I wanted to get my nieces a gaming system for Christmas. They’re 11 and 9 years old. Looking through the game libraries, the Gamecube seemed to have the most games that they’d be interested, but I also wanted to get them a system that was DVD compatible, which Gamecube apparently isn’t. Then I learned of a Panasonic GameCube that IS DVD compatible, but much more expensive. I don’t want to blow a lot of money on this and have it turn out to be a lemon, so anyone who has heard about or perhaps has one of the Panasonic Gamecubes, please share your knowledge.
The Gamecube is not DVD compatible. The PS2 is right out of the box. You need some special adaptor for an Xbox.
I think the dvd-compatible Panasonic Gamecube you’re talking about (“The Gamecube Q”) has only been released in Japan. You could probably get it as an import, but it’d probably be cheaper just to get a normal Gamecube, and a seperate DVD player.
Here’s an article from a year ago saying there are no plans to release it stateside. Don’t know if that’s changed since then.
I’ve found a couple of them on eBay for about $400… would that be cheaper than trying to import it?
Gamecube Q’s, that is
Yeah, I would think so. This place has 'em for $459. Make sure that the ones you’re looking at play region 1 dvds, though. According to this site, out of the box, they only play region 2 dvds. A mod allows it to play regions 1-6, but that jacks up the price some.
Gamecube doesn’t seem to have the draw it once had. I bought one in August, played it two times, decided I didn’t like it and it’s been sitting around for a few months.
Listed it in a local free classifieds paper as brand new (just no box), $100 or make offer.
Not even one offer 
That’s probably because there are so many bundles going on right now that your offer just isn’t that attractive. Depending on which store you go to, you can get a Gamecube and up to five games and an extra controller for $150-$200.
I know that in the past Nintendo’s products have been very easy to play import games with. I believe that the GBA is fully compatible with both US and Japanese releases, as was the SNES and NES with just a couple changes to the cartridge or an adaptor. Does the GC continue this? If not, you won’t want to import as the games won’t play properly without a modchip, and you won’t find many Japan–>US modchips Stateside.
If you’re still interested in selling it Attrayant drop me a line or IM me.
The Pansonic GC can come with a switch to play US dvds. Frankly, I would get a seperate dvd player plus the GC. Nintendo is having a huge promotion now on the GC, $25 rebate, plus save more if you get a game.
They’re pretty young… I know that you want to get them a DVD player, too… but the plain old playstation has a huge amount of very good games for that age bracket. I bought my not-the-cheapest-in-the-store DVD player for $80. Oh, and my PS2 (one of the first models, I understand that this has been improved) even with the DVD driver upgrades, sucks at playing DVDs.
If you buy an import gamecube, it will only play imported games unless you have it modded. (right? I know that that’s so with playstations)
“with the DVD driver upgrades, sucks at playing DVDs.”
Why? If you hit SETUP when it’s playing you can access a cool menu where you can adjust the sharpness (try +2) & stuff.
Trying to get two girls that age to not touch the dvd surface would be tricky.
Good point. The PS2 will also play all the old Playstation games too. And you can usually find those for $5-$10 retail and less at resale shops and the like. Especially the ones targeted towards 9-11 year old girls.