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Video Game Sales Thread: January edition's done, use the new thread
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The new "Wait For X" Game for the PS3 is now officially Killzone 2.
Indeed. Usually January NPD is dominated by holdovers from December. Since Fall is uusually so huge with releases, those games tend to take up December slots, then run "unopposed" by lack of releases in January. EA managed to squeeze out a few but that's it. Even Actiblizz's games came out before.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
And Wii Fit, holy crap.
Well if KZ2 can't push PS3's then I don't know what can. What's left after that - GoW3 and FFXIII? There aren't many tricks up the PS3's sleeve left to play.
Halo 3 didn't have THAT big an effect on the 360, and that game had much, much, much more mega-hype than KZ2.
Hard to say, in my estimation. How many people have purchased 360's to play a blockbuster game like that well after the fact? Or, instead, I'll argue that the 360's library was so strong that it didn't need Halo 3 like the oXbox needed Halo 1 (or 2, for that matter). The PS3, on the other hand, could have desperately used a KZ2 on it's first anniversary for the '07 holiday season.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I know they pulled the pods but I think the D&B is still there. I moved to the west coast about 4 years ago so yeah it has been a while. It was stupid fun though and almost worth the cost.
It probably won't, so don't look for that to happen until... a month or two later maybe.
Want to know how much money Square thinks DQIX will make?
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I would suspect this is the case. Although, I'm curious why this oft-delayed game needs five more months to clean up such bugs.
Do not engage the Watermelons.
Sounds like a bit of a win win for Square Enix, make sure the game releases without problems, possibly meeting the inevitable supply constraints and release it in the next fiscal year along with hopefully a japanese release of FF13 at the end of the year looks like a good year to come for Square Enix
Yeah, NPD doesn't include Steam numbers right?
e: Oh shit I forgot that's the 360 version... That's really impressive!
I'm can't say too much about the actual numbers, but do want to mention that the LIVE subscription business is doing very well. It's a bit like the WoW subscriptions that feed Activision-Blizzard ... a nice, consistent, revenue stream, which keeps growing.
It'll be interesting to see if Nintendo or Sony attempt to do something similar. No, I don't mean charging for their online service necessarily, but develop some sort of recurring revenue model. Sony tried to do it with Qore, I guess, but it hasn't worked out very well. Arguably Nintendo doesn't need to do anything at all, since they're already making plenty of money already.
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Well CoD WaW is a sequel to a huge seller from last year. You have to expect that it would be more front loaded than Modern Warfare since a ton of that sold off of word of mouth.
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Not only that but they already have a constant stream of money. It's called Mario Kart DS :P
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360 is doing well.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
There's a bigger chance of developers giving up on both HD systems than just one of them.
I've no clue why you'd think a Wii port would cost the same amount as a PS3 port though, that's crazy talk.
Anyway, NPD's aren't too surprising really. PS2 sales were a lot lower than I expected, Sony really should've dropped its price around the same time as the 360 did.
Lastly, shitting on Midway is mighty dickish. Psi-Ops, Unreal Tournament and Shadow Hearts: Covenant were all pretty good games. MK vs DC got pretty good reviews too, though MK isn't really my thing.
I don't think there is any chance of seeing a mass exodus from the PS3 by 3rd parties juts because the cost of porting isn't going to be that great compared to all those art assets.
However, I'd bet there is some danger of devs deciding not to wait for the PS3 port to get to full equality with the 360 version if that would make them miss their launch date. They could either let it be worse (say frame rates or whatever) or they could delay the PS3 launch.
As for the HD consoles in general I'd use this analogy (danger danger
3rd party devs cut back spending due to losses -> smaller pie
3rd parties move to more Wii development -> smaller piece of smaller pie
3rd parties won't abandon money making sequels -> smaller piece of smaller pie tastes the same.
(or did I post that here already?)
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Nice to see an increase in sales for the 360, and holy crap does Sony need some help.
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Specifically they need some help writing their spin for this month. I've seen nothing yet.
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I haven't been shitting on Midway. Just recent Midway. Last-gen Midway was pretty cool, with those games you mentioned right here (Psi Ops was one of my favorite third person shooters of last gen; and I still consider it to be the game that did "The Force Unleashed" better than The Force Unleashed). This-Gen Midway has been nothing but blah, shovelware, and movie-licenses. I consider MKvDC as part of the blah.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
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Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
March has what, a full month of KZ versus Halo RTS and Pokemon Platinum?
KZ2 has one chance at numbah one, and needs to do it in two days.
Interesting to still see Spore at the top of the charts. You'd think from all the whining about DRM, as well as some mediocre reviews, that it wasn't doing well. In fact, it appears to be selling quite well. (Now, whether or not it's up to EA's lofty expectations, is another matter entirely)
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Is that the best selling 2nd placed system ever? So where the hell are the games? It's already been proven that the 'crap software sales' isn't really that true, since its attach rate is similar to the DS's. Outside of Square Enix's lineup, there's like 4 PSP games I'm looking forward to (the two Level 5 RPG's, Patapon 2 and Prinny). What the hell Sony?
Xenogears: Street Fighter 4 also hits in February, which I'm betting will be the best selling fighting game this generation (not including Super Smash Bros). Then in March there's RE5 (which will probably outsell KZ2 and Halo Wars).
slash: I don't know, Stranglehold was a decent game and LOTR Online was pretty popular for a while (I don't know if it still is, I used to rely on GFW Radio to get news of that game). The Wheelman is meant to be a pretty good game too.
And while I'm not a huge fan of MK vs DC, I do have to admit that it's probably the best game in the series.
lowlylowlycook: I doubt we'll see much of a decrease in HD support for the next year or two. By the time they do, the next generation will probably be right around the corner anyway (which I'm guessing will arrive around 2012).
Edit: Looks like with Midway filing for Chapter 11, Ubisoft has picked up The Wheelman. It's kinda weird, since Midway actually developed it internally (with Vin Diesel's studio, Tigon, helping out with the design).
While I do agree with your first point (3rd party spending less money overall), I still think that's very much wishful thinking on your part that 3rd party development for the 360 and PS3 is somehow in "danger danger".
As Iwata himself has mentioned, consumers are spending less on the non-AAA titles. It makes sense. In this economy, a lot of gamers want to be safe with their purchases. So yes, they'll focus on the "money making sequels" because that's what they know, and that's what 3rd parties will continue to focus on.
While I also agree that there will be more Wii development ... my guess is that developers are going to be pretty conservative on what they build, focusing on what sells ... which is sadly "shovelware". Traditional/hardcore games on the Wii just isn't a proven thing yet. Mad World and the Conduit may change attitudes, so we'll have to carefully watch how they do.
In the meantime, we continue to see new games being announced ... and guess what. It's more of the same. The "big hits" go to the 360/PS3/PC, while the Wii unfortunately continues to get more ports. Recently announced Dead Rising 2 is just another example of this happening. I don't think Nintendo minds too much because they're still making a ton of money off the hardware and their first party titles.
Anyway, I do hope that 3rd parties, overall, do focus on making fewer games in general. This lets them cut costs and it gives us gamers an opportunity to catch up. This last holiday season was especially crazy, with all the great games that came out, especially on the 360/PS3/PC.
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I'm of the opinion that the excess whining you hear over DRM is from pirates anyway.
Let's also note that MS isn't crowing about 3rd party revenue again this month, except in a life to date fashion.
Have we seen the Sony PR statement?
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Now, for a reminder, the January Top 10:
So, we know that Gears of War 2 was number 11. We also know that Microsoft thinks that either Wii Fit or Wii Play doesn't count as a game.