The Nintendo GameCube (GCN)
is Nintendo's fourth home video game console and is part of the sixth
generation era. The hardware system is the most compact, and second-least
expensive after Sega's Dreamcast, of the sixth generation era consoles. It is
the successor to the Nintendo 64 and the predecessor of the Wii. The console
was released on September 14, 2001 in Japan,
November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia. As
of March 31, 2008, the GameCube has sold 21.74 million units worldwide.
Nintendo has used several
advertising strategies and techniques for the GameCube. The earliest commercials
displayed a rotating cube video, which would morph into the GameCube logo. A
female voice whispered "GameCube." This was usually after the normal
commercial for a GameCube game.
Subsequent ad campaigns had
Nintendo advertising with a "Who Are You" tangent to market the wide
range of games Nintendo offers. The idea behind the "Who Are You?"
campaign is that "you are what you play"; the kind of game a gamer
enjoys playing suggests a dominant trait in that gamer's personality. The "Who
Are You" logo is similar to graffiti lettering. Most of the "Who Are
You?" commercials advertised games developed or published by Nintendo, but
some developers paid Nintendo to promote their games, using Nintendo's
marketing and advertising resources. One example is the advertisement campaign
for Square Enix's GameCube-exclusive Final
Fantasy game, Final Fantasy:
Crystal Chronicles.