its like any media. you have mainstream games/movies/music and you have more niche genres and indie genres.

an indie movie could be ranked extremely high by critics, but for some reason, it lacks mass appeal and so doesnt sell very well.

while at the same time, a huge mainstream movie can get average reviews, but because of the mass appeal it sells millions whether it deserves to or not.

No more heroes is just not a mainstream title. while its popular on this site, we are in the minority of game buyers. we arent people who just buy games because they sound like theyd be fun, we actually check to see whats good, and will buy great games even if they have little mass appeal (see Zack and Wiki, hugely popular here, but poor sales overall)

Before doing such statements, just look at the WW sales of Okami on PS2, or even Shadow of the Colossus (with an incredible 100 million userbase by then!): a real shame...

So 100k for a game like this with a 9 million userbase in US alone, with many casuals who will never be interested, is a really good score... as it's only three weeks old, we may expect it to do even better, and outsell PS2 Okami worldwide once it's released in Europe, at the beginning of march...

Fact is, around 500k WW lifetime sales would be great for such a niche game, and it would prove Wii buyers have some taste, and support good games and innovation... 

And that's why many of us care, because we'd like to encourage game creators to release more (good) hardcore games for us on Wii, even if they will never become million seller (as it was often the case with niche titles on PS2 as well, btw... but at least, with the budget needed for a Wii game, they still may afford it, their games will make benefits anyway...)

 Killer 7 on PS2 says hello

It's encouraging to see a game like this do quite well on a console like the Wii.

No More Heroes will have great legs since it is a good game and it will spread by word of mouth. Including Japan it is at 130K. Europe numbers should be pretty good too. I could see it easily beating 500k WW, maybe even million seller WW if legs are fantastic. I plan on getting a copy, but I haven't had time yet.

 You don't have to explain why you guys care. We're all gamer here, and we all want to see great games do well no matter what system they're on. However, I think the expectations this game has are far to low. First off, what's so niche about this gamme? It's an action/adventure game, which is in no way a niche genre. In fact, it's a genre that has proven to be very popular. I fail to see how this game is niche. Being made by Suda does not equate to being a niche game. 

Look up all the songs made by Suda51 in the past, none of them have had success even on this scale. You are mistaking the term 'great game' for 'mainstream game'. Suda51 makes low budget cult titles such as NMH and Killer7 and any one of them selling a decent amount is a wonderful surprise.

Ratchet on the other hand is an established multi-million selling high budget mainstream IP, of course its going to sell a lot more than a niche cult title, not matter the console its on.

Edit: Its a niche game because of its absurdist humour, in jokes (a lot of the game refers back to old gaming) and references to things that people outside of the internet wouldn't understand, no non-Japanese person is going to know what is happening with the Otaku related storyline unless they have spent far too much time on the net like we all have.

Also being part of a mainstream genre doesn't make it mainstream, Okami and SotC are both part of mainstream genres yet both are consdidered niche titles due to the fact that nobody outside of the internet gaming community really knows about them.

 Are you cherry picking my comment or did you just happen to feel the same way to. :/ haha, im just being a smartass.

slightly off topic, you (the general public "you") would be surprised at how well zak and wiki has done. Japan sales tanked and US sales had a 50% drop off from week 1 to week 2. However, the game went on to have pretty good legs after that. It still continues to rack up a couple thousand sales a week. The UK is doing their part to help the cause too.

^^^

The graphic style and the punk attitude really don't have any mass appeal... this game is an adventure game, sort of, yes... but a very "rock'n'roll" one with a kind of "arty" touch, that's why i call it a niche title, and that's why it will never become a million seller (but who knows...)

Exact same thing for some movies or most of the best records out there, btw... but great artists are often used to it, they usually don't care if they're not worldwide famous, as long as they earn enough money to live, and got some love and respect from their fanbase...

is it that good of a game