As others said, MGS4 did move a pretty impressive number of consoles. But as for why it didn't move more, I'm surprised at how many people are dismissing the hardware bundle shortage, which is severe to the point of being ridiculous. Retailers agreed that they could have moved many times more units than they received on launch day, and there's been minimal restocking since then. Few educated consumers interested in the game would settle for a 40gb. I've been looking for the bundle since launch day, without so much as a hint of success.

I'm not trying to discredit VGChartz numbers but maybe you should wait to see June NPD and then July NPD (when the 80GB bundle will have been fully in stock for a month) to see if the game moved hardware or not.

A couple of people at NeoGAF who work in retail have said that the 80GB has already starting shipping in regularly and they are also available online again from places like GameStop and Best Buy.

This gen has featured only one software that has moved systems and still continues to. That is Wii Sports: deal with it.

My theory is that the type of gamer who is hardcore into Metal Gear Solid is not the type of gamer who puts off buying his next gen console until Metal Gear Solid comes out.

Sales went up so much because so few people own a PS3. MGS4 was a bump and it will be forgotten within a month, regardless of how great people may think it is.

So when the 360 was at a relatively smaller userbase than it is now, and sales got a good boost from Halo 3, can I apply the logic of "sales went up so much because so few people owned 360s"? You = fail. Sales went up because a stellar game launched and it had a lot of hype behind it. End of story. You can't even say that the user base for the PS3 is small anymore. It's SMALLER, yes, but not small.

Why do people continue to believe that the 360 is the cornerstone as to how good a userbase is? The 360 was once at 13.84 million, you know? But did you consider it "too small"?

I'm still holding out and waiting till the 80 gb gets cheaper. I still think there are people waiting for a price drop. The PS3 has no chance in America as is with the economy coupled with gas prices.

But I do believe games move systems even though others would not like to believe so. The only reason I bought my Wii is for Super Smash Brothers Brawl and I haven't got another game since, and I don't plan on getting another game for the Wii.


*starts saving up for a PS3*

At least you guys have the 80GB. Out here in PAL country there's not an 80GB in sight...

And on topic: MGS is about as core a title as you can get. You're not going to get an extended boost in hardware, because frankly most of the people who are going to buy a PS3 for it are going to buy a PS3 straight away. And let's be honest, MGS has never been easy to approach. I wouldn't be surprised to find that many of the buyers of MGS4 have have already played the previous games, certainly, it's a lot harder to get into that say... Mario Kart or something.

I disagree. I feel that it moved some consoles at least. I got a PS3 around the same time MGS4 came out, and that is the only game I have. I don’t know what it is that got me to get the game. Maybe it was hype, maybe it was all my friends have it, or maybe online play I’m not sure. Now my PS3 is a dust magnet net to the TV, and the game will not be played until I beat GTA4.

As far as the ammount of MGS I have played. Really, not too much I have played:

Meatl Gear (NES)

Meatl Gear 2 (NES)

Meatl Gear Solid (PC on a PS1 emulator, just to see what everyone was talking about)

MGS: Portable Opps (PSP, sold PSP after playing that mess)

MGS2: Son of Liberty (right up to the part where you stop using Snake then sold it)

And now I am going to give it one more shot. I guess I am a gluten for punishment.