Nintendo Wins, I Eat Humble Pie

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If there's one thing I don't like it's being wrong, which is unfortunate considering how often I am.  As a rule, I'm usually most surprised by any prediction I make which I don't have to retract at a later date.  Some might argue that this hampers my ability to be an analyst of any kind, even an amateur one with his very own website, but I disagree.  If television is any indication I would guess that being achingly misguided is actually a job requirement, but this again could be an indication of precisely how wrong I can be.  None of this, as you might have guessed, has anything to do with the topic at hand, which is that Nintendo, despite dire rumors of impending turmoil has thumbed its nose at detractors and racked up an absolutely stellar February.

Read on for some numbers:

According to Gamespy Daily:

Largely in part to the new bundle offer in which those purchasing a GameCube can pick up a free copy of Metroid Prime, Mario Party 4, Star Fox Adventures or Resident Evil Zero, Nintendo today revealed that GameCube sales skyrocketed by 110 percent, with the software tie-ratio reaching 8.4 to 1 on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the combine force of Game Boy Advance and GameCube managed to take in 37 percent of all industry hardware sales, and over one-quarter of games sales during the month.

In some places, I gurantee you (though, I could be wrong) someone is trying to paint this as either insignificant, or precisely the kind of thing that Nintendo has done wrong.  Not me.  Even in my dramatically skewed universe, I can't think how any of this is a negative.  I mean, come on, 110% sales increase off a smartly priced software bundle scheme while the GameBoy Advance successfully hits markets.  The fact seems to be that Nintendo is back on track, which is painful for me to say because not a week ago I said, and I quote, "The fact seems to be that [...] Nintendo is stumbling."

At least when I'm wrong, I'll be the guy who tells you about it.  Gives me something to talk about.

On the Game Boy Advance front, Nintendo continued to report positive figures with sales of Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire hitting 4 million copies each during the first six weeks.

Ok, now they're just showing off.

According to Nintendo, pre-orders for The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker have now surpassed 600,000 units. This comes on the heels of NintendoÂ's previous report of 560,000 units.

What's better than putting your system into the hands of thousands of new customers?  Having a game right around the corner that they all must buy.  Funny how quickly things can go from dreary to dreamy. 

So what have I learned?  That any inexplicable marketing and positioning strategy from Nintendo is not an inidcation of ineptitude on their part, but of lack of faith on mine.  While I still maintain the position that the Gamecube lacks library depth, because it wouldn't be very sporting to give up the whole ship, I plan on keeping my flapping yap shut about their seeming woes for awhile.  I think I'll just sit on the back bumper of this bandwagon and hang my head in shame for awhile.  Or I could stick it in a bucket of water.

Would you like me to stick my head in a bucket of water?

- Elysium

 

Comments

How's that pie tasting?

This is very good for Nintendo. I hope they can get enough quality software after Zelda to maintain these numbers.

Make a Poll.

What should Elysium do?
1) Stick his head in a bucket of water
2) Not stick his head in a bucket of water
3) Eat more pie
4) Give more pie to Pyroman[FO] so he can eat it, especially chocolate pie or donut pie, because they are both especially tasty, but Pyroman[FO] is not picky, oh no, normal pie will indeed do