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Why Consumers Will Buy the NGC

by Jon Lindemann - March 28, 2001, 4:58 pm EST

What will compel consumers to buy Nintendo's GameCube? Veteran writer Jon Lindemann offers this analysis as his first contribution to PGC.

This fall, consumers are going to have the opportunity to choose between Sony's Playstation 2, Microsoft's X-Box, and Nintendo's Gamecube. All of these systems are extremely powerful and capable of playing some incredible games, but those among us who aren't rock stars or professional ballplayers won't have the money to buy all three. That means that somewhere along the line decisions will be made and certain factors will weigh heavily towards our purchasing one over the others. In the end, consumers will buy each console for a reason. What reason will make them buy Gamecube?

The most obvious is exclusive games. Outside of perhaps Sega, Nintendo's stable of exclusive game franchises is unmatched in the industry. The prospect of playing Perfect Dark 2 and Metroid on next-generation hardware is enough to leave any self-respecting Nintendo fan frothing at the mouth. On top of that you have potential Gamecube versions of Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, Mario 64, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Rare's Dinosaur Planet and Conker's Bad Fur Day, Silicon Knights' Too Human and Eternal Darkness...the list goes on and on. Nintendo is the only company in the industry that could viably support a console with its first and second-party development teams alone.

Nintendo's competitors will also be hard-pressed to come up with characters as widely recognized and appealing as Mario, Donkey Kong and Pikachu. Sony's been trying it for years and the best they could come up with is Crash Bandicoot. Microsoft's most recognizable character is Bill Gates, and while putting the ubergeek in a plumber's suit would be amusing it sure isn't going to sell any games.

Meanwhile, Nintendo's characters have become so ingrained in North American culture that they're practically an institution. Super Mario Bros. 3 had its worldwide debut in the movie "The Wizard". Super Mario Bros. has its own live-action movie. Saturday morning cartoons feature Mario and Pokémon. And speaking of Pokémon, who in North America doesn't know about it? When you have children beating each other up over playing cards your game franchise has officially become a pop-culture phenomenon. People may ridicule Pokémon for being "for kids", but the fact of the matter is that it's a quality game franchise that sells like crazy. To anybody out there dismissing it as a passing fad, allow me to pose this question: if a Pokémon

RPG came out for Gamecube tomorrow, would you buy it? I thought so.

Of course, you can't mention Pokémon without talking about Game Boy. One wouldn't exist without the other. Nintendo's newest handheld juggernaut, the Game Boy Advance, is taking a more prominent role in this round of system wars thanks to its ability to swap data with Gamecube. This feature was initially explored on Nintendo 64 with players being able to upload Pokémon and Mario Golf characters from their Game Boy to the N64 via the GB Pak. Under certain circumstances the GBA can also double as a Gamecube controller, surely resulting in all sorts of game play innovations as developers figure out new ways for the two machines to interact.

The Game Boy Advance is guaranteed to be a smash hit (Nintendo plans to ship

24 million worldwide by year's end) and its success will undoubtedly benefit Gamecube sales. The success of the GBA will raise awareness of Nintendo as a whole and make consumers more willing to give its big brother a look. Besides, the temptation of uploading pumped-up Pokémon from Game Boy Advance

to Pokémon Stadium 3 on Gamecube will be too much for most Pokémaniacs to

resist.

Price will also be a major factor. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo decided not to include DVD playback functionality in its console, stressing their philosophy that GC is a pure game machine made by a pure game company. While lacking this functionality may alienate potential buyers looking for a cheap DVD player that plays games on the side, its exclusion has one major benefit: low price. Because Nintendo doesn't have to build consoles with the specialized laser technology necessary to play DVDs, they can manufacture and sell them at a significantly lower price point than those made by Sony or Microsoft.

While its exact price has yet to be revealed, rumor has it that Gamecube will debut for no more than $149.99 US and possibly for as little as $99.99 US. (EDITOR'S NOTE: we hope it's this low; it could be as high as $199 though -M.L.) This certainly blows away the $299 MSRP of the Playstation 2, and with X-Box's DVD player promising even more advanced features like Progressive Scan and HDTV output Microsoft's console won't be any cheaper. Even if Sony lowers the PS2's price when Gamecube ships it's hard to imagine them cutting its price in half. For those seeking a cheap alternative to PS2 and X-Box or the best bang-for-the-buck, Gamecube will definitely be the console of choice.

That's the key word: choice. Never in the history of video games have there been so many game consoles legitimately worth buying. Which one will reign supreme when it's all over is hard to tell at this point. Sony's Playstation 2 is the incumbent, packing a huge fan base, extensive third-party support and backwards compatibility with the legendary Playstation. Nintendo's Gamecube has the best first and second-party games in the business, plenty of marketable characters and the unstoppable Game Boy Advance. Microsoft has state-of-the-art technology, tremendous marketing clout and boatloads of money to throw around.

Ultimately, the consumer will decide who stays and goes. The video game pie is so big nowadays that it's entirely possible that all three companies could successfully coexist. But thanks to Gamecube we can be sure that Nintendo won't be going away any time soon. Nearly all of the major issues that developers had with Nintendo 64 (small texture cache, no dedicated sound chip, high cost of manufacturing cartridges) have been eliminated this time around, and several developers have already admitted that the new hardware is much easier to work with than Playstation 2. This can only bode well for the future of the console. Nintendo's Gamecube is a cheap, powerful, developer-friendly system, and it may very well be the key to Nintendo re-establishing itself as the king of the video game industry.

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