I had a discussion with my wife’s uncle (we’ll call him Bob) over the weekend about his choice of gaming platform for his kids. He got them a Nintendo Gamecube to be revealed this Christmas; they already had the N64. (And their favorite N64 game, “Harvest Moon,” was a gift from us. Woo hoo! Anyway.)
I asked him if he’d looked into the lifespan of the system, i.e., if he had considered whether or not this would be a doorstop in six months. Remember Sega Dreamcast? That withered and died pretty fast.
Of the two big competitors for the Gamecube, the Playstation 2 seems to have the best market penetration and long-term stability, whereas the Xbox, while not selling as well, has the muscle of Microsoft money to keep it plugging along for as long as they care to support it. I seem to remember reading that the Gamecube is suffering the sales lag of the Xbox but that Nintendo doesn’t have Microsoft’s bottomless pockets, and that the 'Cube may be fading. Apparently Bob got the 'Cube at a steep discount, which lends credence to the idea that Nintendo is just trying to move inventory over the holidays before deciding the platform’s fate.
Also to consider: Bob’s two kids are aged 8 and 12. The big-box salesgoon recommended the Gamecube solely on the basis of youth-oriented titles, as compared to the others, which skew somewhat older.
So now Bob wants to know, for sure, beyond my hazy recollection, whether or not the Gamecube is a smart buy, long term. Obviously, the phrase “long term” takes on decidedly nebulous connotations in the gaming world, so it’s intended only in comparison to the two major competitors. I tried browsing some gaming sites to get more information, but between the strident advertising and partisan leet-speak, I couldn’t come up with anything solid.
Can the collective SDMB gaming community provide an informed opinion? Much appreciation in advance.
I found the GC very fragile, I had two of them, but as long as it just sits quietly without being pushed around its fine. Get the mario sunhine bundle, it’s got all you need.
Black Friday won’t have much in the way of sales on systems. Thats the day after Thanksgiving, so called, after Blackie the Cheap, a Wales chap.
I have a ps2 & Xbox too, those seem more durable & cheaper games too.
Nintendo has wads of cash in the bank. I wouldn’t discount it whatsoever.
While MS has said repeatedly that they will make the X-Box work, they still have to answer to the shareholders… and with no console experience that might be a tougher pill to swallow.
Dreamcast failed because of Software developers, plain and simple. Developers were still very shy after the Saturn fiasco and Sony embraced them. Sega also lost a ton of dough on the Saturn and had to cut their losses more sooner than later, which also hasten the Dreamcast’s demise.
I’d say any of the 3 consoles right now are going to be around for a while yet. I’d give them all (talking out of my ass figure) at least 3 more years.
The PS2 is here to stay, tough you’re not going to see any improvements in the performance sector, and is nearer the end of it’s life than the other consoles. But it has by far the largest and broadest range of games available.
The Xbox is almost 1 year old, and is doing extremely well, despite what people might say. it’s at the beginning of it’s lifespan, and if microsoft has it’s way with it, they would span the console’s life over 6 or so years. There’s also lots of room for performance improvements( seen that Trailer of HALO 2? realtime graphics have never looked better, except maybe for Doom 3 (omg, let’s not get into that. this is great debate material )). Altough the games selection is more geared towards more mature audiences.
The Gamecube is still at the beginning of it’s life cycle, and altough there’s not a flood of games for it, it still has some very solid titles. Despite the rumors going around right now, the console is here to stay, imho. Nintendo is still a synonym of quality family entertainment. Taking the kids’ ages into consideration, I think the Gamecube was the best choice. It has a game selection more geared towards younger audiences. Of course, it still has a number of mature games in it’s wing; Metroid Prime, the Resident Evil series, Eternal Darkness are just examples. And as a long-term buy, the games he buys now will be there for a long time. Hell, I still play games of Megaman 2 & 3 (on NES emulators for the PC, i sold my old NES a looong time ago… snif) from time to time.
Thanks for the info so far. The note on hardware fragility is a good one; these kids like to unhook the box and take it with them when they travel. It hasn’t been a problem with the N64 they have now, but I guess that wouldn’t be a good idea with the NGC?
For the kids you described, I think a GameCube is the best fit. Most of Nintendo’s exclusive games are very kid-friendly, and Nintendo’s exclusive titles are what kept the otherwise-lame N64 around for so long (GoldenEye, anyone?)
Consoles are supposed to last 5 years. Sony launched the PS1 in 1995, PS2 in 2000 for example. I think Nintendo’s expertise in the market will keep the GameCube going. It will never touch the PS2, but there will be a lot of fun to be had on it.
As for the X-Box, I think there’s a couple of big strikes against it–the lag behind Sony, the smaller game library, especially exclusives, and the fact that Japan hates it.
I’d go with PS2 or GameCube, as they’re from companies that are more established in the console market and haven’t had failed systems in the past.
The Sega Dreamcast was a gamble that I bought into. I knew some of their systems (Genesis, SMS to a lesser extent) were hits, while others (Saturn, SegaCD) were absolute flops. You know what though? I’m glad I bought the Dreamcast and when mine broke, I bought another one used.
Why? Emulation, my friend. You can play all your old NES, SNES, Genesis, Atari, etc games on the Dreamcast. The linked site has freeware emulators and instructions on burning the CDs to work with your Dreamcast. They also have some public domain games to get you started.
)). Altough the games selection is more geared towards more mature audiences.