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Editorials 
GameCube Opinions: The Extras
- By Rob
Schlicht
Well, it’s been a few weeks since Dolphin was finally put in his big, cubic aquarium. Along with the GameCube’s debut came his diminutive little brother, Game Boy Advance. From 2 AM to 5 AM Thursday morning, every Nintendo site on the Internet was singing the praises of Nintendo. Then, a few days later, sites began posting members various thoughts now that the systems were unveiled. Surprisingly, many sites contradicted what they had previously said, and began unleashing waves of criticism on the machines. I’m not here to try and gain attention by rattling off concerns I have over the NCube and GBA. I’m here to tell you what I honestly think about them, which is overwhelmingly positive with only a few minor doubts.
GameCube Thoughts-The Extras
The extras are interesting. Several of them are old friends, like the memory cards, while others are brand new faces. All of them server a clearly defined purpose, and I think most of them have no shot at not succeeding.
Firstly, the DigiCard, Nintendo’s new memory card. These cards slip in the front of the system, instead of the controller. There are only two slots on the system, so with four players, there will have to be a lot of swapping, but this is to keep cost down, so I don’t mind. The memory card’s capacity is disappointing, to say the least. Especially when you consider that we’re talking about a disc-based system here, there is no EPROM. Every saved game will have to go on a card. Feel nostalgic for cartridges? The cards only have capacity for half a megabyte, so they better be A) dirt cheap and B) have at least one packed in with the system. The PS2’s memory cards are 8MB, one comes with the system, and they’re going to probably go for $30 each.
The DigiCard SD Adapter is probably the biggest wildcard. It will use 64MB cards instead of the normal 0.5MB ones. These cards are used in other devices, like digital cameras. This means lots of data can be transferred, and even better: This could be what the 64DD should have been. Basically, this is the 64DD with higher capacity, without having to buy an extra whole system. This allows for some amazing games. Basically, this could become all the best parts of the 64DD, without any of the worst. This also means we may not have to even worry about a hard drive accessory, at launch, or ever. Best yet, between now and October, price on these 64MB cards is bound to drop drastically.
The Digital Video Cable is pretty straightforward. On HDTV’s, you’ll get even better looking graphics than on a normal TV. Seems pretty hard to screw this up.
However, now we are at what may be the biggest downfall on the system, the Achilles Heel. Since Nintendo wants to keep the price down, I doubt we’ll see the modem packed in. Which is a mistake. The modem is not the same as a memory card. This is an add-on. A 64DD, a Sega CD, a Sega 32x. Add-ons have never succeeded in the American market. The closest would be the RAM Pak on the N64, which is not considered a true add-on by many. Although it’s good to offer a choice between if users want to buy the modem or the Ethernet card, why? This is Sony’s route. Look at Sega. They aren’t doing stellar with the Dreamcast, and every other next-gen console far outpaces it in technical specs. But in the next few months, something’s happening. Sega’s online games are starting to ship. NFL2K1, the first of these, will be in stores less than a week from now. More games are coming. Sure, you can play Unreal Tournament and Quake III: Arena on PS2, but why bother when you can play them for Dreamcast, and online to boot? Especially with those two games, where the entire point is to be online. Every Dreamcast user has a modem, and the system shipped for $200. Furthermore, in the next few months, Sega’s releasing an Ethernet card, which people who want broadband can buy, while still having a 56k modem.
The thing is, developers for Sega can add online components and not worry about alienating anyone. But if Nintendo releases the modem separate, it won’t be the same. Developers are going to have to ask themselves, if there’s 2 million GameCubes out there, and only 400,000 modems and Ethernet cards have been sold, should we bother putting online components in? It will delay the title at least a few months, and add on a lot more to the cost of development, but barely a quarter of our audience will be able to use it. Fewer online games get made, angering those people who did buy modems and Ethernet cards. Believe me when I say this: Whether or not you think much of them as a hardware company, Sega’s the only one right now who’s got an online act together. Of course, not every Dreamcast user wants to play online. Some will be happy playing NFL2K1 against the computer, and they should, it’s a fabulous game. But if they decide they want to play against a friend in another state, they CAN. All it takes is a few button presses and he’s in the NFL2K1 chat room, ready to go. At no additional cost. This may be a major reason why Nintendo will have a very competitive price for the Cube, But I’d rather pay $200 or $149 for a system with a modem than $99 for one without a modem.
The extras do look fabulous. But I hope that a few of them won’t be “add-ons”, but “pack-ins”.
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QUOTE: |
| "Add-ons have never succeeded in the American market." |
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