Why Gamecube Sales misrepresent its popularity

As high as nintendo GC's sales are now, It still doesnt represent how popular the games are. Why? because of the GC's initial purpose as a portable party cube of uberness. The thing is, While maybe a group of 20 people love playing the gamecube often, maybe only 2 actually own one. At my college everyday, and at a couple of geek parties ive seen this situation over and over.

At my college in the student union, there is generally always a GC hooked up to this large, kick ass 40 inch or so TV with Smash Bros. Melee on it. About 10 people bring GC controlers for it so they dont get stuck with a crappy one, And about 20 people get set up in the tournament styel system we use(( I cant beleive we found a purpose for that tournament set up option in that game)) but only about 2 people there actually even own a gamecube, even though about 10 have their own controller for it. Ive had this happen at geek parties too as mentioned above. I think its kinda funny that the gamecube does its job so well that it actually HURTS its overall sales because one gamecube can entertain a group of about 20 college students for hours on end.

On a side note i've never seen an X-box used in such a manner. Even though a lot of people there own X-box's and When a PS2 is used in such a manner a lot of people get upset, especially since its only 2-player and more than likely a football game....and i do mean really upset.

[dragonglove]

Actually I disagree. I am a hardcore Nintendo fan. I am also a hardcore RPG fan, meaning I really should own a PS2. I also worked at gamestop for a year (ok introductions over). I found that Gamecube suffered poorer sales than the other systems because it still was labled as a kiddie system. The question I got pissed of at the most was "which is better: Xbox or PS2," like gamecube never existed. I even heard one guy tell me he bought a gamecube and then traded it in within 2 weeks because his friends teased him. He called it the worst gaming mistake he ever made.
I also find that I have been doing the same thing with my friends PS2 as what is happening at your college. Even before I had my PSone, I had a memory card and FFVII to play on my friends system. I currently own at least 3 PS2 games and about 5 demo disks. Well I could probably ramble on but I gotta go.

It seems like everyone in my dorm has an Xbox...I guess we're all just big Halo players.

But I agree that the GC is extremely popular, especially for gaming parties. Mario Party and SSB Melee are a lot of fun, especially compared to the multiplayer games Xbox has to offer: Halo, Fuzion Frenzy, tetris...halo...halo...hmmmm. And I think the only game I've ever played multiplayer on PS2 is Gauntlet Dark Legacy.

EDIT: I also work at GameStop, like dragonglove, but in our store GC was the most popular system this past year. I swear I sold more of them than Xbox and PS2 combined. We just sell a lot more PS2 and Xbox games it seems...

[The_Bear]

Not too mention how much easier it is to carry a gamecube rather than an xbox plus controllers with those unnesseccarily (spellcheck?) long cords and too many games that just plain suck. Gamecube is THE party system, IMO.

[Deathosaurus Wrecks]

we've actualy got two GameCubes (as well as two GBAs and a Game Boy Player) in our appartment. but then again, we're super-nerds.

[LilWhiteMage]

I love my Cube... mainly because of the game choices on it... the Zeldas... Mario... yeah... Big Nintendo freak. That and the fact that if you have the gameboy player you can tack on about .. hell, who knows how many games to the library that the GC has. I like my PS2 for my RPGs (Final Fantasy, etc), and Xbox... meh.. it's okay.. but I only just got it, so I haven't played a lot on it yet. But the Cube is definately my favorite of the three.

[Lost in Time]

I love my Cube too. I love the library too (except for the lack of RPG's). And, like the japanesse, I could care less about the Xbox (except for Halo. Why Halo? Why are you exlusive to that hunk of wires?)

[Priest4hire]

Why is Halo exclusive to the Xbox? Probably the same reason that Metroid Prime is exclusive to GCN.

At any rate I don't think it's a great mystery that Nintendo has image problems as a result of choices they have made the last decade or so. I'm sure more people would like the system and its games if they just gave it a chance. Then again, I'm sure more people would like the Xbox if they gave it a chance. And there's even probably a few out there who would like the PS2 if they gave it a chance.

[Sir Juno]

Accually Halo isn't truely exclusive to the XBox, its also on the PC.

Well, I own a GC and I'm not getting a hard time for owning it. We have a pretty good library of games on it now, thans to christmas, so I'm pretty happy with it.

[Mike McC]

One of my freinds has a Gamcube, and 87 games for it. I'm planning omn getting one myself, but I wanted to get a PS2 first. Why? I like RPGs, and PS2 currently has more.