easy-to-hack systems sell better?

racketboy

Established Member
I was just thinking....

I've read a few recent articles about how Gamecube's sales haven't been real good lately.

The XBox is out selling the GC in the US.

In my opinion, the Gamecube has a better game selection.

So do you think that the fact that people can hack, mod, and play copied games on the XBox significantly helped the XBox in sales?

Even people who do have a modded XBox probably buy retail games for the system.

But that fact that they can mod it helps in the decision (to some people) in which system to buy.

Once the system is in their possesion, they may go out and buy games for it.

Does this make sense?

What do you all think?
 
:agree

yeah I think it matters a bit, but not much. The brink of the consumers are just parents buying consoles & games for their kids, and they don't care about hacking I think. For me the homebrewing matters a lot, heck I bought 2 PSX'es just because I wanted to program on them, and I would run to the store to get a GC the same moment I heard you could dev on a consumer machine
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Originally posted by AntiPasta@May 16, 2003 @ 05:51 PM

:agree

yeah I think it matters a bit, but not much. The brink of the consumers are just parents buying consoles & games for their kids, and they don't care about hacking I think. For me the homebrewing matters a lot, heck I bought 2 PSX'es just because I wanted to program on them, and I would run to the store to get a GC the same moment I heard you could dev on a consumer machine
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I know the majority of the market doesn't have a clue, but their are enough modded systems out there for people to make a business of selling and/or installing chips.
 
last time i heard figures 8% of the market was people pirateing (no idea if that is correct, but if so, then that really isn't a big factor)...

I didn't buy xbox till it was hackable. the same will be with gamecube
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Yes I agree most people buy consoles depending if they can be modded or not. There are alot of people that would like Nintendo to quit the console hardware and do games for the other consoles like the PS2
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to me this makes no sense unless for them to be able to copy Nintendo games .
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What helped also X Box and PS2 to sell were the adult games like GTA games and the cheesy voleyball games.
 
That's definately true for me. When I was deciding which system to buy, I really wanted to XBox just for PDO and the fact that it could play full sized CDs, whereas regular CDRs dont fit in the Cube. I ended up getting the cube anyways because I had more faith in it than the XBox, and all of the nice games of course. (Maybe Nintendo fanboyism mixed in too).
 
i dissagree -- i travel around to many gameing stores in my state building up my collection and most peoples opinion that i talk to in the stores think game cubes selection of games stinks (except for a few ) and they feel that doesnt warent spending the money (even when game stop was selling the system for 70$ -- i was gonna buy one then but took a long look at thier selection

also that it does not play dvds

also most people ive talked to had no idea the systems could be modded ( i never mention how easy it is to mod the xbox - just ps2) --

personaly i was suprised at how many people dont know the systems can be modded - ive learned to stop talking about that -- there was a higher percentage of people that knew about modding at the video stores renting games though

i buy games every week and i see many many people buying also
 
GC's game selection might not be great yet, but their are many upcoming titles looking good -- Viewtiful Joe, anyone?

XBox has a very limited selection IMO unless you're only into FPSs and Sports.

I don't think that many people, including me, care if they systems can play DVDs. Divx maybe
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People did care when the PS2 and DC were out since most people didn't have DVD players yet.

Now, most people do and don't need their consoles to play them.
 
I bougt my Xbox first BECAUSE there are mod chips out there for it. I still haven't gotten a chip, though. But I have since bought my GameCube. I have about an even number of games for both systems, but play the Cube more. Why? The Wavebird makes playing much easier in my room setup. I don't have to run the controller wire through furnature to keep it from getting between my eyes and the TV. That's about it. Once I get a chip, I'll probably play the Xbox more, but mostly trying out homebrew software and media players and stuff like that. The fact remains that I spend more time here talking about video games than what I do playing them anymore.
 
I think the reason XBox is selling good is cuz it's liek the PS2, "I have an XBox therefore I am cool!" I bet a good 50+ percent of the ppl who buy the systems and shit are just casual gamers...you like tony hawk games, and shit like that. a few FPS's and adult games and they are set. Nintendo's games take a lot....they aren't cheap pieces of shit. Nintendo makes games for gamers...therefore most gamers I know have one....and a PS2 cuz of the rpgs. They are waiting on getting an xbox till there are games they really want and can easily download.....that's why I bought my XBox, to play oldschool games in my room on my TV and to play stuff like PDO...think about it, how many "must have" games does xbox have? hardly any, maybe 1-2. PDO....that's about it. the GCN has many (metriod, zelda, mario, mario kart(soon), eternal darkness, etc.)
 
Originally posted by VertigoXX@May 16, 2003 @ 09:22 PM

The fact remains that I spend more time here talking about video games than what I do playing them anymore.

I can second that
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so if you were the head of Sega's new "Dreamcast 2" development department, would you want to make it impossible to hack or not?

I wouldn't make it like the DC was (no mod chip needed) though.
 
I highly doubt that people would pay $200 just to be "cool". People do however make there decisions on systems by whether or not that can swap games with their friends etc/ The reason the Gamecube is dying is because, well... is just not got a good enough selection of games. Don't get me wrong, I own a fully region modded 'cube with about twenty games, but I never play it. There just isn't that "one more go" factor to any of it games. Even Zeld feels more like a job than a game. Also, very, very few people know about hacking systems, let alone make there decisions on it. I'd say that the hacking sales factor doesn't, in reality, exist.

*Off to play RE2 on Dreamcast*
 
Originally posted by Zziggy00@May 16, 2003 @ 06:28 PM

last time i heard figures 8% of the market was people pirateing (no idea if that is correct, but if so, then that really isn't a big factor)...

I didn't buy xbox till it was hackable. the same will be with gamecube
wink.gif

I think XBox is above the norm of hacked percentage.

The target audience of the system is techy people.

Plus XBox is very popular for modding because of it's homebrew ablitilies (cheap PC alternative)
 
Originally posted by racketboy+May 16, 2003 @ 04:34 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(racketboy @ May 16, 2003 @ 04:34 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'> <!--QuoteBegin-VertigoXX@May 16, 2003 @ 09:22 PM

The fact remains that I spend more time here talking about video games than what I do playing them anymore.

I can second that
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[/b][/quote]

Sad isn't it.
 
Originally posted by racketboy@May 16, 2003 @ 01:39 AM

so if you were the head of Sega's new "Dreamcast 2" development department, would you want to make it impossible to hack or not?

I wouldn't make it like the DC was (no mod chip needed) though.

Depends on how you make the system. If you take the common approach and make profits from royalties, then you'd make it as goddamned hard to hack as possible. If you make them cheap (PS, PS2) and actually make a profit on the console itself, then it's not such a concern.
 
I'm also really leaning towards getting an Xbox (instead of a GBA SP for instance) because of Fable aka "Project Ego". That is going to be an interesting game if they can pull of what they've been talking about. If Fable comes out right, I swear here and now, that I WILL buy an XBox just for that game.

...and PDO
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so if you were the head of Sega's new "Dreamcast 2" development department, would you want to make it impossible to hack or not?

I'd want to use a physically standard disk format (to avoid excessive engineering costs) with a proprietary sectoring scheme (to increase the difficulty of producing working copy discs), then create a program similar in principle to Sony's Net Yaroze but much cheaper and more open (to eliminate the necessity for homebrew coders to attack the security scheme).
 
so if you were the head of Sega's new "Dreamcast 2" development department, would you want to make it impossible to hack or not?

I would reverse the reading patterns of the system so it reads the outside of the cd for the game data and the inside for security
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Originally posted by BJammzz@May 16, 2003 @ 09:24 PM

I think the reason XBox is selling good is cuz it's liek the PS2, "I have an XBox therefore I am cool!" I bet a good 50+ percent of the ppl who buy the systems and shit are just casual gamers...you like tony hawk games, and shit like that. a few FPS's and adult games and they are set. Nintendo's games take a lot....they aren't cheap pieces of shit. Nintendo makes games for gamers...therefore most gamers I know have one....and a PS2 cuz of the rpgs. They are waiting on getting an xbox till there are games they really want and can easily download.....that's why I bought my XBox, to play oldschool games in my room on my TV and to play stuff like PDO...think about it, how many "must have" games does xbox have? hardly any, maybe 1-2. PDO....that's about it. the GCN has many (metriod, zelda, mario, mario kart(soon), eternal darkness, etc.)

name some games for me - of the type you described -- i dont see anything diferent from each system in that dept. -- i have a GC and 0 games -- i just dont like them (not all but nothing that realy impresses me enough to make room for it on my set up - i also hate the controler)-- and as far as indepth platformers each system has them -- so they are all pretty comperable (except in the rpg dept but GC barely has any anyways)

only dept xbox is lacking is japanese rpgs -- which some time soon will be fixed -- oh and some one mentioned Fable -- i am real curious how that will turn out

and to the guys talking about moding?? ps2 is just as easily modable -- but also you guys are talking from the "more informed" point of view-- most gamers i have spoken to - that shop at retail game stores - have no clue -- i live in CT - its not NY -- ive never heard of modding until i lived in NY for a while -- so there are more (i gues you can say "ignorant" places in the rest of the country) -- its only the internet that is informing more and more people- but still people that know about modding are a minority-- i think -- but the news is spreading like a brush fire -- when one kid in a school gets a modded system 50% of the rest of the school will follow

personaly i dont mention modding any more

THE game backup problem for the GC will soon be taken care of (with a GC doctor)-- and i also heared that the free loader disk will alow you to play copies-- i will test that out in a couple of weeks -- when i get some mini dvds

so if that works out -- the CG will sort of be in the same boat (game copy perspective)

yes the xbox has more to offer as a modded system - but i dont think the majority thinks about the other things you can do -- they just want to copy games - so i would think the systems from that perspective are even

also the xbox "cool" -- its "cool" now -- last i looked people were still makeing fun of it

but back to my main point most people ive come across dont like the GC selection (from what is exclusive "only" on GC (this includes dreamcast)) -- also they dont like it because of the dvd issue (the ones that didnt have a player to begin with) --- even my friends that ive known since grade school (that were big into rpgs and the like) -- they argree with the strangers
 
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