seamus_aran

Poker theory. If your not 18 you have no business having money. Send it all to me so I can play poker :P

The Nintendo Gamecube. It is October 2000 and the penultimate Spaceworld that we have seen is taking place. Shown to the public are the purple Cube and the white (with florescent buttons) Game Boy Advance. Nearly six years later we are about to say goodbye to what many consider to be the worst Nintendo console ever produced. But was it really that bad? Or are we just being dismissive of the Cube’s achievements because of the achievements of the competition. Lets face it. Sony has revolutionised the industry in a way that hadn’t been seen since Nintendo entered in the 80’s. They bought in the CD-media for use with their consoles, they pushed the DVD format into a hundred million houses and most importantly to them they made gaming cool. Microsoft did what no other company could do; they crafted out a fan base in the fiercest industry in the world. The Xbox was never meant to overshadow the Playstation 2, it was meant to give them an established foothold in the market for them to build on with its successors. Now cast your mind back five years and you will remember the problems that hounded the Nintendo 64. Lack of third party support, stupidly expensive cartridges, a lack of certain genres on the system and a lack of any multimedia formats. Many people only had enough money for one console and against the ability to play the new format CD’s Nintendo was never going to win. In those short five years since its launch Nintendo have solved many problems and encountered few others. At the beginning of the Cube’s life it looked like Nintendo were heading in the same direction as the Nintendo 64 – failure and I, along with many Nintendo fans forgot about their Gamecube and Game Boy for many months. Then something happened. An event that younger gamers wouldn’t usually attribute to a major shift in the direction of a company. Satoru Iwata took charge at Nintendo, attempting to save the flailing Game Boy and the eyesore that was the Game Cube. Within months of being installed he fixed the Game Boy’s image. He made it cool for adults and children alike to have. In early 2003 the SP was released to much healthier figures than the Advance had ever received. Mario Kart Double Dash was released and a platinum Gamecube hit the market – a Gamecube that arguably became the face of Nintendo’s marketing campaign. Iwata changed too major flaws that appeared to be pushing Nintendo in the direction of catastrophe. The Gamecube at this time was slowing down already; third parties were dropping it faster than many of us could have imagined. The exact same thing that had happened to the N64 was beginning but it seemed to be happening a hell of a lot sooner than in the 64’s days. While we cannot be sure we can speculate as to what Iwata did to ensure that the Gamecube got regular exclusive and most importantly top quality third party games on it. In the two years that followed we got games that – though not all stayed exclusive – certainly helped the console flourish. Tales of Symphonia, Metal Gear Solid¸ Resident Evil 4, F Zero GX, the slew of Capcom exclusives (including Viewtiful Joe), Soul Calibur (it sold so dam well I thought I’d include it) and Final Fantasy. A drought of RPG’s suddenly wasn’t a problem (with Fire Emblem and Paper Mario to add to the list already established there) and the Gamecube’s across the land weren’t covered in dust anymore; they were being played to death. Although we were destined to not be short of games during the Gamecube’s life many felt this would be the case with Rare being sold off. A company who had produced many of Nintendo’s more adult content had suddenly disappeared. However in my opinion Nintendo were right; they weren’t as economically viable as before and what good is a name if the games aren’t up to par. Even Yamauchi would agree with that premise. One thing that does seem to have been solved is the “adult support†from Nintendo. Yes, you are all probably aware that I was about to make the link between Rareware and Retro Studio’s. Probably one of the last good things Yamauchi did, this flailing company were sorted out and went on to release what many consider two of the greatest games on the Nintendo Gamecube. What we may have lost (for $377 million) we gained in an extremely talented studio that will undoubtedly create many more classics in the future. Though it appears that the Gamecube has solved all of Nintendo’s problems in truth it has not. They still have extremely poor advertising. They still have a kiddy image. And they still can’t attract Squaresoft to make a proper Final Fantasy for them. But hey. Their image is changing, as is their advertising approach. The Gamecube may have sold extremely poorly (only 4 million in Japan compared with 12 million on America) but that was arguably down to the approach Yamauchi took. We have Iwata to thank for the salvation of the Gamecube and the salvation of Nintendo. Good times are just around the corner… stay patient…

Kept to the usual ratio with America/Japan sales. Normally Japan sells about twice as many... well, thats a number picked out of thin air but its about right with the DS. In the US they sold 12mil. Only 4mil in Japan. If they'd have sold as many in Japan as they did in America they would be over the 30mil mark and truly in 2nd place.

I knew that on launch day I think... then again I broke my Cube before the slew of good 2nd/3rd generation games came out.

To Nintendo the Gamecube was a complete and utter flop. They should be selling as many (if not more) Cube's in Japan as they do in America. Sales figures for America are somewhere in the 12million mark while about 4mil for other places. In that respect the Cube was a massive flop and if they had that market share in Japan as well as America they would have surpassed the Xbox. Although for the consumer who got the console it hasn't been a flop. Many great new franchises, solved the lack of RPG's that dogged the N64 not to mention far better 3rd party relations which resulted in more games for us. The later Cube life was far better than the early Cube life (pre Iwata and post Iwata) but then again that can be said for the last few years. An example would be how the SP came out a few months after Iwata took the Presidency, the Platinum Cube became (arguably) the main Cube they attempted to push ont he market... in my personal opinion we have Iwata to thaink for saving Nintendo and the revival the Cube got from 2003 onwards.

The first holographic drives for standard PC's are due to be released this year. $10,000. There is no way in hell anything holographic is going to be around for atleast 5 years. ITS RAINING. Oh and thats not the camera. That is still coming in a wireless hand held form.

And none of them seem worried about Trinidad. Sorry to say this but Sweden have a better attack than England do. If Trinidad can keep out Sweden shouldn't they be worried just a little?

I thought the prize was gonna be that Lisa was now the Golden housemate... and she got the privilages... just think all that time sucking up wasted.

That was almost poetry.... or it could have been rap... stupid chavs ruining the world. Go and get a job you lazy shit!

Divert your attention away from the Paraguy game. If you win the thing who will really remember it? You should really concerntrate on beating my team by the "four or five gaols" most of the pundits predicted a few months ago. We are no pushover. We are used to the heat and will have the advantage in the games even if they are being played in the evening. Leo Beenhakker is a great coach and will have a plan to stop England. You should be worried. Although also as an England fan I am hoping for a draw - best news for both teams. Will allow Trinidad to practically be guaranteed of going through if they beat Paraguy on the final day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XxI-hvPRRA Their Transformers one made me laugh as well...

Everyone loves amusing video's! And you know whats great to start this off? Some piss taking out of the old Pokemon theme song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XxI-hvPRRA Their Transformers one made me laugh as well... EDIT: no idea how I missed that, sorry... someone delete this

Wow. Now I know that here's a sentance I thought I would never say Rio Feridinand blew my mind

I spaff in fit girls. I win. *walks off while everyone stares strangely at him*

lol. true. I have no idea about Merk'd. Probably what Punk'd meant when Ashtin started it. He would have sounded better saying "You've been Rio'd"

Is Rio Ferdinand attempting to make me hate him? He did a very good job with that program. Amusing, but stop sounding like Ashtin Kutcher. Oh I don't even care if thats not how you spell his name, STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT.

I would love for it to happne as long as it happened in the way I would like. I mean that Apple try to keep Nintendo as a console maker, but help to develop their online ideas, make iTunes a distribution for games via the DS. A redesign for an intergrated iPod would do me as well.

Lets not forget the oh der wonderful Gaystation Poo. Although they could have made it the Gaystation Thwii. Although that just sounds stupid... so they probably would have done it. EDIT: Oh yeah it was the Greystation... Gaystation came from somewhere though. Probably smart writing - making us think of hte word without typing it. Bet they're right happy with that English degree now.

Ohhh I wish my cube would work... I loved the Monkey Balls...

Why didn't Factor 5 stay with Nintendo?! Imagine the game - lightsabre moments with the Wii controller. Holding it horozontally and pointing foreward, allowing you to tilt the ship and ignite the various thrusters for aiming and the nunchuck for controls. Then you could use the DS to tell your Jedi comrades what to do (multiplayer or not - imagine having 3 mates around in co-op and secretly give instructions to your mate). Or if not you could create formations for fighters, get a better idea of the ground battle and plan it accordingly. I'm getting ahead of myself arent' I...

Probably. It would suck if it wasn't possible. Do some research though as networks aren't really my stongpoint...

Dunno if it'll make it to the rest of the world... first "main" Nintendo title not to in a while if it is.

http://www.cubed3.com/news/5350 Interesting. If true I'm not going to be happy... g&w was my favourite!

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=141148 Click on "Launch Media Player" under the slide show at the side... sit through a crappy Midway trailor they use to generate money then watch the video. It does say its new on the webpage but if someone could confirm...

I very much doubt the physics chip will be used in the Wii. I have no basis for that opinion but... no.