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Nintendo's share price is falling faster than a leaf in autumn. Why? The industry is pointing the finger at the poor sales of the Gamecube, citing all the surplus stock sitting on the warehouse shelves.
Nintendo are a big company, of course, but they are pretty worried about the fairly hefty fall in their company's profits by about 37 percent. Even their usual fallback on the handheld market is now being threatened by Sony's new handheld Playstation, currently being readied for release over the next year, and their Pokemon franchise, which is slowing down of late.
The news is that they want to ditch the Cube and try again, but doing this would drastically affect their company image. This was a company founded on trust, when they took back faulty NES consoles without arguement and replaced them with new ones in Japan it made their sales jump through the roof.
Whatever way they decide to stay afloat, it looks bad for the true gamers who were hoping and believing that there could be room for 3 consoles in the market. E3 showed that some companies are cutting back again on their Gamecube titles, despite earlier efforts from Nintendo to gain support from big players like EA Games. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Nintendo are a big company, of course, but they are pretty worried about the fairly hefty fall in their company's profits by about 37 percent. Even their usual fallback on the handheld market is now being threatened by Sony's new handheld Playstation, currently being readied for release over the next year, and their Pokemon franchise, which is slowing down of late.
The news is that they want to ditch the Cube and try again, but doing this would drastically affect their company image. This was a company founded on trust, when they took back faulty NES consoles without arguement and replaced them with new ones in Japan it made their sales jump through the roof.
Whatever way they decide to stay afloat, it looks bad for the true gamers who were hoping and believing that there could be room for 3 consoles in the market. E3 showed that some companies are cutting back again on their Gamecube titles, despite earlier efforts from Nintendo to gain support from big players like EA Games. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
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Gamecube's Disc's positive points outway the negatives by a long long way.
I already told you: smaller discs = less loading time
I don't think the discs and compression are a big hassle, it costs about 1 or 2 million to make a game, a slightly different format isn't going to put developers off from making money from a GC exclusive game or a multiformat game.
The discs seem to be part of Nintendo's heavy anti piracy stance, this would account for their 'wait and see' attitude towards a harddisk since games could be ripped to a harddrive.
The GC could possibly be 'entry level' as we have no idea what upgrades Nintendo have up their sleeve. The expansion pack for N64 was their first properly successful expansion, it extended the consoles life a great deal.
Nintendo always make their machines with expansion in mind (hence all the extra bits on the NES, SNES, N64 and GC. They used this well with the NES in Japan.
It'll be interesting to see what they have for the GC.
I don't think the discs and compression are a big hassle, it costs about 1 or 2 million to make a game, a slightly different format isn't going to put developers off from making money from a GC exclusive game or a multiformat game.
The discs seem to be part of Nintendo's heavy anti piracy stance, this would account for their 'wait and see' attitude towards a harddisk since games could be ripped to a harddrive.
The GC could possibly be 'entry level' as we have no idea what upgrades Nintendo have up their sleeve. The expansion pack for N64 was their first properly successful expansion, it extended the consoles life a great deal.
Nintendo always make their machines with expansion in mind (hence all the extra bits on the NES, SNES, N64 and GC. They used this well with the NES in Japan.
It'll be interesting to see what they have for the GC.
Hedfix wrote:
> Updated wrote:
> FMV right or wrong. Doesn't matter. It's here to stay. Developers
> will
> push even more of it into games in the future. It will also get more
> difficult to see the difference between FMV and gameplay. That's
> just
> the way it's gong to be. And with less disc capacity, GC will loose
> out the most.
>
> Nintendo are masters of compression. I heard a rumour that Zelda 64
> was so compressed it took up very little space (I heard 4mb but I
> don't believe this). GC discs have plenty of space. Double disc games
> aren't difficult for the GC to do either.
Back to compression and multi-disc games. Both are extra hassle for developers - might put them off. Compressing bitmap images often reduces quality too. Might notice digital compressed side effects like fast moving objects going "blocky". As for multi-disc games - that's one of the main advantages of the dvd format - more capacity. It's not like GC came out before DVD - it came out after dvd. So why didn't Nintendo use it?
> Updated wrote:
> FMV right or wrong. Doesn't matter. It's here to stay. Developers
> will
> push even more of it into games in the future. It will also get more
> difficult to see the difference between FMV and gameplay. That's
> just
> the way it's gong to be. And with less disc capacity, GC will loose
> out the most.
>
> Nintendo are masters of compression. I heard a rumour that Zelda 64
> was so compressed it took up very little space (I heard 4mb but I
> don't believe this). GC discs have plenty of space. Double disc games
> aren't difficult for the GC to do either.
Back to compression and multi-disc games. Both are extra hassle for developers - might put them off. Compressing bitmap images often reduces quality too. Might notice digital compressed side effects like fast moving objects going "blocky". As for multi-disc games - that's one of the main advantages of the dvd format - more capacity. It's not like GC came out before DVD - it came out after dvd. So why didn't Nintendo use it?
> Updated wrote:
>
> N64 was a wired controller - but had batteries. Sony's original
> Rumble
> handset got power from the console.
>
Your overlooking something. The Rumble on the official N64 rumble pack was really forceful and good. The playsation controller rumble was like one of those little pets toys that shake in your hand - it was crap. It also made a noise like a dying clock.
Also if you didn't want decent, battery powered, rumble, you could buy a third party rumble which did run of the controller free of batteries.
>
> N64 was a wired controller - but had batteries. Sony's original
> Rumble
> handset got power from the console.
>
Your overlooking something. The Rumble on the official N64 rumble pack was really forceful and good. The playsation controller rumble was like one of those little pets toys that shake in your hand - it was crap. It also made a noise like a dying clock.
Also if you didn't want decent, battery powered, rumble, you could buy a third party rumble which did run of the controller free of batteries.
Updated wrote:
> FMV right or wrong. Doesn't matter. It's here to stay. Developers will
> push even more of it into games in the future. It will also get more
> difficult to see the difference between FMV and gameplay. That's just
> the way it's gong to be. And with less disc capacity, GC will loose
> out the most.
Nintendo are masters of compression. I heard a rumour that Zelda 64 was so compressed it took up very little space (I heard 4mb but I don't believe this). GC discs have plenty of space. Double disc games aren't difficult for the GC to do either.
> FMV right or wrong. Doesn't matter. It's here to stay. Developers will
> push even more of it into games in the future. It will also get more
> difficult to see the difference between FMV and gameplay. That's just
> the way it's gong to be. And with less disc capacity, GC will loose
> out the most.
Nintendo are masters of compression. I heard a rumour that Zelda 64 was so compressed it took up very little space (I heard 4mb but I don't believe this). GC discs have plenty of space. Double disc games aren't difficult for the GC to do either.
Sega dropped the Dreamcast because they were in dire demand of cutting back or losing the company altogether. Nintendo certainly have a long way to go before that happens and won't be getting out of the console market anytime soon.
What this does mean, though, is that they have to be careful and start thinking about proper strategies for selling more units and software. Advertising has been huge for Zelda and the GBA, as well as adverts for the Gamecube when it was first released. These were shown often, but the killer blow wasn't struck.
It wasn't the amount of advertising they were doing, but the type and the fact that Sony had a way of looking like the 'cool' console by word of mouth and sponsorship.
Those who have a Gamecube know how good it is, in fact all three consoles have their respective strengths and each do their own thing in the market. The problem is that the financial market does not recognise what people like, merely good and bad news that affects share prices and, over time, profit and loss.
Nintendo aren't going to disappear anytime soon, nor will their hardware. Even if they decided (as analysts suggested) to drop the cube, it would be over a longer period of time. Given that the new consoles are scheduled in for 2 or 3 years time, this isn't a big thing in itself. What Nintendo need to be careful of, as with any other public company, is that it makes enough profit to keep shareholders happy and keep its lucrative connections with partners.
What this does mean, though, is that they have to be careful and start thinking about proper strategies for selling more units and software. Advertising has been huge for Zelda and the GBA, as well as adverts for the Gamecube when it was first released. These were shown often, but the killer blow wasn't struck.
It wasn't the amount of advertising they were doing, but the type and the fact that Sony had a way of looking like the 'cool' console by word of mouth and sponsorship.
Those who have a Gamecube know how good it is, in fact all three consoles have their respective strengths and each do their own thing in the market. The problem is that the financial market does not recognise what people like, merely good and bad news that affects share prices and, over time, profit and loss.
Nintendo aren't going to disappear anytime soon, nor will their hardware. Even if they decided (as analysts suggested) to drop the cube, it would be over a longer period of time. Given that the new consoles are scheduled in for 2 or 3 years time, this isn't a big thing in itself. What Nintendo need to be careful of, as with any other public company, is that it makes enough profit to keep shareholders happy and keep its lucrative connections with partners.
New franchises! YES! Just like i asked for! I would also like the Nintendo to earn me money and get me my education...worth a try
Taken from cube-europe.com
"Talking to the press in Kyoto this morning Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata spoke on many issues.
On the subject of Nintendo's next generation of hardware he said that they are willing to invest $6 billion into the development of both the console and portable hardware. He plans to make the next console "...the greatest gaming machines ever.”
He also spoke about characters and franchises and stated that he plans to introduce new franchises and they are hoping that this will reach the success of Mario and Pokémon. He stated that there is heavy development towards these new franchises at present."
Sounds pretty promising to me, certainly doesn't sound like a company who are about to drop their main console or will anytime in the future.
"Talking to the press in Kyoto this morning Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata spoke on many issues.
On the subject of Nintendo's next generation of hardware he said that they are willing to invest $6 billion into the development of both the console and portable hardware. He plans to make the next console "...the greatest gaming machines ever.”
He also spoke about characters and franchises and stated that he plans to introduce new franchises and they are hoping that this will reach the success of Mario and Pokémon. He stated that there is heavy development towards these new franchises at present."
Sounds pretty promising to me, certainly doesn't sound like a company who are about to drop their main console or will anytime in the future.
Despite still being at their lowest price for a very long while, Nintendo shares seem to have picked up a little since the news of their new bundle.
The US Gamecube has been released in a bundle for the same price as the Cube alone, with the big news being that Nintendo have released a playable demo disc for the first time, ever! The package contains this and either a gameboy advance station, the piece of equipment that goes under the cube and allows you to play advance games on the TV, or a free game, including Zelda.
The share price tends to fluctuate towards an upward trend until the end of the week, but it still has a long way to go yet, as do many asian firms.
The US Gamecube has been released in a bundle for the same price as the Cube alone, with the big news being that Nintendo have released a playable demo disc for the first time, ever! The package contains this and either a gameboy advance station, the piece of equipment that goes under the cube and allows you to play advance games on the TV, or a free game, including Zelda.
The share price tends to fluctuate towards an upward trend until the end of the week, but it still has a long way to go yet, as do many asian firms.
TGMbloke wrote:
> Alter Ego wrote:
> Asda homebrand lol! Highly amusing stuff.
>
> Ok...bad example, but you get the point :)
lol yeah i do, and i did generally find that highly amusing.
> Alter Ego wrote:
> Asda homebrand lol! Highly amusing stuff.
>
> Ok...bad example, but you get the point :)
lol yeah i do, and i did generally find that highly amusing.
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