Is it me or has mario had way to many games including spin-offs... whats next and FPS with Mario in it >.

Yeah, they just claim, but it's doubtful they would bash their own choices so harshly (who would)? Maybe they ARE unhappy with their choice of console, so by bashing other peoples consoles, then the other people would be unhappy too.

When comparing sales of one game to the next, you have to remember that the installed user base makes 1:1 comparisons difficult. Relatively few people buy a system for 1 game; rather, the purchase is made because there is a wide variety of titles that appeal to the gamer.

Now, if we look at Mario Sunshine, the least well received "pure" Mario title (ie not Sports/Kart/Party etc) that I can recall, it sold roughly 6 million copies, meaning there was roughly 1 sold for every 4 GameCubes, or a 25% attach rate.

If we look at GTA, which was the biggest series for PS2's, they sold in the neighborhood of 11-13 million each. That's an attach rate of roughly 10%.

Of course this ignores several factors.

First, obviously a large percentage of Cube buyers were Nintendo fanatics. If the Cube had PS3 sales, I don't believe that the total number of fanatics would have changed much, so you can't say that the 25% rate would have continued. It is, however, hard to see the total drop below 10%.

Secondly, GTA had a restricted rating, which could well have impacted sales. Whether that impact was greater or less than the impact of SMS's "kiddie" image is impossible to determine.

Thirdly there was the buzz. While both GTA and SMS had good reviews, GTA was new and without question the hottest thing on consoles last gen. The controversy it generated no doubt generated huge amounts of free publicity. SMS, on the other hand, had a positively absurd advertising campaign (http://youtube.com/watch?v=lZcu6pDZmrg), and was widely criticized by gamers for failing to match Mario 64's innovation.

GTA1 and GTA2 were not huge games. GTA3 took everyone by suprise. While it probably did more to move PS2s in the US than any other single title, remember that holiday also saw the releases of Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Grand Tourismo 3 (among others). There was no way in hell for Nintendo or MS to compete against that.

 Anyway, pretty much anyone who wanted GTA3 at that point had every reason to grab a PS2. The consoles were readily available, the game was an exculsive, and they got a free DVD player. Makes perfect sense. Sure the series went multiplatform, but after that 2nd Xmas the war was pretty well over.

 This time around is very different. The PS3 has an image and price problem (not just on message boards - its in the trades, and even my PS2 loving students have little good to say about the PS3), BR is not the marketing boost that plain old DVD was, and the PS3 simply does not have the huge library advantage that the PS2 did (owing to the fact that the PS3 released a year later, rather than a year earlier). Toss in the fact that GTA4 will be appearing simultaneously on the 360 (with extra features?), the 360s lower cost, and the release of HALO 3, and it's hard to argue that the GTA crowd won't jump to Microsoft's ship.

So it's not that GTA4 won't be a big seller. It's that we don't know who it's going to be a big seller for.

I don't get the point of this thread, I think it's pretty common knowledge that people rarely give props to games on systems they don't own or like no matter how good they are...

I have favorite games on each of the platforms and hand helds so I stay away from that.

Can I add a corrollary to the original statement - just because you care about a game doesn't mean anyone else will?

This is especially true of unproven franchises. How many people are hyped up over Lair or Mass Effect? Ask a typical gamer - meaning not the ones who are on message boards or reading magazines - they probably have never heard of them. While these could be this gens Devil May Cry or HALO, the odds are they'll be the next Bruiser, Eternal Darkness or State of Emergecy (or Red Steel).

I think it also extends to franchises that have seen a long period of absence (I'm lookin' at you Nintendo!). How many gamers actually remember NiGHTS? Will they actually care about a new version? Look at Metroid Prime- despite great reviews and a die hard following, it didn't even post Mario Party numbers.

In fact, the Next Big Thing often arrives with out much fanfare, as with Goldeneye and GTA3. Who knew that Brain Age would show such legs, or that one of the most talked about games this year would be a packed-in controller demo? For all we know, HALO3 and Smash Bros will get their tails kicked by Bob Ross: The Joy of Painting.*












*Though probably not.