GameCube Released in Japan

The launch of a new Nintendo Console hasn’t been experienced for 5 years now. Most people predicted it when the N64 came out… “When do you think their next will come out? Oh… probably in 2000 or 2001…” that seemed SO far away then. Today in Japan, Nintendo allowed store owners to begin selling the ‘Cube and after reading all of the excellent coverage over at Cube.ign.com of the event, I’m beginning to believe in the system… at least in the games they have at launch.

They have pictures, the traditional “opening of the box, loading in the first game” impressions, thoughts on the initial games, everything a comparison shopper needs to help make a decision come November, even a budget planner. Which brings me to…

On a Cube Vs. Xbox tangent:
I know I’m not the only one who was leaning toward the Xbox… until, that is, Microsoft saw fit to restrict the major retailers such as EBX, etc. to only sell it in bundles at $499.00. You cannot just buy the Xbox and the game of your choice. I went to EBX yesterday and picked up a flyer of the Xbox “Xtreme” package. For $499.99 you get the Xbox, 1 game by Microsoft, 2 games by 3rd Party publishers, and one Peripheral (controller*, DVD remote, etc.). I had to laugh when I saw in small print something to the effect of “* represents a $5 savings (on MSRP) if buying everything separately with the Controller option.”

The choices of games are not what I would call stellar, though Oddworld looks very nice, as does Dead or Alive 3, even Tony Hawk 2x… but would I buy ALL of them at launch? Doubt it. Let’s compare that with the Cube Budget Planner. For 449.95 I can get the Cube, Wave Race: Blue Storm (which looks incredible), ditto that sentiment on Star Wars Rogue Leader: RS2, SSX Tricky (missed the PS2 offering), Super Monkey Ball (very nice puzzle-party game), Extra Controller and Digicard Memory. That’s a 50 dollar savings with an extra game and memory card… not to mention the quality of those games look slightly funner than the Xbox selection.

To sum up, I probably would have got an Xbox if MSoft allowed free choice from the beginning, but now I’m actually looking FORWARD to getting my GameCube.