Video Games
In the USA the Nintendo GameCube is the undeniable 2nd rate system of the " video game consoles." Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox certainly sell better, and they tend to get much more media attention. At the end of 2002, for example, the PlayStation II stirred up a lot of controversy with its new game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Microsoft had a hit with Xbox Live, its online gaming program. Once the undisputed king of home video games, Nintendo seems to be struggling just to hold its own.
If you have ever spent any time with a GameCube, you may be frustrated
by its reputation as a third-rate system. It's hard to see ground-breaking
GameCube games like Metroid Prime and Super Mario Sunshine as anything
less than state of the art. No matter how it fares in sales, this console
is definitely a great gaming system and worth playing.
The Games
The GameCube is the first Nintendo console not to use game cartridges.
Instead, the GameCube uses 1.5-GB proprietary optical discs with a diameter
of 8 cm (3.14 inches). A compact disc has a diameter of 12 cm (4.72 inches),
which is the size of the Sony game discs. Since the GameCube operates
with discs, the Nintendo 64 games are not compatible with it.
The GameCube uses small proprietary discs instead of cartridges.
When you get down to it, the biggest difference between the different
consoles is their respective game catalogs. Gamers typically pick the
console that supports the titles they're most interested in. The PlayStation
2 has a huge lead in sheer number of games because it plays original PlayStation
games and it hit store shelves well before the other consoles. The X-box
has fared well largely because of high profile games aimed at teenage
and adult players (such as Halo and Splinter Cell).
Nintendo's main strategy has been to launch exclusive games based on well-known
established characters. For example, Mario, Star Fox and Metroid's Samus,
who were all featured in hit games on earlier Nintendo consoles, will
appear only in GameCube titles. Nintendo has also worked out a deal with
Capcom for exclusive rights to new Resident Evil games.
As it turned out, using established characters in the console's biggest
games had a significant downside. With the cartoon Mario characters front
and center, the GameCube was immediately branded as a "kid's console."
While it does have many games aimed at older players, it hasn't hit on
anything as controversial as the PlayStation 2's Grand Theft Auto series
or as lauded as X-Box's shooter Halo.
The thing the GameCube does have over the competition is its ability to interact with the Game Boy Advance (GBA), Nintendo's handheld system. The GBA plugs directly into the GameCube's controller port to allow the two systems to communicate with select games. In May of 2003, Nintendo will release an accessory that will let you play Game Boy games on a TV, through the GameCube.
Ultimately, the winner in the game console wars will be the gamers themselves. As the console manufacturers continue to try to top one another to attract increasingly discriminating buyers, the great titles keep on coming.