I strongly disagree. I think Nintendo's main problem is that they DON'T think outside of the box anymore and are afraid to take chances. Mario Sunshine, Zelda: WW, the new Mario Kart and F-Zero games, etc. are the exact same games we played years ago on Nintendo 64 with better window dressing. Nintendo's games are just not evolving at the rate they used to, which is disheartening considering how much they contributed to video game design in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In my opinion, Nintendo's console has the most quality games. They're more creative in that they produce fun games that contain very little violence. Don't get me wrong, I love playing Call of Duty, UT2004, Far Cry, etc. However, I'm not all about the violence. Nintendo seems to be one of the few developers out there that can create successful, quality products by looking outside the box. They deserve high marks for this.

The PS2, because of the size of it's catalog and a long list of third party developers, has a lot of fluff. It's can be hard separating the wheat from the chaff. PS2 supports online though. This is huge. And no service to pay for either. This is one of the biggest negatives of the GC. Why they put off an online strategy for so long is truly confusing.

The XBox has some quality games on it. They're geared towards mature audiences and thats a good thing. Microsoft can't afford to be creative and think outside the box. It sucks that you have to pay for the online service. Does Microsoft make money with this service? I wish the XBox had the option of playing with a keyboard and mouse and it was like that from the very beginning. I think more pc gamers would own an XBox. Most people still would like to play First Person Shooters with a keyboard and mouse. But I guess they got flak that the XBox would be too much like a pc except developers could develop for one pc with the same configuration. Wait. Is that bad? Doh!

What was my point? Oh yeah. Everybody wins! Yay! You can't go wrong with any console. However, I am partial to Nintendo.

As one of the 5 total CD-i owners in the world, let me just say how sorry I am that you've been through those games.

How 'bout I bring over my Atari Jaguar for a party?

People look so snooty, Take pills make them moody, Automatic bzooty, Zero to tutti fruitti, Sex in the halls, Niagra Falls, Local shopping malls receive Anonymous calls

Bronco, I felt the same way about my Gamecube. And I imagine since you have kids, its especially great since Nintendo focuses on being open for the young'uns.

However, I needed another DVD player for my living room about a year ago, so I ended up picking up an Xbox (You can get an xbox for $119 new after rebate now). My gamecube has been gathering dust ever since.

I've tried to get friends of mine interested in online PC gaming with me, but its just not that social. But with an xbox, I've gotten them interested in gaming again. We'll have poker/Halo nights, and I'll connect with them during the week to play Rainbow Six 3 coop. During more mixed crowd parties (ie. not just guys), I'll whip out the DDR pads and we'll have a good time laughing at each other's moves.

I have a blast with Project Gotham Racing 2, even though in the past I haven't liked racing games. The single player is addicting and its a lot of fun to play online. Crimson Skies was a great purchase for the polished single player game and I've just picked up Chronicles of Riddick, the graphics are amazing and the game is engrossing. I haven't picked up Full Spectrum Warrior yet, but I've heard great things about the coop mode on Xbox Live, so I hope to grab it at some point.

I've just mentioned the Xbox Only games, but I enjoy a lot of multi-console games, and I buy them for the xbox due to its harddrive and better graphics. And if its a PC/Xbox game, I'll grab it for the Xbox, so when buddies are over, we can play it together, or I can lounge on my couch playing through the game and my wife will actually watch the storyline.

I do hope to eventually pick up Mario Kart, but many other Nintendo games I bought, I ended up never finishing, Zelda, Metroid, Mario. Nintendo just lost its magic for me. I did buy it solely for Rogue Squadron 2, which I completed, and my wife loved Pikmin. But the Cube is gathering dust now, and Halo coop has been my favorite console experience this generation, my wife and I are about to go through Halo all over again. It reminds me of the old Contra coop goodness.

I even picked up those 3 Phillips CDi games.

As one of the 5 total CD-i owners in the world, let me just say how sorry I am that you've been through those games.

I'm no console fan, but if I had to choose between the three the GC would definitely get my money.

Nintendo got my money because of who they focus on. I've enjoyed playing Mario Kart and half dozen other games we've rented for our cube. Mario Kart alone is reason enough to pick up a GC IMO.

The only game I'd consider getting a PS2 for is GTA...and I bought it for the PC so I don't need a PS2.



Seriously, the GC is the first console I've ever purchased. I bought it at $99 got the Zelda disk. Good deal all around.

If my kids end up being gamers like me, and I can't imagine they would not, then I'll probably end up owning every console offered once they grow up a bit. Until then I'm more than happy with the GC.

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I'd say its a tossup between the PS2 and the GC. After all the cube doesnt have symphony of the night :P. As for the games being for kids, I honestly don't see how a kid could get past some of the more difficult levels in Mario Sunshine, I barely managed to scrape by on some of them, and I distinctly remember being a whole lot worse at games when I was younger than I am now. Either way, I enjoyed the game a lot and I'm sure there are lots of other 20-somethings that liked it as well. To echo Beamer, a game doesnt have to be ridiculously complicated and riddle with an immense plot or lots of violence to be fun, the fact that the cube has sold so well points to that, imo.

You also bring up another good point of MS's success and Nintendo's failure: A 20 or 30 YO is going to have a lot more disposable income compared to a 10-15 YO.

Yes indeed they are. I do definitely think Nintendo is doing a lot of thigns right, but I just think they need to diversify mroe if they want to be competitive. The fact is that even though many of us love what's on the Cube (myself included), there are Xbox and PS2 people out there whose needs have to be met. If not, they are going to alienate that crowd and lose their edge.

Parallax Abstraction
Technical Consultant, Hardcore Modern and Retro Gamer, Video Game Historian
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

But that's made Microsoft and Sony a lot of money and if Nintendo doesn't get in on that, they'll also get left behind.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the GC outsold the XBOX by about a million units?

If not then it's only a million behind, so XBOX is not the right target to point to.




It bothers me when people point to the GC and say it's for kids. How? Their games seem mostly ageless to me. They're meant for adults and kids, as opposed to just adults.

And that suits me fine. Games geared to adults are either complicated and ill-suited for consoles (whooo PCs) or simply stupid games loaded with cheap gore.

Gore is no longer exciting.


Nintendo seems to understand the strength of consoles as whimsical over serious. I think that their games will be remembered much more fondly in the future than most of the PS2 library. Everything on the PS2 either looks like everything else, or has a better version on the PC.


I'm no console fan, but if I had to choose between the three the GC would definitely get my money.

You can also play nintendo 64 roms and gamecube images... that is if you are playing backups of games you already own of course!

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Love,
Mayor Dan:
The mayor of your hearts <3

Here's the third option:

If you have a router, some extra cable, a broadband adapter and phantasy star online eps 1&2 you can play the Zelda NES rom on your cube.

WTF?



People look so snooty, Take pills make them moody, Automatic bzooty, Zero to tutti fruitti, Sex in the halls, Niagra Falls, Local shopping malls receive Anonymous calls

Here's the third option:

If you have a router, some extra cable, a broadband adapter and phantasy star online eps 1&2 you can play the Zelda NES rom on your cube.

------------
Love,
Mayor Dan:
The mayor of your hearts <3

You mean the Zelda GC disc right? I picked up one of those by ordering a subscription to Nintendo Power.

Yeah, I took too damn long to get around to it...they're going for like $30 on ebay now.

If you want to save cash just pick up a NES rom. It's ridiculous how they are selling old NES games for that much.

I agree. Even at $20, it's a bit too high, considering that some people who buy it paid $50 for it 15 years ago...


People look so snooty, Take pills make them moody, Automatic bzooty, Zero to tutti fruitti, Sex in the halls, Niagra Falls, Local shopping malls receive Anonymous calls

You mean the Zelda GC disc right? I picked up one of those by ordering a subscription to Nintendo Power. I don't know if it's worth the money to buy the GBA version of it. If you want to save cash just pick up a NES rom. It's ridiculous how they are selling old NES games for that much. Have you looked into Minish Cap for GBA? That looks like a better single player sequel to Link to the Past than Four Swords Adventures. My goal right now is to one day beat all the Zeldas. I'm working on Zelda 2 and Oracle of Seasons. I even picked up those 3 Phillips CDi games.

------------
Love,
Mayor Dan:
The mayor of your hearts <3

By the way, you forgot to mention Zelda but I guess you take that as an exception

No, not at all (it being the exception)...I actually forgot it. While the Zelda series has branched out a lot (of all of the franchises, I think it's come the furthest), it's still Zelda. The original 8 bit was my favorite, and I can't decide if I should go buy the new GBA version (which is a port, formatted to fit the GBA screen) or go onto ebay and buy one of those Zelda GB discs I never got around to ordering (and are now sold out)...

As many of us "original gamers" are in our late 20s or early 30s, the tastes for mature games are growing. If Nintendo continues to ignore this market, they are going to fail.

You also bring up another good point of MS's success and Nintendo's failure: A 20 or 30 YO is going to have a lot more disposable income compared to a 10-15 YO.



People look so snooty, Take pills make them moody, Automatic bzooty, Zero to tutti fruitti, Sex in the halls, Niagra Falls, Local shopping malls receive Anonymous calls

1. Relying on the same franchises, over and over. How many times are we supposed to buy Mario Cart, Mario World, F-Zero, Poke-whatsis, etc...OH AND TETRIS! Let's buy another copy of THAT!

Usually new versions of the games have an added twist to make them different from the previous games. Mario Kart had 2 characters and LAN play, the new Mario had a different and unique style of play with the water pack and the new Pokemon for the Cube actually has a different storyline from the gameboy games. I agree that most of those Pokemon games are all the same (on the gameboy anyways) and same thing with Tetris and F-Zero.

By the way, you forgot to mention Zelda but I guess you take that as an exception. Anyways, there is always something unique about a new Zelda game. I read an article about the Zelda creator and it seems to be a requirement for a new game. The newest in the series for the cube has yet to be revealed but it looks to already have a different style from the previous games. The Minish Cap has the odd magic hat and the ability to shrink and enlarge, Four Swords has multiplayer, Majora's Mask had the different masks, OoT had the different stuff with the ocarina, oracle of seasons and ages had the linked gameplay between the two and the list goes on.

As you can see I'm a Zelda nut. One Zelda game is enough for me to buy a new Nintendo system.

------------
Love,
Mayor Dan:
The mayor of your hearts <3

2. Pandering to child gamers, and ignoring older gamers. In Nintendo's world, after a certain age, you stop gaming altogether. This is why the ex-box has excelled in the US - Nintendo handed that segment (the mature gamer) of the market to them.

Yes, that's exactly it. Sure, Nintendo had Eternal Darkness (which was astoundingly cool) and Resident Evil 0, but for the most part, the Cube is full of games geared to younger people. As many of us "original gamers" are in our late 20s or early 30s, the tastes for mature games are growing. If Nintendo continues to ignore this market, they are going to fail. You can have Mario, Zelda and Metroid, but not just those or that segment. I think Nintendo also needs to get into the online space. Frankly, I'm not into console online gaming and generally think it's a bunch of 14 year-old CS style players. But that's made Microsoft and Sony a lot of money and if Nintendo doesn't get in on that, they'll also get left behind.

Parallax Abstraction
Technical Consultant, Hardcore Modern and Retro Gamer, Video Game Historian
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Anyway, my main point is, I don't think Nintendo's problems are really in their software either, as I personally think they still create some of the consistently best software in the industry, and they do seem to really strive for top quality and fun.

You make a very good point in that post. It's true that Nintendo does try to only put out good quality games with those franchises involved. Nintendo has always focused on quality games and by and large, they succeed. Believe me, I love those franchises as well, I just think that Nintendo needs to diversify a bit because I think many gamers are getting tired of seeing another Mario game when things like GTA are out.

Parallax Abstraction
Technical Consultant, Hardcore Modern and Retro Gamer, Video Game Historian
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Nintendo has 2 big problems:

1. Relying on the same franchises, over and over. How many times are we supposed to buy Mario Cart, Mario World, F-Zero, Poke-whatsis, etc...OH AND TETRIS! Let's buy another copy of THAT!

2. Pandering to child gamers, and ignoring older gamers. In Nintendo's world, after a certain age, you stop gaming altogether. This is why the ex-box has excelled in the US - Nintendo handed that segment (the mature gamer) of the market to them.



People look so snooty, Take pills make them moody, Automatic bzooty, Zero to tutti fruitti, Sex in the halls, Niagra Falls, Local shopping malls receive Anonymous calls

Here's my beefs about some of the opinions on games mentioned because I am procrastinating from writing my essay for my summer course.

Ok, Dr. Mario is a fun game. Also, I don't really like sports games but the Mario Kart, Golf and Tennis make it actually enjoyable to play them. I'm looking forward to when Mario Tennis comes out. I'd also like to add that F-zero GX is not an entertaining game whatsoever. Sure you go really fast but there's little fun in it. Animal Crossing is a piece of crap as well. I've heard of adults actually playing it and liking it. I tried it and couldn't understand how running back and forth to all the villagers' houses non stop was fun.

For the people that don't see any good upcoming games for the cube I will show my wishlist. I'm trying to get my hands on Four Swords Adventures for my birthday next week and am looking forward to releases of Mario Tennis, Pikmin 2, Viewtiful Joe 2, Mobile Suit Gundam, Paper Mario 2, Tales of Symphonia, X-Men Legends, Mega Man X: Command Mission and Star Fox 2. All of them should be great games and some of them are actually 3rd party!


------------
Love,
Mayor Dan:
The mayor of your hearts <3
This comment was edited on Jun 14, 13:29.