Nintendo Launches New GameCube Hardware Bundles

Nintendo is making an effort to boost GameCube sales as its console format nears the end of its lifetime by releasing a pair of new hardware bundles: one, previously announced and just released for the U.S., and one newly announced and forthcoming in Europe. In North America, the company is offering the basic system in the previously available Platinum color along with a copy of Super Smash Brothers Melee, released in December 2001 and made a $29.99 Player's Choice title in 2003. The console-and-game set is currently available for $99.99, and debuted in stories to relatively little fanfare last week. Conversely, in Europe, a new official Nintendo bundle announced today is slightly more enticing, as it includes a new game and an unreleased color variant of the system. Buyers of the Mario Smash Football Bundle will receive a pearl white GameCube and copy of new GameCube title Mario Smash Football, known in the U.S. as Super Mario Strikers. This European package will go on sale simultaneously with the standalone release of Mario Smash Football on November 18th, and its price was not explicitly announced in the Nintendo Europe press release revealing its presence.