The Stupid Gamer

Wow, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is here. It’s almost not worth mentioning anything else, but hey, I guess you kind of have to. Well, I guess House of the Dead might be worth checking out as well on the console front. Here are the releases for the week.

Nintendo Wii

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return

PlayStation 3

• Condemned 2: Bloodshot
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

Xbox 360

• Condemned 2: Bloodshot
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

PlayStation 2

• Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz, Buzz!
• The Hollwood Quiz Buzzer Bundle
• Buzz! Junior: Robo Jam
• Buzz! Junior: Robo Jam Buzzer Bundle
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

Nintendo DS

• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fate
• Insecticide
• Nanostray 2

Sony PSP

• Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
• Wild ARMs XF

Virtual Console

• DoReMi Fantasy: Milon ’s DokiDoki Adventure (SNES)
• Puyo Puyo 2: Tsuu (Genesis)

If you’ve been checking the site over the past day or two you’ve probably ran into some odd errors or site downtime. This is all due to server upgrades, so the growing pains are to help things run a bit better overall. I think we’re pretty much out of the woods at this point, so everything should be back to 100% now. If you do visit and see the site down in the next day or two, we’ll be back online shortly. Sorry, but we’re never going to die.

I was lucky enough to find a copy of Patapon for the PSP sitting on my doorstep as I got home from work today, and after taking care of the boring details of the evening (dinner, picking up a new dishwasher), I sat down and gave the quirky little game some attention. I won’t go into what Patapon is too much, since there are already reviews and plenty of hands-on impressions floating around, but I do want to say that I am really enjoying the game thus far. The game is definitely unique and refreshing, and I can’t wait to see what else it’s going to throw at me as I progress.

For people who enjoy rhythm and/or action games, this might be worth checking out. The game is only $19.99 brand new, so there’s no need to wait for a price drop or for used copies to start showing up on store shelves. If I can find the time in the next few days, I’ll give the game a full review here on the blog. Oh, you all must be waiting with such anticipation!

Edit: Penny Arcade’s comic on Patapon was hilarious…just ask somebody not playing the game but has spent time around someone who has.

No, that’s not the cost of development, but rather the price to own one of the arcade machines. A price listing for Street Fighter IV appeared online today, and it came in at 2,394,000 yen, which is about $23,092.52. I’m really hoping than extra zero was tacked onto that price accidentally, because it would take quite some time for an arcade operator to make a profit on a single machine, let alone a whole row of them.

Ok, so you want to know the real reason why the listing is so high? Well, it’s because the game uses LAN to handle matchmaking, and the game comes in sets of 4 cabinets (minimum). Basically operators still have to drop the $23k, but at least that gets them four cabinets. But still, it’s going to take a while to turn a good profit on those things…

So here are the top selling games for each platform so far this generation in Japan. Thanks to NeoGAF for helping to pull the numbers together in one spot and offer them up in English. Also, you can see how much each system has sold to date.

Nintendo Wii - 5,366,963 systems sold
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1. Wii Sports - Nintendo - 2,750,365
2. Wii Play - Nintendo - 2,198,039
3. Wii Fit - Nintendo - 1,450,509
4. Super Smash Brothers Brawl - Nintendo - 1,247,632
5. Mario Party 8 - Nintendo - 1,181,118
6. Super Mario Galaxy - Nintendo - 872,463
7. Wario Ware: Smooth Moves Wii - Nintendo - 568,623
8. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo - 552,476
9. Mario & Sonic at Olympics - Nintendo - 510,465
10. Super Paper Mario - Nintendo - 505,491

PlayStation 3 - 1,914,659 systems sold
—————————-
1. Everybody’s Golf 5 - SCEJ - 384,882
2. Shin Sangoku Musou - Koei - 356,266
3. Gundam Musou - Koei - 312,674
4. Winning Eleven 2008 - Konami - 275,069
5. Devil May Cry 4 - Capcom - 266,293
6. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (BR version) - SCEJ - 202,131
7. Ridge Racer 7 - Bandai Namco - 149,648
8. Gundam: Target in Sight - Bandai Namco - 146,199
9. Resistance - SCEJ - 136,492
10. BladeStorm: The Hundred Years War - Koei - 118,079

Xbox360 - 587,012 systems sold
—————————–
1. Blue Dragon - MS - 203,740
2. Dead or Alive 4 - Tecmo - 108,618
3. Lost Odyssey - MS - 104,417
4. Ace Combat 6 - Bandai Namco - 94,057
5. Halo 3 - MS - 83,696
6. Ridge Racer 6 - Bandai Namco - 73,501
7. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Spike - 72,274
8. Trusty Bell - Bandai Namco - 70,435
9. Gears of War - MS - 68,270
10. Dead Rising - Capcom - 68,078

As expected, the Wii is crushing the PS3 and 360, but the software numbers are insane. You can take the top selling title for the PS3 or the 360 and they wouldn’t even fall in the Wii’s top 10. It should be a little worrisome however that 3rd parties have basically no representation in the Wii charts. We keep hearing that certain 3rd party titles are selling well (especially Capcom’s offerings), but they can’t seem to measure up to Nintendo’s own offerings in Japan.

As a result of debt and the severe need for restructuring, the Ziff Davis group is filing for bankruptcy. Ziff Davis is home to the 1up network, Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine, Games for Windows magazine, and other popular online destinations and print publications. In addition to filing for bankruptcy, the Ziff Davis group is set to undergo a reorganization, but the specific details haven’t been announced.

Electronic Gaming Monthly is the gaming magazine I still bother reading (outside of GameRoom Magazine), and I’d hate to see this have a negative impact on the publication. The magazine has already been thinning a lot lately, but the content that is in there is still good and well worth reading. The 1up Network also hosts the best gaming podcasts, and their editors are the most brutally honest in the online realm.

Good luck Ziff Davis, here’s hoping for a quick bounce back!

No, not Mario games plus Sonic games, but rather Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has sold over 5 million copies to date. Between the DS and Wii versions, this game is blowing up in every territory, and that’s before the expected sales bump that the game will receive once the Beijing Olympic games roll around. By most accounts the game was merely average (I never tried it), but this is definitely a sign that Mario and Sonic still have some serious draw.

So does this mean that we’ll be seeing more Mario and Sonic crossover titles? Maybe. Sonic is already in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to see Nintendo and Sega getting the characters together again in some sort of racer or other type of party game. With the sales that this game has received, you can count on seeing Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games two years from now.

Awesome. I’m a big fan of the shmup (shoot ‘em up) genre, so Cave announcing that they’re bringing two of their hit titles (well, hit by shmup standards) to the 360 is a very nice thing to hear. The games are DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou and Ketsui - Kizuna Jigoku Tachi–both of which are praised by fans of the genre. Announced on a Japanese web site, which is totally written in Japanese (just trust me), the games will be seeing an Asian release some time later this year. There’s no word yet whether or not the games will be coming Stateside or if they’ll be region locked to Asia, but we can only hope.

Ketsui (shown on the left) is available only in the arcades right now, so odds are you haven’t had a chance to play it, but DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou (right) is available for PS2, if you can hunt down a copy. If you’re a fan of shooters, keep an eye on these games, as they’re sure to be the finest available for the 360 once they release.

Phil Harrison, after spending 15 years with Sony, is leaving the company to accept a position as President at Infogrames/Atari. With Atari’s recent troubles, it seems weird that Phil would be joining up with them, especially since the PSP and PS3 are really picking up momentum right now. Of the move, Phil said, “This is the perfect time to join Infogrames and help shape the future of Atari - one of the industry’s legendary brands. As the game business moves rapidly online I believe we have an outstanding opportunity to create amazing network game and community experiences for players the world over. I am especially excited to be working on this challenge together with David, one of the most respected leaders and successful executives in our industry.”

Just a year ago Phil Harrison was showing us “Gaming 2.0″ with Home, LittleBigPlanet, and the future of the PS3 and PSP at GDC 2007. While I’m sure that Home and LBP are in good hands, it’s strange seeing the guy that championed the projects more than anybody else walk away before their official release.

Good luck, Phil. I’d love nothing more than to see you revitalize the Atari name. I just don’t fully understand the jump from a highly stable job environment to such a shaky one. Maybe the guy likes a challenge, huh?

No, there’s not a new version of the Vectrex being released, and no, a successor isn’t in the works. What is happening is that I picked up a Vectrex along with 8 games, and it’s on its way right now to my humble little home. The Vectrex will take up residency in the arcade room, right between Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man on a table (which also has a Virtual Boy fighting for attention).

I’ve always loved the vector games and how impressive they look in person. I’ve never owned a Vectrex, so this is going to be quite the treat for me. Ever since I added Asteroids to my arcade, I’ve been itching to get more vector-based games. While the Vectrex isn’t exactly an arcade machine, it’s pretty close.

Now if I can just get my hands on that Star Wars arcade game I’ve been chasing around…