5th July 2005, 10:43 PM
Quote: A smaller company than its rivals, but one boasting perhaps the world's best game designers, Nintendo's line of attack has instead been to champion creativity over technology. The story has played well to the press; the surprising reality is GameCube has been absent in the birth of most of this generation's innovations.
The gritty urban reality settings and the freedom of play engendered by Grand Theft Auto 3 and its sequels - arguably the most significant creative shift in 21st Century gaming so far - passed GameCube by. Invention and success with add-on peripherals has come from Sony, with SingStar and EyeToy. Microsoft's Xbox Live has left Nintendo for dead in the online and multiplayer space.
This might not matter if Nintendo's AAA-franchises were still delivering peerless gameplay experiences unavailable on other platforms, but Metroid is Nintendo's only top flight franchise to make real progress on the GameCube. While Super Mario Sunshine was fun, it wasn't a groundbreaker in the Super Mario 64 mould. Equally, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is no Ocarina of Time (even leaving aside its controversial cel-shading). The upcoming Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess looks fantastic - but there is such a thing as turning up unfashionably late, even for the most glamorous babe.
Without a significant body of third-party industry support, the game extensions that were enabled by GameCube have failed to take off. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure, while graphically primitive, makes excellent use of the Nintendo's much-discussed the GameCube/GBA link-up. Little else does. The GameCube's broadband adapter has fared even worse. Phantasy Star Online I&II - and that's it. A multiplayer offering serving up one old Dreamcast game speaks volumes about Nintendo's inability to persuade publishers to back its machine, not to mention how Nintendo often seemingly takes its loyal audience for granted.
Full article here: Next Generation