunction with 3rd party tunnelling software, aren't they?

The ganecube will never have online play, as you rightly say with certain LAN games like Mario Kart you can apparently play online using Gamespy tunneling software, the next Nintendo console will more than likely be online, i can see why they are very cautios about it, it costs millions to set up a online service and the cost for XBOX live just added the MS losses, and although its doing quite well its not setting the world on fire in terms of users.

Nintendo have always been about profit, So while the likes of MS are giving consoles away and giving cut price Live services, Nintendo are selling there console at a profit and not rushing into online play, of course this tactic wont make you the N01 seller but it will generate the most profit.

Whether its the right tactic or not Who knows?

[colesy]

I hope they are. It would be excellent. Any confirmed release dates yet? That's all I know is the last quarter of the year....maybe.

Novmber the 18th is the current Release date for Mario Kart in the U.S i have it on pre order along with F Zero GX which will be here this month

[Geezer]

There are some great games coming for the cube soon, i own all three consoles and still use the cube most of all.

Cant beleieve they are stopping making it.

Yeah i agree the amount of HIGH quality must buy games coming on the cube is fantastic, the reason its not selling well (and i mean in comparison to PS2) is perception, unfortunately people think the gamecube is not cool like the PS2 as its Nintendo and not Sony, people think it has kids games while the PS2 has so called mature games,

to be onest i have given up caring, for me the gamecube is the best all round console of the 3, so if it was a choice of nintendo making profit to stay in business and be 2nd or 3rd in the market i would take that over a sell at cost price to try and become best seller and possible go out the console business, strategy anyday.

Nintendo will always have there followers and they are SLOWLY changing there ways to get new gamers to there consoles, I think they will make a further leap with the next console in this respect.

[Willy]

Originally posted by betamac
The ganecube will never have online play, as you rightly say with certain LAN games like Mario Kart you can apparently play online using Gamespy tunneling software, the next Nintendo console will more than likely be online, i can see why they are very cautios about it, it costs millions to set up a online service and the cost for XBOX live just added the MS losses, and although its doing quite well its not setting the world on fire in terms of users.

I think the tunnelling software is being done with Nintendo's blessing though. I think they're going to experiment with online gaming, without embracing the concept quite as fully as Microsoft.

I think we will see online play on the Gamecube, I just think Nintendo are approaching it in the least-risk way they can.

[Willy]

Originally posted by Geezer
Cant beleieve they are stopping making it.

It's only a temporary measure, isn't it?

To be fair, my Cube isn't getting much play right now. That'll all change when Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, F-Zero & Mario Kart arrive though.

[Geezer]

Originally posted by Willy
It's only a temporary measure, isn't it?

To be fair, my Cube isn't getting much play right now. That'll all change when Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, F-Zero & Mario Kart arrive though.

Oh yeah sorry misread

Actually, sales for XBox and Gamecube have been roughly equal worldwide. (depending on who you ask, and what time of the week it is) I think the big reason for this is the utter failure of the XBox in Japan.

I admit that my XBox had been collecting dust thanks to Rise of Nations. But when my PC died on me last week, I broke it out again. Say what you will about MS, the Live interface is very, very good. It's a well laid out system, and definitely the future of the console. (IMO)

I certainly hope the PS2s online interface is better than their PlanetSide interface. (what a steaming pile!) Easy, hassle-free online play with dedicated servers is going to be a huge part of console gaming in the next few years. (Again, IMO) The huge PS2 market can make up for a lot of deficiencies, but if they screw up their online system, they will have to watch MS slowly eat up their customers.

As far as i cam remember nobody has said anything remotely bad about the Live service? i dont think anybody will doubt its great as MS have spent the money to get it that way, what I did say was that its not a MASSIVE success in terms of subscibers, theres not as many people signing up for the 2nd year as MS had hoped for, i still think console online gaming is at an early stage, of course it will get better and more popular, but i think Nintendo are doling the right thing not rushing in.

As for console numbers, the last report by Sony which was in june showed the Gamecube about 1 million ahead worldwide and since them numbers have been very even, XBOX selling better in U.S and U.K, but what keeps the numbers even as you say is the XBOX very bad display in Japan selling less than PS1 most weeks

The thing that alot of people forget (alot of news channels are also guilty of this when they say XBOX is competing well with gamecube) is the fact that MS has had to spend Billions on getting there Console sold where on the other hand Nintendo have been selling the console at a nice profit all the time.

[Zone]

There was a lot of talk earlier in the year that Ninty were considering a software only approach to gaming (IMO wrong) but I for one hope this is certainly a temporary measure, like many here I own more than one console, cube and xbox and ps (I have kids by the way however I know a lot of PS owners who own nothing but Sony and I agree with "betamac" here Ninty just don't seem cool, vigorous marketing obviously works

[wandgrudd]

I think the tunnelling software is being done with Nintendo's blessing though. I think they're going to experiment with online gaming, without embracing the concept quite as fully as Microsoft

as posted by Willy


i think you will find thay have done all the testing that needs to be done many years ago unlike Microsoft

[The Ironduke]

Originally posted by Zone
There was a lot of talk earlier in the year that Ninty were considering a software only approach to gaming (IMO wrong) but I for one hope this is certainly a temporary measure, like many here I own more than one console, cube and xbox and ps (I have kids by the way however I know a lot of PS owners who own nothing but Sony and I agree with "betamac" here Ninty just don't seem cool, vigorous marketing obviously works

And the fact alot of people prefer Winning eleven, Tombraider, GT3, GTA4 To Mario, Metroid, and monkey Ball.

Anouther person who just assumes those are the only games available for gamecube, why do you think just because its a Nintendo console that it has ONLY Mario And Super Monkey Ball, oh And Metroid guess you heard that was game of the year else you would not even mention it.

Cube has the likes of Metroid (Game Of The Year Exclusive) Resident Evil Exclusive to Gamecube (Inclusing The upcoming Resident Evil 4) PNO3, Vietiful joe, Killer 7 (All Exclusives from Capcom), Star Wars Rogue Sqaudron, And the upcoming Rogue Sqraudron 3 (Exclusive) How about Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes (Exclusive)

they are just the ones on the top of my head, i stick by my story Nintendo is not cool thats the big reason PS2 sells more, if that had NOTHING to do with it why is there not more people buying a 2nd console to go along side the PS2? because its not cool to say you own a gamecube because of people like you who says its only got Mario games, where in fact its the best all all rounder but people dont go into that

[The Ironduke]

Originally posted by betamac
Anouther person who just assumes those are the only games available for gamecube, why do you think just because its a Nintendo console that it has ONLY Mario And Super Monkey Ball, oh And Metroid guess you heard that was game of the year else you would not even mention it.

Cube has the likes of Metroid (Game Of The Year Exclusive) Resident Evil Exclusive to Gamecube (Inclusing The upcoming Resident Evil 4) PNO3, Vietiful joe, Killer 7 (All Exclusives from Capcom), Star Wars Rogue Sqaudron, And the upcoming Rogue Sqraudron 3 (Exclusive) How about Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes (Exclusive)

they are just the ones on the top of my head, i stick by my story Nintendo is not cool thats the big reason PS2 sells more, if that had NOTHING to do with it why is there not more people buying a 2nd console to go along side the PS2? because its not cool to say you own a gamecube because of people like you who says its only got Mario games, where in fact its the best all all rounder but people dont go into that

look Pal Im one of those Ps1, Ps2 long time buyers and supporters, I also have an xbox but thats for multimedia purposes mostly.

So dont tell me why I dont have a gamecube, I have loaned one from a friend and gave it a thorugh pumping

It has nothing to do with cool, I dont like Nintendos ways they treat europe like a bucket of sh*t, and it doesnt have the games I like.

If you want to start making assumptions there is firm evidence all over the web of the ARROGANCE of Nintendo owners posting "WHY O WHY" dont PS2 owners prefer Niny like where some sort of thick idiots.

Its simple its Called Taste, we are all individual's with our own tastes to say people bought a PS2 simply because it sounds cool is an insult, I bought one because Pro Evo Soccer owned on teh PS1 so when it came out on the PS2 I bought a Ps2, atleast 10 million people bought a Ps2 simply for GTA3andVC.

maybe 10 million or so PS2 owners did buy their machine because it was the inthing, but you would have more evidence to say it is a combination, of marketing, a massive variety of games, its exclusives, and Piracy.

A combination that makes it the daddy

The last Nintendo I owned was a snes, the snes is what sony based their PS stratergy on lots of games for lots of tastes, churn em out nintendo did, there was a lot of crap, but everyone was taken care off and wernt left waiting like with the n64 and Cube (ninny have admitted this)

Maybe its because we the majority are casual gamers where u are a die hard with you own built in RS232 connection to sync with your console (I would hate to think where on your person that is )

But if I am a casual gamer I know 2 things, I buy what I want, then if I like it I keep it, if not and there is a suitable alternative I will get that.


Secondly for a casual Gamer I would own u on Winning eleven


Finally the PS2 certainly does look kewl, Harry is Kewl, my marantz 4300 reciever is cool, my xbox media player is cool, my Kiss DP 500 is cool, my Abit NF7 -S barton 2500 is cool, my Hitachi FX980 VCR is cool, infact my PS2 makes my Silverish AV gear look silly

If nintendo want my buck they will have to return to the roots of the snes, but in doing so they will probably annoy others.

ah well JFK said it best "You can fool all of the people some of the time but you cant fool some of the people all of the time"

You cant be number 1 for so long simply on Cool.

Rant over

[tpr007]

You can get Winnin Eleven on the cube too you know (although I am happy enough with just Pro Evo 2)

[The Ironduke]

Originally posted by tpr007
You can get Winnin Eleven on the cube too you know (although I am happy enough with just Pro Evo 2)

Yes I know and its just a straight port with DPL2, when you consider the cube is 400mhz and the PS2 233mhz they could have done so much more, and that is why the game has bombed on the cube.

And why there is no news of WE7 for the Cube.

I have borrowed my mates PS2 and have to say would not purchase one just for the games, thats for sure, ok it has some quality exclusive titles but not enough for me to buy one

But as you said everone has there own tastes

Originally posted by The Ironduke
look Pal Im one of those Ps1, Ps2 long time buyers and supporters, I also have an xbox but thats for multimedia purposes mostly.

So dont tell me why I dont have a gamecube, I have loaned one from a friend and gave it a thorugh pumping

It has nothing to do with cool, I dont like Nintendos ways they treat europe like a bucket of sh*t, and it doesnt have the games I like.

If you want to start making assumptions there is firm evidence all over the web of the ARROGANCE of Nintendo owners posting "WHY O WHY" dont PS2 owners prefer Niny like where some sort of thick idiots.

Its simple its Called Taste, we are all individual's with our own tastes to say people bought a PS2 simply because it sounds cool is an insult, I bought one because Pro Evo Soccer owned on teh PS1 so when it came out on the PS2 I bought a Ps2, atleast 10 million people bought a Ps2 simply for GTA3andVC.

maybe 10 million or so PS2 owners did buy their machine because it was the inthing, but you would have more evidence to say it is a combination, of marketing, a massive variety of games, its exclusives, and Piracy.

A combination that makes it the daddy

The last Nintendo I owned was a snes, the snes is what sony based their PS stratergy on lots of games for lots of tastes, churn em out nintendo did, there was a lot of crap, but everyone was taken care off and wernt left waiting like with the n64 and Cube (ninny have admitted this)

Maybe its because we the majority are casual gamers where u are a die hard with you own built in RS232 connection to sync with your console (I would hate to think where on your person that is )

But if I am a casual gamer I know 2 things, I buy what I want, then if I like it I keep it, if not and there is a suitable alternative I will get that.


Secondly for a casual Gamer I would own u on Winning eleven


Finally the PS2 certainly does look kewl, Harry is Kewl, my marantz 4300 reciever is cool, my xbox media player is cool, my Kiss DP 500 is cool, my Abit NF7 -S barton 2500 is cool, my Hitachi FX980 VCR is cool, infact my PS2 makes my Silverish AV gear look silly

If nintendo want my buck they will have to return to the roots of the snes, but in doing so they will probably annoy others.

ah well JFK said it best "You can fool all of the people some of the time but you cant fool some of the people all of the time"

You cant be number 1 for so long simply on Cool.

Rant over

Originally posted by The Ironduke

It has nothing to do with cool, I dont like Nintendos ways they treat europe like a bucket of sh*t, and it doesnt have the games I like.

People have been saying Nintendo treats Europe like ****e for years, I remember all those letter box vision rants, 50 HZ no RGB etc

Im not the happiest person in the world with Nintendo, but the Cube is probably the best designed and has(did have?) the most potential, and Europe gets 60hz options, RGB, Component, so they've learnt slowly, and they did not disable progressive scan for what its worth, they cant hate Europe that much, I think Nintendo Europe just do a bad job of informing Nintendo Japan what the market wants/needs over here.
Although the European consumer is probably one of the fussiest and tight arsed there is, the majority always adopts a wait and see approach, like what happened with the Dreamcast, I did it myself and regretted it.

Good point as you said they are getting better, and hopefully they will improve even further with next console, there is NO EXCUSE for the time it takes Nintendo to release a game in Europe, thats why i got a U.S cube

thats is the biggest thing thye HAVE to correct with next console, last XMAS was a poor showing for Nintendo because of BIG games not making it out in time for XMAS in Europe.

Originally posted by Erpland
People have been saying Nintendo treats Europe like ****e for years, I remember all those letter box vision rants, 50 HZ no RGB etc

Im not the happiest person in the world with Nintendo, but the Cube is probably the best designed and has(did have?) the most potential, and Europe gets 60hz options, RGB, Component, so they've learnt slowly, and they did not disable progressive scan for what its worth, they cant hate Europe that much, I think Nintendo Europe just do a bad job of informing Nintendo Japan what the market wants/needs over here.
Although the European consumer is probably one of the fussiest and tight arsed there is, the majority always adopts a wait and see approach, like what happened with the Dreamcast, I did it myself and regretted it.

I think i heard somewhere that the gamecube console backlog is greater than the number of consoles sold so far (roughly 9 million). As for the comment that Nintendo always come out with about a skewed market due to the gamecubes late arrival, that is a steaming pile. Anyone remember dreamcast? That came out AGES before any other 128bit console and look what happened to that!

The fact is that nintendo don't know how to compete with sony, who are totally dominant in the home console market and will soon wipe the floor with nintendo in the handheld market when the psp comes out.

Don't get me wrong, i'm a big nintendo fan, and there are some great gamecube games, and the wavebird is a total revelation. But the gamecube came online in stealth mode, most people don't even know theres a broadband gamecube adaptor. When Knights of the old republic comes out for x-box, im afraid that will probably be the death knell for the gamecube. Yes i know there is mario kart and f-zero coming out, but for me this is just a total lack of imagination, rehashing old games like metroid and zelda. Nintendo need a firm kick up the bum if they are to revive themselves before they go the way of sega.

Originally posted by mattruston
I think i heard somewhere that the gamecube console backlog is greater than the number of consoles sold so far (roughly 9 million). As for the comment that Nintendo always come out with about a skewed market due to the gamecubes late arrival, that is a steaming pile. Anyone remember dreamcast? That came out AGES before any other 128bit console and look what happened to that!

The fact is that nintendo don't know how to compete with sony, who are totally dominant in the home console market and will soon wipe the floor with nintendo in the handheld market when the psp comes out.

Don't get me wrong, i'm a big nintendo fan, and there are some great gamecube games, and the wavebird is a total revelation. But the gamecube came online in stealth mode, most people don't even know theres a broadband gamecube adaptor. When Knights of the old republic comes out for x-box, im afraid that will probably be the death knell for the gamecube. Yes i know there is mario kart and f-zero coming out, but for me this is just a total lack of imagination, rehashing old games like metroid and zelda. Nintendo need a firm kick up the bum if they are to revive themselves before they go the way of sega.

I dont see many original games coming for PS2, Grand Turismo 4, GTA 3 Vice City, Silent Hill 3, Metal Gear Solid 3, what are these if not rehashes?

the fact is this is nothing to do with nintendo this is the computerr industry as a whole no imagination, IF ANYTHING nintendo are the ones trying new things, Pikmin, Animal Crossing,

At least when Nintendo release sequls they always try a new idea, Mario Kart double dash (2 People per kart) Zelda (Cel shaded gfx)

As for Sony taking over Handheld market, i am afraid that wont happen, it wont even be released until 2004 and Nintendo have the handheld market, the price point wont be as compatitive as Nintendos and the support wont be as high.

Besides Nintendo will be announcing there next hand held before Sony's even makes it to market, the handheld situation is the total reverse to the console market

As for one XBOX game been the end of Gamecube are you serious? MS have sank Billions into XBOX and still it trails in 3rd do you really think 1 game will all of a sudden make XBOX a success? i dont think so.

You may say Nintendo have failed, i dont think so, we all knew PS2 was the clear winner Nintendo have had to fight against MS Billions and so far they are winning, in terms of sales but more importantly in terms of profits by a very very big margin

[The Ironduke]

er just one point u are not saying Zelda was the first game to use cell shading r u, coz thats not true

Originally posted by The Ironduke
er just one point u are not saying Zelda was the first game to use cell shading r u, coz thats not true

I never said that, but it was a HUGE step for Nintendo to make one of there biggest mascots cel shaded, and when fans saw it they were shocked and many disapointed but once again it turned out good and its a great game, it was very easy for Nintendo just to make a Zelda like Ocarina Of Time with better Gfx but they tried something DIFFERENT again.

How many companies would do that? not many

Originally posted by mattruston


Anyone remember dreamcast? That came out AGES before any other 128bit console and look what happened to that!

The fact is that nintendo don't know how to compete with sony, who are totally dominant in the home console market and will soon wipe the floor with nintendo in the handheld market when the psp comes out.
.

Yes I remember the Dreamcast, that was the machine that Sony basically told people not to buy because the Playstation 2 will be 10 times more powerful!

Sega and Nintendo are games companies at heart who havnt resorted to blatant lies to compete, at launch the Playstation 2 was a huge disappointment, but Sony knew the casual gamer/fashion conscious/naive would buy them in their millions and create the monster that it is today.

Originally posted by Erpland
Yes I remember the Dreamcast, that was the machine that Sony basically told people not to buy because the Playstation 2 will be 10 times more powerful!

Sega and Nintendo are games companies at heart who havnt resorted to blatant lies to compete, at launch the Playstation 2 was a huge disappointment, but Sony knew the casual gamer/fashion conscious/naive would buy them in their millions and create the monster that it is today.

Good point, Sony had a huge impact on dreamcast and not in a normal professional manner, but also Sega made too many mistakes, the biggest been releasing about 4 consoles all at once, they could not support them all, Nintendo are very different in that respect and it a much better position than Sega ever was.

I also remember Segas Handheld which was more powerful that gameboy and in Colour, but which became more popular? dont think i need to tell you.