While in Birmingham City Centre I thought I'd check out a GAME store to see what had been released on the Gamecube recently. After wandering around looking perplexed I asked a question of the guy who hangs around saying "Can I help you at all" if you so much as breath in the shop. My question was simple, "Where is the Gamecube section?"
"We don't stock new Gamecube software in this store anymore, we do have a small selection of Pre-owned games over on this tiny stanbdalone units end display."
"Is it just this store or a have other GAME stores also dropped the Gamecube?"
"I believe that quite a few are no longer stocking new Gamecube titles."
Well peeps, I can't say that this bloke was 100% correct as I avoided all the other GAME stores in the city centre (2 more) but if this is a trend then it's a very worrying one. It's still over a year till the Revolution comes out in the UK and the Gamecube Christmas line-up has been severly weakend by the lack of a LoZ game and an outpouring of poor quality 'Mario tacked on to sell some extra units' games. There are some good games coming, but not of the Resident Evil 4 type quality that will grab the masses. Add to the gloom the fact that the new Revolution controller (sic) will probably turn off far more people than it attracts and I'm feeling down all round. Some days I wish I'd brought a PS2 or an Xbox.
Oi, Lee-yoshi, you got any concrete info on my dispiriting adventure into GAME?
Regrds
UK Jester
Hehe, well i'm glad you asked!
Both of the stores in Preston are still happyily stocking the Gamecube, we've got 2 shelves (Like WOAH!) including all the new releases and christmas releases as the Gamecube sells well here. However in towns and areas where the Gamecube hasn't performed as well as the bigwigs at GAME HQ would like, it's very possible that they have now stopped selling it altogether. The main reason GAME had to keep the Gamecube selling over christmas was... that Legend of Zelda game that GAME had
HUGE hopes for, even naming it as the sole game of the year. Now ninty have pushed it back into the depths of 2006, GAME have pretty much said... "Well, sod this" and shelved the console and its games. It was a hugely stupid mistake on Nintendo's part, i'm not surprised if other games stores start shelving the cube too to be honest. There is still a big possibility that when Zelda does eventually come out next year, they will stock the game, but that's all. The biggest thing the Gamecube has selling it now this christmas is Fire Emblem and... well nah that's it really, and not even that game will sell compared to the many games the other consoles have got release dates for this christmas. The last big release was WWE Day of Reckoning 2, which made it into the Top 20, #11 i think, making it the first time a Gamecube game has been seen in the Top 40 since Resident Evil 4, and i would not have been surprised if your GAME store had shelved the Gamecube altogether not long after that's release.
The GAME website and many other GAME stores will still be selling Gamecube this christmas though, but i would say between 25% - 35% of GAME stores will have gotten rid (at a guess-timate) mind.
I wouldn't point the finger at GAME though, they're the No.1 retailer in the U.K., the blame goes to Nintendo for not doing anything about it! The Sony PSP has got about 2 - 3 times as many shelves as the Nintendo DS and there's many more titles available for DS at this point and many more planned. Nintendo need to pull their finger out and start spending some money, and getting together with retailers to make their consoles noticed - They won't sell themselves if they're left in the corner with the burnt out lightbulb! Sony
BUY all their shelf space, as do Microsoft. Sony & Microsoft also have active representitives across the country going into games stores with promotional materials and stuff not only to check up on how the console is doing, but to educate the staff about their upcoming releases... Nintendo? Erm... "Yea, that corner over there".
The collection of GC games at my local GAME has got a hell of alot smaller over the last couple of months, but it was neva that big a selection to begin wiv. Its not just GAME, has anyone looked in the latest ARGOS catalogues? Theres like 7 GC games in there compared to about 50 PS2 games. theres even more GBA games :/. I rekon that soon GC games will only b availabe online or 2nd hand...
Thou 2 be fair to GAME they do hav a fair selection of GC games on their site.
Well I guess I can't complain about Sony and Microsoft using money to get their shelf space at the expense of Nintendos in store prescence. After all, I believe Nintendo had a very high Licence Fee of around £10 for every Gamecube game until only a while back - it's all greed of one version or another. And if the Gamecube isn't performing then why should a company bother supporting a product that will gather dust on a shelf, clog the stock room and lose profit through unnessecarily long storage time which costs money.
It's like lots of people said, Nintendo don't care about Europe. Now, in the UK at least, no-one cares about the Nintendo Gamecube. Wave goodbye to your installed base of Revolution users Nintendo, the majority of them will be forced onto other consoles by the time you get your butt in gear.
Regards
UK Jester
Not just the Gamecube though, like i said, it's still happening now with the Nintendo DS and GameBoy Advance! The micro is going to sell shockingly bad because of it's store presence and how because of this everyone will see it as "nothing special" when the GBA bay could easily be widened to a few more bays in every GAME store. The Nintendo DS bay atm is also overflowing with games. Seems like Nintendo are just letting their games speak for when GAME should consider expanding the bays, when Nintendo could do it the much easier way. Plus, more bays = more customer interest = more sales, like, dur!
Gamecube was doomed from the start with not having over 2 - 3 bays, when the Xbox still has more then that. Oh, Nintendo...
ARGH! Its happened in my local GAME store! :'(
Oddly though, there is an abnormal amount of preowned GC games, including an American version of Animal Crossing and a UK version lol.
*Sigh* It really is tough times. Expect Gamecube to be totally shelved in pretty much all GAME stores maybe around 2nd - 3rd week in January. I'd bet good money on it going on...
In our local GAME we have one little shelf for GC, a bigger one for DS and two bigger ones for GBA (which I find odd). There's also very little pre-owned GC games, except Die-Hard Vendetta - which there's about 10 of, no kidding!
Well, the GBA and NDS are getting shoved onto smaller and smaller shelves in the 1 GAME store I bother going into (it's on the way to the huge Birmingham Gamestation from New Steet train station) The only product in the store that caught my attention was the Pokemon Emerald Stratergy Guide - but my wife has found a cheaper copy online so I'll keep my money away from the enemy lol.
Regards
Uk Jester
Ah well. Not a big loss imo. =/