Tomb Raider is good if you like adventure and exploring.

NPD is indeed on the web. Here's a link to their video game section:

July game sales can be found here

Damn, the links don't work and the board won't let me edit the post for some reason or quote others. (Any idea why?)

Anyway, let's try this again...

NPD game section:
http://www.npdfunworld.com/funServle...age=index.html

NPD July game sales:
http://www.npdfunworld.com/funServle...content_id=448

Hmm. That's just a ranking, though. I'd like to see some sales numbers. Like I said, I find it strange that more money is spent on video games than moive tickets, but you can usually find out by Sunday morning how much money a film is going to make and even a month after its release, it's still hard to find out how many copies a hit game has sold.

This is a really bad trend with the GC that makes it less and less appealing to Joe Shmoe buyer in Best Buy or Circuit City. Now will they buy a system that has a wall full of games, many of which are $20 or under, or will they buy a GC that has not so many games and pitiful 3rd party support that is getting worse by the day?

Honestly, I wish Nintendo the best as a company since they put out a solid product (Mario Kart looks awesome) but they really have a funked up business model. PSone proved that consumers want quantity almost as much as quality. We like choice. There were tons of high quality games on PSone, but the vast majority were mediocre.... but the important point is that there were tons of games of every genre imaginable.

The cool thing about having an installed base the size of Sony's is that the software publisher can take risks with wacky, outlandish games (Mr Mosquito, Parappa the rapper, Karaoke revolution, ICO, Intelligent Cube etc) and even if they sell to a fraction of the audience, they'll still turn a profit. Not to say there aren't innovative and different games on the GC, but there are far less small publishers making games for the console.

Anyway, the point of my rambling rant is that somebody at Nintendo corporate HQ better have a good idea where all this is going otherwise the next wave of consoles launched (PSP included) wont be pretty for them.

If I were a Nintendo exec, what would really upset me is that their market hasn't really expanded past it's initial fan base. It's still viewed by many as a "kid's console" (certainly the GC design didn't do much to change that). Even their excellent first party games never really created the huge awareness and "buzz" among the general population that, say, Halo or GTA received. They certainly have a loyal fan base, but I don't think they were ever really able to broaden it enough. I wonder for how many people was Wind Waker their first Zelda game, how many had never bought a Metroid game before Prime or a Mario game before Sunshine?

BTW I don't think that their handheld division has anything to worry about from the PSP. They have that market pretty well wrapped up.

Strange, all I ever see are TV spots for the PS2 version. I wonder if they are somehow tailored to the demographics in specific areas.

That's the same thinking that got them slammed in the last 2 generations.

Nintendo needs to wake up and stop losing market share.

The GC was the first console of the current gen that I bought, but I picked it up for the RE series and then picked up some other games.

Nintendo is profitable, but they will not be able to just continue as they have and stay that way into the future.

At my store the GC version of SCII sold best of the 3, but Xbox was a close 2nd. The PS2 version hasn't sold very many at all.

any1 else think its funny how every time gc loses a developer/publisher all the ninny fanboys rush out to say things like "its ok, they sucked anyway!!!!". LOL!!!!! gc is clearly on the downhill slide outside of japan, which is fine, cause then i can pick up some games at sub $5 levels when they all get cleared out.

j

Thanks for stating the obvious.

Are you seriously suggesting that Eidos and Acclaim were decent developers?

the fact that they have been in the game as long as they have proves that they have their fans and that they sell lots of games. Are you seriously suggesting that losing these fans/games is a good thing for gc? it makes a great fanboy soundbite to say 'we're better off with out them damn it!!!' but from a business point of view for the gc, its a laughable comment at best, fanboy idiocy at worst. I dont care how bad the software is, if it sells, losing it is bad for a console.

j

But the software wasn't selling, that's why the developers got out. Pushing bad games onto a console that nobody is buying doesn't help anybody.

Well, my point is that it's the number of unitssold that's important regardless of quality. Turok was drek on the PS2, Xbox and GC, but it wasn't any worse on the GC than the others (how could it have been?). NFL 2k3 was a pretty great game on all systems, but didn't sell at all on the GC (though of course Madden trounced it on all 3 systems). It sounds weird to say, but quality doesn't really enter into the equation when you're comparing the same game on multiple consoles. And even though there are fewer GCs than Xboxes, even figuring in the difference in units, the GC tends to sell far fewer games. I'm afraid that the GC is relegating itself to be a platform for Nintendo and a few interesting Sega games and maybe the occasional Star Wars title. Nintendo's dubious decision to emphasise connectivity with the GBA over online capability further solidifies their rep as a nostalgia act out of touch with the future of gaming and only interested in their own in-house titles and ports of previous console hits (Resident Evil, MGS, Sonic Adventure).
Developers are recognizing that people just aren't buying multi-platform games for the GC in large enough numbers. Since it requires expense to port a title to the system and then more to market the games, I'm sure many are hesitant to bring a title over as the chance for significant profit is seen as small. I'd guess you'll see more and more third-party titles come out on the PS2 and Xbox first and maybe later on the GC as an afterthought or not at all.

man, lot of doom and gloom in here for the Gamecube. But what else is new, can't have a GC thread without someone doing it .

I'm glad to see Nintendo making an effort to make stronger ties with Capcom (Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7), Namco (Tales of Symphonia and Baten Kaitos), Square-Enix (FF:CC and FFTA!) , and now Konami (rumor is that they aren't just solely working on MGS:TTS but have another project that is yet to be revealed). Companies with some awesome projects and good track records. Sure they're struggling, but in terms of games the future is not as dim as some of you make it out to be.

if the games are selling well enough on other consoles to keep these guys in business... but they arent selling on the gc... it seems pretty clear that the problem lies in the console, not in the quality of the software. Could the hitman or turok games be better? sure, any game could be better (well, except rs). In the end though, losing developers is never a good thing for a console.

j

I'm not all doom and gloom either it's all good that these games listed above will come out for the GC but the question remains will these games halt the downward trend that the GC is currently experiencing? and can Nintendo shake the public perception that the GC is a kid's console? Only time will tell but in the same token time is getting short becasue the next generation of consoles are coming refering to the PS3 and X-box2.

Doesn't Eidos make Deus Ex and Thief? Two great games....

as for people only playing sports on the Xbox and PS2, I own
Madden for the Cube and it's awesome

No doubt, the game is awesome on all three systems, but I'm curious : Do you own an Xbox or a PS2 as well as your GC? My assertion would be that most people who own multiple consoles might be shying away from buying the GC version of a multi-console game, rather than the PS2 or Xbox version barring some really important GC only addition, like Link. Madden is a good example, because the GC version has GBA connectivity as a bonus and the PS2 has online play and I would think that online play is a much bigger draw; but that's pure speculation on my part.

I had a PS2 before, so I know the differences and such.

My question was do you currently have more than one console system.

I have a GC and PS2. I've had the Cube for more than a year and the PS2 for about three months. Unless I read a review that states the PS2 version is head and shoulders above the Cube version on a multiplatform game, I usually stick with the Cube. Why? Well for starters I love the controller. I've never been a fan of the Duelshock (I also hated the N64 controller). Second is load time. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems that I wait a looooong time for games to load to my PS2. I know that sounds stupid, but it's annoying to have to wait a couple of minutes to play a game. Third, the graphics on the Cube are just better.

I mostly purchased the PS2 for PS2 games I couldn't play on my GC like Hotshots Golf, Midnight Club, and GTA. I was also considering buying a DVD player for my toy room, and it just made more sense to get a PS2.

I also wanted to do some on-line gaming, which has worked out OK. However, I wish I'd a stuck with the Cube version of NCAA as gameplay is much smoother on the Cube.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my PS2, but I REALLy love my Cube.

no I only have a Cube now. I know what you're getting at, though. Would I have bought it for the Cube if I had a PS2 still? Probably not, but you never know

One thing I think is interesting is that people assume that Nintendo is hurting.

Even though I know they'd love to be the #1 console, It seems like their way of doing business is very profitable to them.

Crap developers jumping ship? Will anyone miss Acclaim?
No online play? Xbox and PS2 are proving that isn't necessarily profitable this time around.
Kiddy image? Is that necessarily a bad thing?

People always assume that Nintendo is in trouble because they aren't in first place. Can't they still be profitable in third?