smart, maybe but it was necessary to fill a major gap in there release schedule.

I will answer your question with a question:

Is making money ever a smart decision by X company?

Yes, but that doesn't fully answer the question. There is more to decisions than just profits, especially for a platform holder like Nintendo. There's opportunity costs and other things to consider also.

In this case though, they hired a new company which ended up making a quality game that has sold extremely well in Japan at least. The opportunity costs are probably low enough, and putting Mario Party on temporary hold may have been itself a great idea now that the recent one became so huge. (I'm a big believer in spacing games out to maintain the value of franchises, especially big franchises)

You make a good point. It's not just about making money but a profitable franchise and how much money you make over time.

Bold: Hell yeah!

EDIT: If that made no sense, and I know it did, it's because I've been up for 32 hours fixing laptops lol

Wii Party has a lot of mechanics/events that are not in the Mario Party universe.

Just about every mini-game is easy to pick-up and among the few that are not, they seem to be easily figured out. Yes, the larger games have their random elements and some of the mini-games are pure luck-based. But that has always been the case.

And I will second that hiding the remotes is a blast.

It will sell well as people pick up during the holidays and beyond. And it should do 1.5M to 2M in its first year in the Americas.

 As for Hudson's Oops, Prank Party -- try finding a copy.  It is not stocked at Target or Best Buy or Toys R Us. It appears to be order only for Wal-Mart. And according to Game Stop's (less than 100% accurate) on-line inventory, it is only at two of the 50-60 stores within 100 miles of my location.

Mike from Morgantown

(The "less than 100% accurate" statement is based on it being at a store I was at today but not on the on-line inventory. The particular store is on "dial up" so its inventory is usually several days out-of-date.)

It's been a pretty slow start in NA/Others but the sales grew in both regions on the second week.  If that keeps up, it will be a huge evergreen hit.   Judging from the reactions of those with the game, and it's party nature (great way to continuously be introduced to new people) it seems certain to be another 10m seller in time.

I haven't picked it up yet, but I'm sure I will at some point.

"Reading the numbers on VGChartz its hard not to think poorly about WiiParty and judge Nintendo. "I believe it was.

I myself won't be picking it up unless Nintendo budgetizes it.

Evil Nintendo making stupid decisions all the time.

Thats why the Wii bombed so hard.

We haven't bought it yet but I think it is a good idea. It looks really fun (from the games I've seen) and I like that you use your Mii. Also, this is one less title with Mario in it. Maybe people can stop saying Nintendo is milking Mario.