50,000 is pretty poor for the title that was supposed to rescue PS3 in Japan. The fact that it is barely ahead of Wii Sports (now in its 11th week and just passing the 1 million mark) says it all really...

Think of it this way. Wii Sports has sold over a million copies in Japan. Wii Japan userbase is about 1.55 million. 2 out of 3 Wii owners bought what has been referred to as a 'tech demo' - albeit with a great physics engine. If VF5 sells to two out of three PS3 owners in Japan, it sells about 400,000. PS2, the most popular last gen system in Japan, barely saw VF sequels sell that much even with a much bigger user base. Perhaps I guess my question is, what type of game in Japan would justify $600+ (I don't know what PS3 costs in Japan) to play a console to most people? Final Fantasy might be that game...if Square bucks their historical trend of supporting the most popular console of the land. Enix already has christened the transition to the Wii and DS with Dragon Quest. One of my favorite websites www.the-magicbox.com, also reported the other day that Blue Dragon could be a DS game...further making the DS the console for RPGS (Earthbound, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Mana series, Zelda, etc), perhaps proving once and for all (this generation at least) that RPG's can sell to Nintendo's console 'demographic' (whatever types of people they may be).

Even if it is, Wii Play is selling nearly as well and falls into what some would call "tech demo" status...albeit - again - a demo with an amazing physics engine.

Dreamscast ,I hate to say this but ....you are such a fanboy !!! Lets see ,VF5 has sold some 50K units in 3 days (all of them laborable ?) with problems around the VF stick and many people postponing the buy probably because this .Even if that didnt count for anything the data isnt so bad for 3 days out ,the next week will be another good week of sales for the game without doubt . Well ,that aside ,what shows your fanboyism is your "the game that was supposed to save the PS3 in Japan " .PLEASE ,VF5 is a high profile title but it hasnt been a single time in the Famitsu Most Wanted with the Top 20 games most wanted for the japanese .....a list were games as Final Fantasy XIII ,Metal Gear Solid IV ,White Knight Story ,Devil May Cry 4 ,Final Fantasy XIII Versus ,MOnster Hunter 3,Gundam, Mussou and Resident Evil 5 are always .Those 8 games could be called the "saviors " of the PS3 (suppossing it needs a concrete savior and not just good games coming along regularly )but not VF5 .Gundam Mussou will be out in 2-3 weeks and with bundles with the PS3 ,we will see then if it boosts the PS3 sales or not .If that game sells in a complete week (7 days ) 50-80k units and doesnt boost the PS3 sales then you can say it has bombed and that one of the saviors has failed but until then all you are doing is a subtle but clear viral marketing against Sony ...

I agree it's not the best statement, Diomedes1976, but on the other hand how many of those titles for the PS3 are even going to ship this year? Hmm... Fire Emblem 10 for Wii will be out on the 22nd, right? How far apart is the release date for that compared to Gundam Musou? Btw, Red Steel, despite it's flaws, is a very fun game to me and many others, I'll probably be picking up it's sequel on launch day. :) They did a so-so job with some new stuff and put a lot of style into the game, more than I can say for most FPS games for some time.

Well the number is out, and VF5 didn't make 50k, but it was close. I did belive that VF5 should cary some PS3 units mayby around 20k. The truth is that the increased slaes was only 8k, to a total of 28k. Wii sold 71k Which means that the ratio Wii/PS3 was 2.53. That is better then before, but honestly if that is the best they can do Sony has a big problem. So what is going to be the next savior? I personally belive that the PS3 will fall down to 20k again next week, and the Wii will still be around 70k. PS3 really need a killing app now!