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[Zerostatic]

As far as creativity goes, Ecco just destroys the 2d marios up to and perhaps including NSMB. Once Nintendo go their formula going with SMB, they kept it up more or less intact, adding minor gameplay variations like Yoshi. Ecco is well beyond anything Nintendo even attempted to do platform wise. Sonic was pretty creative as well, perhaps not so much as Yoshi's Island, but at the very least besting the Mario series up until then.

Adventure games not so much, but at least Dark Savior brought the concept to 3d well before Zelda got around to doing so.

Second to all that though, I'm of the opinion that Sega's platformers were superior to Nintendo's stuff with the exception of Yoshi's Island.

Actually Nintendo does plenty of creative stuff, but people always remember the Mario's & Zeldas and say all Nintendo does is rehashes when that's not true. Just in the past couple of years Nintendo treated gamers to unique games such as Pikmin, Battalion Wars, Geist*, and Luigi's Mansion among others.

*Geist was actually developed by N-Space and published by Nintendo but Nintendo was heavily involved in the development process, particularly Miyamoto.

 

[Pureauthor]

NDS Stock Trader Shun - <5k

Ouch.

 

[Magicpaint]

First day sales (from sinobi):

PSP Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road - 20k
PSP Final Fantasy II - 20k
WII Harvest Moon: Tree of Peace - 15k
NDS Stock Trader Shun - <5k
NDS Suujin Taisen - <5k

No number for PS2 Hisshou Pachinko/Pachislo Capture Series, Vol. 10: CR Neon Geneses Evangelion but that one looks to be the top1 game next week, previous one did 210k although its doesn't look like its going to beat that.

FF2 doesn't look like it'll as good as FF1 (50k first week), same for DBZ SB2 (first one did 60k first week).

Low numbers for DBZ, FFII and especially Harvest Moon. Looks like 30k at most for Harvest Moon; maybe it came too soon after the recent DS version which cleared 200k, but those numbers aren't encouraging.

 

[Galactic Fork]

Ouch.

Maybe that's all they shipped?

Who published that anyway? It's the Stock Trading PW-ish adventure game right?

 

[ThirdEye]

Famitsu May 21-27

1. NDS Kekkaishi: Tale of the Raven Forest 40465 / NEW
2. PSP Bleach: Heat the Soul 4 35943 / NEW
3. PSP Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War 25355 / 241904
4. WII Wii Sports 24735 / 1534508
5. NDS Shin Lucky * Star Moe Drill: Tabidachi 24473 / NEW
6. NDS More English Training 23185 / 253981
7. NDS New Super Mario Bros. 21315 / 4512151
8. NDS Brain Training 2 20426 / 4373132
9. NDS Kurikin: Nano Island Story 17961 / NEW
10. NDS Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan 17917 / 196048
11. PS2 Shining Wind 17888 / 101138
12. PS2 Pachitte Chonmage Tatsujin 12: Pachinko Ultraman 17677 / NEW
13. WII Super Paper Mario 17278 / 396145
14. WII Wii Play 15639 / 1221671
15. NDS Mario Kart DS 15574 / 2173211
16. NDS Brain Training 15426 / 3317608
17. NDS Animal Crossing: Wild World 14945 / 4115102
18. NDS Pokemon Diamond/Pearl 14740 / 5137044
19. WII Gentle Brain Training Wii 14630 / 156154
20. NDS English Training 14422 / 1799939
21. PS2 Odin Sphere 14171 / 74991
22. NDS Yoshi's Island DS 13637 / 736901
23. NDS Ace Attorney 4 12411 / 418925
24. NDS FFXII: Revenant Wings 10576 / 469585
25. 360 Forza Motorsport 2 9870 / NEW
26. PS2 Medal of Honor: Vanguard 9748 / NEW
27. NDS Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis 9679 / 239555
28. NDS Prof. Layton and the Mysterious Village 9559 / 537549
29. NDS Ouendan 2 9179 / 72115
30. NDS General Knowledge Training 8676 / 1411953


I know that hardware-wise, PS3 >>> 360, but software-wise, I'm thinking that the 360 is really holding its own. I'd be very curious to hear what Square-Enix thought of the 360 software sales.

Yeah 9870 for the big 1st party title is encouraging... NOT.

 

[_Alkaline_]

First day sales (from sinobi):

PSP Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road - 20k
PSP Final Fantasy II - 20k
WII Harvest Moon: Tree of Peace - 15k
NDS Stock Trader Shun - <5k
NDS Suujin Taisen - <5k

No number for PS2 Hisshou Pachinko/Pachislo Capture Series, Vol. 10: CR Neon Geneses Evangelion but that one looks to be the top1 game next week, previous one did 210k although its doesn't look like its going to beat that.

FF2 doesn't look like it'll as good as FF1 (50k first week), same for DBZ SB2 (first one did 60k first week).

Damn you Japan, start buying exclusive Wii 3rd party games for once.

 

[Mithos Yggdrasill]

First day sales (from sinobi):

PSP Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road - 20k
PSP Final Fantasy II - 20k
WII Harvest Moon: Tree of Peace - 15k
NDS Stock Trader Shun - <5k
NDS Suujin Taisen - <5k

No number for PS2 Hisshou Pachinko/Pachislo Capture Series, Vol. 10: CR Neon Geneses Evangelion but that one looks to be the top1 game next week, previous one did 210k although its doesn't look like its going to beat that.

FF2 doesn't look like it'll as good as FF1 (50k first week), same for DBZ SB2 (first one did 60k first week).

Thanks. Overall very slow starts.

 

[BrodiemanTTR]

By the way, the Retro Studios Webiste is down since almost a month. What's going on ?

Retro Studios cancelled.

 

[AniHawk]

Retro Studios cancelled.

They finally did something right for once.

 

[Magicpaint]

Damn you Japan, start buying exclusive Wii 3rd party games for once.

Well to be fair, how many great third party exclusives have there been thus far? Harvest Moon could end up with legs; I agree this start isn't encouraging, but this is Harvest Moon, a franchise that normally tops off at 100k-200k at most.

They finally did something right for once.

Good things always come to an end.

 

[Dai Kaiju]

I was like

Ok, does that pic remind anyone else of Bish/Sam Jackson? If anything can replace his current avatar it's that.

 

[schuelma]

Anybody got any rough idea what the Wii, 360, DS and PS3 Worldwide LTDs are now?

Just a rough estimate, but up to now, not including N.A or Europe May sales, I have Wii at 7.1M, 360 at 9, and PS3 at 3.1 or so.

 

[MrSardonic]

PS3 - 8,998

 

[Cosmonaut X]

First day sales (from sinobi):

PSP Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road - 20k
PSP Final Fantasy II - 20k
WII Harvest Moon: Tree of Peace - 15k
NDS Stock Trader Shun - <5k
NDS Suujin Taisen - <5k

Disappointing first-day sales for HM Wii. I'd imagine best case for the week would be something like 40-50k, though it could certainly be lower. How well did the 'Cube HM games sell first week & lifetime?

 

[ethelred]

Another third party Wii game, another bomb. Sooner or later, people are going to need to recognize that this is a serious problem for the console.

On the other hand, Stock Trader Shun's sales are actually disappointing. So much for it being the next Gyakuten Saiban.

 

[Parl]

Gundabump didn't constitute a reincarnation, so no second funeral.

 

[Pureauthor]

Another third party Wii game, another bomb. Sooner or later, people are going to need to recognize that this is a serious problem for the console.

Yeah, they should just switch all development to handhelds.

 

[ethelred]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

 

[Parl]

Yeah, they should just switch all development to handhelds.

ATM, Wii is very much about innovative experiences. The market for Wii will ironically expand to more traditional gaming once, a) Big traditional games come out like Galaxy and Brawl, and b) Current Wii owners seek less casual gaming experiences.

Well, in Japan, anyway. In NA and, to a slightly lesser extent, Europe, Wii succeeds in attracting core audiences really well too.

The main games on Wii so far in Japan are ones which have mass appeal, but don't appeal much to the core market, once big titles that appeal to hardcore audiences are released, then there'll be core gamers to sell Wii games to.

 

[AniHawk]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

The Wii still hasn't broken out of its Gamecube Turbo status, where developers dismissed it left and right. The best shit to hit the system from 3rd parties so far are either spinoffs or oldass ports. And Sonic. Anihawk looooves SATSR.

If 2008 rolls around, and shit's still the same (Uh... Prince of Persia Trilogy: Wii Edition! er... Okami for the Wii!), then yeah. I agree.

 

[Parl]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

In North America, Halo 2 takes the vast majority of Xbox software sales and has done for quite some time.

 

[Branduil]

How much did previous Harvest Moon games sell?

 

[Magicpaint]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

lol, DS.

I do agree though that Wii software sales in Japan are less than desirable, but I attribute that mostly to lack of the right software. On the third party front, high profile releases have been relatively thin.

But nearly as dead as the PS3? Hardly. The PS3 compartively is performing far worse in both the hardware and software front.

 

[acuul]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

it has a game (wiisport) that monopolizes attention of people, they want stuff like that... just wait till new wiisports-like games will be released

 

[Mithos Yggdrasill]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

Good one. :lol This comment reminds me a lot the first year of Nintendo DS in Japan.

 

[RiskyChris]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

HM probably sold more on day one than all PS3 titles combined for the week.

 

[ethelred]

The market for Wii will ironically expand to more traditional gaming once, a) Big traditional games come out like Galaxy and Brawl, and b) Current Wii owners seek less casual gaming experiences.

The main games on Wii so far in Japan are ones which have mass appeal, but don't appeal much to the core market, once big titles that appeal to hardcore audiences are released, then there'll be core gamers to sell Wii games to.

Big hardcore titles like Zelda, or Fire Emblem? You say "Wait for Mario Galaxy!" (which sounds, frankly, a lot like "Wait for VF5 MGS4 FFXIII!"). What if Mario Galaxy sees the same fate as these other Wii hardcore games?

See, your A conditional has already been met, and it's questionable at this point if your B conditional will ever be achieved. There's nothing at this point indicating that the Wii owners will ever seek something meatier than Wii Sports and Wii Play.

In North America, the Halo 2 takes the vast majority of Xbox software sales and has done for quite some time.

Okay, so we're equating the just-launched and supposedly successful Wii with a failure of a console that's been dead for two years. Check.

 

[acuul]

So wait ... if DS is up over 600,000 on the PSP in Japan WITHOUT a decent game, what is it going to do to it when there's something worth buying?

this is a quote from a 2005 mediacreate discussion...
situation is pretty similar to wii now

 

[schuelma]

Big hardcore titles like Zelda, or Fire Emblem? You say "Wait for Mario Galaxy!" (which sounds, frankly, a lot like "Wait for VF5 MGS4 FFXIII!"). What if Mario Galaxy sees the same fate as these other Wii hardcore games?

Uhh...isn't SPM almost at 400K and showing some nice legs?

 

[Evlar]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

Game Boy.

 

[jarrod]

Low numbers for DBZ, FFII and especially Harvest Moon. Looks like 30k at most for Harvest Moon; maybe it came too soon after the recent DS version which cleared 200k, but those numbers aren't encouraging.

Harvest Moon's on par with the original DS release though.... have to remember in terms of userbase, Wii and DS aren't on an equal footing right now.

 

[the thoroughbred]

Actually Nintendo does plenty of creative stuff, but people always remember the Mario's & Zeldas and say all Nintendo does is rehashes when that's not true. Just in the past couple of years Nintendo treated gamers to unique games such as Pikmin, Battalion Wars, Geist*, and Luigi's Mansion among others.

*Geist was actually developed by N-Space and published by Nintendo but Nintendo was heavily involved in the development process, particularly Miyamoto.

Did he really. I never knew Miyamoto helped with Geist. Everyone said it was shit.
When you gave examples of creativity you named the wrong games. Here are a few that are different.

DK: Jungle Beat
DKa
Fire Emblem series (I know old, but knew for us, and damn good)
Paper Mario: TTYD (mainstream have never even heard of this, but once seen, excellent game)
Animal Crossing
Advance Wars
Training games
Wario Ware (all the party games)
bitGenerations (not developed by them, but commisioned by them)
Rhythm Tengoku
Jet Air (or whatever its called, btw when's this being localised)

 

[Magicpaint]

Harvest Moon's on par with the original DS release though.... have to remember in terms of userbase, Wii and DS aren't on an equal footing right now.

Didn't that one manage to crawl to 100k though? And that was sort of a rehash of Friends of Mineral Town, this one looks so fresh and awesome, I think it deserves to do better. :/

 

[Mithos Yggdrasill]

Big hardcore titles like Zelda, or Fire Emblem? You say "Wait for Mario Galaxy!" (which sounds, frankly, a lot like "Wait for VF5 MGS4 FFXIII!"). What if Mario Galaxy sees the same fate as these other Wii hardcore games?

See, your A conditional has already been met, and it's questionable at this point if your B conditional will ever be achieved. There's nothing at this point indicating that the Wii owners will ever seek something meatier than Wii Sports and Wii Play.

I doubt it. Super Paper Mario sold well and it's for the hardcore. New Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo DS should have followed the same fate if you're right.

The first year is always one of the most difficult and for the Wii it is even more (for the hardcore), because, again, Third Parties dind't expect the PS3 to "bomb" (relative, we can discuss about that) and the Wii to sell like crazy.

The only big disappoinment for me it's Zelda. But the decline is NOT due entirely to the Wii, because it exists since Majora's Mask. The Minish Cap was a great game and the userbase was big either. The Wind Waker has had a bigger userbase then the Wii, it was Japan-oriented and innovative, but this didn't stop the decline. How do you explain the bad sales ?

Mario is at the top of its popularity in Japan since the NES. There all all the pre-conditions to say that Super Mario Galaxy will not bomb.

 

[Kafel]

I'm sure HM is the kind of game that has nice legs. And it is only the first day sales.

I don't think the userbase of HM is that hardcore to know by heart the release dates of these titles.

 

[BrodiemanTTR]

Harvest Moon Wii debuts in the top 10 and it's a bomb? Who knew?

 

[Pureauthor]

So, from the direction this thread has gone...

Am I right to say that Super Mario Galaxy is the new Final Fantasy XIII and that Zelda is the new Virtua Fighter 5?

 

[titiklabingapat]

First day sales (from sinobi):

PSP Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road - 20k
PSP Final Fantasy II - 20k
WII Harvest Moon: Tree of Peace - 15k
NDS Stock Trader Shun - <5k
NDS Suujin Taisen - <5k

No number for PS2 Hisshou Pachinko/Pachislo Capture Series, Vol. 10: CR Neon Geneses Evangelion but that one looks to be the top1 game next week, previous one did 210k although its doesn't look like its going to beat that.

FF2 doesn't look like it'll as good as FF1 (50k first week), same for DBZ SB2 (first one did 60k first week).

Everything is selling so low. Are the weeks after Golden Week traditionally Japan's slower periods of the year?

 

[RiskyChris]

So, from the direction this thread has gone...

Am I right to say that Super Mario Galaxy is the new Final Fantasy XIII and that Zelda is the new Virtua Fighter 5?

Wii is the new PS3.

 

[fresquito]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

:lol

So having three titles in the top10 and 5 in the top 30 means being at the same level as PS3? Shall I remind you PSP, PS2 and PS3 have 5 titles together? (PS3 adds zero to the equation though). With two titles over a million and three titles between 300 and 500k, and a console that just passed the six months of life mark, I can't see how anyone can complain about software sales.

Now, I too think third parties sales must improve. But that won't happen until consumers see a commitement in them to make great games for the Wii, and not just rehases.

 

[BrodiemanTTR]

Wii is the new PS3.

360 is the new Wii, Bebpo come on down.

Doo doo DOO DOO, doo doo DOO DOO, doo doo DOO DOO doo DOO DOO doo DOO DOO doo doo doo DOO DOO.

 

[titiklabingapat]

360 is the new Wii, Bebpo come on down.

Doo doo DOO DOO, doo doo DOO DOO, doo doo DOO DOO doo DOO DOO doo DOO DOO doo doo doo DOO DOO.

Awww, RIP, Bob Barker. He's not dead yet but I'm mourning his retirement.

 

[Saitou]

Man, I remember when 15k first day sales for niche games were good.

 

[Jokeropia]

I suspect Ethelred just wants to spur some controversy.

 

[test_account]

:lol

So having three titles in the top10 and 5 in the top 30 means being at the same level as PS3? Shall I remind you PSP, PS2 and PS3 have 5 titles together? (PS3 adds zero to the equation though). With two titles over a million and three titles between 300 and 500k, and a console that just passed the six months of life mark, I can't see how anyone can complain about software sales.

Now, I too think third parties sales must improve. But that won't happen until consumers see a commitement in them to make great games for the Wii, and not just rehases.

I think he was reffering mostly to the 3rd party games. The handful of games he mentioned are probly the 1st party games and some of these are the same games that are being listed week after week, like Wii Sport and Wii play have been in the top 10-15 since launch (or?). So these are selling very well Super Paper Mario have also been there a few weeks now, maybe Big Brain Academy too.

I havnt kept track, but what is the longest staying 3rd party Wii (and PS3 game for comparison) game within top 30? Anyone knows how many games that have been released totally for the Wii and PS3 in Japan?

 

[milanbaros]

Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

:lol Everytime, I swear to God. For a recent comparison try the DS.

 

[PistolGrip]

Observation Training for the WIN!!! Come on GAF lets observe ............. yay!

=(

 

[Holy Order Sol]

For all the funeral jokes and the sub9k mockery, the Wii is for all intents and purposes nearly as dead as the PS3 is. The hardware is selling like crazy, but software success has been dismally confined to less than a handful of games. Has there ever been a hit console less egalitarian with game sales than this one?

Are we supposed to take this seriously ?

 

[Eteric Rice]

Are we supposed to take this seriously ?

He probably just woke up. Don't hold it against him.

Much.

 

[Phife Dawg]

I wish I could glance into the future a few years to see if the PS3 will ever recover. Week by week I can't see it happening.

In Japan? Very unlikely, unless Hot Shots Golf really takes off and Sony announces tons of software catered to the japanese market at TGS. They won't convince people with LAIR, Uncharted, Socom etc. The only title that could spark some interest in Japan imho is Eye of Judgement but the game could also blow, we don't know enough yet. Plus it makes the PS3 even more expensive for the customer.

If this continues and SSBB and SMG take off in the holiday season I think it'll be too late for MGS and FF XIII to turn it around next year. And if they don't turn it around next year I don't think they ever will during this generation.