Game Cube or X-box ... Which should I buy?

[video_game_addict]

I was thinking of buying one of these, seems like there are alot of good games out or coming out soon for GC, especally nice with that new rebate thing they are offering. Isn't it like $99 for a system now?

Yet the X-box now has the 2 free pack-in games and I loved JGR on DC, still only $199. :\ So I'm torn right now. I'm going to have spending money by this weekend, but Haven't really been paying much attention to either. I'm not even up to date on what all's available for each. I'd really appreciate some input on what's out there and what to do.

So which would you buy and why?

What are the must have games for each?

Are there any good videogame websites up on the net anymore that don't restrict access to their reviews? One sentance reviews really suck ass. :mad:

[nesman85]

i'd go with the cube. i has some great titles like star fox adventures, mario sunshine, resident evil, eternal darkness and animal crossing. zelda and metroid are on the way.

[GENESISNES]

id go with the cube, since it has sooo many new nintendo games coming out for it. Xbox has that one time pay internet fee, and many more internet games coming out...
cube.

[scooterb23]

As always, it depends a bit on what type of games you like to play. If you are an RPG fan, and you don't have a PC that can run it, Morrowind on the XBox makes that system the current no-brainer...especially with that bundle right now, 2 games and an XBox for $200.

Based on overall titles available right now, I'd probably go for a Gamecube. Games like Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2, the major Nintendo titles, Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion etc. are all lots of fun.

Of course, I'm probably not the best guy to ask about an either/or situation...I got my Cube last XMas, and my XBox is for this XMas...

[kevincure]

Xbox is great for Halo, but I'd say the only "must-own" (that is, the best in their category) are Halo, Rallisport and Morrowind. Halo is *amazing*, and definitely worth playing. However, here's the review of the two pack-ins:

JGRF is JGR with tight graphics and terrible difficulty. This game is nowhere near as fun as the original.
Sega GT is a poor man's GT3. Fun, but it's no Gran Turismo, so wha'ts the point?

GC has a great selection right now, but in the long run, I dunno. The big series are all this year. It's very similar to the 64 actually - very hit driven. Resident Evil, Mario, Monkey Ball, Burnout - all good stuff. Pikmin is fun. Animal Crossing too. For $99 you can't go wrong.

But Halo is reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly fun.

[GENESISNES]

For $99 you can't go wrong.

um kevin, what exactly are you referring to here? the price of games, the system, what?

[NvrMore]

Go with a Cube..

It's already got a good number of fantastic titles available and it's release line-up has a sh!tload of major games to come.

[Sothy]

X-box

They both have a shit selection of games right now.

Resident Evil is great on Cube


Then again theres Halo...


So I guess it depends what you wanna play Animal Crossing and a Zelda with fiicking clown shoes or Splinter Cell and DOA Volleyball Halo 2 Panzer Dragoon orta. I also enjoy the Hard drive on the xbox letting you save songs from music cds to it.

Other than resident Evil which is a masterpiece the Gamecube pissed me off. as for Super monkey ball I guess if hamsterball games are your thing....

Also the Xbox has great DVD playback

[Sothy]

http://home.earthlink.net/~randy992/mariosunshine.jpg

[theaveng]

Buy a PS2.

If you already have a PS2, buy a Gamecube.

Another option is to buy a used N64, because the games are cheap. (This was my choice.)

[Mr. NEStalgia]

I'm in the same predicament. I looked at what games I want for each system, and I'm startin to lean towards the Gamecube. The new metroid looks like it will be awesome! and super monkey ball is great. I just think the GC will be more fun than an Xbox...unless I get a bunch of my friends to have a Halo party, but that wont happen every day.

I've pretty much made my choice to go with the GC, but I'm tryin to find one for cheap (I know $150 isn't that much, but I dont feel like paying it).

-=Mr. NEStalgia=-

[bluecollarninja]

lets see....

gamecube has a lot of good games


x-box has halo and hunter.

[tynstar]

Get the GC right now because of all the games that are coming out. Then get the X-Box later so you can play that while you are waiting for other good games to come out for the GC. Nintendo takes a long time to release games. You need some thing to tie you over.

[buttasuperb]

i dunno what to get either. xbox has the new deal with 2 free games and the s controller, but there is almost nothing i want to play for it. fuck halo, id rather play ut2003 or any other fps on my pc. dead or alive "for people who jack off to videogames" volleyball is lame. splinter cell does look cool, along with toe jam and earl and ninja gaiden. one thing that may cause me to get an xbox is MvC2 and CvS2 being online. but i dont want to have to pay another 50 bucks to go online with the xbox.

on the gc, mario sunshine didnt really do much for me in the 5 minutes i played(go back to 2D dammit), i dunno about zelda, and i definately want metroid prime.

i wish i had more money.

[congobongo]

If you have high speed internet access get an XBox. Screw all of those idiots that'll tell you console gaming doesn't belong online. Once you try it, you'll be convinced. What I really like about onlne console games (with the exception of sports games) is that you can go on and play for 5 or 10 mins get your ya-yas out and power down satisfied. Just like the old days. No drivers to load, video settings to tweak, don't have to worry about other people with faster machines. Just pop in the disc, get in a game and go.

I've got nothing against the Cube. I think it's a well designed system. If you don't have high speed or plan on getting it anytime soon, flip a coin. They're both solid machines with enough quality titles out and in the works to help you spend many paychecks.

[Cafeman]

Even though I'm a SEGA fan, I've recently decided GCN before Xbox.

I have various reasons for picking GCN, including the fact I'm trying to be fair to the little gamers in the house, who of course love Mario. Also the fact that I don't plan on getting broadband yet nor do I plan on playing online yet, although that would be sweet w/Xbox Live.

But really, it's the games. Sure Xbox is the more powerful system, but I really like GCN's visuals on a great number of games. Xbox games that I initially was drawn to have often turned out so-so and not a deciding factor anymore, or are on GCN as well (stuff like Turok, Spider-Man, Spy Hunter, etc).

Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 -- it's only on GCN right now. (why?!) This looks like my kind of game, it appealed to me from the first time I saw it, and playing SMB2 at the Cincinatti Classic was more fuel for that fire.

B-title that it is, I really am drawn to Godzilla: DAMM!! It looks AWESOME FUN to me. Sure Mario Sunshine, Star Fox Adventures, and Metroid will be great to own & play too, but big G ... haven't played a *good* Godzilla game ever. It's the perfect game to groom my budding little gamers in multiplayer war BWUAHAHAHA.

Xbox has Halo, true. If you haven't bought it by now, you can wait longer for it if ever. Rallisport, Moto GP (online too!), Project Gotham all seem like good racers on Xbox. But you know, I've played racers my entire life -- the best of them. Same with fighters. They don't draw me in anymore, though I will play them. Are you this way?

Let us know what you decide. As soon as I'm done with my Koffi 5200 project, I'm picking up a GameCube and a 2nd GBA for myself, and playing games for a month. :)

[chazbeenhad]

I would go with Xbox. A whole lot of new games are coming out every other day for it It may not be the popular opinion (here anyway) but many Xbox games are great. (Halo, Munch, Enclave, Hunter, Crash Bindicoot, DOA3)

House of the Dead 3 is almost here!!!!

Xbox has many quality driving games.... Sega GT, Rallisport Challenge, Nascar Thunder....

Also, if a game is coming out for both systems, the Xbox version will most likely be much better. (Turok)

I played Mario Sunshine the other day... all I could say was "GAY"

[video_game_addict]

Well it looks like most people here would pick a Gamecube. It is cheaper, and that was what I originally wanted to begin with a year ago, but never got around to buying one because I wanted to focus on the DC and all those clearanced games. :) Now I have most all of the best games out for it, besides for a few imports & fighters. So I'm starting to look for a new system and I saw this new X-box deal with the 2 pack-in games and I thought about possably getting it instead. But really I can only think of about 3 or 4 games I'd like to get for it and only 1 is out so far from what I've seen. But a new Panzer Dragoon game could be awesome. Morrowind looks a bit boring. Not sure I'm really into those types of RPGs.

The GameCube does have alot of marquee titles, not sure whats good or not though. Some of them do look GAY, but sometimes GAY is FUN! ;) The main thing drawing me to a GC right now is Animal Crossing, seems alot like the Harvest Moon games, with all the things to do, upkeep to you house, things to collect, changing seasons, characters to interact with and all. I love Harvest Moon! AC should be fun. Metroid Prime, is about the only other game I've seen that I know I will want. Most likely Resident Evil 0 as well.

@theaveng, Yes I already own a PS2, Or that would have been easily my number 1 choice. :P And your right an N64 is good gaming on the cheap, I have that too! I still haven't played a TON of games on it yet. I just started picking up games for it recently.


@Sothy, dude that picture ROCKS!! :) You are truely an ar‘tist! :hail: Maybe I should print that out and stick it on my GC if I get it!! :lol:


@GENESISNES, there was like a $50 rebate on the Cube at the EB I stopped in at last week. Don't know if it's still going on or not. I hope so, cuz I'm leaning torwards it. That would put the Cube down under the $100 mark!


@Cafeman, I am REALLY looking forward to Koffi!! :D That's tops on my wanted list for sure! And I thought there were some good Sega games coming to GCN? SOA2? maybe a few others I thought



Another question: How DO the games compare for the titles released on multible systems? Is X-box *really* better? And how do they rank, between PS2, GC, X-box?

[NE146]

Look.. lets get to the point and not mince words here. Mod an xbox and get SNES, NES, Atari 2600, and Mame etc. all nicely emulated and the list is bound to grow. Gamecube is great.. but it sure is nice having a 'consoles on a dvd' with thousands of games included...

[SAV2880]

Look.. lets get to the point and not mince words here. Mod an xbox and get SNES, NES, Atari 2600, and Mame etc. all nicely emulated and the list is bound to grow. Gamecube is great.. but it sure is nice having a 'consoles on a dvd' with thousands of games included...

Heck yeah ... all the emulators on X-Box is a wonderful thing, but the mods are gonna get harder to find with Lik-Sang being dead and gone (doh!)

I would have to pick the X-Box for this reason and cause I think it's the hardware that will have the staying power. The more I see coming out on it, and with it now getting online first, I'm almost starting to view X-Box as a "Dreamcast 2"

The Gamecube's library is going the way of the N64's .... it's got some great franchises, and some great games, and some stinkers too. If you like Nintendo's franchiises in general, go Cube. If not, go X-Box, neither one will do you wrong, ESPECIALLY with the pack-ins (I'm of the opinion both games are very good that are included)

Scott

[ubersaurus]

Nintendo is also getting a packin deal, though it was alluded to, I don't think it was outright mentioned...Mario Sunshine, memory card, and the cube itself for 189 bucks.

Cube is my choice too, simply because outside of Halo I really have yet to see an Xbox game that makes me feel I need that system. Cube's got games I've played and loved (Luigi, Monkey Ball, Smash Bros, Wrestlemania, Mario Sunshine, RE, Godzilla), and upcoming releases that look damn cool, like Metroid, the Sonic Mega Collection, and Zelda. Plus, Square is making games for the cube, too, and that's hard to go wrong with, usually. Plus, I'm running low on space in here, and that puny little thing is certainly much better for that then the hulking Xbox (if I wanted something that big I'd buy a neo geo and be in fighter bliss). I will admit though that the xbox has a nice online plan, I've never been a fan of online gaming, and I don't see that changing too quickly. As for the emulators, that's a definite advantage to the box...although if you are insane like me you prefer the real deal to emulators, none of which seem to really be perfect, and yes I know thats contradictory to say limited space when I got some 15 odd systems hooked up in this room ;p

But yeah, thats my piece. Of course, you could just get that neo geo :wink:

[Sothy]

Butta doesnt jack off to video games he watches WCW wrestling and lubes up with margarine.

[Atarian Austin]

Go with the GameCube. I have one and love it! Nintendo is also kicking off a program called "Non Stop Nintendo Nights" which means they will be releasing 1 game every day for around three months!

By the end of the year they will have over 180 titles!

[theaveng]

1 game every day for 3 months = 1 piece of crap every day for 3 months... with an occasional gem. Reminds me of Atari's Pac-Man: "World's fastest-programmed game!" Yeah, we can tell. They made the same claim for E.T.



Soooooo, can Gamecubes play DVDs yet? Or are they still using 3" proprietary discs?
Troy

[Raedon]

You using my cash on this :D

[video_game_addict]

@Raedon, Yep :D


Bought a GameCube today!! :D Now I just got to wait on that $50 Gift voucher to come in, so I can pick up Metroid next month!


1 game every day for 3 months, Isn't neccessarily a good thing. Just cluters up the market, and makes it harder to find the good ones IMO. But DVD playability is not a concern to me no ways as I already have a DVD player And a PS2.


Oh and that GameCube packin deal with Mario Sunshine, was still going on as well. It's with the Purple GC. Also I think there was a $50 rebate on that deal too. I almost bought that instead, but I wanted the black GC, and I'm not terribly crazy about Sunshine.


And Sam's Club has a GameCube package with Starfox, memory card, and strategy guide for like $209

[NvrMore]

Soooooo, can Gamecubes play DVDs yet? Or are they still using 3" proprietary discs?
Troy

To answer your questions, yes and yes.

Those little discs are damn clever little things.. you do realise their design and size serves both practical and technical purposes.

[Raedon]

no need to listen to Troy, he doesn't play games..

Lets look ahead to the year 2006, there we find a new portable mini-DVD handheld from Nintendo that can play GC games. Brilliant.

[theaveng]

Soooooo, can Gamecubes play DVDs yet? Or are they still using 3" proprietary discs?
Troy

To answer your questions, yes and yes.

Those little discs are damn clever little things.. you do realise their design and size serves both practical and technical purposes.


Less room for program data? just kidding. What are the practical/technical reasons for going with a non-standard 3" DVD?
Troy

[NvrMore]

Less room for program data? just kidding. What are the practical/technical reasons for going with a non-standard 3" DVD?
Troy

Less room for program data, in terms of a standard 3" DVD yes, however the cube discs don't suffer from such a hefty drawback. Gamecube discs make use of S3TC and MuSyx AC, this redeces the texture and audio file data sizes massively (I believe it's around 6:1) and being that sound and texture files take up >=50% of the total size of a game, the gamecube discs are able to hold a game that would normally have required a normal DVD.
Of course compression usually entails some sort of performance hit due to the hefty cost of decompressing the data for use, however the gamecube is truely a magnificent piece of hardware design. Without going into too much detail (keep things short and simple)The data decompression is built into the hardware itself and because of the efficiency of the compression methods in question they have negligable impact upon the system's perfomance (less than the cost of data compression on other systems).

The Gamecube disc size also plays a role in the anti-piracy measures implemented within the cube. On a hardware level, being that the discs are non-standard size and format, they are considerably more problematic to pirate, requiring very expensive specialized hardware and the difficult task in obtaining the discs themselves (standard retail 3" DVD's won't work), thus simply on the basis of the media format GC piracy becomes a considerably more difficult and costly matter. Additionally the GC itself contains hardware level anti-piracy measures and the software itself contains specialized encryption which is a bitch to deal with. Put simply, Nintendo played it smart, whereas the PS2 is a software pirate's little bitch the GC is a pain to them in every respect.

The most interesting feature of the GC disc is that it achieved Nintendo's chief aim with regard to current console media.
Nintendo originally chose not to use disc media with the N64 because they felt the constant lengthy loading times were unacceptible (hence the abandonment of the SNES CD), but when it came to creating the Gamecube Nintendo realised that the data restrictions imposed by cart media were no longer feasible but they still didn't want their games to be interrupted by lengthy system loads (which they felt were decremental to gameplay). Thus the concept of the Optical Mini-discs was implemented, due to the discs allowing the GC to achieve loading times approaching those of carts, and far faster than the load times imposed by standard CD and DVD media.

In all honesy the Gamecube is a fantastically designed and highly advanced piece of hardware, it's interesting that Nintendo are being so quiet about it's capabilities, having actually understated it's true performance abilities..

[Pente]

I say Xbox. Gamecube is already going down.