Topic: New North American (NPD) Sales Thread

[ruby_onix]

Here's some Japanese numbers for the PSP's launch week.

Quote
Dec 6 - Dec 12

Top Ten Games:
--------------
1 PS2 Dragon Quest VIII - 203,618
2 PS2 Daito Giken Koushiki Pachi-Slot Simulator Yoshimune - 188,927
3 PS2 Mobile Suit Gundam vs Z Gundam - 183,583
4 PSP Minna no GOLF Portable - 65,900
5 GBA RockMan EXE 5 Team of Blues - 64,860
6 PSP Ridge Racers - 60,624
7 DS Sawaru Made in Wario - 58,083
8 DS Super Mario 64 DS - 54,829
9 PS2 FIFA Total Football 2 - 53,617
10 GC Mario Party 6 - 39,231


Hardware: (this week - last week)
--------------
1 DS: 198,892 - 468,883
2 PSP: 160,019 - N/A
3 PS2: 98,323 - 93,829
4 GBASP: 48,912 - 27,313
5 GC: 25,359 - 5,465
6 GBA: 897 - 822
7 Xbox :385 - 621
8 SC: 44 - 44
9 PSone: 35 - 40

The Nintendo DS's week-2 beat the PlayStation Portable's week-1. But a PSP golf game and Ridge Racers both edged out the DS's Made in Wario and Mario 64-DS.

The GameCube saw a sharp jump, perhaps due to Mario Party 6.

Dragon Quest 8 rules. Here's hoping that Square can do a better job with the series in America than Enix has (I can't believe I just said that).

[Mario]

Excellent sales for DS, although both DS and PSP are pretty much selling out everywhere, we'll have a better picture of how the "handheld war" will shape up next year. I don't think GC sales jumped because of Mario Party 6, it came out weeks ago and nothing happened, it's either just because of the holiday season / this time of year (which would also explain GBA SP and PS2 sales going up) or new people are impressed with the Nintendo DS and they are finally realising how awesome Nintendo are and it's resulted in more people buying GC's.

Good to see Made in Wario starting to outsell Super Mario 64 DS, see Nintendo, people want original games!

[xts3]

Quote
Originally posted by: Chongman
poor namco...

really, they're probably ninty's biggest third party ally right now...this really blows. i wish this game would sell...it really is pretty good too.

What are you talking about?  Look at those soul calibur and Tales of symphonia sales, 250K units for an RPG has got to be pretty good and 700K units for Soul Calibur 2 says a lot as well.

[xts3]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
Pretty disappointing to see generic crap like NFS outselling MP2.  I'm quite disappointed in Metroid Prime 2 sales so far but I'm not really surprised either.  Was it a mistake to release it the same month as Halo 2?  I don't think so.  It's on a different system so it attracts a different audience.  I think the biggest mistake was a lack of hype.  Metroid Prime 2 didn't have the kind of advertising a game of that calibur should have.  Metroid Prime is one of the greatest games ever made and therefore its sequel should get a lot of promotion.  Just mentioning that the first game won several GOTY awards in an ad would have helped.

But a lot of the mistakes were made before MP2 was even started.  Low sales for Cube games are common because of very major mistakes made within the first year of the Cube's life.  The Cube has too low of a userbase and is almost completely ignored by the general public.  That's the overall problem and low MP2 sales are the result.

The biggest problem with Metroid prime 2 is that it copied the same game mechanics of the first game and repackaged it around similar graphics.  The thing was the original metroid primes success was based on it being new and fresh from it's recent transition to 3D it was new and interesting.  I think it reall wore off when people realized after playing it that the game mechanics just weren't that fun to begin with.  Metroid prime had some painfully boring gameplay if you really think about it.  It was one of those games you play once and then shelf unless you are hardcore.

The problem was when they made metroid prime a first person shooter they didn't bring over what makes first person perspective games good.  People might want to call metroid prime a FPA not an FPS but the thing is if you took away samus's gun and visor you'd be walking around a world just solving little puzzles and collecting items and that gets very boring.  The problem is Metroid prime needs more FPS design elements and better scheme to take off.  Halo and Halo 2 have this down from the PC gaming era but Metroid prime doesn't try to innovate or bring the GOOD things that make FPS fun and bring it into prime and put a unique prime spin on it.  Instead you have auto aim which makes for lack of challenging game and no real intense moments.  It just involves waiting out your opponents and hiding and ducking behind walls for cover because the AI is so stupid.

[xts3]

Quote
Originally posted by: Deguello
The thing to note about Handheld games is that they notoriously pull in low numbers.  Handheld tie-in ratios are more than significantly lower than Consoles.

I think thats in part to handheld games ridiculous prices for old 2D games that dont cost anywhere near millions of bucks to develop and they want $40-50 a game for OLD SNES games.  No thanks we already have a SNES and those old games and can pick them up on ebay for mega cheap.

Another enormous problem is the ease of which Handhelds are emulated on the PC.  Gameboy advance emulator was out the same year the GBA was.  Thats how easy it was to emulate after so many years of SNES emulators.
 

[Bartman3010]

What the hell are you going on about? Most of those GBA ports were at least $30 or below. Which is half of what they used to cost, and yes, it is ridiculous, but people still bought them. Nothing wrong with it at all.

[Mario]

Think of the kind of message it sends to Nintendo when the latest NES Classic sells 500,000 while Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat struggles to sell 5,000.

[Bartman3010]

Ah, I see.

[Deguello]

Quote
Originally posted by: xts3

Quote
Originally posted by: Deguello
The thing to note about Handheld games is that they notoriously pull in low numbers.  Handheld tie-in ratios are more than significantly lower than Consoles.

I think thats in part to handheld games ridiculous prices for old 2D games that dont cost anywhere near millions of bucks to develop and they want $40-50 a game for OLD SNES games.  No thanks we already have a SNES and those old games and can pick them up on ebay for mega cheap.

Another enormous problem is the ease of which Handhelds are emulated on the PC.  Gameboy advance emulator was out the same year the GBA was.  Thats how easy it was to emulate after so many years of SNES emulators.

Are you daft?  First of all, While the GBA has a little more than it's fair share of SNES (even NES) ports from various companies, most of the titles made for it are new.  Second, did you honestly EVER pay $50 for a GBA game?

The reason Handhelds have low tie-in ratios is because it is not uncommon for people to have a handheld and just one game for it.  Take me for example.  I have over 30 GBA titles that I purchased with my own money.  I have a lot of them.  I am at one end of the spectrum (there are people with more, I guarantee it.)  That mean to throw the average down to 4-5, there has to be a crapload of people with a GBA and just one or two games.

[xts3]

I'm talking Canadian prices... and Yes they are ridiculous when just released they want  $49.99 for Kingdom hearts, 49.99 for a gameboy game!  http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/class.asp?logon=&langid=EN&dept=15&catid=1998  

[xts3]

Does anyone have any overall numbers / installed base for every console?

[vudu]

I saw on another site that the makers of The Guy Game are being sued by a seventeen year old girl who appears topless in the game.  Does anyone have any sales figures for this game (for PS2 and Xbox)?  Better yet, I suppose rental figures would be much more telling as far as how many people actually played this poor excuse for a game.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Has anyone posted the video file rips from this "game" yet?

[mantidor]

Quote
Originally posted by: xts3

The biggest problem with Metroid prime 2 is that it copied the same game mechanics of the first game and repackaged it around similar graphics.  The thing was the original metroid primes success was based on it being new and fresh from it's recent transition to 3D it was new and interesting.  I think it reall wore off when people realized after playing it that the game mechanics just weren't that fun to begin with.  Metroid prime had some painfully boring gameplay if you really think about it.  It was one of those games you play once and then shelf unless you are hardcore.

The problem was when they made metroid prime a first person shooter they didn't bring over what makes first person perspective games good.  People might want to call metroid prime a FPA not an FPS but the thing is if you took away samus's gun and visor you'd be walking around a world just solving little puzzles and collecting items and that gets very boring.  The problem is Metroid prime needs more FPS design elements and better scheme to take off.  Halo and Halo 2 have this down from the PC gaming era but Metroid prime doesn't try to innovate or bring the GOOD things that make FPS fun and bring it into prime and put a unique prime spin on it.  Instead you have auto aim which makes for lack of challenging game and no real intense moments.  It just involves waiting out your opponents and hiding and ducking behind walls for cover because the AI is so stupid.

I totally disagree, making a game first person doesnt mean the developer has to implement every aspect of the usual fps. I great example is Thief, which is an awesome game.

And this is why the whole FPA vs FPS issue is important.  Saying that Metroid Prime games are First Person Shooters is semantically (is that a word?) accurate, but its misleading since people might expect mindless shooting, which I admit is very fun, I love games like Doom, Quake or Halflife. Of course if you expect a game like that you'll be dissapointed with Prime, but these are Metroid games, and they implement quite well the classic Metroid Gameplay, which is more about exploration than shooting. If someone liked Super Metroid I would find very odd if this someone doesnt like MP or MP2, unless this person hates any kind of first person perspective.

And anyway I dont see how this affected MP2 sales, I think that the main reason they werent great last month was lack of hype.

[Ian Sane]

"People might want to call metroid prime a FPA not an FPS but the thing is if you took away samus's gun and visor you'd be walking around a world just solving little puzzles and collecting items and that gets very boring."

Personally I think that a game that plays like Metroid Prime but has none of the shooting or combat would still be really amazing.  It be kind of a quiet Myst-like game but with more interaction.  I'm thinking of an archaelogist game.  Like all Metroid games the appeal is in exploring the world.  The shooting and action is secondary.

Like mantidor said the Metroid Prime games are not designed to be Doom related first person shooters.  And they shouldn't be.  If you just looked at a screenshot of it you could assume that Super Metroid was a run of the mill action game like the Castlevania games of the time or Mega Man.  Or due to the space theme you might think it would be like Contra.  Side scrolling action titles were everywhere during that time.  Yet no one complains that Super Metroid doesn't play like a mindless action game.  When Super Metroid was released I had no idea what it played like and when I first played it in a store demo I could not adapt to it because I assumed it be a generic side scroller.  I have since come to love that game because now I understand it.  Metroid Prime is the same way.

Metroid should NOT be a generic FPS.  That's what I hate about Metroid Prime Hunters.  It's the Metroid Prime game for the ignorant dolts who didn't get Metroid Prime.  I don't care how well something sells a franchise with a strong fanbase should never be significantly altered to appeal to non-fans.  If you don't get Metroid tough sh!t.

What Nintendo should do is release a totally unrelated traditional FPS to please those that want it.  Why ruin a game design that fans like when making a brand new game will bring the same result?  It's not like Nintendo has successfully made "Metroid" a huge name with casual gamers so there's no advantage to using the franchise name over something new.

[Deguello]

It is just a demo Ian, heh.  To note, the demos for Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2 were also quite linear and straightforward.

[nitsu niflheim]

Suppose to be from Media Crate December 13 - December 19 got from gamecubeheaven

1) Nintendo DS - 221,625 (Total: 889,400)
2) Sony PlayStation 2 - 112,970 (Total: 2,610,875)
3) Sony PlayStation Portable [PSP] - 85,059 (Total: 245,078)
4) Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP - 80,271 (Total: 2,341,839)
5) Nintendo GameCube - 29,991 (Total: 588,525)
6) Nintendo Game Boy Advance - 1,270 (Total: 189,092)
7) Microsoft Xbox - 499 (Total: 36,812)

[MaleficentOgre]

good to see that an old outdated handheld is selling better than microsoft's bohemeth.

[Mario]

Daily Sales in Japan for Christmas Day / 25th Dec

1 Super Mario 64 DS
2 Sawaru Made In Wario DS
3 Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Idataki Street Special PS2
4 Dragon Quest VIII PS2
5 Metal Gear Solid 3 PS2
6 Mario Party 6 GC
7 Rockman EXE 5 GBA
8 Pokemon Dash DS
9 Yoshi: Universal Gravitation GBA
10 Dynasty Warriors PSP

...and the 26th

1 Super Mario 64 DS
2 Dragon Quest VIII PS2
3 Sawaru Made In Wario DS
4 Metal Gear Solid 3 PS2
5 Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Idataki Street Special PS2
6 Mario Party 6 GC
7 Rockman EXE 5 GBA
8 Kessen III PS2
9 Tales Of Rebirth PS2
10 Yoshi: Universal Gravitation GBA

A very Nintendo christmas

[pkp]

I'm curious. Where exactly do you guys get all this data? I'd love to be able to check up on numbers on how my favorite games are doing here and abroad.

[nitsu niflheim]

Hardware sales in Japan for December 20 - 26, (From Magic-Box, other than that I don't know the source for the actual numbers)

  1. Nintendo DS - 252,000 units
  2. PlayStation 2 - 145,000 units
  3. GameBoy Advance SP - 111,000 units
  4. PlayStation Portable - 92,000 units
  5. GameCube - 54,000 units
 

[D-Mac Double]

Here's some more complete numbers from Cubed3.com:
(Hooray for proof of DS topping 1 million. )

Software - This Week | Total Sales

1.) Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special (PS2, Square Enix) - 185,000 | NEW
2.) Super Mario 64 DS (NDS, Nintendo) - 125,000 | 366,000
3.) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2, Konami) - 122,000 | 610,000
4.) Dragon Quest VIII: Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi (PS2, Square Enix) - 118,000 | 3,281,000
5.) Mario Party 6 (GC, Nintendo) - 104,000 | 373,000
6.) Sawaru Made in Wario (NDS, Nintendo) - 100,000 | 350,000
7.) Pokémon Emerald (GBA, The Pokémon Company) - 84,000 | 1,335,000
8.) Rockman EXE 5 Team of Blues (GBA, Capcom) - 83,000 | 204,000
9.) Kessen III (PS2, Koei) - 78,000 | NEW
10.) Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GC, Nintendo) - 74,000 | 121,000


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hardware - This Week | December Total

1.) Nintendo DS - 252,000 | 1,095,000
2.) PlayStation 2 - 145,000 | 466,000
3.) Game Boy Advance SP - 111,000 | 286,000
4.) PSP - 92,000 | 339,000
5.) GameCube - 54,000 | 129,000  

[Darc Requiem]

The PSP is getting crushed and frankly I'm loving it. By the time the PSP hits hour shores the DS should have an advantage of over 3 million or so. I love seeing Sony fail.

[CHEN]

Or it could be Sony's scheme all along, with that supposed shortage and all. I don't think it'll work this time though. But yeah, the DS's future is looking a lot brighter. Hurray for innovation.

[nitsu niflheim]

well no I don't think it will work this time either (at least we can always hope it won't ), and I don't think the bad press the PSP is getting from the defects aren't helping matters much.