Why did the Gamecube fail???

[Shanobi]

bardicverse said:

Jordahn said:

 

Alright, bud.  I take back that "credibility" statement.  Sorry I jumped the gun on that one.  And like I said earlier, SONY isn't innocent on this one as well.  It's just that no one was stopping developers from developing on the N64, and sadly it seem that that mentality carried over to the GC.  The GC is a more powerful system than the PS2, and I don't see why is didn't get similar support (maybe the mini-disc was a deterrent???)  But I cannot see SONY themselves being such a direct huge influence on the general populace when it comes to PS2 perception vs GC perception.  Maybe this is a stretch, but I remember seeing an N64 Toys R Us commercial advertising a small kid picking out a Pokemon N64.  Both the N64 and Pokemon, as you know, are Nintendo franchises.  This commercial had to have been approved by Nintendo.  If not, then you have Toys R Us to blame for part of this as well.

 

Its all good. Nah, I dont disagree with you, Sony really didnt play a part in the developers lack of interest in the GC, but it did influence older gamers that the GC was not for them, to an extent of course.

A lot of the older developers were still scorning Nintendo for their old, quasi-monopolistic stance on things. It kind of left a bitter taste in their mouths. Also, the PS2 was the trendy system of the gen, had the jump start in both availability and the library. Nintendo still had a very elitist attitude regarding who could develop on the GC for them at first, which changed when the heads at Nintendo changed over. Sony was inviting everyone and their mother to make games for the PS2, which is visible by a fairly impressive amount of shovelware. Another solid reason as you mentioned, could actually BE the mini-dvd, as it didn't store as much data. Devs could have been getting tired of using proprietary Nintendo storage where both Sony and MS were allowing standard DVDs with encryption. In the end, the GC held its own in a tide that was well turned against Nintendo. Hell, it game me my favorite game - Eternal Darkness. =)

 

Eternal Darkness, one of the greatest games made.

 

It also gave us Killer 7, and RE4. (The good versions, not shabby ports that went to the PS2.) Killer 7 is another of my favorite games, ever. Hell, there were so many great games on the cube.

 

As for why it failed to reach the success of the PS2, it's all been said. Teens viewed it as "kiddy", because Pokemon's success was able to be used against Nintendo, and also DVD playback was a big deal at the time, due to the costs of DVD players on the market at the time.