Count Dookkake
Member
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3DS has surpassed PS3 lifetime sales in Japan
- Thread starter dmr87
- Start date
entremet
Member
Price drop
Looking at Nintendo's and the third party output in Japan eversince September 2011, it was only a matter of time. Few games sell under the 100k mark and there are a lot of titles to choose from. Now if only the west would be treated as well as Japan, everyone would be happy.
Allthough, I have 16 3DS games lol
Allthough, I have 16 3DS games lol
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
Care to elaborate? Because it is probably easier to develop for than even the 3DS, and has a much more integrated online and online store. Sure sales have been terrible, but it is hardly a terrible product.
Father_Brain
Banned
Not to get overly into semantics, but I think Vita's problems as a product are more a matter of the fundamental concept - bringing PS3-style console gaming to the handheld space - and less a matter of the actual hardware's execution of that concept.
Judged on a purely subjective basis, the actual hardware is quite nice. But it's a terrible product in that the aforementioned concept is completely removed from the reality of the 2012 handheld gaming market.
Yeah, Americans and Europeans who don't speak Japanese and don't feel like shelling out ungodly amounts of money should not be cheering this news. The divisions between our markets haven't been this stark since the days of the SNES or the Saturn maybe.
As long as Americans and Europeans continue to ignore handheld software, the 3DS ascending like this is bad news for those who want to play cool new games. It's as simple as that, sadly.
As long as Americans and Europeans continue to ignore handheld software, the 3DS ascending like this is bad news for those who want to play cool new games. It's as simple as that, sadly.
You mean from a designer's perspective? Okay, let's think of it this way. Let's imagine a generic product. Let's say I'm a designer, and I tell you I can take a bunch of electronic components and then arrange them in to a product that is so unappealing that I can't even sell it when I price it below cost.
Does that sound like a great product to you?
I actually just did post on this, but I'll provide another example to elaborate further.
Let's say I made a shoe out of different fabrics and pieces which cost 20 dollars in total. I then try to sell that shoe for 15 dollars -- less than the cost of the parts which made it up -- but despite that fact, very few people are buying. I would quite seriously be better off disassembling the shoe and selling the fabrics and pieces individually.
What do you call that? I call that a really terribly designed shoe.
hence why smartphone gaming in the west does not kill dedicated handhelds. As long as handhelds offer enough experiences that cant be done on smartphones there will always be a market for them.
Crazyorloco
Member
Wow and nintendo hasn't dropped the nukes yet...smash bros, Pokemon, brain age...
Ah, as in someone engineering it, not as a developer making something on that hardware. Yeah, I can actually see that, and that actually WOULD explain why it's got such a small niche: PSP was fresh and exciting as serious alternative to Nintendo that looked to really push hardware, and Nintendo's used novel gimmicks (that may or may not be of real use) once they needed more than raw power. Vita does kind of come off as a mid-to-high level tablet with physical controls grafted on and a back touch for some reason, and not being very compelling versus the 3DS (3D! And all those Nintendo games!) or tablets that are more practical to use period.
Well, and so long as they can profit off of them. Won't matter if 3DS hardware sales are good if the stuff I like beyond Nintendo (hell, including Nintendo beyond their core staples) doesn't do well enough for companies to consider it worthwhile. :/
Sapphire Dreams
Member
Poor Sony...
The art of design, from an economic perspective, is this:
1) Take a bunch of parts. Electronic parts, fabrics for clothing, concrete and plaster for building, what have you.
2) Rearrange these parts in a novel way so that they make something new. Take your electronic parts and create a new TV, for example. Sew the fabrics together to create a new shirt, as another example. Turn the plaster and concrete in to a new building.
3) If you've done a good job, the rearranging of these individual parts has created something more valuable than the individual parts themselves. Generally speaking, people value a TV more highly than they would if they just got all the transistors/diodes/parts for a TV individually. Turning those parts in to a TV creates value. Generally, people value a shirt more highly than they would if you tried to sell them a bunch of fabric. People will pay more for the shirt than they would for the fabrics alone. Generally speaking, people will pay more for a prepared meal at a diner than they would if you tried to sell them the same produce in a grocery store.
So if you have a situation where you put all the parts together, then try to sell the new product for less than the parts cost individually, and it still won't sell, that actually suggests you've created negative value. The product you've created is actually less valuable to people than the parts it's made of.
That is a poorly designed product. Hope that explains my reasoning here!
1) Take a bunch of parts. Electronic parts, fabrics for clothing, concrete and plaster for building, what have you.
2) Rearrange these parts in a novel way so that they make something new. Take your electronic parts and create a new TV, for example. Sew the fabrics together to create a new shirt, as another example. Turn the plaster and concrete in to a new building.
3) If you've done a good job, the rearranging of these individual parts has created something more valuable than the individual parts themselves. Generally speaking, people value a TV more highly than they would if they just got all the transistors/diodes/parts for a TV individually. Turning those parts in to a TV creates value. Generally, people value a shirt more highly than they would if you tried to sell them a bunch of fabric. People will pay more for the shirt than they would for the fabrics alone. Generally speaking, people will pay more for a prepared meal at a diner than they would if you tried to sell them the same produce in a grocery store.
So if you have a situation where you put all the parts together, then try to sell the new product for less than the parts cost individually, and it still won't sell, that actually suggests you've created negative value. The product you've created is actually less valuable to people than the parts it's made of.
That is a poorly designed product. Hope that explains my reasoning here!
+ exclusive software with mass market appeal.
See above! A system with games that people want is a system that will sell. Why it's selling in Japan is not hard to see at all (Monster Hunter, Animal Crossing, several Mario games etc.)
JRPG and niche Japanese game fans don't have much choice, and Nintendo games continue to sell Nintendo systems as they have for close to 30 years.
Yup, this. If you like games that aren't just Nintendo blockbusters, it's a kinda scary situation. It sounds comically fanboyish, but you should really be hoping for Japanese companies to announce games for the PS3. It's the best chance for localization, and even if it isn't localized, importing is an option.
Another possibility is to root for the Wii U to catch on in both territories. You're still dealing with that stupid region lock though heh.
electroplankton
Banned
On the other hand, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is showing an unexpected performance, way more than what Nintendo thought, and this leads to think that it may be the system seller the console needed.
This other chart caught my eye in the MC thread.
Which 3DS title will hit 2 million first?
Animal Crossing
Fixed that for you,
Yeah, I guess that is the big disconnect. I don't dig the same games as the 3DS audience.
Father_Brain
Banned
You're certainly entitled to your opinion of the 3DS' hardware and software library, but its success shouldn't be remotely "baffling" to anyone living outside a Vita echo chamber.
That's pretty much in line with US sales (50M PS2 for 310M people vs. 20M PS2s for 120M people). Japan liked the DS, but not so much more than the US (Japan: 33M for 120M people, US: 58M for 310M people). The PS3 is actually pretty close in sales/population between the US and Japan as well.
Source: Wikipedia.
Completely deserved, 3DS is currently my favorite system (along with PC, both of them being head and shoulders above PS3 and Wii).
Also, I find it funny that people don't get the appeal of handhelds. For one you're not attached to a TV and you can play them anywhere (and I'm talking indoors), but the best part for me is that they usually get very unique libraries, consisting almost entirely of gameplay-focused games. Plus they're home for lots of Japanese games, you're not getting Dragon Quest IX anywhere else for example. It's not even a matter of playing outside to me, as I play my handhelds mostly at home.
Also, I find it funny that people don't get the appeal of handhelds. For one you're not attached to a TV and you can play them anywhere (and I'm talking indoors), but the best part for me is that they usually get very unique libraries, consisting almost entirely of gameplay-focused games. Plus they're home for lots of Japanese games, you're not getting Dragon Quest IX anywhere else for example. It's not even a matter of playing outside to me, as I play my handhelds mostly at home.
batman2million
Member
I remember reading somewhere that Japan has much faster internet speeds than the USA. I'm assuming this accounts to why portable gaming is so popular.
I despise playing games on Wi Fi on my ps3.
I despise playing games on Wi Fi on my ps3.
You game on phones.
KillerMan91
Member
It's never going to pass DS. It's still falling more and more behind pace of DS every week. Still of course it's doing great. Should pass PSP and PS2 and become third best selling gaming console in Japan (behind DS and GameBoy).
electroplankton
Banned
Indeed. Mario, Monster Hunter, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest selling in Japan are not a novelty.
Yet here I stand, baffled.
Indeed. I'm a fan of handheld and portable gaming.
Thats the sad part.
Good for nintendo.
3ds - Great Library for Japan, under whelming hardware backed up with stupid policies like region locking.
I wish Sony rather make a Handheld/Mobile phone and back it up completely and rather leave Handheld business.
I consider that better to be honest. Nintendo tends to be more lax about letting stuff on their system and doesn't have stupid inconsistent guidelines as far as I can see anymore like Sony still does: Trails in the Sky being announced for the PS3 would've been a HUGE relief if it weren't for the fact SCEA would likely block a stand alone retail release, and may block it period on the basis of lacking trophies due to being a PSP remaster. So, Wii U catching on reasonably well internationally AND winning these developers over is probably the best case scenario for niche stuff, though I would be very happy if 3DS software sales can do well enough here to get most of the worthwhile stuff brought over.
And yeah, the region locking sucks, but it rarely actually matters for JRPGs if you don't know Japanese, only when we get situations like Xenoblade's, and I'm worried about where that'll go on the PS3 after P4A and now the Metal Gear Rising demo.
Yes, defend the 3DS by criticizing him personally. Gaf.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Any controller is more comfortable then holding a 3DS.
Just saying, those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Is that even a criticism? lol
Japan's 3DS library is solid. That's all there is to understand.
Yes. Sony is hoping to break even within 3 years of launch. From Kaz Hirai:
http://www.examiner.com/article/sony-to-sell-playstation-vita-for-a-loss-profitable-3yrs
Do note that within context of the article, it sounds like they mean they want to break even on the Vita as a venture within three years, not that they want the per unit cost to break even within three years. This would imply that they hope to break even on manufacturing much sooner (if they haven't already, as it's been a year since launch).
The Hermit
Member
the pricecut with the release of Mario 3d Land and MK7 changed eveything.
electroplankton
Banned
Well, better DQIX than nothing.
I get your point but isn't this an oversimplification of what makes a great console design? Because content matters. I don't think the vita is terribly designed at all. I think Sony has serious problems with developing compelling first party software. Something Nintendo is really good at.
Well, it could be terribly designed for a number of reason--aesthetics, functionality, etc. Your argument does not get at what terrible design the Vita has, just that it was terribly designed.
And at those numbers...Whoa.
Beaten :\
olimpia84
Member
Joking? The 3DS has a fairly decent amount of quality games out there right now. It doesn't matter if Nintendo games appeal to you or not, they are factually decent to great games and far from mediocre. Heck, even as a 'westener' I find the 3DS library to be good.