August 21, 2003
Written by Shaun McCracken
Nintendo, what's going on? What is up with this 80,000 in Gamecube sales in a three month period?
Well, that's what most of us are asking right now. In the 80's and even the early 90's, it seemed
Nintendo could do no wrong. Most of the time, they were an unstoppable force. Sure, the Genesis
did provide competition, but Nintendo did edge over the Genesis after Donkey Kong Country
debuted. But then the N64 came out. Sure, everyone was excited about the system, but during
the three months of release, we only saw about 6 games. After that, things started going downhill.
The PlayStation started to gain steam with the sports titles it offered, and then the exclusivity of
Squaresoft's releases, and more and more people started getting into Sony's system. Then there
was the cost of the N64's games and the cost of the production, which resulted in fewer releases
than what we saw on the SNES. At some point, Nintendo started getting the "kiddy" label, which
is one of the most assinine observations gamers have ever made. Video games have been geared
towards kids and families ever since the 80's, why did this matter now?
After the N64 era, along comes the Gamecube, which was supposed to be a great new start for
Nintendo, and corrected a lot of problems people had with the N64 such as limited memory,
limited texturing capabillities and limited sound quality. Plus, the launch was 300% stronger
than the N64's. So what the hell went wrong? Why is Nintendo trailing behind Microsoft at certain
points? What's with the low software sales? With the recent incentives and offers Nintendo has
thrown at us, why don't more people own Gamecubes?
Well, Nintendo now has new issues to deal with, much like the problems of the N64. But rather
than memory limitations and expensive media formats, they now face problems such as lack
of online support and DVD playback. To me, this seems like gimmicks that try to compete for
your gaming dollar. Well, apparently, this works. This is probably the one reason why Sony is
far ahead (that, and GTA couldn't hurt). But the online elements are becoming a more important
addition to the next generation gaming market. It certainly more important than DVD playback.
We've seen how successful this is with Microsoft, and it is pretty well orgainized, from what I
can tell. You just buy the Live pack, and for one year, you're set. Although some other companies
can add their fees, the Live service ensures that everyone has the same connection and that
it's easy to find your way online with a Live game. The PS2's online service seems to be doing
pretty well, but it needs to be more organized. It's more open for companies to offer their own
services, but to me, it seems a tad confusing. Especially when some games are broadband and some
can use dial-up. But the point is that online is working for these two companies. Nintendo wanted
to wait and see, and they damn well know there is a market for online gaming. The only company making
the push for online gaming on Nintendo's system is Sega. They need more.
Nintendo also has to realize that there's more to going online than just playing against other people
(although that is the biggest draw). You can also download new content for your games, therefore
expanding gameplay. This is what Microsoft is doing, and it's a good idea. In fact, this was going on
during the Dreamcast era. I've downloaded extra Crazy Taxi 2 missions from going online, and it does
extend the replay value. Using the GBA/GCN connection as a crutch or substitue for online gaming only
goes so far, and really isn't the same as going online. I don't care much for DVD playback, but having
online elements is one thing that interests me, and it's one thing that's catching on.
Can Nintendo remedy this problem now, and get back consumers? Who knows, the damage may be done
for this console. And I'm not sure if including DVD players and online support will bring people over, but it
couldn't hurt. I'm sure if the Panasonic Q was released in the U.S., Nintendo may be doing a bit better, if
DVD playback is such an important element.
But perhaps our problem is with having too many consoles in the market. Three's a crowd, and now Infinum
wants to push it's way into the market. Currently we have three consoles, which means when games go
multiplatform, there are three of the same game out there, one for each platform. If people own more than
one system, they will not pick up all versions just because they have the systems. This is one reason why
Nintendo may be hurting in software sales. Although Microsoft doesn't do all that better, considering that
if a game sells 100,000 copies, it's a Platinum Hit, which is 250,000 less than Sony's Greatest Hits cutoff.
But if you have a PS2 and a GCN, you only need one version, and people are usually persuaded to get the
PS2 version. If it were two systems, perhaps this wouldn't be such a problem, I don't know.
Nintendo hasn't seemed to have reeled from the blowback of the N64's mistakes, which is probably
why they alienated past Nintendo fans. You can say that their current lack of online support is a cause
of their problems, it may go back further than people would think. If Nintendo would have known that
the cartridhe format of the N64 was one reason why it lost so many consumers, Nintendo would have
kicked Sony's ass with an N64 that was in a CD format. With the poor launch of the N64, coupled with
the limited selection over the years, Nintendo almost seemed to have coarsed people to move over
to Sony's system inadvertantly. From then on, people stuck with Sony, and followed them over to the
PS2. I think this is why Nintendo is in a slump. Not as much as not offering the DVD player or an
actual online service for the current console, but for chasing away the hardcore gamers who simply
wanted more from Nintendo's console. So, don't blame the GCN for poor sales, blame the N64.
While it was fun, when you look at it now, you can see how it steered gamers over to the PS1.
The launch was weak, the titles were set to trickle, and third party companies just didn't want to
spend more for a media format that is cheaper on the PS1.
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