Official Nintendo's Next Game Platform Thread

[megadrive0088]

ok yes, that Donkey Kong Racer thing could be done on GC, almost. it was a bit underwelming.

but look at this video of prerendered Zelda:
http://continuum2.com/movies/Zelda_GBC_commercial.wmv

think this could be done on next gen hardware easily? like in the 1st or 2nd generation of software, with no percieved loss of quality?

if so, then i will be really impressed even if you don't think this prerendered video is all that impressive. if a game can be done like that, in a world larger than Shenmue 2 or the even larger Morrowind, at 60fps, I will be totally thrilled!


edit: in retrospect, I suppose it's not a question of IF the next gen consoles can do that, its a matter of if the developers are willing to put in the time and effort into making a massive CGI quality world. I hope that the tools are improving enough to the point where this can be done, given 2-3 years development time.

 

[megadrive0088]

don't stop talking guys

 

[Deepak]

But beneath the veneer of a continuing video-game boom, a quiet, creeping consolidation is going on. Sega, the game company that poured its financial resources into the ill-fated Dreamcast video-game console, is for sale. Slack sales may have put the future of Nintendo's GameCube console in jeopardy. Even Electronic Arts, the largest game developer, is consolidating some of its operations for efficiency.

"Consolidation is happening because the cost of developing games is going way up," Horwitz said. "It costs about $5 million to license, develop and market a high-profile game title like Harry Potter."

One of the potential buyers for Sega is rumored to be Microsoft, which has spent heavily to win the No. 2 game console position behind Sony's PlayStation 2. And if Nintendo gives up on the GameCube, it would be a significant boost for Sony and Microsoft.

Nintendo said that in 12 months that ended March 31 it sold 5.6 million GameCube consoles, well under its target of 10 million. While Nintendo has created many popular games built around well-known characters such as Mario the plumber, critics say the GameCube has been popular mostly with Nintendo's traditional young audience and not with the older teens and adults the gaming industry sees as the keys to future sales growth.

The game industry's quest for older players accounts for the marked growth in games rated for "mature" audiences, many of which have violent or sexual themes.

Nintendo officials didn't respond to a request for an interview. And industry experts disagree in their predictions over Nintendo's future.

"I don't think Nintendo will drop out of console hardware. They'll go another round in what I call the 'PS 3' generation," said Jamie Leece, president of video-game company Gotham Games, a division of Take-Two Interactive Software in New York City.

But others say this year's sales will determine whether the GameCube survives.

"It's a major uncertainty right now. But by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, Nintendo will have made a decision on whether continue the GameCube," said Horwitz of Jupiter Research. "If they can't build a large enough GameCube audience to which they can sell software, it just doesn't make sense to maintain that costly console business."

Link

 

[a4164]

But others say this year's sales will determine whether the GameCube survives.

"It's a major uncertainty right now. But by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, Nintendo will have made a decision on whether continue the GameCube," said Horwitz of Jupiter Research. "If they can't build a large enough GameCube audience to which they can sell software, it just doesn't make sense to maintain that costly console business."

Dear Horwitz of Jupiter Research. Nintendo games sell well on GameCube. GameCube is cheap to make. Please pull your head out of your rear and get a new job.

Why does everyone and their mother (from Forbes to Jupiter Research to the Startribune? are you kidding me) have to give their 2 cents about GameCube being a POS.

Nintendo has a platform that it can sell millions of copies of its games on (i.e. Zelda, Mario). Sure its installed base is emmm, not quite what they want it to be. But, I always thought the point of a console was to sell software. Its a content war, not a hardware one. Nintendo games sell well, well enough to sustain Nintendo. 3rd parties can't seem to do much on GameCube, but the majority of them are just sorry arse PS2 ports. Who wants to buy that? Chances are you already own a PS2, why would you buy a game again in sometimes lesser form. The 3rd party games that have sold well are games you can't get on PS2/Xbox i.e. exclusives SonicAdv2, Sonic Collection, Super Monkey Ball, etc. Seriously outside of Sega, did any 3rd parties do well on GameCube?

Anyways, GameCube is a nice console. As good as I've ever seen this industry produce. PS2 is great and even Xbox has its moments (Halo2 droool). But why is GameCube the industry punching bag? Metroid, Super Smash Bros., Zelda, Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing. Nintendo games are selling well on Nintendo's platform. What a big f'ing shock. 3rd parties are screwed but does that mean GameCube will die.

In any case according to GameSpy's State of the XBox (May 9, 2003), Xbox is #3 worldwide which would mean GameCube is #2 worldwide. GameCube is doing ok enough in comparison to Xbox, but no one ever says Xbox is going to die. How many copies of Blinx (the Mario killer), Kakuto Chojin (what recall) or Sneakers did MS sell? Don't see people throwing out their Xbox because MS 1st party is kinda sucky (Mechassualt and Rallisport were great though). Bottomline, why does this mainstream press kick GameCube in the balls and praise Xbox.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/may03/xbox/

According to the latest NPD Funworld numbers, Microsoft has sold 5.1 million Xbox consoles in United States; and, according to the NPD-like companies Chart Track (United Kingdom) and GfK (France and Germany) another 1.5 million in Europe. The Japanese market continues to vex Microsoft. It's been a year since the Japanese launch, and the official numbers still have Xbox in the 300,000-range.

US: 5.1 million
Europe: 1.5 million (is that right?)
Japan: ~300,000 (that can't be right, can it?)

total: 6.9 million worldwide for Xbox from Gamespy's May 9, 2003 article. This doesn't seem right at all, looks more like end of 2002 numbers.


Nintendo declared it sold 5.6 million GameCubes from March 31, 2002 to March 31, 2003. Add in how much it sold from launch to March 31, 2002 (3.x million). Add in April because of what Zelda and the bundle may have done to sales and GameCube is doing ok.

 

[Steve Dave Part Deux]

Deepak- That 10 million number was the number of installed units they hoped to have worldwide, not the number of units they had planned to sell in the that year alone.

 

[megadrive0088]

I'd klike to point out the obvious.

Regardless of how long or not Gamecube survives/continues, in the words of Master Yoda "There is another"

Nintendo will in all likelihood have their next console deployed around 2006, or 2007 at the lastest, depending on the arrival of PS3 in 05 or 06.

Nintendo won't give up on hardware with this upcoming generation that could be here in as little as 2 years. only if Nintendo's next machine fails, will they concider giving up.

 

[a4164]

I really hate the mainstream press. My distaste for it probably began when Forbes started to publish nonsense like this:

"Nintendo's scramble to get the hardware out the door raises the question of why the company is in the business in the first place."

http://www.gamecubicle.com/editorial-gamecube_forbes.htm

How the hell do you publish crap like that about a console that had not even launched. More to the point, tell a company that helped resurrect the videogame industry to leave it before its even had a chance to be accepted or rejected by gamers. You know gamers, people who actually buy and play videogames...

I love PS2, and PS3 has got me excited. Sony has executed disgustingly well since PSX. I think Xbox is solid with MS doing some gutsy moves, selling top end hardware for a huge loss, Xbox Live price structure, bundled games and on a whole taking a huge loss (in the $billions) just to ensure Xbox2 will have a fanbase. That takes some balls.

Nintendo on the other hand has some problems. Namely an image problem. GameCube is this industry's punching bag for bad press. It seems even before GameCube launched every half-assed journalist decided it needed to spin Nintendo as the dinosaur of the gaming industry; that it will die a horrible death. Does, what can only be described as tabloid-esque attacks merit real journalism? Every damn day it seems like Research company X says, "Sony dominates market, MS shows real signs of growth and are paving the way for online gaming and the future of videogames. As a result, Nintendo needs to leave the console business. They have not sold enough GameCubes. Its pretty obvious the market does not want them even though we have no facts to prove this and do not know what a videogame is. But we know Nintendo needs to leave and stop making anymore GameCubes effective immediately". Its like every single month this crap keeps coming back. NES sold about 62 million units worldwide. SNES sold 46 million worldwide. N64 sold about 30 million worldwide. GameCube has sold about 9 million worldwide in about 20 months, with hopefully another 40 months to go in its lifespan. Is a company that has done all of that gonna die tomorrow?...maybe...maybe not

At the end of the day Nintendo does have a problem. The casual gamer does not really care about it. Its online plans are nonexistent. Its currently living off of a bunch of hardcore gamers who want Nintendo titles and its GBA monopoly. Rather than call for its demise like every other mainstream media outlet. I say you turn to true gaming journalists in the industry to see what they think of Nintendo's troubles.

So to counter GameSpy's State of the Xbox feature. Here is the Annual State of Nintendo feature by GameCube Advanced with interviews of editors from some of the top Nintendo related websites and the great Steven Kent. It is not as sugar coated as one might expect from such a concept. In fact it addresses the very real fact that Nintendo has a problem, how it got into this problem and shows some constructive and realistic views on how they could possibly remedy the situation:

http://www.ultimategamez.com/extras/specials/image/image_index.shtml

Fran Mirabella III - IGN Insider, IGN Cube
Matt Casamassina - IGN Cube
Rick Powers - PlanetGameCube
Jonathan Metts - PlanetGameCube
Ethan Pearson - N-Philes
Tim - Cube-Europe
Glen Bayer - N-Sider
Sean O'Neill - GCAdvanced

and the best for last:

Steven Kent - MSNBC (I will overlook the fact that this person currently works for MSNBC because he is in fact one of the greatest, if not the greatest videogame historian in the business)

 

[zurich]

Heh, wow, not a single positive thing said

I guess like Mac-Zealots, N-Zealots dont have a built in RDF (Reality Distortion Field) (sorry, love that term [coined by Scott Wasson/TR] so much, I had to find a way to throw it in).