Topic: Official Sales Thread

[Luigi Dude]

Wow 360 beat Wii? Time to go home.

Supposedly Wii and PS3 were supply constrained all last month, with the Wii having been that way ever since the year started.

Well considering the Wii sold around 5 million units in North America during November and December last year, it's no surprise that they're low on system here now.  Everyone has to remember that for most of 2009, Wii sales were down from 2008 by a good amount and so it's no surprise that Nintendo probably slowed down their shipments.  I'd imagine even Nintendo themselves probably didn't expect the system to do as well as it did during the holiday season and so now they're having a hard time getting enough system out to stores again.

[SalesBot]

[Chozo Ghost]

Wow 360 beat Wii? Time to go home.

Supposedly Wii and PS3 were supply constrained all last month, with the Wii having been that way ever since the year started.

Well considering the Wii sold around 5 million units in North America during November and December last year, it's no surprise that they're low on system here now.  Everyone has to remember that for most of 2009, Wii sales were down from 2008 by a good amount and so it's no surprise that Nintendo probably slowed down their shipments.  I'd imagine even Nintendo themselves probably didn't expect the system to do as well as it did during the holiday season and so now they're having a hard time getting enough system out to stores again.

Yeah, I think I recall news articles from around that time where Nintendo said they were shutting down plants and laying people off or something like that, because of the reduced demand for the Wii. But thanks to the price drop and NSMB (and whatever other reasons) the Wii is back in demand just as much if not more than ever. The sad thing is though, shutting a plant down or opening one up isn't something that can be done at the drop of a hat, so the Wii might be plagued with shortages again for awhile.

Being in charge of production at Nintendo isn't an enviable position, because its very hard to tell how the demand for the Wii is going to be in a few months. It could be as high as it is now, or it could slack off by a huge amount. Who knows? So deciding whether or not its worth it to reactivate a manufacturing plant is a really tough call.

[Stratos]

NSMB DS + Wii and MK DS + Wii are insane.

I'm still shocked at how those older DS titles still sell like crazy.

[broodwars]

Nice to see Bioshock 2 and Heavy Rain doing well.  Heavy Rain in particular is doing better than I expected.  I'm surprised to see Dante's Inferno doing so well, especially on PS3 with God of War 3 only releasing a year later.  Fine game, though.

[Peachylala]

I'm surprised to see Dante's Inferno doing so well

This makes a part of me die inside.

NSMB DS + Wii and MK DS + Wii are insane.

Everyone is a whore to those games. Everyone.

[broodwars]

I'm surprised to see Dante's Inferno doing so well

This makes a part of me die inside.

What, that I'm surprised it's doing so well, or that it's doing so well?  It's not a bad game, and is quite interesting from an art design standpoint.

[BlackNMild2k1]

EA did spend 2+million on a Superbowl ad for it.

[Urkel]

How much did EA spend on advertising Dead Space: Extraction?

[ShyGuy]

Dante's Inferno tips over into the realm of tasteless. The gameplay isn't bad but derivative.

I'm looking forward to Visceral's upcoming "Auschwitz Family Party" for the Wii.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Advertising!!? EA didn't even spend 2 million* on making DS: Extraction.




*I don't know how much was actually spent on DSE development.

[Urkel]

Dante's Inferno is yet another example of a game going to PS3 and 360 but NOT Wii because the hardware difference is too great. It would be - literally - IMPOSSIBLE to port this game to the Wii. I, for one, respect the fact that EA refused to compromise their artistic vision with a watered down port.

[NWR_insanolord]

Isn't Dante's Inferno a fairly blatant God of War ripoff? The same God of War that was a PS2 game? The same PS2 that is quite a bit less powerful than the GameCube, let alone the Wii?

[Urkel]

There was a link in my last post.
 
I guess I'm not very good at sarcasm.

[broodwars]

Isn't Dante's Inferno a fairly blatant God of War ripoff? The same God of War that was a PS2 game? The same PS2 that is quite a bit less powerful than the GameCube, let alone the Wii?

Yes, the game wears its God of War inspiration on its sleeve, though I'd say the sheer scale of some of the environments and enemies would make it difficult to duplicate on the Wii with an equivalent level of detail.  EA could have done a low-resolution version of the game if they wanted to, though.  The controls are pretty simple.  More of a pressing issue is that I just don't think the game would find an audience on Wii.  It's very graphic, dark, and explicit.

[Peachylala]

Dante's Inferno tips over into the realm of tasteless. The gameplay isn't bad but derivative.

I looking forward to Visceral's upcoming "Auschwitz Family Party" for the Wii.

You will be one of the ten people who bought it.

Advertising!!? EA didn't even spend 2 million* on making DS: Extraction.




*I don't know how much was actually spent on DSE development.

On-Rails Money Waster.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Dante's Inferno is yet another example of a game going to PS3 and 360 but NOT Wii because the hardware difference is too great. It would be - literally - IMPOSSIBLE to port this game to the Wii. I, for one, respect the fact that EA refused to compromise their artistic vision with a watered down port.

Teabagged Once Again?

[Peachylala]

If it can't outsell Twilight Sellout, then no, we shouldn't consider it teabagging.

We should wait for Karma to take it's course, like it did with Infinity Ward.

[BlackNMild2k1]

If it's impossible to bring the game to Wii due to technological reasons, but then it shows up as the same game on the PSP(which is technologically inferior to the Wii), then I think it is teabagging. Doesn't matter how it sells.

[Urkel]

To be fair, I don't think EA ever actually claimed God of Dante's Inferno couldn't be done on Wii. But Ian keeps going on about that being the reason Wii misses out on these games, when there are sooo many examples of 3rd parties porting their "epic" HD blockbusters to even less powerful platforms. Like Cassassamasina's Creed going to PSP (which Ubi DID say was "impossible" on Wii.)

[BlackNMild2k1]

That's why I put a "?" on the end of my original statement since I didn't know if it was an actual quote or not.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

3rd Parties are horseshit.

[broodwars]

To be fair, I don't think EA ever actually claimed God of Dante's Inferno couldn't be done on Wii. But Ian keeps going on about that being the reason Wii misses out on these games, when there are sooo many examples of 3rd parties porting their "epic" HD blockbusters to even less powerful platforms. Like Cassassamasina's Creed going to PSP (which Ubi DID say was "impossible" on Wii.)

Like I said, I think the big reason that kept Dante off the Wii is the dark, graphic/explicit content of the game and fears that it wouldn't find an audience on the platform (notice how few M-rated games do well on Nintendo platforms.  Madworld's poor sales in particular probably had a large role in this.).  I don't believe there was a DS version, either, which seems to lend credence to that theory.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I seriously doubt it was Madworlds M rating that largely contributed to it's low sales, but I understand the point you're trying to make.

[Urkel]

The thing is, even if you think a Wii version wouldn't sell, making a PSP version makes even less sense.
 
Outside of Japan, the PSP is DEAD. Regginated.
 
Software sales are abysmal, and hardware sales aren't too hot either.
 
The point I'm trying to make is that 3rd parties frequently act like porting a game to Wii is either "impossible" and/or it wouldn't sell, yet they release many of these games for the PSP (Tekken 6 got a PSP port BTW, not that I'm asking for it) and the PSP sells jack in the west. And don't forget iPhone ports. Yeah, gamers love playing fighting games without buttons or a D-pad.