GameCube Price Slashed ($99.99)
First Reported by: IGNcube
Date Started: August 15, 2003
Status: True
IGNcube first reported this rumor in their August 15, 2003 mailbag. They insisted that Nintendo was planning a $50 price reduction at some point toward the end of September to be more aggressive in the marketplace.
It wasn't until mid-September that IGN's claim began to pick up some serious steam when leaked images from Wal-Mart and K-Mart sale circulars started to appear in message boards across the net that showed the GameCube with a $99.99 price tag.
Shortly after this, several people started to report that Nintendo had informed retail managers at a GameStop Managers Conference that took place around September 20th that a price drop was coming very soon.
Official word finally came on September 24, 2003 during a Nintendo of America press conference. The price drop went into effect the very next day, which resulted in GameCube sales quadrupling within a week!
Zelda Compilation
First Reported by: Game Informer
Date Started: September 9, 2003
Status: True
This is one of those rumors that everyone dreams and prays its true, but really thinks in the back of their mind that it's just a bunch of nonsense. Well fortunately for us, this one was very much true.
It was first reported by founder and former owner of PGC, Billy Berghammer, at Game Informer's website. The fact alone that Billy had reported it, gave this rumor more than enough creditability to pass as true, but confirmation was still need nonetheless from Nintendo.
The original report claimed that Legend of Zelda (NES), Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES), Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64), and a Zelda Documentary were on the disc and was planned to ship during the 2003 holiday season for those that adopt a new GameCube. It was unclear whether or not current Cube owners would be able to get this disc or if any of the games had graphical enhancements.
Speculation ran ramped for the next month. Rumors started to flair up from everything from a gold GameCube that would be included in this package to it being a bonus disc for those that preorder The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords.
Authentication of the rumor finally came on October 6, 2003, when IGNcube published recently released artwork from Nintendo to retailers that advertised the "Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition." IGN was able to confirm everything that Game Informer had originally posted, except the Zelda Documentary, which was replaced by a Wind Waker demo apparently. Shortly after the story was ran, Nintendo demanded IGN to remove the images from their site, but refused to acknowledge the disc's existence.
At this time, there is still no official word from Nintendo on this subject, but it is quite clear that this is a rumor that is true.
UPDATE: 11/10/03
Nintendo has finally given gamers the official word on the Zelda Collection! Word came via a press release from Nintendo of America that not only will new adopters of the GameCube hardware be able to get their hands on this gem, but also current owners. Nintendo has set up three avenues in which you will be able to get the disc.
The first way is to simply buy a new GameCube system between November 17, 2003 and January 31, 2004. The second way is to subscribe or renew your subscription to Nintendo Power online and sign-up for the free "My Nintendo" service. The final way to own this disc is to register your Nintendo GameCube system and two first party titles, plus sign up for the "My Nintendo" service. The titles you can choose from to register for the deal are Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario Party 5, Mario & Luigi: Super Star Saga, and 1080 Avalanche.
All these deals go into affect and on sale on November 17, 2003 and will last until January 31, 2004 or until supplies last.
THE MEGATON
First Reported by: V-Jump Magazine
Date Started: October 1, 2002
Status: False
The Megaton is perhaps the most widely known and hate rumor in videogame history. What started as an innocent joke by the editors of the popular Japanese magazine V-Jump, ended as the biggest disappointment ever for Nintendo fans.
The Megaton was started sometime in October 2002, when V-Jump published a story that stated Nintendo was going to announce something huge in December that would "make GameCubes fly off the shelves."
Speculation immediately went out of control. The following image appeared on the Internet toward the end of November that supposedly revealed what the Megaton was. The three figures were quickly identified as Sonic, Megaman, and Mario, which fueled the already enormous flames that Nintendo was going to purchase Capcom and Sega.
If this wasn't bad enough, Capcom's presentation of the "Capcom 5" (Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, P.N.03, Killer 7, and Dead Phoenix) on November 13, 2003 didn't help matters at all. Many people saw this as the pretext to the even bigger announcement of a total buy-out by Nintendo.
Further speculation pointed to a Pokemon RPG for the GameCube being developed by Genius Sonority, a developer comprised of many ex-Dragon Quest team members that was being funded by Nintendo's Q-Fund. Even more preposterous, were the theories that Nintendo was going to announce their new hardware that would replace the GBA and GCN!
It wasn't until December 20th, that Nintendo finally commented on the Megaton. Nintendo of Europe's head of Public Relations, Shelly Friend, branded the whole Megaton rumor as "absolute rubbish", and was apparently very amused by the amount of speculation surrounding it. Unfortunately, this only caused more excitement among gamers, because many felt Nintendo was trying to cover-up the true magnitude of the Megaton.
The rumor was finally killed when V-Jump unveiled in January 2003 that the whole Megaton story was a cruel joke. Apparently, the announcement was referring to a Naruto game for GameCube, which is based on a comic that is popular among the V-Jump readers. So you see, this news was "Megaton" to people at V-Jump, but not to anyone else.
For a more complete look at the history of the Megaton, head over to "The Almighty Megaton" article by Brenden Petracek.
Rare Jumps Ship?
First Reported by: Rare
Date Started: December 19, 2001
Status: True
This is another well-known rumor from yesteryears that riveted the gaming community for nearly a year before finally being exposed as truth. Is Rare going to leave Nintendo? According to fellow staff writer, Jeff van Camp, this rumor was total nonsense.
Rare is going to stay with Nintendo. I mean it hasn't been very long since they joined the big N in the first place. To add to that Nintendo owns just shy of 40% of Rare. Jeff van Camp, GCA.com
Its interesting to go back in time and read some of the comments made on this issue to see who was right and wrong, but its even more fun to go back and see how this whole mess got started in the first place
The story of Rare leaving Nintendo can be traced back to Christmas of 2001. On December 19, 2001, Rare sent a Christmas e-card to several prominent gaming news organizations. The card was very nice and all, however; in typical Rare fashion, a hidden message that hinted at bigger things to come was also visible on the card.
Clearly, those gifts under the tree are videogame consoles, or more specifically, a GameCube, a Game Boy Advance, a PS2, a Xbox, and a cell Phone. Also the phrase, and surprises under every tree, only furthered to thicken the plot. Instantly, message boards went crazy with debate over the significance of the card. Was this a sign that Rare was going multiplatform? This possibility felt very real to gamers at the time, because only a few short months earlier, Sega had announced their plans to become a 3rd party developer.
News outlet desperately tried to get in contact with Rare and Nintendo to get official word from them on the status of their relationship and to see if whether or not it would continue in the near future. Shortly after the card's release, Rare told Computer and Video Games that they had no plans about going third party and that they were simply sharing their holiday cheer to all console owners. They also informed CVG that no current projects were in the works for any platforms outside of Nintendo's.
With Rare going on the record to deny the rumors, many Nintendo fans placed their fears to rest, but this would not be the last time these rumors surfaced. On March 1, Ken Lobb, a Nintendo of America producer, left his post to pursue a job at Microsoft. Again, Rare fans were alerted by this development, because Mr. Lobb played a pivotal role in the introduction of Rare to Nintendo and also worked closely on the development of Golden Eye for the N64, in which the Klobb gun was named after him. Was Ken Lobb getting ready to help make a transfer of power from Nintendo to Microsoft for Rare easier?
By April 2002, rumors had appeared once again about a possible buyout from a major developer, with Microsoft and Activision being the two major bidders. The introduction of Activision to the picture seemed to confirm the idea of Rare going third party in more ways than one. Mainly because before Nintendo became Rares dominate software publisher, Activision had published a number of titles from Rare.
"At this moment that's a rumor and we're not going to comment on it," said your spokesperson. (Rare commenting on the Activision buyout Rumors)
When E3 came around in May, Rare was almost in nonexistents at the popular videogame trade show. The press bombarded Nintendo executives with questions in relation to the rumors. Peter McDougall, among other people from Nintendo, refused to confirm or deny the reports, which basically confirmed that there was some truth behind these rumors after all. McDougall claimed everything was business as usual over at Rare, but in reality, it was everything but that.
By Summer 2002, alleged inside sources at Rare were able to confirm that the company was in possession of PS2 and Xbox development kits and that Activision was currently the front runner in the bid to purchase the valuable developer. These sources also claimed that Nintendo was entirely ready to sell its 49% stake in Rare to whoever was willing to pay the price. This had finally established that Nintendo was involved in this debacle. Many skeptics up until this point had used Nintendos 49% ownership in Rare as an claim against the buyout rumors, but now it appeared that reason no longer held water.
Finally on September 24, 2002, at Microsofts X02 Europe Show, Microsoft, Rare, and Nintendo reviled the truth. Microsoft had won the bidding wars and purchased Nintendos 49% share in Rare for $375 million. Nintendo explained their decision to terminate their long-standing relationship with the UK developer by citing declining worth to Nintendos overall health. According to Nintendo, Rare contributed 9.5% to Nintendo's unit sales in the 2001 transition year, but was only able to supply 1.5% in 2002. Microsoft, on the other hand, looked into buying Rare in an effort to expand its own internal software houses to help push the company and Xbox into the mainstream console market.
