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[Oblivion]

I wonder if Nintendo Japan will ever jump on the "best hits" bandwagon. Seems unlikely. Gamecube Smash Bros. is still selling at full retail price.

Holy shit, what? Are you serious? It's been 6 years after release..

I mean, granted it's still $30 new over here in the U.S., bust still..

 

[donny2112]

cvx said in the first post the MC update will 'probably' be today...does anyone know if it is indeed likely to appear today or not yet?

I had thought that Gpara updated for the first week and not the second, but maybe it was the other way around?

 

[SuperBanjo]

Hey Vinnk (or anyone else in Japan), can you tell if there is any hype for the new Smash Bros. in Japan among gamers? Have any retailers put up any displays and advertisements and whatnot like they did for Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit? It releases in just two weeks, after all.

 

[apujanata]

I wonder if Nintendo Japan will ever jump on the "best hits" bandwagon. Seems unlikely. Gamecube Smash Bros. is still selling at full retail price.

IIRC, in one of Iwata interview (or is it GDC speeh ??), he believe that doing "best hits" is not a good practice. It provide "wait a few month, and we can get this game for much cheaper, so let's wait and not buy it at launch" mentality for the gamer. Iwata believe that every game need to be withstand the test of time, and released at the proper price at launch, and don't rely on "best hit" version to boost the sales.

It is one of the reason Iwata decided to release Brain Trainining at the lower price, and nucleus of the WiiWare product lines (cheap development, cheap MSRP price). Of course, Iwata can be just giving rationalization of "XBLA inspired" Wii Ware.

I am one of those gamer that "If I know for sure that this game will have best version in the next 6-12 months, I will buy the Best version". I have so many unfinished game / backlog, that not playing the game instantly is not a problem for me.

Of course, Zelda and Fire Emblem are exempt from that general rule. I got to have them first day/week/month.

 

[Minsc]

Hey Vinnk (or anyone else in Japan), can you tell if there is any hype for the new Smash Bros. in Japan among gamers? Have any retailers put up any displays and advertisements and whatnot like they did for Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit? It releases in just two weeks, after all.

I'm curious about it's media presence too.

I hope we'll end up hearing the retail launch shipment # for this one as well. Galaxy was something like 700,000 (maybe less) iirc, I'm not really sure if it makes sense for the initial order for Brawl to be higher.

Anihawk's preorder #s from the US are pretty damned high if that's any measure, but I'm not yet convinced it's going to be one of the biggest titles to launch on the Wii to date. If anything, that title should potentially go to Monster Hunter 3.

 

[HK-47]

I wonder if Nintendo Japan will ever jump on the "best hits" bandwagon. Seems unlikely. Gamecube Smash Bros. is still selling at full retail price.

They made a statement saying that they werent going to do a greatest hits lineup anywhere

 

[Vinnk]

Hey Vinnk (or anyone else in Japan), can you tell if there is any hype for the new Smash Bros. in Japan among gamers? Have any retailers put up any displays and advertisements and whatnot like they did for Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit? It releases in just two weeks, after all.

The TV ads are running. But I have been too busy to watch much TV. None of the stores in my town have Kiosks up for the game yet but those usually go up right before the launch. I have to say there is not much advertising in my town yet.

The hype among the Otaku gamers however is pretty high. Since it's gots elements from so many different games (Nintendo, Panzer Dragoon, Metal Gear, Sonic, etc.) the fanboys and fangirls are frothing at the mouth. The more mainstream gamers on the other hand are just starting to learn about the game.

I'll ask around about it this week. To tell the truth it kind of caught even me off guard that it is coming out so quick.

 

[Golden Darkness]

I have read (and seen) that you can't order Super Smash Bros. Brawl from the Amazon.jp. Whatever number of copies they were allocated, its gone now.

Sure Amazon isn't indicative of retail trends, but it has to mean something. Will Brawl have a bigger launch than Wii Fit and Galaxy?

 

[Vinnk]

Anihawk's preorder #s from the US are pretty damned high if that's any measure, but I'm not yet convinced it's going to be one of the biggest titles to launch on the Wii to date. If anything, that title should potentially go to Monster Hunter 3.

Really? Smash Bros. was the biggest hit fof GC in Japan and the only title to sell over a million. The more popular Wii should be able to push an equal number. Neither of the PS2 Monster Hunter games were huge hits (nor did they fail). It was the PSP versions that sold like hotcakes. I would be surprised if MH3 sold more than 500k. Then again with this generation who knows?

 

[cvxfreak]

Nintendo did do a budget GBA lineup awhile back, and they already sell many DS games for a low price (training games). I think they'll bring a budget lineup someday, although not with the major hits that'll sell for years.

They'll probably continue the Player's Choice lineup in the U.S., too.

 

[donny2112]

They'll probably continue the Player's Choice lineup in the U.S., too.

Maybe they'll be able to make it actually be the million-sellers again. We have three in the U.S. that could go to a budget-line (Wii Play won't drop in price as long as it has a controller). Super Paper Mario and Guitar Hero III won't be long to get to that level, too. Of course, the Guitar Hero III "budget" line will be the game by itself whenever the next Guitar Hero game comes out.

 

[Mau ®]

I havent been keeping up with Sales Age Japan but is that PSP HW number normal? Has there been some sort of price-drop recently? Its quite surprising.

 

[Phife Dawg]

Thanks Vinnk, about kids pirating, when I was a kid I pirated stuff for the C64 and only later stopped that. I didn't really think in terms of right and wrong in that time, I just swapped pirated games with my friends.

Later on I didn't pirate stuff anymore. Dunno if this can be generalized but don't underestimate kids .

Like I suggested earlier, 20m units is probably where it's going downhill. That's one unit for six Japanese already... and that's A LOT.

But maybe people buy a second or third one when the new revision is out. I guess that revision will feature full multimedia support (mp3, webbrowser, movies?) which should give it a huge boost. We'll see.

DS hasn't seen a price-drop yet. When Nintendo drops the price the demand will rise again.

Just wait until it hits Europe in Q2...no doubt it'll probably take off here more so than in Japan!

Never heard of facening here (Germany). It's apparently not in the mainstream press. Maybe it gets some exposure in woman magazines - dunno. But I don't expect it to sell gangbusters, the female part of the DS userbase is usually a bit on the younger side so they don't have to think about facening yet (assuming it should help against wrinkles).

I havent been keeping up with Sales Age Japan but is that PSP HW number normal? Has there been some sort of price-drop recently? Its quite surprising.

Hardware revision and recently new colour for said revision (red).

 

[Lobster]

Just wondering guys, has any games from Marvelous Interactive sold very well?

They seem to like publishing bombs.

 

[BishopLamont]

Face Training didn't bomb, you doofus.

Facening is fucking ridiculous. It's a hokum homeopathic health technique that existed long before the game. Expecting the game to sell well when it's based on a thoroughly bullshit principle, not at all fun, and tied to the success of a specific cultural phenomenon is stupid. It's like expecting "Trepanation DS" (or for a more colloquial example, 'South Beach Diet DS' or 'Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet DS' or 'The Secret DS') to sell better than other products for the same stupid fad sell.

You know how everyone always says "Why do analysts get paid so much money when they're no better than GAF at predicting stuff?" Well, one of the few things that analysts get right is looking outside the numbers to actually provide context for what they're blabbering on about.

Yeah, in comparison to BT and BT2, Flash Focus and Face Training bombed. They were still massively profitable, and in the case of Face Training sold vastly more than it should have. It's borderline immoral that Nintendo even sold Face Training.

It did bomb though regardless of how "facening is fucking ridiculous" it is. To everyone else regarding Flash Focus, yes it did good numbers, but I'm talking about training games that drive DS sales like Brain Traning did. None existed in 2007 and Brain Training isn't selling aswell as it use to.

 

[Sharp]

Just wondering guys, has any games from Marvelous Interactive sold very well?

They seem to like publishing bombs.

Considering how much they make most of their games for, I'd say they're probably still profitable, especially since many publishers apparently rely on only a few of their many titles' being profitable. A Cooking Mama could more than compensate for five or six other bombs. I think they also make a lot of cell phone games, which I imagine are also profitable. Even with all that, though, I think they lost money in their last quarterly earnings report--but they attributed that to restructuring costs, not unprofitable games. I might be mixing up some of this information with Hudson, though, which after Mario Party 8 can probably easily afford to release 20 bombas.

 

[ethelred]

Just wondering guys, has any games from Marvelous Interactive sold very well?

They seem to like publishing bombs.

Uh... yes? That's kinda a stupid question.

Considering how much they make most of their games for, I'd say they're probably still profitable, especially since many publishers apparently rely on only a few of their many titles' being profitable. A Cooking Mama could more than compensate for five or six other bombs. I think they also make a lot of cell phone games, which I imagine are also profitable. Even with all that, though, I think they lost money in their last quarterly earnings report--but they attributed that to restructuring costs, not unprofitable games. I might be mixing up some of this information with Hudson, though, which after Mario Party 8 can probably easily afford to release 20 bombas.

Well, Cooking Mama was Taito, not Marvelous, and on top of that it sold next to nothing in all of its incarnations in Japan. Marvelous has released a number of successful games, though, most notably various Harvest Moon games. They've had successful games outside of that franchise too, though (like Luminous Arc, which did surprisingly well).

 

[Sharp]

Uh... yes? That's kinda a stupid question.



Well, Cooking Mama was Taito, not Marvelous, and on top of that it sold next to nothing in all of its incarnations in Japan. Marvelous has released a number of successful games, though, most notably various Harvest Moon games. They've had successful games outside of that franchise too, though (like Luminous Arc, which did surprisingly well).

I was referring to the American release of the Wii version, which I thought was published by Marvelous and did very well.

 

[Lobster]

Uh... yes? That's kinda a stupid question.

Uh why is that a stupid question? I was wondering, so I asked. Is it a stupid question because I didn't know and was looking for confirmation? Is it because a bunch of their games they publish don't even break 100k?

Your answer to Sharps post would've been enough..

 

[HK-47]

I was referring to the American release of the Wii version, which I thought was published by Marvelous and did very well.

Majesco handles all Cooking Mama games in the US

 

[apujanata]

Uh why is that a stupid question? I was wondering, so I asked. Is it a stupid question because I didn't know and was looking for confirmation? Is it because a bunch of their games they publish don't even break 100k?

Your answer to Sharps post would've been enough..

Are you sure that Marvelous games don't even break 100K ? Are you really sure ? You said "I didn't know", and yet you are sure. Interesting.

How do expect someone to react to your statement "They seem to like publishing bombs." ? That statement is provoking / trolling, especially since you said "I didn't know" and "I was wondering". Either your first post or you second post is wrong, because they contradict each other. And your offensive / aggresive writing style does not really help you get good response.

 

[Lobster]

Are you sure that Marvelous games don't even break 100K ? Are you really sure ? You said "I didn't know", and yet you are sure. Interesting.

How do expect someone to react to your statement "They seem to like publishing bombs." ? That statement is provoking / trolling, especially since you said "I didn't know" and "I was wondering". Either your first post or you second post is wrong, because they contradict each other. And your offensive / aggresive writing style does not really help you get good response.

It does seem like they are publishing bombs though..Hitman Reborn? Contact? No More Heroes?

I do know something about them..and its that their games that I know about didn't do very well. My question on the other hand was asking for their games that were not bombs.

I know about the bombs but I don't know about the successes.

I'll repeat,

I know about the bombs but I don't know about the successes..Which is why I asked the question.

I didn't ask to troll or provoke..This is a sales thread and I want to know certain information.

Its basically asking which software has sold on PSP or which Nintendo games have bombed.

 

[fresquito]

They publish Harvest Moon titles, which do okay.

 

[.dmc]

DS hasn't seen a price-drop yet. When Nintendo drops the price the demand will rise again.

That's true, but I think we've probably seen the last of the 7million + years. Sales start to cool eventually, even if Nintendo could feasibly sell another 10million+ over the next few years.

Of course, when weekly media create sales start regularly falling under 100k to around 40-50k we'll have jerks coming in proclaiming 'fad over' completely disregarding the fact that it's the most successful game platform of all time in Japan, but what can you do?

 

[Stumpokapow]

It did bomb though regardless of how "facening is fucking ridiculous" it is.

Okay.

Let me try to make this a little more clear.

If a band that has sold 10 albums in their entire thirty year career releases a Greatest Hits album and that album sells 1,000 copies, is that a "bomb" or a "success"? It's a success. The popularity of a Greatest Hits album is essentially limited to the pre-existing popularity of the band. If Dr. Phil starts a new show that gets 30% more ratings than his previous one, is this a "failure" because it's still not as popular as Oprah, or a success because it's more popular than what he's done before? It's a success.

So when a pop culture phenomenon that's practiced by anywhere from ~100,000 to ~1,000,000 people in a country on a regular enough basis to call themselves practitioners sells more than 100,000 copies with a new iteration of their product, is that a "bomb" or a "success"? It's a success.

For Face Training to be a bomb, you have to assume that the objective of Face Training was to RADICALLY expand the popularity of Facening, rather than to provide a product that allows existing Facening practitioners to cheaply and easily practice. If your supposition is correct, then Face Training crosses the line from a corporately irresponsible product that relies on preying on the stupidity of a segment of the population to a downright insidious product that relies on actively attempting to blindside previously normal people and convert them into idiots.

There are two ways to look at Face Training:
- It's a success because it did well based on the popularity of Facening.
- It's a failure because it failed to actively expand the popularity of Facening and corrupt and mislead the Japanese population.

This is absolutely compounded when you take into account the idea that the production budget on the game was about a buck and some change, and 100,000 is well past the promotional and development breakeven line. It was an incredibly profitable product.

So I'll say again, this LanceStern-esque mentality of boiling everything down to the numbers and failing to actually analyze the product in question is pathetic, incorrect, and easily demonstrated to be so when confronted by anyone who actually knows anything about the product. Your failure is that you look at Face Training as a DS product whose premise happens to be Facening, when in reality it's a Facening product whose medium happens to be the DS.

 

[Minsc]

Really? Smash Bros. was the biggest hit fof GC in Japan and the only title to sell over a million. The more popular Wii should be able to push an equal number. Neither of the PS2 Monster Hunter games were huge hits (nor did they fail). It was the PSP versions that sold like hotcakes. I would be surprised if MH3 sold more than 500k. Then again with this generation who knows?

I agree that Brawl will do amazing, like you said, it was the biggest title on the gamecube in Japan. But what about it's launch? Is brawl big enough for retailers to want to order more copies than anything to date for a record breaking launch? If it's really sold out already, maybe there's still time for retailers to further increase their shipments.

You're right about the console versions of MH not being as successful as the PSP of course. Though Capcom seems to be quite lucky on having huge hits across all systems. Maybe MH won't be as front-loaded as I imagine, because it's on the Wii and all, but what other game could potentially have a bigger launch than that on the Wii?

 

[Mgoblue201]

I have not seen the hard figures (nor have I really even played the games), but I think the most difficult thing about Brain Training is that you cannot reimagine the concept without changing it. Part of what makes an ongoing series so continuously successful (most of the time) is that it can redefine itself while still keeping many of the core concepts that have appeared in past games. Well Brain Training will admittedly be more of the same if sequels are made (in other words the concept stays the same but the details are swapped in and out), but when you do change it like with Face Training you're not necessarily making a sequel. You're essentially making an entire branch of games that are based on the idea of training yourself to do certain things. One might be a cardinal and the other a swallow. They're both birds, but they're different kinds of birds. Or to be more specific, there are different kinds of penguins even though they share many traits and look very similar.

So I think it's sort of unfair to compare the sales of one to the sales of another. Training your brain is very different from facening. They're simply linked by a common idea. I think that if Nintendo wants the Training fad to continue, they're going to have to find a concept that's very universal, although it's hard to find one as universal as the Brain Training games were. Tetris was never as successful as its first outing from a sales standpoint because once you discover that perfect zen, it's really hard to improve the concept. But the good thing about the Training games is that there is room to branch out and find other concepts. Not all of them are going to be as successful because they're based on their underlying concept.

 

[ashiato]

Hey Vinnk (or anyone else in Japan), can you tell if there is any hype for the new Smash Bros. in Japan among gamers? Have any retailers put up any displays and advertisements and whatnot like they did for Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit? It releases in just two weeks, after all.

The small coming soon posters are up in stores but it's not front and centre yet. The buzz is still Wii Fit at the moment.

 

[PuppetMaster]

An anecdote from where I live

I went to pick up a copy of COD4 today at the Biccamera in Yurakucho. It was sold out!

I have never seen a PS3 game sold over before. Ever. And this is in of the biggest stores in Tokyo. They must miss calcuated how well it would COD would sell and under stocked it.

 

[jarrod]

They publish Harvest Moon titles, which do okay.

Harvest Moon DS has sold close to 1m worldwide. It sold 500k in Europe alone actually.

The Rune Factory games are doing surprisingly well too. MMV is actually one of the more successful new publishers, they're doing way better than any of their previous incarnations (Pony Canyon, Victor Interactive, Marvelous Entertainment).

 

[HK-47]

Harvet Moon DS has sold close to 1m worldwide. It sold 500k in Europe alone actually.

The Rune Factory games are doing surprisingly well too.

You have official data on that or something?

 

[farnham]

Harvet Moon DS has sold close to 1m worldwide. It sold 500k in Europe alone actually.

The Rune Factory games are doing surprisingly well too.

Runefactory = harvest moon

 

[HK-47]

Runefactory = harvest moon

They arent the same thing...two different IP

 

[jarrod]

You have official data on that or something?

There's a recent interview with the head of MMV on gamasutra where he mentions it casually. Good read, he's actually also the creator of HM.... google it!

Runefactory = harvest moon

Only in as much as Mario Bros. = Donkey Kong. Rune Factory stands pretty well on it's own, it's not like the HM brand alone is enough to launch a successful spinoff (see Innocent Life).

 

[jesusraz]

You have official data on that or something?

Rune Factory's been successful enough to warrant it getting a Wii version, anyway!

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Only in as much as Mario Bros. = Donkey Kong.

Well, Mario Bros.'s full title wasn't Mario Bros.: A Plumbing Donkey Kong.

 

[jarrod]

Well, Mario Bros.'s full title wasn't Mario Bros.: A Plumbing Donkey Kong.

Okay, only in as much as Seiken Densetsu = Final Fantasy. Or Wario Land = Super Mario.

 

[_Alkaline_]

Thanks for the report Viink. Very interesting.

 

[jarrod]

Okay, found the Marvelous interview. Choice quotes on the company and performance...

The development team is about 45 people. Promotion, sales, production, and the rest are 45. So in all, 90 people. And so if we talk about annual revenue per year, it's something around 50 billion yen, or 50 million dollars.

We only had like five or six titles in 2003, and this year, we already have more than 30 titles. And half of them are manga-based titles. But the rate of those manga-based titles is going to decrease gradually. We're going to focus on original titles.

So in Europe, we set up a deal with Nintendo Europe. And so in Europe now, [Harvet Moon's] getting really big too. We've reached almost five hundred thousand units [of Harvest Moon DS] in Europe, so now in Europe it's becoming really famous and we're hoping we'll be able to use this popularity in Europe in the U.S. too.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Any word on Media Create numbers?

And I ain't trawling through this damn thread just to find them in size 1 font halfway in page 4 because cvxfreak didn't post them up on the front page.

 

[donny2112]

Just wondering guys, has any games from Marvelous Interactive sold very well?

http://joshuajamesslone.name/gamecharting/sqldirect.php?queryid=191

Any word on Media Create numbers?

They aren't out, yet. I was expecting GPara numbers last night and then Media-Create today, but it may be Media-Create today (for this thread's week) and GPara on Wednesday (for the following week).

 

[oldie-newbie]

Any word on Media Create numbers?

Some Media Create (are they definitive?) numbers for week 24-30 december from http://www.inside-games.jp/news/262/26204.html

1. Super Robot Wars OG Side Story (PS2) : 197k (LTD 197k)
2. Wii Fit (Wii) : 135k (LTD 884k)
3. Mario Party DS (DS) : 131k (LTD 1288k)
4. FF4 DS (DS) : 126k (LTD 414k)
5. Star Ocean 1 First Departure (PSP) : 105k (LTD 105k)
6. Wii Sports (Wii) : 82k (LTD 2507k)
7. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku (PSP) : 81k (LTD 81k)
8. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS) : 80k (LTD 607k)
9. DQ4 (DS) : 78k (LTD 1041k)
10. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) : 56k (LTD 720k)
11. Wii Play (Wii)
12. Mario & Sonic at Beijing Olympics (Wii)
13. Mario Party 8 (Wii)
14. Mario Kart DS (DS)
15. Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
16. Naruto: Shippuuden N-Ultimate Accelerator 2 (PS2)
17. Taiko Drum Master DS (DS)
18. Monster Hunter Portable 2 (PSP)
19. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
20. Power-Pro Kun Pocket 10 (DS)
21. Wario Ware Smooth Moves (Wii)
22. Call of Duty 4 (360)
23. Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2)
24. Tales of Innocence (DS)
25. Prof. Layton and the Mysterious Village (DS)
26. GT5 Prologue (PS3)
27. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
28. Nep League (DS)
29. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Time Exploration Team (DS)
30. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)

 

[cvxfreak]

Awesome, thanks.

If a mod (sp0rsk?) can add something like "MC numbers now in" to the title that would be nice.

 

[Jacobi]

It's weird that no one cares about Crisis Core in Japan anymo

 

[cvxfreak]

It's weird that no one cares about Crisis Core in Japan anymo

Not really. In recent memory only FFIII had long legs as far as that series goes. I think FFIV will have longer legs than CC FFVII as well, but that's just a pure guess.

 

[schuelma]

30. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)



Niiiiiiice

 

[cvxfreak]

30. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)

 

[lo zaffo]

She's pretty big!! Neat face!!

What about her body, if I dare to ask??

 

[Stumpokapow]

She's pretty big!! Neat face!!

What about her body, if I dare to ask??

(eh, close enough)

 

[Frillen]

Some Media Create (are they definitive?) numbers for week 24-30 december from http://www.inside-games.jp/news/262/26204.html

1. Super Robot Wars OG Side Story (PS2) : 197k (LTD 197k)
2. Wii Fit (Wii) : 135k (LTD 884k)
3. Mario Party DS (DS) : 131k (LTD 1288k)
4. FF4 DS (DS) : 126k (LTD 414k)
5. Star Ocean 1 First Departure (PSP) : 105k (LTD 105k)
6. Wii Sports (Wii) : 82k (LTD 2507k)
7. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku (PSP) : 81k (LTD 81k)
8. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS) : 80k (LTD 607k)
9. DQ4 (DS) : 78k (LTD 1041k)
10. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) : 56k (LTD 720k)
11. Wii Play (Wii)
12. Mario & Sonic at Beijing Olympics (Wii)
13. Mario Party 8 (Wii)
14. Mario Kart DS (DS)
15. Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
16. Naruto: Shippuuden N-Ultimate Accelerator 2 (PS2)
17. Taiko Drum Master DS (DS)
18. Monster Hunter Portable 2 (PSP)
19. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
20. Power-Pro Kun Pocket 10 (DS)
21. Wario Ware Smooth Moves (Wii)
22. Call of Duty 4 (360)
23. Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2)
24. Tales of Innocence (DS)
25. Prof. Layton and the Mysterious Village (DS)
26. GT5 Prologue (PS3)
27. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
28. Nep League (DS)
29. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Time Exploration Team (DS)
30. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)

A big difference between Famitsu and m-create when it comes to Wii-Fit. M-create also seem to hate Galaxy

Anyway:

NDS: 13
WII: 8
PS2: 3
PSP: 3
PS3: 2
360: 1