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"Gamecube Dilemma: an observation"

Everybody was always quick to criticize Nintendo for their hesitation in changing game format from cartridge to disc. However, I think this too has its problems. Ok, my main problem: As discs are easier to manufacture, it appears that everyone wants to get in on the act. In the days of the SNES and N64, it was a very rare occurence that i would walk into a shop, and see a game that i had no knowledge of. Platforms such as Playstation however, had loads of games that seemingly were sneaked out. And often for good reason - the quality of them was very poor. What im really saying here, is that i hope that, even though Nintendo now use discs, we dont see the usual quality of game we are used to, disappear, and give way to lesser games.
Game players are a fickle bunch, but we must remember, it is quality, not quantity that matters.
What does everyone else think?

Funny, I thought all games on Xbox and PS2 were complete crap. Oh, apart from GTA3 and Halo. Which are exclusive.

When you see the price of the GC dvds you begin to realise the big difference most games are £33 - £35 and of course the problem with carts over the dvd format is that the carts use to take a long time to program + they where limited in space. There is clearly going to be a lot more ports for the Gc and a lot more new and exciting games. The problem is with games is that views on games are sujective one persom may think the game is rubbish another may thing its very good and when you see ome of the posts this is already happening.

There's also the fact that nothing's really changed.

The problem with GamePaks wasn't that they were expensive, but they were a propietry format owned by Nintendo and Nintendo could, and did, charge a commission on every one produced. This is what bumped up the prices, not the cost of the Paks.

Guess what the GameCube runs on? Propietry DVDs.

However, I don't think Nintendo will do the same thing this time. They learnt their lesson with the N64, I hope.

It's a good point. I used to own both a SNES and A N64, and only relatively recentley swayed towards the ways of Sony and the PS2... and having looked to catch up on a few back-catalogue classics from the PSone library, have found some of the most random dross ever to emerge from the gaming industry. I do quite like that though, it reminds me of my Amstrad CPC 464 days: you could stroll in WHSmith with 2 quid, and buy a game cassette on the basis of the picture on the cover.

But even though Nintendo have converted to discs, I don't think we'll see the same random-game-phenomenon... and that's mainly because Nintendo operate a much stricter quality control over their 3rd party developers. I suppose that's got both good and bad consequences.


Regardless of that, I still miss cartridges though. There's something so satisfying about a solidly-constructed heavy chunk of plastic that CDs and DVDs just can't match up to.

I agree entirely. I knew almost every N64 game, but there are so many games on the PS2 and PlayStation which I've never heard of, never seen before and most of all are incredibly crap.

Good post, although you should try to elaborate a bit more to be in with a chance to win Gameaday.

Everybody was always quick to criticize Nintendo for their hesitation in changing game format from cartridge to disc. However, I think this too has its problems. Ok, my main problem: As discs are easier to manufacture, it appears that everyone wants to get in on the act. In the days of the SNES and N64, it was a very rare occurence that i would walk into a shop, and see a game that i had no knowledge of. Platforms such as Playstation however, had loads of games that seemingly were sneaked out. And often for good reason - the quality of them was very poor. What im really saying here, is that i hope that, even though Nintendo now use discs, we dont see the usual quality of game we are used to, disappear, and give way to lesser games.
Game players are a fickle bunch, but we must remember, it is quality, not quantity that matters.
What does everyone else think?