Dear Future Gamer

Having just read the "N64 Extinct" letter by Andrew Morgan (FG51), I have to say I agree with him. Look at the future for it - Perfect Dark, which will undoubtedly be brilliant, will be out about five months later than it was supposed to be, and that was the one game that could have really saved the N64 from an early grave. Even then, by the time that's out and has its eight-player shenanigans (with four bots, I mean), there'll probably be a definitive Dreamcast first-person shooter that has Internet access, not poxy four players and bots. Also, Rare can blather on about Donkey Kong all they want, but do they really think they can get away with bundling Expansion Paks with all copies of the game? It's nothing short of a shameless rip-off for those of us dedicated enough to actually get one before now.

I think it's a real shame as I've been a Nintendo owner (all the consoles) since... well, forever, basically. What the not-so-big-N have done yet again is underestimate their opponents, underdevelop and underpromote their own console, and be overly hostile to third-party game developers. I eagerly await the Dolphin, but I bet you any amount of money on Earth that it'll be overpriced, very much delayed and will have only three or four games (hell, Myamoto's said this himself!), each at £60 a shot, controllers costing about £40 each, etc.

Please, Nintendo, sort it out. There's a whole world waiting to love you, but you have to respect your potential consumer before he/she spends money on your console. And respect for the consumer, unfortunately - and not in terms of games, as we are all agreed that Nintendo and Rare make some of the best games on Earth - is what Nintendo do not seem to have.

Jimbo

FG: I think we're all agreed, Nintendo need to have a major attitude change if they're to court both developers and consumers in the coming console wars and survive. Let's hope it happens sooner rather than later.