Topic: NPD Data - Top 10 Best-Selling Games of 2004

[NWR_Lindy]

Here's the top 10 for last year:

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)
2. Halo 2 (Xbox)
3. Madden NFL 2005(PS2)
4. ESPN NFL 2K5 (PS2)
5. Need For Speed: Underground 2 (PS2)
6. Pokemon Fire Red (GBA)
7. NBA Live 2005 (PS2)
8. Spider-Man 2 (PS2)
9. Halo (Xbox)
10. ESPN NFL 2K5 (Xbox)

My thoughts:

- I can't believe the first Halo is still a top-10-selling game.  That's ridiculous.
- It's really too bad to see ESPN NFL2K5 go.  Now we're only left to wonder what could have been...
- It would have been nice to see maybe ONE GameCube title in there.  Zelda even?  Did Nintendo even have a million-seller this year on GCN?
- Pokemon has saved Nintendo's arses in so many ways.
- Football games are so huge!  EA is going to make a killing over the next several years.  They're guaranteed to have one of the top 3 best-selling games every year.
- I wonder where Resident Evil 4 (GCN) will place next year?
- PS2 owns the charts, dang.

silks

[Ian Sane]

When Pokemon is the only thing on a Nintendo system that cracks the top ten you figure Nintendo would put more effort in their Cube Pokemon games.  I'm happy to see that Colloseum didn't crack the top ten.  Maybe this will give Nintendo the message that they should make GOOD console Pokemon games for a change.

What I find the most interesting here is that it shows that Sega Sports really WAS a threat to EA.  It just makes me hate EA more for their recent actions.  Sega's price cut in theory was going to force EA to improve Madden but ironically it's going to cause them to put even less effort into each game.

And I'm not liking this trend of American games dominating the chart.  That's my anti-American game bias acting up but it's not like these are really awesome American games dominating  the chart.  EA and Activision don't make their living by putting out amazing groundbreaking games.  This top 10 is entirely corporate cookie cutter games.

[Hostile Creation]

That's quite possibly the ugliest list ever composed by man.

[Mario]

Um yeah, this kinda belongs in the NPD thread, but whatever.

Quote
- It would have been nice to see maybe ONE GameCube title in there. Zelda even? Did Nintendo even have a million-seller this year on GCN?
- Pokemon has saved Nintendo's arses in so many ways.

Pokemon Colloseum was the highest selling GC game this year with 738,117 sold. Super Smash Bros Melee was second, followed by Paper Mario 2.

[Bloodworth]

I know that they're separate SKU's, but I still think it's silly to see the same game take multiple spots on the chart just because it's on two different consoles.

[NWR_Lindy]

All of the titles on this list are pretty much what you'd expect.  This list also tells a lot about the respective game consoles and their place in the market.

GameCube - invisible, not even part of the console mainstream
GBA - Pokemon, for the kids
PS2 - Rules the market, big for sports games and mature titles
XBox - Big for first-person shooters, but also some sports games

silks

[Infernal Monkey]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
When Pokemon is the only thing on a Nintendo system that cracks the top ten you figure Nintendo would put more effort in their Cube Pokemon games.  I'm happy to see that Colloseum didn't crack the top ten.  Maybe this will give Nintendo the message that they should make GOOD console Pokemon games for a change.

Pokemon Channel was a heap of relaxing fun times. Seriously. Yeah, this is why I'm not excited about any of the next gen consoles. This generation has proven that no developer has to put any effort into anything to sell. Madden is the same game with a new blade of grass each year. If you put effort into a game and make it fun and original, it'll bomb. Developers won't even bother anymore.

PS3 launch = Ratshit and Clank 700, Tomb Raider: Under the Knife, Madden ESPN Online-only Football, The Getaway 14: Never Going Away

Xbox 2/Xbox Next/Xena Warrior Princess launch = NBA Live Again, Halo 2.789064324678, Project Batman Racing 57, Blinx 3: We hope this one sells, Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Sunburn

Revolution launch = Luigi's Tool Shed, Pokemon Still Image Collection BATTLE, Power Rangers Turbo Adventure Silicon Chip Kid Dinosaur Space Attack, Mario Party 14 (with a bonus cable that links up to Virtual Boy to unlock access to the title screen)

I'm excited.