I’ve learned the following things from my crunching of more than 1.6 million Wii owners’ gameplaying habits of 41 Wii games this month:
*“Animal Crossing: City Folk” owners are indeed hardcore — they played that game, on average, almost 10 hours of the game in December, the most intense game-binging I’ve seen since I started making these posts!
*The 2007-2008 Wii light-gun gaming renaissance was a bust. Not only did people barely touch their light-gun games, but they touched the “Zelda“-branded one the least.
*“Wii Play” continues to defy the critics, by actually getting played — a lot.
These are just some of the discoveries in MTV Multiplayer’s fifth monthly breakdown of Wii software usage stats. Remember! I’m not tracking sales. I’m tracking how much time the people who play and rent these games actually play them. Any game can sell. But only good games get played.
Check out the usage stats for 41 Wii games:
WII SOFTWARE USAGE AS OF JANUARY 1, 2009
The following statistics are pulled from the Wii’s Nintendo Channel, which allows users to persistently share their play history for any disc or downloadable games played on the Wii. These numbers do not reflect overall usage of these games on the Wii but instead reflect usage of the more than 1.6 million Americans who are sharing info with the channel (up from 1.4 million last month). We think that’s a pretty healthy sample size!
Games are ranked in order of average play time. The game we’re tracking that has been played the longest by its average user is at the top of this list.
If there are more games you want us to track, let us know!
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Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Released March 2008)
Current Rank: #1 Last Month’s Rank: #1
Raw data for “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 64 hours, 51 minutes (up 41 minutes)
As of 12/1: 64 hours, 10 minutes
As of 11/2: 62 hours, 44 minutes
As of 10/5: 61 hours, 24 minutes
As of 9/1: 59 hours 59 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 27.97 sessions (up .59 sessions )
As of 12/1: 27.38 sessions
As of 11/2: 26.40
As of 10/5: 25.54
As of 9/1: 24.65
Analysis: “Smash” got more than half an hour of average play time by its users in December, which is pretty good for a game that came out nine months earlier. I’m hard-pressed to name any game that Nintendo could release for the duration of the Wii’s existence that will get more playtime from its owners than this one. Maybe a “Pokemon” MMO? Nothing else…
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Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Released October 2007)
Current Rank: #2 Last Month’s Rank: #2
Raw data for “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” usage
Total play time by Nintendo Channel Users
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 58 hours, 41 minutes (up 10 minutes)
As of 12/1: 58 hours, 31 minutes
As of 11/2: 57 hours, 46 minutes
As of 10/5: 57 hours, 7 minutes
As of 9/1: 56 hours, 30 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 34.20 sessions (up .31 sessions)
As of 12/1: 33.89 sessions
As of 11/2: 33.20 sessions
As of 10/5: 32.65 sessions
As of 9/1: 32 (est.)
Analysis: I thought this modest amount of added December playtime for “GHIII” was a sign that the game was slipping, but as you’ll see below, many major games saw their average playtime go down in December — certainly due to so many new owners of the games driving the stats down. So maybe “Guitar Hero III” is being played less fervently than it had been. Or maybe there are so many new owners of the game that the stats are muddied this month. Take a look at this next game for an example of that…
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The Legend OF Zelda: Twilight Princess (Released November 2006)
Current Rank: #3 Last Month’s Rank: #3
Raw data for “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 46 hours, 29 minutes (down 9 minutes)
As of 12/1: 46 hours, 38 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 19.98 sessions (down .07 sessions )
As of 12/1: 20.05 sessions
Analysis:For the first time since I started tracking these numbers, we see the average playtime for a game go down. How could that happen? Simple: new “Zelda” owners started playing but didn’t yet log the 40-plus hours it takes to finish the game. This trend was prominent throughout the stats I pulled this month.
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Wii Sports (Released November 2006)
Current Rank: #4 Last Month’s Rank: #4
Raw data for “Wii Sports” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 34 hours, 47 minutes (down 36 minutes)
As of 12/1: 35 hours, 23 minutes
As of 11/2: 35 hours, 4 minutes
As of 10/5: 34 hours, 45 minutes
As of 9/1: 34 hours, 25 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 28.38 sessionss (down .66 sessions)
As of 12/1: 29.04 sessions
As of 11/2: 28.9 sessions
As of 10/5: 28.72 sessions
As of 9/1: 28.56
Analysis: See my “Zelda” analysis above. Same thing happened here. New “Wii Sports” owners (who are new Wii owners, of course), dragged the average playtime down.
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Rock Band (Released June 2008)
Current Rank: #5 Last Month’s Rank: #5
Raw data for “Rock Band” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 28 hours, 55 minutes (up 21 minutes)
As of 12/1: 28 hours, 34 minutes
As of 11/2: 26 hours, 40 minutes
As of 10/5: 24 hours, 43 minutes
As of 9/1: 22 hours 37 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 15.41 sessions (up .47 sessions)
As of 12/1: 14.94 sessions
As of 11/2: 13.46 sessions
As of 10/5: 12.05 sessions
As of 9/1: 10.52
Analysis: “Rock Band” numbers make a more modest climb than they had in the last two moths and seem to negate the game’s chance of ever catching “Wii Sports.” The sequel, “Rock Band 2” didn’t get logged in the Nintendo Channel yet, so I don’t have numbers to report on that one
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Mario Kart Wii (Released April 2008)
Current Rank: #6 Last Month’s Rank: #6
Raw data for “Mario Kart Wii” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 27 hours, 17 minutes (up 28 minutes)
As of 12/1: 26 hours, 49 minutes
As of 11/2: 25 hours, 47 minutes
As of 10/5: 24 hours, 48 minutes
As of 9/1: 23 hours 42 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 15.90 sessions (up .46 sessions )
As of 12/1: 15.44 sessions
As of 11/2: 14.61 sessions
As of 10/5: 13.86 sessions
As of 9/1: 13.1
Analysis: “Mario Kart” keeps chugging along.
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Madden NFL 08 (Released August 2007)
Current Rank: #7 Last Month’s Rank: #8
Raw data for “Madden NFL 08″ usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 26 hours, 49 minutes (up 22 minutes)
As of 12/1: 26 hours, 27 minutes
As of 11/2: 26 hours, 1 minute
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 14.85 sessions (up .25 sessions)
As of 12/1: 14.6 sessions
As of 11/2: 14.33 sessions
Analysis: Time for me to admit a mistake. Last month I put “Mario Galaxy” above “Madden,” but if you compare the 12/1 stat lines you’ll see that “Madden” should have been higher than “Mario.” Sorry, EA Sports chief Peter Moore!
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Super Mario Galaxy (Released November 2007)
Current Rank: #8 Last Month’s Rank:#7
Raw data for “Super Mario Galaxy” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 26 hours, 35 minutes (up 10 minutes)
As of 12/1: 26 hours, 25 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 13.69 sessions (up .12 minutes)
As of 12/1: 13.57 sessions
Analysis: What does it mean when “Zelda“’s numbers fall but “Mario“’s go up? I’m not sure yet. Let’s see how these games compare a month from now, by which time anyone who got either game as a holiday gift will have had time to finish it.
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Animal Crossing: City Folk (Released November 2008)
Current Rank: #9 Last Month’s Rank: #14
Raw data for “Animal Crossing: City Folk” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 24 hours, 59 minutes (up 577 minutes)
As of 12/1: 15 hours, 22 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 9.91 sessions (up 4.61 sessions )
As of 12/1: 5.3 sessions
Analysis: Remarkable performance here, rocketing the game up five spots on this list. People who buy this game clearly love to play it. Recognize that “Animal Crossing” and “Wii Fit” are both games you are “supposed” to play every one or two days. And both games are meant to be played briefly. Well what we’ve got here is the average “Animal Crossing” Wii owner playing the game for about 10 hours in December across — and this is the weird thing — about five sessions. Obviously there are people who only played the game once and people who played it nine times and that does average to two people playing the game five times each. But it doesn’t matter how you slice it, “Animal Crossing” is getting a massive amount of playtime by its owners.
But here’s the sobering news: the 1.6 million people who shared their stats with the Nintendo Channel to date have logged only 827,262 hours with the “Animal Crossing” since its release. That same group of people have logged 4,792,593 hours with “Wii Fit” since that game’s release. Is that advantage entirely due to “Wii Fit” being out longer? Time will tell.
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Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Released August 2007)
Current Rank: #10 Last Month’s Rank: #9
Raw data for “Metroid Prime3: Corruption” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 21 hours, 23 minutes (up 0 minutes)
As of 12/1: 21 hours, 23 minutes
As of 11/2: 21 hours, 17 minutes
As of 10/5: 21 hours, 14 minutes
As of 9/1: 21 hours, 11 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 9.94 sessions (up .02 sessions )
As of 12/1: 9.92 sessions
As of 11/2: 9.88 sessions
As of 10/5: 9.84 sessions
As of 9/1: 9.82
Analysis: Another first: we’ve got a game that stayed flat. It’s as if no one bought or played “Metroid Prime 3″ in December. Say it ain’t so!
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*NEW ENTRY* Mario Party 8 (May 2007)
Current Rank: #11 Last Month’s Rank: N/A
Raw data for “Mario Party 8″ usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 19 hours, 52 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 11.27 sessions
Analysis:Here’s the first of the several games added for this month’s post. Solid playtime numbers and a pretty good session count.
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Guitar Hero: World Tour (Released October 2008)
Current Rank: #12 Last Month’s Rank: #10
Raw data for “Guitar Hero: World Tour” usage
Average time played per player:
Guitar Hero: World Tour
As of 1/1: 19 hours, 46 minutes (down 9 minutes)
As of 12/1: 19 hours, 55 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 8.43 sessions (up .57 sessions )
As of 12/1: 7.86 sessions
Analysis: Activision’s latest edition of its music series sold better on Wii than on competing platforms and, as you can see in this post, proves to be the second-mosty-avidly played Wii game released in 2008 for system owners. A testament to the strength of “Guitar Hero”? The weakeness or more casual nature of the Wii’s 2008 line-up? You tell me.
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Okami (Released April 2008)
Current Rank: #13 Last Month’s Rank: #11
Raw data for “Okami” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 19 hours, 43 minutes (up 12 minutes)
As of 12/1: 19 hours, 31 minutes
As of 11/2: 18 hours, 56 minutes
As of 10/5: 18 hours, 28 minutes
As of 9/1: 17 hours, 51 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 7.64 sessions (up .10 sessions )
As of 12/1: 7.54 sessions
As of 11/2: 7.32 sessions
As of 10/5: 7.12 sessions
As of 9/1: 6.9
Analysis: People are still not posting an average play time that indicates they all finish this very long game.
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Madden All-Play (Released August 2008)
Current Rank: #14 Last Month’s Rank: #12
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 19 hours, 31 minutes (up 77 minutes)
As of 12/1: 18 hours, 14 minutes
As of 11/2: 15 hours, 18 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 9.58 sessions (up .72 sessions)
As of 12/1: 8.86 sessions
As of 11/2: 7.3 sessions
Analysis:For a third month in a row this game shows a large increase in average playtime. People who own or rent this game play it a lot. What’s less encouraging is how relatively small that population of players might be. Up above I noted that the 1.6 million people whose playing habits generated the numbers throughout this post played over 800,000 hours of “Animal Crossing.” That same group generated just under 600,000 hours of “Madden All-Play,” a game that’s been on the market three months longer. It’s a little early to say this, but the “Madden” may prove to have a devoted but cult following.
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Call of Duty: World At War (Released November 2008)
Current Rank: #15 Last Month’s Rank: #15
Raw data for “Call of Duty: World At War” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 19 hours, 15 minutes (up 285 minutes)
As of 12/1: 14 hours, 30 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 7.40 sessions (up 2.18 sessions)
As of 12/1: 5.22 sessions
Analysis:This game is enjoying/suffering from a more extreme case of what “Madden” has above it. Average playtime surged in December, suggesting that those who have the game really like it. But total hours played came in at only about 277,000 meaning very few people actually have this game. It’s not hard to guess why. “Call of Duty” fans shop for “Call of Duty” on other systems.
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Wii Fit (Released May 2008)
Current Rank: #16 Last Month’s Rank: #13
Raw data for “Wii Fit” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 16 hours, 15 minutes (down 1 minute)
As of 12/1: 16 hours, 16 minutes
As of 11/2: 15 hours, 41 minutes
As of 10/5: 15 hours, 26 minutes
As of 9/1: 14 hours, 26 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 13.0 sessions (up .16 sessions)
As of 12/1: 12.84 sessions
As of 11/2: 12.09 sessions
As of 10/5: 11.33 sessions
As of 9/1: 10.59
Analysis:The many, many new owners of “Wii Fit” surely kept these averages from surging. Still, it’s been played a total of 4,792,593 hours by the 1.6 million people who submit their playing stats to Nintendo.
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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed(Released September 2008)
Current Rank: #17 Last Month’s Rank: #16
Raw data for “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 13 hours, 33 minutes (up 3 minutes)
As of 12/1: 13 hours, 30 minutes
As of 11/2: 12 hours, 33 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 5.97 sessions (up .15 sessions)
As of 12/1: 5.82 sessions
As of 11/2: 5.17 sessions
Analysis: “Star Wars” has leveled off. And with no game-extending DLC in sight it’s only the game’s multiplayer mode that will likely increase the average playtime.
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Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Released June 2008)
Current Rank: #18 Last Month’s Rank: #17
Raw data for “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 12 hours, 31 minutes (up 7 minutes)
As of 12/1: 12 hours, 24 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 8.00 sessions (up .21 sessions )
As of 12/1: 7.79 sessions
Analysis: Nothing much happening here.
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Boom Blox (Released May 2008)
Current Rank: #19 Last Month’s Rank: #18
Raw data for “Boom Blox” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 12 hours, 25 minutes (up 10 minutes)
As of 12/1: 12 hours, 15 minutes
As of 11/2: 11 hours, 53 minutes
As of 10/5: 11 hours, 32 minutes
As of 9/1: 11 hours, 8 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 6.04 sessions (up .14 sessions )
As of 12/1: 5.9 sessions
As of 11/2: 5.65 sessions
As of 10/5: 5.41 sessions
As of 9/1: 5.16
Analysis:For a 2008 Wii game, all things considered, this isn’t a bad performance!
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No More Heroes (Released January 2008)
Current Rank: #20 Last Month’s Rank: #19
Raw data for “No More Heroes” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 11 hours, 35 minutes (up 0 minutes)
As of 12/1: 11 hours, 35 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 5.47 sessions (up .01 sessions )
As of 12/1: 5.46 sessions
Analysis: Like “Metroid” this game is posting such flat numbers one could speculate that no one played it in December.
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*NEW ENTRY* Sonic Unleashed (Released November 2008)
Current Rank: #21 Last Month’s Rank: N/A
Raw data for “Sonic Unleashed” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 12/1: 11 hours, 4 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 12/1: 4.61 sessions
Analysis:This game was released in September. And maybe it’s short and that’s why people haven’t logged that many hours with it. But I can’t put a positive spin on the fact that the 1.6 million Nintendo Wii owners sharing data for this post logged — get ready — a total of 125,591 hours with the game. That’s half the number of hours logged on “Call of Duty” Wii, which is half of the hours for the Wii “Madden” this year. I thought that even the bad “Sonic” games were popular. I guess not.
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*NEW ENTRY* Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Released November 2007)
Current Rank: #22 Last Month’s Rank: N/A
Raw data for “Rayman Raving Rabbids 2″ usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 10 hours, 23 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 6.65 sessions
Analysis:A reader asked me laast month to start pulling numbers for the “Raving Rabbids” party game series. I tried. The first in the line isn’t listed on the Nintendo Channel. The newest one, “Rayman Raving Rabbids: TV Party” appears to be too new to have any data logged for it yet.
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*NEW ENTRY* Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Released November 2007)
Current Rank: #23 Last Month’s Rank: N/A
Raw data for “Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles ” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 9 hours, 50 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 6.25 sessions
Analysis:Capcom’s light-gun take on the “Resident Evil” series was another reader-requested game for me to track. It ranks the highest of all the light-gun games I added to this post. See below for the rest. You weren’t expecting light-gun games to rack up large amounts of playtime, were you?
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Wii Play (Released February 2007)
Current Rank: #24 Last Month’s Rank: #20
Raw data for “Wii Play” usage (9,141,216 hr / 8,753,108 times)
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 9 hours, 44 minutes (down 1 minute)
As of 12/1: 9 hours, 45 minutes
As of 11/2: 9 hours, 36 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 10.38 sessions (down .04 sessions )
As of 12/1: 10.42 sessions
As of 11/2: 10.28 sessions
Analysis: This is consistently my favorite entry to update in this series, because it continues to prove that the conventional wisdom about “Wii Play” is dead wrong. Sure, maybe people buy it for the packed-in remote, but they do not ignore the game that come with it. They play it. A lot.
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Carnival Games (Released August 2007)
Current Rank: #25 Last Month’s Rank: #21
Raw data for “Carnival Games” Wii usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 8 hours, 55 minutes (up 7 minutes)
As of 12/1: 8 hours, 48 minutes
As of 11/2: 8 hours, 37 minutes
As of 10/5: 8 hours, 30 minutes
As of 9/1: 8 hours, 21 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 6.59 sessions (up .11 sessions )
As of 12/1: 6.48 sessions
As of 11/2: 6.31 sessions
As of 10/5: 6.19 sessions
As of 9/1: 6.07
Analysis: I find it interesting that this game is viewed as the prototypical third-party-publisher success on the Wii. If so, note how different its numbers are from those of more hardcore Wii games.
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Wii Music (Released October 2008)
Current Rank: #26 Last Month’s Rank:#22
Raw data for “Wii Music” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 7 hours, 3 minutes (down 25 minutes)
As of 12/1: 7 hours, 28 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 4.08 sessions (up .03 sessions )
As of 12/1: 4.05 sessions
Analysis: The ugly numbers for “Wii Music” continue. It’s possible that the downturn in average playtime is due to an influx of new purchasers, a la the downturn above for “Wii Sports.” But what’s undeniably bad is the paltry average of four sessions per owner of this game.”Guitar Hero: World Tour,” released in the same month, has an average of eight sessions per user. People who get this game aren’t playing this game for a long time, any way you look at it.
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*NEW ENTRY* Cooking Mama Cook Off (Released March 2007)
Current Rank: #27 Last Month’s Rank: N/A
Raw data for ” Cooking Mama Cook Off” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 6 hours, 56 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 5.89 sessions
Analysis:A reader asked me to start tracking “Cooking Mama” usage. Here you go. The recently released Wii sequel isn’t displaying usage stats yet on the Nintendo Channel.
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Wario Land: Shake It (Released September 2008)
Current Rank: #28 Last Month’s Rank: #23
Raw data for “Wario Land: Shake It” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 6 hours, 49 minutes (up 4 minutes)
As of 12/1: 6 hours, 45 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 3.95 sessions (up .05 sessions )
As of 12/1: 3.9 sessions
Analysis: It has worse numbers that “Wii Music,” and that’s with it being designed more as a classic gamer’s game. Not good. No one played this.
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*NEW ENTRY* Ghost Squad (Released October 2007)
Current Rank: #29 Last Month’s Rank: N/A
Raw data for “Ghost Squad” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 6 hours, 28 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 5.16 sessions
Analysis:Look! Another light-gun game! Because you asked for it.
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*NEW ENTRY* House of the Dead 2 and 3: The Return (Released March 2008)
Current Rank: #30 Last Month’s Rank: N/A
Raw data for “House of the Dead 2 and 3: The Return” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 12/1: 5 hours, 18 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 12/1: 4.38 sessions
Analysis: Another light-gun game.
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*NEW ENTRY* Link’s Crossbow Training (Released November 2007)
Current Rank: #31 Last Month’s Rank: N/A
Raw data for “Link’s Crossbow Training” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 4 hours, 38 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 4.38 sessions
Analysis: And… another. If you told me I was going to list four light-gun games released for the Wii and that the one set in the “Zelda” universe would show the least playtime I’d say you were crazy. But “Link’s Crossbow Training” did indeed come up last. And I’m not crazy. I know it’s a short game, but for being the flagship launch of the Wii Zapper (remember, the two were packaged together), it doesn’t inspire me with much confidence that the Zapper gets much use.
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WII WARE LISTINGS
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Final Fantasy: My Life As A King (Released May 2008)
Current Rank: #1 Last Month’s Rank: 1
Raw data for “Final Fantasy: My Life As A King ” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 15 hours, 19 minutes (up 8 minutes )
As of 12/1: 15 hours, 11 minutes
As of 11/2: 14 hours, 53 minutes
As of 10/5: 14 hours, 39 minutes
As of 9/1: 14 hours 16 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 6.99 sessions (up .12 sessions )
As of 12/1: 6.87 sessions
As of 11/2: 6.67 sessions
As of 10/5: 6.49 sessions
As of 9/1: 6.25
Analysis: Not much happened of significance with the Wii’s downloadable gaming service WiiWare in December, so there isn’t much notable activity for this or any of the next few games.
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Dr. Mario Online Rx (Released May 2008)
Current Rank: #2 Last Month’s Rank: #2
Raw data for “Dr. Mario RX” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 14 hours, 46 minutes (up 45 minutes )
As of 12/1: 14 hours, 1 minute
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 11.10 sessions (up .54 sessions )
As of 12/1: 10.56 sessions
Analysis:Could “Dr. Mario” dethrone “Final Fantasy” as the WiiWare king next month? It’s looking likely.
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Tetris Party (Released October 2008)
Current Rank: #3 Last Month’s Rank: #6
Raw data for “Tetris Party” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 8 hours, 42 minutes (up 98 minutes)
As of 12/1: 7 hours, 4 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 6.65 sessions (up 1.32 sessions )
As of 12/1: 5.33 sessions
Analysis: “Tetris” takes a nice leap up the rankings. Early signs of puzzle games becoming the dominant WiiWare offering?
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My Pokemon Ranch (Released September 2008)
Current Rank: #4 Last Month’s Rank: #3
Raw data for “My Pokeman Ranch” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 8 hours, 35 minutes (up 14 minutes )
As of 12/1: 8 hours, 21 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 19.91 sessions (up 1 session )
As of 12/1: 18.91 sessions
Analysis: Still posting amazing session numbers. I bet Sony would love these kinds of total session numbers for “Home,” though I think they’d like more than one new use of it per owner in a given month.
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Mega Man 9 (Released August 2008)
Current Rank: #5 Last Month’s Rank: #4
Raw data for “Mega Man 9″ usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 7 hours, 56 minutes (up 7 minutes)
As of 12/1: 7 hours, 39 minutes
As of 11/2: 6 hours, 48 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 7.18 sessions (up .54 sessions )
As of 12/1: 6.64 sessions
As of 11/2: 5.37 sessions
Analysis: This game has been given game-extending DLC. Has that extended the average playtime of the game? Not by much.
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World of Goo (Released October 2008)
Current Rank: #6 Last Month’s Rank: #5
Raw data for “World of Goo” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 7 hours, 50 minutes (up 23 minutes )
As of 12/1: 7 hours, 27 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 5.24 sessions (up .44 sessions )
As of 12/1: 4.8 sessions
Analysis: Currently proving to be a little more popular with its players than is “Wii Music.” Compare the two games’ stats which are strikingly similar.
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Strongbad Episode 1 (Released August 2008)
Current Rank: #7 Last Month’s Rank: #7
Raw data for “Strongbad Episode 1″ usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 5 hours, 23 minutes (up 2 minutes )
As of 12/1: 5 hours, 21 minutes
As of 11/2: 5 hours, 19 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 4.0 sessions (up .09 sessions )
As of 12/1: 3.91 sessions
As of 11/2: 3.77 sessions
Analysis: I guess these are fine numbers. What’s not so fine is that not one of the series’ four subsequent episodes display usage numbers through the Nintendo Channel, something I’m learning is often a sign that the games weren’t played much.
***
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Lost Winds (Released May 2008)
Current Rank: #8 Last Month’s Rank: #8
Raw data for “Lost Winds” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 3 hours, 43 minutes (up 4 minutes )
As of 12/1: 3 hours, 39 minutes
As of 11/2: 3 hours, 35 minutes
As of 10/5: 3 hours, 31 minutes
As of 9/1: [not logged last month]
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 3.65 sessions (up .08 sessions )
As of 12/1: 3.57 sessions
As of 11/2: 3.48 sessions
As of 10/5: 3.38 sessions
As of 9/1: 3.2 (est.)
Analysis: These numbers don’t change.
***
VIRTUAL CONSOLE LISTINGS
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Super Mario 64
[Numbers drawn from Virtual Console usage, not the N64 release]
Raw data for “Super Mario 64″ usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 11 hours, 21 minutes (up 7 minutes )
As of 12/1: 11 hours, 14 minutes
As of 11/2: 11 hours, 3 minutes
As of 10/5: 10 hours, 56 minutes
As of 9/1: 10 hours 49 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 10.64 sessions (up .07 sessions )
As of 12/1: 10.57 sessions
As of 11/2: 10.44 sessions
As of 10/5: 10.36 sessions
As of 9/1: 10.28
Analysis: Not much going on here. Should I start looking at other Virtual Console games for comparison?
***
 |
Sin & Punishment
[Numbers drawn from Virtual Console usage, not the N64 release]
Raw data for “Sin & Punishment” usage
Average time played per player:
As of 1/1: 2 hours, 11 minutes (up 0 minutes )
As of 12/1: 2 hours, 11 minutes
As of 11/2: 2 hours, 9 minutes
As of 10/5: 2 hours, 8 minutes
Average number of sessions per player:
As of 1/1: 3.53 sessions (up .03 sessions )
As of 12/1: 3.5 sessions
As of 11/2: 3.46 sessions
As of 10/5: 3.42 sessions
Analysis: Barely any activity here either.
***
Games I wanted to track that do not have usage data listed on the Nintendo Channel yet: Celebrity Sports Showdown, Nerf N-Strike, Bomberman Blast, Strongbad Episodes 2-5, Blastworks, Rock Band 2, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, Game Party 2, Skate It, Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip, Cooking Mama World Kitchen
Games I wanted to track that are not listed on the Nintendo Channel: Resident Evil 4, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Game Party
CONCLUSION
Holiday gift-giving wreaked some havoc with the numbers for this month’s post. Many of the hottest games saw their numbers drop due to so many new consumers starting those games from scratch. That suggests that maybe some of the games that saw increases are the ones we should be worried about. Still, chew on those “Animal Crossing” numbers and ponder what Nintendo could accomplish it ever turned “AC” into a subscription-based gaming world. And can we consider the great light-gun Wii rush of 2007-2008 a failure? I will, if you will.
Source: http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/01/05/wii-software-stats-january-update/#more-16127
Oh well there's allways next time.
