I recently posted about the Gamecube controller and there was some talk about the console itself. This video came out shortly afterwards and goes over a lot of what was discussed in that thread.

Gotta love this statement from a Nintendo of America person fretting about the Cube's colour before release:

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I guess they were right since they were talking about American gamers in the year 2001

  • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Incoming rant because this is a huge pet peeve of mine with gaming and art in general.

    A lot of people don't seem to remember how shitty consumer culture was back in the 90s and early 2000s

    I knew male friends who wouldn't touch a controller with big colorful buttons like the Gamecube because it "looked like a babies toy'"

    People that wouldn't play a Zelda game because Link "looks like a girl" or some homophobic slur. Colorful games were deemed "for babies" to the point where one of the best Zelda games released, a game that is now considered a classic masterpiece, at the time was a huge flop because of the cartoony artstyle, yes, that's right, the artstyle that has aged amazingly and everyone loves now. People were PISSED that they didn't get a realistic looking Zelda game.

    And this sort of "I'm a big mature man that doesn't play cute baby crap" additude was very common, way more common then now, as in, this was that mainstream opinion, not just fringe MRA toxic masculine types.

    So yeah, we're talking about an era where people used to criticize the Gamecubes start up jingle for being too upbeat. I'm not even kidding. So while it might seem silly to us now, Nintendo actually aren't completely wrong for worrying about purple being too girly.

    Also, this era was very much about pretending your gaming console wasn't a toy. Hence why the PS2 sold so well, because it played DVDs, it looked like a DVD player, you could put it on the shelf and it would be at home with your home entertainment system. Everyone wanted a DVD player so you'd be suprised how much being able to play DVDs played a factor.

    Also the fact that in my country at least there was barely any advertising for the Gamecube. People didn't know it existed.

    TLDR: the 2000s sucked. It was even worse in the 360 era when the "Hardcore VS filthy casuals" debates got into full swing and military propaganda online multiplayer FPS became the only "real games". People are only just starting to allow themselves to like color again.

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Hence why the PS2 sold so well, because it played DVDs

      This was also an incredible stroke of luck on Sony's part. I remember convincing my mom to buy a PS2 because she wanted to upgrade to a DVD player, and the PS2 was cheaper than the average dedicated DVD player at the time and had all the same features.

      Sony tried to replicate this success with the PS3, but it didn't work. People had just finished repurchasing all of their favorite movies and weren't about to buy them a third time in such a short span.

        • ssjmarx [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          I'm sure a lot of people did, but I know a lot of people who've never owned a Blu-Ray player so I kinda get the impression that it didn't catch on the way DVDs did.

        • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          The total number of PS4s sold was lower than 2s or 3s

          PS4 outsold the PS3, it's the best selling PS console after only the PS2.

        • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
          hexagon
          ·
          1 year ago

          Interesting- I haven't paid attention to the console scene since when the 360 was my main gaming machine.

          Wasn't the PS4 the clear winner of last gen though?

            • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              As usual with the PC master race fools, it was all lies. The PS4 is the best selling PlayStation since the PS2. 117 million ones sold. Sold more than even the Nintendo Wii.

              Modern triple A PC gaming is niche amongst the mainstream because it's too expensive. A PS5 is 500 US dollars, usually bundled in with a controller and a game. There is no way to build a new gaming PC, with a decent keyboard and mouse or controller, at that price point. The GPU probably costs more than the entire PS5 bundle. The PS5 has already sold 40 million units for a reason, and games have only started to fully switch over to the new generation.

          • SexUnderSocialism [she/her]
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yeah, it was, by a large margin. The PS4 is Sony's second most successful console after the PS2.

      • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Price plays a huge factor as well. The PS3, while a great console, was more expensive then the 360 or Wii.

        Also I get the feeling that 360 being an American console helped its sales in the west us-foreign-policy , but I might just be being cynical and tin foil hatty.

        • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          You're right about MS getting homefield advantage in America, the PS3 outsold the 360, but 360 was the clear winner in the States iirc. Also, even when Sony was outselling MS 2 to 1 in the PS4 era I think it was essentially a tie in the states.

        • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          The PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 in the end, thanks to some late generation quality exclusives, free online multiplayer (lol) and brand reputation from the PS2.

          The 360 was better early on when developers didn't know how to use the cell processor in the PS3, it was too expensive and Sony PSN got hacked.

    • SerLava [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      In the 2000s, real was brown. Literal brown filters on every FPS. Black grey brown and blood red were the only colors allowed

        • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          The yellow filters sucked, but they were better than the blue filters that came after. Battlefield 3 looks terrible going back. At least the older COD games and battlefield bad company hold up better, with their yellow filters.

    • BelieveRevolt [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      "Mario and Sonic are for kids. Waah, Celda sucks, I want a realistic gritty Zelda!"

      Yeah, it was pretty bad. One thing that most people don't really talk about is how there were almost no 2D games for consoles, because 2D was still considered "outdated" or whatever. Thankfully the GBA existed for 2D gaming 😏

      edit: The Stop Skeletons from Fighting video about the N-Gage showing the announcement with the price painted on a topless woman's boobs awooga freeze-gamer volcel-judge

      • Owl [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        almost no 2D games for consoles, because 2D was still considered "outdated" or whatever

        That infuriated me as a kid in the PS1/N64 era, when everyone was talking about how great the new era of graphics were, when we were going from

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    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      To be fair, I called the controller a "Fisher-Price looking thing" in my post

      Though that was mostly the goofy shapes of the buttons. I myself love wacky colours and will go out of my way to buy a special edition controller when I need a new one

      • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Theres nothing weing with calling it Fisher-Price toy looking (it reminds me of one too)

        I'm more talking about people that wouldn't even give the thing a chance because of something as silly as that.