MEMORIAL
Captain Lou Albano (July 29, 1933 - October 14, 2009)
Hey, Pisanos! It's the Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
Pattycake, pattycake, Pasta Man / Gimme pasta power as fast as you can.
[vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsAiTeOzZls]Until next time, everybody...[/vidurl]
Maximumzero (November 24, 2004 - October 13, 2009)*
clarification: permabanned, not actually dead.
I'm 23 and all I can tell you about the Beatles is that they were the equivalent of N'Sync in the 60s.
I couldn't prove I didn't rape a murder a girl in 1999.
We will celebrate his memory, [vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH-0s0pRleg]one more time[/vidurl].
*
In lieu of flowers, please donate a copy of Glen Beck's new book to your local elementary school. Thank you.NEWS:
Halo ODST sells 2.5m since launchhttp://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-10-05-halo-spins-off-products_N.htm
About 2.5 million people have bought the latest Halo 3: ODST game ($60, for Xbox 360) since it was released two weeks ago, a nice reception for a game that doesn't star Halo main man, the Master Chief. Instead, players control a squad of futuristic special forces known as Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) deployed to fight off the enemy forces of The Covenant attacking Earth.
Already Halo 3: ODST has generated more than $125 million in sales, continuing the success of the franchise that had sold more than 27 million so far. "That's pretty good for a game that most called an 'expansion pack,' " says analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities.
Analysts forecast Sept. will see first YoY increase in the past 7 monthshttp://edge-online.com/news/us-game-sales-ps3-rebounded-in-september-analysts
Ahead of the release of September’s NPD sales data for the US game market next Thursday, analysts have predicted a return to double-digit growth after six months of decline.
Wedbush’s Michael Pachter and EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich expect monthly software sales of $750 million (up 21 per cent year-on-year) and $715 million (up 16 per cent) respectively.
On the hardware front, Pachter and Divnich expect sales to be down five per cent and four per cent year-on-year, respectively. However, either estimate would reflect a substantial rebound, as the prior five months’ unit sales were down an average of 19 per cent. Both analysts also forecast that PS3 will outsell Xbox 360 for the first time in 14 months.
software forecast:
Halo 3: ODST (360, Microsoft) - 1,800,000
Wii Sports Resort (Wii, Nintendo) - 500,000
The Beatles: Rock Band (Wii, EA) - 350,000
The Beatles: Rock Band (360, EA) - 325,000
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (360, Activision) - 300,000
OLDER NEWS
Wii price cut to $199 on Sept. 27th
REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Beginning Sunday, Sept. 27, the world’s most popular home video game system gets even more appealing. On that day, Nintendo’s suggested retail price for its record-setting Wii™ drops by $50 to $199.99. The new $199.99 Wii price point delivers the full iconic Wii gaming experience, including the motion-sensing Wii Remote™ controller, Nunchuk™ controller and Wii Sports™ software, and furthers Nintendo’s mission to expand the gaming universe by making video games accessible to more and more consumers.
Wii ownership also opens an avenue for players to the industry’s most diverse and unique collection of home console games. Key upcoming releases include Wii Fit™ Plus, launching on Oct. 4, and the first truly multiplayer Mario™ title ever, New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii.
Both new and veteran players in America can jump into this new Mario action when it arrives on Nov. 15.
And beginning Oct. 2, consumers in select cities will have a new, convenient way to decide which Nintendo adventure to tackle next. On that day, a novel series of sampling events called “World of Nintendo” kicks off in Long Beach, Calif.
“Wii has reached more video game players than any game system before because it attracts everyone—both men and women, and people of all ages,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Our research shows there are 50 million Americans thinking about becoming gamers, and this more affordable price point and our vast array of new software mean many of them can now make the leap and find experiences that appeal to them, whatever their tastes or level of gaming experience.”
PS3 Sales: weekly sales in UK up x11; In Japan, sells 150k in first week (2k last week)http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25163
According to information provided to UK site VG247 by Chart-Track, combined PS3 and PS3 Slim sales are shown in the company's system as '+999%' over the previous week.
However: "The system is set to display +999% when it encounters huge increases, so the actual increase in PS3 unit hardware sell-through is around 11X - so 11 times what PS3 was selling the previous week."
In the same period, even though the Xbox 360 is up 29% week on week, the PlayStation 3 is the top-selling console, and is outselling each of the Xbox 360, DS Lite and Wii individually by around 3:1.
According to Chart-Track, this is the first time since January 2008 that the PlayStation 3 is the best-selling console in the UK, and game sales "have increased by 17% (units) over [last week], to claim 3rd place in terms of software format units, behind Xbox 360 & Wii."
3-D : Sony will have 3-D ready for TVs and PS3, 3-D in every home in 2010http://www.mcvuk.com/news/35654/Sony-3D-TV-in-every-home-next-year
UNITED STATES
August NPD: Aug. 2nd - Aug. 29th
NDS 552.9K (+2% MoM)
Wii 277.4K (+10%)
360 215.4K (+6%)
PS3 210.0K (+71%)
PSP 140.3K (+13%)
PS2 105.9K (--%)
MADDEN NFL 10 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-09 928,000
WII SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Jul-09 754,000
MADDEN NFL 10 PS3 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-09 665,000
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM* 360 SQUARE ENIX INC Aug-09 303,000
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM* PS3 SQUARE ENIX INC Aug-09 290,000
MADDEN NFL 10 PS2 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-09 160,000
DISSIDIA: FINAL FANTASY PSP SQUARE ENIX INC Aug-09 130,000
WII FIT* WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA May-08 128,000
MARIO KART W/WHEEL WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Apr-08 120,000
FOSSIL FIGHTERS NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA Aug-09 92,000
11 MARIO KART DS
12 NEW SUPER MARIO BROS
13 WII PLAY W/ REMOTE
14 POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION
15 NCAA FOOTBALL 10 (360)
16 PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE DIABOLICAL BOX
17 MADDEN NFL 10 (WII)
67,000
18 WOLFENSTEIN (360)
59,000
19 EA SPORTS ACTIVE BUNDLE
20 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 10* (WII)
Other software:
Madden PSP: <59k
Wolfenstein PS3 30k
Wolfenstein PC 17k
The industry realized its sixth consecutive month-over-month decline, and while improved over the last several months, it's still a notable decline. The back four months of the year would have to be up 14% in aggregate for 2009 to come in flat in comparison to 2008 sales.
The price cuts implemented on the PS3 and 360 hardware already made an impact on unit sales, despite having been executed fairly late in the month. It will be interesting to see the full impact of the new price points on September sales.
All hardware systems with the exception of the PS2 realized an increase in unit sales over July. The PS3 captured the greatest increase month-over-month with unit sales boosted by 72% over July levels.
There is a lot of speculation about Wii and whether Nintendo will take a price cut as sales comps to last year show declines. I do think it's interesting to note that the Wii is still selling at levels comparable to what the PS2 was doing at about this point in its lifecycle.
As many predicted, Madden captured the top spot for the month, selling nearly 1.9 million units across its five SKU's.
With the introduction of Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5 in September, a lot of folks have inquired about the performance of these titles and the music/dance genre. While sales of this genre are down 46% year-to-date, unit sales are down much less because lower prices are playing into the dollar sales decline. It's still the third best-selling genre for the year after General Action and Multiple/Other Sports (where Wii Fit resides).
The PS3 was the only platform to realize a year-over-year increase in total software sales and this is reflected in the top 10 list for the month which includes two PS3 games.
Accessories was the only category to experience an increase for the month of August over last year's sales. The uptick in hardware sales helps to spur sales of additional controllers and other peripherals which help consumers enjoy their new system(s).
JAPAN
Media Create, Oct. 5th - Oct. 11th
Top 50 Software
01./03. [NDS] Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (Pokemon Co.) - 188,625 / 2,474,000 (-29%)
02./01. [WII] Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) - 152,587 / 492,000 (-55%)
03./00. [NDS] Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (Atlus Co.) - 97,221 / NEW
04./02. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven 2: Threat of the Invaders - Fire/Blizzard (Level 5) - 95,515 / 376,000 (-66%)
05./06. [NDS] Tomodachi Collection (Friend Collection) (Nintendo) - 62,772 / 1,351,000 (-8%)
06./04. [PSP] Gran Turismo Portable (SCEI) - 39,948 / 174,000 (-70%)
07./08. [WII] Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) - 24,130 / 1,277,000 (-10%)
08./05. [PSP] Macross Ultimate Frontier (Namco Bandai) - 18,804 / 100,000 (-77%)
09./13. [NDS] Love Plus (Konami) - 18,777 / 122,000
10./12. [NDS] Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Starry Sky (Square Enix) - 15,961 / 3,982,000
11./11. [PSP] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Portable 4 (Konami)
12./10. [PS3] Tales of Vesperia (Namco Bandai)
13./07. [PS3] Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (Tecmo)
14./09. [PS3] Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid Special (Koei)
15./15. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (BEST) (Capcom)
16./14. [PSP] Minna no Sukkiri (Everybody's Cleaner) (SCEI)
17./00. [NDS] Blue Dragon: Ikai no Kyoujuu (Giants of the Spirit World) (Namco Bandai)
18./23. [PS3] Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (BEST) (Square Enix)
19./00. [PS3] White Knight Chronicles EX Edition (SCEI)
20./18. [WII] Monster Hunter 3 (Capcom)
21./16. [NDS] SaGa 2 Legendary Secret Treasure: Goddess of Destiny (Square Enix)
22./00. [WII] Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga (Marvelous)
23./26. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
24./20. [PSP] Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 4 (Konami)
25./17. [PS3] Trinity Universe (Idea Factory)
26./28. [NDS] Penguin no Mondai X: Tenkuu no 7 Senshi (A Penguin's Troubles X: 7 Warriors of the Sky) (Konami)
27./19. [PSP] Winning Post 7 2009 (Koei)
28./27. [NDS] Sloane and MacHale's Mysterious Story 2 (Level 5)
29./00. [PSP] Phantasy Star Portable (BEST) (SEGA)
30./42. [PS3] Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (BEST) (SCEI)
31./00. [PSP] Kurogane no Linebarrels (Linebarrels of Iron) (Hudson)
32./32. [NDS] Puyo Puyo 7 (SEGA)
33./33. [WII] Forever Blue 2: Call of the Sea (Nintendo)
34./25. [PSP] Ys 7 (Falcom)
35./21. [PSP] Mana Khemia 2: Ochita Gakuen to Renkinjutsushi Tachi (Alchemists and the Fallen Academy) Portable+ (Gust)
36./30. [NDS] You'll Incur Losses if You Remain Ignorant: How Money and Things Work DS (Nintendo)
37./44. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
38./39. [NDS] Welcome Home! Chibi-Robo! Happy Rich Big Cleaning! (Nintendo)
39./40. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto IV (BEST) (Capcom)
40./37. [NDS] Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon Co.)
41./45. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
42./41. [PS3] Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot (BEST) (Konami)
43./43. [WII] Taiko Drum Master Wii (Namco Bandai)
44./00. [PS3] Minna no Golf 5 (BEST) (SCEI)
45./29. [360] Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft Game Studios)
46./31. [PS3] Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki: Lost War Chronicles (Namco Bandai)
47./24. [360] Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid Special (Koei)
48./46. [360] Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (BEST) (Square Enix)
49./00. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
50./00. [PS3] Yakuza 3 (SEGA)
NDS - 16
PS3 - 12
PSP - 11
WII - 8
360 - 3
__________________________________________________________________
|System | This Week | Last Week | YTD | LTD |
------------------------------------------------------------------
| NDS | 55,598 | 63,954 | 2,855,308 | 27,974,943 |
| PSP | 40,100 | 51,215 | 1,606,130 | 12,964,233 |
| PS3 | 30,896 | 37,538 | 1,019,057 | 3,641,525 |
| WII | 30,741 | 35,392 | 1,090,009 | 8,568,986 |
| 360 | 3,326 | 4,244 | 311,191 | 1,140,628 |
| PS2 | 2,133 | 2,179 | 180,952 | 21,580,481 |
------------------------------------------------------------------
| DSi | 50,144 | 53,293 | 2,416,974 | 3,648,333 |
| DSL | 5,454 | 10,661 | 438,334 | 17,741,139 |
------------------------------------------------------------------
UK / EUROPE / PAL
UK Top 40 Software Oct. 4th - Oct. 10th
EA’s ‘FIFA 10’ is top of the table for a second week despite a 64% drop in sales. Debuting at No2 is Codemasters’ self-developed tactical shooter ‘Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising’, which is now the publisher’s biggest selling launch title.
‘Need for Speed: Shift’ applies the gas to move back to No3, overtaking Nintendo’s ‘Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box’ which finds itself at No4. Nintendo also hold No5 with non-mover ‘Wii Sports Resort’, ahead of Microsoft’s ‘Halo 3: ODST’ at No6. Sony’s PSP racer ‘Gran Turismo’ moves 5 places up the grid from No12 to No7 and Nintendo’s ‘Wii Fit’ is at No8. Nintendo’s fourth entry in the Top 10 is ‘Mario Kart Wii’ at No9 and Activision Blizzard’s ‘Guitar Hero 5’ is at No10. Warner Bros. Interactive’s emergent puzzler ‘Scribblenauts’ (from 5th Cell, the developers of ‘Drawn to Life’) is a new entry at No12. Lucasarts’ ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes’ debuts at No15 and Square Enix’s ‘Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days’ is at No17 - the first title in the series to be released on DS.
01 (01) 360 Fifa 10 (Electronic Arts)
02 (02) PS3 Fifa 10 (Electronic Arts)
03 (__) 360 Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (Codemasters)
04 (03) NDS Professor Layton And Pandora's Box (Nintendo)
05 (07) WII Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)
06 (04) 360 Halo 3: Odst (Microsoft)
07 (__) PS3 Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (Codemasters)
08 (06) 360 Need For Speed: Shift (Electronic Arts)
09 (05) PS3 Need For Speed: Shift (Electronic Arts)
10 (08) PS2 Fifa 10 (Electronic Arts)
11 (13) PSP Gran Turismo (Sony Computer Ent.)
12 (12) WII Wii Fit (Nintendo)
13 (__) PC Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (Codemasters)
14 (09) WII Fifa 10 (Electronic Arts)
15 (11) WII Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
16 (10) PSP Fifa 10 (Electronic Arts)
17 (__) NDS Scribblenauts (Warner Bros. Interactive)
18 (18) PS3 Killzone 2 (Sony Computer Ent.)
19 (__) NDS Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (Square Enix Europe)
20 (15) NDS Professor Layton And The Curious Village (Nintendo)
21 (14) NDS Mysims Agents (Electronic Arts)
22 (20) WII Wii Play (Nintendo)
23 (__) WII Mario Strikers Charged Football (Nintendo)
24 (21) NDS Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo)
25 (28) PS3 Littlebigplanet (Sony Computer Ent.)
26 (19) 360 Colin Mcrae: Dirt 2 (Codemasters)
27 (32) 360 Sega Superstars Tennis (Sega)
28 (16) 360 Guitar Hero 5 (Activision Blizzard)
29 (__) PS3 Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (Sony Computer Ent.)
30 (__) WII Toy Story Mania! (Disney Interactive Studios)
31 (__) NDS Combat Of Giants: Dragons (Ubisoft)
32 (30) NDS Mario Kart Ds (Nintendo)
33 (__) WII Super Smash Bros: Brawl (Nintendo)
34 (37) NDS Peppa Pig: The Game (Ubisoft)
35 (17) PS3 Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos)
36 (22) WII Guitar Hero 5 (Activision Blizzard)
37 (__) NDS Mario And Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo)
38 (29) WII Mysims Agents (Electronic Arts)
39 (38) 360 Risen (Koch Media)
40 (__) PS3 Infamous (Sony Computer Ent.)
WII - 10
NDS - 10
PS3 - 8
360 - 8
PSP - 2
PC - 1
PS2 - 1
Posts
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Also, they've been heavily promoting Fossil Fighters so I'm not surprised to see it up there.
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
That leaves Madden PSP+Wii at 147k.
Damn.. that's complete crap for a sure hit like Madden
And how come the PS3 is back to 2k in Japan so soon after the price drop?
The poster hasn't updated that one.
:P
Well I think Demographics has a lot to do with it. lolcasual aside, the people that have a Wii are just not the same people that Madden targets.
I would bet EA is disappointed by Wii Madden sales, too.
It may be that last year's "All Play" crap tainted the image of Madden to Wii gamers, and that they know they won't get the "full" game unless they buy it elsewhere....
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
At best, these figures include 6 days of PS3 Slim sales.
Well, a few of them were shipped early. I know that probably includes jack shit.
Exactly. You can be the optimist or pessimist in regards to slim however you want. Some places were selling them that early and within the NPD tracking period, some were not. Impossible to tell how many were, therefore it's best not to assume too much. Next month is when things will pan out, and I expect Ps3 to be probably higher.
But O_o to Nintendo's own first party Pokemon clone "Fossil Fighters" charting. That I wasn't expecting at all.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Well, it is going to be higher simply because we are getting closer to that time of the year, but I know what you mean.
The price drop for the PS3 happened in the US on the 18th.
So whatever the PS3 sold per week for the last 2 weeks of August, I don't expect the weekly sales in Sept to be higher than that.
Well at least theres some justice in the world. Not enough to put B:AA over Madden but some.
Just like Star Wars : Clone Wars, this prove than customers won't buy products that are really shitty even if they have a powerful brand name to back it.
Also, Madden is a very casual-gamer centric series. Millions of casual gamers play it every year.
Except the thing is, you can have a 360 and be a casual gamer. And play Madden casually. Along with Grand Theft Auto and Halo etc etc.
I happen to think that the majority of the Madden market is built upon gamers that had it last gen, and this group not only has no problem with the traditional control and setup of the game, but in fact prefers the presentation that cuts as close to "real" as possible, in every way including graphics.
And so while the Wii may be seen as the system with the most "casual" appeal, I think that there is a huge casual holdover from last gen, and this particular group wants Madden with the same interface, same basic gameplay, and as-much-improved graphics as possible. And so all the Madden players have 360s and a large chunk have PS3s.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
In other sales news:
For reference, MS said that Shadow Complex sold 200k its first week.
Based on 200k, it would have placed at least 6th in the top ten for the month if it were a retail title.
Although its $15, it's still very impressive.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
The only reason I knew it was out was because Gametrailers had it as their advertisement for about a week.
And the PA comic.
So yeah. Still, even for so little advertising, that is very holy shit worthy.
The problem for EA is that they need more money not less. If they can't find a way to sell even Madden on the Wii then they are in for some trouble.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
If your business plan requires that kind of strategy to succeed, then you need a new business plan.
Actually, the Wii version probably has the opposite problem. They have attempted to change the style to many times while you know what you are getting when you get the 360 version.
Teh casual
Is this an upgraded PS2 port?
Wait, are you saying the Madden franchise needs a new sales strategy overall or just on the Wii?
They are a pretty well established developer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_Software
On the other hand...
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/60206
I think Origins did OK (In the May NPD release, it sold about 120k on the 360 and the PS3 was number 13), and Singularity could turn out OK.
edit: Raven software has been around a loooong time. I know someone who's been working there since SoF came out, I hope he's doing alright after this shit storm.
next month
Overall.
I mean yeah, it sells millions. But that license is not cheap. In fact it is the opposite of cheap. It's uncheap.
It might also be that Madden fans on the 'Cube didn't get any installments for a while because Nintendo released a memory card that was 1/16th the size of even PS2's card and it couldn't fit the statistics of even one game, hampering sales. A healthy install base then flourished on the systems that actually received Madden.
Does the NFL make more money from just getting the license from EA instead of from 2K games, etc.? I'm pretty sure it was the NFL that approached EA about exclusivity, not the other way around.
But what, exactly, would a new sales strategy entail? They're the only game in town. If you want NFL football, that's the title you buy. Period.
Do not engage the Watermelons.