Australian Launch Status - Western Suburbs of Victoria
With the hype train in full swing for GameCube here in Australia, I thought Id write about my experiences so far. Its now 15 amazingly excitement-producing days to go before the launch, and more and more Im seeing official demo units cropping up all over town, commercials on TV, strategic advertisements all around where a person just couldnt miss them, as well as sponsoring one of the biggest sports in the nation in AFL.
Nearest to where I am located are Highpoint Shopping Centre, Keilor Downs, Brimbank, Sunshine, Airport West and Watergardens shopping centres.
As we all know the launch price will be $329 and games around $99, obviously with a little shopping around you should be able to get it for less, or for those with connections, you may be able to get discounts from certain stores. I myself, am able to get 7.5% off any GameCube purchase I make from either Target or Kmart, which will obviously save me a lot of money when I buy my system, extra controllers, and 2-4 games.
Over here in the west Id say our situation is not much different than the east (where James is located) or other suburban areas such as Geelong where Tim and Will are located, so my opinion is that my launch experience wont be much different to anyone elses.
I can tell you that out of all my friends, I am the only one who is genuinely interested (read: fanatical) about Nintendo and its impending GameCube launch. All but 3 of my friends have already bought an Xbox or PS2 and have no desire for, in their words, a kiddie GameCube.
There just isnt any point trying to convince them otherwise so all I can do is wow them with my purchase in May and perhaps thatll sway their thoughts then.
What I can say about the general consumer interest in GameCube around here is that, after talking with several different retailers, and from general observation, the Cube is receiving a lot of attention and plenty of people are asking about it (and putting up some cash!). First hand Ive stood there and watched people be mesmerised by the movies of games such as Rogue Leader, Luigis Mansion, Waverace Blue Storm, etcrunning in a continuos loop on the one TV in two separate stores. Conversely, when I used to see people watching Xbox units, in comparison people came away more impressed with GameCube than Xbox.
Having played the demo units themselves, Ive come away mightily impressed with Nintendos choice of games to put in those units. From first-hand experience while playing these, Ive had at least 10 people come up to me and ask if they can be next, and then cheekily Ive stayed there while being acutely aware of their growing impatience at my domination of the unit, such is their desire to get their grubby hands on the GameCubes incredible controller. So after finally having the willpower to wrench myself off Waverace, I walk to a spot where I can see them take over the controller. Its truly a sight to behold watching someone else get his or her first taste of GameCube goodness. Two kids had their parents there with them and literally forced their parents to enquire about a purchase of the cube. Well done Nintendo, I think to myself.
Lets talk pre-orders, according to my local EB store; theyve already gotten 40 pre-orders for Cube, the corresponding figure for Xbox up until the night of its launch was only 26. If you think about that for a moment, it took that store well over 4-5 months to come up with 26 pre-orders for Xbox, while so far, since pre-orders started for cube a few weeks ago, already 40 have come up. At Highpoint, Toys R Us have notched up 21 pre-orders, Big W 17, Target 15, Myer 14, Video Gameplay 20, with similar numbers all over town. So, in just 6 shopping centres around me, amazingly there are already over 700 pre-orders for GameCube.
As a side note, Microsofts decision to drop the Xbox price to $399 and Nintendos subsequent $329 price, has certainly helped to gather more pre-orders. My EB store says after the price changed, that same day they got 7 pre-orders. An impressive result.
Take what you will from all of that, but Id say interest in GameCube is pretty damn good!
So to the question earlier Will it sell?. The answer around here points to a resounding Yes! 700+ pre-orders, and after launch theres no doubt those 700+ buyers have some friends wholl feel compelled to also purchase the GameCube. Add to that the amazing software release line-up coming up through to mid-to-late 2003, and there is no doubt, that at the very least, Nintendo and GameCube will fare a lot better in sales terms, than Nintendo64 ever did.
Coming up theres going to be some reviews of the games we buy (and rent) and a full run-down of the launch day/night spectacular! J
Will Stevenson, Tim Knowles, and Mark Medina