[Peabody]

GameKing all I'm saying is that Nintendo prides themselves as being The first and second party kings, but let's look at the facts shall we? The facts are:

First and second party games that have been released within the past 3 months:

1. Super Mario Sunshine (August)
2. Starfox Adventures (September) Rare (now third party)
3. Animal Crossing (September)
4. Eternal Darkness (June)Silicon Knights

I suppose one could argue that 4 games in a 3 month span is a fair amount of games, but I don't think so because 2 of the games are from second parties, and one of those parties has just been sold. Also taking into consideration that there's about 4 or 5 other second party development houses that should be developing games, but we haven't heard a peep from them. Also taking into consideration that since Gamecube has been released (A year now) ED and SFA are the first games out from the two development houses. I'd also like to mention that there's first party developers that haven't made their mark on the cube yet... What's goin on??

-On to first and second party games releasing in the next 3 months:

1. Mario Party 4(October)
2. Wario World(Novermber)
3. Cubivore(Dobutsu Bancho)(November)
4. Metroid Prime(November)

Okay so we're back at lucky number 4. Really I'd like to view the big picture which is, 8 games in a 6 month time span. I suppose 8 games is a lot. If one were to own 8 games, I would say that it would be worthy of being called a collection, but I still think it's a small number considering it's half a year. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, but I think that the library is lacking. Let's look at ED, it came out in June so you play the hell out of it, cause it's new and fresh and a lot of us had waited so long for a good game before that, but after the arguably 30+ hours, you're done, and go to EB or wherever you shop and look for something new, but what's there? Well, there's first/second party games released prior to June i.e.: SMB1, SSBM, wave race... However those games have been out for a while and have most likely been bought, or played to death by renting, or from playing at someone's house. So you could get a third party game which is the last option because nothing new is in the store from a first or second party developer until, August! Ahhh Super Mario Sunshine! Finally a Mario game, I didn't purchase Mario because I didn't see the rush to, of course it's a good game, it's Mario, but it's not necessarily a NEW game it's supped up Mario 64 on an island with a water cannon, and in my opinion I don't like the whole island deal. Anyhow if you purchased Mario and you play the hell out of it, and complete it in 20+ hours, plus go back for shines, afterwards you're done and ready for a new game... What's out? Third parties galore, but if you want a first or second party game you're gonna have to wait till September. September rolls around, Animal Crossing! The game that lasts forever, I purchased Animal Crossing, and I'm loving it. However it's a game that has an acquired taste. So it's not such a breakthrough "mainstream" game. Finally a few weeks later, and Star Fox Adventures is here, the last first-party game from Rareware. Another anticipated game. I haven't purchased it, although I do plan to. I like the concept of Starfox being an adventure game, because I always thought it would be cool to play as fox
and do ground missions. However I find that the game's infrastructure is very similar to Jet Force Gemini which for me isn't so fantastic.

Now I'd like to point out that from the release list, it does seem as if the first/second party games are releasing at a steady pace (1 game maybe two games a month). However I'm still stressing that 1 game from a first part, and no second party game that month is disappointing. So we have Mario Party 4 next month which is welcoming, but I'd also like to note of the strong presence of sequels and updates, which is nice, but not very inventive. Mario Party 4 is the only first party game out next month, there will be no second party games out next month. November we have Wario World. Another platform offering, I don't know what to think about Wario and his World, I'll have to wait and see. Hopefully the game will be a better offering of a "mario-esque" type game than Mario Sunshine. Next in November we have Cubivore. I know nothing about this game, I don't even think it's being released in the US. The next game is Metroid Prime. The game that everyone seems to be waiting for, and altogether not waiting for because of the skepticism that it might not be as good as the prior 2-D offerings. I'm excited about Metroid Prime, I want to play a FPS on cube, and Metroid will get me started, ACTUALLY to make an even GREATER point. Metroid probably won't get me started, but a third-party game will, Time Splitters 2! which is releasing in October, will get me rolling with the FPS on Cube. After Metroid in November, then comes December. Sadly there are no first or second party games whatsoever for the month of December. There we have it folks. I just summed up the past three months, and the oncoming three months. There are offerings, but definitely not abundant ones. So in closing. I think that if Nintendo is going to pride themselves as being #1 in first, and second-party software they're going to have to up their ante in quantity, selection, and creativity.