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[Freezie KO]

I like how people bring up Nintendo's first party games, as if Nintendo has ever cared about third party support in the past decade.

Like they didn't actively pursue GTA for DS, Rockstar support for Wii (which came in the form of Manhunt), Monster Hunter Tri for Wii, Goldeneye remake for Wii, etc. They also teamed up to make games like S&P2 (w/ Treasure), Metroid Other M (w/ Team Ninja), Xenoblade (by buying Monolith), and Regeinleiv (w/ Sandlot).

They may not incentivize enough, which is a fair argument. But they do care to some degree. It's not all or nothing.

 

[Parallax]

I would care about what bamco thought if they would bring a ds tales game to the west

 

[AceBandage]

Here's what I've never understood about some of the shovelware you'll see on these systems.


I cannot imagine it costing any more to produce a good XBLA or PSN game than it would cost to make Petz: Dog Crap, so why not make a simple shooter or action game based on tried and true gameplay? Sell it for whatever you want.

If publishers were smart, they wouldn't be losing millions each year...

 

[Slavik81]

I wish Namco would shut up and make a decent Fullmetal Alchemist game. That would do gangbusters on the Wii.

Then again, it's Namco. That's probably way too much to ask for.

 

[InfiniteNine]

I wish Namco would shut up and make a decent Fullmetal Alchemist game. That would do gangbusters on the Wii.

Then again, it's Namco. That's probably way too much to ask for.

I thought Square Enix had the license for FMA games?

 

[nincompoop]

Didn't the half-assed Symphonia sequel that was developed by Namco's janitors on their lunch breaks end up outselling Vesperia in the US?

 

[WillyFive]

What worries me is that they actually think it has collapsed, and that they aren't part of the problem they themselves brought up.

If it collapsed, shouldn't Wii and DS sales be terrible, both hardware and software, and not take up half of the NPD Top 10?

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Simple answer from a simple mindset.

Boo, I want Graces!

Aye.

 

[jrricky]

Next time, don't make games like Soulcalibur Legends 'kay?

:lol I forgot this gem. Man, sometimes I wish I was a journalist, I would get an interview with this guy and ask him exactly about something like this...

 

[Freezie KO]

What worries me is that they actually think it has collapsed, and that they aren't part of the problem they themselves brought up.

In fairness, if they did realize they were part of the problem, they certainly wouldn't tell us. So there's still a chance...

 

[Fularu]

I'm really confused... First set of numbers is at the third quarter of the 2010 fiscal year, second set is projections for the third quarter of the 2011 fiscal year.

System Nb titles Unit sales
PSP 22 5,483 25 4,500
Wii 12 5,211 10 5,200
NDS 35 4,218 34 5,300
PS3 7 3,230 13 6,200
PS2 5 2,363 0 1,100
XB360 4 2,182 8 4,200
Others 1 50 0 0
Total 86 22,737 90 26,500

 

[jrricky]

Namco Musium Remix was probably their only good Wii game!

Was this sarcasm?

Metacritic

 

[Lijik]

Namco Musium Remix was probably their only good Wii game!

Butbutbut The Munchables and Klonoa

EDIT- oh wait broken sarcasm meter. nevermind

 

[outsida]

Somewhere in a castle made of diamonds Reggie reads this... Shrugs and then swan dives into a pile of money.

 

[Tiktaalik]

Off the top of my head I can't think of a single Wii or DS Namco game that is notable enough to come up on my radar. I'm a huge DS fan too and I buy a ton of games for that system.

What have they done recently?

Dragon Ball Z Origins
Digimon World Championship
Digimon World Dawn Dusk
National Geographic Panda

Clearly a lot of stuff isn't geared toward me so it's hard for me to criticize. I can't speak for why 12 year olds aren't buying the latest Digimon games. I'm guessing they pale in comparison to their competition, which would be Pokemon.

 

[speedpop]

Namco have, and always will be, one of the lesser tiers in Japanese development.

 

[MidnightScott]

What games have they made on Wii/DS that are worth playing (besides Fragile, which they didn't even bring over, XSEED did)

Sorry, maybe Bamco should learn how to make good games instead of blaming the Wii/DS for their issues. People aren't going to buy games that were just slapped together in a few months.

Yall who wants Tales of Graces, go ask XSEED to bring it over. They have published several of Namco's games in the US.

 

[AniHawk]

Didn't the half-assed Symphonia sequel that was developed by Namco's janitors on their lunch breaks end up outselling Vesperia in the US?

that was in the virtual reality world. you can tell because when it happened, everything looked like it was in black and white.

 

[J-Rock]

List of Wii Namco games

Active Life: Athletic World
Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
Klonoa: Door To Phantomile
Namco Museum Remix
The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces
Soulcalibur Legends
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Do Don to 2 Daime
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Um...well...yeah.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I always imagined Nintendo's third-party strategy as organizing a fun-run for everyone in town, then starting off an hour before everyone else and not telling anyone what the route is. Oh, and there's no water stations or tents.

*capcom and sega and activision huff and puff hundreds of yards behind while others are dying of heat stroke and dehydration*

"Hey! H-hey! Nintendo! Wh-where are... where should we go? Oh Jesus, I think my legs are failing!"

Nintendo: "Ha ha! I dunno! Come on guys, keep up!"

 

[sonikokaruto]

Boo, I want Graces!

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I mean

I don't necessarily disagree, Namco.

But many of those bad games are yours.

You went on record to say that the DS market is terrible in 2005 because Pac Pix and Mr. Driller (of which you only shipped 11,000 copies nationwide), your only DS releases at that point, did not sell well.

And instead of releasing good games, you released things like Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, Soul Calibur Legends, Curious George, bad versions of Xenosaga, etc.

This is not about making a bed and refusing to sleep in it. This is about making a bed and then refusing to sleep in it and then complaining about the shitty work "someone" did on the bed.

 

[MattyGrovesOrMe]

Namco had some very successful 2008 releases on Wii:
- Taiko no Tatsujin (second best selling 3rd party game in Japan, behind MHtri)
- We Ski
- Active Life: Outdoor Challenge

Active Life and We Ski sold a million copies worldwide each (when you include Japan sales for We Ski, which aren't in the chart):
http://www.bandainamco.co.jp/en/ir/financial/pdf_bnh/en_20090520_1.pdf (PDF Link for FY earnings ending March 2009)

Namco released iterative sequels to each of these games in 2009, and each seems to have sold far less than their precursors (FY earnings for year ending March 2010 has Active Life: Extreme Challenge at 600,000 worldwide - it is the only sequel to the previous hits in the top ten listed games). If they are interpreting this as the "market collapsing" rather than their failed attempt to annualize successful franchises by offering only minute differences, they're hopped up on goofballs.

Just Dance, EA Sports Active, The Biggest Loser, MHtri, the Lego titles and Namco's own Ben 10 games (which they can claim as their own after their D3 takeover) indicate that there's lots of opportunity for third parties to sell a lot of games on the Wii, even if those games don't always conform to what some GAFers want.

Hmm, the recent Ben 10 WiiWare and XBLA download was published by Konami, so they may have blown that license... Perhaps they'll blame piracy.

 

[The Faceless Master]

I think this feeds into it where consumers only trust Nintendo games and assume anything not made them is going to be crap.

yeah, unless the 3rd party game has strong word of mouth recommendations from other people with a Wii, like Just Dance, you can just stick a fork in it.

 

[Kandinsky]

Yeah, but Nintendo makes high quality software, which is totally unfair to third parties and stuff.

Wtf:lol

 

[MidnightScott]

Give me the Taiko DS & Wii games in the US (and leave them with the Japanese music) Never gonna happen, and also Klonoa is good but apparently didn't do well so we won't be getting a Klonoa 2 Wiimake

 

[Lotan]

Collapsed is a pretty strong word. Waning maybe, but collapsed, no.

 

[Kintaro]

Scamco continues its descent into obscurity. News at 11. If Namco can't rise above the dreck that has shown up on every Nintendo system from the beginning of time, it's their own damned fault.

Of course, no one cares about them on the HD consoles either.

 

[Speevy]

List of Wii Namco games

Active Life: Athletic World
Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
Klonoa: Door To Phantomile
Namco Museum Remix
The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces
Soulcalibur Legends
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii
Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Do Don to 2 Daime
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Um...well...yeah.

That's better than most of Ubisoft's Wii catalog.

 

[Chairman Yang]

The video game industry (particularly on the PC, Wii, and DS) definitely suffers from the Market for Lemons problem. There's too much quality uncertainty.

That's why smart companies build up strong brands. Release a high percentage of great (or at least polished games) under a label, and people will start trusting that label. The quality uncertainty won't be there. A company who keeps this up will reach the levels of Valve, Blizzard, or Nintendo.

Too bad Namco Bandai's not a smart company.

 

[ajim]

I don't see what's wrong with having an R4, there's no reason at all to assume it's related to piracy. Publishers looking for excuses as usual.

Its not that its 'wrong' to have one, its just that 90% of the people that do have one use it for one thing -- pirating games. I'm the only one out of my gamer mates that pays for all my game purchases, whilst they have over 100+ pirated games at any one time. And I'm sure I'm not the only one with mates like this.

If people want to pirate, they'll pirate. Not a lot you can do.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Give me the Taiko DS & Wii games in the US (and leave them with the Japanese music) Never gonna happen, and also Klonoa is good but apparently didn't do well so we won't be getting a Klonoa 2 Wiimake

:'(

 

[TheGreatDave]

Its not that its 'wrong' to have one, its just that 90% of the people that do have one use it for one thing -- pirating games. I'm the only one out of my gamer mates that pays for all my game purchases, whilst they have over 100+ pirated games at any one time. And I'm sure I'm not the only one with mates like this.

If people want to pirate, they'll pirate. Not a lot you can do.

There's lots of incredible software for the R4 that young children would much rather be using than just running ROMs on the thing. It's downright idiotic for some chump from Scamco to imply these children are pirates when they just want to unlock the full potential of their devices.

 

[MikeE21286]

So piracy has now claimed the

PC
PSP
DS
And Wii

?

 

[DaBargainHunta]

Lazy shovelware-producing dev (with a few exceptions) doesn't sell decent numbers. Nothing to see here. Move along now.

 

[selig]

Yeah, but Nintendo makes high quality software, which is totally unfair to third parties and stuff.

.[/thread]

 

[The Shadow]

I like how people bring up Nintendo's first party games, as if Nintendo has ever cared about third party support in the past decade.

To be fair, I don't think the 3rd party support for a Nintendo console as been this abysmal. They've always had a serious lack of it on the N64 and Gamecube but with the Wii, it's abundant shovelware. The only decent games on Wii, like previous Nintendo consoles, is 1st party titles. There's got to be a happy medium somewhere.

 

[The Shadow]

So piracy has now claimed the

PC
PSP
DS
And Wii

?

Arguably the Xbox 360 although Microsoft seems to be fighting it pretty aggressively this time around. I'm genuinely surprised the PS3 hasn't been fully hacked yet.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

The video game industry (particularly on the PC, Wii, and DS) definitely suffers from the Market for Lemons problem. There's too much quality uncertainty.

That's why smart companies build up strong brands. Release a high percentage of great (or at least polished games) under a label, and people will start trusting that label. The quality uncertainty won't be there. A company who keeps this up will reach the levels of Valve, Blizzard, or Nintendo.

Too bad Namco Bandai's not a smart company.

You bring up a very apt point here. Were I a medium sized publisher like Bandai Namco, I'd probably try to publish games under two or more brand names, reserving the parent company brand name for stuff that is internally deemed as high quality. Cheap cash-ins and quirky experiments, on the other hand, I'd relegate to a secondary brand. That way, my company could afford to still publish games that were low-budget failures or higher budget white elephants.

If something low-budget turned out good, it'd get bumped up to parent company status and, if appropriate, get an IP re-skin (a la Dinosaur Planet or Doki Doki Panic). If something high budget turned out horribly wrong, it'd get bumped down to the secondary brand and have an IP re-skin to dissociate it with my quality brands.

That way, the premium brand would continue to get more valuable and bad games would be less likely to tarnish it.

Mind you, this'd mean keeping all projects heavily under wraps until you could get a good handle on what sort of quality the final product would have.

 

[J-Rock]

This is the first gen, that I know of, where the #1 selling home console gets TONS of shovelware crap and the bigger 3rd party games go to the runners up. One for the history books.

 

[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

I want Tales of Graces but if they don't bring it, oh well.

I still have Arc Rise Fanstasia, Xenoblade, Last Story, and Dragon Quest X to look forward to.

 

[grumble]

I don't see what's wrong with having an R4, there's no reason at all to assume it's related to piracy. Publishers looking for excuses as usual.

Yeah, no one gets R4s for piracy reasons. It's just honest gamers looking for a convenient way to load their legally purchased games onto their DS without having to carry around lots of discs.


Oh wait, that's obviously not true. Probably 99% of R4s are used for piracy. There's no question that they're really popular.

 

[Danthrax]

To be fair, I don't think the 3rd party support for a Nintendo console as been this abysmal. They've always had a serious lack of it on the N64 and Gamecube but with the Wii, it's abundant shovelware. The only decent games on Wii, like previous Nintendo consoles, is 1st party titles. There's got to be a happy medium somewhere.

this is not fucking true bloody fucking hell grraaah

 

[Jeels]

Putting in a post for Tales of Vesperia PS3 Localization or I don't care how many excuses you make for your poor sales results for your cheaply made products.

Seriously, I think Namco Bandai are the last company that needs to speak in such absolutes about the industry.

 

[The Technomancer]

Yeah, no one gets R4s for piracy reasons. It's just honest gamers looking for a convenient way to load their legally purchased games onto their DS without having to carry around lots of discs.

Well, I do that. Then again, I believe in actually supporting developers, and I know I'll probably get more playtime out of five games I've bought then fifteen I've pirated.

Yeah, a lot of people use them for piracy though. Its just so easy, find a ROM and drag it on.

Also, the Wii has plenty of third-party support. It just came too late, after the audience had sailed because the only games worth owning if you weren't a "casual" for the longest time were like, Twilight Princess and Resi 4.

(Shameless promotion: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=396775 )

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

my DS and Wii game purchasing rate has slowed to a tar-like crawl over the last year, but not because i see all of those games as crap, but because of the majority of the games i tried from each i didn't like enough to actually buy. i don't have some mentality of the platforms themselves being incapable of offering quality, but i do see how a lot of people could be afraid to even try something (remember no demos on wii/ds) if they are uninformed and unable to successfully separate the shovelware from the gems. (ie: the biggest slice of the pie- casuals)

as long as there are people that blindly buy the crap there will always be crap.

and as long as people beg for dark cloud 3 at the top of their innernet lungs there will never be one.

 

[ronito]

omg the collapse is so bad that collapse itself lost an L!

 

[seady]

So the new trend is to diss Nintendo and make yourself sound like a 'proud' hardcore game publisher? Great timing with their promotion on their so called 'important IP' on HD system.

 

[upandaway]

So the new trend is to diss Nintendo and make yourself sound like a 'proud' hardcore game publisher? Great timing with their promotion on their so called 'important IP' on HD system

New?

This is embarrassing. We are talking here about huge, long history companies in such insane denial that they blame the rest of the industry for their own misfortune in the market. Continuously for 5 years now.

 

[SapientWolf]

Well, what are they supposed to tell investors? The truth?

"Our mediocre products just aren't selling. Wii and DS owners just aren't as gullible as they used to be."

"Seriously, get out while you can. I've been shopping my resume to Capcom."