In reply to Microsoft's recent, and very successful, holiday bundle deals, Nintendo have announced that from February 9 all GameCube consoles will come bundled with one of four A-list titles. The offer will, initially, be available only to U.S. customers but is expected to reach Europe too.
The games on offer will be Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 0, Star Fox Adventures and Mario Party 4. The bundle deal is expected to last until May in the U.S.
This offer will effectively push the price of the GC down from, its current USD 149.99 tag to USD 100.
This move may be the first sign that Nintendo are buckling under the pressure created by Microsoft's successful holiday season. The Japanese console giants have got little to no room on reducing hardware prices and are still working hard on ways to avoid third place in the Console Wars.
Considering recent figures which claim Microsoft sold 1 million XBox units in France, Germany and the U.K. alone over the Christmas season while Sony pushed 10 million PS2's worldwide over the same time period, Nintendo's move may fall under the too little too late category. If you proceed to add the almost non-existant online strategy for the GC to the equation, you can begin to see how instant action may be required in order to save GameCube.
