EXACTLY. I totally agree Perfect Cell. The Gamecube has become the Dreamcast in terms of mainstream appeal. Much like the Dreamcast appealed mainly to Sega fans, the Gamecube is so quirky and has such a limited variety of games that it appeals mainly to Nintendo fans.
The GBA SP, on the other hand, is a huge mainstream success. The other day, a co-worker of mine that couldn't be a more casual gamer walks into my office, shows me his brand-new GBA SP and says, "Look what I got". It really amazed me. While the GBA SP has buzz all over (I've seen it written up in Maxim, Wired, MSN.com, CNN.com), the Gamecube is an afterthought.
Sadly, what really needs a makeover is the Gamecube. People can't take it seriously when it looks like a lunchbox, no matter what color it is. For its next console Nintendo needs to color it black, and design it so that it looks like a slick piece of stereo equipment. The public would eat that up.
As for GTA not having a deep plot...sure, it wasn't War and Peace, but it least it was a refreshing change of pace. It touched a genre that hadn't really been explored before and presented it in a unique way. You gotta admit that nobody had even come close to the "immersive real world" stuff on a console before GTA 3. Sure, it was done on PCs long ago, but it was always with D&D/fantasy content that just doesn't appeal to the mainstream.
silks