Core gamers and magazines/sites hyping NSMB Wii worries me

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

Erik Aston said:

hsrob said:

 

If you are regularly dying more than eight times in a stage then perhaps you need some babying or at least the option to be babied.

I know there are some fairly big expectations for the sales of this game but to say that it would be a flop at 10 million sales is going a little far.  Having said that I think 10 million will be a piece of cake considering Wii Sports is already passed 5 and it was released at just about the slowest time of the year.

Different games have different goals. The goal of this game is to be a primary driver of hardware sales for holiday 2009 and much of 2010. Being 20% bigger than Mario Galaxy does not accomplish that goal.

In the past, every major 2D Mario platformer (ignoring the botched worldwide strategy for SMB2) has sold well beyond 10 million copies. And most of those were launching without the benefit of a developed European market. Now that Europe is established as a gaming market and NSMB DS has warmed them up to 2D Mario, for this game to only reach 10 million in lifetime sales would qualify it as a flop.

No game selling 10 Million is a flop.  That's like saying games like Halo 3 and GTAIV were flops because they only sold around 10 Million.  10 Million is a pinnacle of sales only a small fraction of games reach.  Just because certain games Nintendo has made has gone beyond that doesn't mean every game will.  And if they don't, it doesn't mean they're a 'flop'.  If anything, the monumental sales for New Super Mario bros on DS are beyond anyones expecations and so demanding New Super Mario Bros Wii to do as good or BETTER than the DS game or deeming it a flop is just an unfair judgement.