Breaking News: Mario Shown on CNN
Posted 21 May 2002 at 05:53 by guest
Looking pretty damn good indeed! But why CNN we dont know, and this clsoe to E3! Weird... But anyways, follow any of these links to see the video, if one is busy, try another. They are all the same.
Mario Sunshine Video 1
Mario Sunshine Video 2
Mario Sunshine Video 3
We'll try and have some screens up later, but for now, just view the videos by RIGHT CLICKING and pressing SAVE TARGET AS.
Here's the full transcript of what went on in the CNN showing.
A three-way price war broke out today in the video game business. Nintendo cut the price of its GameCube machine to just under $150. This after Sony and Microsoft cut the prices of their own machines last week. For the consumer, it's all fun and games, but, for the companies involved, it's serious business, a $9-billion-a-year business.
Bruce Francis has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE FRANCIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ah, springtime. A terrific time of the year for Mario to fight the Sludgy monster thing guy. Nintendo is cutting the price of its GameCube console by $50, after saying last week that it wouldn't. Profits -- Nintendo will have to keep searching for those. The company just about breaks even on the hardware.
GEORGE HARRISON, NINTENDO OF AMERICA: The hardware has never really been a big driver of profit. The goal has been to sell the hardware so that we can sell the profitable software.
FRANCIS: That's Microsoft's strategy, too, with some analysts estimating that the firm had been losing more than a hundred dollars for every Xbox it sells, and that was before Microsoft cut a hundred dollars off the price.
Right now, newcomer Microsoft is last behind Sony's PlayStation 2 with 30-million units and Nintendo's GameCube with four-and-a-half- million shipped. Sony has been selling the PlayStation2 for a year longer than its rivals.
Sony says higher volumes and more components of their own design make their machine highly profitable, one reason they were able to cut prices by about a third last week.
KAZ HIRAI, SONY: What we're able to do really is to pass on the savings that we realize in our own factories right to the consumers.
FRANCIS: And those consumers march right out and buy more software.
MELISSA COMER WILLIAMS, GERARD KLAUER MATTISON: There's going to be a great amount of really good software for all three systems, and the opportunity for retailers primarily is going to be about selling more software because that's where everybody makes money.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANCIS: Microsoft is trying to boost sales of its Xbox by introducing Xbox Live, an online network that allows players to compete against each other over high-speed networks. The deep pockets at Microsoft have reportedly shelled out a billion dollars to get the system up and running. That's a whole lot of system there, Lou.
DOBBS: A lot of system and a lot of money. People sometimes -- and I'm amongst them -- don't think about video games in the context of the size of the industry. It's much bigger than the film industry.
FRANCIS: At this point in the cycle, with especially the Sony console out there, huge install base, software selling like crazy because there's a lot of the titles out there. You're seeing -- this video-game business outgrows Hollywood right now. It has its ups and downs. A very volatile industry.