Ok, I live in Ecuador. You can ask me anything you want about sales of current generation consoles, handheld consoles, and past generation consoles. I'll answer anything within my power. I do not provide sales in numbers, just a general idea of how popular each machine is. Got that?

Now you're wondering why do you care...well, it's interesting to check how things are going in a southamerican country, right?

Start asking! NOW!

How popular is the ps3 in your country comparing ot to the xbox 360?Whcih one sells better?

What are the biggest game franchises? ie Halo/Metroid etc.

Well there's basically 5 "machines" in the popular market...can't you just tell us how they're doing?

There's no questioning it, the PS3 is far more popular, besides the $1000 pricepoint. Why? Because you'll hardly ever see a 360 here. They simply don't sell it. I've yet to see one in the whole country.

Then there's brand loyalty, which, I think, plays a huge role in PS3's popularity. A lot of people talk about the PS3, but I wonder wether they know about another big machine called the Xbox 360.

The funny thing is that, even though there's much talk about the PS3, many people don't have it. The pricepoint is the obvious reason, and this country being a poor one doesn't help much either. Which parent would buy his/her kid a $1000 machine? Not even for Christmas. ////Answered.

What are the biggest game franchises? ie Halo/Metroid etc.

Halo=Pretty much unknown. No Xbox(s) sold means no Xbox games sold. You figure.

Metroid=Not so much. Better than Halo here though, since there's a lot of love for Nintendo.

The Legend of Zelda=Second biggest. People go crazy over this. It's Zelda, after all. When I told a girl-friend of mine that I had Zelda for the Wii (she has neither), she went like "ZZOMG! REAL!?! ZELDA WII FTW PLAY WANT SO MUCHHHH!!!" Hardly exxagerating.

Mario=Biggest. Do I need to explain why? To put simply, every classmate knows about Mario.

Grand Theft Auto=Third biggest, particularly among fellow teenagers, perhaps bigger than both Mario and Zelda in that market. My friends talk a lot about this game and it's an incredibly popular franchise in Ecuador. I remember when a girl-friend called his dad to bring her from the U.S., a PSP with the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Which, by the way, seems to be the biggest game there is for the franchise. I'll quote a friend saying "I won't play another GTA game that isn't San Andreas."

Kirby=The hell? Nobody knows about this.

Metal Gear Solid=...

Final Fantasy=The RPG genre, unfortunately, is not very popular over here. However, that doesn't stop Final Fantasy from being an awesomely popular game among dedicated gamers.

Tales of=Needed to put it here because Tales of Symphonia single-handlely defeats many other games in the popularity department, despite being a RPG. Actually the Gamecube>PS2 when it comes to popularity between kids and gaming teenagers. Has something to do with price, I guess. (PS2=$450?!?!)

Wii Sports=Could be the most popular in years to come. All my friends are wowed by it after playing it. They want to go to my house to play Wii. That's a synonimous of Wii Sports to them.

That's it. Any popular franchise I might have missed? Feel free to post more questions.

The question from ben kenobi, which systems are selling well or atleast are pretty popular from ds,psp,wii,360, and ps3?Which is the least popular(other than 360)

For PS3 and Xbox 360, look at my previous post.

Wii=Most popular console. Wii Sports, Mario, Zelda, cheapest, most original games (anyone dare to ask of the piracy issue) and other cool stuff.

DS=Most popular handheld, and most popular machine in general. Great games, best pricepoint, no pirated games, and an appealing design. Comes with a soccer game. Soccer=Win over here (although I don't like it).

PSP=While not more popular than the DS, the media (its main reason of being used here) center it offers, plus GTA and Dragon Ball games (the Dragon Ball games are actually one of the most popular franchises here too, I don't know how I'd forget about it) make it an attractive purchase to people in Ecuador. I guess the piracy adds up to this.

Any other issues?

The least popular is a tough call. The 360 is a given, but if you exclude it, it becomes pretty hard. I'll try to think.

Thinking...

...

(...)

Ok. The Wii is popular by about anyone who touches it. The DS has got girls+kids+some adults. The PSP has got teenagers. The PS3 is like the machine everyone knows about but hardly have people played it. Weird, I know. So the PS3 would be the least popular when it comes to have been played, but I think when it comes to interesting videogame discussion the PSP is the least popular, even among teenagers.

1) What, do Microsoft not ship to Ecuador at all, or are you exaggerating?

2) I don't know your native language, but if it's not English (or one of the other main languages) how well are translations usually done into your language, or are they not translated at all?

3) What type of systems do you get? PAL? NSTC(I dunno the correct order of letters, lol)?

4) How is HDTV and HD-disc penetration there.

This is the last post I answer...I've got to go to do homework after this.>_>

1. I'm not exxaggerating, even though it sounds like I am. There's only one (!) Xbox 360 game in the most important retailer of my city, and it's a soccer game. However, I haven't seen a single Xbox 360 package anywhere. I mean, sure, there must be one or two or maybe three hiding somewhere, but you get the idea that there is no Microsoft support for Ecuador. Which is...sad really.

2. It's spanish, go figure. No, games are not translated at all, however the Wii games come with a spanish and french translation in their instruction manuals. I find that nice, but I still read the manual in english to make sure I don't misunderstand any specific game term. That's why I know this much english...

3. NTSC-UC, I don't know much about this, but I know for sure it's the same one as in North America.

Then again, pirated games might sometimes come in PAL or even NTSC.

4. HDTV prenetation for middle to high class is very popular. I've already seen some HDTVs. However, like gaming consoles, they're ****ing expensive like HELL ITSELF. 3500 FOR A HDTV MY A**! Anyway, anything below high middle class doesn't consider the opportunity.

About HD-disc...non-existant. What's BluRay? HD-DVD? None. This is because pirated movies sell much better over here. The DVD is the best supported format over here, you can say. I haven't seen a single Blu Ray movie or HDDVD movie, not even a small ad (just like the Xbox 360).

I might come back later at night.n_n