Nintendo is dying on the vine. It may not quite be time to start digging the hole, but the family's certainly shopping around for caskets.

The latest nail in that future pine box? The top ten list of games for 2004, released this afternoon by the Entertainment Software Association, shows an alarming lack of the big N. Sure you ve got that one GBA title roosting at number six, but no GameCube title in sight.

In fact, the highest a GameCube title was able to climb was number 25 with Pokemon Coliseum. Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, tried to put a positive spin on it:

It s a mistake to focus on the top ten alone. It s only 12 to 15 percent of the market. There s still a lot of money to made if you re not in the top ten. I wouldn t say it means you have a bad year.

It was nice of him to try, but no top ten means no top ten. I don't think this should dissuade anyone from buying a GameCube. It's a fun, inexpensive console that still has a decent stable of games, but in the long run the lack of big hits can't bode well. Nintendo is really gonna have to pull off a Hail Mary with their next system if they want to survive.

On the bright side, the ESA release also delved into the industry as a whole, which looks like it's thriving. There was only a slight dip in sales despite the fact that we are firmly in the twilight between a dying console and a new one rising from its ashes.

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