All opinion, we can't really tell if the FM3 bundle hurt or helped GT5's sales. There are reasons for both.

Also the Forza Motorsport 3 bundle only composed of 1 million 360's (Forza 3's sale jumped 1.3 million from before te bundle to its end, and at least 300k should have been due to the Ultimate Edition FM3 and the 4 month period of sales). So no matter what this didn't affect GT5 sales that much. I'm sure most people who bought this bundle were planing on getting a 360 anyway.

However I'll agree with you on your second theory. By bundling FM3 during GT5's launch, it probably helped give Forza a name for itself.

PD and Nissan actually have a very long relationship with each other, so no matter what you're going to see a lot of Nissans in the game because Nissan uses the game to promote their vehicles, and both PD and Nissa are Japanese. PD won't sell out to non-Japanese dealers.

As for improvements, what do you mean adding tracks more suited for Japanese and American tastes? GT5 has basically all the tracks older GT's have had, and they all sold fine in Americas and Japan. IMO Trail Mountain is the best fictional track ever made, and Tsuba (that tiny one) is the most famous Japanese race track.

However I agree with you about including damage from the start, and upgrading more cars from Standard to Prenium. Damage should be adjustable like in Forza, and 200 prenium cars is just nowhere nearly enough. I only race in car view so that last on really bugs me, but at least some of my favorite cars have in car view, and rear in car view too.

I hope FM4 gets rear in car view...

For home consoles PS3 will always be ontop in Japan. Wii is old software, and PS3 gets a lot more Japanese exclusives. 360 and Wii sales also jump more then PS3 in Others as well, just during the holidays Americas explode!

For regional sales, Wii held slightly more sales compared to PS3 in EMEAA and 360 in Americas. It's likely this year that PS3 takes the home console lead for EMEAA, and 360 takes the lead for Americas. Overall Wii should still be above PS3 and 360 because it's numbers won't be that far behind each leading console in the two larger regions. However only time will tell, Zelda is a pretty large franchise, I could see this pushing significant sales, especially if the Wii came with a Zelda Wii bundle like it did with NSMB Wii.

Starfox Command for the DS is pretty good too, not as good as the original, but a lot of the game mechanics remain unaltered.

I'm not getting a 3DS. $250 is too much for a handheld system for me, and I'm very backlogged on a lot of great DS titles I still want to beat. I almost never play handheld games outside the house, so I'd rather save moey for a next gen console. I'm more interested in the Sony Xveria Play as my phone replacement and installing a GBA and SNES emulator, and getting some Playstation software.

Also the reason why the 3DS line-up bugs me, is because I don't feel Nintendo will add too much more too it, and so far it's all old franchises with new installments. I want new IP's, Mario Kart is just a hardware upgrade to me now, and N64 remakes don't appeal to me too much. Kid Icarus is the only game that look interesting to me, and that's 1 game.

From my experience with Nintendo, whatever games they announce when the console is released, and claim "launch window" is what we see for 2-3 years after the console is launched, and tends to be the bulk of the console's library. For Wii this is 100% true, Mario Kart, Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros, Zelda, and Metroid Prime 3 were the first wave of 1st party software, and for the large part, they are still the only really great Wi games. Since that initial wave, all I gt was MadWorld, Fire Emblem, and Donkey Kong. Gamecube did something similar with Eternal Darkness, Pikmin, Smash Bros, Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, etc. Sony does this too, I mean we only recently saw Gran Turismo 5, which was announced the time the PS3 was launched, but they at least added a bunc of other games since launch.

It's just, I want something new from Nintendo. With the Wii all I got were new installments to old classic titles, and for handheld games I am really annoyed that only about half of the Fire Emblem games are localized. With the 3DS, I don't see anything new, so why am I in a rush to get one?

BTW you are wrong... There is no such thing as a 3DS, what are you talking about? Japan blew up with that Nucear meltdown. Sony is only still around because headquarters are in USA. OH NO the Microsoft drones are harvesting people in my neighbourhood again, gotta go...LOL

Just like for Premium and Standard cars, I suspect Americans and the Japanese want some more stuff this time, be it that they expect more from a successive chapter of the series, be it that this expectation came from the hype and long waiting for the game, while judging from sales the variety of tracks and cars and playing modes is good enough in EMEAA, but obviously any addition won't hurt here either. BTW, I suspect that adding some recent powerful diesel cars (Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, etc) could furtherly improve the already excellent success in EMEAA.

About car view, me too, I really can't drive a car in external view, except in the most arcade and easy games, that I don't like very much.

I agree, Wii still has a good chance at being #1 again for 2011...I still think it will depend a lot on E3 this year. I never played StarFox Command. I was always considering buying it but never did for some reason.(Like Mario Kart DS) Maybe I will backtrack on some DS games since you are saying they are good. I thought that $250 was a high price for a Handheld as well but now that I have a 3DS...it seems to be worth it. I am not the type of person who says that a System is great until I have had it for a good amount of time. Who knows? The 3DS could get no support after the 1st batch of games or I may just get tired of it but for now it seems like it will be worth it. 

As I have said before, I hope the Wii lasts for a good while longer because once the next Nintendo System comes out I won't be buying it right away...especially now with me having the Wii & 3DS.

(At the last part in your post) ...What? LOL.

Nintendo has always had a strong handheld market, and always supported their handheld franchises very well. The handheld industry essentially is the gaming industry in Japan. I'm sure over time, the 3DS will get amazing software, but I won't pick it up until I see something new and fresh. GBA had Golden Sun, Fire Emblem, and Advance Wars, three of my favorite handheld franchises along with Pokemon. It also saw a lot of 2D remakes of great SNES RPG's. I won't get a 3DS unless I see the same type of niche games being released.

Last part of my post was a joke telling you that your wrong, just like everyone else on this website would say lol. Hard to communicate over texts.

...I have never played a Golden Sun, Fire Emblem, or Advance Wars game. I am not a big fan of RPG's I guess LOL. People say Paper Mario is an RPG and thats one of my favorite games ever.(Paper Mario, Paper Mario TTYD, and Super Paper Mario are all great) I got a 3DS because of Paper Mario, Animal Crossing and Resident Evil all announced already.

Michael-5 said

Have you ever played Super Mario RPG for SNES? It's also a Mario RPG, but for the majority of the game, Bowser is an ally, and it's actually developed by Squaresoft. You might not like it as much because it's over 15 years old, and it's more of a traditional RPG, but ever since I've been disappointed with Mario RPG's, especially the Mario & Luigi franchise. Paper Mario and Paper Mario TTYD were both amazing games, but Super Mario RPG was significantly better.

Haven't played Super PM yet, but it's definatly on my Games to buy list. I just don't think it's worth $35 (price at EB games), mainly because it's old. So I'm waiting for price to come down, while I play Metroid, Donkey Kong, and Smash Bros.

BTW, if those are the games you got a 3DS for, then why did you get the current DS? Animal Crossing, one game, hardly justifies a hardware purchase to me, and from my experience with Wild World is that it's not much different from the Gamecube installment (again, haven't played the Wii version). For me it was Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, and Metroid Prime among others.

Well, those are not the only games I got a 3DS for...Those are just the top ones that are already announced. I also really enjoy 3D and now Super Mario 3D sounds cool too. I got a DS based off of it being a Nintendo System to be honest. I was a kid at the time and didn't really know what games were even on the DS LOL. So I got it because of...who knows? I liked the Gameboy and GBA and...thats the best I got...

Actually, I have always played Nintendo Systems since the N64 and GameBoy when I got them as gifts when I was a kid.(It was more of a family gift thing as it was for the whole family) Nintendo is what I knew for games growing up and always picked Nintendo Systems. 

After the DS didn't impress me...I decided not to buy any more Nintendo Systems based only on because it was Nintendo. I couldn't decide if I would like Motion controls so I didn't get the Wii at first like I did with the GBA, DS, and Gamecube. Instead I waited to see if I should get a PS3 or 360 instead. I as you know picked the Wii which was a very good pick IMO but didn't get it until Summer 2007. With the 3DS, Again I waited to see what everyone else had. I didn't preorder the 3DS and waited. After I saw both the NGP & 3DS I decided on the 3DS due to its line-up and 3D feature.(Yes I like unique and different ideas and some people say they are gimmics but I like them and I would rather have 3D than high end graphics like the NGP) 

Even now after the Wii and 3DS I won't just buy a Nintendo System because its Nintendo LOL. Even though I really enjoy Nintendo's franchises...DS showed me that....that isn't enough. With Wii 2...I will wait.