I keep hearing that the arcade stick issues are the reason for the poor initial sales of VF5. We shall see I suppose. What is known that VF5 sold less than half of what VF3 sold on Dreamcast its first week. VF3 was a launch title for Dreamcast.

As there seems to be this belief that anything on the Wii is going to sell like hot cakes because, er, it's on the Wii. Fire Emblem? Why is that a Wii game? I really can't see this selling. The people buying Wii's didn't buy them to play 1P RPGs. That's what you buy a PS2 for (or PS3). As for VF5, Diomedes1976 pretty much nailed that on the head.

Considering this is the 10th installment of the Fire Emblem series, I'd say you need to give it just a *little* more credit. :) We've only gotten the 7th-9th games internationally, 1-6 never left Japan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem http://www.vgcharts.org/japtotals.php These are Japan's numbers only, I can't find any other numbers for the last 3 which were released in US and Europe as well. :( Fire Emblem III (SNES) - 697k Fire Emblem IV: The Ancestral Crusade (SNES) - 578k Fire Emblem VI: Sealed Sword (GBA) - 393k Fire Emblem VIII: The Sacred Stones (GBA) - 298k Fire Emblem VII: Sword of Raging Fire (GBA) - 293k Fire Emblem V: Thracia 776 (SNES) - 257k Fire Emblem IX: Path of Radiance (Gamecube) 155k Path of Radiance is one of Gamecube's "hidden gems" released after the console was technically already dead, people are still finding out about it bit-by-bit, especially since they can play it on Wii. :) It won't be a big seller, but it's been building up a decent fanbase internationally with the last few releases. :) If it's on at least the same level of the last 3 games, then it'll be a "Solid A" title for the Wii. Not a console seller though, although Famitsu's given it excellent reviews. :o

I think it is worth to metion that demand for fighting games is pretty weak. IMHO near 50000 when the system base is below 700000 is pretty good result. It doesn't look low when you'll compare situation of VF5 with Tekken:DR. Very similar numbers (except the fact PSP has bigger market). Both games are very good but it's pretty clear that japanese players expect something different. I think VF5 will do much better in Europe and USA. Sorry for my poor english

Vanguardian you are absolutely right about Path of Radiance. Its one of my favorite GC games. I always liked how more often than not Fire Emblem sequels continue the story of the prior game. Goddess of Dawn starts where Path of Radiance left off. Hopefully we get to find out who the heck the Black Knight is. I hope its not Zelgius...that would be too obvious.

Seems a bit early in the Wii's life cycle to declare what kind of games people get the Wii to play. Having a wide selection games is exactly what the Wii needs. Remember all those RPG fans that didn't buy the 64? I doubt the big N wants that to happen again.

I have a hard time believeing anyone is a big enough fan to buy the VF stick but not buy the game on launch because of it's absence. Personally I'd still get the game to try out, and just get the VF stick when it came. First off while Famitsu Most Wanted list is an indication of what's hot, I'm sure analysts consider it nothing more then fluff, the poll only includes data from Famitsu readers that vote in the polls, which most likely is an inaccurate representation of the buying masses. And here is an article on IGN.com that shows Japan's analyst's interest in VF5 and how important they thought this title was to Sony. Ign Analyst So unless they're fanboys too, it's clear the industry had expectations of this title. Quite frankly the industry doesn't have a choice there's stock holders with expectations of these publishers, and the publishers can't pretend the ps3 is going to start selling in a few months. Fans can hope, but business is business and they have to make calls on what has happened and what is happening, not what might happen. And if the big boys that will help sell the ps3 don't come till next year, expect most of the publisher support, and possibly these big titles themselves to be moved to another platform. You simply don't put your biggest eggs in your smallest basket. But that said I think a more accurate census of the ps3's future will be this Gundam title coming soon, but if that fails to make up alot of ground I don't expect the ps3 will fair well in 2007 as a whole. But from what I hear I think it will put this system on a more desirable track, and until it's release speculation seems pointless.

Hanafuda : I bought the Wii nearly for that game alone, after having played Path of Radiance on GC. So you have at least 1 person (me) that bought a Wii to play 1P RPGs. Path of Radiance was that good. I hope it sells better this time around, but I don't hold my breath. It was just my best T-RPG experience since FFTactics. I found all of it was perfectly balanced if not great : combat system, great story, characters relationship, general game mechanics, music, difficulty levels (that change the battles, and the story a little), the missions, great movies from Studio IG, ... And now, there's twice as much, I just can't wait, if I had a mod chip, I'd buy it as soon as it's out in Japan. I think it was largely underestimated on GC.

I'm also a Fire Emblem fan, I loved the GBA version too. I'm bummed they have yet to give a U.S. date on it. I'm also a huge ogre Battle fan, I think I played Ogre Battle 64 for over a 100 hrs, I hope they eventually make a sequel to that.( and FF tactics for that matter(another fine gba game))

Sorry to double post but I just wanted to add these comments from Gamasutra, the same site the was quoted as saying that VF5 sales were strong now seem to take a troubled stance by weak VF5 sales(despite being number 1) here you go: "Virtua Fighter 5, the first PlayStation 3 title to enter the top ten since the console’s launch week in November, has also fallen well short of the 100,000 unit minimum usually expected by Japanese analysts for any number one selling title. More worryingly for Sony, the release of the game appears to have had only a minimal effect on hardware sales." So there you go for anyone wondering why so many people felt that 50,000 was weak.