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PAL Charts - Week 49, 2007

spwolf said:
on Sky HD, I havent seen anything but Wii/DS ads for a while and then bam! Today one Sky One HD, 10 game ads one after each other :).

Saw one AC PS3 ad...

No surprise AC sold well off the back of that ad, makes it look super cool.

Oh and if MS really is spending 4M on advertising in the UK, it's money wasted, because the only ad they have is rubbish. Makes me pine for the cops and robbers ad
 

Kildace

Member
Phife Dawg said:
I expected Uncharted and Singstar to not do well, but I didn't expect both to bomb that hard.

Uncharted as a new IP simply has not enough marines (either of the space or anti-terrorist sort) and too colourful gfx it seems - not gritty enough. As a big fan of colourful games this really makes me sad.

Uncharted lacks a hook.

I love colorful games, I love shooting and I love Uncharted's graphics but I have no desire to play it and it certainly isn't making me consider buying a PS3 because I don't find the story appealing and I'd wager that most mainstream people don't at first glace. Uncharted is heavily inspired by Indiana Jones, it's a story about a guy who fights pirates in the jungle. I'm sorry but in this day and age that's not enough to sell people on a game or on a movie. Yes, **** Raider did very well but **** Raider had 2 things Uncharted doesn't: boobs (don't kid yourself, Lara Croft was a big selling point for 13 year olds at the time), and gameplay that really hadn't been seen before.

Uncharted is beautiful and looks extremely polished but extremely generic. My casual gamer friends have talked about Killzone, Assassin's Creed and even Heavenly Sword but none of them even seemed to be aware of Uncharted and this is why the game will sell poorly worldwide.
 

SupahBlah

Banned
The Innocent X said:
Really? The singstar one is new, but uncharted has been quite frequent, and also at cineword cinemas for the past few weeks. There is also the strange circus freak PS3 ad

I've seen the stupid circus one, is that where they get the dog out of like a washing machine and its for blu-ray colour?

If so I've seen that one, but I haven't seen any SingStar nor Uncharted. My significant other says she saw a Scene It! commercial but none of the PS3 one's (other than Assassin's Creed)
 

Kittonwy

Banned
AltogetherAndrews said:
That's just fucking sad. I don't care who you are or what your bias is, Uncharted deserves better than that.

Beaten by Link's CROSSBOW TRAINING LOLZ.
Indifferent2.gif
 
909er said:
At one point Lair, Heavenly Swords, Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted were all supposed to outsell it.

Yer i'm pretty sure AC was the one everyone thought was going to bomb

Note to game devs, cool looking hooded assassins with daggers that shoot out of arms are more interesting to gamers than joe bloggs down the road look a like characters
 
Cerebral Assassin said:
Its easily available in shops(building where you can exchange money for goods and take them home!!)
Well not here, I got the last one from ProMarkt after a restock. He doesn't have the patience nor the time to drive around town hunting a game (I can't fault him for that, I had given up on it after my first try and just got lucky when I was buying some DVDs).

Kildace said:
Uncharted lacks a hook.

I love colorful games, I love shooting and I love Uncharted's graphics but I have no desire to play it and it certainly isn't making me consider buying a PS3 because I don't find the story appealing and I'd wager that most mainstream people don't at first glace. Uncharted is heavily inspired by Indiana Jones, it's a story about a guy who fights pirates in the jungle. I'm sorry but in this day and age that's not enough to sell people on a game or on a movie. Yes, **** Raider did very well but **** Raider had 2 things Uncharted doesn't: boobs (don't kid yourself, Lara Croft was a big selling point for 13 year olds at the time), and gameplay that really hadn't been seen before.

Uncharted is beautiful and looks extremely polished but extremely generic. My casual gamer friends have talked about Killzone, Assassin's Creed and even Heavenly Sword but none of them even seemed to be aware of Uncharted and this is why the game will sell poorly worldwide.
But how many appealing stories are there in videogames? Compared to the umpteenth WWII or Space or Anti-Terrorist shooter (that still sell well) it's not really fair to call it generic. Sure, from the looks it's basically Boob Raider - boobs + Indiana Jones + more gunplay but it's not something that has been done to death.
 

Nolan.

Member
AltogetherAndrews said:
Goes to show that quality's got jack shit to do with things

It's not like we didn't know that by now though, just look at the start of this gen and it's top sellers...
 

Frenck

Banned
AltogetherAndrews said:
Goes to show that quality's got jack shit to do with things

The game is pretty high up on some gamers GOTY lists this year, not a critical darling but that means nothing these days.

I'd say it's much better than most of the generic crap out there that is getting 9+ scores (CoD 4/ME).
 

Kildace

Member
Phife Dawg said:
But how many appealing stories are there in videogames? Compared to the umpteenth WWII or Space or Anti-Terrorist shooter (that still sell well) it's not really fair to call it generic. Sure, from the looks it's basically Boob Raider - boobs + Indiana Jones + more gunplay but it's not something that has been done to death.

Well it has been done to death 5 years ago. There really hasn't been a successful game in that genre in the past few years and Uncharted needed to have a hook, something that set it apart from the other games. Case in point: Assassin's Creed, that game sold so much because when you saw one ad for the game it left an impression, it really looks unlike any other game this gen. Uncharted doesn't, not in a 20sec TV spot.
 

Dire

Member
Grecco said:
Mass Effect had tons of advertising, maybe just maybe theres a limit to the mighty software buying Xbox crowd? Halo/COD/Assasisn Creed ate potential ME sales?

Anecdotal, but most of everybody I know that isn't a huge gamer thought Mass Effect was basically a second rate shooter competing with games like Halo3 / COD4. One even referring to it as "a lame Halo 3 clone". They had no clue it was an RPG. And I think that's understandable given how they marketed it. Very bad timing, and idea, to focus on the shooter aspects of the game in marketing.
 
Kildace said:
Well it has been done to death 5 years ago. There really hasn't been a successful game in that genre in the past few years and Uncharted needed to have a hook, something that set it apart from the other games. Case in point: Assassin's Creed, that game sold so much because when you saw one ad for the game it left an impression, it really looks unlike any other game this gen. Uncharted doesn't, not in a 20sec TV spot.
Done to death by just one series? I still think there are a lot of games out there which are by far more generic than Uncharted. Just look at CoD4: Same game, this time with an anti-terror/modern setting instead of WWII - no hook, generic stuff. But gritty shooters with a franchise name appeal to people. I don't think being too "generic" is what is hurting Uncharted.
 

Jammy

Banned
Wii shortages are really hurting both the system's sales and the software's sales. Just imagine if people who could pick up a Wii pick up Super Mario Galaxy or Wii Play (also sold out, apparently). Yikes.

Uncharted bombed. It's sad, but it's happening worldwide, so it's not that shocking. SingStar on the other hand is. The PS3 demographic is just completely different than the SingStar one, though. Maybe Sony should have waited for the userbase to expand and price to drop more.
 

Arde5643

Member
Phife Dawg said:
Done to death by just one series? I still think there are a lot of games out there which are by far more generic than Uncharted. Just look at CoD4: Same game, this time with an anti-terror/modern setting instead of WWII - no hook, generic stuff. But gritty shooters with a franchise name appeal to people. I don't think being too "generic" is what is hurting Uncharted.
Agreed - what's hurting Uncharted is the same thing hurting Psychonauts IMO.

The game has a good style and very interesting background, but it's hard to make out what the game is trying to be from the trailers and commercials.
A shooter? Adventure game? Platformer?
 

test_account

XP-39C²
BenjaminBirdie said:
Didn't they both debut at #1?

I think so, but the discussion was about games rising in sales the 2nd week or later on.


mr_bishiuk said:
Yes £29.99 in game on both 360 and PS3 last week

Although to be fair all games are likley to rise in the run up to Christmas so its not unlikley that some will rise more than others but Uncharted will not sell more in next weeks reporting period.

Ah ok. Ye, i agree that x-mas is also a factor for increase in game sales, but who knows about Uncharted. CoD4 is a more popular game though and it has the multiplayer option. Uncharted is a pure single player game so it would be much harder for it to gain sale in my opinion, but i dont think its impossible that it will rank higher the 2-3 next weeks to come.
 

spwolf

Member
mr_bishiuk said:
Yer i'm pretty sure AC was the one everyone thought was going to bomb

Note to game devs, cool looking hooded assassins with daggers that shoot out of arms are more interesting to gamers than joe bloggs down the road look a like characters

who thought that AC would bomb except for forum kiddies?
 

test_account

XP-39C²
Phife Dawg said:
Should've read what chart-track had to say:

I see. I know that bundling will increase sales of course, just look at Wii Sports. But what if they bundle Uncharted? :p My point is that its too early to call it a bomba. Its only been out for a little time, no one knows how many copies it sold so far and how many copies it would sell.
 

Arde5643

Member
spwolf said:
who thought that AC would bomb except for forum kiddies?
I would love to have the situation reversed between AC and Uncharted.
But nice things don't always happen to good people or good products, it seems.
 

avaya

Member
Has Uncharted really been pushed on TV?

I haven't watched much TV this past week. I see a lot of Wii ads though, they are just everywhere on every channel. PS3 TV ads seem to be a novelty item, last one I saw was AC with Massive Attack music. Maybe I've not been looking hard enough.
 

SappYoda

Member
avaya said:
Has Uncharted really been pushed on TV?

I haven't watched much TV this past week. I see a lot of Wii ads though, they are just everywhere on every channel. PS3 TV ads seem to be a novelty item, last one I saw was AC with Massive Attack music. Maybe I've not been looking hard enough.

I've seen an uncharted ad once.
 

Lefty42o

Banned
uncharted seems it was one of those games that the demo worked against. many of us played the demo and just felt meh about it. i believe had it not had a demo many would have bitten and bought it day 1.

its a game with no identity. is it a shooter, or platformer? even the ads i have seen here in the us makes the game look meh. he is trying to sneak into some area filled with pirates and he gets caught cause his radio went off? theres no hook, no story driving force in the marketing. it was an ad that should have been used for a sequel not the introduce you to a new ip.

besides the internet community and hardcore gamers uncharted just goes meh. just how it is.
 
Mario and Sonic is also selling really well on the main Amazon.com site. Been in the top 5 for about 10 days now. Sega might be unto something.

It's also been in the Gamestop top sellers for a long while now, being in the top 5.
 
AltogetherAndrews said:
Goes to show that quality's got jack shit to do with things
its hype.

AC was hyped to no end for the last year or so, plus the sex appeal of jade. BS imo, but hey it worked. Wished sony would've hyped Uncharted instead of titling it "naughty dog project" for a loong time last year.
 

Arde5643

Member
frAntic_Frog said:
its hype.

AC was hyped to no end for the last year or so, plus the sex appeal of jade. BS imo, but hey it worked. Wished sony would've hyped Uncharted instead of titling it "naughty dog project" for a loong time last year.
Were gamers really taken in by Jade actually?

If so, that just shows how desperate most gamers are. :/
 

beerbelly

Banned
avaya said:
Has Uncharted really been pushed on TV?

I haven't watched much TV this past week. I see a lot of Wii ads though, they are just everywhere on every channel. PS3 TV ads seem to be a novelty item, last one I saw was AC with Massive Attack music. Maybe I've not been looking hard enough.


There are tons of Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted ads in Canada. Almost every commercial break. Also the one with multiple games showing GT Prologue first.
 
Arde5643 said:
Were gamers really taken in by Jade actually?

If so, that just shows how desperate most gamers are. :/
apparently so.....everywhere you looked all the previews all the forum chat in any AC discussion it usually turned to how hot Jade was. sad really
maybe sony should have had Elena in bikini with twin pistols ****Raider style ads lol
 

909er

Member
frAntic_Frog said:
its hype.

AC was hyped to no end for the last year or so, plus the sex appeal of jade. BS imo, but hey it worked. Wished sony would've hyped Uncharted instead of titling it "naughty dog project" for a loong time last year.

I really don't think that Jade Raymond was a factor in its success. Hell, I didn't even know who she was or that she was involved in the project until just a few months ago, and I'm a pretty big gaming enthusiast who reads alot about the industry everyday. If I didn't know it until that recently, chances are the vast majority of the 1 to 2 million people who have bought the game doesn't know about her either, or care. The only place where Jade Raymond being the producer would be seen as a contributing factor to sales would be on gaming forums.
 

Lefty42o

Banned
frAntic_Frog said:
its hype.

AC was hyped to no end for the last year or so, plus the sex appeal of jade. BS imo, but hey it worked. Wished sony would've hyped Uncharted instead of titling it "naughty dog project" for a loong time last year.

i don't think so. look at the marketing for clues.

1. no demo for ac. the demo for uncharted really hurt it. gave no clues to the story and left the platforming puzzle part of the game looking poor.

2. tv commercials. the ac commercial shows altiar tracking and attacking a target. had a cool little song and showed the platforming action part of the game quite well. My wife is not a hardcore gamer. she is casual and that commercial sold her on ac alone. compare that to the cg bumbling idiot commercial for uncharted and your left not knowing what the game is about. like i said a commercial that should have been used for a sequel to a game not a new ip. he sneaks into some hideout, feet from the enemy, and is not heard and only noticed when his radio goes off. then he throws it at one of the bad guys. ac commercial left you wnating to play the game. uncharted commericial made you go wtf.

thats just how it is. now we see why ac had no demo. it can hurt you and help you. next we see the power of marketing. gamers and casuals need to be hooked when you market a new ip. the commericals for uncharted do not do that. its got no cool tune or anything to make you go wow that looked awesome.

the uncharted commercial only worked if you had an idea about the game. like i said like it was a sequel and not a new ip.
 

spwolf

Member
Lefty42o said:
uncharted seems it was one of those games that the demo worked against. many of us played the demo and just felt meh about it. i believe had it not had a demo many would have bitten and bought it day 1.

wtf, reality inverted, alternate universe confirmed.
 

Draft

Member
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1 to 2 months.
Note: orders placed now for this item will not be dispatched in time for Christmas. See last-order dates. However, it may still be possible to buy it new and used from our third-party sellers. Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
What a great word.
 

Lefty42o

Banned
spwolf said:
wtf, reality inverted, alternate universe confirmed.

nope just how it was. alot of people in the gaf demo impression thread did not like the demo. but most of us were banned for even giving our impressions that were not positive.

reality is the game was hurt from its marketing and poor demo. sales have been lackluster and the answer is somewhere in those 2 areas.

ac had no demo and pretty nice marketing. and is selling pretty well on both platforms.
 

SupahBlah

Banned
Doc Evils said:
Uncharted is having stock problems everywhere with 3-5 days to 1 month wait for shipping:

That's only because the online versions are over £10 cheaper than the in-store versions.
 

justjohn

Member
Lefty42o said:
nope just how it was. alot of people in the gaf demo impression thread did not like the demo. but most of us were banned for even giving our impressions that were not positive.

reality is the game was hurt from its marketing and poor demo. sales have been lackluster and the answer is somewhere in those 2 areas.

ac had no demo and pretty nice marketing. and is selling pretty well on both platforms.
319047856_dbf1ef3e92.jpg

either you didnt read the thread, or you just took the few posters who didnt like it as the majority. which is which? tell me lefty
 

Lefty42o

Banned
justjohn said:
319047856_dbf1ef3e92.jpg

either you didnt read the thread, or you just took the few posters who didnt like it as the majority. which is which? tell me lefty

i never said majority. i said alot as in more than 2.

the majority of the posters in the impression thread where those who were big followers of the game. the minority was those of us who were on the fence and the demo let us down. many of us were called trolls and banned. thus making the thread a giant orgy of love for uncharted.

as a ps3 owner and consumer the demo was a poor showing and the reason i did not buy the game. that was the point i was trying to make. had their been no demo and slightly diff marketing i might had bought it. how mayy others do you think are in the same position as i am.

which is why i said that the demo hurt it more than helped it.
 
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