What? That people weren't fooled for a minute and decided not to buy the shitty Fight Night knockoff? Imagine what happens when EA decides to release a professional football title that isn't called Madden. Sooner or later, somebody will have to figure that diluting your own market is probably not the best strategy...
It's a shame that the NFL went with an exclusive license. It was nice, back in the day, when there was real competition in the yearly football genre. Now it's Madden, and it's weird twists on the sport that avoid direct NFL licensing issues (like Blitz the League)
What? That people weren't fooled for a minute and decided not to buy the shitty Fight Night knockoff? Imagine what happens when EA decides to release a professional football title that isn't called Madden. Sooner or later, somebody will have to figure that diluting your own market is probably not the best strategy...
Actually, since EA makes Fight Night (heck, the same developer made it), I don't think it's a knock-off at all. It was just a bad game.
I think the idea of having a light-hearted boxing game, a la Punch Out or Ready2Rumble, isn't a bad idea, especially if it's something that can be easily adaptable to the Wii. A super-realistic Fight Night just would not be possible on the Wii hardware, and I'm not convinced it would be a big seller anyway.
Anyway, so why hasn't EA locked up a UFC license and make a killer game out of it? Isn't MMA bigger than boxing/wrestling these days?
Hm, Spore isn't kicking the shit out of every other game like the hype train suggested it would. Sure, it's doing well against WoW, but it's telling that the expansion pack is number 18 on the list.
What? That people weren't fooled for a minute and decided not to buy the shitty Fight Night knockoff? Imagine what happens when EA decides to release a professional football title that isn't called Madden. Sooner or later, somebody will have to figure that diluting your own market is probably not the best strategy...
Actually, since EA makes Fight Night (heck, the same developer made it), I don't think it's a knock-off at all. It was just a bad game.
I think the idea of having a light-hearted boxing game, a la Punch Out or Ready2Rumble, isn't a bad idea, especially if it's something that can be easily adaptable to the Wii. A super-realistic Fight Night just would not be possible on the Wii hardware, and I'm not convinced it would be a big seller anyway.
Anyway, so why hasn't EA locked up a UFC license and make a killer game out of it? Isn't MMA bigger than boxing/wrestling these days?
I was just suggesting that in the face (haha!) of Fight Night, and the anticipation of FN4(!), releasing a Ready2Rumble clone with Don King as the celebrity face was just a silly idea.
And isn't UFC a THQ license or something? I'm pretty sure they're locked up to somebody else at any rate. And frankly, after the stupid shit they did to the Def Jam series (After Fight for NY, what were they thinking in Icon?), I doubt they could make any MMA game any more interesting than Kimbo Slice turned out to be.
Well there's going to be a Ready2Rumble on the Wii soonish, and also the Wii Punch Out
Yup. If Facebreaker were actually good, then EA might have seen more sales.
Being good would have certainly helped a lot.
I'm kind of curious as to how big a market for a cartoony boxing game really is though. At this point I feel like it's one of these things where if there's no brand name recognition it's going to have a hard time selling.
Ready2Rumble might end up selling oK, but I think the nostalgia factor behind PunchOut Wii is going to really push the sales on that game.
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
Good to hear regarding the Sims games, although I'm biased because I have a friend-of-a-friend who works in the Sims group at EA.
Anyway, I would like to see actual results regarding this. Not that I don't believe you guys but I think we've proven that digging deeper and getting the data helps things we thought were true but aren't, or lead to different questions. For one thing, I thought there were some EA layoffs somewhere in the LA or Bay area? What titles where they working on?
I bet Hot Shots golf would sell like crazy on the wii, with its cutsey big headed characters and all. Too bad its owned by Sony. Also I'm pretty surprised there wasn't a sixaxis control option for Hot Shots, like easy or casual mode or something, maybe nintendo has a patent on it. :P
I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.
Nintendo's Wii Music Waits for Fans
New Game Lags Far Behind Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but Creator Banks on Growth via Word-of-Mouth
By YUKARI IWATANI KANE
After years of explosive growth, Nintendo Co. is under pressure to keep up its momentum. That puts the company's creative chief, Shigeru Miyamoto, in the hot seat again.
[Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, shown demonstrating Wii Music, says he isn't expecting it to be an immediate hit.] Getty Images
Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, shown demonstrating Wii Music, says he isn't expecting it to be an immediate hit.
Interview Excerpts
Read more from the Journal's interview with Mr. Miyamoto: "The simpler the game, the more you have to pay attention to the details."
The legendary game guru, who was the brains behind Nintendo's Wii console and the creator of Donkey Kong, Mario and Zelda, is facing a disappointment this holiday season. His new Wii Music game, in which players shake the Wii's controller the way an instrument would be played, has been greeted with skepticism, even from loyal fans.
"It could be Nintendo's first flop for Wii," said Benjamin Schachter, an analyst with UBS Investment Research.
In an interview, the famously private Mr. Miyamoto said he isn't bothered by how Wii Music is performing so far. "I don't expect Wii Music to be an immediate hit," said the boyish-looking 56-year-old, who joined Nintendo in 1977 and now runs its game development. "It will be a steady long-running seller that will spread gradually by word-of-mouth."
Unlike the blockbuster music games Guitar Hero and Rock Band, which have sold millions of copies, letting players act like rock stars, Mr. Miyamoto made Wii Music an improvisation game that doesn't keep track of scores.
Mr. Miyamoto said his goal is to make games more than just a form of entertainment. Wii Music, he said, has educational value as a tool to teach music theory. In the game, players choose from 60 instruments to improvise and record songs like "Yankee Doodle" and "La Cucaracha."
Consumers have been slow to seize on the idea, though. The Wii console, which has sold more than 36 million units world-wide since its release two years ago, continues to outsell other game machines by wide margins. But initial sales of Wii Music, which hit U.S. stores in October, have lagged rival music games as well as older Wii titles. Wii Music sold 297,000 copies in U.S. stores in November -- half as many copies as two Nintendo games, Wii Play and Wii Fit, that have long been on the market, according to research firm NPD Group Inc.
Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard Inc.'s latest music game for the Wii, Guitar Hero World Tour, which was also released in October, sold 475,000 copies in November, said NPD, which tracks U.S. retail sales.
Nintendo could use a new hit. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said in an interview earlier this year that his company has realized all of the ideas it had when it first conceived of the Wii. Nintendo's stock, which more than doubled in 2007, has plunged about 50% so far this year.
It took Nintendo several years to develop Wii Music. Like many of Mr. Miyamoto's games, it was inspired by one of his hobbies. He is a folk music fan and amateur guitarist. He began playing the ukulele in junior high school and bought his first guitar in college.
Other ideas have sprung from Mr. Miyamoto's personal life. The Nintendogs game for the portable DS player, for example, came from his love of dogs, especially his Shetland sheepdog Pick. Wii Fit was born out of his interest in fitness.
[wii power]
Mr. Iwata has asked Mr. Miyamoto to not discuss his hobbies since they can reveal future games, but Mr. Miyamoto let slip in a recent interview that he likes to swim and does laps in a pool once or twice a week.
Despite his low-key demeanor, Mr. Miyamoto's work has made him a global celebrity. Fans scramble for his autograph at public appearances and have set up Web sites and Facebook pages that honor him or his games. In 2006, he was awarded a knighthood for his contribution to the arts by the French government.
"He's one of the most innovative and intelligent people involved in gaming," said David Hinkle, a 25-year-old admirer who runs NintendoWiiFanboy.com from his home in the Philadelphia suburbs. Without Mr. Miyamoto's games, "I wouldn't have been so inspired and in love with gaming."
Still, Mr. Hinkle said he has been underwhelmed by Wii Music. "I know what Miyamoto was doing with the game, the demographic that it was targeting, and that the game was designed to introduce folks to music, but as a real musician myself, I found the game to be a little too basic for me," he said.
Mr. Miyamoto lives with his wife and two children in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan and home to Nintendo's white headquarters. He biked to work everyday until a few years ago when Nintendo asked him to drive for security reasons.
Nintendo declined to comment on Mr. Miyamoto's compensation. As of June, his stake in Nintendo totaled 100 shares. He and 12 other senior executives shared bonuses totaling one billion yen, or nearly $11 million, for its fiscal year ended in March, according to a regulatory filing. Mr. Miyamoto said one of his biggest worries is how gaps in pay between senior and junior developers could hurt morale.
Katsumoto Tatsukawa, who has developed games for Sony Corp. and Sega Corp., considers Mr. Miyamoto a god-like figure in the industry but said he doesn't necessarily agree with his approach. "His games are very high in quality and easy to play, but they also seem relatively easy to lose interest in because they tend to be shorter," Mr. Tatsukawa said.
Though multiple players can form an ensemble to play music in the Wii Music game, Mr. Miyamoto said the more interesting aspect for him is the ability for a player to record six separate parts to a song with different instruments and combine them to form an original recording.
"Traditional music games are fun as games, but I wanted to relay the joy of music itself," said Mr. Miyamoto, adding that he hopes the game will help spawn future musicians.
Mr. Miyamoto has proven critics wrong before. More than two years ago when Nintendo unveiled the relatively low-tech Wii, the industry was dubious about the console's prospects because it flouted the conventional wisdom that consoles had to be faster and more powerful than previous machines. Many industry observers predicted the Wii would be a short-lived fad.
Mr. Miyamoto said at the time that he found it an interesting challenge to return to the basics and come up with simple, high-quality games for the Wii that don't rely on fancy graphics or licensing of well-known athletes. "It's a good test of one's abilities as a developer," he said.
Don't you think it is a bit too early to call Wii Music a flop?
I thought Wario Land: Shake It and Disaster became flops well before Wii Music. Hell, I remember hearing Excite Truck did surprisingly horribly. Ah well. Wii Music could have legs, so it's way too soon to call it a flop.
So Nintendo forced Miyamoto to drive to work? Heh, that's funny. Reminds me of when he said Nintendo ordered him to stop talking about his hobbies, since he keeps turning them into games. Next thing you know Nintendo will order him to eat more fruit and stop wearing purple clothes.
Again we have a lot of PS2 sales for FY 2008 beating out all the other platforms. And PS3 games sales being so close to Wii sales really shows how unprepared for Nintendomination EA really was.
Well, I agree with "unprepared", but I'm curious why Wii sales aren't that high? Is it because they simply haven't made as many as they should? Or did the titles they produce just tank? For example, how did the MySims franchise do? Did they expect the Wii versions of Facebreaker or the All-Play lineup of EA Sports games to sell better than they actually did?
Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but EA's report is from FY 2008, which would be 4/1/2007 through 3/31/2008, correct? If so, you have to ignore Facebreaker and some of the shitty All-Play games (apparently Madden 08 was decent on Wii, while 09 wasn't as good). You're looking at 15 games on Wii to 19 on PS3. Also, I don't know how much EA sees from $50 Wii games compared to $60 PS3 games.
Below is a list of games published by EA between 4/1/2007 and 3/31/2008 according to MetaCritic. I would guess a lot of the Wii sales were driven by MySims, Tiger Woods, and a bit by Madden. But without hard numbers, it's really tough to tell.
Medal of Honor Airborne
Army of Two
skate
NCAA Football 08
NASCAR 08
Burnout Paradise
Need for Speed ProStreet
FIFA Soccer 08
Madden NFL 08
NFL Tour
NHL 08
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
Simpsons Game, The
NBA Live 08
FIFA Street 3
NCAA March Madness 08
Rock Band
Orange Box, The
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
MySims
Boogie
Sims 2: Pets, The
Need for Speed ProStreet
FIFA Soccer 08
Madden NFL 08
Smarty Pants
Medal of Honor Heroes 2
EA Playground
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
Simpsons Game, The
NBA Live 08
Sims 2: Castaway, The
Ninja Reflex
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Disaster needs a chance to flop in the West before it officially becomes a flop. Wario Shake it pretty much flopped though. Excite Truck sold mediocre, and it took a while for it to sell mediocre, post price drop. Unfortunately that shitty Monster truck game by Ubi with the wheel pack-in outsold it by quite a lot.
Again we have a lot of PS2 sales for FY 2008 beating out all the other platforms. And PS3 games sales being so close to Wii sales really shows how unprepared for Nintendomination EA really was.
Well, I agree with "unprepared", but I'm curious why Wii sales aren't that high? Is it because they simply haven't made as many as they should? Or did the titles they produce just tank? For example, how did the MySims franchise do? Did they expect the Wii versions of Facebreaker or the All-Play lineup of EA Sports games to sell better than they actually did?
Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but EA's report is from FY 2008, which would be 4/1/2007 through 3/31/2008, correct? If so, you have to ignore Facebreaker and some of the shitty All-Play games (apparently Madden 08 was decent on Wii, while 09 wasn't as good). You're looking at 15 games on Wii to 19 on PS3. Also, I don't know how much EA sees from $50 Wii games compared to $60 PS3 games.
Below is a list of games published by EA between 4/1/2007 and 3/31/2008 according to MetaCritic. I would guess a lot of the Wii sales were driven by MySims, Tiger Woods, and a bit by Madden.
Medal of Honor Airborne
Army of Two
skate
NCAA Football 08
NASCAR 08
Burnout Paradise
Need for Speed ProStreet
FIFA Soccer 08
Madden NFL 08
NFL Tour
NHL 08
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
Simpsons Game, The
NBA Live 08
FIFA Street 3
NCAA March Madness 08
Rock Band
Orange Box, The
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
MySims
Boogie
Sims 2: Pets, The
Need for Speed ProStreet
FIFA Soccer 08
Madden NFL 08
Smarty Pants
Medal of Honor Heroes 2
EA Playground
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
Simpsons Game, The
NBA Live 08
Sims 2: Castaway, The
Ninja Reflex
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
You might be surprised to hear that EA Playground sold extremely well, as did Boogie.
the Simpsons game was an absolute major, huge success for EA, once you tally up the sales across platforms.
Disaster needs a chance to flop in the West before it officially becomes a flop. Wario Shake it pretty much flopped though. Excite Truck sold mediocre, and it took a while for it to sell mediocre, post price drop. Unfortunately that shitty Monster truck game by Ubi with the wheel pack-in outsold it by quite a lot.
True, and I'm guessing the game stands its best chance in the Americas. The game did horribly in Europe, though.
That Ubisoft game did better than Excite Truck? Sigh... Excite Truck is actually kind of fun if limited.
Edit: Wasn't The Simpsons Game a much, MUCH bigger success in Europe than it was here? The game's at bargain basement prices now and it hasn't been out that long.
Disaster needs a chance to flop in the West before it officially becomes a flop. Wario Shake it pretty much flopped though. Excite Truck sold mediocre, and it took a while for it to sell mediocre, post price drop. Unfortunately that shitty Monster truck game by Ubi with the wheel pack-in outsold it by quite a lot.
True, and I'm guessing the game stands its best chance in the Americas. The game did horribly in Europe, though.
That Ubisoft game did better than Excite Truck? Sigh... Excite Truck is actually kind of fun if limited.
Edit: Wasn't The Simpsons Game a much, MUCH bigger success in Europe than it was here? The game's at bargain basement prices now and it hasn't been out that long.
You might be surprised to hear that EA Playground sold extremely well, as did Boogie.
the Simpsons game was an absolute major, huge success for EA, once you tally up the sales across platforms.
And as I scan through the EA 2008 Annual Report, yeah, they say that the Simpsons game drove sales, particularly in Europe and Asia. I would not have guessed that at all.
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Guess he's never heard of Fire Emblem or Excite Truck.
Flop for a "Wii ____," sure, but not Nintendo's first flop by a longshot.
Also, DK Blast, dunno about its sales, and Wario Shake It hasn't done so hot either.
It's too bad too, since Wario Land, Fire Emblem, and Excite Truck were all great games. Oh well...I wouldn't call Wii Music their first flop, or even a flop yet.
As far as the Simpsons game, it was a fun, yet simple platformer...so yea, it did really well.
Disaster needs a chance to flop in the West before it officially becomes a flop. Wario Shake it pretty much flopped though. Excite Truck sold mediocre, and it took a while for it to sell mediocre, post price drop. Unfortunately that shitty Monster truck game by Ubi with the wheel pack-in outsold it by quite a lot.
True, and I'm guessing the game stands its best chance in the Americas. The game did horribly in Europe, though.
That Ubisoft game did better than Excite Truck? Sigh... Excite Truck is actually kind of fun if limited.
Edit: Wasn't The Simpsons Game a much, MUCH bigger success in Europe than it was here? The game's at bargain basement prices now and it hasn't been out that long.
Four million sold worldwide.
Right, I knew it was a huge success when you count in the worldwide sales, though I always got the impression it didn't do quite as staggeringly well as it did in Europe, where it was a monster success.
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
How much is "better" though, and how does that compare with costs? Going with an All Play format specifically for Wii is interesting, but it does increase development costs to some degree. Was it worth it? Or is it better to just create one engine and port it to all the platforms as best as possible?
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
How much is "better" though, and how does that compare with costs? Going with an All Play format specifically for Wii is interesting, but it does increase development costs to some degree. Was it worth it? Or is it better to just create one engine and port it to all the platforms as best as possible?
Considering all the rejiggering that would be needed to get a 360 game working on the Wii, it might just be a lot more cost-effective to just make a whole new game.
Disaster needs a chance to flop in the West before it officially becomes a flop. Wario Shake it pretty much flopped though. Excite Truck sold mediocre, and it took a while for it to sell mediocre, post price drop. Unfortunately that shitty Monster truck game by Ubi with the wheel pack-in outsold it by quite a lot.
This saddens me. When the hell are people going to get tired of these ridiculous wiimote snapin peripherals.
I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
How much is "better" though, and how does that compare with costs? Going with an All Play format specifically for Wii is interesting, but it does increase development costs to some degree. Was it worth it? Or is it better to just create one engine and port it to all the platforms as best as possible?
Considering all the rejiggering that would be needed to get a 360 game working on the Wii, it might just be a lot more cost-effective to just make a whole new game.
I know I can't be the only person to think of Dead Rising.
EA takes many of the PS2 assets and increases texture resolutions and some other random shit. It's not like they build the game from scratch. The most work they do revolves around rejiggering gameplay, not in the building of the nuts and bolts underlying the game itself.
Disaster needs a chance to flop in the West before it officially becomes a flop. Wario Shake it pretty much flopped though. Excite Truck sold mediocre, and it took a while for it to sell mediocre, post price drop. Unfortunately that shitty Monster truck game by Ubi with the wheel pack-in outsold it by quite a lot.
This saddens me. When the hell are people going to get tired of these ridiculous wiimote snapin peripherals.
I dunno. But it was a fresher concept back at the Wii's launch, when all this occurred. It's retarded but people must have thought it was a great deal to get "This Monster Truck racing game, plus a steering wheel!" over "that Truck Racing game, but with no wheel..." Who knows.
I can live without the wiimote attachments, unless they serve a utilitarian purpose (like the Perfect Shot). But stuff like the "sports packs" (with like snapon golf clubs, snap on baseball bats, snapon tennis rackets), I can live without that shit. It's these third party periph makers loooking to make a quick buck.
Guess he's never heard of Fire Emblem or Excite Truck.
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn sold worldwide more than 300 000 copies, which is what is typically excepted for the series. FE's are niche games, and developing them is inexpensive.
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
How much is "better" though, and how does that compare with costs? Going with an All Play format specifically for Wii is interesting, but it does increase development costs to some degree. Was it worth it? Or is it better to just create one engine and port it to all the platforms as best as possible?
Considering all the rejiggering that would be needed to get a 360 game working on the Wii, it might just be a lot more cost-effective to just make a whole new game.
I know I can't be the only person to think of Dead Rising.
But with dead rising, it's neither the rejiggering of a 360 engine, nor the making of a whole new game.
Dead Rising Wii is running on the Resi4 engine, not a rejiggered 360 engine. And it's not a whole new game made from scratch (as a result of this use of the RE4 engine), and many of the assets of the 360 game have been "ported down" to work on the thing.
So it's in between. Not saying it's a great idea or a bad idea, but it's what they've done/doing.
Disaster needs a chance to flop in the West before it officially becomes a flop. Wario Shake it pretty much flopped though. Excite Truck sold mediocre, and it took a while for it to sell mediocre, post price drop. Unfortunately that shitty Monster truck game by Ubi with the wheel pack-in outsold it by quite a lot.
This saddens me. When the hell are people going to get tired of these ridiculous wiimote snapin peripherals.
I dunno. But it was a fresher concept back at the Wii's launch, when all this occurred. It's retarded but people must have thought it was a great deal to get "This Monster Truck racing game, plus a steering wheel!" over "that Truck Racing game, but with no wheel..." Who knows.
I can live without the wiimote attachments, unless they serve a utilitarian purpose (like the Perfect Shot). But stuff like the "sports packs" (with like snapon golf clubs, snap on baseball bats, snapon tennis rackets), I can live without that shit. It's these third party periph makers loooking to make a quick buck.
They gotta do something since everyone went wireless and there are no third party controllers anymore..
Used to be you could slightly change the plastic shape, add some color, and call it a day...
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
How much is "better" though, and how does that compare with costs? Going with an All Play format specifically for Wii is interesting, but it does increase development costs to some degree. Was it worth it? Or is it better to just create one engine and port it to all the platforms as best as possible?
Considering all the rejiggering that would be needed to get a 360 game working on the Wii, it might just be a lot more cost-effective to just make a whole new game.
I know I can't be the only person to think of Dead Rising.
Yeah, but this is Capcom we're talking about. I'm sure they've got plans to port Dead Rising to the iPhone, toasters and my left ankle.
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
How much is "better" though, and how does that compare with costs? Going with an All Play format specifically for Wii is interesting, but it does increase development costs to some degree. Was it worth it? Or is it better to just create one engine and port it to all the platforms as best as possible?
Considering all the rejiggering that would be needed to get a 360 game working on the Wii, it might just be a lot more cost-effective to just make a whole new game.
I know I can't be the only person to think of Dead Rising.
Yeah, but this is Capcom we're talking about. I'm sure they've got plans to port Dead Rising to the iPhone, toasters and my left ankle.
Guess he's never heard of Fire Emblem or Excite Truck.
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn sold worldwide more than 300 000 copies, which is what is typically excepted for the series. FE's are niche games, and developing them is inexpensive.
Well that's good to hear. I guess I was just thinking in the USA. Actually, for an SRPG, 300k is pretty good; looking at first month sales, Fire Emblem Wii pulled over 100k sales. That's not bad at all.
Scratch FE:RD from my mental list of "games that sold poorly" on the Wii; because given the niche nature of the genre, 300k is fantastic, and >100k first month is damn good in the USA.
Edit: it sold 73k its first week in japan; not shabby
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
How much is "better" though, and how does that compare with costs? Going with an All Play format specifically for Wii is interesting, but it does increase development costs to some degree. Was it worth it? Or is it better to just create one engine and port it to all the platforms as best as possible?
Considering all the rejiggering that would be needed to get a 360 game working on the Wii, it might just be a lot more cost-effective to just make a whole new game.
I know I can't be the only person to think of Dead Rising.
Yeah, but this is Capcom we're talking about. I'm sure they've got plans to port Dead Rising to the iPhone, toasters and my left ankle.
Hell, they ported RE4 to cellphones.
I played the cloudeagle left ankle edition... It was a joint conversion.
I don't want to get into the middle of this discussion, but the Console sims games do really well. Sims 2 on consoles did 1M+ sales (across ds, wii, psp, ps2 in the USA), and MySims on Wii+DS did 1.8 million sales in the USA. But EA has lots of highly successful franchises on the Wii. And the All Sports games may not do super awesome, but the Tiger Woods ones do absurdly well on the Wii.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
How much is "better" though, and how does that compare with costs? Going with an All Play format specifically for Wii is interesting, but it does increase development costs to some degree. Was it worth it? Or is it better to just create one engine and port it to all the platforms as best as possible?
Considering all the rejiggering that would be needed to get a 360 game working on the Wii, it might just be a lot more cost-effective to just make a whole new game.
I know I can't be the only person to think of Dead Rising.
Yeah, but this is Capcom we're talking about. I'm sure they've got plans to port Dead Rising to the iPhone, toasters and my left ankle.
Hell, they ported RE4 to cellphones.
I played the cloudeagle left ankle edition... It was a joint conversion.
Also not many new releases and relatively unchanged sales volume, which gives greater room for re-arranging.
It's interesting to see some more "casual" games rising up the chart, even for non-Wii systems. Kung-Fu Panda, LEGO Indiana Jones, and even Lips seen a bump for the 360, and games like Raving Rabbids, Brain Training, Cooking Guide going up for the DS/Wii. Makes sense as gifts for the kids/family.
I'm fairly certain that they're counting package deals hence Kung-Fu Panda and LEGO Indiana Jones are charting at the same spot. Also, the relative failure of PoP, ME, and Dead Space is calling for a change in labeling. 360/PS3 gamers aren't "core" gamers, they're mainstream and everyone needs a bitch slap for not buying those games.
PoP is too easy. ME is too short. Dead Space just sucks. Or something... Probably not accurate (unless it is...).
Wait....Dead Space sucks? You are the first person I've heard say this. Care to elaborate?
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It's a shame that the NFL went with an exclusive license. It was nice, back in the day, when there was real competition in the yearly football genre. Now it's Madden, and it's weird twists on the sport that avoid direct NFL licensing issues (like Blitz the League)
Shame really.
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Actually, since EA makes Fight Night (heck, the same developer made it), I don't think it's a knock-off at all. It was just a bad game.
I think the idea of having a light-hearted boxing game, a la Punch Out or Ready2Rumble, isn't a bad idea, especially if it's something that can be easily adaptable to the Wii. A super-realistic Fight Night just would not be possible on the Wii hardware, and I'm not convinced it would be a big seller anyway.
Anyway, so why hasn't EA locked up a UFC license and make a killer game out of it? Isn't MMA bigger than boxing/wrestling these days?
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That hype train was derailed pretty quick.
SPORES OUT. It sucks. Oh well. I hear Spores out.
Yup. If Facebreaker were actually good, then EA might have seen more sales.
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I was just suggesting that in the face (haha!) of Fight Night, and the anticipation of FN4(!), releasing a Ready2Rumble clone with Don King as the celebrity face was just a silly idea.
And isn't UFC a THQ license or something? I'm pretty sure they're locked up to somebody else at any rate. And frankly, after the stupid shit they did to the Def Jam series (After Fight for NY, what were they thinking in Icon?), I doubt they could make any MMA game any more interesting than Kimbo Slice turned out to be.
Being good would have certainly helped a lot.
I'm kind of curious as to how big a market for a cartoony boxing game really is though. At this point I feel like it's one of these things where if there's no brand name recognition it's going to have a hard time selling.
Ready2Rumble might end up selling oK, but I think the nostalgia factor behind PunchOut Wii is going to really push the sales on that game.
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Not that I'm a UFC fan or anything, I just read about random stuff while surfing the net.
Good to hear regarding the Sims games, although I'm biased because I have a friend-of-a-friend who works in the Sims group at EA.
Anyway, I would like to see actual results regarding this. Not that I don't believe you guys but I think we've proven that digging deeper and getting the data helps things we thought were true but aren't, or lead to different questions. For one thing, I thought there were some EA layoffs somewhere in the LA or Bay area? What titles where they working on?
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Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
Guess he's never heard of Fire Emblem or Excite Truck.
Flop for a "Wii ____," sure, but not Nintendo's first flop by a longshot.
Also, DK Blast, dunno about its sales, and Wario Shake It hasn't done so hot either.
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So Nintendo forced Miyamoto to drive to work? Heh, that's funny. Reminds me of when he said Nintendo ordered him to stop talking about his hobbies, since he keeps turning them into games. Next thing you know Nintendo will order him to eat more fruit and stop wearing purple clothes.
Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but EA's report is from FY 2008, which would be 4/1/2007 through 3/31/2008, correct? If so, you have to ignore Facebreaker and some of the shitty All-Play games (apparently Madden 08 was decent on Wii, while 09 wasn't as good). You're looking at 15 games on Wii to 19 on PS3. Also, I don't know how much EA sees from $50 Wii games compared to $60 PS3 games.
Below is a list of games published by EA between 4/1/2007 and 3/31/2008 according to MetaCritic. I would guess a lot of the Wii sales were driven by MySims, Tiger Woods, and a bit by Madden. But without hard numbers, it's really tough to tell.
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You might be surprised to hear that EA Playground sold extremely well, as did Boogie.
the Simpsons game was an absolute major, huge success for EA, once you tally up the sales across platforms.
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True, and I'm guessing the game stands its best chance in the Americas. The game did horribly in Europe, though.
That Ubisoft game did better than Excite Truck? Sigh... Excite Truck is actually kind of fun if limited.
Edit: Wasn't The Simpsons Game a much, MUCH bigger success in Europe than it was here? The game's at bargain basement prices now and it hasn't been out that long.
Four million sold worldwide.
And as I scan through the EA 2008 Annual Report, yeah, they say that the Simpsons game drove sales, particularly in Europe and Asia. I would not have guessed that at all.
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It's too bad too, since Wario Land, Fire Emblem, and Excite Truck were all great games. Oh well...I wouldn't call Wii Music their first flop, or even a flop yet.
As far as the Simpsons game, it was a fun, yet simple platformer...so yea, it did really well.
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Right, I knew it was a huge success when you count in the worldwide sales, though I always got the impression it didn't do quite as staggeringly well as it did in Europe, where it was a monster success.
I recall also reading that the all play sports titles did better this year than they did in previous iterations. At least, I know that's true for Madden all play. Not so sure about tiger woods, though I wouldn't be surprised since it's supposed to be considerably improved over the previous build.
Keep in mind that they didn't improve drastically. Madden wii was still outsold by the the 360 by a mile (not sure about the ps3 version but it's almost certainly surpassed the wii build as well)
How much is "better" though, and how does that compare with costs? Going with an All Play format specifically for Wii is interesting, but it does increase development costs to some degree. Was it worth it? Or is it better to just create one engine and port it to all the platforms as best as possible?
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Considering all the rejiggering that would be needed to get a 360 game working on the Wii, it might just be a lot more cost-effective to just make a whole new game.
This saddens me. When the hell are people going to get tired of these ridiculous wiimote snapin peripherals.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
I know I can't be the only person to think of Dead Rising.
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I dunno. But it was a fresher concept back at the Wii's launch, when all this occurred. It's retarded but people must have thought it was a great deal to get "This Monster Truck racing game, plus a steering wheel!" over "that Truck Racing game, but with no wheel..." Who knows.
I can live without the wiimote attachments, unless they serve a utilitarian purpose (like the Perfect Shot). But stuff like the "sports packs" (with like snapon golf clubs, snap on baseball bats, snapon tennis rackets), I can live without that shit. It's these third party periph makers loooking to make a quick buck.
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Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn sold worldwide more than 300 000 copies, which is what is typically excepted for the series. FE's are niche games, and developing them is inexpensive.
But with dead rising, it's neither the rejiggering of a 360 engine, nor the making of a whole new game.
Dead Rising Wii is running on the Resi4 engine, not a rejiggered 360 engine. And it's not a whole new game made from scratch (as a result of this use of the RE4 engine), and many of the assets of the 360 game have been "ported down" to work on the thing.
So it's in between. Not saying it's a great idea or a bad idea, but it's what they've done/doing.
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They gotta do something since everyone went wireless and there are no third party controllers anymore..
Used to be you could slightly change the plastic shape, add some color, and call it a day...
Yeah, but this is Capcom we're talking about. I'm sure they've got plans to port Dead Rising to the iPhone, toasters and my left ankle.
Hell, they ported RE4 to cellphones.
Well that's good to hear. I guess I was just thinking in the USA. Actually, for an SRPG, 300k is pretty good; looking at first month sales, Fire Emblem Wii pulled over 100k sales. That's not bad at all.
Scratch FE:RD from my mental list of "games that sold poorly" on the Wii; because given the niche nature of the genre, 300k is fantastic, and >100k first month is damn good in the USA.
Edit: it sold 73k its first week in japan; not shabby
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I played the cloudeagle left ankle edition... It was a joint conversion.
Wait....Dead Space sucks? You are the first person I've heard say this. Care to elaborate?