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[chocoholic]

I'm not trying to flame Nintendo, but no one can deny that their situation is very good in the home console market. Last year the Gamecube had a small lead over the Xbox, but this year it's the other way round, due to Nintendo having very bad sales in NA lately. Sure, Gamecube is selling truckloads more than Xbox in Japan, but its the other way round for Xbox in america.

Now, the holiday season is coming up and it's always a good chance for a company to catch up in sales, but can Nintendo do that? They have got a pretty big line up, with Mario tennis, Metroid Prime and other games coming out, but will all those games help sell more Gamecubes than Xbox this fall. Xbox has got Halo 2, which has the potential to be one of the greatest selling games in the USA. Whatr have Nintendo got to compete with that? What makes matters worse, plystation 2 have got MGS3, GTA: SA and GT4 coming out, which will make it even harder for Nintendo to sell consoles. RE4 was the one game that had the potentialto not only save them from making the gap bigger between gamecube and Xbox, but to put Gamecube in second place. Unfortunately, Nintendo haven't got anything to counter that.

Maybe it's not too late for Nintendo, maybe if Zelda GC is released fall 2005, it can help sell Gamecubes, but is fall 2005 too late for zelda to be released.

Anyway, my opinion is that it could go either way, but this fall Gamecube is screwed, but maybe Zelda can help Gamecube get second place.

 

[Ronin]

Gamecube = doomed.

 

[B E N K E]

Seeing how important this holiday season will be for all hardware companies with their eyes set on the next generation, any big game that slips is costly. It's certainly the kind of title that would have had non-Gamecube owners looking at the system as a possible purchase. I see it as a much more important title in that respect than say Metroid Prime 2. It will still help sell consoles in january, but obviously not on the same levels as it would have helped around x-mas.

 

[Meier]

I think it's a pretty major blow. Personally I think Nintendo should offer additional staff.. ANYTHING to make sure it is out by Christmas in the US and Japan.

 

[Warm Machine]

Coming out when it does is going to be a serious blow to sales. So much so that it'll be reported as being another mature game flop on GC furthering the belief that the system is teh kiddie.

The prophecy must be self fullfilled!

 

[snapty00]

I don't think Resident Evil 4's January release date will hurt the GameCube much. The GameCube was going to be a bomb this holiday season with or without Resident Evil 4.

What's the point in trying to sell GameCube in the U.S. at this point, anyway? As far as I'm concerned, it's way too late. GameCube's path was set in stone a year and a half ago.

I mean, I'm not saying GameCube should be pulled from shelves, but I don't think it's worth trying to give it a major push at this point. If Nintendo didn't want the system to sell like it is currently, then Nintendo should've been working on that problem over two years ago. And since Nintendo is losing on GameCube hardware, I'd raise the price to $150. That way, they can continue selling a few systems and make a tiny profit on each system. At worst, they wouldn't be losing anything on systems, anymore.

 

[chocoholic]

yeah, i think a deal is what they need, something thats gonna overcome Halo 2. Either:

Gamecube + 1 controller + metroid prime or Zelda: WW = $99

or

Gamecube + 2 controller + SSB:M or MK: DD = $99

 

[Musashi Wins!]

yeah, i think a deal is what they need, something thats gonna overcome Halo 2. Either:

Gamecube + 1 controller + metroid prime or Zelda: WW = $99

Well...they already have the Metroid one and I don't think it's going to matter much. Honestly though, unless they advertised the hell out of it with some of those good screens RE wouldn't move systems right then anyway. People in the public will have to see it more.

 

[kitchenmotors]

I don't think Resident Evil 4's January release date will hurt the GameCube much. The GameCube was going to be a bomb this holiday season with or without Resident Evil 4.

What's the point in trying to sell GameCube in the U.S. at this point, anyway? As far as I'm concerned, it's way too late. GameCube's path was set in stone a year and a half ago.

I mean, I'm not saying GameCube should be pulled from shelves, but I don't think it's worth trying to give it a major push at this point. If Nintendo didn't want the system to sell like it is currently, then Nintendo should've been working on that problem over two years ago. And since Nintendo is losing on GameCube hardware, I'd raise the price to $150. That way, they can continue selling a few systems and make a tiny profit on each system. At worst, they wouldn't be losing anything on systems, anymore.

Even suggesting that Nintendo raise the price of the system really shows you have no fucking clue how the market works.

Even though Nintendo is 3rd in the US, there is not that much of a gap, especially compared to the Xbox and PS2 gap. So Microsoft should just pack up shop too eh?

You're on a roll for a junior member.

 

[snapty00]

Will Nintendo-branded or Capcom-branded games bundled with the system really help, anyway? I mean, those are the games that people haven't thought were worth the lower price of GameCube since 2001.

<trolling removed>
Even though Nintendo is 3rd in the US, there is not that much of a gap, especially compared to the Xbox and PS2 gap. So Microsoft should just pack up shop too eh?

I don't think Nintendo should "pack up shop." I do think that it shouldn't bother trying to push the GameCube anymore, though. It hasn't worked, and it never will for the remainder of this generation. It's just way too late for GameCube. It should just trim its losses by raising the price of the GameCube to the price of the other systems.

If Microsoft weren't filthy rich (even more so than Nintendo) and it had to watch its budgets, it would probably have been a good idea for Microsoft not to push the Xbox so much, either. Hell, if Microsoft had a significant budget and a significant amount of limited money, it would've been better off not releasing Xbox at all.

 

[king zell]

If RE4 is released on the 11th of Jan as Capcom said then it will still have its effect.. the game is so big I don't think people will give it up just because it missed the holidays.. one thing I learned from past holidays sales.. big names will not move systems.. but a good price and value will

 

[SantaC]

Nintendo have no say when RE4 is going to be released. Nor is it Nintendo's fault that RE4 is "delayed"

 

[Deku Tree]

If RE4 is released on the 11th of Jan as Capcom said then it will still have its effect.. the game is so big I don't think people will give it up just because it missed the holidays..

Yup. Sonic Heroes didn't do too bad on the GC with a early Jan. release date.

 

[kitchenmotors]

If Capcom is smart, they'll run ads like crazy before christmas and also have a nice pre-order package. Perhaps a demo, or even a short prequel type demo before the events in RE4. That would be nice and would attract extra sales that they might miss out on.

 

[chocoholic]

Ok, how about these deals. they're like the previous one but you get both games

Gamecube + 1 controller + metroid prime + Zelda: WW = $99

or

Gamecube + 2 controller + SSB:M + MK: DD = $99

If they are ready to lose money, gain marketshare and commit themselves to some very good marketing they can make gamecube sales rocket up.

 

[AniHawk]

Ok, how about these deals. they're like the previous one but you get both games

Gamecube + 1 controller + metroid prime + Zelda: WW = $99

or

Gamecube + 2 controller + SSB:M + MK: DD = $99

If they are ready to lose money, gain marketshare and commit themselves to some very good marketing they can make gamecube sales rocket up.

With their profit goal in mind set, I don't think they're willing to lose more money on the Gamecube. Their marketing plan looks solid (though not spectacular), and at least they're pushing some third party titles on their own for once. Resident Evil 4, whenever it's released, should do about as well as the other games in the series have done on the Gamecube (about 400,000-500,000). I don't expect it to be a system seller as so many non-Nintendo fans think it will be.

Anyway, Nintendo's big focus this year will be the DS, and the Gamecube will be taking the backseat yet again to Nintendo's handhelds. Nintendo has pretty much killed off any big GBA lineup (Pokemon Remake + FFI & FFII + KH:CoM are all I see as far as big sellers go), including moving The Minish Cap from 2005 to November to 2005 again in the states.

I mean, I'm not saying GameCube should be pulled from shelves, but I don't think it's worth trying to give it a major push at this point. If Nintendo didn't want the system to sell like it is currently, then Nintendo should've been working on that problem over two years ago. And since Nintendo is losing on GameCube hardware, I'd raise the price to $150. That way, they can continue selling a few systems and make a tiny profit on each system. At worst, they wouldn't be losing anything on systems, anymore.

And for a long time the Genesis was beating the Super Nintendo until one game came out at the end of its lifetime and turned things around rather quickly.

Not giving it a major push would be stupid as fuck. It would be the Saturn-Dreamcast transition all over again.

 

[Auron]

Every year it's the same story: "Nintendo is doomed" and "It's time for them to pull out of the console business". We've all learned though, that Nintendo just sells better around Christmas due to the parents buying Nintendo systems for their kids.

This year is no different. After a first half of mostly mediocre titles, Nintendo's lining them up for the holidays. Also, Nintendo will likely offer a different bundle for Christmas as the Metroid one doesn't really skew to the majority of their fans(and you can just peel the Metroid bundle label off the POP revealing some "pre-order Metroid Prime 2" art). It's possible this Christmas that GameCube will outsell both of its competitors in November/December, though maybe not enough to secure number 2 for the year.

As for Resident Evil 4, the delay will help sell more Metroids this year, so it's not really all that bad for Nintendo.

 

[border]

Yup. Sonic Heroes didn't do too bad on the GC with a early Jan. release date.

Given that the question is concerned with how the delay will affect Nintendo (rather than the sales of the game), it might be worth noting that Microsoft still sold 40-50% more systems than Nintendo did in the month of January.

Though I don't think there'a any way you can pretend that it isn't harmful when a game in a big exclusive franchise (that is also a graphical marvel) misses a holiday release date. It will most likely have a bad effect on sales of the game and sales of the console.

It's possible this Christmas that GameCube will outsell both of its competitors in November/December

 

[Memles]

Anyway, Nintendo's big focus this year will be the DS, and the Gamecube will be taking the backseat yet again to Nintendo's handhelds. Nintendo has pretty much killed off any big GBA lineup (Pokemon Remake + FFI & FFII + KH:CoM are all I see as far as big sellers go), including moving The Minish Cap from 2005 to November to 2005 again in the states.

The fact that its releasing in Europe pretty well shows that the Minish Cap delay was simply to avoid the DS rush. However, you're missing DKC2 from your list (The sales for DKC are pretty huge) and Pokemon and FF/KH will probably do it well enough anyways.

 

[AniHawk]

Every year it's the same story: "Nintendo is doomed" and "It's time for them to pull out of the console business". We've all learned though, that Nintendo just sells better around Christmas due to the parents buying Nintendo systems for their kids.

This year is no different. After a first half of mostly mediocre titles, Nintendo's lining them up for the holidays. Also, Nintendo will likely offer a different bundle for Christmas as the Metroid one doesn't really skew to the majority of their fans(and you can just peel the Metroid bundle label off the POP revealing some "pre-order Metroid Prime 2" art). It's possible this Christmas that GameCube will outsell both of its competitors in November/December, though maybe not enough to secure number 2 for the year.

I think that wont happen. Nintendo's going for the same market as Microsoft and Sony are now. Hell, More Human than Human plays during clips of Star Fox, Paper Mario 2, and Pikmin 2. What Nintendo should do is advertise the MP2E bundle while reminding everyone it's still $100. With a Sony/MS shortage supposedly going 'round, it would certainly help right about now.

Though I don't think there'a any way you can pretend that it isn't harmful when a game in a big exclusive franchise (that is also a graphical marvel) misses a holiday release date. It will most likely have a bad effect on sales of the game and sales of the console.

But it's Resident Evil. The game has not done as well on the GC as many predicted. Why would all of a sudden, the game suddenly shoot past predicted expectations? Because it looks different? That hardly ever works in sequels. Sure, there will be GAFers to pick it up, but there's not going to be this massive march to EBs everywhere to buy Resident Evil 4 and a Gamecube. No matter what time the game was going to be released, it would not have sold that well.

 

[NWO]

I don't think Resident Evil 4's January release date will hurt the GameCube much. The GameCube was going to be a bomb this holiday season with or without Resident Evil 4.

What's the point in trying to sell GameCube in the U.S. at this point, anyway? As far as I'm concerned, it's way too late. GameCube's path was set in stone a year and a half ago.

I mean, I'm not saying GameCube should be pulled from shelves, but I don't think it's worth trying to give it a major push at this point. If Nintendo didn't want the system to sell like it is currently, then Nintendo should've been working on that problem over two years ago. And since Nintendo is losing on GameCube hardware, I'd raise the price to $150. That way, they can continue selling a few systems and make a tiny profit on each system. At worst, they wouldn't be losing anything on systems, anymore.

 

[T-1000_Model3]

I think its a bad move delaying the game to next spring. Maybe they can recapture the holiday buzz theyre going to miss by maybe bundling the game with the Cube for something like 120 bucks,memory card included as well.

 

[IJoel]

I don't think it will hurt Nintendo at all.

As a matter of fact, delaying it is probably the best thing they can do. These holidays belong to 2 games: GTA: SA and Halo 2. Any other BIG game (like RE4) would get buried under their massive hype and marketing (unless Capcom+Nintendo would be willing to spend major $$$ on marketing, which even then I doubt would have a major impact.)

I'm not saying the game wouldn't sell. Not at all. The game would sell very good if it came out during these holidays, but I don't think it would move a significant amount of consoles.

Releasing it during a relatively unpacked month will ensure RE4 gets the most attention and will certainly maximize console purchases along with it.

 

[border]

The game has not done as well on the GC as many predicted. Why would all of a sudden, the game suddenly shoot past predicted expectations?

Metroid Prime hasn't done as well as predicted "by many", and MP2 looks almost exactly like its predecessor. Would it hurt to move it to January?

RE4 won't sell as well in January is it would have in the holidays. I do think they had a legitimate shot at "rebooting" the series and reviving the Cube.....with the outstanding graphics and altered gameplay and a big marketing push (RE Zero got shit for advertising), but they've pretty much blown it now.

 

[Duckhuntdog]

I think RE4 would have been overshadowed had it come out in the death month of November, so it's a good call by Capcom.

I don't know what UBI is thinking by putting out PoP 2 in the death month for the second time. November is about two games: Echoes and Halo 2, everything else is going to get lost in the shuffle.

 

[SolidSnakex]

"November is about two games: Echoes and Halo 2, everything else is going to get lost in the shuffle."

LMAO.

 

[GaimeGuy]

I think RE4 would have been overshadowed had it come out in the death month of November, so it's a good call by Capcom.

I don't know what UBI is thinking by putting out PoP 2 in the death month for the second time. November is about two games: GTA: SA and Halo 2, everything else is going to get lost in the shuffle.

Fixed.

 

[wazoo]

Ubi Soft already killed XIII and BGE last year by releasing them at the same time as many other games.

POP2 will be budget price in february at worst.

 

[Duckhuntdog]

Metroid Prime hasn't done as well as predicted "by many", and MP2 looks almost exactly like its predecessor. Would it hurt to move it to January?

2 million worldwide is not well? Well shit then the industry should use your barometer for sucess.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

I thought GTA:SA is October? Or am I making stuff up again?

 

[SolidSnakex]

I thought GTA:SA is October? Or am I making stuff up again?

It's October, but it's sales are going to carry over through the rest of the year. It'll sell atleast a million each month its out for the rest of the year.

 

[AniHawk]

Metroid Prime hasn't done as well as predicted "by many", and MP2 looks almost exactly like its predecessor. Would it hurt to move it to January?

Hell no, since Metroid Prime is the second best selling game in the series (and the best selling without Japanese sales included). At least MP2's predecessor has that going for it than Resident Evil 4's two 400,000-mark games.

RE4 won't sell as well in January is it would have in the holidays. I do think they had a legitimate shot at "rebooting" the series and reviving the Cube.....with the outstanding graphics and altered gameplay and a big marketing push (RE Zero got shit for advertising), but they've pretty much blown it now.

They can still give it a big marketing push, and it still has potential to sell well, but it would have been crushed by Halo 2, MGS3, GTA, GT, and Nintendo's own games like Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and not to mention the dollars which would go to the DS.

 

[border]

Prince of Persia did really poorly last year too, and its competiton was relatively weak......this year it's up against almost every single big franchise that PS2 and Xbox have to offer. Including Ubisoft's own Splinter Cell!

I think they are pretty determined to kill off POP...

 

[Duckhuntdog]

Well, some would say GTA:SA might get the bulk of it's sales in October, or atleast that is the release date I know.

If' it's been pushed back to November than yeah GTA:SA would beat down Echoes.

 

[AniHawk]

Prince of Persia did really poorly last year too, and its competiton was relatively weak......this year it's up against almost every single big franchise that PS2 and Xbox have to offer. Including Ubisoft's own Splinter Cell!

I think they are pretty determined to kill off POP...

SC3 might take a hit there as well.

 

[wazoo]

Prince of Persia did really poorly last year too, and its competiton was relatively weak......this year it's up against almost every single big franchise that PS2 and Xbox have to offer. Including Ubisoft's own Splinter Cell!

I think they are pretty determined to kill off POP...

POP sold 2M worldwide (that is not only US but also Europe). Ubi Soft is not doing a sequel because it got rave reviews. BGE was the real (and unexpected ?) bomb.

 

[AniHawk]

Well, some would say GTA:SA might get the bulk of it's sales in October, or atleast that is the release date I know.

If' it's been pushed back to November than yeah GTA:SA would beat down Echoes.

In 2002, VC sold 1.5 million copies each month for the three months it was out. SA WILL beat down Echoes, but Echoes is one of the only games which has a shot of reach 1 million on the Gamecube for a 2004 release

 

[BuddyC]

wait - hurty?

 

[Duckhuntdog]

POP sold 2M worldwide (that is not only US but also Europe). Ubi Soft is not doing a sequel because it got rave reviews. BGE was the real (and unexpected ?) bomb.

Yeah, when you add the sales of all three versions. I don't think PoP sold even close to 500k on any individual platform in any territory.

 

[border]

You are saying that Metroid would be just as good for the Cube/Nintendo if it were being released in January....even though it would leave Nintendo relying on Mario RPG and Pikmin for the entire holiday season. I think you're really underestimating the January doldrums.

A big marketing push isn't going to help if it's in a month when nobody is buying systems. They should have just pushed RE4 to March if they were going to miss the Holidays. Nobody is going to go out and buy a Cube if they just picked up another system 2 months back.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Well, some would say GTA:SA might get the bulk of it's sales in October, or atleast that is the release date I know.

Who would say that? It'll likely perform like VC did which will mean 1 million units each month for the rest of the year. Not almost everything in its first month.

When you're talking about November you've also got GT4, MGS3 and NFSU2.

 

[Duckhuntdog]

In 2002, VC sold 1.5 million copies each month for the three months it was out. SA WILL beat down Echoes, but Echoes is one of the only games which has a shot of reach 1 million on the Gamecube for a 2004 release

Right, is SA doesn't suffer from burn out. I mean, there is no reason Halo 2 should have more reserve sales than SA, should it?

 

[SolidSnakex]

Right, is SA doesn't suffer from burn out. I mean, there is no reason Halo 2 should have more reserve sales than SA, should it?

Consider that the bulk of GTA's fanbase are casual gamers who don't care about pre ordering games and will just walk into an EB, Babbages ect. and pick up their copy.

 

[wazoo]

Yeah, when you add the sales of all three versions. I don't think PoP sold even close to 500k on any individual platform in any territory.

POP sold 2M in the christmas season, and mainly in europe. so it was on ps2; since Sony has the euro exclusivity.

 

[Duckhuntdog]

You are saying that Metroid would be just as good for the Cube/Nintendo if it were being released in January....even though it would leave Nintendo relying on Mario RPG and Pikmin for the entire holiday season. I think you're really underestimating the January doldrums.

A big marketing push isn't going to help if it's in a month when nobody is buying systems. They should have just pushed RE4 to March if they were going to miss the Holidays. Nobody is going to go out and buy a Cube if they just picked up another system 2 months back.

I don't think Capcom is worried about it selling systems as it is just selling itself. To Capcom, they just want to sell RE4, getting GC's to sell with it is Nintendo's problem to worry about.

 

[Duckhuntdog]

POP sold 2M in the christmas season, and mainly in europe. so it was on ps2; since Sony has the euro exclusivity.

Whatever makes you sleep well at night, I suppose.

 

[border]

POP sold 2M worldwide (that is not only US but also Europe)

They started bundling POP with Splinter Cell in a post-Christmas panic. That's not what I would call a sign of good sales. In Europe they were PS2 exclusive for the holiday season, so they missed out on a lot there too.

I think Ubi managed to sucker retailers into buying a shit-ton of copies of POP (hence their "high" shipped number), but the majority of them were sold as bundles or at bargain bin prices. I don't know if the game was a financial failure, but something certainly went wrong.

I imagine it is going to be difficult to get retailers to sink as much money into POP2 inventory....particularly when they could just use the money to buy more copies of guaranteed sellers like MGS3, Halo 2, GTA: SA, etc

 

[ge-man]

I don't think Capcom is worried about it selling systems as it is just selling itself. To Capcom, they just want to sell RE4, getting GC's to sell with it is Nintendo's problem to worry about.

That's really the bottom line. People act like Nintendo has a huge say in this when that's anything but the truth.

 

[border]

To Capcom, they just want to sell RE4, getting GC's to sell with it is Nintendo's problem to worry about.

Whatever happened to "For the growth of the Industry. For Gamecube." ? =P

 

[Renegade]

RE4 won't sell as well as Metroid Prime2, which is Nintendo's real big game for this fall. Problem is that Metroid Prime 2 has a good shot at being overlooked due to all the similar games that are recieving MUCH more fanfare on opposing systems.

RE4 would sell 600K tops realistically so I doubt it's really gonna hurt or help the GC sales whether it comes out today or next year