http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ia_nintendo_dc

Fri Apr 11, 6:20 PM ET


By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Struggling Japanese games company Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. Ltd.(7974.OS), having fallen well short of its sales goals for the GameCube video game console, said on Friday it will give away one of its most important games for free with the purchase of the hardware.

Nintendo, which has been offering a free game from a small selection with the purchase of the $149.95 GameCube for a few months, said it will add "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" to the giveaway pool as of May 4 and continuing through July.

"Zelda" will replace "Resident Evil Zero" in the giveaway offer, which some retailers have supplemented with a second free game on their own.

Nintendo had been counting on "Zelda," the latest title in one of gaming's most successful and storied franchises, to boost the GameCube's fortunes after a disappointing holiday season.

"They just need to find ways to get more traction," RBC Capital Markets analyst Stewart Halpern told Reuters. "Apparently the title itself has not been enough to drive machine sales."

Earlier this week, Nintendo said it had shipped 5.6 million GameCubes worldwide in the fiscal year ended March 31, substantially shy of its goal of 10 million.

Nintendo was aggressive in promoting the new "Zelda" game before its launch, offering a free disc with versions of two classic "Zelda" games to people who pre-ordered the new title. The company claimed pre-sales of more than 600,000 copies of the game ahead of its late-March launch.

"They're really taking their best card and playing it," Halpern said.

As a further enticement, Nintendo also said on Friday it will include a demo disc, with playable samples of upcoming games, as part of the promotion.

Nintendo officials said earlier this week they would not cut the price of the GameCube unless their competitors lowered their prices. Sony Corp (news - web sites).'s(6758.T) dominant PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) and Microsoft Corp.'s(Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Xbox (news - web sites) both retail for $199.

After dominating the international video game market from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, Nintendo has been eclipsed by Sony and Microsoft in the global console market.


Chris

Good move. Everyone that owns a Gamecube and wants zelda probably already bought the game. And all the people that wanted zelda bad enough to by a GC and the games separately probably already did that as well, so this is a good way to further entice people to buy one.

I wouldn't say "eclipsed" - MS isn't doing very well at all in Japanese or Korean markets.

And they are just a little ahead of Nintendo in the U.S. market. eclipsed is a strong word, Xbox "edged" Nintendo maybe.

I think Xbox has sold 9 million consoles to GameCubes 5+ million. Its more than edged.

Sony has obviously eclipsed everyone though. There is really no arguement there.

The plus side is the second and third place consoles have still sold very well. In the past a third place console was lucky to sell a million or two over its entire lifespan. I'm sure Nintendo is still not thrilled where they are at, but 6 million users can still buy a large number of games.

Nintendo and Microsoft will just have to learn from their mistakes this time out and try to beat Sony to the punch next round.

From Rpgamer

I already seen the GC bundles w/ Zelda: Legend of wind Walker & Free Bonus Disc at Walmart. ( Only in Black GC)

You can already do this easily at Best Buy by just exchanging whatever free game you get for Zelda.

THAT'S IT! That's It! That's it. I am now getting a GameCube. This was the push I needed to get over the edge. Oh happy day!

GC + Free Zelda = JW

so close... must have one more little thing to push me over...

A $5 off coupon ?

lol! am i too greedy for wanting a wavebird too?

I didn't realize Nintendo was "struggling".

u can get the wavebird + the case for the GC from bestbuy for 29.99.

D'oh! I just bought a GC yesterday (with Metroid Prime as the free game) and purchased Wind Waker and the bonus Ocarina of Time disc. Eh, three great games are better than one.

Why is Nintendo labeled as a "Struggling Japanese Game Company"? because Nintendo didn't meet sales projections this year, and I doubt any game company is meeting sales projections at this point (though it seems as though nintendo is the only company that announced its position). Lame reporting.

Yeah thats true, the reason that all the sites are reporting sales figures for Nintendo is because their fiscal year just ended a short while ago so they released a sales report. When Sony and Microsoft's fiscal year ends, not sure when it is, but when it happens they will also release sales reports. You are right about lame reporting though, Gaming Age seems to have gone on a doom trip about nintendo . They've had stories about "nintendo in trouble?" as their "Top Story" for the past couple of weeks. But it is nice to see Nintendo getting more aggressive.