Kinda... Originally they were going to track WiiPlay as an accessory but since it's a different price point than just a standard Wii remote they threw it in the game category. I think part of the difference is that hardware bundles are limited/sale/holiday type deals and the contents of said bundles often change, whereas WiiPlay is just going to be WiiPlay forever. And NPD just felt nice that day.
This isn't to say that NPD doesn't know when an Elite+MW2 bundle is sold vs. just an Elite, they do. They just don't release that info to us. The only time I remember them giving us the software from a hardware bundle is MGS4, and even then they didn't include the bundled software in the total software figure - it was just an additional note they published.
edit: I'm not sure, but I would guess Activision includes bundled software in their own figures. I know Sony and Nintendo don't but since all Activision does is software I bet they would never ignore the bundled games.
edit2: First day #s from Japan
Tales of Graces [Wii]: 113,000
Modern Warfare 2 [PS3]: 64,000
Modern Warfare 2 [360]: 42,000
Narutimate Ancel 3: 40,000
Luminous Arc 3: 20,000
R-Type Tactics II: 2,600
Reggie should ask to include Japan in his wager with Keighley.
I saw a demo of TH Ride set up at fry's the other day. A couple walked by and wanted to try it. The guy gets on first, has no idea how it works. Assumes that it is supposed to recognize his moves and replicate them in-game. A reasonable assumption, right? So his game character comes up to a ledge or something and he wants to make his guy jump with the board. So what does he do? He jumps up off the board and lands back on it, nearly falling over in the process, and making the loudest thwacking noise you'd ever hear from his weight slamming back down on the thing. Surprisingly it didn't break. His girlfriend gets on and attempts the exact same thing several times in a row. The game does not recognize this leaping and landing on the board (because you're supposed to 'ollie' by simply tilting back on it), but hey, how are they supposed to know. After a few loud ear piercing thwacking sounds they give up and leave.
Another guy comes up and observes the board. Looking at it, trying to figure it out. He picks it up and attempts to guide the onscreen skater by manipulating the board with his hands. Then he kind of feels the surface of it and sets it down... looks at it for a minute... and leaves.
I got some good lols out of this. Not at these people, but I mean at the fact that even the bare basics of this thing are not intuitive.
I managed to try it and I will give that the board felt pretty sturdy. I'm 220 lb, and though I only used it for short period of time, it breaking/snapping was not a concern.
How well it sensed my movements and what not? That's a different story. In the end I did better simply picking the board up and using my hands doing tricks. Because I had watched a couple videos before I used it, I already knew how to do some of the basic tricks/movements...and even knowing them it hardly ever did what I told it to.
The main problem was not the first thing you did (granted it still did not always do what I tried, but it took me a while to get used to skate so given more experience I'm sure I would have got better). The problem was stabilizing yourself so that the game would not think you were doing something else before you tried to do the next trick. I have poor balance and last time I was on a skateboard was 15 years ago, so maybe a skater might have better luck.
If you've played the skate games, when you do a trick with the right stick, by letting go of the stick, because it centres itself, this sets you up for the next trick. This however was hard on this board.
One thing that was easy with ride was after doing a trick, landing in a manual was easy (something that I sucked doing on Skate...no matter how hard I tried).
meh definitely not worth picking up, unless of course you want to watch the reactions of other people trying it...
Band Hero total > Tony Hawk Ride total > Lego Rock Band total
60% of Band Hero sales are Wii sales. 60% of Lego Rock Band are Wii sales. The Wii version of Band Hero > all Lego Rock Band.
90k > Reflex > Rabbids Go Home > LittleBigPlanet PSP > Darkside Chronicles > Extraction (LTD)
Reflex beat Conduit's first month.
As a refresher, Conduit's opening month was 71.9k.
Wii Band Hero: 91.8k
360+PS3+PS2 Band Hero: 61.2k
Wii LRB: 49.8k
360+PS3 LRB: 33.2k
Band Hero's about what I expected, though LRB's a little worse. Then again, Band Hero was hyped to holy hell, while LRB got practically zero marketing.
Rabbids also did worse than I expected. While I wasn't expecting a huge hit, I figured it would at least crack six figures.
I suspect Rabbids is doing better in PAL regions then. If Ubisoft say they're happy with the sales, and they are a french company... yeah. Definatel seems to be doing well in Australia.
OK, I guess this gen is well and truly over, positions are set in stone, etc. So time for postmortems?
The big lessons that I think stand out:
It's a very good idea to launch first if at all possible. The early launch of the 360 "saved" HD gaming.
If you are going to be making epic first party games, be ready to market them to the moon and back. Halo3 + insane marketing is better than Uncharted and Killzone with normal marketing combined.
Dev cycles are in danger of getting out of control. We are still waiting for a FF,GoW or GT game.
Sony is really screwed with the PS3. Despite losing money on each console so they can hit the $300 price point they remain in 3rd place. In theory they should want to start next gen ASAP but how can they if their current console costs more than $300 to make? Should be interesting to watch.
EA is probably screwed with their new MoH game. Do they really think they can go up against CoD that directly?
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Well, Halo also has ten million times the brand recognition as Uncharted or Killzone.
I mean, the original Halo was a bonafide system seller. Those are a lot rarer than regular multi million sellers. People bought an OXBOX because of that one game.
Xenogears of Bore on
3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
0
Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
Now that I finally get to see the numbers....I have to say I'm surprised.
DS and Wii - No surprise there, we all knew they would clean up.
360 beating PS3 - I guess many of us were just snowed, as I thought the PS3 was going to top it slightly. I wonder what Pachter thinks after all his talk of PS3 beating the 360 in November.
MW2 and NSMBWii did about as expected with the other games picking up the leftover scraps.
OK, I guess this gen is well and truly over, positions are set in stone, etc. So time for postmortems?
The big lessons that I think stand out:
It's a very good idea to launch first if at all possible. The early launch of the 360 "saved" HD gaming.
If you are going to be making epic first party games, be ready to market them to the moon and back. Halo3 + insane marketing is better than Uncharted and Killzone with normal marketing combined.
Dev cycles are in danger of getting out of control. We are still waiting for a FF,GoW or GT game.
Sony is really screwed with the PS3. Despite losing money on each console so they can hit the $300 price point they remain in 3rd place. In theory they should want to start next gen ASAP but how can they if their current console costs more than $300 to make? Should be interesting to watch.
EA is probably screwed with their new MoH game. Do they really think they can go up against CoD that directly?
Sony would have to take a Nintendo route next gen. Provide something new, but keep the unit overall low-key on specs. But even that would be sorta bad because their current tech is still costing a lot. They're absolutely fucked if they want to keep backward compatibility in. Can you imagine if they didn't? PLAYSTATION 4: WITH NO BLU-RAY READER. Holy balls that'd be insane. But it'd make sure people would have to get a PS3 and Sony can still get back on that botched investment right?
Somehow seeing that 90k people bought reflex makes me want to go pick it up. God, I hated the Conduit and I'm still kinda looking for a reasonable multiplayer FPS using the pointer.
Sony would have to take a Nintendo route next gen. Provide something new, but keep the unit overall low-key on specs. But even that would be sorta bad because their current tech is still costing a lot. They're absolutely fucked if they want to keep backward compatibility in. Can you imagine if they didn't? PLAYSTATION 4: WITH NO BLU-RAY READER. Holy balls that'd be insane. But it'd make sure people would have to get a PS3 and Sony can still get back on that botched investment right?
I'm pretty sure Sony would have alot of fallout if they happened to go back to creating a PS2-strength console with something innovative like the Wii. As for the future of consoles, I've said it before and I'll say it again, Natal and Swaggle ARE Xbox720/PS4.
You know, I've kind of stopped paying attention to sales figures in general—this gen is set, nothing's really going to change anything—but I'm tempted to say the saddest cautionary tale this generation is not the PS3, but the PSP. It had such an auspicious launch, but then we've seen it just get sicker and sicker, older and older, and now he still gets invited to the party but everyone feels kind of bad and awkward when he shows up. The PSP Go was a Hail Mary, but it just seems to have made things worse. I like my PSP a lot, but I don't really hold any hope for any compelling new software, though I do hope Valkyria Chronicles 2 makes it stateside.
And as always, it's good to see the King in his Rightful Place. Meaning the DS. 1.7 million is just crazy, which sets it up to possibly get close to 4 million for December. Five years after launch.
Also, I'll admit that I've never been into Halo and Reach will still do really well, but after this month I think I'd say Modern Warfare has supplanted Halo as the reigning go-to FPS.
OK, I guess this gen is well and truly over, positions are set in stone, etc. So time for postmortems?
The big lessons that I think stand out:
It's a very good idea to launch first if at all possible. The early launch of the 360 "saved" HD gaming.
If you are going to be making epic first party games, be ready to market them to the moon and back. Halo3 + insane marketing is better than Uncharted and Killzone with normal marketing combined.
Dev cycles are in danger of getting out of control. We are still waiting for a FF,GoW or GT game.
Sony is really screwed with the PS3. Despite losing money on each console so they can hit the $300 price point they remain in 3rd place. In theory they should want to start next gen ASAP but how can they if their current console costs more than $300 to make? Should be interesting to watch.
EA is probably screwed with their new MoH game. Do they really think they can go up against CoD that directly?
Maybe I'm wrong here but:
1) Sony and Microsoft have no intention of moving on to the next generation for a bevy of reasons, not the least of which is a "next gen" console at this point would almost certainly fail to impress and developers wouldn't be able to shoulder development costs. It's conceivable that the Wii will simply run out of steam before PS360 does.
2) On the other hand, I wish there were some numbers on how many core games own Wii, and what amount of the userbase is made up of non-traditional and expired gamers. Also, how much does Nintendo reduce the sales of 3rd parties through their own software?
3) Smaller games can have success on HD consoles as well. Demon's Souls actually was produced on a very small budget. My understanding is that the average HD game costs around $20 million in development costs, with the single most expensive thing being advertising. There are also many games which are announced and released in the same year. The statement about development cycles being long was true of last generation as well. Wasn't FFXII in development for 5 years?
CygnusZ on
0
Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
Band Hero actually sold more than I was expecting. O_o
DS sales are absurd. Wii sales are about what I figured.
Don't go to Neogaf right now....it's not purty. :?
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
The sales figures were probably most important this year because they helped in solidifying everyone's 'position' in the race for supremacy. I loved all the talk of Nintendo sales dropping like a brick but they still came out on top by such a margin on both fronts.
Sony was only able to come up in sales by driving in their self-inflicted wound from the start. To address Lunker's point about the PSP, I never had much interest in the PSP because of the lack of appealing games. A device that does more than gaming can come later; I wanna see the stuff that appeals to the forefront of my consumer side. GAEMZ.
Henroid on
0
Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
Forgive me for being a little obtuse, but why are sales figures so important? I see it on the front page of IGN quite often.
This isn't a dig, I'm genuinely curious as to why people follow console sales so closely. I play games, I don't own stock.
Technically you do.
You buy a system, and sales effect how well your system does. It effects how much software support it gets and how long it stays around or how quickly it gets replaced.
So sales directly influences how well your investment in their hardware does. It's part of the reason we all enjoy basically doing the job that Pachter is actually payed to do.
Forgive me for being a little obtuse, but why are sales figures so important? I see it on the front page of IGN quite often.
This isn't a dig, I'm genuinely curious as to why people follow console sales so closely. I play games, I don't own stock.
Prior to this gen, I would have said that they were fairly important because the sales figures are what developers and publishers use to gauge general public interest in products, which would then influence future game projects. E.g., Console X takes a huge sales lead, becoming the most popular, so therefore it would make more sense to develop games exclusively for it or make it the lead SKU. Or trends in gaming would show that Genre Y is more popular than Genre Z, so developers pull resources from Z games to make more Y games.
But the split between the Wii and the 360/PS3 has made things all screwy, and developers are bucking a lot of trends, for God knows how many different reasons. So really, I just wait for sales results just to rubberneck at GAF when fanboys flip their shits.
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
Sales drives business decisions. It affects games and consoles and handhelds. It affects the small guys in the industry and the big guys. We've seen a lot of people go out of work this year and last year and it's sad. Those people were responsible for games you've played, good chance.
Forgive me for being a little obtuse, but why are sales figures so important? I see it on the front page of IGN quite often.
This isn't a dig, I'm genuinely curious as to why people follow console sales so closely. I play games, I don't own stock.
Because it's interesting. You don't have to like it. A lot of people ask why video games are so great, they want to live their life, not sit around playing with a computer. Same reasoning.
The more video games sell, the better the chance that sequels will be made. Through press releases we get the reasons why companies make the decisions they do, and understand the industry a little better.
Plus it's a much more objective, classy way of reviewing and observing video games. Without sales, there's just a lot of dumb infighting about which game is better than which with nothing quantifiable. With sales and spending data, we can say, hmm, they spent this much making the game but it only sold this much, while this low budget title is reaping a lot of rewards. Perhaps more companies should follow this example.
This week is the first week I've ever looked at this thread - but I have to say it's pretty interesting to me and I've learned a lot already. I'll definitely follow this more closely now.
This week is the first week I've ever looked at this thread - but I have to say it's pretty interesting to me and I've learned a lot already. I'll definitely follow this more closely now.
This thread is the most fun you'll have at PA....the discussions/rivalries can get quite interesting.
Alfred J. Kwakis it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
Another theory would be that people need something to discuss on a damn video game board. Can't be all "this game looks pretty!" and "do you remember when (...)" all the time.
“In November, PS3 was the only hardware console to see any growth when compared to last November, experiencing an 88% lift and a 122% increase from the previous month. Metacritic also unveiled this week its 2009 Game Platform Power Rankings, in which PS3 titles topped the charts on overall game quality, tallying up five of the top ten best reviewed games in 2009 and with UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves taking best reviewed game of the year. The sheer appetite and interest in the PS3 this holiday has been overwhelming and is exceeding our expectations. So much so, some retailers are expected to experience tight supply this December. There's no question the holidays are looking very bright for PlayStation and we’re confident that the new year is on pace for the same with hugely anticipated titles hitting the platform, such as MAG, God of War III, BioShock 2, and Final Fantasy XIII.” -- Jack Tretton, CEO and President of SCEA
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
0
Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
Uncharted is one of the reasons I would love to get a PS3 at some point.
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited December 2009
It's ironic the PS3 is the only current gen console I own but I've barely invested in it as far as games go. I mean, that's partly to blame because of my income situation, but ever since I've had it I've spent more for my DS.
Forgive me for being a little obtuse, but why are sales figures so important? I see it on the front page of IGN quite often.
This isn't a dig, I'm genuinely curious as to why people follow console sales so closely. I play games, I don't own stock.
Technically you do.
You buy a system, and sales effect how well your system does. It effects how much software support it gets and how long it stays around or how quickly it gets replaced.
So sales directly influences how well your investment in their hardware does. It's part of the reason we all enjoy basically doing the job that Pachter is actually payed to do.
Ahhh, good explanation. I suppose I see myself as being outside of the console wars/fanboy battles but I'm more invested than I know. Hell, I own a 360 but I think the PS3 does a lot of things right (free PSN, blu ray w/ online hardware updates, use your own hard drive, etc.) but I certainly wouldn't waste time arguing with someone about which is "better." I have my 360 because the rest of my family across the pond does, we keep in touch that way.
I need to leave this thread immediately before I'm drawn in too far. Damn you, Brainiac.
Forgive me for being a little obtuse, but why are sales figures so important? I see it on the front page of IGN quite often.
This isn't a dig, I'm genuinely curious as to why people follow console sales so closely. I play games, I don't own stock.
Like Sporky said, it's a way to know a little more about the industry that makes the stuff you enjoy. If you just go into the store and buy something by reading the back of the box, you won't care about sales figures.
But if you read about upcoming games online, are aware that different developers make different games, and care a bit about certain franchises or developers doing well, then sales figures become more relevant. I care about them, but I don't really follow them religiously. I hope the games I like do well and I'm happy when they sell enough for the developers to be paid and consider a sequel.
More importantly if a certain type of game sells well it inspires other companies to look into what made the game so popular. While Valkyria Chronicles didn't set the world on fire, seeing it sell well definitely prompted the company to create a sequel (on the PSP, but still a sequel) and has probably influenced at least a few other development houses, even if just subtly.
Forgive me for being a little obtuse, but why are sales figures so important? I see it on the front page of IGN quite often.
This isn't a dig, I'm genuinely curious as to why people follow console sales so closely. I play games, I don't own stock.
Technically you do.
You buy a system, and sales effect how well your system does. It effects how much software support it gets and how long it stays around or how quickly it gets replaced.
So sales directly influences how well your investment in their hardware does. It's part of the reason we all enjoy basically doing the job that Pachter is actually payed to do.
Ahhh, good explanation. I suppose I see myself as being outside of the console wars/fanboy battles but I'm more invested than I know. Hell, I own a 360 but I think the PS3 does a lot of things right (free PSN, blu ray w/ online hardware updates, use your own hard drive, etc.) but I certainly wouldn't waste time arguing with someone about which is "better." I have my 360 because the rest of my family across the pond does, we keep in touch that way.
I need to leave this thread immediately before I'm drawn in too far. Damn you, Brainiac.
I wouldn't worry too much. We tend to 'mostly' stay away from fanboy flame wars. Most everyone here is quite intelligent and generally just keeps an eye on the industry so that we can see how our hobby as a whole is doing. We look for the industry as a whole to succeed. Every once in a while craziness happens, but we avoid it most of the time.
3) Smaller games can have success on HD consoles as well. Demon's Souls actually was produced on a very small budget. My understanding is that the average HD game costs around $20 million in development costs, with the single most expensive thing being advertising. There are also many games which are announced and released in the same year. The statement about development cycles being long was true of last generation as well. Wasn't FFXII in development for 5 years?
This is so key, right here and I have actually used From Software as an example of a HD dev that is doing things right. Shit even Gears of War only cost 12 million to make. I think the days of companies being able to take as long as they want and spend whatever to make a game are over. Blizzard being the exception... they can do whatever they want haha.
Posts
This isn't to say that NPD doesn't know when an Elite+MW2 bundle is sold vs. just an Elite, they do. They just don't release that info to us. The only time I remember them giving us the software from a hardware bundle is MGS4, and even then they didn't include the bundled software in the total software figure - it was just an additional note they published.
edit: I'm not sure, but I would guess Activision includes bundled software in their own figures. I know Sony and Nintendo don't but since all Activision does is software I bet they would never ignore the bundled games.
edit2: First day #s from Japan
Tales of Graces [Wii]: 113,000
Modern Warfare 2 [PS3]: 64,000
Modern Warfare 2 [360]: 42,000
Narutimate Ancel 3: 40,000
Luminous Arc 3: 20,000
R-Type Tactics II: 2,600
Reggie should ask to include Japan in his wager with Keighley.
I managed to try it and I will give that the board felt pretty sturdy. I'm 220 lb, and though I only used it for short period of time, it breaking/snapping was not a concern.
How well it sensed my movements and what not? That's a different story. In the end I did better simply picking the board up and using my hands doing tricks. Because I had watched a couple videos before I used it, I already knew how to do some of the basic tricks/movements...and even knowing them it hardly ever did what I told it to.
The main problem was not the first thing you did (granted it still did not always do what I tried, but it took me a while to get used to skate so given more experience I'm sure I would have got better). The problem was stabilizing yourself so that the game would not think you were doing something else before you tried to do the next trick. I have poor balance and last time I was on a skateboard was 15 years ago, so maybe a skater might have better luck.
If you've played the skate games, when you do a trick with the right stick, by letting go of the stick, because it centres itself, this sets you up for the next trick. This however was hard on this board.
One thing that was easy with ride was after doing a trick, landing in a manual was easy (something that I sucked doing on Skate...no matter how hard I tried).
meh definitely not worth picking up, unless of course you want to watch the reactions of other people trying it...
Man, fuck this country
Moving to Canada
Gamertag: PrimusD | Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I was pretty worried that the high expectations and bad word of mouth from the first game were going to put a lot of people off on buying the second.
I'm happy to see this isn't the case.
Woo! +1
Band Hero's about what I expected, though LRB's a little worse. Then again, Band Hero was hyped to holy hell, while LRB got practically zero marketing.
Rabbids also did worse than I expected. While I wasn't expecting a huge hit, I figured it would at least crack six figures.
Lego Rock Band deserves much, much better.
The big lessons that I think stand out:
It's a very good idea to launch first if at all possible. The early launch of the 360 "saved" HD gaming.
If you are going to be making epic first party games, be ready to market them to the moon and back. Halo3 + insane marketing is better than Uncharted and Killzone with normal marketing combined.
Dev cycles are in danger of getting out of control. We are still waiting for a FF,GoW or GT game.
Sony is really screwed with the PS3. Despite losing money on each console so they can hit the $300 price point they remain in 3rd place. In theory they should want to start next gen ASAP but how can they if their current console costs more than $300 to make? Should be interesting to watch.
EA is probably screwed with their new MoH game. Do they really think they can go up against CoD that directly?
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I mean, the original Halo was a bonafide system seller. Those are a lot rarer than regular multi million sellers. People bought an OXBOX because of that one game.
DS and Wii - No surprise there, we all knew they would clean up.
360 beating PS3 - I guess many of us were just snowed, as I thought the PS3 was going to top it slightly. I wonder what Pachter thinks after all his talk of PS3 beating the 360 in November.
MW2 and NSMBWii did about as expected with the other games picking up the leftover scraps.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
We're the people who track this sort of thing, can we dig up all his wrong predictions, compile them and send them to all the major blog sites?
Or do we like having him around that much?
I just don't like how revered he is by the industry, as its only superstar analyst.
Sony would have to take a Nintendo route next gen. Provide something new, but keep the unit overall low-key on specs. But even that would be sorta bad because their current tech is still costing a lot. They're absolutely fucked if they want to keep backward compatibility in. Can you imagine if they didn't? PLAYSTATION 4: WITH NO BLU-RAY READER. Holy balls that'd be insane. But it'd make sure people would have to get a PS3 and Sony can still get back on that botched investment right?
Analysts for pretty much every industry are wrong a hell of a lot. Yet somehow they remain employed.
That said, he could do better if he stopped going to GAF and started, y'know, analyzing.
Wish they'd made that game budget price.
I'm pretty sure Sony would have alot of fallout if they happened to go back to creating a PS2-strength console with something innovative like the Wii. As for the future of consoles, I've said it before and I'll say it again, Natal and Swaggle ARE Xbox720/PS4.
And as always, it's good to see the King in his Rightful Place. Meaning the DS. 1.7 million is just crazy, which sets it up to possibly get close to 4 million for December. Five years after launch.
Also, I'll admit that I've never been into Halo and Reach will still do really well, but after this month I think I'd say Modern Warfare has supplanted Halo as the reigning go-to FPS.
This isn't a dig, I'm genuinely curious as to why people follow console sales so closely. I play games, I don't own stock.
Maybe I'm wrong here but:
1) Sony and Microsoft have no intention of moving on to the next generation for a bevy of reasons, not the least of which is a "next gen" console at this point would almost certainly fail to impress and developers wouldn't be able to shoulder development costs. It's conceivable that the Wii will simply run out of steam before PS360 does.
2) On the other hand, I wish there were some numbers on how many core games own Wii, and what amount of the userbase is made up of non-traditional and expired gamers. Also, how much does Nintendo reduce the sales of 3rd parties through their own software?
3) Smaller games can have success on HD consoles as well. Demon's Souls actually was produced on a very small budget. My understanding is that the average HD game costs around $20 million in development costs, with the single most expensive thing being advertising. There are also many games which are announced and released in the same year. The statement about development cycles being long was true of last generation as well. Wasn't FFXII in development for 5 years?
DS sales are absurd. Wii sales are about what I figured.
Don't go to Neogaf right now....it's not purty. :?
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Sony was only able to come up in sales by driving in their self-inflicted wound from the start. To address Lunker's point about the PSP, I never had much interest in the PSP because of the lack of appealing games. A device that does more than gaming can come later; I wanna see the stuff that appeals to the forefront of my consumer side. GAEMZ.
Technically you do.
You buy a system, and sales effect how well your system does. It effects how much software support it gets and how long it stays around or how quickly it gets replaced.
So sales directly influences how well your investment in their hardware does. It's part of the reason we all enjoy basically doing the job that Pachter is actually payed to do.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Prior to this gen, I would have said that they were fairly important because the sales figures are what developers and publishers use to gauge general public interest in products, which would then influence future game projects. E.g., Console X takes a huge sales lead, becoming the most popular, so therefore it would make more sense to develop games exclusively for it or make it the lead SKU. Or trends in gaming would show that Genre Y is more popular than Genre Z, so developers pull resources from Z games to make more Y games.
But the split between the Wii and the 360/PS3 has made things all screwy, and developers are bucking a lot of trends, for God knows how many different reasons. So really, I just wait for sales results just to rubberneck at GAF when fanboys flip their shits.
Because it's interesting. You don't have to like it. A lot of people ask why video games are so great, they want to live their life, not sit around playing with a computer. Same reasoning.
The more video games sell, the better the chance that sequels will be made. Through press releases we get the reasons why companies make the decisions they do, and understand the industry a little better.
Plus it's a much more objective, classy way of reviewing and observing video games. Without sales, there's just a lot of dumb infighting about which game is better than which with nothing quantifiable. With sales and spending data, we can say, hmm, they spent this much making the game but it only sold this much, while this low budget title is reaping a lot of rewards. Perhaps more companies should follow this example.
Video game sales is practically a game in itself.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006524737
This thread is the most fun you'll have at PA....the discussions/rivalries can get quite interesting.
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(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
As well as the PS1 classics for PSN.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
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Ahhh, good explanation. I suppose I see myself as being outside of the console wars/fanboy battles but I'm more invested than I know. Hell, I own a 360 but I think the PS3 does a lot of things right (free PSN, blu ray w/ online hardware updates, use your own hard drive, etc.) but I certainly wouldn't waste time arguing with someone about which is "better." I have my 360 because the rest of my family across the pond does, we keep in touch that way.
I need to leave this thread immediately before I'm drawn in too far. Damn you, Brainiac.
Like Sporky said, it's a way to know a little more about the industry that makes the stuff you enjoy. If you just go into the store and buy something by reading the back of the box, you won't care about sales figures.
But if you read about upcoming games online, are aware that different developers make different games, and care a bit about certain franchises or developers doing well, then sales figures become more relevant. I care about them, but I don't really follow them religiously. I hope the games I like do well and I'm happy when they sell enough for the developers to be paid and consider a sequel.
More importantly if a certain type of game sells well it inspires other companies to look into what made the game so popular. While Valkyria Chronicles didn't set the world on fire, seeing it sell well definitely prompted the company to create a sequel (on the PSP, but still a sequel) and has probably influenced at least a few other development houses, even if just subtly.
I wouldn't worry too much. We tend to 'mostly' stay away from fanboy flame wars. Most everyone here is quite intelligent and generally just keeps an eye on the industry so that we can see how our hobby as a whole is doing. We look for the industry as a whole to succeed. Every once in a while craziness happens, but we avoid it most of the time.
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My movie gallery is selling Infinite Undiscovery and Lost Odyssey both for 20 bucks new just to get rid of them.
Which one is the more satisfying RPG?
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LO isn't.
This is so key, right here and I have actually used From Software as an example of a HD dev that is doing things right. Shit even Gears of War only cost 12 million to make. I think the days of companies being able to take as long as they want and spend whatever to make a game are over. Blizzard being the exception... they can do whatever they want haha.