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If you can buy something for £5 and sell it for £15, you can make money. Of course, to be able to do this constantly and to a significant degree, you need to have a decent amount of business sense.
Publishers and Developers, in the dog-eat-dog world that is the videogames industry, need to have quite a good head for business... Why? Because otherwise their game would flop. Period.
If you were a games publisher and you had the choice to release your 'Mickey Mouse' Platformer on any of the Next-Generation consoles, which one would it be?
X-Box? I hardly think so - not with the consoles target market.
The only real two contenders are Playstation 2 and GameCube. Why? Because the GameCube's audience is predominantly under 18, and the PlayStation 2 has the biggest installed user-base. But hold on... Look at ALL the games for PS2... there are literally hundreds. I've no doubt that the next issue of SR's magazine will use up more than one page for the PS2 game list. The competition is so stiff, and whats more there are a number of AAA titles waiting to eat your game alive! To be honest, if you want your game to do well on PS2, you'll have to make it a damn good game!!
Now, if it were to be released on GameCube, there wouldn't be as much competition. Sure there are a handful of kiddie titles to compete with, but the competition is still of a lesser quantity! But err... just because there isn't as much competition, doesn't mean to say you have a higher chance of scoring sales. Sure, the PS2 has a bigger library, but there are far bigger dogs in the GameCube yard - Mario, Zelda, StarFox, Resident Evil, Metroid, Luigi, PIKMIN, Wave Race, Sonic!! And that's just within a year or release (...In Japan, at least).
Naturally, you'd release your game for PS2. Why? Because of the user-base... added to which, the quality average of each game on PS2 is lower than that of GameCube's - It's a fact that Nintendo consoles sport better games of a much higher quality. Bascially your game wouldn't need to be as good if you're releasing it on PS2 as it would if you were releasing it on GameCube. (I'm not saying there are no AAA PS2 games, i'm not that stupid.)
Developers know that releasing games for PS2 gives them a better chance of attaining high sales figures for the game due to the reasons given above, and so they release their game for PS2.
AND I'M SO GLAD THEY DO!!
Why? Because if they didn't, they'd turn on GameCube and lower the quality of the games! There'd be as many games for GameCube as there are grains of salt in the sea! Sure, there'd still be Mario and Zelda, StarFox and Metorid, but I wouldn't be surprised if the quality dropped slightly, purely because the competition was so lacklustre!
Mario and Zelda will never die... nor will Nintendo. This is because Nintendo does just enough with their home consoles to get by. The GameBoy Advance has made Nintendo BUCKET LOADS since it's launch last year, Pokémon did the same the year before... Nintendo don't just rely on GameCube, they've got loads of other ways they make their bread, and boy do they bake truck loads!
If all these third party titles hit GameCube like they do PS2, it'd ruin the whole console and the concepts behind Nintendo's morals. PlayStation 2 can have the top spot so developers and publishers are lured away from releasing their filth on GameCube, because I know Nintendo do more than enough to get by and because they do, the games I love will be around for ages!
So here's to you Mr. Sony, a lovely Gold medal... and remember to keep it shiny sunshine, so you keep attracting those sparkly-eyed developers and so we get any of your filth, got it?!
Game: Happy With The Untainted Silver Medal! (Or Bronze... either way, I don't mind!)
Publishers and Developers, in the dog-eat-dog world that is the videogames industry, need to have quite a good head for business... Why? Because otherwise their game would flop. Period.
If you were a games publisher and you had the choice to release your 'Mickey Mouse' Platformer on any of the Next-Generation consoles, which one would it be?
X-Box? I hardly think so - not with the consoles target market.
The only real two contenders are Playstation 2 and GameCube. Why? Because the GameCube's audience is predominantly under 18, and the PlayStation 2 has the biggest installed user-base. But hold on... Look at ALL the games for PS2... there are literally hundreds. I've no doubt that the next issue of SR's magazine will use up more than one page for the PS2 game list. The competition is so stiff, and whats more there are a number of AAA titles waiting to eat your game alive! To be honest, if you want your game to do well on PS2, you'll have to make it a damn good game!!
Now, if it were to be released on GameCube, there wouldn't be as much competition. Sure there are a handful of kiddie titles to compete with, but the competition is still of a lesser quantity! But err... just because there isn't as much competition, doesn't mean to say you have a higher chance of scoring sales. Sure, the PS2 has a bigger library, but there are far bigger dogs in the GameCube yard - Mario, Zelda, StarFox, Resident Evil, Metroid, Luigi, PIKMIN, Wave Race, Sonic!! And that's just within a year or release (...In Japan, at least).
Naturally, you'd release your game for PS2. Why? Because of the user-base... added to which, the quality average of each game on PS2 is lower than that of GameCube's - It's a fact that Nintendo consoles sport better games of a much higher quality. Bascially your game wouldn't need to be as good if you're releasing it on PS2 as it would if you were releasing it on GameCube. (I'm not saying there are no AAA PS2 games, i'm not that stupid.)
Developers know that releasing games for PS2 gives them a better chance of attaining high sales figures for the game due to the reasons given above, and so they release their game for PS2.
AND I'M SO GLAD THEY DO!!
Why? Because if they didn't, they'd turn on GameCube and lower the quality of the games! There'd be as many games for GameCube as there are grains of salt in the sea! Sure, there'd still be Mario and Zelda, StarFox and Metorid, but I wouldn't be surprised if the quality dropped slightly, purely because the competition was so lacklustre!
Mario and Zelda will never die... nor will Nintendo. This is because Nintendo does just enough with their home consoles to get by. The GameBoy Advance has made Nintendo BUCKET LOADS since it's launch last year, Pokémon did the same the year before... Nintendo don't just rely on GameCube, they've got loads of other ways they make their bread, and boy do they bake truck loads!
If all these third party titles hit GameCube like they do PS2, it'd ruin the whole console and the concepts behind Nintendo's morals. PlayStation 2 can have the top spot so developers and publishers are lured away from releasing their filth on GameCube, because I know Nintendo do more than enough to get by and because they do, the games I love will be around for ages!
So here's to you Mr. Sony, a lovely Gold medal... and remember to keep it shiny sunshine, so you keep attracting those sparkly-eyed developers and so we get any of your filth, got it?!
Game: Happy With The Untainted Silver Medal! (Or Bronze... either way, I don't mind!)
Page:
Considering only 500,000 Gamecubes are gonna be shipped for Launch day (thats for the WHOLE of europe) its gonna be a bit tough getting one if you didnt pre-order early.
I haven't seen a Cube ad... I don't watch TV much, mind.
Thats just what shops say to cover themselves in case they run out, the same as "all offers subject to availability".
20 Titles at Launch and 50 promised by the summer is more than enough isnt it?
Nice to see Gamecube adverts already on TV. On during half time of the Leeds game on Sky sports. Although no-one can actually guarentee you a Gamecube on Launch day can they?
Nice to see Gamecube adverts already on TV. On during half time of the Leeds game on Sky sports. Although no-one can actually guarentee you a Gamecube on Launch day can they?
How you can say that the Gamecubes games are going to be that good before they've actually been released is beyond me....undoubtedly many will be ace but I'd rahter wait til they're actually out.
Sony has got a lot of bad titles, but the line up for the Gamecube looks like containing more than few poor calibre titles....Bear in the big blue house, Donald Duck, Taz, and also more than a few of Sony's okay but not excellent games like Crazy Taxi and Max Payne. Its debatable as to what audience Sony and Nintendo are targeting - I think they'd just rather like people to buy the things ! The age group that spends the most, and regularly is the 18-27 group. These are the people that will buy games on or near release and keep doing so, not the children relying on parents to buy the games every so often. The games industry has always been about money first, then everything else.
AAA titles like Starfox (if it is AAA) are all very well and good but AAA does not guarantee a success, people have to want the game. Make them want it and its unimportant as to the quality as long as its bearable - witness the success of Hooligan and SOE on the PC and PS2 respectively. That 18-27 market can relate to a game about rioting or crime, but how do you sell them cute characters. Sure, experienced gamers know theres more to Nintendo than that, but to the first time gamer or those without experience of Nintendo games, those games will look less appealing. Tehy want ot drive fast cars, kill the bad guys, fly planes and generally have a fun, fast, maybe violent, time. In addition many gmaers hate so called AAA titels anyway, andlike games that didn't get good ratings - like Space Channel 5 and Ace Combat 4 on the PS2.
You cannot just say a large back catalogue equals rubbish and that a small catalogue equals quality because it doesn't. The Dreamcast had a (compared to PSone) small catalogue, yet up until its demise, ahd far fewer quality titles. Gamers want choice as well as quality, and its dangerous to rely on a select few games with no backup titles - we don't all like Mario ! Rogue Leader looks tempting though.....:)
Sony has got a lot of bad titles, but the line up for the Gamecube looks like containing more than few poor calibre titles....Bear in the big blue house, Donald Duck, Taz, and also more than a few of Sony's okay but not excellent games like Crazy Taxi and Max Payne. Its debatable as to what audience Sony and Nintendo are targeting - I think they'd just rather like people to buy the things ! The age group that spends the most, and regularly is the 18-27 group. These are the people that will buy games on or near release and keep doing so, not the children relying on parents to buy the games every so often. The games industry has always been about money first, then everything else.
AAA titles like Starfox (if it is AAA) are all very well and good but AAA does not guarantee a success, people have to want the game. Make them want it and its unimportant as to the quality as long as its bearable - witness the success of Hooligan and SOE on the PC and PS2 respectively. That 18-27 market can relate to a game about rioting or crime, but how do you sell them cute characters. Sure, experienced gamers know theres more to Nintendo than that, but to the first time gamer or those without experience of Nintendo games, those games will look less appealing. Tehy want ot drive fast cars, kill the bad guys, fly planes and generally have a fun, fast, maybe violent, time. In addition many gmaers hate so called AAA titels anyway, andlike games that didn't get good ratings - like Space Channel 5 and Ace Combat 4 on the PS2.
You cannot just say a large back catalogue equals rubbish and that a small catalogue equals quality because it doesn't. The Dreamcast had a (compared to PSone) small catalogue, yet up until its demise, ahd far fewer quality titles. Gamers want choice as well as quality, and its dangerous to rely on a select few games with no backup titles - we don't all like Mario ! Rogue Leader looks tempting though.....:)
If you can buy something for £5 and sell it for £15, you can make money. Of course, to be able to do this constantly and to a significant degree, you need to have a decent amount of business sense.
Publishers and Developers, in the dog-eat-dog world that is the videogames industry, need to have quite a good head for business... Why? Because otherwise their game would flop. Period.
If you were a games publisher and you had the choice to release your 'Mickey Mouse' Platformer on any of the Next-Generation consoles, which one would it be?
X-Box? I hardly think so - not with the consoles target market.
The only real two contenders are Playstation 2 and GameCube. Why? Because the GameCube's audience is predominantly under 18, and the PlayStation 2 has the biggest installed user-base. But hold on... Look at ALL the games for PS2... there are literally hundreds. I've no doubt that the next issue of SR's magazine will use up more than one page for the PS2 game list. The competition is so stiff, and whats more there are a number of AAA titles waiting to eat your game alive! To be honest, if you want your game to do well on PS2, you'll have to make it a damn good game!!
Now, if it were to be released on GameCube, there wouldn't be as much competition. Sure there are a handful of kiddie titles to compete with, but the competition is still of a lesser quantity! But err... just because there isn't as much competition, doesn't mean to say you have a higher chance of scoring sales. Sure, the PS2 has a bigger library, but there are far bigger dogs in the GameCube yard - Mario, Zelda, StarFox, Resident Evil, Metroid, Luigi, PIKMIN, Wave Race, Sonic!! And that's just within a year or release (...In Japan, at least).
Naturally, you'd release your game for PS2. Why? Because of the user-base... added to which, the quality average of each game on PS2 is lower than that of GameCube's - It's a fact that Nintendo consoles sport better games of a much higher quality. Bascially your game wouldn't need to be as good if you're releasing it on PS2 as it would if you were releasing it on GameCube. (I'm not saying there are no AAA PS2 games, i'm not that stupid.)
Developers know that releasing games for PS2 gives them a better chance of attaining high sales figures for the game due to the reasons given above, and so they release their game for PS2.
AND I'M SO GLAD THEY DO!!
Why? Because if they didn't, they'd turn on GameCube and lower the quality of the games! There'd be as many games for GameCube as there are grains of salt in the sea! Sure, there'd still be Mario and Zelda, StarFox and Metorid, but I wouldn't be surprised if the quality dropped slightly, purely because the competition was so lacklustre!
Mario and Zelda will never die... nor will Nintendo. This is because Nintendo does just enough with their home consoles to get by. The GameBoy Advance has made Nintendo BUCKET LOADS since it's launch last year, Pokémon did the same the year before... Nintendo don't just rely on GameCube, they've got loads of other ways they make their bread, and boy do they bake truck loads!
If all these third party titles hit GameCube like they do PS2, it'd ruin the whole console and the concepts behind Nintendo's morals. PlayStation 2 can have the top spot so developers and publishers are lured away from releasing their filth on GameCube, because I know Nintendo do more than enough to get by and because they do, the games I love will be around for ages!
So here's to you Mr. Sony, a lovely Gold medal... and remember to keep it shiny sunshine, so you keep attracting those sparkly-eyed developers and so we get any of your filth, got it?!
Game: Happy With The Untainted Silver Medal! (Or Bronze... either way, I don't mind!)
Publishers and Developers, in the dog-eat-dog world that is the videogames industry, need to have quite a good head for business... Why? Because otherwise their game would flop. Period.
If you were a games publisher and you had the choice to release your 'Mickey Mouse' Platformer on any of the Next-Generation consoles, which one would it be?
X-Box? I hardly think so - not with the consoles target market.
The only real two contenders are Playstation 2 and GameCube. Why? Because the GameCube's audience is predominantly under 18, and the PlayStation 2 has the biggest installed user-base. But hold on... Look at ALL the games for PS2... there are literally hundreds. I've no doubt that the next issue of SR's magazine will use up more than one page for the PS2 game list. The competition is so stiff, and whats more there are a number of AAA titles waiting to eat your game alive! To be honest, if you want your game to do well on PS2, you'll have to make it a damn good game!!
Now, if it were to be released on GameCube, there wouldn't be as much competition. Sure there are a handful of kiddie titles to compete with, but the competition is still of a lesser quantity! But err... just because there isn't as much competition, doesn't mean to say you have a higher chance of scoring sales. Sure, the PS2 has a bigger library, but there are far bigger dogs in the GameCube yard - Mario, Zelda, StarFox, Resident Evil, Metroid, Luigi, PIKMIN, Wave Race, Sonic!! And that's just within a year or release (...In Japan, at least).
Naturally, you'd release your game for PS2. Why? Because of the user-base... added to which, the quality average of each game on PS2 is lower than that of GameCube's - It's a fact that Nintendo consoles sport better games of a much higher quality. Bascially your game wouldn't need to be as good if you're releasing it on PS2 as it would if you were releasing it on GameCube. (I'm not saying there are no AAA PS2 games, i'm not that stupid.)
Developers know that releasing games for PS2 gives them a better chance of attaining high sales figures for the game due to the reasons given above, and so they release their game for PS2.
AND I'M SO GLAD THEY DO!!
Why? Because if they didn't, they'd turn on GameCube and lower the quality of the games! There'd be as many games for GameCube as there are grains of salt in the sea! Sure, there'd still be Mario and Zelda, StarFox and Metorid, but I wouldn't be surprised if the quality dropped slightly, purely because the competition was so lacklustre!
Mario and Zelda will never die... nor will Nintendo. This is because Nintendo does just enough with their home consoles to get by. The GameBoy Advance has made Nintendo BUCKET LOADS since it's launch last year, Pokémon did the same the year before... Nintendo don't just rely on GameCube, they've got loads of other ways they make their bread, and boy do they bake truck loads!
If all these third party titles hit GameCube like they do PS2, it'd ruin the whole console and the concepts behind Nintendo's morals. PlayStation 2 can have the top spot so developers and publishers are lured away from releasing their filth on GameCube, because I know Nintendo do more than enough to get by and because they do, the games I love will be around for ages!
So here's to you Mr. Sony, a lovely Gold medal... and remember to keep it shiny sunshine, so you keep attracting those sparkly-eyed developers and so we get any of your filth, got it?!
Game: Happy With The Untainted Silver Medal! (Or Bronze... either way, I don't mind!)
Page: