NBrid

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Written by: klamkilla

It was just yesterday that I went to Electronics

Boutique and opened up my GameCube gift card.

Anticipation for the system was running through

me and I was positive that after Spaceworld I was

going to be orgasmic with pleasure from all the

new GameCube news. Alas here I am the very next

day wondering where all of that excitement went.

What was supposedly a glorious occasion turned

into a bigger disappointment than E3.

To be fair though this year's Spaceworld was not

ALL low points. We got to see pictures of Soul

Calibur 2 and 1080 Snowboarding 2. Also Nintendo

unveiled the next chapters in the Mario and Zelda

games. Along with Metroid shots that showed a lot

of promise, Spaceworld had its highlights.

However, one can not just overlook the major

disappointment just because of a few tantalizing

screen shots. Nintendo took what was to be a solid

launch and stripped it down to next to no

appealing games.

Before I get to the launch titles let me talk

about he console itself. Nintendo unveiled two

new colors that are going to be available in the

U.S., jet black and spicy (orange in lay terms).

Now it was all well and good when they announced

that black would be available and spicy would

follow in December (Ed's Note: Unfortunately it has

since been learned that it is unknown if and when the

Spicy will make it over to the States), but what

pissed me and the rest of the Nintendo nation off

was the fact that Nintendo delayed the launch of

Gamecube for over a week.

Now what this means is that the XBOX has a bit of

the breathing room that it never had. I can

guarantee that several gamers are going to choose

the XBOX over the Gamecube this fall simply

because it is on the market first. This does not

hold well with Nintendo who is facing an uphill

battle as it is against two corporate giants like

Microsoft and Sony (not to say Nintendo isn't a

giant though).

That's fine you might think as long as Nintendo

makes with the goods and shows us the games. Well

prepare to be disappointed as several of the key

launch titles have been delayed.

For al of you thinking of picking up Starfox

Planet at lunch think again. The game has been

pushed back until 2002. That's fine you may think

as long as I get my Smash Brothers Melee.

Well once again I am sorry to be the bearer of bad

news but that has also been delayed to mid

December. Other non launch delays include Eternal

Dankness and Resident Evil 0.

Now we are faced with the question of what is

left at launch for games. Well the only two games

that look appealing enough to buy are Wave Race and

Rouge Leader. Luigi's Mansion has not sparked any

interest in me nor will it until I read something

that proves it in fact does have gaming depth and

is not just chasing ghosts around with a vacuum.

Another shocker was the announcement that Nintendo

had no plans for any 1st party online games

but would allow 3rd parties the ability to take the

GC online. Major bummer since online gaming is a

strong selling point for me.

With what looked like a very promising launch

lineup Nintendo was ready to make its mark once

again in the console scene, but alas with at launch

riddled with delays and disappointments, Nintendo

has not put themselves in a god position with XBOX

breathing down their necks and Sony ready to

unleash its major second-gen PS2 games.

Does this mean I will not be gettinga Gamecube at

launch? Hell no! I still plan on getting a GC.

I leave myself wondering how much time will I

spend playing it with so many great games comming

out for other systems while I am stuck with 2 or 3

for GameCube.

All in all November is set to be an intersting

month for gamers and I am realy looking forward to

it. Until then back to AFO...