GameCube tops PS2 in Japan

Advertisement (Why?)

The GBA tops the Japanese sales charts this week, while the GameCube ekes out a victory over the PS2.

According to Bloomberg Japan and research company Media Create, Nintendo's GameCube outsold the PlayStation 2 last week in Japan by a margin of 300 units. For the week ending August 31, the GameCube sold approximately 35,600 units, while the PS2 sold 35,300 units, according to Bloomberg. The dispatch posits that the GameCube's strong sales were due to the release of a number of AAA titles, including Namco's Tales of Symphonia and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles from Square Enix.

The long view, however, sees the PS2 as having outsold the GameCube by nearly 1.5 million units, according to Bloomberg. Overall, with sales of 42,000 units, the Game Boy Advance SP notched first place in system sales this week. The GBA SP has sold consistently, with nearly 1.6 million units sold so far this year. The original Game Boy Advance sold 12,000 units this week and claimed fourth place. The original PlayStation claimed fifth place, selling 960 units, while Microsoft's Xbox sold 650 units this week.

News source: GameSpot

The teenage shooters, who each pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, will be held at a state juvenile detention center until they turn 19. The law in Tennessee allows them to remain in the custody of the state Department of Children's Services until they are 19, but no longer.

In written statements, they expressed remorse for their actions.

"I will always hate myself for what I did. I am so sorry," wrote William Buckner.

"I didn't want to hurt anyone," wrote Joshua Buckner. "This will be with me the rest of my life."

The Hamel family filed suit Thursday against Take Two Interactive, the video game maker, said attorney Jack Thompson.

"The industry needs to cough up money so victims and their families can be compensated for their pain," Thompson said. "The shareholders need to know what their games are doing to kids and their families. They need to stop pushing adult rated products to kids. These products are deadly."

Take-Two Interactive declined to comment to Good Morning America about the incident.

#1 Bant on 07 Sep 2003 - 22:32

symphonia and chronicles....... mmmmmmm

#2 Scorpio on 07 Sep 2003 - 22:32

Spiffy.

#3 Danrarbc641 on 07 Sep 2003 - 22:41

3rd time in the Cube's life it's been able to do this. This time is also the smallest of the three margins it's beaten the PS2 by.

A non-event really. Though yeah the fanboy in me cheered when I saw this

Nintendo found a genre that can push the Cube in Japan, one that we knew would do it all along - the almighty RPG.
Now they have to pull that off a few more times and the numbers may stabilize at the 30,000 level instead of the 15,000-20,000 level they've been at for a while (it used to average 5,000 to 10,000 so it's improved all along). The little guy is sputtering in the US though.

Microsoft. Well Xbox is clinically dead in Japan. But hey, they've their finger on the pulse of the average American gamer so they're doing well here.
Although the bad news for them is it isn't too difficult to figure out what American gamers want, nor is it particularly difficult or time-consuming to make those games*, so Nintendo may very well start putting up a fight.

* - In comparison to RPGs

And this has been another installment of Dan's Useless Info and Analysis

#4 Mav Phoenix on 07 Sep 2003 - 23:22

Nice.

#5 elfangor on 08 Sep 2003 - 01:07

The GC may not have many games but they consistently have must-have new titles. I have 4 XBox games, 3 from the launch package, and none of the games in their coming line-up is particularly attractive to me.

(6 replies) #6 RauL on 08 Sep 2003 - 03:35

just a question, is Resident Evil 4 still coming out for the GC? Now that that console is dead , prices for it will be falling around the €70, so it will be my next purchase probably

Sega and Nintendo should fusion themselves and teach MS and Sony a lesson with the DreamCube! (or GameCast?

)There you go sunnyboy !! Now what u say about it? Imagine the games , design , possibilities

.

They could learn from each other. yeah , they should do that , and perhaps they could come out with something crazy like the TreamCast www.treamcast.de.to (i guess)

#6.1 Danrarbc641 on 08 Sep 2003 - 03:37

QUOTE

just a question, is Resident Evil 4 still coming out for the GC?

Yes.

Now that that console is dead , prices for it will be falling around the €70, so it will be my next purchase probably

#6.2 RauL on 08 Sep 2003 - 04:05

c'mmom dude, Nintendo itself stopped the production.
'though their failure in the market in my heart they will remain N° #1,5

#6.3 Bant on 08 Sep 2003 - 05:25

they stopped production to clear the warehouse shelves... they will start up again

#6.4 nullie on 08 Sep 2003 - 05:27

Who gives a **** if they stopped manufacturing, they'll start again once their stock clears out.

#6.5 kairon on 08 Sep 2003 - 10:11

Dude, your wrong. They stopped so they could clear out the inventory. Would you want to keep making consoles and digging yourself into an early grave?

#6.6 RauL on 08 Sep 2003 - 16:45

sorry but Morgan & Stanley see that different

#7 Phil Gates on 08 Sep 2003 - 07:20

good job nintendo

i hope they're returning to their past glory. really i do. i don't own a gamecube, i own a PS2, but i want to see nintendo succeed and stuff. its like my dad or something.

#8 SimplyPotatoes on 08 Sep 2003 - 13:08

xbox si the best because it has 1 game!! Dead or alive xtreme beac vollyball OMG best game EVERRR!!!!!!!

#9 hobsgrg on 08 Sep 2003 - 13:43

lol the original playstation outsold the xbox

(5 replies) #10 Drimacus on 08 Sep 2003 - 13:53

pfffft, of course all dem Japanese ppl want to play with GC, it has all these cute little cartoon games like mario n yoshi on em, real playaz will go for a PS2 og Xbox.......even tho i'm not a big fan of it.........and ahem, all u GC fans, plz dun get offended too much, it's just that i think GC is more of a kiddie console, age 6-11

#10.1 threetonesun on 08 Sep 2003 - 14:22

I'd love to see a six year old play any RPG game. Hell, an 11 year old would have a hard time with the Zelda and Mario games.

#10.2 Drimacus on 08 Sep 2003 - 14:35

hmmm, i dunno man, i remember myself in 1st/2nd grade, i was like 6-7 or sumthin, and i had no problems playing mario, zelda n all their cartoon friends, but at 11 i got tired of em and got myself a PS, all i wanted to play was action/fighting/racing games, and i bet that most 10-11 yr old kids of today would rather play more grown-up games too. saying this coz that's what my cousins and little brothers of my friends are playing on their PS2 and xboxes

#10.3 threetonesun on 08 Sep 2003 - 17:17

I don't think it has anything to do with the level of maturity in the games, I think it has to do with what titles the PS 2 has versus the Gamecube. All the kids who play GTA, Tony Hawk, GT, Devil May Cry, etc have to get a PS 2. Some of us still like the old series like Zelda and Mario. We have to get a Gamecube. I don't think either one is more "older" oriented than the other, but I will say that the PS 2 probably has more games that teens and younger like.

#10.4 Danrarbc641 on 08 Sep 2003 - 18:07

but at 11 i got tired of em and got myself a PS, all i wanted to play was action/fighting/racing games

'Nuf said

#10.5 Mav Phoenix on 08 Sep 2003 - 19:50

QUOTE (#1.0)

Gota love the blind devotion and you must marvel at the walking cliche.

#11 kemical on 08 Sep 2003 - 15:50

Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!

Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.

Neowin.net