The W - Video Games - Nintendo hits number one ... and apparently hires their cartoonists from the New Yorker This thread has 5 referrals leading to it
Combines with Game Boy Advance to Sell More Than 1 Million Systems During Thanksgiving Week
After rocketing up the charts the past several weeks, the Nintendo GameCube has now reached No. 1 - it's America's top-selling home video game console, according to direct sales data from the nation's leading retailers. Nintendo GameCube sold more than half a million systems to consumers during Thanksgiving week, easily surpassing its console competitors. Among all game devices, it trailed only Nintendo's portable Game Boy Advance, which sold almost 600,000 units to U.S. buyers during the week.
"All along, our business plan for this year was to maximize consumer interest and sales during the fourth quarter," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "But frankly, we're overwhelmed by how successful we've been. Our price cut of Nintendo GameCube has ignited sales to the degree that it may turn out to be the best-selling console for the entire month of November. We're tracking to sell more systems in the last eight weeks of the year than we did in the previous 10 months combined."
Nintendo GameCube went from No. 3 to No. 1 in just two months, evidence that the Sept. 25 price drop to an MSRP of $99.99 and the hot new games were just what the public wanted. The library of games available for Nintendo GameCube now stands at more than 320, including America's current hottest game, Mario Kart: Double Dash exclusively for Nintendo GameCube, role-playing and sports games, Pokémon titles for younger players and action and racing games for adults.
Numerous new and upcoming releases that will keep the momentum going include 1080°: Avalanche, a shred-'em-up snowboarding game; Mario Party 5, the ultimate party game; F-Zero GX, the fastest racing game on the market; Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, a golf game that appeals equally to novices and experts; Pokémon Channel, the first-ever Pokémon game available for Nintendo GameCube; and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, an upcoming role-playing game that continues the hit franchise.
Kudos to Nintendo, as I think they have done quite a lot right in the past few months...but to burst their bubble a little bit.
-The $99 price drop is very nice, but aren't they losing money at that price? Sony and Microsoft are losing money at $179 and I can't imagine that the GC is too much cheaper to make. That means what is really important is how many first party games and accessories are ending up under christmas trees as well.
-Could the reason Sony has slipped be because of the ridiculously high installed base? Parents have had 3 christmas's in which they have clearly chosen the PS2 over the other systems. If a goodly # of kids (and adult gamers) already have one system, their is no reason to buy more of the same. When all is said and done, I think it will be the amount of games sold, not systems that really determines the winner this season.
I'm sure a lot of it is second and third system purchasing, but look at what that means:
These people are probably going to be buying Nintendo brand exclusives, because they already have everything else.
That can only be a good thing for Nintendo. Sure, they are late to the market, but instead of spending 50% of their GC money on Nintendo properties, it's more likely to be 90-100%.
This can only help the Mario line of games.
I don't think this will help GC sales of anything that is available on other systems, though.
Willful ignorance of science is not commendable. Refusing to learn the difference between a credible source and a shill is criminally stupid.
Originally posted by astrobstrdThe $99 price drop is very nice, but aren't they losing money at that price? Sony and Microsoft are losing money at $179 and I can't imagine that the GC is too much cheaper to make.
At the original retail price, Nintendo was actually making a slight profit on the sale of the consoles. At $99, they're losing money but probably not nearly as much as Sony and definitely nowhere near as much as Microsoft.
I'm not sure about Sony but Nintendo's advantage over M$ is that they manufacture all of their own hardware. GameCube was the very first console system that Nintendo *didn't* sell for a loss, hardware wise.
I think it's safe to say that people are likely going to buy at least 2 GCN games if they buy the system and that probably makes up for almost all, if not all, of the loss on the system.
Another possibility on Sony's drop is the fact that most of their really good games (GTA3/VC in particular) are now or nearly available for X-Box, so anybody that was undecided about which system to go with will likely go with X-Box, seeing as how it's the superior system hardware-wise.
I have to say first that this next month is gonna kick my wallet's proverbial ass in terms of games and systems, so I wonder how the rest of you feel. PS4- Horizon on Feb 28. I've read two glowing reviews so far online, so I'm intrigued.
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