Famitsu on next gen survey

[hovz]

i have emotional problems because nintendo cant produce a successful console anymore

 

[Tuttle]

sorry buddy xbox outsells gamecube

Bzzzt!

There is a certain crowd of people that believe that on faith. Too bad it ain't true, no matter how much it fills them with hatred/shame/something.

 

[thop]

So deep down you're a Nintendo fan who channels his frustration and dissapointment about them into anger? Don't let them get to you!

 

[Acert93]

i agree with you, the nintendo 64 was a great system with a lot of great games that pushed foward what games were doing. cant say the same for the gc however, as its just rehashes, ports minus online play, games that have better counterparts on competing systems, and only a tiny handful of games that actually make the cube worth owning.

Not everyone can, or does, play online. e.g. Halo2 is closing in on 7million copies sold, yet only about 900k people have played online.

Then consider the fact Halo2 came with 2 free months of Xbox Live!. How many Xbox consoles have sold (20million range?) and how many Xbox Live subscribers (1.5million range?).

Personally I think Nintendo has missed the boat with online play. I LOVE online play--but there are plenty of gamers like DeanoC who dislike online play. The reality is MANY MILLIONS of console owners do not have broadband, or even good dialup, access. I know I did not until this summer. I was stuck on poor dialup with immense lag. The fact only 1 in 7 Halo players has played online is telling. Online play is for the minority.

Where I think Nintendo missed the boat is that it is a growing field. It is a check box item. Just because you DON'T play online now does not mean you WONT down the road. And the no-Online is bad Press. Reviewers pound on it and the negative vibe by fanboys/school school children can cast a negative light on a system. And while I would agree with Nintendo that a successful/profitable online model is reall not here yet, I think that misses the point: To remain competitive in certain markets you need to bite the bullet to stay with the competition.

The point is that online gamers are a large minority at this point. It is a great feature and game reviewers love it (and it is an important "check box" item), but the fact is less than 20% of console gamers are using it on the Xbox for its "best" title. Since online gamers are more prone to buy Halo2, it makes you wonder at the total ratio. Online gaming is a great feature (my favorite games are multiplayer games), but it is not for everyone. And in the US, until rural areas have better broadband coverage (low latency wireless? broadband over powerline?), online gamers will remain the minority.

 

[hovz]

the point like u said, is that its available. if you had a choice between 2 cars, 1 of which has a moon roof. even if u might not use the moonroof which are u going to choose?

 

[Acert93]

as much as id like to humor your little psychology sessions, ive never owned a sega console. the last system i owned was a n64, which i enjoyed.

How can you be down on the GC if you do not own it? You said it only had a small handful of good games, but if you have not played many (any?) of them, how do you even know this? Same goes for Xbox and PS2.

Between myself and my friends I play every console. I find there are games on every system I like and dislike, and things about every console hardware I like and dislike. To be objective about software/consoles you really need to try it (and more than once!) Give it a try, you may find that the little purple/black/chrome/silver/yellow (or whatever color you get!) box grows on you. And that is what the handle is for, so you can take it everywhere!

 

[hovz]

ive played each system. that corny litle box with the handle doesnt grow on you believe me.

and the handle...lol every time i picture someone carrying a gamecube down the street with a handle images of a bully taking some nerds lunch money arent far behind.

 

[thop]

I've actually been hearing that the cube is the new big thing when it comes to fashion accessories Seriously, Nintendo will never hear the end of the purple cube and handle story. Just don't let it eat you up.

 

[Readykilowatt]

... hopefully this will be the end of their run in the console business, cut they just get worse and worse each generation.

not en emotional need to se enitendo fail, but why even bother making more consoles when everyone you make gets progressivly worse. they should just stick to portable.

Hopefully??? Stick to portable???

Please "stick" around because you make this forum a little more entertaining.

 

[hovz]

I've actually been hearing that the cube is the new big thing when it comes to fashion accessories Seriously, Nintendo will never hear the end of the purple cube and handle story. Just don't let it eat you up.

lol is that real? if its photoshopped itsd a good job

 

[thop]

Yeah it's real. The cube was free though.

 

[Acert93]

the point like u said, is that its available. if you had a choice between 2 cars, 1 of which has a moon roof. even if u might not use the moonroof which are u going to choose?

Interesting comparison. Many may not want the moon roof. Why?

1. It costs more
2. It may leak (i.e. lower quality)

So it may be "cool" but if you never use it why pay more for it and have to deal with less quality--especially if it is never used? Many would just rather not have it if it may leak or may just think it looks a lot "cooler" without it.

Apply this to online games. Why would someone NOT want online games on a console?

1. Extra game costs. Creating a killer SP game, and then spending a lot of time and money on developing MP elements is expensive--especially if only 5% of users will use it. The solution is to (a) make the game MP only (b) make less money per unit (c) pass the cost on to gamers at the time of sale (d) charge monthly fees. Personally, I refuse to pay $10/month for online play.

2. Extra HW costs. Why pay for something you will never use? Why would gamers want to pay for something they will never use? If they will use it, maybe they should just get another console? Again, online players are a small minority right now.

3. Lower quality Single Player games. How often have quality multiplayer games had substandard (or worse) SP elements? Battlefield 1942 (one of my favorite games) is a great example. The SP stinks. The game is not worth $10 if you do not have Cable or DSL (dialup is not even worth the effort). Halo 2 has a very short SP and the MP really carries it. The original Xbox Mech Assault game was very online oriented, meaning (a) non-online gamers did not get as much out of it and (b) the developer had a much smaller user base to sell to. HL2 and Doom 3 are good examples of how hard it is to make a great SP game and a great MP game. It seems you do one or the other, but rarely both. If a console focuses only on SP it could cater to the non-broadband consumers very nicely by offering them the best possible SP games (in theory), instead of dividing its attention, money, and time trying to cater to a small segment of gamers.

See, the moon roof (=online gaming) may be a no brainer for you, and you may not understand why no one would NOT want it (even if they never use it), but there are a lot of reasons why certain (large) groups have no need it.

I love online games, and I really think virtual gaming communities and multiplayer games are a booming trend and will continue to be, but I see room for non-online gaming, ESPECIALLY at the console level. Consoles are for the masses, of which many do not have broadband. It reminds me of the last election, listening to one of the commentaries on MSNBC, where they acted shocked that, "The Christian Conservative voters have a loud voice, and made it heard... they may not have the education or live in the big cities and all the news, but their vote was just as important in this election".

Non-online gamers are a majority at this time and they have a lot of buying power. I would even take a wild guess and say since homes without high speed internet on average are not as caught up on certain gaming trends and may still even like Nintendo games

 

[Tuttle]

I've never met anyone with a console that is hooked up to the Net. And I know a lot of people with consoles, both within and outside the biz. A few people have expressed vague plans to someday getting around to buying a wireless router to hook up to their console(s). And some vague talk about one or two online games being something cool to check out... someday... maybe.

That's it.

Nintendo will be there online when it makes sense.

 

[hovz]

first of all the games dont cost more on xbox than gc, the leaking analogy doesnt apply, the xbox is 50 dollars more but thats easily worth it to have the future possiblity of what online access offers, the built in hd, and the superior technical capability. not to mention a dvd drive.

 

[thop]

I have never met anyone either. I guess it makes sense that people are very vocal about online features on the internet. Myself i enjoy offline multiplayer more. I had most fun this gen with Dynasty Warriors 2P Co-Op (very repetetive but still makes you play for hours and hours, i don't know why). Haven't had that much fun since 4P Goldeneye.

 

[GameCat]

sorry buddy xbox outsells gamecube

Bzzzt!

There is a certain crowd of people that believe that on faith. Too bad it ain't true, no matter how much it fills them with hatred/shame/something.

No. The xbox is definitely in second place world wide by now. The cube has been doing poorly in NA for the entire year and it isn't selling well in Europe or Japan either (though, to be fair, neither is the xbox). Xbox really is selling like hotcakes in the states and in europe it's probably on level with the cube, might be slightly in the lead. Japan doesn't sell enough cubes to make up for this.

 

[Reznor007]

first of all the games dont cost more on xbox than gc, the leaking analogy doesnt apply, the xbox is 50 dollars more but thats easily worth it to have the future possiblity of what online access offers, the built in hd, and the superior technical capability. not to mention a dvd drive.

Don't you still have to pay $30 for the DVD remote add-on thing? If so, you can get a standalone DVD player for $25 at Best Buy...

The technologically superior part doesn't seem to fly either. PS2 is inferior to GC and XBox yet it's outsold both of them combined, and for the same price as Xbox for that matter.

 

[Tuttle]

sorry buddy xbox outsells gamecube

Bzzzt!

There is a certain crowd of people that believe that on faith. Too bad it ain't true, no matter how much it fills them with hatred/shame/something.

No. The xbox is definitely in second place world wide by now. The cube has been doing poorly in NA for the entire year and it isn't selling well in Europe or Japan either (though, to be fair, neither is the xbox). Xbox really is selling like hotcakes in the states and in europe it's probably on level with the cube, might be slightly in the lead. Japan doesn't sell enough cubes to make up for this.

Unless you have seen some very recent hard numbers other than the usual "xbox 'has' to be in 2nd place," the GC still leads it by about a half-million.

 

[passerby]

another example is zelda. damn near eveyr game wanted a realistic zelda, not a cartoonish cel shaded zelda with big square eyes. as a console maker its smart to give gamers what they want.

That's the bit that bothers me.

Creators work best when they create what they genuinly want to create, not when trying to patronize fans!

Consider a Harry Potter analogy - those books sell because the author wrote them, not because the fans wrote them, not because she wrote what fans want her to write!

My expectation is that all future versions of 'mature' Zelda <<<<<<<<< Wind Walker. The gamers just rejected the creator's most genuin and sincere vision - one that he can probably work most passionately with.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Unless you have seen some very recent hard numbers other than the usual "xbox 'has' to be in 2nd place," the GC still leads it by about a half-million.

Where are those numbers?. Last I heard was 15.5M after June for Xbox and 15,97 after September for Cube. To me it seems that Xbox is leading now.