Madworld not selling confirmed

[mike_intellivision]

BTFeather55 said:

mike_intellivision said:

BTFeather55 said:
Yeah, it means that developers might want to try to shovel more shovelware on the console instead of new ips in traditional genres. Wii owners are to blame. There are close to 50 million of you don't you want more good games on your system are are you really satisfied with bland products like Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Music, and Wii Fit?

Could you please explain the logic used to jump to that conclusion?

For example, not one game in the Petz series (which is often held up as a sign that Ubisoft has decided to go the shovelware route) sold 20k in the first week. Many of those games ended up with lifetime sales of 300k-400k.

If Madworld has anything close to that kind of multiplier, it will exceed 800k in NA alone.

Mike from Morgantown

 

 

      A game like Madworld should outsell a game like Carnival Games just as a game like Mario Galaxy should outsell a game like Wii Fit or Wii Play, but games in traditional genres aren't selling as they should on the Wii which could make more developers interested in embracing the Wii's expanded audience with their development rather than core gamers.  Look at Nintendo's E3 last year.  Was their a new Kid Icarus announced?  No, Animal Crossing (which walks the line between the two groups) and Wii Music (totally for the expanded audience) were the games Nintendo announced.

     There's a reason the Japanese haven't been buying Wiis lately while PS3s and games like Yakuza 3 and RE 5 have, and I think it is because they don't like these expanded market games that much.

 

Nintendo treated E3 last year as a chance to talk to the general press rather than the gaming press. Reading the two Assocaited Press articles (general reporter and gaming writer illustrates this. The general reporter basically made it sound like Nintendo was most impressive at E3. The gaming writer makes it sound like Nintendo did not know what it was doing and was bound to fail.

Galaxy has sold almost 8M copies and is the sixth-highest selling Wii game. The top four are distributed with the system in most regions (Wii Sports) or come with hardware that can be used for other games (Wii Play, Wii Fit, and Mario Kart Wii).  From this, it should be apparent that a $10 game (which Wii Play is) and a very unique game with a only way to get a controller (Wii Fit) are why two games are above it.

As for Carnival Games, it came along at the right time. It has the right mix of easy and hard elements. It has reasons to continue to play. And it was helped that you could not find the game for months on end in any store. How many games out for two years have not dropped in price (non-Nintendo first-party releases). That list is few and far between for any console -- but Carnival Games is on it.  Critics hated it but it the biggest new IP third-party hit for the Wii because it has broad appeal. That is something that Madworld does not have -- and something that no M-rated game can have -- because a great number of game-players are under age 18 and cannot (AND SHOULD NOT) be playing a game squarely aimed at adults.

On your last point about Japan and the PS3. It is true that the PS3 has outsold the Wii the last three weeks. That made it five times in the last year. Some good software releases vs. no real good software releases will do that. But the surge may be ending as the PS3 was down about 30% week-to-week while the Wii only saw about a 2-3% drop.

Finally, I think you -- and a lot of people -- are missing one quality that has made a big differnece in the Wii. Many of the owners are either older and have other obligations -- jobs, families, etc. So gaming in small bursts is much more approrpriate and possible than long, involved games. Ten years ago, I could come home from work and game for several hours in the evening. Since then I have gotten married, built a house, had a son, received two promitions and more responsibility at work, and had my wife start a business.  I have struggled for the last year to find the two hour block needed to finish Dragon Quest VIII. But I can certainly find 15 minutes to play some mini-games with my son.  That is why the Wii sells so well here and handhelds sell so well in Japan.

 

Mike from Morgantown