Topic: Game Cube Demo Discs & Magazines

[MysticalMatt517]

As you most of you know I'm new to the gamecube scene. I was just wondering where you guys get your demo discs. With the XBOX you just subscribe to the Offical Xbox Magazine and you get a new demo disc each month along with a (decent) magazine. I took a look at Nintendo Power but didn't see a demo disc with it. Is there some offical gamecube magazine that I don't know about? Where do I pick up new hot GC demos? ;-]

[Gilgamesh]

The only Demo Discs I have seen come with games.

For instance, the new Zelda pack has a demo of Zelda WW.

I guess Nin doesn't like the idea of Demos in general, you know, they are and always have been kind of backward, we do what we want type of company.

[Ian Sane]

Demo discs?  Man you ARE new to the Gamecube scene.

Off the top of my head I can only think of three demo discs released for the Cube.

1. The first disc was released earlier this year and the official way to get it was to buy a new Cube.  However many stores broke this rule and sold it seperately.  I still see it in a few stores but sometimes they charge the full price of a game for it and all of the demos on it are for games already released so it's not really worth getting anymore.

2. The Rebel Strike disc.  If you pre-ordered Rebel Strike you got a disc with a demo for it and the old Atari Star Wars arcade game.  You can't get this disc anymore and since they made the arcade game unlockable in the full version of Rebel Strike it's pretty much useless now anyway.

3. The Mario Kart disc.  If you pre-ordered Mario Kart you were supposed to get a "Special Edition" that included a bonus disc.  Since the first copies shipped were all for this version a lot of stores at launch were selling this special version to everyone and I've seen some stores that are still selling it.  Unlike the other demo discs this one will remain useful in the long run since it was exclusive unlockable stuff for Fire Emblem.

4. Zelda Collector's Disc but no one got that for the Wind Waker demo.

So basically every Nintendo demo disc requires you to jump through hoops.  Why doesn't Nintendo have a decent magazine with monthly demos like MS and Sony do?  Beats me.  Nintendo pretty much always sucks at anything the competition did first.

I suggest you email Nintendo about it.  Since you're an Xbox owner they'll probably care more about what you think than us "devoted Nintendo fans" who they often take for granted.

[Cap]

you have to spend $50-$100 to get a demo disc from nintendo.

[joshnickerson]

Check out Nintendo.com's new forums and you can't load a page without seeing topics about wanting demo discs bundled with the magazine.
So I'm sure they know what we want. Getting them to do what we want is a different matter altogether...

[Bloodworth]

I saw the first demo disc being sold at Best Buy for $40.00 a couple weeks ago.  Sad.sad.sad.

[Anbesol]

you think thats sad?  LOL!  i saw a halo 2 package at best buy being sold for $40..  included in it is a small xbox coupon book, halo 2 video footage, and a madcrapz controller.  

now THATS a rip-off.  i even asked one ofthe employees if it was some kind of halo 2 pre-order package or something at which he responded with "no, its a crappy rip-off"

[A Random Prophit]

As far as demos go, they are usually pack-ins with the system, a specified game or come with some pre-buy deals. They only Nintendo specific magazine is Nintendo Power and that magazine is pretty pathethic. Unless your 7 years old or interested in a bunch of 3 page "strategies" for some third rate game boy games, you wont like it. Nintendo should really think about making an alternate magazine for people like us who want a little more than a magazine full of coloring contests, and other nonsense. Also their whole review system is total crap. I've seen some totaly sh*t games get 4 or 5 stars across the board. its like they cant say anything bad about a game. I hate to bad mouth Nintendo, but Ninteno Power is VERY bad.

[ib2kool4u912]

Quote
Originally posted by: Bloodworth
I saw the first demo disc being sold at Best Buy for $40.00 a couple weeks ago.  Sad.sad.sad.

The other day i saw Master Quest for $40 at EB, and that was free when it first came out. I think it was preowned, too.  

[CaseyRyback]

best buy near me has been selling it for 40 since it came out.

I do think that nintendo does need to come out with some demo's, just to give third parties more exposure on their system

and as fanboyish as the Xbox magazine is I like the reviews they do better. They give a ton of space to reviews and give some good and bad points to the game, and even in the preview section they give what they liked and what they did not. when one person focuses on a review and there does not have to be a review on every game every month the magazine will be better

NP writers need to stop being such tools

[dafunkk12]

Go to a Barnes & Noble or Borders, or some bookstore that imports magazines from the UK.  I once saw a Brit mag with a Rebel Strike video disc and another Pro Action Replay cheat disc packed with it.  Don't know if any other issues had actual playable demos, though.

[Rhoq]

Quote
Originally posted by: ib2kool4u912


The other day i saw Master Quest for $40 at EB, and that was free when it first came out. I think it was preowned, too.

My local GameStop is selling Master Quest used for $24.99 - still a rip off.

[Ian Sane]

"NP writers need to stop being such tools"

Agreed.  The magazine is nothing more than a glorified ad.  The reviewers in Nintendo Power are about as unbiased as actors in an informercial.

I think what Nintendo needs to do is allow an independant publisher to make an Official Nintendo magazine.  It's like how PSM isn't actually made by Sony.  They then can give this magazine exclusives screenshots and interviews as well as demo discs.  The magazine can cover both Gamecube and GBA games and can be targetted more towards adults.  I don't mean that in an exploitive sense I just mean like how multiplatform mags like Gamepro and EGM aren't targetted at little kids and can be read by anyone.  Since the magazine is not owned by Nintendo the reviewers can be more honest instead of just shilling everything.

And what happens to NP if this went down?  Beats me.  I guess they could keep it for kids since the two mags would target different audiences.  However I imagine many of these kids would prefer the "cooler" mag and would dump NP as a result so it might be best to just kill NP outright or change it to something else like a pure strategy mag.

They could also just make NP independant but I think the name "Nintendo Power" has a negative image with most gamers over 10.

[MysticalMatt517]

Hmmm... That's a bit of a bummer. I like demo discs. I quit subscribing to OXM because they put the same demos on the discs month after month when they were first getting started. I suspect that it may be better now, but often times you could tell they were scrounging for material. This may be what Nintendo is trying to avoid by not offering discs with Nintendo Power. Still though, MS and Sony put out "Exhibition" discs every once in a while with recent demos on them. If Nintendo would do the same I wouldn't mind paying $5 for one.

BTW, I haven't heard of the HALO 2 package you're talking about Anbesol, but your right in that anything like that is a complete and total rip. All HALO 2 footage that's been released is available for free off the internet and anything by Mad Catz is a complete and total piece of crap.