Messages

1

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Market share for gamecube 18 points up

« on: November 04, 2003, 04:34:21 AM »

In the UK it's now being outsold 2:1 by the XBox and 6:1 by the PS2, according to ChartTrack

2

Nintendo Gaming / RE:GCN is still in 2nd worldwide, right?

« on: October 28, 2003, 06:57:58 AM »

In the UK (largest European console market) the GCN is back in 3rd place after 1 week at 2nd. It's still selling 7x more than it was before the price cut (begs the question how bad was it selling...) but the new Halo + MM3 + Live XBox  bundle has overtaken it. Going to be an interesting Christmas.

Figures are from ChartTrack, check Eurogamer website for more.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:GAMECUBE sales quadruple!!

« on: October 03, 2003, 07:26:47 AM »

I wouldn't get too excited just yet, since the title should really be "Gamespot's Cube sales quadruple" and who knows how many they sold last month?

If the Cube sells 400k north american units in October then they may have turned the corner, but we won't know that for a couple of months.

[Undisclosed]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Atari questioning further Cube support??

« on: September 26, 2003, 12:50:10 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Undisclosed
I think agent7 is correct.  Atari's days are numbered.

didn't Agent7 just mention something about Nintendo using re-writable carts in one of his other threads? It was a throw away comment, but now a few weeks later, we hear about this Chinese Nintendo console that uses whatelse, "re-writable" carts!  Didn't he also mention a sequel to final fantasy 7 like 6 months ago?

Strange.

He's right that Atari are in trouble, but I doubt they are going to disappear altogether:
- They just signed an exclusive deal to be the U.S. jewel case distributor for select Windows titles developed by Microsoft Game Studios until June 2006.
- They publish the awful but incredibly best-selling Enter the Matrix (still in the US PS2 top 10 titles as of August) and the much better Neverwinter Nights and Unreal Tournament.
- Atari's income this year is going to be at least 100% higher than last year, maybe even 150% higher. They are still in difficulties, but they are heading in the right direction.

[Top Ramen]

5

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Atari questioning further Cube support??

« on: September 25, 2003, 03:47:20 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Top Ramen
Current worldwide sales numbers:

http://www.gamespy.com/icfj/september03/import7/

Yeah this is true, but the point I'm making is that to a game producer it's more important where a console is selling than how much it sells worldwide. As the charts in that link show the Cube is strong in Japan and a good third place in the US and Europe, but 3rd place is 3rd place and with game production costs spiralling the 3rd place system is the port that gets dropped first when costs have to be cut.

Long term, the difference is whether MS is willing to risk buying it's way into the Japanese market (probably true, at least until the XBox 2 succeeds or fails over there), and whether Nintendo can persuade 3rd party producers to keep making titles for the Cube outside Japan until the Cube 2 (depends on a change in attitude).

6

Nintendo Gaming / RE:Atari questioning further Cube support??

« on: September 25, 2003, 02:05:50 AM »

The Cube is well ahead in Japan, but behind in North America and Europe to the XBox. So while the Cube will continue to pick up titles aimed for the Japanese market, it will lose titles aimed for the U.S. and Europe. The converse is true for the XBox. It's a vicious circle, less titles in a particualr territory means less sales, which means even fewer titles in future.