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Businesses GameCube (Games)

UK Retailers Dumping Gamecube? 134

Posted by Zonk from the not-very-sporting-now-is-it? dept.
GameCube Europe is carrying a story stating that major United Kingdom retailers are dropping the Gamecube from their stock. From the article: Argos [has] reduced the GameCube from the RRP of £79.99 to only £39.99 and have also reduced the cost of games and accessories by a drastic amount.
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UK Retailers Dumping Gamecube? More

UK Retailers Dumping Gamecube?

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  • Even so, (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bagels ( 676159 ) on Sunday January 02, 2005 @06:43PM (#11240519)
    I have a sneaking suspicion that they'll start carrying them again when this year's blockbusters ("mature" Zelda, the Pokemon RPG) come out for it. Otherwise, their competitors will stand to gain quite a bit.

    • Re:Even so, (Score:2, Insightful)

      by blahplusplus ( 757119 )
      Still, it's not like Nintendo is going out of their way to woo 3rd parties. I mean the gamecube was originally supposed to go head to head and be neck-and-neck with the PS2 but there was no developer support for the GC at all and all the exclusivity deals with 3rd party killer apps (MGS, GTA, FFX, etc) killed any hope for the GC and even Xbox as well from really competing with the PS2.

    • Re:Even so, (Score:5, Insightful)

      by badasscat ( 563442 ) <basscadet75@@@yahoo...com> on Monday January 03, 2005 @01:57AM (#11242451)
      Move along, nothing to see in this article. I mean, did anybody actually read it? It starts off like this:

      A while ago Argos reduced the price of the GameCube console because they wished to get rid of their stock. After an incredible increase in sales they decided to carry on stocking it, but seem as if they wish to get rid of it now.

      Let's all ponder that for a minute. "A while ago" Argos "wished" to get rid of their stock, and now they "wish" to get rid of it again. The trouble is, people just keep buying the stupid things! Poor Argos, their wish just never comes true! Those pesky customers just will not stop giving them their money.

      Seriously, though, two points:

      1. This is not new. The article itself says Argos first did this "a while ago", meaning (since this author can't seem to remember exactly) in 2003.

      2. The rest of this article is nothing but speculation. "it is worrying that retailers are seemingly giving up on the GameCube" is an opinion based on an assumption based on nothing. The article itself says that prices were reduced previously and yet GameCubes are still on sale - why not assume this is simply a sales-generating tactic that's now been used repeatedly? Do stores never have loss-leader sales in the UK? (Rhetorical question - they obviously do, because Argos did it before with the GameCube.)

      Nintendo's in a lot better shape than people seem to think they are. Just read their financial reports and look at the worldwide sales data (it's out there, though Europe's the toughest to come by - NPD and MediaCreate reports are pretty easily obtainable from various sources, though). They're profitable and they've got the #2 home console and #1, #2 and #3 handhelds in terms of current worldwide sales.

  • Now's the time. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tsalem ( 813623 ) on Sunday January 02, 2005 @06:54PM (#11240590)
    If you live in the UK, I think now would be the best time to get a Gamecube, if you haven't already. At the current price at Argos, it's selling for cheaper than it is in the US (correct my if I'm wrong, I'm aware of the difference between the pound and the dollar).

    There are a good deal of games worth getting for the system that you can find for cheap noawadays. Matroid, the Mario/Luigi games, Zelda Wind Waker, Star Wars, Smash Brothers Melee, amongst others. As an earlier poster stated, they might raise the prices again, so get 'em while they're cheap.

    • Re:Now's the time. (Score:4, Informative)

      by general_re ( 8883 ) on Sunday January 02, 2005 @07:14PM (#11240706) Homepage
      At the current price at Argos, it's selling for cheaper than it is in the US (correct my if I'm wrong, I'm aware of the difference between the pound and the dollar).

      No, you're right. Despite the weak dollar, at the current interbank exchange rate £39.99 is worth $76.76 - most US retailers are still at the $99 point, IIRC. Of course, back before the dollar started its slide, it would have been around $60. ;)

      • You can pick one up in Australia for $99, the system and games are cheap everywhere here. I'm thinking of getting one myself, they're heaps of fun.

        • Indeed - they've hit a price point now where not only is it not even economically viable on a pure fiscal basis to buy second hand, but that new shelf units are cheaper than they're selling for in many pawn shops.

          However - the "mass" market here in .au seems to be drying up as well, I wandered into a Harvey Norman the other day while I was killing time at a mall, and found they'd silently dropped 'Cube from the lineup.

          I sold my XBox and used the proceeds to buy a cube and a handful of accessories and game

  • A pity (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sycomonkey ( 666153 ) on Sunday January 02, 2005 @06:56PM (#11240606) Homepage
    It would be really sad if what caused the failure of Nintendo was not them loosing money, or them not having fans, but companies being short sighted enough to drop support for Nintendo simply because it's not selling as well as Xbox and PS2 stuff. As it is Nintendo could live enitrely on it's fanbase for an indefinate period of time, but if you can't walk into a store and buy the games, then it doesn't matter how many much money you're making. If it ever comes to those dark times, hopefully Nintendo will have the forsight to just open up an online store, or start their own chain of Nintendo stores. Or both.
    • It would be really sad if what caused the failure of Nintendo was not them loosing money, or them not having fans, but companies being short sighted enough to drop support for Nintendo simply because it's not selling as well as Xbox and PS2
      Um, surely: Not selling well = Losing money + not having fans? Some mistake?

      • Re:A pity (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Jane_the_Great ( 778338 )
        Just because the system isn't selling as well as the PS2 or XBox does not mean that Nintendo is losing money. With the already installed user base, Nintendo can make profits from sales of the games they release. So, your "equation" is wrong.

        But that should be pretty obvious to anyone who knows the profit margins on console hardware in comparison to console software.

        On a note in regards to the grandparent - Nintendo fans can always go to Nintendo's website and order the products they want if their local reta

        • Anyway. Nintendo does have a very solid user base, me included, but people are starting to slip, me included again. I've all but dropped buying games for my GameCube until the new Zelda game is released.

          Nintendo's problem was discussed in an earlier article [slashdot.org]. Personally, I think Nintendo's being naive.

        • Re:A pity (Score:1, Redundant)

          by NanoGator ( 522640 )
          "Just because the system isn't selling as well as the PS2 or XBox does not mean that Nintendo is losing money. With the already installed user base, Nintendo can make profits from sales of the games they release. So, your "equation" is wrong."

          It's also worth noting that we're talking about 1 region here, not the entire world. As I recall, XBOX wasn't doing so well in Japan.

          • Re:A pity (Score:2, Interesting)

            by Freexe ( 717562 )

            In Japan the sales figues were (official Media Create figures):

            XBOX - 37,083
            GameCube - 696,839
            PlayStation 2 - 2,691,666

            But that doesn't include include DS and Gameboy figures which add up to almost 4 million units in Japan alone. Nintendo doesnt spend as much as Sony and Mircosoft so they dont need to make as much. I'm sure they still turn a healthy profit.

            They also have 7/10 of the best selling games of the year.

      • No. That didn't come out right. They ARE amking money and they DO have fans, I'm one of them. I meant that if either of those happened, yes, I could see them going under, but it would be stupid to have them be defeated by corperate stupidity.

    • Re:A pity (Score:1, Informative)

      by xgamer04 ( 248962 )
      [Nintendo is] not selling as well as Xbox and PS2 stuff.

      Hmm, really? The numbers disagree [gamesarefun.com]
      • From the article you link to: "An editorial by Sam Altersitz - 2004-02-29"

        Isn't it 2005? If you're going to refute the parent, at least get some recent sales numbers.

        I'm not saying that you are incorrect in refuting the parent. It seems like MS has been moving quite a few units during the holidays but who knows - it's very difficult to get accurate sales figures in regards to consoles. One thing I can say for sure is that the Gamecube is outselling the XBox in Japan.

        • TROLL (Score:1, Troll)

          by xgamer04 ( 248962 )
          do not reply, etc
        • The troll logic here really is so stupid that I have to bite. Sorry, common sense, I apologize.

          Isn't it 2005? If you're going to refute the parent, at least get some recent sales numbers

          Isn't it 2005? If you're going to refute the parent, at least use some brainpower. I know that it's been 2005 for almost, 0M6, 2 D4Yz0RZ now, and I'm sure your 31337ness gives you access to NPD's live feeds or something, but I'll go with what's been published. The article also points out the stigma that Nintendo face
      • Hmm, really? The numbers disagree


        Those numbers are for what country?

        Nintendo isn't as strong in the UK as it is in the US. The PlayStation series has always been a bigger seller.

        • Re:A pity (Score:1, Troll)

          by xgamer04 ( 248962 )
          Those numbers are for what country?

          Oh crap, I posted a link on /. . My bad, I forgot 99% of people don't RTFA. The article points out that the reason businesses drop support for Nintendo is because of the huge stigma that is leveraged toward them in the press.

          The PlayStation series has always been a bigger seller.

          The Playstation consoles have been bigger sellers WORLDWIDE, but only during their existence. I would doubt, however, that they sold better during the NES and early SNES days.
  • simple really if you had a lot of stock and the sales where low/nonexistant what would you do ?

    nintendo cube sales are not good in the highstreet

    frankly all the kids I know have playstation / playstation 2 or xbox

    what is going to be intresting is the price of a GameBoy after PSP is released

    regards

    john jones

  • PAL neglection (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dutt ( 738848 ) on Sunday January 02, 2005 @07:13PM (#11240697) Homepage
    Since Nintendo has neglected the PAL market by not releasing close to the amount of titles for the gamecube, this doesn't really come as a big surprise.

    What would surprise me though, is if Nintendo just would let this pass without action.

  • It's still 79.99 when I checked online, and that is ~$150 here in America. I can pick them up for $100. So, number one, why are they more expensive in the UK, and number two, why did the price go back up?
    • Firstly you have to take into account that the pound is very strong against the dollar at the moment and secondly they haven't gone back up, at least they haven't here [argos.co.uk] as was mentioned in the article
  • First off, a bit of a disclaimer: I own all 3 current consoles, and I enjoy them all. ...but let's be honest. I own, oh, say 20 games for my PS2. Mostly RPGs, plus Armored Core and a handful of others.

    For the Xbox, I own about 15 games. Obviously, Halo, Halo 2... plus MechAssault 2, Breakdown, Burnout 3, Soul Calibur, Rainbow 6, Splinter Cell 2... Anything cross-platform, I get on the Xbox.

    For the Gamecube? I have 2 games. Smash Bros and Mario Kart. I had Metroid Prime and Echoes - both were great the fir

    • Re:Does this really come as a suprise to anyone? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Craig Maloney ( 1104 ) * on Sunday January 02, 2005 @07:56PM (#11240888) Homepage
      I think you missed a few great games for the GC:
      • Pikmin: Arguably one of the better concepts to come out of gaming.
      • Viewtiful Joe: Yeah, it's now out for the other consoles, but it's still a great game. Not sure of the other consoles can compare with this title on the GC.
      • Soul Calibur II: Each platform has their own special character. For the GC, it was Link. Link actually manages to make a good showing on this console.
      • Harvest Moon: Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's the most fun farming you'll ever have.
      • Puyo Pop Fever: I think this is now on all of the platforms, though.
      • Rogue Squadron II: Star Wars done right.
      • F-Zero: Great racing game.

      I'm no Nintendo apologist by any stretch of the imagination (the GC is the first Nontendo console I'll actually have in my house) but they've put out some great games for it. The PS2 and the XBox have some great exclusive titles, and the cross-platform titles are a bit better on those systems, but the GC does have a lot going for it. The GC has a lot in common with the Dreamcast when it's all said and done, and that's unfortunate, because both systems have excellent hardware, excellent software, and are so completely not to American gamer tastes.
      • You make a few good points. I actually intended to mention, though, that I've played just about all the big-name titles on the GCN. But I've been bitten in the ass about buying Nintendo games before; I always pay full price, beat them in a week or two, and then leave them there, collecting dust for months before I trade them in for something else. Cheaper to just rent.

        Pikmin didn't seem like a bad game at all, but it just didn't grab me. I thought F-Zero was a terrible racing game that was way too difficul
        • Nintendo finally gets Square to make a game for the GCN, and .... they release that absolutely abhorrent Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. ... it could've been fun, but having the game designed from the ground up around multiplayer with multiple GBAs and link cables is, I believe, the reason the game was so shockingly bad.

          The GBAs were not the reason it was bad, and it's not even that bad if you played it multiplayer. Legand of Zelda: Four Swords uses GBAs, and it's one of the best games I've ever pla
        • I'd just like to say that I for one loved Crystal Chronicles. There was a period where my friends and I all got together - I think we had 4 GBAs between 9 people, and we rotated and played the hell out of it.

          I could go on about blah blah modular leveling blah secret goals blah blah spell fusion, but really, you get my point. Great game. I highly recommend it if you can get all the equipment together.
      • Viewtiful Joe - Capcom
        SC II - Namco
        Puyo Pop Fever - Sega
        Rogue Leader - Lucasarts

        Those wouldn't be first-party games.
    • "The best thing Nintendo could do, in my eyes, anyways, is stick to making hardware (because they do a damned fine job of that), license their stable of franchises out to 3rd parties (I mean, just look what Retro managed with Metroid Prime - those fucktards at Nintendo let their most adult-oriented franchise just rot for years and years, cranking out the odd Super Metroid clone on the GBA, and then Retro takes it off their hands and makes one of the best consoles games ever), and try to build a functional p
      • Retro is a subsidiary of Nintendo. I'm not sure whether that makes them first or second party (I'd guess first, like Sonic Team compared to Sega, but I really have no clue how these things work), but they aren't third. They were second when they began development on Prime, but got bought before it was finished.

        To the GP: I don't have any other consoles, but I have 36 'Cube games. 10 or 12 (Prime and Echoes?) of them are first party, if I counted my bookmarks correctly. Granted I didn't buy all of them myse

    • Re:Does this really come as a suprise to anyone? (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Your experiences are definitely not invalid, but they simply don't represent what I see regularly at my shop.

      What I see are guys who have PS2s for the exclusives only. Most (mind you, this is a domestic & import game shop with not-so-low prices, so the people that shop there obviously dedicate some conscious time to "being gamers" beyond your typical Wal-Mart game shopper) also have at least one other current console, and almost all also have GBAs. Most often, the two consoles that my two-console sho
    • The best thing Nintendo could do, in my eyes, anyways, is stick to making hardware (because they do a damned fine job of that), license their stable of franchises out to 3rd parties (I mean, just look what Retro managed with Metroid Prime - those fucktards at Nintendo let their most adult-oriented franchise just rot for years and years, cranking out the odd Super Metroid clone on the GBA, and then Retro takes it off their hands and makes one of the best consoles games ever), and try to build a functional pl
    • I see you got your karma for fashionably bashing the Nintendo and GameCube. It reminds me a lot of the 1980s when "real men" running MS-DOS 4.0 gleefully bashed the "babies" who used Macintosh.

    • Nintendo? They have some of the most solid first-party support ever, but their first party games either...

      A) have absolute SHIT for replayability; many of Nintendo's first-party games are definitely worth a rental, but not worth buying. Or...

      B) Require that you have multiple friends over to really get the most out of (a design tendancy that obviously favors the younger Hey, come over to my place after school crowd).

      I think the problem is that Nintendo isn't aiming at your demographic. They're aiming for
    • Curious. . .

      I have all three consoles, too. Plus a Dreamcast. And of course, a PC.

      I have 5 XBox games, about 15 PS2 games, about 10 Dreamcast games. . .

      And 32 GameCube games.

      There are a handful of awesome games on PS2, a couple of great ones for Xbox, and even a few for Dreamcast. But I've got over a dozen games on GameCube that I consider great.

      It seems like the ratio of great games to average games is higher on GameCube. Xbox and PS2 are both about the same, but the PS2 has more great games by si
    • I've got 25 games on my gamecube. WindWaker is the best looking game this gen. Period. And a great game.

      Live has what? 1 or 2 millions of users. It's irrelevant.
    • And I'm just the opposite.

      I own all 3 consoles. I have 4 games for the xbox, 5 for the PS2, and over 40 for the gamecube.

      Whenever there is a game available for all 3 consoles (like Tony Hawk games) I get the gamecube version because I like the controller better than the xbox controller, and because the PS2 version always looks like shit (and the PS2 controller is the worst of the 3).

      3rd party games are almost always available for all 3 consoles, and the king of first-party games is Nintendo.

      So honestly
  • Down from £79.99 to £39.99? Wow! I wish one of the US retailers would follow their lead in deciding that the GameCube isn't selling well enough. :P

  • Why did this even get posted? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Khuffie ( 818093 ) on Sunday January 02, 2005 @08:17PM (#11240957) Homepage
    I mean seriously. A single retailer reduces the price on a console, and suddenly all UK retailers are somehow magically thinking of dropping the GameCube? Perhaps the single retailer has an overstock of GameCubes. Perhaps they didn't sell them as many GameCubes as competing retailers. Perhaps, you know, this is a limited time offer in an effort to spark sales.

    Go to the site's gamecube [argos.co.uk] listing. "Offer ends 21st January 2005. " Last thing you do is trust anything from GameCube Europe. They're just as bad as Nintendo Now.

  • Love for the 'cube (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Belgand ( 14099 ) <belgand@planetfortress . c om> on Monday January 03, 2005 @12:00AM (#11242021) Homepage
    Earlier this summer I decided that a console system would really be nice. I've been a PC gamer for years, but my latest console was my beloved SNES. Yes, I think that the PC is, in many ways, a superior platform for many games there are plenty of things that a console does better that I was missing. I wanted something that I could just pick up and play some basic, light games on yet still gave me something to really sink my teeth into when I felt like it. I wanted something where I could just sit around and play with some friends or my girlfriend without each of us just staring into our own, distant screens. As far as game selection I wanted something that had a good lock on some exclusive titles that I would enjoy.

    After looking at all of these factors I really had to choose the Gamecube as being the best of the batch. It has four player support out of box (unlike the PS2) and a number of great multi-player games that are fun for groups (Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart). It also has some really great exclusive titles (both the aforementioned, Zelda, Metroid, Paper Mario, Eternal Darkness). The major titles I'd be missing are often not only ported to the PC where they're often better (e.g. Grand Theft Auto), but many are originally designed for the PC and only co-developed for consoles. What's left is often multi-platform meaning I won't miss out (e.g. Prince of Persia, X-Men Legends, Tony Hawk). It also has a few revamped PS1 games that I'd wanted a chance to play (Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil) but had missed out on. Online play is something I'd often be able to get better on the PC regardless and while it would suck for a few titles, it was something I could deal with.

    Thus, in my opinion, at least, while the Gamecube might not be the best system for someone who will be playing consoles exclusively (I do miss Katamari Damacy, Burnout 3, and some others) if you already have a PC it's probably the best console to pick up to scratch those itches that only a console can.
  • ..stop hating. think of consoles like races, you dont want to be a racist, do ya?
  • I'd guess so, seeing as a couple of days before Christmas I was able to pick up the GameCube "Ultimate Bongo Bundle" ('Cube, Bongos and Donkey Konga) for £60, when the RRP was £90. Rather nice game really. I also noticed that in the post-christmas sales the local Woolworths only had about two Gamecube games about, a Simpsons game and a James Bond one. Both had sale stickers on.

    I don't live in that big a town, so the only shops selling Cube games now is an ASDA supermarket, but there the Xbox (a
  • im in Queensland Australia and the gamecube game stock is absolutely appalling everywhere..particularly in the after christmas sales.. 0 gamecube on sale and 30 percent of the xbox and playstation had at least 25 percent off...
  • This does seem quite common in the UK. Non-specialist shops that sell games (Virgin,HMV etc) very often have shelves of X-Box and PS-2 and no Gamecube games at all, or maybe a few of the bigger games. Gamecube--only games are released months or years later here with virtually no advertising (I think I saw one TV advert for Double Dash and a few for Mario sunshine, but that's it).

    Dixons group stores (PC World, Dixons etc), the main high street electrical goods retailers, stopped stocking GC completely a whi
  • so ... I suppose this begs the question ... at this cheap price is it possible to use wholly or in part to create a funky little linux box ? has anyone figured out a way of attaching a hard drive to one yet?

    Nick ...
    • I am part of the development team working on this goal and we are almost there. We have hardware guys who are working on creating an IDE interface and perhaps even USB interfaces which would open up a world of endless peripherals. I am doing a lot of kernel driver work to get these devices supported.

      We have Linux with full networking/sound/3D support. The only thing we have yet to complete is external storage. I will be receiving an SD card HW interface in the mail within a week so I will write a kerne

  • Sega Saturn (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Shadow_139 ( 707786 )
    I remember they did this with the Saturn.., I sat on the shelf of ages and no body was buying, the PS had taken over...

    Virgin Mehastores sold it stock of real cheap just before xmas about £35 for the unit and £2-15 for the games...,
    I just missed out on it, but and a friend got a crapload of stuff from it even got the crap fishing game with real pole for £5...,he ripped the sensors out of it.
    It allso have a full keyboard and modem for the this Web on TV crap...,
    Anybody got *nx runn
  • Since the gamecube is the '1337' gamerz' choice of console (my choice as well...) I bet the reason why it isnt selling is the same reason why g4techtv sucks now.

    People would rather have their games be cool, rather than well designed.

    Look at G4techtv (if techtv even fits in there.) Before the so called 'merger,' tech tv was a bastion of great programming. Post 'merger,' techtv turns into G4techtv, a way for game companies to hype their games. Its sole purpose is to attract advertisers, and turn a profit

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