Revolution last.... Again...

[goKi]

Will Nintendo ever learn. You'd think, having given up on their current generation long ago, that they could have gotten a release at least close to their competitors. Looking like it may be almost a year after Xbox 360 here.

http://www.revo-europe.com/news.php?nid=8367

[Warlock]

They aren't marketing it as a competitor to PS3/Xbox360. They are marketing it as a second system. So it won't really matter.

[goKi]

Is there as big a market for a second system as Nintendo says, though?... That just sounds to me like they have conceded, basically.

[Darth Marsden]

We all knew this already. Maybe not the exact date, but we knew it wasn't gonna be released until late 2006. (Early 2007 in Europe - THANKS A F**KING BUNCH, NINTENDO! WHEN WILL YOU GET IT INTO YOUR THICK, STUPID HEADS THAT EUROPE IS FED UP OF GETTING SHAFTED?)

...sorry.

There's always a market for a second system. Now my sister's gone to Uni, she's let me have her PS2. My second system. I'm splashing out on all the platformers I couldn't get before now. Oh, my poor bank balance... But yeah, there's always gonna be a group who gets a second system, just like there'll be a group that gets all of them.

[vegeta1215]

Did you really think it was going to ship in the first half of 2006? Planetgamecube also wrote about this, and made a few comments too: http://planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=6587


Jon says: Very interesting. This makes me wonder if Nintendo knows something about the release date of the PS3 that we don't.


Michael "TYP" says: Not to sound like a Nintendo apologist for the delay or anything, but this really isn't very alarming. We already saw Nintendo fumbling with its "same time as PS3" statement. I think at this point many expected Nintendo to have a huge E3 blowout anyway before launch, and E3 is in the middle of the fifth month. A summer launch shortly after E3 is still possible (great, here I go with wishful thining again).


Karl says: I doubt they'll launch in the summertime, and if delaying the console to November just as Christmas shopping goes crazy means a more solid line-up, count me in.

And on that note, I hope Nintendo's learned from their experience with the DS that if you give the public a less-than-quality starting roster, there'll be quite a backlash. Give us Smash Bros., Metroid Prime 3, and a new Miyamoto IP. That's all we need, Nintendo!

Makes sense to me.

[Archibaldo]

Well, I thinks its a good thing. By then, every one will be bored with the 360, and with christmas coming up, it puts a gret deal of want on the system because its coming when people start wanting new things for the new year.

[goKi]

To release it in late 2006 in Europe and Australia would be a good idea in terms of marketing.

[Cloral]

Remember that it takes time to produce units for retail. A company can't just snap its fingers and have millions of units ready to ship. So it makes sense to stagger release dates by region. So until Europe buys as many units as the US or Japan, it's going to remain the third release region.

[Orion]

I'd rather them release it later and actually have a solid launch lineup than have it be rushed with no good games for it. We haven't even seen any games running on the hardware yet, hell, I don't even think the tech specs are finalized yet. Developers are still using GameCube dev. kits to work on things as far as I know. Nintendo itself didn't even have any playable games at the announcment of it's controller. They need time to build quality games, and some good hype for this release. They can't botch up how the public perceives this idea by rushing it. It's too new an idea for people to just grasp onto and buy without a killer app. and some major marketing hype.

Besides, it's not like Nintendo is really in the same bracket as Sony and Microsoft anymore anyway. Maybe it will be good for them to work their way out of the console release cycle.

[ZeldaLord]

I don't care when it's released, as long as it's got good launch titles. I'm importing, anyway.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

Being released so late, there is a high chance that it will have a worldwide launch date...

[goKi]

I don't want Nintendo to rush either, that's not the point i'm trying to make. You'd just think, that with the Gamecube being essentially dead for quite some time, they'd have started working on their next generation very hard before the other developers. seems not.. :\

[vegeta1215]

You'd just think, that with the Gamecube being essentially dead for quite some time, they'd have started working on their next generation very hard before the other developers. seems not.. :\

You forget that there are many games lined up for the DS, and there are still games coming out for the Gamecube, albeit not so many first party titles.

[AlexMax]

I'd rather them release it later and actually have a solid launch lineup than have it be rushed with no good games for it.

Pretty much. They know they can't really compete head to head with the Xbox 360 or PS3, what with the Gamecube's disasterous showing this generation, so instead of fighting a losing battle, they're going for completely different. They're marching to their own drum now.

[ZomfgIts0rzlolo]

Disaterous? IIRC Nintendo was the only one to make money this generation: Sony's in a mountain of debt and XBox was banking on Live for money, but didn't show up as well. IIRC Microsoft lost about 50 dollars on every XBox sold.

[Orion]

Disaterous? IIRC Nintendo was the only one to make money this generation: Sony's in a mountain of debt and XBox was banking on Live for money, but didn't show up as well. IIRC Microsoft lost about 50 dollars on every XBox sold.

If you think that profits are all that make a console sucessful, then you need to pull your head out of your ass. Nintendo's console is the worst selling of the three. This generation, it has lost most of it's interest with second and third parties, lost hundreds of fans, and seen the dismal sales of many great games, all because people simply didn't want the console. Ports rarely did well on it. Nintendo was the laughing stock of the gaming industry this generation. If that is not disasterous, I don't know what is. Nintendo has been keeping itself afloat by refusing to take monetary and philosophical risks, instead opting to take the safe route and sitting on it's mountain of cash while alienating it's dwindling fanbase. Hopefully the Revolution will change this, but until then, they are stuck with the GameCube, which, yes, was a disaster.

[Cloral]

IIRC Microsoft lost about 50 dollars on every XBox sold.
This is very normal. Consoles are always sold at below cost. The companies make their money on the licensing, which runs around $7 per game sold. Usually each person who buys a console has to buy 3-4 games for the console maker to break even. But every game sold after that is pure profit. It is possible though that the people who bought xboxes didn't buy many games and that it why MS may have lost money. But really they expected to lose money this generation - their gole was to break into the console market. And in that end, they have been very successful.

[Shoelace]

Well, this pretty much was excepted. When Zelda was delayed to the Spring, that was all of the information I needed to know that the Relovution wasn't going to launch to close to the release date of Zelda. So when that was annouced, I knew it was going to have a Fall release. It doesn't matter to me anyways, because I will be having too much fun with Zelda anyways. :P

[Orion]

I wonder if Nintendo would do a think where they release Zelda in the spring, and then maybe give it away for free with the Revolution when it releases in the fall. Might get people interested a bit more, plus it would show off that it's backwards compatable.

[Shoelace]

I think it would sell Revolutions faster. I would buy it! That is a good idea, but I think Nintendo knows that this will sale very good anyways, so I don't think it would be free. But I do think they should put extras in the Twilight Princess when played on the Revolution. That would sell a little more Revolutions.

[Cloral]

But do we want Nintendo to start making decisions on what to put into a game based on a marketing standpoint? We really don't need another EA if you ask me. I am with you in that I would like to see the Rev proliferated out because I think we would see more innovative ideas with its unusual controller. But I'd rather they just make Zelda for what it is, and worry about games for the Rev after that.

[MottZilla]

Why does everyone always say Nintendo did horrible with the GameCube? They most certainly did not. They're no Sony or M$ when it comes to volume and marketing, but they aren't without an audience. Really, it's not like Nintendo is on it's last leg like Sega with the DreamCast. Nintendo is obviously experienced in the business and can still do well. Right now most of Nintendo's new titles coming out are for DS rather than GameCube it seems. Personally I think Xbox 360 won't take off very fast nor dominate the market. It's going to be awful pricey, and not really be anything special. It'll just be the latest fad in my opinion.

[Warlock]

Why does everyone always say Nintendo did horrible with the GameCube? They most certainly did not. They're no Sony or M$ when it comes to volume and marketing, but they aren't without an audience. Really, it's not like Nintendo is on it's last leg like Sega with the DreamCast. Nintendo is obviously experienced in the business and can still do well. Right now most of Nintendo's new titles coming out are for DS rather than GameCube it seems. Personally I think Xbox 360 won't take off very fast nor dominate the market. It's going to be awful pricey, and not really be anything special. It'll just be the latest fad in my opinion.

That is what frequently pisses me off. People ALWAYS say that... "LOLLOLOLCOPTER!!11 NINTENDO IS GOIGN TO FALE ADN HAVE TO MKAE ONLY GAMES!!1111"

Nintendo could survive on its handheld market alone.

[MottZilla]

It doesn't need to though, their consoles have never been unprofitable. Excluding the Virtual Boy ofcourse. They don't have the volume of idiots buying their system and 900 retarded games, but they don't need that either. There's alot more shitty games bought and sold on Xbox and PS2 than there are on GameCube. The only thing is I hope that Resident Evil 5 does appear on Revolution. :O