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The X Factor In Nintendo's Success Before I get into this editorial, let me make something clear to the Xbox Fanboys out there, this is not an Xbox bashing editorial. Infact, the X only has a limited amount to do with the Xbox. Instead, the X is the algebraic term, and if you paid attention in Math class instead of dreaming when the next faked Amped screenshots will be released, you'd probably know that. ;) The point of this editorial is to make it clear what WILL make Nintendo succeed, and I'll probably do another one on things that WILL NOT make Nintendo fully succeed. In the following editorial, I'll try and dig up all of the factors that will help Nintendo have success in the upcoming next-gen war. From the PS2 to the GBA hook-up, I'll try and go into all of that. We'll start off with the most recent of happenings. The delay of the Xbox. When the GameCube was delayed two weeks, it was agreed that it would not have a huge impact on the Xbox launch. But the same does not go for what happened when it was the other way around. Recently, when the Xbox was delayed and MS announced that it might only make at most 1/2 it's planned shipment, things started to heat up. Almost every retailer in the country wanted more GameCubes to compensate for the Xbox no show. But NOA says there will not be any more shipped, because of it's success in Japan more units are needed over there. But the fact remains, that if Microsoft can't even make half it's initial shipment (much like Sony back in 2000) people will start to buy other things if they can't find what they want. A similar thing happened to the Dreamcast when the PS2 didn't meet launch quantities. The DC sales skyrocketed that week. If MS can't make fill all of it's preorders within a month or so, than there is a very good chance that many potential customers may move over the Nintendo or Sony. Another Xbox downfall was it's showing at E3. The problem with first impressions is that you can only make them once, and the first impressions of the Xbox were not anywhere near what were expected. But what about Nintendo's first impressions? Show stopping (literally). At points that Nintendo booths had up to two to three times the amount of the Microsoft and Sony booths combined, and this was for the full three day show. Nintendo showed off original, fun titles, and that sparked the public's interest greatly. But the Xbox downfalls aren't the only thing in Nintendo's court. The recent announcement of the next six to eight Resident Evil titles (that includes remakes of almost the entire series) will be EXCLUSIVE on the GameCube. The Resident Evil series has a cult following by millions of people. Considering a port of a Dreamcast game will be the last PS2 RE game, which has made quite a few people mad. The mere fact that Capcom is support Nintendo in this gigantic way is possibly a sign of things to come. Did Nintendo pay them off to bring the RE series over? I don't know. I'd think there was some cash exchanged, but not as much as people would think. Capcom, recently, has expressed great interest in Nintendo. Hell, they even developed the latest Zelda offerings on the GameBoy Color. The fact that Resident Evil Zero would be exclusive to a Nintendo system was also something interesting when it was first announced. RE fans didn't expect that their beloved Capcom would be abandoning their beloved Playstations. But there may be a reason for that. This is nothing new; the Playstation 2 is a difficult system to develop for. It takes more time and, more importantly, money to develop a Playstation 2 game. Now what if another company came along promising a system so much easier to develop for that you could port a title in less than two months. What do you think they'd do? Probably go for it no doubt. The PS2 may have a head start on the competition, but if you can't get it's best performance as a developer because your having trouble making a game for it, than you'll try and look for something easier to do. Another factor in Sony's input into the Nintendo X Factor is their arrogant nature. They made a system last time around that sold twice as many units as the N64. This is similar to Nintendo's attitude in late SNES days towards the N64. You can think you'll succeed all you want. But there are certain factors that have to be put into it. One thing a gamer almost always hates buying is peripherals, and Sony's plans for the upcoming year is to market it's modem, HD, LCD screen, Keyboard, and mouse. Now all this may sound good. But when you buy all of this junk it will probably amount out to close to $500, or maybe even more. Nintendo's approach to peripherals is an easy one. Supply the game with what he needs. Nintendo will give Sega GameCube modems to, probably, bundle in with Phantasy Star Online GC. This makes almost perfect sense. There is no need to have something that you don't need right now, and that saves you quite a few bucks. The third part situation is probably one of the largest factors in Nintendo's success. The N64 was ridiculed for having little 3rd party support, and that WAS a problem. But things have changed. If my memory serves me correct, up to 150 3rd party games are in development and will probably be released next year. That's half of what the N64's game library was! Some people are wondering is Square will return to Nintendo, but what people should really be wondering about is if we NEED Square to come back. Over the past few years, other companies known for developing stellar RPGs have come into the limelight. One of those is Enix, the creator of the Dragon Warrior series, which is infact the most popular game series in Japan. Dragon Quest 7 (Dragon Quest is what it's called in Japan) outsold Final Fantasy 7 in Japan, and there Enix is considered better than Square. Enix, though they haven't confirmed support, have long been rumors to have something under their sleeves, and we may just have to wait and see if it's true. From the major factor, to a minute one. Before it's showing at SpaceWorld 2001, the GBA-GCN link up was being heavily criticized. A lot of people didn't know why people would want to use it, or even how they would. But when it was unveiled to the gaming public, people were somewhat shocked at its ingenuity and creative aspect. The demo shown at SW2K1 was Kirby's Tilt 'N' Tumble. You used the GBA to control Kirby on the GCN, and than when he fell off, he fell onto the GBA screen. It sounds weird, but according to many people, it was fun as heck. This is pretty much the end of my editorial. I'm sure a lot of people would agree with me that the factors which may contribute to the GameCube's success. Please feel free to send all of your comments on this article to Snoop@quakecity.net, we'll put all of our user comments on the site. Let your voices be heard
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