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View Full Version : X-BOX Vs GCN in Europe


C.H
03-06-2002, 01:06 PM
Now i don't think this is a straight forward fight, since X-BOX launches in March and GCN launches in May over here (in europe OBVIOUSLY). Games shops are flooded with X-BOX promotions, and in some stores you can play X-BOX. But theres also some GCN promotional posters, although X-BOX promotional gear is substantionally bigger then GCN. Since it's launched in days (8 to be exact, it launches March 14th). I'm from the UK, so it might be a completely different picture in other european countrys.

This is the first example i've seen off them pitted against each other here (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/301052/ref%3Dcs%5Fnav%5Ftab%5F8/302-3725134-5263205) at the time of this post (scroll down until you see a picture of both the consoles, each have a percentage below them. Which represents the share in pre-order they take). Gamecube is ahead with 64.35% and X-BOX has 35.65%. obviously this dosen't represent there overall success against eachother. But i still find it interesting how X-BOX launchs this month, and GCN launchs in May. Yet it's got more pre-orders. But this is just ONE website where you can pre-order them.

Overall, i'm not sure, Halo is bound to do well at launch and attracted potentail buyers. But PS2 has the majority of the market here, and was much more successful then the N64. Theres simply a huge fanbase overhere for playstation. So both Microsoft and Nintendo will have to work hard to get close to sony. Nintendo does already have a fanbase, but after that they need to attracted more fans. And Sony has already demonstrated, that you don't just need games. Sony has flooded the media with their advertising campain, and it's certainly worked. Especilly Europeans favorite sport football (or soccer to americans), and it has definetly worked. So Microsoft and Nintendo need to try and do something similar, not just at launch either. One thing that has suprised me, is that i haven't seen any X-BOX advertisments on TV. I was expecting my TV to be flooded with advertisments, but nothing, prehaps it's just me. But X-BOX launches in 8 days, it'll still sell out. But i'm still a little suprised.

Nintendo certainly need to improve there treatment of europe if they want to get sales up. N64 was definetly a success in Europe, but Sony out beat them easily with Playstation. Much more advertisment, and original advertising that appealed to europeans really helped Sony out. But, maybe they are turning over a new leaf in Europe. With a new UK branch (they used to use another company in the UK, called THE. Who were, to be perfectly onasy, useless), and a price mark of £150, a decent amount of units at launch. They seem to be trying harder, but not only that. Improved hardware so GCN can display 60hz on PAL televisions, which has shocked even me. But even more suprising, infact they have never done this before. Luigi's mansion will be modified for european launch. Because of complaints about replay value, more will be added to the game to improve upon this. Exactly how much will be added to the game i don't know, but it's something. And it's a first.

Microsoft, as i stated before, have been flooding games shops with advertisments. big posters and boards can be seen, and the system it's self up and running for a play test. Although i haven't seen TV adverts, i'm sure there will be plenty of them.

But i have no doubt that both X-BOX and GCN will sell out at launch.

Me personally, i'll be getting a Gamecube along with as many games as i can get. Keeping in mind i'll need controllers, memory cards, and theres Smash bros & Pikmin coming out on May 24th. Then Eternal Darkness and Star fox adventures will probably come out around July (just a prediction). But both consoles will have some good games, so it dosen't really matter which you get. I wouldn't mind getting Halo, but theres more games i want for Gamecube coming out in the future. And i've got to consider the money as well, with GCN coming at £150 and X-BOX at £300. I wont be able to play online with X-BOX (but personally, i'm not to conserned about online games. I can use my PC for that) because i don't have broadband. The harddrive is nice, and i don't really care about the DVD player.
But then again, i might get an X-BOX in the future, mainly because of Shenmue 3. Because i doubt it's coming to anything but X-BOX, but if it does come to Gamecube, it would save me some money.

But i don't know which will be more successful, i guess i'll just have to wait and see.

post thoughts, opinoins, news, and comments!!!

BlueFire
03-06-2002, 05:06 PM
This is going to be a hard launch for both sides. I'm sure Microsoft has some killer apps coming for the XBox to attract gamers, while Nintendo has some of their own (like Resident Evil and Super Smash Bros Melee that come out a little after launch).

Idiot
03-07-2002, 04:19 PM
As I consider myself as somewhat of a comment & analysis type person, I can tell you that the X-Box hype campaign is going nowhere. You see, SONY and Nintendo are the well established brands, encompassing the whole of the British gaming public, and as the old SEGA fans have switched mostly to Nintendo, X-Box cannot hope to find a demographic, so this limits X-Box's power to the US, where it is struggling to keep up with Nintendo and SONY.
So, how come X-Box has dug this hole in Europe for itself? Price. If you are a prospective parent looking for a videogames console, which are you going to go for? The £150 Nintendo GameCube, or the £300 X-Box? It's like I've been telling you all along: This race is between Nintendo and SONY, and at the moment, it's too close to call. Excpect the winner to become clear in late 2003.

Gamer
03-07-2002, 05:33 PM
Originally posted by Idiot
As I consider myself as somewhat of a comment & analysis type person, I can tell you that the X-Box hype campaign is going nowhere. You see, SONY and Nintendo are the well established brands, encompassing the whole of the British gaming public, and as the old SEGA fans have switched mostly to Nintendo, X-Box cannot hope to find a demographic, so this limits X-Box's power to the US, where it is struggling to keep up with Nintendo and SONY.
So, how come X-Box has dug this hole in Europe for itself? Price. If you are a prospective parent looking for a videogames console, which are you going to go for? The £150 Nintendo GameCube, or the £300 X-Box? It's like I've been telling you all along: This race is between Nintendo and SONY, and at the moment, it's too close to call. Excpect the winner to become clear in late 2003.

I have to agree with the idiot...:eek: ;) :D

BigJustinW
03-07-2002, 05:49 PM
I think the world wide winner is already clear....

as for idiot, what you said could have been said about America when Xbox was released.... but the fact is people look for game quality and visual quality when buying a system, not just the name brand...

In Japan, Cube has better game quality, in US, Xbox has better game quality, and the buyers are following the games.

if peeps were just looking at the brand name, Psx would have got killed off.

Angrist
03-08-2002, 06:34 AM
I'm getting a bit nervous with all the X-Box ads on the radio and in magazines...

I sometimes wonder if people even know that Nintendo's coming with a new console! I haven't seen any Cube ads here! They better start advertising right away!!

I know that kids can't afford an X-Box, so they gotta choose: buy a PS2 now, or wait 1 1/2 months for the GameCube...

I still think GameCube will be a biggers succes than X-Box!!

(BTW did you hear that the Japanese X-Boxes all have to be repaired??! Hopefully there's also something wrong with the European ones, so that the launch has to be delayed!! :D)

BigJustinW
03-08-2002, 12:42 PM
I just thought about somthing :)

So, how come X-Box has dug this hole in Europe for itself? Price. If you are a prospective parent looking for a videogames console, which are you going to go for? The £150 Nintendo GameCube, or the £300 X-Box? It's like I've been telling you all along: This race is between Nintendo and SONY, and at the moment, it's too close to call. Excpect the winner to become clear in late 2003.

Maybe you should think about the fact that the percentage of consoles sold to parents (in the US at least) is below 10%...

By the way, Nintendo isn't even in the race with Sony... NOBODY is in the race with Sony... right now, Sony is killing, and in late 2003, Sony will remain the leader.

I think that in US and Europe Xbox will beat GCN is sales

Idiot
03-08-2002, 05:34 PM
Er, BigJustinW? I'd just like to say that you have my respect, but in, my opinion, I think it is still to early to say wether SONY has won, or not, and with the recent, (supposed) news of SqureSoft on the Nintendo GameCube, the tide may wash SONY away, or secure it's position, which depends on the winds that blow.... just don't ban me or anything if you take offense at my comments, as they were only speculation and idle banter, please....

BigJustinW
03-08-2002, 05:47 PM
Originally posted by Idiot
Er, BigJustinW? I'd just like to say that you have my respect, but in, my opinion, I think it is still to early to say wether SONY has won, or not, and with the recent, (supposed) news of SqureSoft on the Nintendo GameCube, the tide may wash SONY away, or secure it's position, which depends on the winds that blow....

Do you relize that Sony has a 20 Million unit world wide lead on Nintendo Gamecube and Xbox... combined?

Plus Sony has a hardware price disadvantage when compared to GCN and Xbox... when GCN starts getting within 15 Million (which is a BIG margin), they can drop the price and sell Ps2s to peeps waiting for the drop.

just don't ban me or anything if you take offense at my comments, as they were only speculation and idle banter, please....

I wouldn't ban anybody for expressing their opinion

As long as you don't break the rules you don't have to worry about anything.

Angrist
03-09-2002, 06:59 AM
Here in Holland the PS2 isn't all that popular. I only know one person (my best friend, the traitor:mad: ) with a PS2. I know there are more... but it's just not as popular as the PSX (or N64 if you'd ask me)!

C.H
03-09-2002, 05:11 PM
Well i saw the first X-BOX advert yestarday, it started off with a woman giving birth. The Baby suddenly burst out and then was flying through the sky, as the baby flew through the sky, it began to age and eventaully turned into an old man. And then landed in a graveyard. It didn't just land, it smashed into a grave (Nice touch). Then the words 'Lifes short' come up, followed by 'Play more' then the X-BOX logo came up. I saw this advert yestarday, i don't know when it first started to on TV. But it couldn't have been to much before then.

Well heres all the news on Nintendos advertising strategy plan, there will be 'cube club' events as there were in america. Full details here (http://cube.ign.com/articles/354/354980p1.html). And even more on there advertising is here (http://cube.ign.com/articles/354/354982p1.html), TV advertisments is said to start mid-march. Which is then same time X-BOX launches. And Gamecube launchs a month and a half after that. That ani't bad, they really do intent to keep awareness high. I've seen in-store advertising begin to rise as well, obviously not as much as X-BOX. But now X-BOX and GAMECUBE adverts are stacked right next to eachother. And in-store advertising is said to get a lot higher. But i expect stores will have more X-BOX adverts around X-BOX launch to sell the system. But after that they can fill the stores up with GAMECUBE advertsing. Which i expect will happen, to help build up hype and awareness for the console. In the long run, X-BOX's 1 1/2 month led wont make much difference. Off course PS2's 1 1/2 year led will, and has. But it all depends on the sales over the next 3-4 years.