reading that info, game looks really really fun and interesting, i might pick it up in the future since i really like games like that.

sales are a mystery to me, can they market and promote this game enough to become mainstream? Because the main character could appeal to larger audience.

This has the potential to sell big. It looks very accessible and it's something quite new on consoles. If it's good (as in, if there isn't some major annoying game flaw) this should sell well over a million in it's lifetime.

I wish you were right about the sales potential, but realistically I don't see this selling more than a few hundred thousand copies. It's a quirky, niche game, with a bizzare sense of humor. It'll be fantastic, I have no doubt, but it won't be a best-seller.

Unless we spread the word and do something about that, my bretheren!

Why is it so quirky and niche? The art style and the humor seem extremely accessible.

For starters, it stars a little boy-king leading the invasion of lands full of vampire cows and the like. Second, its gameplay follows that of Pikmin (a good, but not massive, seller, despite being a Miyamoto game) and Harvest Moon (always a niche series). Third, it is bizzare. That's part of what I love about it, but I don't think the masses share my tastes. Finally, it's been flying under the radar even amongst the traditional gaming press for years: coverage with the masses is non-existent, and because X-SEED is publishing there's no chance of a massive ad campaign.

Mind you, I want to be wrong.

I can't wait for this!!

You will be wrong. It will sell least 500k - million copies over a few years at least.

Well, I'm expecting word-of-mouth success, which has propelled a good number of the Wii million sellers. The gaming media is not very relevant to the Wii audience, the Wii audience often love things that the gaming press was 'meh' about.

Boy-king leading invasion against vampire cows is not 'niche'. It's 'cartoony', which has been mainstream for a long while. The sense of humor has been present in those cartoons too.

I also think the gameplay is much more appealing to the mainstream than Pikmin and Harvest Moon. It's very easy to miss the point with those two titles, not so with Little King's Story. Lots of kids fantasize about being king/ruler/president. I wouldn't compare it to Harvest Moon because Harvest Moon is based on something that's a normal fantasy in Japan(why it's so successful there), but not so much in the rest of the world where there's little romanticism about farming.

Pretty much I agree.  In the end, while groups like IGN and 1up have been hyping this game, I think they're still going to give it some stupid low score based on 'principle' and their standard scoring System.  1) Its a Wii game (Automatically a point off based on that) and 2) Its a cute Strategy/Simulation game with Cel Shaded graphics and 3) Its not like GTA IV or Fallout 3 or Prince of Persia or God of War etc etc etc.  In other words, give it a low score because its something they feel won't be popular, just like they couldn't get Zach and Wiki or No More Heroes to sell no matter how much they pushed their fanboy obsessions and advertising for those games.

But while the major sites will probably throw their hands up to the game, the Wii is starved for some major Third Party support.  And hopefully this game will be one of the first great games to do that.  And traditionally, games that feature a Cel Shaded (or in this case, hand drawn, storybook) style tend to have rather high production values and quality put into them.  As groups who are working on this game know and so they are incorperating this into the game (or maybe just because they like the style). Will this translate into good sales however....we'll have to see.  I think that depends on if the company actively advertises the product.  And with XSEED being a major producer and distributor, I don't know if that's going to happen.

Like I said, I'm hoping desperately that I'm wrong. I WANT this game to go multi-platinum.

I'm still pessimistic, though.