Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
On No More Heroes 2 "proving" core games don't sell on Wii:
Ayup, they'll call this fanboyism or something, but sorry, NMH2 doesn't prove a damn thing. *It doesn't matter what the critics think*. Try to understand this. The game could have gotten all 10's in a random game magazine and it would have been unlikely to help with sales. Word of mouth and game content is what sells games, even in this day and age. Huge amounts of TV marketing does far more than all the puffed up critical reviews in the world; that's what the average person tunes into, not game mags and websites.
The problem with NMH2 is several-fold. First, it follows NHM, a game that people tried to sexy up as being a savior of "hardcore" games on Wii, but really just wasn't that great. (It was okay, but not great.) It also had a typical "hyper cool" Suda look and storyline that just looks weird to the average person - that includes the average core gamer.
Second, NHM2 just looks like more of the same at a glance. Same kind of cover. Same screenshots at a passing glance, same gameplay. There's nothing there to excite the average gamer.
TvC is still managing to sell more than NHM2 - and even sell faster than it did in Japan!! - because you know why? It looks like the kind of direct, pure gamey video game that core gamers liked last generation. It's a Capcom Vs. game. It doesn't matter of the Tatsunoko characters are new to most Americans. They still look cool, basically like super heroes more than overly weird, fetishy or dragonbally animu characters. It looks great in screen shots, like something that's high energy and exploding with fun. And it has great word of mouth - everyone, not just on GAF, is screaming "OMG THIS IS F**KING AWESOME BETTER THAN BRAWL!!"
I'm not sure how far TvC will be able to go, but it's more of a REAL DAMNED CORE GAME than these edgy, pseudo-dramatic or artistic "mature" games like Dead Space: Extraction, Mad World, or No More Heroes.
Also, a thought on Bayonetta:
Bayonetta will probably have slow burning legs because it will get constant low level word of mouth about being a fantastic action game, even if it looks weird. There's no way around the fact that Bayonetta is a joke a lot of people won't grasp. I mean, some guys in this very thread tried the demo, were disturbed and confused by this hyper-sexualized character, and turned it off. Sadly, a lot of male gamers are not going to get the joke that Bayonetta is /satire/ of exploitation. (And irony! I'll be a lot of the same guys will be hyped up for God of War III with its seething, oiled up, bursting-at-the-seams manly man anti-hero.) In the long run, it will sell basically okay over time and become one of those entrenched, hardened classics ten years from now, like a Gunstar Heroes. A legend, even if it never became a huge sales phenomenon in its time.
Ayup, they'll call this fanboyism or something, but sorry, NMH2 doesn't prove a damn thing. *It doesn't matter what the critics think*. Try to understand this. The game could have gotten all 10's in a random game magazine and it would have been unlikely to help with sales. Word of mouth and game content is what sells games, even in this day and age. Huge amounts of TV marketing does far more than all the puffed up critical reviews in the world; that's what the average person tunes into, not game mags and websites.
The problem with NMH2 is several-fold. First, it follows NHM, a game that people tried to sexy up as being a savior of "hardcore" games on Wii, but really just wasn't that great. (It was okay, but not great.) It also had a typical "hyper cool" Suda look and storyline that just looks weird to the average person - that includes the average core gamer.
Second, NHM2 just looks like more of the same at a glance. Same kind of cover. Same screenshots at a passing glance, same gameplay. There's nothing there to excite the average gamer.
TvC is still managing to sell more than NHM2 - and even sell faster than it did in Japan!! - because you know why? It looks like the kind of direct, pure gamey video game that core gamers liked last generation. It's a Capcom Vs. game. It doesn't matter of the Tatsunoko characters are new to most Americans. They still look cool, basically like super heroes more than overly weird, fetishy or dragonbally animu characters. It looks great in screen shots, like something that's high energy and exploding with fun. And it has great word of mouth - everyone, not just on GAF, is screaming "OMG THIS IS F**KING AWESOME BETTER THAN BRAWL!!"
I'm not sure how far TvC will be able to go, but it's more of a REAL DAMNED CORE GAME than these edgy, pseudo-dramatic or artistic "mature" games like Dead Space: Extraction, Mad World, or No More Heroes.
Also, a thought on Bayonetta:
Bayonetta will probably have slow burning legs because it will get constant low level word of mouth about being a fantastic action game, even if it looks weird. There's no way around the fact that Bayonetta is a joke a lot of people won't grasp. I mean, some guys in this very thread tried the demo, were disturbed and confused by this hyper-sexualized character, and turned it off. Sadly, a lot of male gamers are not going to get the joke that Bayonetta is /satire/ of exploitation. (And irony! I'll be a lot of the same guys will be hyped up for God of War III with its seething, oiled up, bursting-at-the-seams manly man anti-hero.) In the long run, it will sell basically okay over time and become one of those entrenched, hardened classics ten years from now, like a Gunstar Heroes. A legend, even if it never became a huge sales phenomenon in its time.
