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[sonycowboy]

Didn't we already read this exact same thing about Donkey Konga?

http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=8214&section=toppers&email=

Paper Mario 2 isn't going to be a million-seller out of the gate like GTA: San Andreas or Halo 2, but most retailers are expecting the title to have longer-than-typical legs. "We're anticipating strong sales as we move closer to the holidays, particularly because of the strength of the franchise. People will buy these franchise games regardless of what the rest of the industry is doing," Beck said. "Overall the title has done well, and we expected it to do well."

Nintendo is equally pleased with how the title has performed thus far. "Yes, the game is selling well and is exceeding our expectations," Nintendo's spokesperson said. Intelligent brand management and a steady sales pace should ensure Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door's success through this fall and into the holiday season.

 

[SomeDude]

It was a really good game. It deserved to sell.

 

[stewy]

I second that. I've deserted almost every other title I was playing in order to get through this game. Almost there.

 

[Deku Tree]

Paper Mario TTYD is an awesome title.

"Exceeding expectations" better mean more than 300k in it's first month (and with legs) instead of around 41k like Donkey Konga.

 

[Guileless]

When gamers check out Paper Mario 2, they're buying it for the humorous appearance of Goombas and Cheep-Cheeps, and not just for the gameplay experience itself.

lollers

 

[GDJustin]

Paper Mario TTYD is an awesome title.

"Exceeding expectations" better mean more than 300k in it's first month (and with legs) instead of around 41k like Donkey Konga.

Donkey Konga sold 41K in one week. Every indication says that it's going to ultimately be a larger success than PM2.

 

[Pellham]

Donkey Konga sold 41K in one week. Every indication says that it's going to ultimately be a larger success than PM2.

really.. I thought the expense of an extra set of drums ($30) would be more than enough to deter most casual gamers.

 

[Alcibiades]

not surprised at all... Nintendo is going to have a great October in spite of Deception and San Andreas...

Player's Choice Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and Animal Crossing, Donkey Konga word-of-mouth sales taking off, and Paper Mario 2...

 

[TheGreenGiant]

Great news. RPG goodness + Mario Paper Goodness = sales.

 

[DJ Demon J]

not surprised at all... Nintendo is going to have a great October in spite of Deception and San Andreas...

Player's Choice Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and Animal Crossing, Donkey Konga word-of-mouth sales taking off, and Paper Mario 2...

Speaking of Player's Choice, have they lowered it to $19.99 yet?

 

[jarrod]

Speaking of Player's Choice, have they lowered it to $19.99 yet?

You're about a year late.

 

[human5892]

Donkey Konga sold 41K in one week. Every indication says that it's going to ultimately be a larger success than PM2.

Less, even -- it came out on September 27, which means it only had three days in September to rack up that 41k in the NPD.

 

[sonycowboy]

Less, even -- it came out on September 27, which means it only had three days in September to rack up that 41k in the NPD.

Retail month. It came out on the 27th which was a Monday and sold through Saturday for the NPD. Now some stores probably didn't get it until Tuesday, but that still gives 5 days.

 

[human5892]

Retail month. It came out on the 27th which was a Monday and sold through Saturday for the NPD. Now some stores probably didn't get it until Tuesday, but that still gives 5 days.

Ah, sorry -- I didn't realize the setup for the NPD.

 

[Alcibiades]

some stores were advertising it as getting it Wed. or Thursday though (even if they got it "early" on Tuesday)...

I know my Best Buy had them stashed in the back all week (went on Wed. and Thrus.)

 

[MoxManiac]

I think it could have strong sales for awhile. I know i'm picking it up next year since it's lower on the priority list then the other games I want this fall/winter.

 

[Subitai]

It's got Mario in the title. That's 200k+ bare minimum before the end of the year.

 

[DJ Demon J]

You're about a year late.

Seriously? I could've sworn it was still $29.99 a few months ago. Great, glad to see they came to their senses. Was this timed with the $99 price drop?

 

[jarrod]

Seriously? I could've sworn it was still $29.99 a few months ago. Great, glad to see they came to their senses. Was this timed with the $99 price drop?

Yeah, they've had a range for awhile (since mid 2003). Most new games are debuting at $19.99 in the line, in fact I think they all are now (The Wind Waker just hit PC at that price).

It's worth noting though that SCEA's PS2 Greatest Hits line actually started out at $24.99 MSRP in 2002 (as did PS1 before it). Only Xbox's Platinum Hits line has started out at the $19.99 price point for consoles.

 

[DJ Demon J]

It's worth noting though that SCEA's PS2 Greatest Hits line actually started out at $24.99 MSRP in 2002 (as did PS1 before it). Only Xbox's Platinum Hits line has started out at the $19.99 price point for consoles.

Really? This is news to my ears. Very interesting. How long did they remain at the $24.99 price point?

 

[Mr_Furious]

Either Nintendo's being modest or they don't have high expectations nowadays for many of their own products, it seems.

 

[jarrod]

Really? This is news to my ears. Very interesting. How long did they remain at the $24.99 price point?

Not long, I think everything was $19.99 by 2003 on PS2. No idea about PS1 though.

Nintendo did reissue some of their old NES games in the early 1990s at $19.99 too, but that wasn't really an all encompassing budget line (neither were the SNES/GB Player's Choice lines btw). I think Sega also had a reissue line for Genesis too, but I'm not sure.

 

[snapty00]

"We expect that Paper Mario will sell at least 1000 units in its lifetime."

The game sells 2000 its first week.

"Expectations exceeded!"

 

[Link316]

I think Sega also had a reissue line for Genesis too, but I'm not sure.

Sega called it "Sega Classics", came in ugly blue cases and selection was very limited, was just Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and maybe 1 or 2 more titles

 

[SyNapSe]

Hopefully this game pulls great sales. It really looks like it deserves it. I definately think this game could have "legs"..

 

[impirius]

I could've told you it's a best seller just from looking at the box.

 

[SyNapSe]

I could've told you it's a best seller just from looking at the box.

No, it was a best seller. It is now Exceeding that status.. into.. super unbelievable seller!

 

[GDJustin]

It's got Mario in the title. That's 200k+ bare minimum before the end of the year.

That's what the article is basically about, in a nutshell.

 

[op_ivy]

my TRU was sold out

 

[jarrod]

Sega called it "Sega Classics", came in ugly blue cases and selection was very limited, was just Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and maybe 1 or 2 more titles

Huh, Interesting...

 

[impirius]

No, it was a best seller. It is now Exceeding that status.. into.. super unbelievable seller!

Awesome! I can't wait until the new boxes come out that say Super Unbelievable Seller... I'll trade mine in and get one of those

 

[GDJustin]

Awesome! I can't wait until the new boxes come out that say Super Unbelievable Seller... I'll trade mine in and get one of those

Har har har, guys

What you need to understand is that every Thursday I have to have a Chart Toppers written about a recent game that is performing well. I need to analyze why, get applicable quotes, examine the hype, etc. The problem is it has to be about a game that was released a week or two previously. That means I don't have any retail data. No publisher or retail outlet is willing to divulge any actual #s to me either

The piece shouldn't be seen as "news" that a game is meeting or exceeding expectations, and is more just a look deeper in a game that is doing well.

 

[sonycowboy]

Har har har, guys

What you need to understand is that every Thursday I have to have a Chart Toppers written about a recent game that is performing well. I need to analyze why, get applicable quotes, examine the hype, etc. The problem is it has to be about a game that was released a week or two previously. That means I don't have any retail data. No publisher or retail outlet is willing to divulge any actual #s to me either

The piece shouldn't be seen as "news" that a game is meeting or exceeding expectations, and is more just a look deeper in a game that is doing well.

Now your just trying to cover up your obvious Nintendo bias! First Donkey Konga, now this. NO PS2 Exclusives!

JK,

Here's the history of the articles:
1) Doom 3
2) Burnout 3
3) Fable
4) Sims
5) Katamari Damacy
6) Donkey Konga
7) THUG 2
8) Paper Mario

 

[Justin Bailey]

Am I the only one that thinks a game like Konga selling 40K in one week is actually pretty damn good?

 

[Mrbob]

I predicted 211K for October.

Let's see how close my prediction is.

 

[GDJustin]

Now your just trying to cover up your obvious Nintendo bias! First Donkey Konga, now this. NO PS2 Exclusives!

I think it's safe to say that that trend will be broken next week.

 

[sonycowboy]

I think it's safe to say that that trend will be broken next week.

You're not going to take the easy way out and do GTA are you?

You'd damn well better get some numbers for us. We've got the monthly NPD pool going around here. What were their preorders vs shipments vs sales? How would they characterize the first week vs the first week of GTA:VC and try to get a sales percentage comparison

 

[GDJustin]

You're not going to take the easy way out and do GTA are you?

You'd damn well better get some numbers for us. We've got the monthly NPD pool going around here. What were their preorders vs shipments vs sales? How would they characterize the first week vs the first week of GTA:VC and try to get a sales percentage comparison

I try every week, believe me. Actually, I take that back. I've stopped trying. Publishers just say they can't tell me, and retailers won't tell me how many that had shipped to them either. Your best bet will be to see if Take Two releases a "hey, we rock!" press release next monday as publisher's often do when their game sells through a million or more the first week. Remember the Fable PR

 

[sonycowboy]

I try every week, believe me. Actually, I take that back. I've stopped trying. Publishers just say they can't tell me, and retailers won't tell me how many that had shipped to them either. Your best bet will be to see if Take Two releases a "hey, we rock!" press release next monday as publisher's often do when their game sells through a million or more the first week. Remember the Fable PR

I know

That's why maybe percentages would help.

1) What percentage sale through did they get for the initial shipment? We know that 4.5 million were shipped worldwide.
2) You could also try for a percentage sales vs Vice City. They both only had one week of sales in December and we know that Vice City sold 1.5 million NPD that month.
3) Did Rockstar limit shipments like for Vice City? (they did it purposely to book sales to the next fiscal year)
4) Have they reordered?
5) Do they expect it to be the top seller this year? They know Halo 2's preorders and most likely have a model for what that game will sell based on that model.

 

[human5892]

Am I the only one that thinks a game like Konga selling 40K in one week is actually pretty damn good?

Nope -- it sure as hell passed my expectations of first week sales.

I'll be very interested to see what kind of units it moved this month.

 

[Mejilan]

Both games deserve it, imho. Though, Pikmin deserved it more than DKa.

 

[sonycowboy]

Nope -- it sure as hell passed my expectations of first week sales.

I'll be very interested to see what kind of units it moved this month.

Donkey Konga selling 40k in one week is not good. A disproportianate amount of a titles sales happen in the first week in relation to it being out 4 weeks. It may be that the title caught people off guard, that word of mouth will sell it, or even that the fact that it doesn't fit well in normal software facings thus it gets put in strange places, but 40k is not good. Many, many other titles have sold very well after only being out one week.

Not that it's bad. It could come back and sell 150k this month, which would be really good, or is it? For you guys saying 40k is good for the first week, what would be good for October?

 

[TheGreenGiant]

Donkey Konga selling 40k in one week is not good. A disproportianate amount of a titles sales happen in the first week in relation to it being out 4 weeks. It may be that the title caught people off guard, that word of mouth will sell it, or even that the fact that it doesn't fit well in normal software facings thus it gets put in strange places, but 40k is not good. Many, many other titles have sold very well after only being out one week.

Not that it's bad. It could come back and sell 150k this month, which would be really good, or is it? For you guys saying 40k is good for the first week, what would be good for October?

SCB. Are you saying that the sales are bad for a game from this particular genre? I don't expect DK to sell well at all. Too esoteric and oddball.

 

[sonycowboy]

SCB. Are you saying that the sales are bad for a game from this particular genre? I don't expect DK to sell well at all. Too esoteric and oddball.

Nope. I think it sold OK. However, I wouldn't categorize it as good, especially given many people's expectations for it before the numbers came out. However, I do believe that word of mouth will be good and my nephew (5) loves it. And so do his parents, to the tune of double bongos.

 

[human5892]

Donkey Konga selling 40k in one week is not good. A disproportianate amount of a titles sales happen in the first week in relation to it being out 4 weeks. It may be that the title caught people off guard, that word of mouth will sell it, or even that the fact that it doesn't fit well in normal software facings thus it gets put in strange places, but 40k is not good. Many, many other titles have sold very well after only being out one week.

The problem is, Donkey Konga, as a game in a niche genre on a niche system, can't be fairly compared to those many other titles that have sold better in their first week. I maintain that in the context of the situation, Donkey Konga's sales are impressive.

Not that it's bad. It could come back and sell 150k this month, which would be really good, or is it? For you guys saying 40k is good for the first week, what would be good for October?

If Donkey Konga was at a total of 150k-200k at the end of October, I'd consider that spectacular.

 

[Alcibiades]

Donkey Konga WILL sell 200,000 by the end of October, maybe even much more...

This might even overshadow upcoming games like Mario Tennis and Echoes in terms of Christmas clout...

 

[AniHawk]

Donkey Konga WILL sell 200,000 by the end of October, maybe even much more...

This might even overshadow upcoming games like Mario Tennis and Echoes in terms of Christmas clout...

I thought I demanded your letter of resignation a few days ago.

 

[={<SMOKE>}=]

paper mario rocks. i just beat hooktail, so i don't think i'm that far, but this game is a prime example of nintendo's "simpler is better" philosophy. the art rocks, the game is actually funny at times, and the play mechanics, while simple, keep me into it. the addition of the crowds and stage for the battles is a brilliant touch. i'm loving it!