The Stupid Gamer

Nintendo’s Japanese Media Summit conference has just concluded, and I must say it was one hell of a ride. In addition to a flurry of announcements regarding the Wii and the new DSi, they also released a list of the Wii’s line up for the remainder of 2008 and a preliminary lineup for 2009 in Japan. The titles in BOLD and marked as NEW are games announced at the conference. (List stolen from Neo-GAF)

2008

• Wii Music (Nintendo) 10/16
• Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) 11/20
• The Melancholy of Haruhi (Kadokawa Shoten) 11/27
• Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes (Capcom) 12/11
• 428 (Sega) 12/4
• Samba de Amigo (Sega) 12/11
• Let’s Tap (Sega) Dec. 2008
• Cooking Mama 2 (Taito) 12/4
• Rygar: Muscle Impact (Tecmo) Dec. 2008
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Activision) 10/16
• Karaoke Joysound Wii (Hudson) 12/18
• Sky Crawlers (Bandai-Namco) 10/16
• Happy Dance Collection (Bandai-Namco) 10/23
• Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard (Bandai-Namco) 11/13
• Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (Bandai-Namco) 12/4
• Taiko Drum Master Wii (Bandai-Namco) 12/11
• Tenchu 4 (From Software) 10/23
• Harvest Moon: Exciting Animal March (Marvelous) 10/30
• Rune Factory Frontier (Marvelous) 11/27
• Shape Boxing (Rocket Co.) 10/30

2009

• Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) Spring
• Start w/ 100 Conversations! English Conversation (Nintendo) 2009   NEW
  
• Punch-Out!! (Nintendo) 2009   NEW
  
• Trace Memory: R, Gateway of Memory (Nintendo) 2009   NEW
  
• Kensax (Nintendo) 2009   NEW
  
• Cosmic Walker (Nintendo) 2009   NEW
  
• Spawn Smasher (Nintendo) 2009   NEW
  
• Dynamic [illegible] (Nintendo) 2009   NEW
  
• Takt of Magic (Nintendo) 2009
• Sin & Punishment 2 (Nintendo) 2009   NEW
  
• Forever Blue 2: Beautiful Ocean (Nintendo) 2009   NEW
  
• Everyone’s the Star on the NHK Red-and-White Quiz Battle (Nintendo) 2009
• Line Attack Heroes (Nintendo) 2009
• Castlevania: Judgment (Konami) Winter 2008-2009
• Dead Rising: Zombies’ Sacrifice (Capcom) Winter 2008-2009
• FFCC: Echoes of Time (Square-Enix) 1/29   NEW
  
• Sonic and the Black Knight (Sega) Spring
• Fragile (Bandai-Namco) Winter 2008-2009
• Arc Rise Fantasia (Marvelous) Winter 2008-2009
• Oboro Muramasa (Marvelous) Spring   NEW
  

The NPDs are out and fanboys are throwing stones and making excuses once again. As usual, the DS and Wii topped the charts, with the PSP coming in third. The Xbox 360 managed to outsell the PS3 after failing to do so for the entire summer, and that’s still before the recent price drop (sales of the cheaper 360 will be in next month’s NPD). Sales should begin picking up steam as we near the holiday season and bigger games are making their way to the shelves. On the software front, Madden dominated. It’s kind of sad too, because this year’s Madden was a mess. I don’t think we’ve had a good Madden since Madden 2004, but the thing continues to sell like crazy anyway. I don’t understand why people don’t pick up a different NFL ga–oh wait, it’s the only option.

Hardware Sales

1. Nintendo DS - 518,300
2. Nintendo Wii - 453,000
3. Sony PSP - 253,000
4. Xbox 360 - 195,200
5. PlayStation 3 - 185,400
6. PlayStation 2 - 144,100

Top Ten Software Sales

1. 360 Madden NFL 09 - 1,000,000
2. PS3 Madden NFL 09 - 643,000
3. PS2 Madden NFL 09 - 424,500
4. Wii Wii Fit - 394,900
5. Wii Mario Kart - 328,700
6. Wii Wii Play w/ Remote - 200,200
7. 360 Soulcalibur IV - 174,000
8. 360 Too Human - 168,200
9. Wii Madden NFL 09 - 115,800
10. NDS Guitar Hero: On Tour - 111,200

Pretty predictable month, overall. I’m sure Denis Dyack isn’t too happy that Too Human debuted so softly. Perhaps it will get a holiday bump, but it’s going to take an absolute miracle for that game to sell more than 350,000 copies. Given the fact that development started on that game over 10 years ago on the PSOne, that’s gotta sting quite a bit.

Microsoft has announced that the sales of the Xbox 360 have doubled since the recent price drop. As always, we won’t have specific numbers until the NPD hits next month, but it seems that Microsoft is setting themselves up for a big holiday run with a lower priced console and some big hitter games.

If you don’t have an Xbox 360 yet, now is pretty much the best time to get one. You can enjoy quite a bit of the library for a pretty good price, and the holiday lineup is stellar. Just make sure that if you go out and get one that you steer clear of the Arcade pack, it’s a terrible waste of money and Microsoft should be ashamed of themselves for still offering it.

The chart below was taken from a recent article posted at Edge Online that talks about the financial performance of the industry’s top publishers. Taking a look at things, it’s easy to see why Nintendo gave us the conference they did at E3…that strategy is working. Anyway, most of Sony’s losses are due to the fact that the PS3 has been a major money pit, but I’m sure things have to be on the upswing. The original article can be found here: http://www.edge-online.com/features/edges-top-20-publishers-2008

Note: Numbers are in millions, so Sony posted a $1.255 billion loss, while Konami posted a $356 million profit.

A pretty strong month for Nintendo, again, but what’s notable is how much the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 pushed the PS3 ahead of the 360 for June. That’s a lot of systems pushed in the top three for summer months, those look more like holiday numbers. With the newest sales results, the Wii is now officially the top selling console in the United States for this generation.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS - 783,000
2. Nintendo Wii - 666,700
3. PlayStation 3 - 405,500
4. Sony PSP - 337,400
5. Xbox 360 - 219,800
6. PlayStation 2 - 188,800

Software Top Ten

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) - 774,600
2. Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS) - 422,300
3. Ninja Gaiden II (360) - 372,700
4. Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (Wii) - 372,200
5. Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii) - 359,100
6. Battlefield: Bad Company (360) - 346,800
7. Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel (Wii) - 322,400
8. Lego Indiana Jones (Wii) - 294,500
9. Lego Indiana Jones (DS) - 267,800
10. Lego Indiana Jones (PS2) - 260,300

Breakdown: Wii: 4, DS 2, 360 2, PS3 1, PS2 1

Stay tuned because in the next day or two I’ll write up my next installment of “The NPD makes people stupid”.

Yeah, you! According to the latest NPD, Boom Blox sold around 60,000 units…not exactly a great performance. The game rocks, and it’s easily accessible for experience and new gamers. If you own a Wii, there really isn’t a good excuse for passing the game by. Buy it, or I’ll make sure each of you lose something you love on Christmas!

Boom Blox was a bomb. Sad.

For shame, Wii owners. For shame!

Sadly, this month didn’t give us nearly as many gems of shameful fanboy reactions as past months have, but there were still some choice cuts to be had. Due to time constraints I only had time to comb through one forum, so I wasn’t able to hit the real fanboy havens (PS3 forums, Team Xbox), but next month I’ll plan a bit better for it. Surprisingly enough, this month’s worst comment may have come from Sony itself, but I’ll leave you guys to judge that for yourselves. Well, without further delay, here are some of the best of the worst in NPD reactions (coupled with my lame responses):

(Note: Anything in bold is from either an industry analyst or an official company PR)

—-

“horrible wii numbers”

Response: Yeah, nothing like selling three times the industry average for May, huh?

—-

Should we maybe stop looking at PS3 and the X360 as some type of failures, but rather the Wii as some super-anomaly success?

(and a few posts later when people jumped on him for calling the Wii anomaly)

And about the Wii being an anomaly, what aren’t people getting?

Every generation has a system that sticks out (hence the word anomaly!!!)

This generation it is the Wii.

An anomaly can happen more than once. It’s the deviation from the standard.

Many past systems have ‘deviated from the standard.’ Hence the use of the word ‘anomaly.’

It’s not an exclusive thing. Damn…

Sometimes I think some people posting here have never even read a book let alone know what certain words mean.

Response: So either this guy thinks that anomaly is a synonym for winner, or he’s using some extremely messed up methods for putting his own mind at ease due to his console of choice lagging behind in sales. If EVERY generation has a system that sticks out, that doesn’t make that one system an anomaly, it makes it a success. Is the NBA Finals winner an anomaly? Is the iPod an anomaly? So by definition, the Atari 2600, NES, SNES, PSOne, PS2, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, DS, and Wii are all anomalies.

—-

The continued success of GTA IV is not translating into big hardware sales for either the PS3 or the 360 but there may yet to be a lift in June due to gift-giving for Father’s Day and Graduations.

Response: Stop moving the target! The GTA effect is over. Before you know it we’ll be banking on Arbor Day to save us. I mean, it is my favorite holiday and everything, but it’s not going to be the savior of either the PS3 or 360.

—-

The PS3 LTD will pass the 360 LTD at the current rate in approximately 21 years.

Response: Bless the man who cares to whip out his calculator in the NPD threads. I wonder if he’s got any rad games on his TI-85. I had this game called Nibbles that was awesome. Nibbles was a snake that “nibbled” at pellets that made him grow. Neat!

—-

Fu** you Nintendo. Where’s my ONE MILLION Wii Fits?! Where?! There certainly not in Europe and Japan! Conservative pieces of sh**. You get the opportunity to crush these bi****s and skullfu** them while you’re at it but darthvadernooooo.jpg. Fu** you and have a nice day.

Response: Woah man, lay off the crack. This guy seems pretty unstable. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to freak out over such little things, like a company missing a shipment goal. OH GREAT! YOU MADE ME A SANDWICH AND THERE’S NOT EVEN A HINT OF DIJON MUSTARD! OH, AND IS ONE OF THOSE BBQ LAYS CHIPS CRACKED? WHERE’S MY GUN?! Also, it’s lame enough to post a .gif to convey your emotions, it’s another thing entirely to just say the file name.

—-

I predict 800,000 for PS3 next month.

Response: I predict world peace by Thursday.

—-

Microsoft should just give up. They don’t even want to compete any more. One $50 price drop in 2.5 years means their 3rd place is well deserved.

Response: By third place he means leader in overall sales (well, as of the end of May. The Wii has surpassed the 360 in the US by now). You lose a month or two by a slim margin and all of a sudden you’re a total failure and doomed to third place? Sensationalist, much?

—-

The 360 market is really saturated and I don’t think Gears of War 2 is going to make people rush out and buy a 360 when most of those people bought a 360 for the first game. Fable 2 is not a system seller either. A price drop is going to help them, but then you have to look at some of the games Sony has coming out. Resistance 2 will be every bit as big as Gears of War 2.

Response: Seeing how Resistance had zero hype outside of the PS3 fanbase, there’s no way it’s going to compete with Gears of War 2 in a head to head situation. The 360 has a way stronger install base, Gears has a stronger hype pool to draw from, and the Gears franchise is infinitely more recognizable. I’ll wager a game on it if anybody is interested. I’ll take Gears, you take Resistance. If Gears wins, you buy me a game. If Resistance wins, take your pick and I’ll ship it out.

—-

“Leading into a pivotal season packed with blockbuster titles and unique online service offerings, consumers have chosen the PS3 as their home entertainment console of choice - showcased by its year-over-year sales growth of 155 percent. With its commanding line up of software titles and enhanced movie playback capabilities, the PS3 has seen phenomenal momentum with a software sales increase of more than 234 percent and additional studio support of delivering content in the Blu-ray format. The dual platform release of the much anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV title reaffirmed its legacy on the PlayStation platform with a 6 percent higher attach rate than Xbox 360, reinforcing consumer choice of PS3. Poised for continued momentum, PS3 is delivering on its breadth and depth of exclusive titles to its gaming fans with today’s prized exclusive title launch of Metal Gear Solid 4. The media have hailed 2008 as the year of the PS3, and with solid sales and growth opportunities ahead, we feel consumers are saying the same.”

- Jack Tretton, president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America

Response: How do you respond to this? Jack is really going to claim a victory based on attach rate? Seriously? Let’s not mention the fact that the 360 version has outsold the PS3 version by almost two to one, because that would totally murder our argument. Yeah, let’s stick with the paper-thin attach rate defense. Also, the media hasn’t hailed this year as the year of the PS3…not even close. That one was pulled straight from the backside of a Sony fan site, if anything.

—-

Again, sorry guys, there weren’t a lot of gems to work with this month, but next month should be good with Metal Gear Solid 4 releasing and all the PS3 promotions ($100 gift card with console purchase at Wal-Mart) having the potential to wedge a gap between the 360 and PS3 sales numbers. Right now things are too close on that front to bring out the tears or cheers. Also, with the continued big sales of Wii Fit, the hardest of “hardcore” will keep getting nervous and they’ll be back to spitting venom in no time.

Here you go, not a whole lot of surprises here. Wii is king of consoles, and the DS mops up with the PSP. It’s worth pointing out that even though GTA IV sold more on the 360, the PS3 still outsold the 360 for the month in overall hardware sales. Also, Nintendo took 7 out of 10 in the software top 10. Here are the numbers:

Hardware

1. Nintendo Wii - 675,100
2. Nintendo DS - 452,600
3. PlayStation 3 - 208,700
4. Xbox 360 - 186,600
5. Sony PSP - 182,300
6. PlayStation 2 - 132,700

Top 10 Software

1. 360 GTA IV - 871,300
2. Wii Mario Kart Wii - 787,400
3. Wii Wii Fit - 687,700
4. PS3 GTA IV - 442,900
5. Wii Wii Play w/ Remote - 294,600
6. Wii Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 171,100
7. PS2 Iron Man - 130,600
8. Wii Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock- 116,800
9. NDS - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness - 107,000
10. NDS - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time - 102,000

Breakdown: 5 Wii, 2 for DS, 1 for PS3, 1 for 360, and 1 for PS2.

Activision has announced that sales for Call of Duty 4 has surpassed 10 million copies. They didn’t give a breakdown in numbers, but the 360 version is safely leading the pack.

Well, maybe it would be a good idea to just let Infinity Ward handle all future Call of Duty games, don’t you think? I mean, Call of Duty 3 and Big Red One aren’t horrible, but they’re nowhere near as good as 1, 2, or 4. Infinity Ward did 1, 2, and 4, Activision B teams handled the others.

Seriously though, congratulations to Infinity Ward and everybody else involved in Call of Duty 4. It’s an amazing game and I hope it continues to sell like crazy.

So April was a month everybody was watching to see how GTA IV would affect the sales landscape. Could the PS3 version move new hardware? Could GTA, a traditionally strong Sony fan title, sell more on the PS3 than the 360? Could the game propel either platform ahead of the Wii for the month? Well, here are the numbers, they clear things up quite easily.

Hardware

Nintendo Wii - 714,200
Nintendo DS - 414,800
Sony PSP - 192,000
Xbox 360 - 188,000
PlayStation 3 - 187,100
PlayStation 2 - 124,400

Software Top Ten

360 - Grand Theft Auto IV 1,850,000
Wii - Mario Kart w/ wheel 1,120,000
PS3 - Grand Theft Auto IV 1,000,000
Wii - Wii Play 360,000
Wii - Super Smash Bros. Brawl 326,000
PS3 - Gran Turismo 5: Prologue 224,000
NDS - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness 202,000
NDS - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time 202,000
Wii - Guitar Hero III 152,000
360 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 141,000

Breakdown: Wii (4), DS (2), 360 (2), PS3 (2)

I’m still confused by a few things here. I don’t understand how the PSP can be consistently beating out the 360 and PS3, yet its games aren’t charting. It seems that there are a lot of people still picking up PSPs, but that they’re either very stingy with their software money or they’re just flat out using the machine for other purposes. It’s no surprise that GTA IV came in first this month, but has to be a bit shocking that Mario Kart managed to beat out the PS3 version of GTA. It’s pretty crazy how Guitar Hero III for the Wii and Call of Duty 4 for the 360 just refuse to let go of a spot in the top ten.

So, what effect did GTA IV have? Basically none. It didn’t move new units, and it didn’t slow down the Wii or DS. Yes, it sold a lot of copies, but it seems that rather than move new hardware, it just became the bright spot in the software charts. I think both Sony and Microsoft were expecting much more of a bump.