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NPD Sales Numbers for November 2008
- Thread starter EviLore
- Start date
BishopLamont
Banned
Exactly. You know what you're getting when you buy a Wii, coming into a sales thread and complaining about it's hardcore offering is useless. It's not like Neogaf is the casual gamers hideout. We're all informed of Jade's underwear, let alone a hardcore game coming out for the Wii.Linkup said:
So Mirrors Edge bombed? *Face turns red*
See this is the problem right now as I see it. There are TOO MANY quality games on TOO SMALL of a userbase so a lot of deserving games end up doing poorly or under performing making HD consoles extremely high risk unless you are a Top studio with top notch advertising. The Western HD games market is now officially saturated and some of those resources HAVE to be moved over to Wii or else publishers will continue to poor money into a black hole. So instead of concentrating 85% of your quality development houses to HD consoles they need to make the split closer to 60/40. The HD teams may tease the teams who have to make Wii games but the alternative is a whole lot worse.
See this is the problem right now as I see it. There are TOO MANY quality games on TOO SMALL of a userbase so a lot of deserving games end up doing poorly or under performing making HD consoles extremely high risk unless you are a Top studio with top notch advertising. The Western HD games market is now officially saturated and some of those resources HAVE to be moved over to Wii or else publishers will continue to poor money into a black hole. So instead of concentrating 85% of your quality development houses to HD consoles they need to make the split closer to 60/40. The HD teams may tease the teams who have to make Wii games but the alternative is a whole lot worse.
soldat7 said:
If you're someone who only plays a new game for a couple of hours, gets bored and demands the newest thing off the block then yes, the Wii's Christmas lineup is very paltry. However there are a ton of games with insane replay value on offer, from Smash Bros. multitude of unlockables to Boom Blox and Blast Works' custom creation elements, not to mention the ton of Virtual Console and WiiWare titles on offer, classics and classic-to-bes and some very competent B-quality third party titles like Monster Lab.
At the moment I am playing Animal Crossing on the machine - it's alright, very incremental and dare I say it half-arsed, but this game alone has literally years of content to it - you won't see everything on offer until about February 2010 at the earliest. Plus it has functional online capabilities which offers more incentive to use it, as well as the promise of special presents from Nintendo once in a while. And I still have Boom Blox and Battalion Wars 2 to play through. And a lot of the VC titles which I impulsed-bought, which so happen to be the Super Metroid, Link to the Past and other creams of the crop.
So yes, if you were after something NEW this Christmas and you are a hardcore gamer then bad luck. But if the question is am I satisfied with the Wii's to-date lineup as a hardcore gamer then I would say I have had my money's worth from it for definite. Sales admittedly do make me feel all smug and stuff but don't believe for a minute that I am staring at this thread's OP on the Wii Browser all day instead of playing some actual games on it.
And unlike most Wii fans I went through that entire post without mentioning Super Mario Galaxy. Or Metroid Prime Corruption. Or Twilight Princess.
Oh wait... shit. Sorry.
EDIT: And Geometry Wars Galaxies was a fun hardcore title, especially when attempting to get all the Gold spiky medal things.
Aaron Strife
Banned
I certainly realize that holiday 2008 has been light on Wii releases, but I'm not going to piss and moan about it because I know that 2009 is looking to be better. Punch-Out, S&P2, MadWorld, HotD, MH3, the new Tales, with more to be announced. And NMH2 and Dragon Quest in 2010. It's actually looking like there's more than I'll probably be able to afford to buy, so that's pretty telling... For me, anyway, but since you're asking me, I guess that's more important.soldat7 said:
Sure, why not? I expected out of Wii what I've expected of every Nintendo console - primarily used for Nintendo's first-party efforts with the occasional third-party gem.
BishopLamont said:
I have similar concerns for the other consoles as well. MS hasn't shown their cards and I'm not terribly interested in many of the '09 Sony properties; however, I'm much more concerned about Nintendo. I'll probably burn through all of the Wii games I'm interested in in 6 months and I'm simply trying to understand the frothing optimism and gloating over Wii sales when none of the Wii games that charted high in the NPD are even remotely 'hardcore'.
As someone mentioned (you?) why does Nintendo need to do take action to make more money when they're already making plenty? Likewise why does Nintendo need to take action to satiate the hardcore when they're doing just fine and the 'Nintendo hardcore' seem happy?
Just some thoughts.
Why would anyone make gifs and happy comments while witnessing the slow death rattle of traditional gaming? Do you want traditional gaming to die? If so, well then good game. You guys are winning.
My hope is still there, there's still time to come back. Tides turn all the time.
My hope is still there, there's still time to come back. Tides turn all the time.
Eteric Rice
Member
skyfinch said:
Over 9000! (2,000,000)
To watch people like yourself bitch and whine.
Segata Sanshiro
Member
Well, for some people, traditional gaming, particularly on the consoles, died a long time ago.Tabris said:
For others... well, it's going to happen whether people laugh or not, might as well go down smiling.
boiled goose
good with gravy
soldat7 said:
People have mentioned multiple times that this fall was bad...
what do you expect people to do?
A) Look at the future with optimism
B) sell their wii
C) whine
Doesnt A) seem like the most reasonable one?
I just dont know what you want to get at???
boiled goose
good with gravy
Tabris said:
No its not..
its like saying the recession sucks, but there is stuff to look forward to later.
Tabris said:
What the hell is traditional gaming anyways....???
Mario brothers?
Gears of war?
Contra?
Pong?
People were saying the same thing when PS1 became successful... things were too cinematic, etc.. it wasnt true gameplay,etc..
People said the same thing when ps2 was winning.. madden, gta and the casuals of the time...
seriously...
How is traditional gaming ending?
gears of war sold over a million
so did Cod
mario kart is doing well.. (did people say same thing when it came out on the snes... seems traditional gaming is doing fine...)
music games are doing awesome( did people no like GH1 on ps2,, samba on DC)
halo 3 outsold, 1,2
brawl outsold melee
mgs4 had an amazing debut on a small userbase
indie devs like 2d boy are getting opportunities through psn, wiiware, xbla
??? i just dont understand
SovanJedi said:
I've picked up:
Okami
Zelda TP (GC)
Mario Galaxy
RE4
SMBB
Mario Kart
I plan on picking up:
MP, MP2, MP3
Zelda WW
Zelda Collector's (for MM)
GW Galaxies
Zack & Wiki
I will have plenty to play for the here and now. I just hope that Nintendo is focused on a diverse library that can include WiiFit 2 as well as titles I care about.
Shaheed79 said:
I think traditional gaming is very alive and well. The market is big enough to support both camps, to put it simply. Graves were dug not by excluding the Wii, they were dug by shoving everything out for the holidays.
Segata Sanshiro
Member
What can I say? Emotions are ultimately internal things, and ultimately each of us can decide whether we want to be happy, sad, angry, or whatever. Am I happy about the recession? Nope. Do I make a lot of tacky jokes about it and cheer the Dow to make new record drops just for the sake of seeing how much things can burn? Yeah, I do. It's how I deal with things.Tabris said:
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
Fredescu said:
I was talking about "full games" at retail not some pick up and play indie games.
There is a three mile high difference between "The Dishwasher" and "Muramasa".
Aaron Strife
Banned
Who said anything about "barely"?HK-47 said:
1) Wii Fit 2 doesn't even exist, though I'm just splitting hairs on that one.soldat7 said:
2) There are like five Wii ___ things. There are like 25 non Wii ___ things. Do the math.
Saint Gregory
Member
-ImaginaryInsider said:
That's actually a really easy question to answer. Take a look at the OP. Do you see how many games 360 owner purchased last month? Now imagine if Wii owners bought games at the same rate.
The reason Nintendo will want to turn the casual gamers they snagged this gen into core gamers next gen is because core gamers buy more games. They'll still release games like Wii Fit and Brain Age but they can't expect people to play casual games forever without the risk of them getting bored and moving on.
If they're successful some of those gamers will become hardcore gamers and in a few gens they'll have a major reset like they had this one and those gamers will bitch on message boards without end about how their Wii3s are collecting dust.
The console circle of life...
This isn't it either. Publishers are releasing the same amount of holiday titles they always have been it's just that before most of those were being made for the market leader and not the 2 runner ups. Publishers have been releasing games on HD consoles all year long and we still see quality games bomb because the HD market just isn't big enough to support it.soldat7 said:
soldat7 said:
Ooh, Zack & Wiki, good call. I can't believe I forgot it! Some on-rail shooters like RE:UC and the House of the Dead collection/Ghost Squad will do nicely too. I'd look into No More Heroes, Excite Truck, Elebits and Wario Land too, so long as the games sound appealing to your personal preferences - I think all four are quality titles considering their own pluses and minuses.
Well by the time you're finished with that lot then titles like Punch Out!!, Dynamic Slash, Sin & Punishment 2 and Endless Ocean 2 will be out, as well as lesser third party titles like Deadly Creatures. To me those are all titles I am looking forward to and seem pretty top quality, and with the exception of EO2 are pretty traditional games.
Also if you are after WiiWare titles, get Mega Man 9 (if you haven't already on XBLA/PSN), Lost Winds, Space Invaders Get Even, Alien Crush Returns and maybe look into the Strong Bad games. Again, titles I have downloaded and personally enjoyed over the last year or so.
There's also De Blob and a bunch of other Wii titles I haven't even bothered with so don't think this is an extensive list. What the Wii lacks in major blockbuster Hollywood-budget epics like Dead Space, it certainly makes up for in variety. There is guaranteed to be something you'll enjoy, I reckon. Well, hope.
...anyway this is going way off topic. I'd be interested to know how much MKWii, Wii Play, Wii Fit and Wii Music go up in December's NPD, or if they raise at all. They seem to be pretty evergreen now. Mario Kart's sales in particular are utterly insane.
Shaheed79 said:
Mirror Edge was released on a 18.5M userbase, which is higher then the Wii's. The problem was it was crowded with a lot of high quality games, there are going to be failures at Christmas time. There always has been, even during the PS2. Publishers need to be smarter about releasing there games.
That is exactly my point. This is the first generation where the publishers don't put the majority of their resources and support behind the MARKET LEADER and it's really starting to show. This isn't just about Mirrors Edge. This about all the games. Really look at that top 20. Most HD games seem to have terrible legs. There are great games that came out last month that are now nowhere to be seen. They get like a blip in the top 10 or 20 then their gone. This is because the userbase is way too strained.JudgeN said:
Saint Gregory
Member
Shaheed79 said:
I always think about the way 3rd parties have focused so heavily on HD as being bad because it's a dangerous gamble if your game doesn't perform (with the high production costs and such) but the fact that they're putting all their games on roughly half the existing consoles out there never even occured to me.
titiklabingapat
Member
Exactly his point.JudgeN said:
edit: beaten by 9 minutes! :lol
Well supposedly all these games were going to be coming to Wii with it's larger userbase etc. etc. and it just isn't happening at this point. As long as you have PS3/360 the big hits will keep on coming. Some games might get lost in the shuffle but it's not a big deal. They could always port down to Wii at some point in the future. Everyone can see what types of games are selling well on Wii, the HD consoles seem to be after a different market.
Azelover
Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
Tabris said:
I think for the next 20 years it's changing, but not as much as people like to think. Traditional gaming will continue but in a different way, it has to change in nature slightly but not as dramatically as it's made to believe.
I don't think that's the issue though the real mourning is about graphics and some of those old values going away. The problem is those things were going to gradually become stale and unsustainable even if there was no challenge to the established formulas, so it's really something that was part of the future anyway.
There's no winning or losing of shape to gaming, the future always wins, it's just who is able see it in advance, take it seriously and ride the trend. This kind of trend doesn't change artificially, no matter who you're rooting for, it's going there anyway.
Ganondorfo
Junior Member
1)Why couldn't gamecube be this successful?
2)I don't get it, xbox 360 and PS3 have more games than Wii every month released, yet they are getting ass kicked by the wii.
2)I don't get it, xbox 360 and PS3 have more games than Wii every month released, yet they are getting ass kicked by the wii.
BishopLamont
Banned
1) One Gamecube is not enough, you need two to attract the massesGanondorfo said:
2) People don't play games, they play consoles. GAF is a perfect example of this.
Gary Whitta
Member
Ganondorfo said:
Thwe Wii is just like the DS no one thought it would do anything .. then it sold a bit. and a bit more and bit more. It wasnt until the end of the 2 year that some big name games were announced for the DS. from then on it got a lot of big time support.
The question is. if that time comes for the WIi ar eyou guys going yto sit in the corner and pout or actually play the games?
The question is. if that time comes for the WIi ar eyou guys going yto sit in the corner and pout or actually play the games?
What I find amusing is that during the slow months when a quality HD game sold poorly or below expectations the excuse was "what did you expect? These are the slow months." and now that we see quality HD games selling poorly during the big holiday sales period we get "they should have released more games during the slow periods.". I'm not saying timing isn't important but that is not the major problem here. The problem is the stagnation of the HD market. We see 2 or 3 HD games a month do great numbers and the rest will do ok then plummet off the charts. I see this especially bad since HD games cost that much more to develop and the quality ones deserve to sit on the top of the charts for months on end.
Saint Gregory
Member
sprocket said:
The Wii has the big game in Japan now that will probably get the 3rd parties from sitting on their hands but I still wonder what that game will be in the west. As long as the heavy hitters are comming from Nintendo this "3rd parties can't compete" mantra will remain self-fulfilling.
titiklabingapat
Member
I need to refresh more, sorry!Shaheed79 said:
Saint Gregory
Member
I think the more troubling aspect is that it's getting easier and easier to predict the games that are going to do well. The 360 has been trying it's best to escape its branding as the shooter box but look what sells.Shaheed79 said:
The only story these numbers aren't telling is the humongous fucking gap between the quality of 3rd party games on the HD consoles and the Wii. Those games have huge budgets and the best 3rd party talent behind them with great advertising campaigns and the Wii has......what? Those are fantastic 3rd party Wii numbers considering the shit they put on the console.liuelson said: