Gamecube Delayed

[IrishSS]

From Ebworld.com -

Nintendo of America today announced it will increase U.S. shipments of its innovative Nintendo GameCube home video game console to 700,000 systems, and deliver them to store shelves on Sunday, November 18th, directly in advance of the key Thanksgiving shopping week. In addition, continuing flow of Nintendo GameCube hardware will push total North American shipments to 1.1 million units by December 31.

At a news conference in advance of the Nintendo SpaceWorld video game exhibition, Nintendo also announced that five exclusive first- and second-party games and 12 independent third-party games are scheduled for U.S. launch this year to meet the game play appetites of all video gamers. The scheduled exclusive title releases are:



Luigi's Mansion November 18 (street date)
Wave Race: Blue Storm November 18 (street date)
Pikmin November 19 (ship date)
Super Smash Bros. Melee December 3 (ship date)
Eternal Darkness December 3 (ship date)

These Nintendo-developed hits will be joined by proven franchises and groundbreaking new games from among the world's best third-party publishers. Those scheduled for release in North America this year include:


All Star Baseball 2002 (Acclaim)
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 (Acclaim)
Extreme G3 (Acclaim)
NFL Quarterback Club 2002 (Acclaim)
Crazy Taxi (Acclaim)
FIFA Soccer 2002 (Electronic Arts)
Madden NFL 2002 (Electronic Arts)
SSX Tricky (Electronics Arts)
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (LucasArts)
NFL Blitz (Midway)
NHL Hitz (Midway)
Super Monkey Ball (Sega)

Nintendo also announced that eagerly anticipated titles NBA Courtside 2002 will debut in January 2002, followed by Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet, from Rare Ltd., in the first quarter 2002. They will be joined by other blockbuster 2002 Nintendo GameCube titles The Legend of Zelda and Mario Sunshine later next year.

In addition, Nintendo unveiled new forms of connectivity between Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance. By linking the two systems, the Game Boy Advance can be used as more than a controller. For instance, players can transfer a character trained on Nintendo GameCube to Game Boy Advance to continue gameplay while away from home. Or, transport characters or items via Game Boy Advance to trade with friends. And, with innovative technology such as “tilt control,” players can maneuver a character just by tilting a Game Boy Advance controller. Nintendo expects to introduce the first Nintendo GameCube title to take advantage of the Game Boy Advance connectivity later this year in Japan and in 2002 for North America.

“Our industry has learned the dangers of arriving at a launch party without enough gifts,” explains Peter Main, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Nintendo of America Inc. “By increasing our day one shipments to almost three-quarters of a million, we not only should come close to meeting total demand at launch, but also assure a virtually uninterrupted restocking through the holiday season.”

“We strongly applaud Nintendo's move to reduce the anxiety of customers who can't find the video game products they want,” says Wayne Yodzio, vice president, Divisional Merchandise Manager, Toys R Us, Inc. “While there is still no guarantee supplies will fully meet demand, at least we can promise them we'll effectively be restocking Nintendo's new console on a constant basis through the holiday and beyond.”

Nintendo GameCube remains on track to launch in Japan on September 14, 2001, and in Europe in early 2002.

Nintendo GameCube, the most efficiently designed home video game system in history, will initially be available in two console colors, Indigo and Jet Black. In addition, at launch consumers will be able to separately purchase: additional controllers in four colors, Indigo, Indigo/transparent configuration, Jet Black, and Spice (orange); memory cards; Nintendo Power Player Guides, and other accessories.

The integrated architecture of Nintendo GameCube’s processing and graphical chips, memory and controller offers the easiest development environment to date for game creators. Coupled with the exclusive game creations of the world's most successful first and second-party design teams, and connected in unprecedented ways with Nintendo's handheld Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube delivers all-new forms of interactive fun.

[M_A_C]

I'm not impressed at all by these new movies.

http://cube.ign.com/news/37665.html

I start first with mario...

1. It looks like a Sonic Adventure clone.

2. Those textures look like ass.

3. What the heck is on his back!?!

Now for Zelda, talk about little kiddy?!? I mean I have been waiting for this:



Instead I get THIS:



The way those bad guys fell off the cliff like a road runner cartoon, ugh. This just proves that this system is going to be geared towards little kids... I think I'm going to cry...

[ProMinx]

God bless the delay. Good luck Bill Gates; my gaming trust lies in you.

ProMinx

[M_A_C]

I think I'm going to stick with PS2 for a now, and wait to see if X-Box or Gamecube can do anything worth while. I have a feeling like the x-box is gonna choke...

[IrishSS]

Man o man... what have they done with my Zelda? That looks absolutely awful. Very disappointing. Mario doesnt look all bad to me, but, again, wtf is that thing on his back?

[coleslaw]

It looks like a jet-pack or something like that.

Zelda looks like some kind of souped-up anime character!


hmm, PS2 has Rugby 2002 now... decisions decisions!

[gwilks98]

When I worked at Sears, they used to tell us that the majority of people buying video games these days are the Gen-X'ers aged 20-30. I don't know how accurate those facts are, but does Nintendo have a clue? I decided not to buy N64 when I saw that annoying Frog or whatever the hell it was in Star Fox. They had 165 buttons on one controller, but they aim their games at 6 year olds.

I'll stick with my Tekken 3 and my MGS. Sony hasn't let me down yet.

[apmiller]

Nintendo has always marketed their stuff to the 5-15 age group and to Families wanting to have fun. Nintendo has never had an intrest in selling to the older gamers. They do say they don't want to leave them out, they will through out a game here and there for the old group. They believe gaming can be fun without the gore.

As a father of two girls I'm glad I can trust Nintendo.

As a long time gamer I'm glad there are Playstation's and Dreamcast's and PC's for after all I love my action!

[gwilks98]

I completely understand you, apmiller. But to counterpoint, remember the game Renegade for NES. Giant fat ladies beating the crap out of you with brick purses is probably NOT the best thing for a 5 year old. What about SNES: Killer Instinct with the fatalities. (Not to mention Orchids KILLER chest) They've always had games that people didn't agree with. Every system did. I'm just disappointed of their selection to keep their loyal fan base. I wasn't asking for a lot...I don't need hardcore violence like I need a good steak. I've never played Goldeneye. I'm talking the smaller things...like NOT making Link a girly boy. The least they could have done was call him "Pat" or something. I guess my point is, it's awful hard to get yourself involved in a game where you can't connect yourself with the main character.

I WILL agree with you on your other point: Thank GOD for Sony.

[Leon]

Don't forget "Conker's Bad Fur Day"

[apmiller]

Well like I said from time to time they TRY to make a game for the older folks. For the most part with the odd look of this zelda game they were trying to make it look more like the cartoons kids are watching these days. I think it looks kind of odd myself but I've never been one to care what a game looks like or sound like, just as long as it plays great.

That Bad Fur day game was freakin awful but everyone new from the start that it was going to be a game for the older folks and NOT for kiddies. Nintendo released tons of news bites pointing that out, still though what a horrible game to release.

I wouldn't count Zelda out yet though. With so much bad press on the look of this game Nintendo will most likely put out another one a year later that looks a bit more like what we've been waiting for.