D&D Heroes Xbox Exclusive, Nintendo Doesn't Get It
Originally planned to hit all three platforms, D&D Heroes is now an Xbox exclusive according to Atari. With the look and feel of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance it may be a game to watch for when it's released this October. Check out Gamespot for details.
In other news, Nintendo is stupid. Since the Gamecube's launch fans have been clamoring for a demo disk containing un-released games similar to Sony's Jam Packs and the media you find in magazines. Nintendo has heeded these cries of woe and released a demo disk containing demos of Soul Calibur 2, Viewtiful Joe, Billy Hatcher, Sonic Adventures DX and a couple others. The problem? To get the disk you have to buy the console, the disk's case clearly states that it is not for re-sale. What are they thinking? What should be a complete natural has once again been perverted by Nintendo to piss off their fans.
There is hope to those of you who want the demo disk! Plenty of stores will be selling them anyways and there's always Ebay if nothing else works. Be sure to call around and check larger retail chains. To sum up, Microsoft secures an exclusive (good) and Nintendo secures my opinion that they're turning into a stuffy old company that refuses to keep up with the times (bad).
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I wish I 'got' Nintendo's strategy, because, honestly, with the line-up of first rate quality in-house titles, shouldn't Nintendo be the leader and not struggling? I mean imagine if the Xbox or even Sony, with their marketing, product placement, price point, etc. had the kind of franchises like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and so on? It's all well and good that Nintendo makes a profit, though an increasingly smaller one, but I'd be pretty angry if I owned a Nintendo that they take these distinct advantages and fritter them away. The Gamecube should be battling Sony for domination, instead it's just another casaulty of bad management. I'm not prophesying Nintendo's doom here. In fact, if you think about it, I'm saying positive things about the software and the potential. I'd just like to see Nintendo meet that potential.- Elysium
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
I think that Nintendo's biggest strength and weakness is their loyal fan base. I have a friend that only buys Nintendo consoles since the NES days.
He has seen everything else the other consoles have to offer and still sticks with Nintendo.
Nintendo will always be able to sell their games to people like him and make a profit. The problem is that unless they pick up their 'game' they won't be able to get any new people to come across and as time goes on their fan base will get smaller and smaller until they go the way of Sega or worse.
I have always wanted to buy a Nintendo console, though there are always a couple of things that don't work for me. Such as poor online gaming support compared to the other consoles.
I myself am a relatively new Gamecube owner -- which is the first console I've owned since the days of the NES. I've been very happy with the backlog of games I've been able to toy around with, but am very disheartened every time I read of another great sounding game that starts out cross-platform and then ends up an exclusive to the XBox. It seems that Nintendo should be fighting like crazy just to keep this from happening (pay lots of money so that when combined with the potential profits from all three consoles, MS can't offset with one large lump sum payment for and exclusive title). That and they need to start hitting up companies like LucasArts to make sure that the great PS2-XBox games also include Gamecube versions.