There are reasons why the ZP thread no longer is able to exist. Do not bring those reasons in here. But if it makes you feel better about yourself: You win.
I want to know what in the world is taking so long for Professor Layton 2 and 3 to arrive anywhere outside of Japan. It's been hitting high up on the charts for how long now? Sales have to be amazing at this point and I beat it (and every DLC puzzle) quite a while ago and loved it and I WANT MORE MORE MORE!!! (sorry, I guess that got a little out of hand)
I imagine the localization for that game is through the roof, and that they didn't start the localization of 2 and 3 until after they knew the first game was a success. I think I read somewhere in one of these threads that several puzzles only make sense in Japanese and need to be completely replaced.
Now that I'm examining the list again, why is Halo 3 there?
I imagine Halo 3 is the 360 equivalent of Mario Kart: i.e. the first game purchased for a lot of new console owners. Plus the release of Halo Wars & DLC probably helped sell a few copies as well.
So when the annual reports start coming out again I'll try and go through them and pull out what info I can.
Anyone have thoughts on what I should be looking out for? One idea I had was to get a figure for what they spend on marketing if possible. That will probably only work for pure game publishers and Nintendo since others won't break down the numbers in the right way.
I just have a feeling that one underappreciated reason for why Nintendo is so dominant as a publisher this gen is that they are in a class of their own as far as advertising goes.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
So when the annual reports start coming out again I'll try and go through them and pull out what info I can.
Anyone have thoughts on what I should be looking out for? One idea I had was to get a figure for what they spend on marketing if possible. That will probably only work for pure game publishers and Nintendo since others won't break down the numbers in the right way.
I just have a feeling that one underappreciated reason for why Nintendo is so dominant as a publisher this gen is that they are in a class of their own as far as advertising goes.
Yeah, I have seen more CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP commercials than I can possibly count at this point. Nintendo doesn't skimp on the advertising for sure.
In the three years since it first launched, the Nintendo Wii has sailed past competing systems from Sony and Microsoft to consistently claim the top spot in the console war.
But if a recent rash of troubling stories about the Wii is a vision of things to come, the tide might be turning for the seemingly unbeatable machine.
Wii On Top For Now, But For How Long?
Kinks in the system's shiny white armor starting showing last month. Despite steady success in Japan, the Wii fell into second place in March as the underdog Playstation 3 clambered atop the region's sales charts for the first time in 16 months. That was enough to garner some uncharacteristically somber comments from Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, who deemed the climate in Japan "unhealthy" for the Wii.
But to Cowan & Company analyst Doug Creutz, the U.S. market isn’t necessarily any healthier, at least if you're thinking of investing in a console game. In an interview with Gamasutra, Creutz called the Wii "fool's gold" for third-party game developers.
"The choice here is really between investing for the Xbox 360 and PS3 -- since their capabilities are fairly similar -- or the Wii," he said. "I would caution investors and developers that the larger installed base of the Wii is really a bit of a red herring."
Crueutz goes on to point out that while the 19 million Wiis in North America trounce competing consoles individually, combined sales of the 360 and PS3 actually top 22 million. That represents a larger chunk of the pie for game developers who can more easily port games back and forth from the two systems. Additionally, Creutz notes that Nintendo's first-party games and the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises account for nearly one-half of all Wii software sales, a far larger percentage than what's found on the other consoles. Comparatively, the Wii is simply a tougher nut to crack for third-party developers.
Peter Moore, president of enormous third-party game maker EA Sports, echoed Creutz's concerns while speaking at a recent conference.
"You simply can't take what you're doing on the PS3 and Xbox and port - that's a dirty word - down to the Wii," he said, insisting that instead you have to build Wii games "from the ground up."
He's not the only one at EA with issues. Earlier in the month, an EA producer confessed to having trouble incorporating Nintendo's upcoming Wii MotionPlus control attachment into its Grand Slam Tennis game, raising questions about when the tech would be ready for consumers. Nintendo answered that by officially announcing a release date only to curiously push back the release of the game they've repeatedly used to show off the new technology, surefire smash sequel Wii Sports: Resort.
Of course, it's not all doom and gloom. NPD Group reports that the Wii again led the way in March 2009, outselling both the 360 and PS3 by a wide margin. Nintendo is also enjoying strong numbers for its newly released DSi handheld, with the company reporting first-week sales of over 600,000 units in the U.S. and Europe. Mario's checking account won't run out of funds any time soon.
The question is, will gamers run out of interest? The last two major first-party Wii games, Wii Music and Animal Crossing: City Folk, failed to generate the kind of excitement (and, in turn, sales) that Nintendo is accustomed to, a fact that analyst Ed Barton of Screen Digest believes is a big reason why the Wii is struggling. While older blockbusters like Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii are still selling well, Barton points out that the company needs new experiences to drive new sales.
Nintendo hopes to deliver exactly that with upcoming high-profile games like the aforementioned Wii Sports sequel and a remake of classic boxing game Punch Out!, but that still leaves plenty of wiggle room for the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 to continue closing the gap. And if Japan is any indication (and it usually is), that gap can disappear in a heartbeat.
So what do you think? Is the Wii destined for a downfall, or is this just a mid-life crisis?
I mean, I actually forked over the extra money for Soviet Assault--that's how much I enjoy WiC. But I don't think it's ever coming to consoles.
Which is a shame because, really, it's simplicity and twitch-reliance (or, if you prefer, 'quick reactions') makes it suited for consoles more than a more complex game like Company of Heroes. Every unit has either 1 or 2 special abilities. You can easily assign those to buttons. The three sides essentially have identical units, with very minor differences that are entirely aesthetic. There is zero base building or resource gathering--points just come to you magically (not necessarily a bad thing).
It would actually go from PC to console quite easily. Add the fact that it's a gorgeous and addictive game, and you've got a potentially awesome console RTS that's already mostly-done.
The last two major first-party Wii games, Wii Music and Animal Crossing: City Folk, failed to generate the kind of excitement (and, in turn, sales) that Nintendo is accustomed to.
Animal Crossing: City Folk has reached sales of well over 3 million worldwide. Wild World got over 9 million, sure, but to call City Folks sales disapopinting is just wrong. Wii Music is just over 2.5 million now too.
It may be lower than the huge sucesses nintendo has had, but they would have made a massive profit.
I never come in this thread but I was curious just HOW horribly GTA did, and I am shocked at Mario Kart DS at #2 on the DS list. How long has that game been out!?
mxmarks on
PSN: mxmarks - WiiU: mxmarks - twitter: @ MikesPS4 - twitch.tv/mxmarks - "Yes, mxmarks is the King of Queens" - Unbreakable Vow
I never come in this thread but I was curious just HOW horribly GTA did, and I am shocked at Mario Kart DS at #2 on the DS list. How long has that game been out!?
The DS has a good number of games that have just retardedly long legs. NSMB, Brain Age, Mario and Sonic, etc., but MKDS might just take the cake. It was topping some of the charts in Europe not too long ago. Not the DS charts but the all platform charts.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
That's weird because Cricket is a very simple game. It just has a lot of jargon to refer to positions on the field. Neither Cricket nor Rugby will ever make good games because the style of play is not condusive to a video game like Ice Hockey or NFL or something. Even though Cricket and Rugby are played far more around the world than any American sport, the places where they are played are (excluding the UK) not huge video game markets. I mean 1 billion people in India play Cricket all the time but games are not huge there.
Plus, it's usually the case that sports that are more fun to watch than to play make better video games. And Cricket and Rugby are definitely more fun to play yourself.
Gaming isn't big in India at the moment but with the way their economy is growing, I'd imagine it will be within the next 10 years or so. I don't have much doubt that a good cricket game could be a multi-million seller over there, very possibly selling more than any of the Halo's.
I think rugby and cricket fit a videogame 'structure' as well as any other sport, it's just that they're usually not well designed and don't have much money behind them, so they aren't very polished. There have been a couple of games that've been really good (Jonah Lomu Rugby on the PS1 was fantastic), it's just that they weren't followed up on and improved.
I can't really agree with that last part either. I haven't played a game of rugby or cricket for years but I can't remember getting the adrenaline rush I had playing them than I do when the All Blacks play Australia or South Africa. Maybe it's different over there though, since the English rugby team are tragically boring. :P
I guess I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that your bowling for a wicket but then you hit the ball and run back and forth and score points or something. I know I absolutely just butchered the sport for you all. Compared to baseball where you hit the ball, run the bases and only score if you get home. I really just need to watch a game and then it would make a lot more sense.
This is going to be really off topic so I think I'll spoil it for anyone that's not interested.
Cricket is a pretty simple sport really. The bowlers arm needs to be straight when they bowl the ball, the batsman hits it and runs between the wickets for runs. Going across the boundary after hitting the ground gains you 4 runs, hitting it over it on the full gets you 6. You can get out by the wicket being hit, getting caught, being run out (when they're running between wickets and someone hits their wickets with the ball) and lbw (leg before ball, where the ball would've hit the wickets but hits the batmans body instead). The biggest problem people that don't watch cricket seem to have is that it's a fairly long sport, with the best form of the game being played over 5 days (Test matches). There's the One Day and 20/20 forms as well but they're nothing like a good Test match. Not that I mind One Dayers, they're pretty fun, but I can't stand 20/20, they're watered down garbage.
Rugby's more complicated but it shares a few rules with american football (since american football originated from rugby). The biggest differences are that there's a lot less players in each team (15 for each team, 7 that can be substituted on), you can only pass it backwards and there isn't really that many stoppages between play (unless the ref is a prick or one of the teams are cheating anyway). If you're interested in it, watch some Sevens rugby, it's a smaller version of the game that's probably a pretty good way to get used to some of the unique things in rugby (like scrums and lineouts).
Also, yeah baseball and american football are relatively pretty small compared to rugby and cricket. Taking a quick look at wikipedia tells me that worldwide viewings of the Superbowl are around 100 million, which is dwarfed by the estimated 2 billion that watched the Cricket World Cup (a significant portion of which were probably Indian) and 4 billion that watched the Rugby World Cup Final.
1. RESIDENT EVIL 5* 360 CAPCOM USA
2. POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
3. HALO WARS* 360 MICROSOFT
4. RESIDENT EVIL 5* PS3 CAPCOM USA
5. WII FIT WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
6. MLB '09: THE SHOW PS3 SONY
7. KILLZONE 2 PS3 SONY
8. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
9. MARIO KART W/WHEEL WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
10. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K9 360 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE
11. GUITAR HERO METALLICA 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
12. CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR* 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
13. STREET FIGHTER IV* 360 CAPCOM USA
14. MARIO KART DS NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
15. STREET FIGHTER IV* PS3 CAPCOM USA
16. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA 17. PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
18. MLB '09: THE SHOW PS2 SONY
19. HALO 3* 360 MICROSOFT
20. LEGO STAR WARS: COMPLETE SAGA WII LUCASARTS
Who called it? I called it, suckas.
This was the best story to come out of this months NPD's. A great game is getting really good sales and hopefully this will persuade the powers that be to bring over it's japanese sequels. Now if only Nintendo would do a commercial for Henry Hatsworth.
1. RESIDENT EVIL 5* 360 CAPCOM USA
2. POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
3. HALO WARS* 360 MICROSOFT
4. RESIDENT EVIL 5* PS3 CAPCOM USA
5. WII FIT WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
6. MLB '09: THE SHOW PS3 SONY
7. KILLZONE 2 PS3 SONY
8. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
9. MARIO KART W/WHEEL WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
10. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K9 360 TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE
11. GUITAR HERO METALLICA 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
12. CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR* 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
13. STREET FIGHTER IV* 360 CAPCOM USA
14. MARIO KART DS NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
15. STREET FIGHTER IV* PS3 CAPCOM USA
16. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA 17. PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
18. MLB '09: THE SHOW PS2 SONY
19. HALO 3* 360 MICROSOFT
20. LEGO STAR WARS: COMPLETE SAGA WII LUCASARTS
Who called it? I called it, suckas.
This was the best story to come out of this months NPD's. A great game is getting really good sales and hopefully this will persuade the powers that be to bring over it's japanese sequels. Now if only Nintendo would do a commercial for Henry Hatsworth.
I could have sworn I saw one the other day, thought it may have been an EA commercial for it.
...buncha shit about cricket and rugby and stuff...
I would kill for a well designed rugby game available in North America. Kill. Shit, I'd be happy if I could find Football Manager 20XX on PC or even 360...
...buncha shit about cricket and rugby and stuff...
I would kill for a well designed rugby game available in North America. Kill. Shit, I'd be happy if I could find Football Manager 20XX on PC or even 360...
I would kill for a well designed rugby game available anywhere. EA Sports treats it as a bit of a joke, despite having the exclusive rights to a lot of the big teams and competitions (including the Tri-Nations). Swordfish Studios (the studio behind the latest 50 Cent game) made a couple of rugby games as well, which were better than EA's efforts but still not that good.
So yeah, the last great rugby game was Jonah Lomu Rugby, released 12 freaking years ago.
In the three years since it first launched, the Nintendo Wii has sailed past competing systems from Sony and Microsoft to consistently claim the top spot in the console war.
But if a recent rash of troubling stories about the Wii is a vision of things to come, the tide might be turning for the seemingly unbeatable machine.
Wii On Top For Now, But For How Long?
Kinks in the system's shiny white armor starting showing last month. Despite steady success in Japan, the Wii fell into second place in March as the underdog Playstation 3 clambered atop the region's sales charts for the first time in 16 months. That was enough to garner some uncharacteristically somber comments from Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, who deemed the climate in Japan "unhealthy" for the Wii.
But to Cowan & Company analyst Doug Creutz, the U.S. market isn’t necessarily any healthier, at least if you're thinking of investing in a console game. In an interview with Gamasutra, Creutz called the Wii "fool's gold" for third-party game developers.
"The choice here is really between investing for the Xbox 360 and PS3 -- since their capabilities are fairly similar -- or the Wii," he said. "I would caution investors and developers that the larger installed base of the Wii is really a bit of a red herring."
Crueutz goes on to point out that while the 19 million Wiis in North America trounce competing consoles individually, combined sales of the 360 and PS3 actually top 22 million. That represents a larger chunk of the pie for game developers who can more easily port games back and forth from the two systems. Additionally, Creutz notes that Nintendo's first-party games and the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises account for nearly one-half of all Wii software sales, a far larger percentage than what's found on the other consoles. Comparatively, the Wii is simply a tougher nut to crack for third-party developers.
Peter Moore, president of enormous third-party game maker EA Sports, echoed Creutz's concerns while speaking at a recent conference.
"You simply can't take what you're doing on the PS3 and Xbox and port - that's a dirty word - down to the Wii," he said, insisting that instead you have to build Wii games "from the ground up."
He's not the only one at EA with issues. Earlier in the month, an EA producer confessed to having trouble incorporating Nintendo's upcoming Wii MotionPlus control attachment into its Grand Slam Tennis game, raising questions about when the tech would be ready for consumers. Nintendo answered that by officially announcing a release date only to curiously push back the release of the game they've repeatedly used to show off the new technology, surefire smash sequel Wii Sports: Resort.
Of course, it's not all doom and gloom. NPD Group reports that the Wii again led the way in March 2009, outselling both the 360 and PS3 by a wide margin. Nintendo is also enjoying strong numbers for its newly released DSi handheld, with the company reporting first-week sales of over 600,000 units in the U.S. and Europe. Mario's checking account won't run out of funds any time soon.
The question is, will gamers run out of interest? The last two major first-party Wii games, Wii Music and Animal Crossing: City Folk, failed to generate the kind of excitement (and, in turn, sales) that Nintendo is accustomed to, a fact that analyst Ed Barton of Screen Digest believes is a big reason why the Wii is struggling. While older blockbusters like Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii are still selling well, Barton points out that the company needs new experiences to drive new sales.
Nintendo hopes to deliver exactly that with upcoming high-profile games like the aforementioned Wii Sports sequel and a remake of classic boxing game Punch Out!, but that still leaves plenty of wiggle room for the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 to continue closing the gap. And if Japan is any indication (and it usually is), that gap can disappear in a heartbeat.
So what do you think? Is the Wii destined for a downfall, or is this just a mid-life crisis?
The bold part is just hilarious.
I thought about posting this myself.
But really.
People have been recycling NINTENDO IS TEH DOOMED articles since the N64.
Rinse. Repeat.
It's only more ridiculous now because, even if Wii sales drop, they'll never drop enough for either competitor to catch up in sales, and Nintendo will constantly make a profit on the system.
That, and sales will jump right back up when Nintendo drops the price of it next Christmas.
People have been recycling NINTENDO IS TEH DOOMED articles since the N64.
Rinse. Repeat.
It's only more ridiculous now because, even if Wii sales drop, they'll never drop enough for either competitor to catch up in sales, and Nintendo will constantly make a profit on the system.
That, and sales will jump right back up when Nintendo drops the price of it next Christmas.
Or releases even a single new color. I'm shocked that even japan has yet to get any new colors for the wii.
People have been recycling NINTENDO IS TEH DOOMED articles since the N64.
Rinse. Repeat.
It's only more ridiculous now because, even if Wii sales drop, they'll never drop enough for either competitor to catch up in sales, and Nintendo will constantly make a profit on the system.
That, and sales will jump right back up when Nintendo drops the price of it next Christmas.
Or releases even a single new color. I'm shocked that even japan has yet to get any new colors for the wii.
People have been recycling NINTENDO IS TEH DOOMED articles since the N64.
Rinse. Repeat.
It's only more ridiculous now because, even if Wii sales drop, they'll never drop enough for either competitor to catch up in sales, and Nintendo will constantly make a profit on the system.
That, and sales will jump right back up when Nintendo drops the price of it next Christmas.
Or releases even a single new color. I'm shocked that even japan has yet to get any new colors for the wii.
People have been recycling NINTENDO IS TEH DOOMED articles since the N64.
Rinse. Repeat.
It's only more ridiculous now because, even if Wii sales drop, they'll never drop enough for either competitor to catch up in sales, and Nintendo will constantly make a profit on the system.
That, and sales will jump right back up when Nintendo drops the price of it next Christmas.
Or releases even a single new color. I'm shocked that even japan has yet to get any new colors for the wii.
Nintendo is obviously far from doom. They've always been a company focused on delivering great products, while always making money at the same time. However, that's not to say that their current levels of success are permanent or that there aren't alternate ways of looking at the industry from a business perspective.
The author does make some good points. In fact, many of them have been repeated here. (For example, noting that the 360/PS3 can arguably be treated as one unit when compared against the Wii) Unfortunately, the "doom & gloom" bits tend to overshadow the rest of article among the gaming enthusiast (especially those that favor the Wii). I guess it's pretty difficult to walk the thin line between interesting and genuine analysis versus saying things that make for good headlines. Stoking fans and kicking off the console war might be a good way to generate clicks, but it's a poor way to get people to understand your points.
Nintendo is obviously far from doom. They've always been a company focused on delivering great products, while always making money at the same time. However, that's not to say that their current levels of success are permanent or that there aren't alternate ways of looking at the industry from a business perspective.
The author does make some good points. In fact, many of them have been repeated here. (For example, noting that the 360/PS3 can arguably be treated as one unit when compared against the Wii) Unfortunately, the "doom & gloom" bits tend to overshadow the rest of article among the gaming enthusiast (especially those that favor the Wii). I guess it's pretty difficult to walk the thin line between interesting and genuine analysis versus saying things that make for good headlines. Stoking fans and kicking off the console war might be a good way to generate clicks, but it's a poor way to get people to understand your points.
I've also heard a number of developers complaining about the difficulties programming something for the Xbox 360/PS3 and then porting it to the other. In other words, there's a case against them not being the same thing.
(In all honesty, most of the complaints went one way, rather than the other).
There is a naturally difficulty in porting a game from the Xbox 360/PS3 to the Wii--and the product frequently suffers, if it appears at all. That being said, the Wii's sheer popularity (and the financial success of, let's face it, games with cheaper development costs) seem to ensure its strength. I might not like it, but I don't think the Wii is going anywhere.
I'm going to quickly weigh in on this issue of Madworld, GTA and HOTD not selling their expected numbers. I'm sure some of this has been said before and it'll be torn to pieces instantly.
In my opinion, Madworld and HOTD didn't sell because they're mediocre offerings. Madworld might have reviewed well and gotten attention for the Sin City-esque style, but in reality the game has no depth. I bought into the hype and picked it up but quite frankly I haven't been impressed by it. You run around, kill AI devoid badguys, repeat. It's shallow. House of the Dead also has a distinct style but it has about as much depth as any other rail shooter. Shooting for high scores might be great for some people but the majority of core gamers demand a bit more than that. Honestly, these are filler titles at best, the kind of game you pick up on a whim between releases you really care about. Tenchu and Deadly Creatures unfortunately also fall into this category. They might be mature in theme but they're short on depth. It's good to have them on the platform but they're not as exciting and worthwhile as the a lot of stuff 360 and PS3 are getting. Dead Space Extraction will see similar numbers, because who really gives a shit? It's a rail shooter.
I'm a tad puzzled about GTA on DS. All I can say is that I wasn't feeling the buzz. GTA4 was hyped up as a game you had to have. I didn't get the same feeling from Chinatown Wars. From the moment GTA4 was announced for 360, Microsoft was hyping the shit out of it. Nintendo, not so much. You could argue that it's not Nintendo's job to hype Rockstar's games.... but there's also a strong argument that Nintendo needs to now more than ever. Nintendo has a pretty piss poor name amongst hardcore gamers right now. Wii isn't what a lot of us were hoping for. The graphics suck, the online features are pathetic, the Wii controls have been hit or miss, and I haven't personally bought a 1st party Nintendo title since September. Nintendo hasn't been doing what's necessary to get my support.... and I was a die hard supporter during the Gamecube years. Yeah, DS has more gamer cred than Wii does, but I honestly believe some of those negative feelings spill over.
Core gamers are a lot harder to satisfy than the expanded audience. How do you think Microsoft has continued to appeal to the hardcore despite having arguably the most unreliable hardware since the 5200 controller? Reason dictates that the guy who has gone through 6-10 Xboxes would have long since given up, but he hasn't because Microsoft delivers the goods in the software department. Mad World would have also been ignored on 360 or PS3 because it just doesn't stack up next to something like Fallout 3 or Dead Space. It's style over substance.
I think you might be confusing lack of depth in individual games with the constraints of the genre that those games are in. While I agree that core games demand a little more than the casual gamer, I'm not sure if I'd call what they want "depth." They want a very specific list of things confined to a very short list of genres. It's just that what the core gamer wants very rarely overlaps with the kinds of games the expanded audience is into.
I suppose I just find using the term "depth" a bit disingenuous.
I'll take Madworld over Fallout or Dead Space any day. You speak of shallow gameplay, there was far more variety and depth to it than any of the big name games coming out these days. I hate to break this to you, but all the multimillion sellers are shallow as hell. You run around shooting one thing after another in the exact same manner and it sells a million copies. Dead space was all about atmosphere. There was no ai to speak of. You shoot things in the same way every time with only a few exceptions. The problem the Wii has is that when appealing to the mainstream gamer, graphics sell. Period. It's extremely difficult to sell a game to them when they can compare it to something that simply looks better. It's why commercials never showcase gameplay.
Rakai on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]XBL: Rakayn | PS3: Rakayn | Steam ID
Honestly, i got 10 hours into fallout and just sat there wondering why i had wasted a week's worth of leisure time. This is more of an aside than anything, but I really didn't understand why that game was so highly praised. It was just so boring.
Fallout 3 was the best game of last year, easily. It deserves all the praise it's gotten.
I got bored of Madworld two levels in. The game was a huge disappointment for me. It had good controls, looked great, funny commentary, but the kill combo system wasn't very appealing.
to me, fallout 3 felt like a niche game made mainstream via exploding heads. i can understand why it might appeal to some, but i just couldn't see how it appealed to so many.
but with that in mind, it's probably more of a failing on my part. if so many people enjoyed it, then there must be something good about it. i was just never able to see it myself.
There's no crime in that. And you acknowledge that others see something in it that you don't. At least you're not saying it's an unmitigated piece of shit and anybody who likes it is dumb, dumb, dumb.
Posts
Now, drop it.
I imagine Halo 3 is the 360 equivalent of Mario Kart: i.e. the first game purchased for a lot of new console owners. Plus the release of Halo Wars & DLC probably helped sell a few copies as well.
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Anyone have thoughts on what I should be looking out for? One idea I had was to get a figure for what they spend on marketing if possible. That will probably only work for pure game publishers and Nintendo since others won't break down the numbers in the right way.
I just have a feeling that one underappreciated reason for why Nintendo is so dominant as a publisher this gen is that they are in a class of their own as far as advertising goes.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Yeah, I have seen more CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP commercials than I can possibly count at this point. Nintendo doesn't skimp on the advertising for sure.
Probably not.
I mean, I actually forked over the extra money for Soviet Assault--that's how much I enjoy WiC. But I don't think it's ever coming to consoles.
Which is a shame because, really, it's simplicity and twitch-reliance (or, if you prefer, 'quick reactions') makes it suited for consoles more than a more complex game like Company of Heroes. Every unit has either 1 or 2 special abilities. You can easily assign those to buttons. The three sides essentially have identical units, with very minor differences that are entirely aesthetic. There is zero base building or resource gathering--points just come to you magically (not necessarily a bad thing).
It would actually go from PC to console quite easily. Add the fact that it's a gorgeous and addictive game, and you've got a potentially awesome console RTS that's already mostly-done.
Animal Crossing: City Folk has reached sales of well over 3 million worldwide. Wild World got over 9 million, sure, but to call City Folks sales disapopinting is just wrong. Wii Music is just over 2.5 million now too.
It may be lower than the huge sucesses nintendo has had, but they would have made a massive profit.
Nah, I'm pretty sure some analyst has beaten you to the punch.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
The DS has a good number of games that have just retardedly long legs. NSMB, Brain Age, Mario and Sonic, etc., but MKDS might just take the cake. It was topping some of the charts in Europe not too long ago. Not the DS charts but the all platform charts.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Gaming isn't big in India at the moment but with the way their economy is growing, I'd imagine it will be within the next 10 years or so. I don't have much doubt that a good cricket game could be a multi-million seller over there, very possibly selling more than any of the Halo's.
I think rugby and cricket fit a videogame 'structure' as well as any other sport, it's just that they're usually not well designed and don't have much money behind them, so they aren't very polished. There have been a couple of games that've been really good (Jonah Lomu Rugby on the PS1 was fantastic), it's just that they weren't followed up on and improved.
I can't really agree with that last part either. I haven't played a game of rugby or cricket for years but I can't remember getting the adrenaline rush I had playing them than I do when the All Blacks play Australia or South Africa. Maybe it's different over there though, since the English rugby team are tragically boring. :P
This is going to be really off topic so I think I'll spoil it for anyone that's not interested.
Rugby's more complicated but it shares a few rules with american football (since american football originated from rugby). The biggest differences are that there's a lot less players in each team (15 for each team, 7 that can be substituted on), you can only pass it backwards and there isn't really that many stoppages between play (unless the ref is a prick or one of the teams are cheating anyway). If you're interested in it, watch some Sevens rugby, it's a smaller version of the game that's probably a pretty good way to get used to some of the unique things in rugby (like scrums and lineouts).
Also, yeah baseball and american football are relatively pretty small compared to rugby and cricket. Taking a quick look at wikipedia tells me that worldwide viewings of the Superbowl are around 100 million, which is dwarfed by the estimated 2 billion that watched the Cricket World Cup (a significant portion of which were probably Indian) and 4 billion that watched the Rugby World Cup Final.
This was the best story to come out of this months NPD's. A great game is getting really good sales and hopefully this will persuade the powers that be to bring over it's japanese sequels. Now if only Nintendo would do a commercial for Henry Hatsworth.
I could have sworn I saw one the other day, thought it may have been an EA commercial for it.
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I would kill for a well designed rugby game available in North America. Kill. Shit, I'd be happy if I could find Football Manager 20XX on PC or even 360...
A quick browse of gamefaqs shows about 6-7 for the xbox and ps2 each, but nothing for this gen it seems.
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I would kill for a well designed rugby game available anywhere. EA Sports treats it as a bit of a joke, despite having the exclusive rights to a lot of the big teams and competitions (including the Tri-Nations). Swordfish Studios (the studio behind the latest 50 Cent game) made a couple of rugby games as well, which were better than EA's efforts but still not that good.
So yeah, the last great rugby game was Jonah Lomu Rugby, released 12 freaking years ago.
I thought about posting this myself.
But really.
People have been recycling NINTENDO IS TEH DOOMED articles since the N64.
Rinse. Repeat.
It's only more ridiculous now because, even if Wii sales drop, they'll never drop enough for either competitor to catch up in sales, and Nintendo will constantly make a profit on the system.
That, and sales will jump right back up when Nintendo drops the price of it next Christmas.
Or releases even a single new color. I'm shocked that even japan has yet to get any new colors for the wii.
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Too easy, even for Nintendo?
Have you seen what they do with the DS? o_O
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...I stand corrected.
The author does make some good points. In fact, many of them have been repeated here. (For example, noting that the 360/PS3 can arguably be treated as one unit when compared against the Wii) Unfortunately, the "doom & gloom" bits tend to overshadow the rest of article among the gaming enthusiast (especially those that favor the Wii). I guess it's pretty difficult to walk the thin line between interesting and genuine analysis versus saying things that make for good headlines. Stoking fans and kicking off the console war might be a good way to generate clicks, but it's a poor way to get people to understand your points.
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I've also heard a number of developers complaining about the difficulties programming something for the Xbox 360/PS3 and then porting it to the other. In other words, there's a case against them not being the same thing.
(In all honesty, most of the complaints went one way, rather than the other).
There is a naturally difficulty in porting a game from the Xbox 360/PS3 to the Wii--and the product frequently suffers, if it appears at all. That being said, the Wii's sheer popularity (and the financial success of, let's face it, games with cheaper development costs) seem to ensure its strength. I might not like it, but I don't think the Wii is going anywhere.
In my opinion, Madworld and HOTD didn't sell because they're mediocre offerings. Madworld might have reviewed well and gotten attention for the Sin City-esque style, but in reality the game has no depth. I bought into the hype and picked it up but quite frankly I haven't been impressed by it. You run around, kill AI devoid badguys, repeat. It's shallow. House of the Dead also has a distinct style but it has about as much depth as any other rail shooter. Shooting for high scores might be great for some people but the majority of core gamers demand a bit more than that. Honestly, these are filler titles at best, the kind of game you pick up on a whim between releases you really care about. Tenchu and Deadly Creatures unfortunately also fall into this category. They might be mature in theme but they're short on depth. It's good to have them on the platform but they're not as exciting and worthwhile as the a lot of stuff 360 and PS3 are getting. Dead Space Extraction will see similar numbers, because who really gives a shit? It's a rail shooter.
I'm a tad puzzled about GTA on DS. All I can say is that I wasn't feeling the buzz. GTA4 was hyped up as a game you had to have. I didn't get the same feeling from Chinatown Wars. From the moment GTA4 was announced for 360, Microsoft was hyping the shit out of it. Nintendo, not so much. You could argue that it's not Nintendo's job to hype Rockstar's games.... but there's also a strong argument that Nintendo needs to now more than ever. Nintendo has a pretty piss poor name amongst hardcore gamers right now. Wii isn't what a lot of us were hoping for. The graphics suck, the online features are pathetic, the Wii controls have been hit or miss, and I haven't personally bought a 1st party Nintendo title since September. Nintendo hasn't been doing what's necessary to get my support.... and I was a die hard supporter during the Gamecube years. Yeah, DS has more gamer cred than Wii does, but I honestly believe some of those negative feelings spill over.
Core gamers are a lot harder to satisfy than the expanded audience. How do you think Microsoft has continued to appeal to the hardcore despite having arguably the most unreliable hardware since the 5200 controller? Reason dictates that the guy who has gone through 6-10 Xboxes would have long since given up, but he hasn't because Microsoft delivers the goods in the software department. Mad World would have also been ignored on 360 or PS3 because it just doesn't stack up next to something like Fallout 3 or Dead Space. It's style over substance.
Well, that's my so-called quick rant.
I suppose I just find using the term "depth" a bit disingenuous.
Did you play the same MadWorld and Fallout I did?
Because MadWorld was all style and absolutely no substance.
What a shame that game was.
I got bored of Madworld two levels in. The game was a huge disappointment for me. It had good controls, looked great, funny commentary, but the kill combo system wasn't very appealing.
but with that in mind, it's probably more of a failing on my part. if so many people enjoyed it, then there must be something good about it. i was just never able to see it myself.
Sometimes, atmosphere is enough.