Topic: George Harrison answers questions on GameCube 2 (N5) and next Gameboy

[mouse_clicker]

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A couple of problems with that . Nintendo went unchallenged when they released the NES.

Wrong- Sega had the Master System.

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Atari,Coleco vision and intellivision were dead. If you were to buy a gaming machine, the NES was the only choice.

Exactly! Atari crashed the industry- no toy store in America even wanted to hear the word videogame. Nintendo not only had a hugely successful first console, but completely and singlehandedly revived the entire industry in the US. Granted, the XBox does have more competition than the NES, but I think it's arguable that reviving and industry and making a profit off it is harder than breaking into an already hugely popular industry and make a profit off it.

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And would you admit that hype has become a mainstay in the last 10 years, moreso than 20 years ago? With the advent of the net, and the growing sales of game systems, budgets also rose , which in turn spurred on more in your face, and more frequent, advertising. You cant compare 20years ago to 2 years ago. Things have gotten so much bigger, its just not even close.

That wasn't my point- my point was that the NES was incredibly popular without Nintendo having to rely on hype. Yes, I agree hype is much more commonplace now than then, but that doesn't mean it's a necessary tool to become successful.

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And if you dont think the Playstation was hyped, it most definately was. There were commercials galore all bragging about 32 bit and the CD medium. I remember, because at the time , i had my trusty SNES, and i just kept seeing ads for Playstation all over the place.

And it didn't do much, did it? the Playstation had a rather poor launch, and sold rather badly for the 2 years between it and the N64's launch. Only when the N64 had a deplorable launch selection and nothing to follow it up did the PSX finally start gaining momentum. the PSX's success had nothing to do with hype and everything to do with Nintendo's faulter.


Omen:

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Half the market? The only time Sega made any inkling of headway was when they released the Genesis first, beating Nintendo to the punch. By the time the SNES was out 6 months, Nintendo regained their stranglehold on the market, and Genesis was a very distant second.

Not quite- Nintendo barely won that generation, and even that is still in dispute. Sega had nearly half of the market and Nintendo had the other half- Sega was not in a "distant second".

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Who the hell said any of that in this thread? The fact that MS even made a dent with the Xbox is remarkable to me, and thats all thats really been stated by numerous people here.

The point wasn't about just this thread, but the media and industry as a whole. 3rd parties are dropping their support for the Gamecube, Nintendo is getting flack from both consumers and publications, all because of Nintendo's supposedly poor sales. Why, though, has there been no talk about Microsoft? People only talked about Nintendo's earnings when they (for the first time ever) went in the red, but why has there been very little talk about the incredible amount of money Microsoft is losing? Nintendo made a huge profit with the NES, and I'm sure Sony made a sizable profit with the Playsation, so why is it suddenly okay for Microsoft to lose money on their first console? When you think about it, in the modern era of gaming only the companies who had very successful entry consoles have stuck around- Sega's gone under, Atari exists in name alone, 3DO went out of business, and do we even need to talk about the likes of the CDi or the Turbo Grfx 16? If we're looking at trends, Microsoft won't be around much longer. But that's only if we look at trends.

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I'm quite certain Mario party sold a ton in Japan, and did well here. I'm not saying a million copies, but i bet it sold in the top ten of GC games for the year

Super Smash Bros. Melee certainly sold EXTREMELY well.  

[the_zombie_luke]

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Originally posted by: mouse_clicker<br
The point wasn't about just this thread, but the media and industry as a whole. 3rd parties are dropping their support for the Gamecube, Nintendo is getting flack from both consumers and publications, all because of Nintendo's supposedly poor sales. Why, though, has there been no talk about Microsoft? People only talked about Nintendo's earnings when they (for the first time ever) went in the red, but why has there been very little talk about the incredible amount of money Microsoft is losing? Nintendo made a huge profit with the NES, and I'm sure Sony made a sizable profit with the Playsation, so why is it suddenly okay for Microsoft to lose money on their first console? When you think about it, in the modern era of gaming only the companies who had very successful entry consoles have stuck around- Sega's gone under, Atari exists in name alone, 3DO went out of business, and do we even need to talk about the likes of the CDi or the Turbo Grfx 16? If we're looking at trends, Microsoft won't be around much longer. But that's only if we look at trends.

I wholeheartedly agree. I don't see how Microsoft is going to profit with X-Box 2 either. Heck, they are spending more than $500 million on advertising for the current box. If Microsoft wants to make the next X-Box have even more features than the current X-Box, they will lose even more money.

[The Omen]

How long was the NES out here in the U.S. before the Master System?  Exactly what i'm talking about.  I know the NES was released unchallenged.  Of course i know the Master system was the main competition later.

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Exactly! Atari crashed the industry- no toy store in America even wanted to hear the word videogame. Nintendo not only had a hugely successful first console, but completely and singlehandedly revived the entire industry in the US. Granted, the XBox does have more competition than the NES, but I think it's arguable that reviving and industry and making a profit off it is harder than breaking into an already hugely popular industry and make a profit off it.

What i was pointing out was being the only game in town, whoever bought a system bought the NES.  It was great that Nintendo revived the industry, but that wasnt the focalpoint of my argument.  When Nintendo revived the gaming industry, the NES was alone.

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And it didn't do much, did it? the Playstation had a rather poor launch, and sold rather badly for the 2 years between it and the N64's launch. Only when the N64 had a deplorable launch selection and nothing to follow it up did the PSX finally start gaining momentum. the PSX's success had nothing to do with hype and everything to do with Nintendo's faulter.

And they continued to hype, and still do, and how is the Playstation brand doing? Its one of the best selling brands ever.  Sony is far more aggresive in their advertising, and have been , and i dont think its a coincidence that they dominate the market .

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Not quite- Nintendo barely won that generation, and even that is still in dispute. Sega had nearly half of the market and Nintendo had the other half- Sega was not in a "distant second".

You're correct, for some reason i was remembering when the Saturn came out.  Though i think the SNES did eventually overtake the Genesis because of the stupid CD add on and the horrible cd games.

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The point wasn't about just this thread, but the media and industry as a whole. 3rd parties are dropping their support for the Gamecube, Nintendo is getting flack from both consumers and publications, all because of Nintendo's supposedly poor sales. Why, though, has there been no talk about Microsoft?

I agree with that.  In no way did i state that the XBOX is selling great, merely Nintendo has lost consumers to MS because of the hype machine.  I seriously dont think the Xbox would be close to the GC if the GC was marketed aggressively.  Thats the only point im making.  In terms of publications not mentioning Xbox lackluster sales, thats because people like to kick the former kings, Nintendo, while , in their eyes, theyre down.  

[mouse_clicker]

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What i was pointing out was being the only game in town, whoever bought a system bought the NES. It was great that Nintendo revived the industry, but that wasnt the focalpoint of my argument. When Nintendo revived the gaming industry, the NES was alone

And my point was that it should have been the focalpoint of your argument. You can't even began to discuss the reasons for the NES's success without first discussing how Nintendo singlehandedly revived the industry. Had Nintend simply released the NES, it would not have sold near as well as it did- in fact it would have flopped, despite being the only console on the market. Nintendo first had to restore interest in videogames period, and I think that that is a very important obstacle you can't just pass over.

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You're correct, for some reason i was remembering when the Saturn came out. Though i think the SNES did eventually overtake the Genesis because of the stupid CD add on and the horrible cd games.

And then when we start thinking about Sega's CD addon, we eventually get to the Playstation. Oh what a tangled web we weave.

[Mario]

Nintendo should lay off Mario (or Pokemon) for about 3 to 5 years, and then have it come storming back! I thought there were doing this with Donkey Kong, having the next DK game be for the launch of Nintendos next console, but alas, here come a port of DKC and Donkey Konga.

And, am i gonna have to bust out some sales charts on some of your asses?

[mouse_clicker]

That actually wouldn't be a bad idea. Not only would it save the public from constant exposure, which wears out a franchise very fast, but it would build up immense anticipation for the next game, generating huge interest when it finally is released. And on top of that, while Nintendo has Pokemon or Mario (or both) on haitus, they can be working on building new franchises up and making them as solid as their current ones. And if they work on this Mario game bit by bit for the 5 years, you're going to have one incredibly polished game. In fact, they could of put their main franchises on a sort of rotation basis- maybe not for a full 5 years, but not for 1 year or less, either. You're idea man, Mario.  

[ultrafamicom]

How long was the NES out here in the U.S. before the Master System? Exactly what i'm talking about. I know the NES was released unchallenged. Of course i know the Master system was the main competition later.

The NES came out fall/late 1985 - The Sega Master System came out around June 1986, so the NES was out about 6 months before.


In Japan, the Famicom came out in late 1983, the Sega Mark III sometime in 1984. There was a relaunch by Sega, of the Japanese Master System that was more like ours, in 1986 I believe.

[ultrafamicom]

Also, even though some are saying that N5 will be the last Nintendo console, I don't think so.

As long as Nintendo has billions in cash, it can survive in the console environment

[mouse_clicker]

As long as Nintendo keeps making money off their consoles, they'll keep making them. So far nothing has changed.

[Bill Aurion]

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Originally posted by: Mario
Nintendo should lay off Mario (or Pokemon) for about 3 to 5 years, and then have it come storming back! I thought there were doing this with Donkey Kong, having the next DK game be for the launch of Nintendos next console, but alas, here come a port of DKC and Donkey Konga.

I would be incredibly pissed if that happened...I need my Mario and Pokemon fix to live...

[The Omen]

They dont have to lay off Mario, just go back to 2d.  They've layed off that since the snes.  

[ultrafamicom]

next year Nintendo will announce the GBA successor which will no doubt match or exceed the PSP in all areas.   at least that's what I am hoping for.  we desperately need competition in the handheld arena.    the GP32, N-Gage and Zodiac Tapwave cannot cut it- probably having less than 2~3% marketshare combined.