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[JoshuaJSlone]

xbox 360 19800 yen
wii (?) 24900 yen?

Expanding on this, the price ratios seem almost identical in both countries.

Japan
X360 Arcade: 19,800
Wii: 24,900
X360 Premium: 29,800

US
X360 Arcade: $199
Wii: $249
X360 Premium: $299

The main difference is that the Wii price is really a worse deal in Japan, since it doesn't include Wii Sports. Since Wii Sports is 4800 yen on its own, the effective equivalent of the US Wii SKU would be about the same price as the X360 Premium.

 

[Kurosaki Ichigo]

Well, by Media-Create it did 26,055 first week which with a hypothetical 6.4k this week equals 32,455 or 93%.

And like I said, that would be mixing different trackers data instead of just using one tracker like I did. But hey, we can also take Dengeki first week (22,669) then use MediaCreate top50 to see its above Wagyan, look at Famitsu where Wagyan did 4600, add them to the first number, and get a 27269 for 78% of a leaked Famitsu number. That way we cover mixing up data from every tracker.

 

[Neo C.]

I think consoles in Japan is simply to niche for even Nintendo to make it big. Sure DQ10, Crystal Bearers, and maybe MH3 might do well but not even the Wii could get consoles out of their slump. Consoles in Japan have gone the way of comics in the US.

I'm very worried about this scenario. Nintendo really needs to analyze the Wii market in Japan more precisely. The console absolutely demands more systemsellers and a steady flow of software this year, otherwise it will be very difficult to reach the good selling level again.

 

[schuelma]

I'm very worried about this scenario. Nintendo really needs to analyze the Wii market in Japan more precisely. The console absolutely demands more systemsellers and a steady flow of software this year, otherwise it will be very difficult to reach the good selling level again.

I think people may be overreacting just a bit. Up until last October Wii had done a consistent 40K every week. That's solid. Now after a disappointing holiday season and start to 2009 we're ready to declare consoles dead?

Nintendo, whether it was their fault or not, didn't have much help from 3rd parties and so were left to rely on Wii Music and Animal Crossing. They didn't catch. Iwata said it very simply in his Q and A- no product is a sure thing and you have to keep making hits. They didn't hit it with their holiday lineup. End of story.

Wii Sports Resort should be much more of a sure bet than Wii Music, and in the 2nd half of the year 3rd parties will actually begin to step up. Until then I don't think there is much more analyzing to be done.

 

[Jokeropia]

And like I said, that would be mixing different trackers data instead of just using one tracker like I did.

That depends on how you look at it. The only number we actually have for all trackers is the first week number, while the hypothetical second week number could fit Media Create just as well as Famitsu. Besides, you were talking about a "best case" scenario.

 

[Eteric Rice]

Also, keep in mind that Japan is in a recession right now (a pretty bad one from what I hear). People just don't have the money to buy lots of games right now.

As for Trace Memory, who knows what happened with that? Did it get any advertising?

 

[Neo C.]

I think people may be overreacting just a bit. Up until last October Wii had done a consistent 40K every week. That's solid. Now after a disappointing holiday season and start to 2009 we're ready to declare consoles dead?

I'm not worried about this, since it's clear that Nintendo will support the console as long as the competition doesn't start a new cycle. I'm more worried about third parties support and the lack of diversity, if they don't fully support the Wii (hence the comparison with US comics). As Iwata stated in the Q&A, the top tiers aren't the problem, but everything lower than the top ten has suffered in sales.
The more mid-tier games like Another Code bomb, the lower are the expectation of the third parties which means less support. Another Code isn't the first with dissappointing sales.

 

[schuelma]

The more mid-tier games like Another Code bomb, the lower are the expectation of the third parties which means less support. Another Code isn't the first with dissappointing sales.

Ok, but you have most Nintendo games that have done just fine. I really don't think Another Code bombing is going to deter 3rd parties.

 

[d+pad]

RE: Another Code: R - doesn't it seem like this was aimed at girls or the ever-popular "expanded audience"? (Based on the Famitzu review, which said it is more about the relationship between the main character and her father and telling that story than it is about solving puzzles, etc.) If so, I'm not sure why folks here are holding up the game as some sort of "core game bomb."

Other than that, I think some people here are getting waaaaayyyy ahead of themselves by either thinking that the Wii is dead or the PS3 will overtake it as the market leader in Japan.

Actually, I'm quite happy the PS3 is showing some life and might "beat" the Wii in sales over the next few weeks/months. I think NOJ has long needed a fire started beneath its butt, and this just might do the trick

 

[DarkMehm]

Ok, but you have most Nintendo games that have done just fine. I really don't think Another Code bombing is going to deter 3rd parties.

That's mostly because of name branding. Smaller titles are mostly bombs, especially from 3rd Parties. Nintendo needs to cater more traditional gamers, as there is an inbalance on the Userbase right now.

They did it absolutely right with the DS. First catered the traditional gamers with titles and ads dedicated to them and then went on to the new audience. With Wii they skipped that important first part.

 

[wsippel]

I wouldn't call Another Code a core game. This might be one of the games where 1st day numbers are pretty much completely meaningless. Casuals don't usually buy games on day one.

 

[Neo C.]

Ok, but you have most Nintendo games that have done just fine. I really don't think Another Code bombing is going to deter 3rd parties.

It isn't about the sales of one game. So far, the Wii doesn't steal the spotlight of the handhelds in Japan. To gain more software, the Wii absolutely needs to be on higher priority for the third parties which means the hardware sales must be better than in the last few months.

 

[Stumpokapow]

RE: Another Code: R - doesn't it seem like this was aimed at girls or the ever-popular "expanded audience"? (Based on the Famitzu review, which said it is more about the relationship between the main character and her father and telling that story than it is about solving puzzles, etc.) If so, I'm not sure why folks here are holding up the game as some sort of "core game bomb."

Probably more related to the original game and the pedigree. The original game was near-launch DS title that did 50k opening week on lifetime of 100k and was considered to be a critically acclaimed and competent adventure-puzzle title. Hotel Dusk opened to 60k on lifetime of 200k.

I think it's reading too much into stuff to say that a discrepancy in sales or in meaning based on the shift in tone from puzzle to narrative. Other than the Famitsu review, there was no pre-release coverage that suggested that puzzles had taken a back seat to narrative. I think that gives Famitsu too much credit.

Plus the logical conclusion if you really believe that that's a relevant factor is that a substantial number (perhaps as much as 30-40k) people would have bought this but opted out as a result of the Famitsu review / shift in tone--which seems unlikely. If you were a fan of the first game in a series and hyped for a new game and someone told you "The new game is great but different than the first", is it likely that'd be enough of a deflation factor for you to skip it?

I wouldn't call Another Code a core game. This might be one of the games where 1st day numbers are pretty much completely meaningless. Casuals don't usually buy games on day one.

Okay well Another Code had a 40% week one to lifetime ratio, which is well within what we call core games and nowhere near what we call long-legs games, so I'm not sure where this train of thought comes from. Hotel Dusk had a slightly more generous 30% week one to lifetime ratio.

By means of comparison, here are the ratios for various high-profile obviously "core" (ugh such a pitiful label) games:
Metal Gear Solid 4 - 69%
Devil May Cry 4 - 69%
Tales of Vesperia - 62%
Yakuza Kenzan - 65%
Lost Odyssey - 55%
GT5p - 53%
Bladestorm - 53%
FF3 DS - 50%
Shin Sengoku Musou 5 - 49%
Smash Bros Brawl - 46%
RE: UC - 41%
Ridge Racer 6 - 40%
Yoshi's Island DS - 28%
Galaxy - 27%

... and long-leg games:
Brain Age - 1%
Big Brain Academy - 3%
Wii Sports - 5%
AC DS - 7%
English Training - 11%
Hot Shots Golf PSP - 16%
Tetris DS - 18%
Mario Party 8 - 21%

Another Code did not have long legs. Hotel Dusk did to some extent, but not anywhere near the insipid "casual" or "blue ocean" or whatever category.

More to the point, Nintendo did not undership it. They shipped a modest 30k shipment. Sure, Another Code will almost certain pick up and I'd say the day 1 : week 1 conversion will be favourable versus most games, but 6k day one is bad.


BTW I agree with schuelma--reading too much into Another Code not doing well would be foolhardy.

 

[schuelma]

To gain more software, the Wii absolutely needs to be on higher priority for the third parties which means the hardware sales must be better than in the last few months.

Wait so now we're back to hardware? I thought we were talking software here. Yeah, Wii hardware sales need to pick up, absolutely. Not disputing that at all.

 

[Kurosaki Ichigo]

That depends on how you look at it. The only number we actually have for all trackers is the first week number, while the hypothetical second week number could fit Media Create just as well as Famitsu. Besides, you were talking about a "best case" scenario.

Well, the hypothetical 2nd week could also be affected by trackers undoing 1st week error, like MC putting it lower than reality because they overestimated it, or Famitsu/Dengeki putting it higher than reality because they underestimated it. In any case, it'd mixing them up which I find way wrong to do. I said 'best case' because with no 2nd week number in sight the best insight we have in a single tracker would be Famitsu Top29 where it doesn't appear so it'd be at best at the same number the title in position #29 would be. Now if we were to talk about the absolutely 'best case' scenario we would use % sell through from the 1st week in the Famitsu Top30 (running guy icon) instead of the leaked data from the first day. Unfortunately the 1st week sell through is a range (51 to 75%) so then again, best case scenario would put it at 75%, and we could also do the worst case scenario using the 51%.

This is just looking too much into the data for my tastes, so I'll leave at that. I think the fairest comparison is the first I did since Famitsu data is the most complete we have in our hands.

 

[Neo C.]

Wait so now we're back to hardware? I thought we were talking software here. Yeah, Wii hardware sales need to pick up, absolutely. Not disputing that at all.

Well, both. While there isn't a direct correlation, a higher userbase surely would help a lot. Though you're right, I first talked about software sales, but later on I thought I should include the hardware too.:lol

 

[Opiate]

It isn't about the sales of one game. So far, the Wii doesn't steal the spotlight of the handhelds in Japan. To gain more software, the Wii absolutely needs to be on higher priority for the third parties which means the hardware sales must be better than in the last few months.

This is correct. The Wii is in one of the vicious cycles where Third Parties put weak offerings on the system which tend to sell fairly poorly which begets even weaker offerings.

The way to break out of this cycle is to sell lots of units of the system regardless of third party support, which Nintendo succeeded at for 2 years, and it helped them move MH3 and DQX, among others, to their system.

However, hardware sales have ebbed, and until those games arrive, what third parties are seeing at this exact moment is a system that isn't selling particularly well and has a significant problem pushing third party software. At this moment, in these early months of 2009, the incentive to produce Wii games is significantly lower than the incentive for DS or PSP. DS and PSP both have significantly larger user bases and sell significantly more third party software.

I'm perfectly willing to entertain the notion that third party software should not be singled out as different from first party software (I tend to agree it isn't), but it's fairly clear that most third parties do so regardless, and from that perspective, the Wii is not succeeding.

Edit: Schuelma, I've tried to link hardware-software sales in this post. To repeat: For whatever reason, third parties have tended to avoid Nintendo systems since the early 90s. The only way to break out of that cycle is through brute force: sell so many units of your system that avoiding it isn't an option. If they aren't clobbering the competition -- merely besting them -- then I expect many companies will continue to place their support elsewhere.

 

[Jokeropia]

Well, the hypothetical 2nd week could also be affected by trackers undoing 1st week error, like MC putting it lower than reality because they overestimated it, or Famitsu/Dengeki putting it higher than reality because they underestimated it. In any case, it'd mixing them up which I find way wrong to do. I said 'best case' because with no 2nd week number in sight the best insight we have in a single tracker would be Famitsu Top29 where it doesn't appear so it'd be at best at the same number the title in position #29 would be. Now if we were to talk about the absolutely 'best case' scenario we would use % sell through from the 1st week in the Famitsu Top30 (running guy icon) instead of the leaked data from the first day. Unfortunately the 1st week sell through is a range (51 to 75%) so then again, best case scenario would put it at 75%, and we could also do the worst case scenario using the 51%.

This is just looking too much into the data for my tastes, so I'll leave at that. I think the fairest comparison is the first I did since Famitsu data is the most complete we have in our hands.

I'm just saying that either way we're using hypothetical numbers, and if we wanted to envision a best case scenario for what the game might have sold, it makes sense to use the tracker that gave it the highest sales. Now if we wanted the most likely scenario then that's another issue.

 

[Jammy]

Japan's pretty fucked up right now when it comes to their gaming market.

-Total sales are on a steep decline.
-PSP sells well hardware-wise and the userbase seems to buy Monster Hunter/clones, Tales, and occasionally the yearly Gundam or soccer game, but not much else.
-360 and PS3 are pointless to even look at or debate in favor of.
-Wii isn't getting a steady stream of hits at all, and everything released for it now is pretty niche (Fragile, Trace Memory: R).
-There's not as much clear-cut DS domination.

 

[schuelma]

Edit: Schuelma, I've tried to link hardware-software sales in this post. To repeat: For whatever reason, third parties have tended to avoid Nintendo systems since the early 90s. The only way to break out of that cycle is through brute force: sell so many units of your system that avoiding it isn't an option. If they aren't clobbering the competition -- merely besting them -- then I expect many companies will continue to place their support elsewhere.

Again, I'm not arguing at all about Wii's hardware sales of late. They have been disappointing since November or so. But I don't think all of the doom and gloom is warranted. IMO Nintendo can withstand a bad quarter, and those 3rd party games that were announced because of the first two years of hardware will soon be here.

 

[jeremy1456]

I'm really worried about how Marvelous' mid tier titles will perform (Little King Story, Arc Rise Fantasia, Murasama, etc.)

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

That won't happen. A game like DQX will sell regardless on which console, Tales will surely get a 200k minimum. Since Bamco has been screwing with the franchise for a while, they can try on the wii. Muramasa is the only problem here, I can see it bombing too.

I'm surprised how Demon's Souls has a small shipment. At least it's pretty much sold out day one, that's performing better than From Software's other game released last week.

Muramasa's predecessor sold the least in Japan and gathered most of its sales in the West (hence why it's expectations for Japan is only 70k), it will be fine since it's targeted at the healthy North American Wii market as well as the European market. I do agree that mid-tier to low-tier Wii games are in trouble. I mean only One Piece and 428 have done well or up to expectations in recent times from my memory. I wonder what it is. Bad marketing? Sent to die? Userbase isn't there? I mean these games really aren't selling well on anything besides handhelds, and even then sales aren't too stellar. To me this just isn't a "Wii thing" but more so a "console thing" and if the handheld releases keep going in a declining then a "Japanese gaming thing".

 

[Majmun]

Japan's pretty fucked up right now when it comes to their gaming market.

-PSP sells well hardware-wise and the userbase seems to buy Monster Hunter/clones, Tales, and occasionally the yearly Gundam or soccer game, but not much else.

Can't the same be said towards the DS? But in this case only Nintendo and Square Enix game sell well, with some occasionaly 3rd party game such as Layton.

Or am I horribly wrong?

 

[Link]

As depressing as it is, I'm glad people are starting to see my worries about the Wii's future. I felt like I was standing alone there for a while.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Can't the same be said towards the DS? But in this case only Nintendo and Square Enix game sell well, with some occasionaly 3rd party game such as Layton.

Or am I horribly wrong?

You are wrong.

see ethelred's opus from like two years ago--and that's just one tiny little scrap of the picture.

 

[donny2112]

Um, the Wii is no worse off this week than it was last week. It was bad last week, and it's still there. I'm pretty sure that schuelma and I have had conversations saying that the Wii was pretty well messed up from November of last year. Nintendo laid their bed with the poor content from last Fall and continuing, and now they're still lying in it. :lol

but to be honest i didnt remember about the IR pointing that the Wii controllers have. I didnt mean to be shortsigthed, i just forgot about the IR pointing function, i am sorry about that :\ Thanks for mentioning the IR pointing function on the Wii controller!

The IR is the main innovation of the Wiimote, in my opinion. I've advocated for a while that developers should try to extremely limit general waggle usage of the Wiimote and focus on its real strength, the IR.

-Total sales are on a steep decline.
-There's not as much clear-cut DS domination.

Those two are directly related.

IMO Nintendo can withstand a bad quarter,

Two bad quarters, but otherwise, yeah. All the more reason to do a renewed push/"relaunch" with Motion+.

 

[schuelma]

Two bad quarters, but otherwise, yeah. All the more reason to do a renewed push/"relaunch" with Motion+.

Holiday sales were disappointing, but I didn't include them because I was following the logic put forth in this thread which seemed to strictly be comparing the Wii hardware sales to PSP/PS3 sales (in which case Holiday sales were still decent).

 

[Neo C.]

Edit: Schuelma, I've tried to link hardware-software sales in this post. To repeat: For whatever reason, third parties have tended to avoid Nintendo systems since the early 90s. The only way to break out of that cycle is through brute force: sell so many units of your system that avoiding it isn't an option. If they aren't clobbering the competition -- merely besting them -- then I expect many companies will continue to place their support elsewhere.

Spot on. So far, the Wii is a good bet when a company wants to sell their games world wide, because the growth in US and Europe is quite healthy. Though if a japanese game company just wants to release its game in Japan alone (oversea release not guaranteed), the Wii is way worse than the DS.

 

[Link]

Um, the Wii is no worse off this week than it was last week. It was bad last week, and it's still there. I'm pretty sure that schuelma and I have had conversations saying that the Wii was pretty well messed up from November of last year. Nintendo laid their bed with the poor content from last Fall and continuing, and now they're still lying in it. :lol

While Nintendo is partially to blame by probably holding titles back to implement Motion+ support, it really comes down to lack of third party support despite such great sales. Publishers kept holding off either because they bet on the wrong horse, just didn't feel like developing for the Wii, or for whatever other reasons. Now some publishers are changing their tune, but it's already taken its toll on hardware. I'm wondering if third parties will look at this and decide to hold off on Wii support all over again.

The epitome of a self-fulfilling prophecy.


EDIT - Opiate pretty much beat me to it.

The only way to break out of that cycle is through brute force: sell so many units of your system that avoiding it isn't an option.

Funny enough, even that didn't work.

 

[domokunrox]

WKC.....


labambaNOOOOOOOOO.gif

 

[Stumpokapow]

WKC.....

labambaNOOOOOOOOO.gif

it did pretty well

 

[Neo C.]

Funny enough, even that didn't work.

You need to include the DS and the PSP too. Handhelds aren't really in a seperate market, they all fight for the game development ressources.

 

[HK-47]

well what are they gonna do with them? spend 3 or 4 times as much money to put them on ps360 with half the userbase?

Tales to PSP, DQ to DS

More handheld games for everyone! The true core experience, now portable

 

[donny2112]

Holiday sales were disappointing, but I didn't include them because I was following the logic put forth in this thread which seemed to strictly be comparing the Wii hardware sales to PSP/PS3 sales (in which case Holiday sales were still decent).

Ok. I usually try to look at things more on their own merit than comparing them to their immediate competition. For example, if both PS3 and 360 couldn't even keep their heads above 5K, and the Wii was still doing what it is doing, I would still say that the Wii was doing pretty poorly. In the U.S. back when PSP and DS were neck-and-neck in monthly sales but doing drastically worse than GBA at the same point, others would say they were both doing well, and I would reply that they were both doing pretty bad. :lol

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

As depressing as it is, I'm glad people are starting to see my worries about the Wii's future in Japan. I felt like I was standing alone there for a while.

Can't agree more.

I don't understand though I mean not to sound conservative but it's like these publishers have their head up their asses. I mean Tatsunoko vs Capcom was hardly marketed at all as it performed very litely on the Wii and had a mild premiere in Japanese arcades. Fragile was pretty much sent to die (no second shipment? Seriously?) and their other Wii plane game didn't they only send out like one shipment which was 6,000? :|

But it just isn't the Wii it's everything in general. Again take Namco-Bandai for instance. They've whored the Tales series to the extent where the series is pretty much irrelevant. All they recent games they've released came nowhere close to where the series used to be (besides the PSP and Wii spinoffs). And looking at the future they've just trademarketed 3 more "Tales of" games so the series can get even more stale. And the thing that is funny that the PSP spinoffs (both the recent one and it's predecessor) have performed amazingly yet no main Tales game has been announced for it. :|

Even more awkward is that Namco-Bandai pushed their games on the Xbox 360 with Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata, and Ace Combat 6. Yet none of these games were really pushed heavily in the Western market just the Japanese. Where the hell is the sense in that? I mean isn't this just as bad as how they sent Fragile to die? I mean push the games where the userbase is near non-existent but don't touch it where the userbase for software and hardware is thriving? Isn't that in a way sending a product to die, especially a product of such importance and production?

It's just not Namco-Bandai but nearly every Japanese publisher. I mean yeah they mostly ignored the Wii and the PS3 has caught up to it. Now the obvious common sense answer would be that they let the Wii die down so they didn't have to change their tools which were prepared for the PS3. Okay makes sense now the PS3 is selling almost as much as the Wii. There's one problem. They don't have any big PS3 games in development. The only upcoming 3rd Party PS3 exclusives that is geared toward Japan I can think of is Yakuza 3 and Final Fantasy XIII which were announced and revealed long long ago. So no that doesn't make sense because they aren't supporting the PS3 either.

What are they supporting? Handhelds. However what's weird as hell is that they have yet to put any of their mainline games on them. The only big steps in main entrys I've seen that has gone toward handhelds are Dragon Quest IX, Phantasy Star 0, and the 10,000 Tales games. So what they are primarily supporting they aren't giving support? This is why I often disagree with people who state that Japanese publishers will give their strong support elsewhere because in reality they aren't really giving strong support anywhere right now. Just little drips on certain systems whether it be spinoffs or 2 or 3 "big" games then they immediately leave, run away, go to a different system, and repeat the process. Nintendo and Capcom seem to be the only two big Japanese publishers with a plan. The seem to have a pure blue blueprint.

Nothing in here is logical. It's not like they're blowing off the Wii, but more so just randomly doing shit. It's like they didn't have a plan this gen so they put a bunch of gerbils in a maze with cheese that was marked of which games go to which console and others of how much budget should be put to marketing the said game, and the gerbils randomly eat the cheese thus the games randomly go to random platforms. Seriously that's the only thing I can find logical within this.

As for the Wii. I'm sure it will be fine with Wii Sports Resort, Dragon Quest X, and Monster Hunter 3 coming down the road (3 of some of the biggest Japanese franchises ever) but Monster Hunter 3 may not come until 2010 and God knows when Dragon Quest X will. It's just shocking seeing how publishers aren't filling in the gaps. It's like Nintendo said "Okay we'll give you guys a break. We'll stop developing games big hits for the console for a while so you can get your foot in the consoles doors. Alright so give it a go guys...guys...guys?"

 

[Hcoregamer00]

Actually, I'm quite happy the PS3 is showing some life and might "beat" the Wii in sales over the next few weeks/months. I think NOJ has long needed a fire started beneath its butt, and this just might do the trick

Bingo, complacency is horrible in the gaming market.

The DS has a decent linuep now, but Nintendo had some AMAZING first party games when they were fighting tooth and nail with the PSP. I was hoping that a PSP resurgence would put Nintendo on the defensive, but the runaway success of the DS since Nintendo first "beat" the PSP made the DS untouchable. Nintendo could never release a game ever on the DS and the amazing 3rd party lineup could hold the console up.

If the PS3 started gaining momentum, and Nintendo sees Sony as a threat, we could see another DS vs. PSP software battle (which is good because the winners are the gamers). The Wii has a strong advantage in terms of overall sales, but it is not untouchable like the DS.

Japan's pretty fucked up right now when it comes to their gaming market.

-Total sales are on a steep decline.
-PSP sells well hardware-wise and the userbase seems to buy Monster Hunter/clones, Tales, and occasionally the yearly Gundam or soccer game, but not much else.
-360 and PS3 are pointless to even look at or debate in favor of.
-Wii isn't getting a steady stream of hits at all, and everything released for it now is pretty niche (Fragile, Trace Memory: R).
-There's not as much clear-cut DS domination.

Most of your statements are right, but this one is just plain WRONG.

 

[HK-47]

I think the DS is just a far more flexible system then the Wii. Especially in controls.

 

[schuelma]

Nothing in here is logical. It's not like they're blowing off the Wii, but more so just randomly doing shit. It's like they didn't have a plan this gen so they put a bunch of gerbils in a maze with cheese that was marked of which games go to which console and others of how much budget should be put to marketing the said game, and the gerbils randomly eat the cheese thus the games randomly go to random platforms. Seriously that's the only thing I can find logical within this.

Well said. I'd say Capcom is probably adjusting the best. Success with more western franchises on the hi def systems, Monster Hunter on PSP, and then MH3 on Wii with the likelihood of more Resident Evil stuff as well. They're in good position.

As for the Wii. I'm sure it will be fine with Wii Sports Resort, Dragon Quest X, and Monster Hunter 3 coming down the road (3 of some of the biggest Japanese franchises ever) but Monster Hunter 3 may not come until 2010 and God knows when Dragon Quest X will. It's just shocking seeing how publishers aren't filling in the gaps. It's like Nintendo said "Okay we'll give you guys a break. We'll stop developing games big hits for the console for a while so you can get your foot in the consoles doors. Alright so give it a go guys...guys...guys?"

I think MH3 is pretty solid for 2009. They wouldn't be releasing MHG with the demo in April if they weren't confident that MH3 would be a 2009 release. Also, you have Tales of Ten, Samurai Warriors 3, and probably Crystal Bearers in 2009 as well. Those certainly aren't the top of the top franchises, but I'd argue those are a clear step above what 3rd parties have been putting out on the Wii (with the exception of DQ:Swords).

 

[HK-47]

Can't agree more.

I don't understand though I mean not to sound conservative but it's like these publishers have their head up their asses. I mean Tatsunoko vs Capcom was hardly marketed at all as it performed very litely on the Wii and had a mild premiere in Japanese arcades. Fragile was pretty much sent to die (no second shipment? Seriously?) and their other Wii plane game didn't they only send out like one shipment which was 6,000? :|

But it just isn't the Wii it's everything in general. Again take Namco-Bandai for instance. They've whored the Tales series to the extent where the series is pretty much irrelevant. All they recent games they've released came nowhere close to where the series used to be (besides the PSP and Wii spinoffs). And looking at the future they've just trademarketed 3 more "Tales of" games so the series can get even more stale. And the thing that is funny that the PSP spinoffs (both the recent one and it's predecessor) have performed amazingly yet no main Tales game has been announced for it. :|

Even more awkward is that Namco-Bandai pushed their games on the Xbox 360 with Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata, and Ace Combat 6. Yet none of these games were really pushed heavily in the Western market just the Japanese. Where the hell is the sense in that? I mean isn't this just as bad as how they sent Fragile to die? I mean push the games where the userbase is near non-existent but don't touch it where the userbase for software and hardware is thriving? Isn't that in a way sending a product to die, especially a product of such importance and production?

It's just not Namco-Bandai but nearly every Japanese publisher. I mean yeah they mostly ignored the Wii and the PS3 has caught up to it. Now the obvious common sense answer would be that they let the Wii die down so they didn't have to change their tools which were prepared for the PS3. Okay makes sense now the PS3 is selling almost as much as the Wii. There's one problem. They don't have any big PS3 games in development. The only upcoming 3rd Party PS3 exclusives that is geared toward Japan I can think of is Yakuza 3 and Final Fantasy XIII which were announced and revealed long long ago. So no that doesn't make sense because they aren't supporting the PS3 either.

What are they supporting? Handhelds. However what's weird as hell is that they have yet to put any of their mainline games on them. The only big steps in main entrys I've seen that has gone toward handhelds are Dragon Quest IX, Phantasy Star 0, and the 10,000 Tales games. So what they are primarily supporting they aren't giving support? This is why I often disagree with people who state that Japanese publishers will give their strong support elsewhere because in reality they aren't really giving strong support anywhere right now. Just little drips on certain systems whether it be spinoffs or 2 or 3 "big" games then they immediately leave, run away, go to a different system, and repeat the process. Nintendo and Capcom seem to be the only two big Japanese publishers with a plan. The seem to have a pure blue blueprint.

Nothing in here is logical. It's not like they're blowing off the Wii, but more so just randomly doing shit. It's like they didn't have a plan this gen so they put a bunch of gerbils in a maze with cheese that was marked of which games go to which console and others of how much budget should be put to marketing the said game, and the gerbils randomly eat the cheese thus the games randomly go to random platforms. Seriously that's the only thing I can find logical within this.

As for the Wii. I'm sure it will be fine with Wii Sports Resort, Dragon Quest X, and Monster Hunter 3 coming down the road (3 of some of the biggest Japanese franchises ever) but Monster Hunter 3 may not come until 2010 and God knows when Dragon Quest X will. It's just shocking seeing how publishers aren't filling in the gaps. It's like Nintendo said "Okay we'll give you guys a break. We'll stop developing games big hits for the console for a while so you can get your foot in the consoles doors. Alright so give it a go guys...guys...guys?"

Not like the consumer particularly cared for Nintendo's holiday offerings. Wii Music and AC were blips on the radar.

 

[Jokeropia]

Not like the consumer particularly cared for Nintendo's holiday offerings. Wii Music and AC were blips on the radar.

Hardly.

 

[JaMarco]

I think the DS is just a far more flexible system then the Wii. Especially in controls.

yea, thats the Wii's biggest problem

 

[schuelma]

Not like the consumer particularly cared for Nintendo's holiday offerings. Wii Music and AC were blips on the radar.

I don't think that is fair. Animal Crossing is over a million and Wii Music recovered somewhat. I think the correct statement is that new consumers didn't care enough for Nintendo's holiday offerings to start buying the system en masse like last year with Wii Fit.

 

[Weisheit]

Not like the consumer particularly cared for Nintendo's holiday offerings. Wii Music and AC were blips on the radar.

It outsold every other holiday release across all platforms...

 

[jeremy1456]

Not like the consumer particularly cared for Nintendo's holiday offerings. Wii Music and AC were blips on the radar.

:lol

Compared to what? AC has outsold every PS3 and Xbox 360 game in Japan to date.

 

[HK-47]

Hardly.

Did it stimulate the system? The game sells millions and still nothing? And its not like AC had an iteration on Wii. Its a new experience (cept really not cause Nintendo was lazy as hell). And the third parties alone are suppose to fix this? Nintendo is partly to blame for the slacking sales.

 

[schuelma]

Did it stimulate the system? The game sells millions and still nothing? And its not like AC had an interation on Wii. Its a new experience (cept really not cause Nintendo was lazy as hell). And the third parties alone are suppose to fix this?

That's not what you said. You said a million selling game was a "blip on the radar". I think thats a bit of an exaggeration.

 

[jeremy1456]

Did it stimulate the system? The game sells millions and still nothing? And its not like AC had an iteration on Wii. Its a new experience (cept really not cause Nintendo was lazy as hell). And the third parties alone are suppose to fix this? Nintendo is partly to blame for the slacking sales.

None of that matters because you didn't originally say that, and that's not what we responded to.

You said they were 'blips on the radar' to which everyone responded before you changed your argument.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[Neo C.]

And the third parties alone are suppose to fix this?

In the past? Yes. The PS2 had its strength thanks to the third parties.

 

[HK-47]

That's not what you said. You said a million selling game was a "blip on the radar". I think thats a bit of an exaggeration.

By blip I mean the system sales werent affected. There was no shake up because of it. AC came and existed. It was a guaranteed million seller. It did that. Routine.

 

[HK-47]

In the past? Yes. The PS2 had its strength thanks to the third parties.

And Wii clearly gets its strength from first party games. Nintendo cant count on anyone else to support it. They have to do it themselves.

I think we are past the point where a DS situation happens