| Joelcool7 said: I beg to differ with those expecting Nintendo to stop releasing a MarioKart game each year. To my knowledge the series has never sold fewer then 2-million copies a game. That is a very steady flow of income and a very reliable source of income. MarioParty is to Nintendo what Madden is to EA its a yearly cash cow that can be relied on for a steady flow of income to fund other projects. Infact I don't think Nintendo is over using the franchise at all, think about it for a second. Almost every MarioParty game from the beginning of GameCube to MarioParty8 on Wii innovated over the last one. These small changes much like the small changes made from one Madden game to the next are what make MarioParty successful. Now also Nintendo doesn't have 100% say in the MarioParty series. Yes they own the liscense and they do observe the games development. However Hudson actually handles the games development. Hudson makes a fair share off of every MarioParty game and Hudson is a subsiduary of Konami now. So With the amount of money Hudson is wraking in off every single MarioParty game I can't see why they would stop developing them. So Hudson is going to want to make as many MarioParty games as possible which at the moment is atleast one a year. Nintendo publishes the games and makes the majority of the profit. So why would Nintendo stop allowing Hudson to make MarioParty games at the current rate? Their is no reason for Nintendo to stop Hudson, no reason for Nintendo to bring the franchise in house. I expect one game a year just as it has been since the series began. I also suspect that the next game will sport online play with up to 8-players. It could also use the balance board and maybe a return of the Mic! |
Mic sucked. 3, 6, and 7 sold less than 2 million. Those were also the 3rd, 3rd, and 4th on their respective consoles. The trend was steadily down from 1 to 2 to 3, then 4 and 5 sold better than 3, but then 6 and 7 sold less than 3. 8 only sold so well because of the hype of it being on the Wii. I think the sales will slow as the previous trends show, especially if they continue to leave in obvious flaws. I've personally loved Mario Party for a long time, but 8 did not fix many of the problems that are starting to get really old. As someone else mentioned, you have to unlock everything in party mode. Party mode is a waste of time. It's so based on luck that it's just pointless except for mini-games...but to play mini-game mode with decent games you have to unlock them first. Party mode also sucks because it's so freaking slow. It also has luck-based mini-games, which again, is a waste of time (at least this can be optioned out). I wish they would just get rid of "party mode," but I know it keeps a lot of casual gamers interested (part of the reason I liked Mario Party). I would settle for mini-game modes being more varied and more fun...and online, as others have said...with stats for each event... I fully expect another Mario Party this year, though. E3 announcement, probably...
