Don't mean to rain on anyone's parade.  Seriously, I'm thrilled to see the Wii get big third party games.  But, reading through the DQX thread last night & this morning, I've seen a lot of people calling this (basically) the megaton of megatons.  Many have said "much bigger than FFXIII."  Really?

Outside of the original Dragon Quest (which I got free with a Nintendo Power subscription back in the day), I don't remember ever knowing anyone who's ever had a copy of any of the DQ games.  Are they really that big of a deal?

I understand that they're wildly popular in Japan; outside of Pokemon, Japan's biggest franchise.  And, that's great.  But it still doesn't strike me as MEGATON, because 1) We've all seemed to have acknowleged that Nintendo has had Japan wrapped up for a while now... so... that's like dropping a bomb on a country that's already surrendered and you're occupying (can't win a war that's already won); and, 2) Japan doesn't seem to be that into consoles this gen.  I mean, suppose this shifts a few of the thousands that PS3 & 360 regularly sell in Japan to the Wii -- is that the megaton effect we're discussing?  Or do we expect that DQX & MH3 are suddenly going to make home consoles popular in Japan again?  What kinds of numbers are we thinking this game will help move for Nintendo?

Sales are sales, and a great game is a great game -- I'm happiest if this is a great game, and maybe I'll check it out (I'm a big fan of some other RPG series, and I probably owe it to myself to play DQ).  Also, I'm sure that this game, in particular, will sell many copies in Japan.  But, outside of that, I fail to see how this is truly a megaton-type announcement.  Perhaps someone here can enlighten me?

It is quite a megaton but mostly for the Japanese market. I don't think too many are thining about Europe and Americas but simply Japan. Remember Wii has been struggling in Japan lately (despite still owning the other 2) and most have said its because of the lack of big games releasing. Well this is something to alleviate that. So when the market leader of the 7th gen consoles gets the second biggest franchise in Japan, it's usually quite a large announcement.

Megaton for Japan only. Rest of the world could probably care less.

I hear ya'.

I guess I've just felt that the Wii slumping in Japan is less about a "lack of big games" and more about a philosophy shift away from home consoles and towards mobile gaming.  Maybe I'm wrong about that.

also you have to remember what the trend was for the DS

not many 3rd party rpg's UNTIL the DQ9 announcement then they started to come in droves...

IF this example flows true with the wii as well, then expect a lot more JRPG's for the wii.

I think what we'll see as far as impact - with Wii completely obliteraring other consoles in Japan (which is the effect most people are predicting with this announcement) is that all the japanese developers will shift their other huge franchises to the Wii as well.

That way, speaking of a worldwide perspective - if you'll want to play great japanese games on consoles in 2-3 years, you'll have to own a Wii.

It's for japan only, i mean, they need up the story elements before, than i would be interested. It was much given it go to the wii, yet people are acting like they would never imagine that would happen.

Well it may have to do with that as well but Wii has a lot of lulls through the year which may be caused by lack of big games.  Wii has always gotten the smaller games that help to expand its library in Japan such as Klonoa and 428 which just released, but those are never your big sellers.  Now with MH3 and DQX in the pipeline this look like a pretty good lineup for the Japanese gamers trying to choose which console to get.  So it's starting to expand which will mean better sales in the present and the future.

But there is a noticeable shift away from console gaming to handheld gaming and this has to do with 2 handhelds that are dominant compared to 3 consoles which only has a semi-dominant one and 2 weak ones.  Something had to take over their slacking and PSP kind of did that.

Pretty much that. I haven't even heard of DQ before this. :P

The biggest point here is that other RPGs follow Dragon Quest - in fact, Japanese development in general tends to. Dragon Quest is important because it is indicative of a trend, more than because of the game itself.

Though the game itself is still hella cool.