GBA Connectivity: THIS is supposed to save Gamecube?

[Camp]

Let me start by saying I though Nintendo had a decent show. I'm looking forward to quite a few of their announced titles.

 

I think non-gamers (people not looking forward to one or two particular games with drool emanating from their mouth) look at this E3 and the theme coming from Nintendo is GBA connectivity.

 

We all know there are millions of GBA's out there. There is also a decent number of Gamecubes in homes. Is that quantity enough to make GCN-GBA connectivity a successful strategy to save the Gamecube?

 

I see it as a cute novelty -and nothing more. It might spawn 2 or 3 really creative ways to use the GBA (like the Pac Man example) but how many people are going to buy into Gamecube just to play these few games?

 

Is Nintendo fighting a loosing battle? Is it too late? What about the rumors that they are already shifting developmental resources toward a new machine? Is their goal to be first out of the chute in the next generation? Should there even be a new machine?

 

If Sega was stubborn to give up the hardware side I expect Nintendo to be even more so. I'd prefer to see them learn from Sega.

[Mark E]

Well, let ME start by saying I thought Nintendo's E3 showings were sub-par. I'm not impressed with it to be blunt, and I think ignoring on-line play is going to really bite Nintendo in the ass in due course, especially given that they have nothing currently upcoming on the block that screams system-seller yet an online Mario Kart would have filled that role perfectly.

 

I think what's done with the GBA-GC connection is the thing. But right now we're seeing either nothing new (ooh, Tingle, kill me now) or too much (I need FOUR of these things to play multi-player FF? Yeah, not happening). There's no middle ground. We need more things that will work fine with ONE GBA but offer something original, like that Pac-Man title you mentioned Camp, which I really think offers the promise of something fun and new.

 

Nintendo needs to fix its third-party system, simple as that. They've been losing the last two generation battles because Sony is something new for them, a better competitor. I do not have the slightest misconception that Nintendo will ever gain first place in this generation of consoles, and next generation would take a hard amount of work.

 

What needs to be done? Fix third-party. Backwards compatibility should be a no-brainer. On-line play out of the box, for a Mario Kart available AT LAUNCH. Up the graphics and sound options for 5.1 and HDTV and every other damn benchmark that you can think of. Launch with a new Mario title. Not Smash Bros, not Wave Race, and no freakin' Luigi-only title. Launch with a Metroid and a Resident Evil if possible for the mature side of things. Have a surplus of third-party titles and the promise of more on the way. And for pity's sake, more exclusive third party titles. Get a Rockstar or Square-Enix on your side and you WILL sell systems. Also, launch first or as close to the competition as possible.

 

Also: RPGs, RPGs, RPGs.

 

It's not THAT hard, and we know Nintendo has the cash to do it too. The Cube will not be saved by the GBA connection, no chance. Next generation can be saved and the Cube can certainly gain back some ground, but it will not win this round.

 

I love my Cube, and it's why I volunteered to moderate things here, but as I said in my post elsewhere, we have to be balanced and realistic about these things. If there wasn't too much corporate pride involved, both MicroSoft and Nintendo would do worse than to enter a partnership with the latter's hardware and the former's software.

[Dan B.]

I've said it before, and I think it's true now more than ever:

"The GameBoy is both a blessing and a burden"

 

It's very successful, but at the same time that takes away precious resources that could be used to develop more than 2 1st party Gamecube games every year, and those 1st party games are the only reason to buy a Gamecube.

 

Nintendo needs to come up with more original games such as Pikmin...only better, and just plain more 1st party games. ( I'm talking about EAD, not those other crappy developers. )

 

I personally don't believe that Nintendo will ever properly rectify the 3rd party situation...it's just not who they are. I hope I'm wrong about that!