The difference is that Nintendo made their brand name explode, so their userbase was bigger. The Gamecube had its image just about destroyed by the Playstation 2 and Xbox. Think about it. The Playstation 2 had Grand Theft Auto, the game where you could do just about anything, and it was really an open world. The Xbox had Halo, a game that changed console shooters forever. The Gamecube had, as its biggest game, Super Smash Bros. Melee. A great game, but not significant.

Really, if you had to make a list of reasons why the Gamecube did so badly, it would be long.

Purple, goofy looking, badly advertised, kiddy image, lack of exclusive mature titles, lack of RPGs, lack of titles that would appeal to the Japanese, severe lack of European appeal, odd disc format, no online connectivity, and much more. But I'm making myself a sandwich.

Software is 100% what sells a console. Nobody would buy consoles without software, and developers wouldn't support consoles if the software sales weren't adequate. The Gamecube sold poorly because it had a complete lack of appeal outside America. In America, it actually did pretty well. Not too far from the Xbox, actually. However, the Gamecube failed in Europe (which, at the time, didn't like Nintendo that much), and Japan, where the PS2 and GBA dominated.

The reason that the PS3 and 360 are doing so well is because they're amazing consoles, same with the Wii. The Wii just appeals to a larger audience. The HD consoles appeal to a lot of gamers from the past generations, as well as some casuals. The Wii appeals to everyone. I would image that multi-console ownership is increased this generation, but also, the gaming demographics are changing wildly. I've never seen so many grown women asking for videogames (5 in the course of an hour in Best Buy, once).

i dont think they where in as many games stores as ps2 ive never seen a gamecube

Whilst it had the Nintendo first-party software, third-party support could have been a lot better. No GTA, no Devil May Cry, no Final Fantasy (meaning main series, not crystal chronicles), a remake of MGS1 when MGS2 was coming out on PS2, no Tekken, Capcom announcing the 'exclusive' Resident Evil 4 was also going to PS2 just before the Gamecube versions' release etc.

Also, I don't remember there being a definitive FPS or racing sim for the Gamecube. So, yes, I think it is to do with software. There wasn't enough variety compared to PS2, which completely destroyed the competition last gen. Even if it did have more games, the perception was that it only had the major Nintendo games.

The Wii is a different story because whilst it still has mainly Nintendo software, it also has opened up new markets, and there is third party support in these newer markets. In the traditional gamer market the support isn't as strong as rivals but with the variety of demographics the Wii appeals to, it really doesn't matter.

Sony successful sold the idea that GC was a kiddie console (Nintendo didn't help matters with their lunchbox console and colours choices) and the PS brand was a teen/adult system which is inheritantly cooler.

Wii's success is not due to the traditional Nintendo IPs. They have probably sold some 10-20m systems thus far (on par with GC) based on those IPs. Wii sells because it appeals to non-traditional players (girls, women, mature consumers). They have some interest in some traditional Nintendo IPs (Mario Kart/Party and NSMBW should be HUGE) but little in the Zelda's, Brawl, or even SMG. Which is why Nintendo isn't rushing to push out more 2nd string IPs like Star Fox, F-Zero, Kirby, etc. They won't sell systems.

I seen people try to push the 'kiddie' label on Wii too but it's a hard sell when your Mom is using it. Which is why it's branded 'Casual' and been made uncool in gamer circles but Nintendo doesn't care about that because it's expanded audience doesn't pay any attention to what those 'game geeks' are saying.

Their were just not many reasons to get one. One game that really attracted non-Nintendo fans was Melee. A bit like Halo for the Xbox while PS2 had a lot more.

NGC and Wii have something in common, and it's the lack of proper 3rd party, but the difference is that Wii hugely appeals to the casuals while the gamecube didn't, which is why NGC ended third while the wii shot to number one.

It also helped that wii had the motion control gimmick which caused allot of none gamers to pay attention since it was something they never saw before, and this gimmick made allot of people buy one, It also helped that the casuals aren't necessary as picky as the core when it comes to games, so they tend to buy allot of the games, that core gamers don't necessary like.

This basically explains why the Wii did better than the gamecube, hope I helped ya out.

That's a good point, the GC did do very badly in Europe. But that makes games like Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros, Animal Crossing,  which have sold about the same as the GC versions in America, but have done substanially better than the GC versions in Europe interesting. Ex. Mario galaxy has sold about 200K more in America than Sunshine did, but in Europe Galaxy has doubled the sales of Sunshine. So does that mean for some reason European gamers like old Nintendo franchises more this gen for some reason?  Or is it they buy the Wii for the new Wii games (Wii Sports etc.) and then branch out onto old Nintendo franchises, which would explain why the same franchises weren't enough for European gamers to pick up a GC last gen.

Enthusiasm for Nintendo-type software was at a low ebb, and Nintendo trying to get experimental with a lot of their key franchises generally didn't help the franchise's popularity (except in Metroid Prime's case).

This question can be answered very easily. Look at the PAL sales for Halo 2, and then look at the PAL sales for Halo 3. You also see an increase. As the userbase increases, people new to the platform naturally look into and buy the biggest games, even if they're used to other series on a different platform. Mario is not only a big mascot for new gamers in Europe, but Super Mario Galaxy was also an incredibly good game, and it appealed to existing gamers as well.