By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Nintendo - Panasonic Q would have been the best thing ever.

Locknuts on 10 January 2015

Hey guys, I've been thinking..... If Nintendo had released the Panasonic Q as the gamecube back in the day, do you think it would have performed better?

For those who don't know, the Panasonic Q is basically a gamecube with a DVD player and LCD display on top. It also played CDs and MP3s and the discs could hold over double the data of a DVD. It would have cost a bit more than a standard Gamecube though ~$350 I think. Considering how powerful the Gamecube was back then this thing would have been a technological beast!

I remember reading about them back in the day and wishing I had one but they released in Japan only as far as I can tell. I'd buy one now but they're like $1000 including shipping to get into Australia and I'm just not that keen. I'll just buy an old black Gamecube instead.

 

Thoughts?



Around the Network
Jizz_Beard_thePirate on 10 January 2015

Hmm maybe! It would certainly get rid of the mini disc issue and it might have appealed to the casuals that bought the ps2 as a dvd player so maybe. It looks kinda ehh though



                  

PC Specs: CPU: 7800X3D || GPU: Strix 4090 || RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000 || Main SSD: WD 2TB SN850

Locknuts on 10 January 2015
Jizz_Beard_thePirate said:
Hmm maybe! It would certainly get rid of the mini disc issue and it might have appealed to the casuals that bought the ps2 as a dvd player so maybe. It looks kinda ehh though

Yeah not a sexy as the black GC, but I'd take it over the purple one.



Locknuts on 10 January 2015
BraLoD said:
I honestly don't think anything could make a stand against the PS2.
It could make it better for the GameCube sales, but that's it.

Lol no I was thinking more like 40-50 mill.



sidmeiernintifan on 11 January 2015

it looks awesome, and I wouldn't mind Nintendo becoming friendly with Panasonic, Toshiba, or another big hardware Japanese company (except Sony).



Around the Network
Locknuts on 11 January 2015
sidmeiernintifan said:
it looks awesome, and I wouldn't mind Nintendo becoming friendly with Panasonic, Toshiba, or another big hardware Japanese company (except Sony).

I don't think their would be much benefit now as most media is streamed nowadays. I certainly think it would've helped back in the GC days though when DVD was new.



Chris Hu on 11 January 2015
Locknuts said:
sidmeiernintifan said:
it looks awesome, and I wouldn't mind Nintendo becoming friendly with Panasonic, Toshiba, or another big hardware Japanese company (except Sony).

I don't think their would be much benefit now as most media is streamed nowadays. I certainly think it would've helped back in the GC days though when DVD was new.

DVD was kinda new when the PS2 was first released in Japan but by the time the GC and original X-Box came out it wasn't that new anymore.



IkePoR on 11 January 2015

Read thread title as "Persona Q ...". Okay, going to bed.



"You should be banned. Youre clearly flaming the president and even his brother who you know nothing about. Dont be such a partisan hack"

Locknuts on 11 January 2015
RolStoppable said:
If the Panasonic Q had performed well in Japan, it would have been brought to the rest of the world.

"We have the same features, but have fewer games and are more expensive." isn't an enticing proposal.

If Nintendo released it, they could have done so for a competitive price (and a small profit) and made money primarily from software. I just found out Panasonic were charging US$500.00 for this thing at launch. I imagine that's because they wouldn't see a cent from the software and would need to profit on the hardware.



Locknuts on 11 January 2015
RolStoppable said:
Locknuts said:
RolStoppable said:
If the Panasonic Q had performed well in Japan, it would have been brought to the rest of the world.

"We have the same features, but have fewer games and are more expensive." isn't an enticing proposal.

If Nintendo released it, they could have done so for a competitive price (and a small profit) and made money primarily from software. I just found out Panasonic were charging US$500.00 for this thing at launch. I imagine that's because they wouldn't see a cent from the software and would need to profit on the hardware.

Panasonic certainly added a profit margin to the device because they didn't sell software for it, but a value like $200+ would be insane. So production costs of well over $300 are reasonable, also because Sony took heavy losses on the PS2 at $300. Since Sony dropped the price to $200 in May 2002 (still taking losses, obviously), the idea that Nintendo could be selling at a competitive price without taking big losses is simply not feasible.

Hmm I didn't realise the PS2 was so cheap back then. I never thought the upgraded GC could beat the PS2 though, only do substantially better than it did (40-50 mill). That would have been a big price difference though by 2002.