Can Nintendo bounce back and get ahead of Xbox?

[Mario Maniac]

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Edited by - Mario Maniac on 11/25/2002 10:37:41 AM

[Mario Maniac]

Wow, I think ooze is taking this a little too personally! Chupperson Weird, I respect your opinions on Nintendo, I completely agree with you. Nintendo is the best video game and console developer ever to grace the entertainment world! Sony is okay, they do have some pretty good 3rd-party games - as well as some good first-party ones (Gran Turismo series, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank). Yes, Sony publishes and develops their own line of games. Sony may be in the lead for now, but as long as Nintendo keeps racking up this exclusive 3rd-party support, Nintendo will once again be on top!

Did you realize that more and more 3rd-party companies - Capcom, Square, SEGA, and Namco - are developing exclusive games for Nintendo systems, and that currently the GameCube is recieving MORE 3rd-party support than the PS2!

Nintendo is doing very well right now! Congratulations, looks like all this time hard work eventually paid off!
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Edited by - Mario Maniac on 11/25/2002 10:40:48 AM

[Chupperson Weird]

Hmm. Yeah, I admit the there are a few games that are good on PS2*... although I have no experience with the ones you just mentioned... I guess that it's more suited to 3D stuff and not the Mega Man games... well, at least Capcom's making more of the X series for Nintendo again...

*But it's nowhere near the amount of good games on GCN.

[Mario Maniac]

UPDATE: Xbox Live...Microsoft's key strategy to staying in the console business...

I just went to TeamXbox.com and saw an article that is posted below:

Xbox Live: 150K Strong
11.22.2002 @ 09:50 AM





Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Xbox Live TM service, the first comprehensive, online game arena fully dedicated to fast-action broadband gaming experiences, has sold 150,000 Xbox Live Starter Kits. Because each Xbox Live account allows guest players, more than 200,000 players have already found their friends, talked trash, and started building their legends in the last week. Xbox Live is the first high-speed online console gaming service to reach these important milestones in the first week of service, including the first subscription-based broadband service to surpass 100,000 subscribers.

Virtually every Xbox Live Starter Kit at retail locations across the United States and Canada has sold out in less than one week of availability, but new shipments of Starter Kits are already on retail shelves and will be replenished throughout the holiday season. For $49.95 (estimated retail price), the Xbox Live Starter Kit includes a one-year subscription to the Xbox Live service, an Xbox TM Communicator headset and two online trial versions: "MotoGP" from THQ and "Whacked!TM" from Microsoft Game Studios. In addition, a diverse lineup of nine great Xbox Live-enabled games are available at retail, including "Unreal Championship" from Infogrames Inc., "MechAssaultTM" from Microsoft Game Studios, and "SEGA SportsTM NBA 2K3" from SEGA. "SEGA SportsTM NFL 2K3" and "SEGA SportsTM NHL® 2K3" are also available at retail.

Sales of Xbox Live-enabled games also have shot up as much as 120 percent* in the last week, and Xbox hardware sales have experienced an 18 percent week-over-week increase in the first week of Xbox Live Starter Kit availability, building on strong demand driven by a holiday offer that includes the console, DVD remote and two games for $199 (ERP).

"Wow, what a first week! More people played Xbox Live in its first week than attended the last two Super Bowls, and have played more games in one week than in the entire history of the National Football League, National Basketball Associations, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball combined. Game players have loudly demonstrated they can't find enough hours in the day to compete in the online arena," said J Allard, general manager of Xbox at Microsoft. "It's been amazing to talk to and play with and against so many players all over the United States and Canada, and this is just the beginning of the online revolution that will fundamentally change video games and digital entertainment forever."

"We sold out our entire inventory of Xbox Live Starter Kits almost immediately, and we've seen increases in sales of both Xbox hardware and software as well," said Dan DeMatteo, president of GameStop Inc. "Xbox is clearly very popular this holiday season."

Xbox Live represents the next step in video games, in which people from around the world come together in an online arena to play sports, action and racing games with friends and rivals, and talk with each other as they play. In just one week on Xbox Live, 200,000 online game players and their friends did the following:

-Completed more than 5 million games, approximately 500 games per minute
-Played more than 1 million hours of gameplay. That's more than 114 years worth of straight gameplay in just one week.
-Played more games than have been played in the history of the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB combined

On Nov. 30, game players in France, Germany and the United Kingdom will enter the Xbox Live online arena as part of an Xbox Live Test Drive in those countries. Xbox Live players will be able to compete in cross-Atlantic battles of "MotoGP." On March 14, 2003, the one-year anniversary of the Xbox console in Europe, Xbox Live will launch in eight European countries: France, Germany and the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. In Japan, players of Xbox Live are currently conducting a beta test of the service and will be able to enter the global online arena on Jan. 16, 2003.
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Xbox Live sells 150,000 units... That is great news for Microsoft, but bad news for Nintendo fans. Nintendo had better think of a good strategy to fight back, or else who knows what might happen! The Legend of Zelda isn't going to be released until February of 2003, and we're only in November of 2002! ...what to do, Nintendo, what to do...

Edited by - Mario Maniac on 11/26/2002 11:17:37 AM

[Chupperson Weird]

Uhh... hmm. Nintendo already has their modems out? That was quiet.
Anyway, Zelda isn't the only thing worth waiting for in the near future...

Now I will rant some more.
Okay, first off, I thought about what Ooze was saying about Sega...
Sega mishandled their business. They tried to gain support by slamming Nintendo. It's just the same as now, Apple is trying to slam Microsoft. That just makes me dislike Apple even more. Instead of capitalizing on Macintosh's good qualities, they try to exaggerate Windows's bad qualities. Same with how Sega did it; they thought the way to do it was insult the people who preferred Nintendo over Sega.

Also, I realized that even the former Sony-only characters are moving over to GameCube! See? Everyone likes all their favorite stuff on one console.

Now, to Xbox Live...
"More people played Xbox Live in its first week than attended the last two Super Bowls, and have played more games in one week than in the entire history of the National Football League, National Basketball Associations, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball combined." I find this very hard to believe. And I don't believe it, because of the way it is worded.
Ahem: More people played it than attended the last two Super Bowls? Well, one thing, the majority of Super Bowl watchers watched it on TV; the stadiums can't hold that many people, duh! And if the second part is true, then they must have pretty short attention spans. Besides, it's a lopsided statement, considering the way sporting events are distributed throughout the year.
Yeah, and talking trash is a REALLY IMPORTANT milestone... talk about worthless...
Ahh, I feel better now...

Now, some good GCN news...

"REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 21, 2002 – In the kingdom of fun, it’s the subjects who speak the loudest. Today those subjects, America’s youth, spoke with one voice, choosing exclusive Nintendo GameCube games as their holiday gift list favorites.

In America’s biggest toy test, NBC Today’s Toy Test 2002, America’s kids and teens played and ranked the following titles, available exclusively for Nintendo GameCube, as the hottest video games for the holidays:

1. Metroid Prime
2. Super Mario Sunshine
5. Mario Party 4
6. Star Fox Adventures (CW: WOOHOO!!)
7. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (LucasArts)
9. Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (Infogrames)
14. Super Monkey Ball 2 (SEGA)

In addition to these seven exclusive Nintendo GameCube games, the Toy Test 2002 list includes five titles available on Nintendo GameCube and a competing system. This brings the total number of Nintendo GameCube games on the Toy Test list of 19 top games to 12.

"The rankings speak volumes about Nintendo’s ability to place its finger on the pulse of every type of game fan when developing video games," says Peter MacDougall, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Nintendo of America Inc. "This further illustrates that Nintendo's commitment to quality games is paying off."

To pick this year's winners, consumer specialist Herb Weisbaum allowed thousands of kids an advance peek at 73 games that are due for release on Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Xbox. The goal of this one-of-a-kind video game test was to provide parents a holiday shopping list of video games that have been approved by thousands of kids and teens. More than 10,000 ratings were tallied during the two-week exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. To ensure a "family friendly" exhibit, no games were shown that rated above Teen (T) or portrayed realistic animated violence."

Ooh Heh
Ooh Heh

Edited by - Chupperson Weird on 11/26/2002 10:39:11 PM