Well, the N64 backlash didn't take very long to get started, did it?

What's going on?

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Reading page after page of angry letters on this week's Digi, casual observers might be forgiven for thinking that Nintendo HADN'T just released the best, most exciting video game console in the whole of ever.

If you haven't been tuning in, waves of hate and bile have been pouring forth, complaining about almost everything to do with the machine and confidently predicting its demise.

But it's only been out a fortnight!

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So what's gone wrong? And is the N64 going to be the big N's first-ever big flop? (The Virtual Boy doesn't count, because even Nintendo appeared to think no-one would buy it.)

The first question is the easiest one to answer. Everyone in Europe has finally realised how much Nintendo hates them, and it's hurt their feelings. Despite all the delays, the PAL N64 is still a pathetic, slow, letterboxed and overpriced shadow of its Japanese and US counterparts.

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No surprises there, then. The only odd thing is that it's taken us all so long to notice. But some things HAVE changed since the last time all this happened.

For a start, the cosy duopoly that existed between Nintendo and Sega at the time of the MD and SNES has been blown apart by Sony, with their breathtaking Playstation price cut.

And for the first time ever, there appears to be a genuine downward trend in the price of games.

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Which, of course, leaves Nintendo looking rather out-of-step with games two and three times as expensive as the competition.

"But they're three times as good!", you may well say. And there'd be some truth in it - Mario, Pilotwings, Wave Race and International Superstar Soccer are all astonishingly great games.

But who else is going to produce anything anywhere near as good? Nobody, that's who. And this time, we know it.

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Third-party developers are showing a marked reluctance to get involved with Nintendo this time around. Huge development costs and interminable official-approval times are a giant pain in the bum to them.

And with all the uncertainty about the Bulky Drive thrown on top, many of the big names are sticking with the safe, cheap convenience and massive installed user base offered by Sony.

And who can blame them?

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So the chances are, we've already seen all the classic N64 titles for 1997.

Only Nintendo themselves have the resources and the design skills to come up with the really good stuff, and that means 3 or 4 games a year.

And faced with that prospect, are you going to spend £250 just to play those 3 or 4 games? (At £60-£70 a throw, or even a horrifying £95, as with Turok.)

Or not?

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Answer: only if you're a bit mad. And it looks like that's how it's turning out - already, after the first-day madness, N64s are freely available all around the country.

Now, obviously, it's way too early to make any real judgements. But I'm worried. Worried because Nintendo make better games than anyone else, and we can't really afford to be without them.