The answer must be a resounding yes. The first game, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, has accumulated 10 million units sold worldwide since its release over a year ago near the end of 2007. Sega has noted that their sports games tend to do relatively better in the European market compared to America, but in both markets Mario & Sonic performed "incredibly well."
Obviously, the company is hoping that the sequel, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, will "exceed the original." Like the first game, this game will involve Nintendo's master designer Shigeru Miyamoto, and feature mascots and characters from both legendary gaming companies. It will also include new features, like balance board support and four-player cooperative gameplay. Ratcliffe has an additional reason to think the sequel will do well, saying that he thinks "the events of the Winter Olympics are actually more relevant to gaming" with sports like snowboarding, downhill skiing, bobsledding, and speed skating. However, the DS version of the game won't be able to take advantage of any of the recently released Nintendo DSi's new features since the development team "was already deep into the development cycle" when that possibility came up.
But what about Sega's other offerings on the Wii, like the recent Mature-rated titles House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld? According to Ratcliffe, Overkill "has done very well and has absolutely met our expectations" and describes the initial data for MadWorld as "very encouraging." He says that if the brawler from developer Platinum Games resonates with consumers, they would "absolutely want to make [MadWorld] into a franchise."
Talking about Sega's general place among the Wii's third parties, Ratcliffe boasted that his company was "confident about that platform right from the start" while "a number of [other] publishers were less so." In fact, he claimed that "Sega does incredibly well with a lot of its games on the Wii platform." Beyond that, he claimed that the company had taken the view that "the audience for the Wii fits firmly in the heartland of Sega's consumer base."
Ratcliffe also considered the company's plans for Nintendo's newly released DSi hardware and whether that would change their approach with DS games. "You probably have to believe that ultimately the DSi is going to be the platform that continues and the DS will probably die out," admitted Ratcliffe. Still, he didn't think it likely that Sega would need to change course drastically. "Nintendo platforms tend to have a long tail," he pointed out. "It took Game Boy years before it completely died out." Ratcliffe imagined that they'd work on "incorporating functionality for the DSi" for "key titles," but that Sega would cater to the previous DS and DS Lite audiences "for a long time."
Ratcliffe had more thoughts on the DSi and the future of the Mario & Sonic franchise, so be sure to read the full interview.
Cue the fans...
OH NOEZ THAT BULLSHET THE VGCHARTZ NUMBER MAKE MADWORLDS A FLOP PEOPLE ONLY BUY WII FIT ON WIIZ!
Cue the fans...
OH NOEZ THAT BULLSHET THE VGCHARTZ NUMBER MAKE MADWORLDS A FLOP PEOPLE ONLY BUY WII FIT ON WIIZ!
Not to knock on you, but when I read poasts by people who don't have a history of trolling go ahead and simulate trolling, it looks awkward GP. Usually, it looks overdone and diminishes the threat. When it can be taken seriously and people take offense to it (credible lol-worthy reactions) then the sarcasmo-trolling has done its job.
I guess there really is an art to it.
Although it should flop in Europe because of the crap they pulled there.
Although it should flop in Europe because of the crap they pulled there.
What did they do?
Oh, right, I was going to rent Tenchu to see if I could stomach its gameplay... Then again I have so damn many games to worry about that I really don't need to buy another one right now, especially not at 50€.
Madworld sequal or equally gory game IP for Wii plz thk u Platnium.
Madworld sequal or equally gory game IP for Wii plz thk u Platnium.
I'd prefer a game that can actually get released here.
Oh, right, I was going to rent Tenchu to see if I could stomach its gameplay... Then again I have so damn many games to worry about that I really don't need to buy another one right now, especially not at 50€.
Oh, right, I was going to rent Tenchu to see if I could stomach its gameplay... Then again I have so damn many games to worry about that I really don't need to buy another one right now, especially not at 50€.
Seriously? This from the man who hates stealth games with a burning fury?
