1)
I will never agree that "Sales = Quality" in ANYTHING. EVER. If that was ever the case, I wanna know why Valkyria Chronicles didn't push GTAIV numbers.
Exposure, Brand Recognition, Marketing Direction and appeal, the "Wow" factor, etc.
I'd argue that all of these have equal [if not more] affect on how a product performs than Quality.
FFXIII and The Last Rebellion. Both RPG's, one from Square, one from NiS. We don't know which will turn out better, but what do know:
FFXIII's gonna get more exposure since Square has a much bigger budget than NiS.
"Final Fantasy" has been around for ages and thanks to Squares marketing, when people hear "Final Fantasy" they hear quality.
When we see ads for FFXIII, where going to see production value that NiS, Atlus and Gust would go near bankrupt working together just trying to match. If we've learned anything from Gear of War and the Transformers movies, production value DOES INDEED bring attention.
No doubt, FFXIII will sell more. Does that mean it will be a better title?
2)
Eyepet, IS NOT a rip-off of Nintendogs or Tamogotchi. Modnation Racers IS NOT a rip-off of Mario Kart. Little Big Planet IS NOT a rip-off of Mario.
Modnation uses blank default shapes with no names forcing you to create your own character.
Mario Kart's popularity is partly because it's a cross game of Nintendo Characters that were already known by Nintendo fans. If SONY wanted to rip-off mario kart, where the fuck is Jak, ratchet, clank, daxter, sackboy, sly, cole, drake, hale, kratos, sev, rico, vasari, keats, ellen, the maiden in black, scirvir, thomas, blacksmith Ed and Boldwin, Eyepet, the fuckin' white knight, sweet tooth, the patapon, the loco roco, the lemmings, and all the mains from Wild Arms, Legend of Lagaia, Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy series? And no the fuckin' wind from flower doesn't count.
In Mario Kart, all racers have their own themed cars with different performance specs. In modnation all cars ride the same for a balanced race meaning the person that rides the track most skill fully and uses weapons properly wins. Also cars aren't default themed, gotta make your own or use a generic template.
Mario kart's focus is just racing with a few friends while playing as your favorite Ninty characters. Modnation's focus is on creativity. Creating your own tracks, sharing them with the world, playing and modding tracks from others. Also while having fun with friends.
These games are too completely different experiences. If modnation is a rip-off of mario kart then they're both rip-offs of what ever the first Kart game was.
I could type up something similar for LBP and Mario but after reading this, anyone that's played both can make up their own thoughts on it.
4 ≈ One
