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Nintendo stops Cube production News
GameCube News by Robert Purchese
We were recently fondly reminded of an E3 where grown men screamed over a solitary purple plastic box, the very same hardware Nintendo of America has confirmed it is no longer supporting.
No new GameCubes will be produced it said, and first party game production has also been stopped - which isn't outrageously surprising, but does bring a little fanboy-tear to our eyes.
"Are we producing any more GameCubes? No," Perrin Kaplan, vice president of Nintendo America told GameDaily.
When asked if the gaming-giant was no longer supporting the platform by not releasing any new games, Kaplan ominously replied, "Right, that's correct".
Unfortunately Nintendo UK was unavailable for comment at the time of writing, but we expect there's little to deny in these words of wounding. Sob.
However, don't despair, you can still buy the console in some reaches of the world for not very much money at all, and there are plenty of stonking games on the platform to keep you entertained.
We suggest you keep a sharp eye on the prices as we get closer to an official announcement, as they're likely to plummet.
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/sheds tear
Even though my little black box is pretty much in retirement since I got my Wii, I'll still hold onto it - not least because I want to keep the controller as a spare to my Wavebird and I'd probably struggle to sell it without... Maybe now would be a good time for a retrospective article on the Cube's comparatively short life and a run down of games we may have missed and should now be scouring the second hand bins for? (hint, hint!) |
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Freelancepolice
22/02/07 @ 16:41
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go away you rubbish little troll
anyway plenty of cube action with the wii |
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That headline caused me to breathe in sharply, if this Cube breaks I won't be able to get a new one to play F-Zero GX NTSC + Freeloader anymore. Luckily the backwards compatibility is rock solid so it's not an issue for the rest of my games.
I still want to track down Pikmin, Chibi-Robo and a few others but I'm worried that even mentioning them here will cause the eBay prices to shoot up. |
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the_sas_man
22/02/07 @ 17:26
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Erm - can't you play all the gamecube game on the wii anyway?
So what is the big deal? |
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I'd of thought they'd of stopped production of the Cube way back around last September in order to start ramping up the Wii production. If they didn't, is it no suprise there's a Wii shortage right now!
Anyway, I'm still waiting for my Black Wii, to go with my Black Cube, plus a few more AAA 1st party Wii only games too !! :) |
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GamesConnoisseur
22/02/07 @ 17:31
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I got a huge library of NTSC Gamecube games, I tried freeloader on Wii, doesnt work! So holding onto my Gamecube. I think it is the most failed of Nintendo platform in a sense as N64 was more distinct and whilst too many developers initially supported GC only to drop it and thus sinking even faster.
However the GC games itself should not die unforgotten, should new Wii owners never sampled the delights of Metroid Prime 1,2, Res Evil remake and so on on Wii. So would hope Ninty push these kind of classic range as budget titles, especially when Wii is selling like hot potatoes! EDIT: Got new Freeloader 1.0E today and sure enough it worked fine with my NTSC titles
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most recently on 24/02/07 @ 19:13
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I for one aren't remotely sadden by the news. The cueb was probably the worst console ninty ever produced in terms of classic game produced ont he sytem. I bought one quite early on and apart from a few stand out titles i never really enjoyed the syste. It only real strength was as a counter point to PS and Xbox machismo and as such probably helped certain games such a Ico and Pysconaughts get green lighted.
If you want to get dewy eye about ninty systems at least choose decent ones such as the NES, SNES and N64. N64 now that WAS a system |
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I really liked the GC, more so than my Xbox, almost as much, in a different sort of way to my PS2. The last GC game I brought was Tomb Raider Legend, though I played it on my Wii, there's still a fair bit I want to play on the system, Pikmin 2, RE 3 and CV, PN03, etc.
Even though I 've moved on from the GC, I still like it and to this day am still amazed by some of the games, RE4, MP 1&2, LoZ WW, RE-make, RE 0, it was a great console, that unfortunately, everyone gave up on. BTW for me though the final nail in the coffin for the Cube was when RE4 jumped ship. If it stayed exclusive, or if Capcom had timed their announcement better, then no I don't think it would have lead to a sudden resurrection of 3rd party support, but at the very least it could have sold more systems as a result if its exclusivity.
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most recently on 22/02/07 @ 18:17
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Nintendo seemed to give up on Gamecube early on - too many simple updates to franchise games that didnt make enough improvements, and they didnt bother paying out to get exclusive games, or make sure games like GTA III got ported.
Still at least Resident Evil 4 did come out on cube, and for that reason alone its one of the best systems ever. |
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quantumsheep
22/02/07 @ 18:35
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"You need to get the latest version of Freeloader... most NTSC games will play fine on a PAL Wii with it."
Which version is that? Play are doing version 1.06b for £12.99 - will that work? Cheers, G ;) |
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I'm definately keeping hold of my cube. Got a GBA Player stuck in the bottom of it for retro GB Color action, and Freeloader doesn't work in my Wii.
The Freeloader situation is worrying; even if the latest version does apparently work, nothing's stopping Nintendo from blocking newer versions via software updates. |
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Since there are some very good mod chips for Wii already, I am wondering if it's even wise to buy a GC second hand. The mod chips allegedly do what FreeLoader does for both, Wii and GC games. Maybe I could buy a GameCube if I saw it for dirt cheap. Otherwise I think I am going to buy a Wii somewhere in the future, when there's some interesting games for it.
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SeesThroughAll
22/02/07 @ 19:09
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The Cube had a few fab games (RE4, probably the best version of MGS1), a shame it didn't get more support.
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Actually, more important here. And I'm sure that Eurogamer will get round to investigating a point as obvious as that which I'm about to make. With the Wii not allowing Backwards compatibility via the classic remote but requiring original controllers, will Nintendo still be making their original controllers or are they relegating one of the Wii's biggest features onto the decay heap?
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Der_tolle_Emil
22/02/07 @ 21:22
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Well
Here my Nintendo time stops... I'm not getting the wii, i'm always looking for driving games and i don't think the wii can deliver in this genre Probably not the type of racing game you mean but Excite Truck is awesome. I understand your worries though. I still cannot quite picture playing Mario Kart with the wiimote but I could not picture Excite Truck with the wiimote too. But playing it for a mere 5 minutes it just felt right and it works incredibly well. The wiimote cannot deliver force feedback but I doubt that there will never be a serious racing game for the wii. Not as much as for the 360 and PS3 possibly because racing games like to show off their graphics. taucias: They stopped supporting the GC when Super Paper Mario was quietly shifted to a Wii project. I personally get sick and tired of the way they treat their userbase. The cube is definetly the console that got dropped by Nintendo the earliest after a new console arrived. But I think you cannot really be mad at Nintendo now - you should have been a year ago when the cube had already one or even both feet in the grave. Nintendo has limited resources concerning home consoles, they cannot really afford to support old consoles for much longer. Especially not consoles like the cube and partially the N64 (but not as much as the cube) which were both dead before their successors were released. You can look however for the ongoing support of the GBA although the DS has already it's second revision out. |
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Which version is that? Play are doing version 1.06b for £12.99 - will that work?
The version that works is the very last one made for the Cube (works on the PAL Platinum Cube)... not certain, something like 1.06F I think. The packaging currently looks like this
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most recently on 22/02/07 @ 21:48
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The Freeloader situation is worrying; even if the latest version does apparently work, nothing's stopping Nintendo from blocking newer versions via software updates.
That is worrying; I hadn't thought about that before. Hopefully they won't bother now that the Cube is history, and well, Nintendo are always good to Europe, right? Oh shit. |
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