XBox or Gamecube?

[BigSmooth]

I went with the GC, as it's cheaper and I really wanted to play Zelda & Metroid (as well as the plethora of other excellent GC-only titles). There are plenty of sports games, and many other multi-platform titles I am looking forward to as well (SSX 3, Soul Calibur 2, the next Tony Hawk game, etc.).
Frankly, Zelda alone has made buying this console worth it for me.

I do wish GTA and Gran Turismo were on the GC. I actually like the controller, especially the wireless WaveBird, although I'm not sure why they didn't stick a second shoulder button on the left side.

Honestly, I think a big part of liking the GC comes down to whether or not you regard many of the Nintendo titles as "juvenile" or not. Personally, I grew up with many of these characters so even though games like Super Smash Bros. Melee or Mario Kart may appear to be kid-oriented, I'll play them if they're fun.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: Spyro

Originally posted by: Malladine
My only worry with the gamecube is the maturity lvl of the games. Granted, consoles in general are aimed at gamers with a certain, shall we say, simplified view of gaming, but it seems to be that the gamecube is more so...are there any games for the GC that are closer to complex?

Simplified view of gaming? If you want strategy games get them for your PC

That said, I don't quite know what you mean by saying simplified perspective of gaming.

There's strategy in more genres than RTS you know

What I meant is the majority of games i've played or seen on consoles are shallow. By simple i'm mainly referring to the level of depth in a game. There's plenty of strategy for example in some fighting games, like those I mentioned earlier. Others, like Tekken 4, have less. Anyway, I suppose i'm equating strategic and tactical options to depth, along with a compelling and Q) original story-line, not some rehash of some other game/book/movie. That's another thing: too many cheap attempts at game design based on a movie, the only selling point being the movie itself. Developers for consoles (and I admit for the PC also sometimes) tend to prey on the immature by releasing games hyped beyond their worth with flashy ads in magazines and TV...

An example of the last game I played on a console would be Star Wars Bounty Hunter where you play the orginal Mr. Fett. The way in which the devs made that game challenging was to throw tons of baddies at you. That's it. And to fight these waves of enemies, all you have to do for the most part is jump around and press a button really fast. That's what I mean when I say "simplified view of gaming."

 

[kami]

Xbox for me.

I like the games better.
Dolby 5.1 for every game.
Bare minimum 480p and many games now coming out with 720p and 1080i support (this is important to me cause I own a 50" widescreen HDTV).

This forum is full of a lot of psuedo anti-MS people though.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: bigsmooth
Honestly, I think a big part of liking the GC comes down to whether or not you regard many of the Nintendo titles as "juvenile" or not. Personally, I grew up with many of these characters so even though games like Super Smash Bros. Melee or Mario Kart may appear to be kid-oriented, I'll play them if they're fun.

Agreed. I played Mario Kart on a friend's Super Nintendo when I was young(er) and man was it fun

And that's the key, fun. Lol, I know this sounds strange, buy to me there was actually a fair degree of skill and strategy involved in mario kart. I remember after we had completed all the tracks on all the difficulty lvls, we would race around the battle arenas chasing each other with green shells, practicing our banana peel drops etc etc

 

[Spyro]

Originally posted by: Malladine

Originally posted by: Spyro

Originally posted by: Malladine
My only worry with the gamecube is the maturity lvl of the games. Granted, consoles in general are aimed at gamers with a certain, shall we say, simplified view of gaming, but it seems to be that the gamecube is more so...are there any games for the GC that are closer to complex?

Simplified view of gaming? If you want strategy games get them for your PC

That said, I don't quite know what you mean by saying simplified perspective of gaming.

There's strategy in more genres than RTS you know

What I meant is the majority of games i've played or seen on consoles are shallow. By simple i'm mainly referring to the level of depth in a game. There's plenty of strategy for example in some fighting games, like those I mentioned earlier. Others, like Tekken 4, have less. Anyway, I suppose i'm equating strategic and tactical options to depth, along with a compelling and Q) original story-line, not some rehash of some other game/book/movie. That's another thing: too many cheap attempts at game design based on a movie, the only selling point being the movie itself. Developers for consoles (and I admit for the PC also sometimes) tend to prey on the immature by releasing games hyped beyond their worth with flashy ads in magazines and TV...

An example of the last game I played on a console would be Star Wars Bounty Hunter where you play the orginal Mr. Fett. The way in which the devs made that game challenging was to throw tons of baddies at you. That's it. And to fight these waves of enemies, all you have to do for the most part is jump around and press a button really fast. That's what I mean when I say "simplified view of gaming."

Agreed and very nicely said. In that case you may prefer the gamecube. I can vouch for the fact that most of its games, while obviously "kid-oriented" in the graphics & features department, have much more depth than can be apparent at first glance. IMO, Super Smash Bros Melee is a good example of this. I also like the Gamecube because its kid-friendliness makes it a great family console, in that, the games are simple enough for younger children and older adults to play but they're not quite simple enough to scare away the l33t gaming generations.

 

[Atlantean]

Both are pretty good, depends on what type of games you like really. Just look at the game selection for both try some games out and make a decision based on that.

 

[Hankysmoo]

Gamecube for sure...I bought my cube at launch and I still love that little black box. Getting one especially for around a bill is a no-brainer.

 

[Jombo]

i got the box and the cube, but lately i've been finding myself playign the cube more, thanks to zelda. funny thing about getting older, you can finally afford to buy games/ consoles, but no time to freakin play them... ah irony of life.

only way to go w/ a system is by following the games, metroid and zelda have been awesome, altho orta and doa xvb was also cool for the box. wanna pick up the ps2 to play some kicking RPGs like xenosaga, .hack, and suikoden, but who has the time??

 

[HiTek21]

Gamecube. Only reason I'd get an XBox is DOA Beach Volleyball

 

[HamSupLo]

i got a cube about 3 weeks ago and I like it so far...but no time to play it though. I'm looking forward to the 20+ games from EA and Capcom. It's going to be HUGE! Besides, the xbox looks so damn fugly.

 

[Dragnov]

You wont find games like Zelda, Metroid, Mario Kart, etc. anywhere else but the Cube!

X-Box genre games are easily found on other platforms.

Halo? Play CS.
Madden? It's on every single console + PC.
DOAXBV? Get a Maxim magazine or d/l some pr0n.

 

[Aceshigh]

Why buy an inferior piece of hardware with a shorter life cycle? In a year or so the GC may be heading downhill and few games may be coming out. With X-box the developers haven't even fully utilized it's capabilities yet. It will be around alot longer. And even when a new version comes out all your games should be compatible with the new console. Nintendo doesn't do that.

Go x-box.

 

[melly]

has anyone here bought a game boy advance?

 

[Dragnov]

Originally posted by: caramel
has anyone here bought a game boy advance?

Gameboy Advance SP sure did. Don't regret it one bit.

But that being said with the Gamecube Gameboy Player the library of games is even more awesome for the Cube.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: Aceshigh
Why buy an inferior piece of hardware with a shorter life cycle?

Because people like the games available on it?

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
If you want a console that has good games, looks good, and performs great then get an XBox. If you want something to go with your furniture, get a GC.

Do you have the consoles mixed up?

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: Aceshigh
Why buy an inferior piece of hardware with a shorter life cycle? In a year or so the GC may be heading downhill and few games may be coming out. With X-box the developers haven't even fully utilized it's capabilities yet. It will be around alot longer. And even when a new version comes out all your games should be compatible with the new console. Nintendo doesn't do that.

Go x-box.

Limited Life-Cycle. Ha, thats good one.
The PS1, when it was released alot of the games on it used simplistic gfx rendering techniques, 5years later, more advanced and far better look games are now available.
We are only on the first generation of GameCube games, and already they look far better than predicted and better than most X-Box games. Plus, alot of developers have admitted that it is far easyer to code games for the GameCube than both the X-Box and PS2. There are still alot of features on the GameCube that havent been used by developers yet. By the time the graphical limit for the GameCube is reached by the developers, the GameCube2 will be out, and by the looks of it, it`ll be a good few years till its lifecycle ends.

Now, about the games.
I can name several X-Box titles that have "XBox exclusive" plastered over their boxes, but better versions of those games are available on PC and other consoles.
GameCube on the other hand, has proper exclusive games, and more importently, exclusive games worth buying. Metroid Prime, Zelda, F-Zero GC, Rogue Leader, StarFox, Mario, are all very very good games that you wont find on X-Box, or any other console. And the GameCube Controller. Well what can i say, the best controller out bar none, and yes, its even better than the X-Box small pad.
IMO, go for a GameCube, theres just loads more decent reasons for buying one. You wont regret it.

 

[Malladine]

Ok, so far I have F-Zero as the only racing game on the GC. Are there any other good ones? How about fighters? If I focus entirely on fighting and racing games, is the GC still the best choice? The PS2 seems to have the better, more realistic racing and fighting games. Is this accurate? Consider I have never owned any of these three consoles.

 

[BigSmooth]

Originally posted by: Malladine
Ok, so far I have F-Zero as the only racing game on the GC. Are there any other good ones? How about fighters? If I focus entirely on fighting and racing games, is the GC still the best choice? The PS2 seems to have the better, more realistic racing and fighting games. Is this accurate? Consider I have never owned any of these three consoles.

The GC is definitely weak in the racing department IMO. Burnout 2 is a new arcade racer that's pretty good, and there are some good nontraditional "racing" games like Wave Race: Blue Storm and a few others.

F-Zero and Mario Kart are on the horizon, which I think will both be excellent games, but if you're looking for a realistic racing sim, the GC is not the place to look, unfortunately. Gran Turismo: A-Spec on the PS2 is the benchmark of racing sims.

As far as fighters, there are some multi-platform games on the GC like Mortal Kombat: DA, Def Jam Vendetta, etc. The game I'm most looking forward to on the GC is Soul Calibur 2, however, that is also multi-platform. Super Smash Bros. Melee is a really fun game, but it's pretty much the opposite of realism.

Overall, if you like "realistic" racing and fighting games, the GC is probably not the way to go. The PS2 or even the Xbox would be better choices if you focus on those two genres.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: Malladine
Ok, so far I have F-Zero as the only racing game on the GC. Are there any other good ones? How about fighters? If I focus entirely on fighting and racing games, is the GC still the best choice? The PS2 seems to have the better, more realistic racing and fighting games. Is this accurate? Consider I have never owned any of these three consoles.

F-Zero isn't out yet.

If it's not just cars you're interested in, there are other racing games, including SSX Tricky, Wave Race, and Extreme G-3. I can't comment on the quality of any of those, though. SSX Tricky is available on other platforms.

Super Smash Bros. Melee is a brilliant 2D fighting game, but it's not a mega-combo type game like some of the current batch of fighters. There are other fighters available, but most are also available on other platforms (Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee are the ones that come to mind right now).

 

[Tom]

"Ok, so far I have F-Zero as the only racing game on the GC. Are there any other good ones? "

Gamecube racing games..
NASCAR-Dirt to Daytona is one of the highest rated racing console games.
Burnout 2 is one of the highest rated "fun" driving games.
F1 2002 is a highly rated F1 game
Mario Kart isn't out yet but will probably be one of the best "fun" racing console games
Rally Championship isn't available yet in the USA, not rated all that well overseas, so if you are seriously into Rallying that is the area of racing games where the Gamecube is weak.

Gamecube fighting games..
Soul Caliber 2 probably going to be the highest rated fighting game period
Def Jam Vendetta highly rated wrestling game
Mortal Kombate-DA highly rated fighting game
Super Smash Bros Melee super highly rated fighting game
Godzilla-DAMM good monster fighting game

So if the question is are there great fighting and racing games for the Gamecube ? the answer is yes. If the question is what console has the most games ? the answer is PS2.

 

[Malladine]

Thanks guys. Good to know that F-Zero and Mario Kart arent out yet. If I do buy a console, it won't be until after E3 anyway (the supposed price drop) so hopefully they'll be out around that time. Those games will certainly influence my decision.

Anyone remember that japanese style fighter yet? Samurai, swords, realistic...I believe it was on the PS2.

 

[Tom]

Also wanted to through a word in for PIKMIN on the Gamecube as well as the new PIKMIN 2 which is coming later this year.

This game is sometimes overlooked, it is actually a strategy game, but very unique.

 

[SSP]

DOAX!!! W00t!

 

[Malladine]

DOAX?