GameCube shines in the US of A

By James Temperton 25.03.2003 1

The Future's Bright...

So a week in which Nintendo oils up the old machine and prepares for another busy Spring starts with major success. Considering we haven't heard a peep from the Japanese behemoth for months games-wise, the arrival of some big titles has seen some dramatic increases in sales for both its handheld and home gaming systems.

The GameCube saw its sales figures double last month from what they had been in January, and major thanks can go to some clever bundle deals running across the pond, that hopefully we will get over here...A 110% rise is the exact figure and this is great news as it propels the GameCube from near obscurity to quite a few notches above its nearest competition, the XBOX.

In the handheld market, the GBA sold over a quarter of a million units last month in the USA alone. The final statistic for you ladies and gents, is this: With these sales figures, the combined industry share of the GameCube and GBA in February was 37% and just over a quarter in terms of software.

So the future would appear to be looking ever better, and just to reinforce that, behold the latest drivel from the robot that is Nintendo PR....



From the Machine of PR:

In Japan, Pokemon Ruby Edition and Pokemon Sapphire Edition sold more than 4 million copies in the first six weeks of its launch. Both games launched in the United States on March 17.

The success of Nintendo's software line-up is expected to be matched by that of the Game Boy Advance SP which will be released on March 23, sporting an innovative front-lit screen and sleek, compact design and an expected retail price of USD 99.

Another promising prospect for Nintendo comes in the familiar guise of a Zelda title. The pre-sell orders for The Legend of Zelda : The Wind Waker greatly exceeded expectations, with 600,000 units already pre-sold. The game launches on March 24.

The bundle programme will, of course, continue. Consumers who purchase a Nintendo GameCube at participating retailers receive a free copy of Metroid Prime, Mario Party 4, Star Fox Adventures or Capcom's Resident Evil Zero.

Wario is back, searching for his transformed treasure in Wario World on June 23. Practice your swing and tee-up with Mario Golf launching on July 28. Both games will be available for GC for USD 49.99.

Beginning August 25, consumers can test their racing limits as they speed around futuristic tracks in F-Zero for Nintendo GameCube for a suggested retail price of USD 49.99.

Find your true love on Game Boy Advance Hamtaro : Ham-Ham Heartbreak launches April 7. Other titles coming for Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP include: Golden Sun : The Lost Age available April 14, Wario Ware, Mega Microgames available May 26, Donkey Kong Country launching June 9, and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising launching June 23. All games will be available for a suggested retail price of USD 34.99.

Donkey Kong 3-e, Golf-e and Clu Clu Land-e will launch on April 21 for a suggested retail price of USD 4.95, and Animal Crossing-e Series 4 will launch on May 12 for a suggested retail price of USD 3.29. All e-Reader cards are playable on
the Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP via the e-Reader."


Some nice Nintendo news, and with E3 just round the corner things would appear to be getting a whole lot b
etter. And what has Nintendo done? Nothing! A few games have been released and all of a sudden the sales sky-rocket. Just imagine the potential with more adverts; I'll leave you to think about that one...

Comment on this article

You can comment as a guest or join the Cubed3 community below: Sign Up for Free Account Login

Preview PostPreview Post Your Name:
Validate your comment
  Enter the letters in the image to validate your comment.
Submit Post

Comments

There are no replies to this article yet. Why not be the first?

Subscribe to this topic Subscribe to this topic

If you are a registered member and logged in, you can also subscribe to topics by email.
Sign up today for blogs, games collections, reader reviews and much more
Site Feed
Who's Online?
Insanoflex

There are 1 members online at the moment.