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"MORE runours of Launch delays...."

The games industry's UK trade mag has once again shed doubt on the launch of the cube...

Basically it all comes down to "if it doesn't make it in March, we might have to wait till Septemeber"!?!??!?!

Now, before everyon has a riot saying "it's not true! It's just NOT true", I'd like to point out how many of Ninty's other products have been delayed, or even canned.

The N64 was delayed 3 times.
Zelda OTT was delayed by somethign like 7 months!
The 64DD was hyped to be the best thing ever... then launched very quietly in Japan only.

And now Ninty have missed an Xmas launch in Europe... shunning European gamers again???

Well, I doubt it is going to be delayed myslef... otherwise Ninty might as well miss Europe all together- after all, if Ninty's hardcore fans leave the cause, then the console will do shockingly!

Sonic

the success of the GC SHOULDN'T be dependant on its' launch, but much of its' success will, simply because first impressions do matter, and there are few games at launch which are going to make casual gamers think that the GC is anything more than the same style of 'kiddie' console the N64 was. The Xbox has huge marketting (500million somethings according to sonic) and the GC has much less. But image could be a problem for MS too. MS has that kind of 'geek' image due to Bill Gates, and them doing software, etc. and Ninty have the percieved 'kiddie' image. So Sony looks the favourite with casual gamers... (for the moment anyway)

Anyway, getting back to GC launch... I doubt they will delat it simply because they said a spring launch and they meant it. With GC they are trying to address problems they had (third party support, no more cartridges, easy to develop for) not repeat old problems that meant the N64 was nowhere near as successful as it could have been. Now I'm sure we will see some delays in GCs life, but I doubt this will be one of them. Ninty are going head to head with MS. They need to take every advantage available to them if they want to stand a chance in the face of Microsofts huge marketting budget, and big name endorsements.

Sorry, it was late so I basically skim-read the post. But the success of the GameCube shouldn't rely on it's launch! Many greater titles came out later for the N64, and the same will probably happen with the Cube. And what about the X-box, it's launch titles could be even greater than it's future releases, making it less than a success! Only time will tell.

Solskjaer_24 wrote:
> Why do we care about how much the X-box will cost, or how powerfull it is?? If
> it is gunna be released before the Cube, that doesn't mean it'll win in the
> markets or be any better!! We've gotta be confident, as we KNOW the Cube will be
> no.1! And nothing will stop it. Not even an overpowered, giant black box!


You seem to have ignored everything I've been saying about the fact the Ninty cannot possibly "be number one". They have a launch far weaker than it should be, a small marketting budget, and some huge competition. See my topic in Prime about "Ninty's bleak future" to see the whole problem with Ninty's strategy.


I
> also don't see how the Cube will be delayed any later than Spring, looking at
> the previous launch date. They owe us anyway, when they change the look of a
> great game like Zelda into something rediculous!! It'll all be worth the wait
> though.


Errrrr... but the N64 was delayed by over a year, Zelda OTT was delayed more than twice , and the 64DD... what happened with that!!!

Oh, and a delay would be consistant with:

1) Ninty not wanting to stretch demand and supplying Japan and the US before moving here

2) Ninty's hatred for European gamers.

Sonic

Why do we care about how much the X-box will cost, or how powerfull it is?? If it is gunna be released before the Cube, that doesn't mean it'll win in the markets or be any better!! We've gotta be confident, as we KNOW the Cube will be no.1! And nothing will stop it. Not even an overpowered, giant black box!

I also don't see how the Cube will be delayed any later than Spring, looking at the previous launch date. They owe us anyway, when they change the look of a great game like Zelda into something rediculous!! It'll all be worth the wait though.

===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> Well, the xbox has a marketting budget of 500million... possibly more than Ninty
> is worth!

Sonic

500million what? £s? $s?

Euros? ;-)

cxgasfd

(Tony_Blair just stares at this piece of news with a very blank and expressionless face)

Well, the xbox has a marketting budget of 500million... possibly more than Ninty is worth!

Sonic

more people know about Xbox simply beause it has all those new magazines here in the UK which are Xbox exclusives, and multi format ones cover it too. The GC has some mags too, but people just see 'another Nintendo mag' and don't pay any attention to the fact that it is about a new console.

Also, MS is the 'new kid on the block' and is therefore getting quite a lot of attention. And it has money to burn basically, so of course its gonna have a huge marketting budget compared to GC. But if anything, this should make Ninty get the console out faster, they'll want to stop MS before they get momentum going, and take some of the thunder out of their launch.

Or†ega wrote:
> Thing is, Microsoft have a much larger marketing budget for thier console...and
> so The Gamecube could be left in its shadow.

Stupid as it may sound, some
> people still dont know what a gamecube is.

Well my brother didn't even know what an X Box is until he saw me writing the words the other day