GameCube outselling PS2, ..by 20 percent Options

[Mute]

QUOTE

Nintendo console king of the hill at major US retailers Those calling for price drops in the Xbox and PS2 got some major ammunition today, with Nintendo announcing that its recently discounted GameCube is the top-selling console in the US. In a statement, Nintendo cited figures that had the Cube outselling Sony's PlayStation 2 by a solid 20 percent during the week of October 4. The spread was even wider for Microsoft's Xbox--GameCube sales surpassed Xbox sales by a whopping 145 percent. Unfortunately, hard sales numbers won't be available until the next Toy Retail Sales Tracking Service (TRSTS) report. The figures are a vindication for Nintendo's bold price cut last month, which dropped the GC's price from $149 to just $99. It is possible that the high sales numbers will help convince skittish publishers and third-party developers that the platform is here to stay. By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot  [POSTED: 10/08/03 02:10 PM]

I'm smelling Sony pricecut. >=D Hopefully it'll happen soon enough for me to get the system and Castlevania when it comes out.
<_<

However, I also heard that for the first time since Nintendo entered the industry they posted a net loss. Perhaps the boosted sales of the systems will hike up game sales.

[DivA]

~since i gots a bunch of ps2 games (absent the system..), & should the price go down to match Nintendo's, it would be a perfect time to purchase one ~ for the collection.. ^^

[donkeybeatz]

outselling xbox by 145%?
ludicrous!
is that percentage even possible? haha
...
I might go buy another GC...

--d-_-b

[Ether]

What I find hilarious is that gamecube at its old $150 dollar price came with a free game. They drop that and the price 50 bucks with covers the game, and it starts selling through the roof (400% increase). People are funny

As for Nintendo reporting a net loss, they did, but it was only $27 million, which for a company thats been making billions of dollars and never operated at a loss once since the NES, its pretty much nothing

Hopefully cube will last longer than expected thanks to this, nintendo apparently had planned on this being its last Christmas :(

[unitself]

Well, this isn't rally a surprise to me. $100 is alot more inviting than $150 to a casual gamer, or a parent wanting to give their kid a nice gift. I doubt anyone who already has a PS2 or an Xbox would have just went out and picked up a Cube, unless they were wanting a very specific game to play on it, when the price was in the $150 and up range.
And, about this $$ loss that Nintendo is taking. We all know that these companies lose money on the console sales. It's the games where they make the real dough. Ether is right. The big N isn't going out of business anytime soon. It might have been Atari that invented the home console, but it was Nintendo that took it and ran.... all the way to the bank.
DivA, do you think that Sony will drop the PS2 to $99? No way. They are still at $180, and i bet they are still selling very well at that price. Shit, if the PS2 was $100, I wouldn't be trying to highjack the FFXI thread, I would joining in the anticipation talks! Not to mention, starting a thread or two about the RE:Online game.

[DivA]

QUOTE (unitself @ Oct 14 2003, 02:38 PM)

DivA, do you think that Sony will drop the PS2 to $99? No way. They are still at $180, and i bet they are still selling very well at that price. Shit, if the PS2 was $100, I wouldn't be trying to highjack the FFXI thread, I would joining in the anticipation talks!   Not to mention, starting a thread or two about the RE:Online game.

~yah, wishful thinking i know - realistically, i could see a price range from $129.99 - $149.99 for the holidays possibly; & this is stretching the prediction far, as is.. Oo however, i'll be praying for this "ideal" price range nonetheless - not even Sony would easily ignore this daring economic move by Nintendo ~ especially near x-mas.. ^^

[unitself]

I read that, thanks to all of these sales, Nintendo has started back up GC production. In case you (the royal you, that is) didn't know, Nintendo haulted new GC production a few months ago. They said it was because of slow sales and that their warehouses were full of unsold product. But, since they dropped the price by $50, the lunchbox has been selling like hotcakes!

fun fact!
SELL LIKE HOT CAKES - "Hot cakes cooked in bear grease or pork lard were popular from earliest times in American. First made of cornmeal, the griddle cakes or pancakes were of course best when served piping hot and were often sold at church benefits, fairs, and other functions. So popular were they that by the beginning of the 19th century ‘to sell like hot cakes’ was a familiar expression for anything that sold very quickly effortlessly, and in quantity." From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)

[HC82]

QUOTE (unitself @ Nov 11 2003, 01:20 PM)

fun fact! SELL LIKE HOT CAKES - "Hot cakes cooked in bear grease or pork lard were popular from earliest times in American. First made of cornmeal, the griddle cakes or pancakes were of course best when served piping hot and were often sold at church benefits, fairs, and other functions. So popular were they that by the beginning of the 19th century ‘to sell like hot cakes’ was a familiar expression for anything that sold very quickly effortlessly, and in quantity." From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)

Gah, you actually documented the source, but not exactly to Chicago style.....college history flashbacks about proper documentation flowing in my mind....NOOOOOOOO!!!!

*Must rid mind of utterly useless documentation info*

Anyway, why am I hearing this stuff about Xbox being ahead of the gamecube? Eitherway, GO PSO!!! It seems to me the lack of 3rd party developers, coupled with a slim library, is part of the reason why GC sales have been low. I read an article about the GC. I'll have to dig it up.

[HC82]

Here it is...

http://www.egmmag.com/article2/0,4364,1364679,00.asp

Directly related to the topic too.

[DivA]

QUOTE (unitself @ Nov 11 2003, 01:20 PM)

Hot cakes cooked in bear grease or pork lard were popular from earliest times in American.

~lol, i was right there with you on the whole "hot cakes" thing until bear grease was mentioned.. *shivers* Oo blessed moon, thank goodness for safflower oil.. ;p well, i remember discussing this matter awhile back ~ Nintendo has to rise up & get their priorities in order if they even hope to survive the next-gen against Sony & Micro$oft.. all Nintendo need do is make a "Mario World Online" & they would rule the world unchallenged.. Oo

...

Nintendo needs to think bigger ~ the company will lose the console war if they keep going the route that ultimately dooms each of their recent systems.. =.

[unitself]

I have never tried bear grease... I don't think I ever will.

and to further DivA's point, wtf is/was Nintendo thinking about not going online? Thanks to Sega's Dreamcast, we all saw first hand how cool it was to play against someone else in a different place. Hell, a different country! Microsoft thought it was so important that they sttuck in a brodband port and has dozens of online titles. Sony made an adaptor thingy and they too have games online with an ever growing library. What does the big N have? One game... PSO. What's on there horizon? Another PSO title. I LOVE PSO, but come one! DivA's right. Mario Online would wipe the floor! Could you imagine Mario Sunshine Deathmatch ONLINE!!!! hahaha!! And the connectivity to the GBA isn't going to cut it. So, far, it's just a gimmick, or in some cases it's a freekin $100 save card to transfer files! BAH!
Hear our cries Nintendo! MAKE MORE ONLINE TITLES!!!!!


At least port RE: Online to the GC... PLEASE!!!!!

[HC82]

My earlier post was related for casual gamers, but then there are the other gamers.

Anyway, great points. Online is really a market that Nintendo is balantly

FOOLISH

for not jumping into. It is really a strong selling point that would not only enhance gameplay, but also lure many people into purchasing a "fun Nintendo game," so they can play with their friends. Nintendo is seriously underlooking the untapped potential of both the social and competitive aspects of online gaming. When added to a very fun game, it takes on an addicited nature. Imagine Pokemon ONLINE, nuff said, millions made.

I'll give you my point of view for why my gamecube has not interested me as much(even though I own one).

It really is about the games and the lack of variety (gamedesign wise), casual players aside. I'm refering to the sales of video games on the cube, not so much hardware sales. Nintendo is known for being one of the top game developers, if not the innovator for console gaming(sega is up there with them on that one).
Despite all that, the gamecube games, albeit fun, tend to lack the masterful innovation I usually expect from Nintendo.

Fun is FUN, the simplest of games can keep even the veteran gamer glued, but despite the fun of a game, a person usually has limited funds. As a result of that, if a game may be fun, but doesn't peek one's interest, it will either go unpurchased or it will be rented and beaten in those 5 days.

Games likes F-Zero for example. It is a fun game, all of the F-Zeros are fun, but it needs to bring something new to the table. For people like me, if the game doesn't bring some sort refreshing aspect to the gameplay, I'm very motivated to play the game, BUT NOT to buy it. I usually rent it. In my eyes, many of the Nintendo made games are 100% fun, but seem much to similar in nature to their previous archtypes. This core reasons for why a game is fun and why someone enjoys a game ARE IN the Nintendo games. The problem isn't so much the lack of innovation in the form of a barrier shattering new genre, it is the lack of innovation within the already concieved gameplay design.

Innovation within the already concieved gameplay design(example. When someone makes a sequel that adds a totally different, yet fundamental gameplay aspect to an already made game design engine. Example2. Castlevania for the Snes vs Castlevania SotN for PS1. All they did was add a more metroid feel for level exploration, with more rpg elements). I'm not gonna disect why those elements are fundamental, take too long.

Anyway, with that said, taking Nintendo made games into an online atmosphere won't change the core gameplay design, but help too intensify it. The simple pyschological aspects of humans in a social environment(ex. PSO lobby chat) is reason enough to see how that alone can add to a game when it is mixed in a FUN enviornment.

Heck, PSO offline is very bland, yet Nintendo games are tons off fun offline. A few tweaks here and there, and BAM, you've got gaming magic.

This is of course my view point, but I do think that if Nintendo made more online games, it would only benefit them. I would purchase pretty much all of the Nintendo made games if they had online aspects to them.

If you actually read the whole thing, give yourself a pat on the back.

[Mute]

*pats self on back* ;p
Very good points indeed, HC82.

Unfortunately, I don't believe Nintendo will be having any online titles other than the PSO games on the GameCube. Their strategy seems to primarily based on the GameCube to GameBoy Advance connectivity. While that idea is innovative in itself, the lack of creating titles with online play in mind has really cost them. The only real reason they're gaining market share is due to their system price reduction. In fact, if XBox and Ps2 follow suit, the Cube is essentially doomed. =/

I'm not too disappointed with the system itself. I love the load times, and I've enjoyed pretty much every game that I've purchased for it. However, as HC pointed out, the game selection is just too slim. It seems alot of their bigger hits are multi-console titles, which induces an owner of these different consoles to purchase the one that he'll enjoy the most. Take for instance, the latest Madden release. If you owned both a Ps2 and a Cube, you'd likely pick up the Ps2 version of Madden due to it's online capabilities. As for the Nintendo brand title, is it me or have they only been releasing racing games for the past 6 months?

Perhaps the folks at Nintendo will get it together with their next generation console and go full on into the world of online play. If not, it may take a bit more than a "slightly lower system price" to persuade me to buy it. :o