I often wonder why sales on Wii games (and lesser extent on the DS, GTA) are always held under a larger microscope than its competitors are. Games are immediately called flops and used as 'evidence' that "Wii can't sell XYZ". Meanwhile, games such as Lair, or more recently Bionic Commando are largely ignored and not evidence of anything worth proving. The Godfather 2 hasn't been tearing up the charts lately but again games that underperform are ignored and never used to showcase a systems short comings. In fact many people argue that the game itself was lacking. It wasn't the systems fault for the game not selling, it wasn't the systems "demographics" fault for the game not selling, the game simply lacked something or just wasn't fun enough. This is the right attitude to have, but it seems the Wii games that underperform aren't because the games themselves fail to deliver something it is the Wii's fault, the casual gamers' fault.

Madworld is called a flop and shown as proof that mature games can't sell on Wii, but games like HOTD and RE4, CoD, and Red Steel are all platinum selling games...that happen to be rated mature.

I fail to see the logic in 'compared to userbase' arguments or the "Wii can't sell third party software" when inspite of the big third party franchises Wii still sells the most third party software. Maybe I'm missing something.

Deadly Creatures is a flop, its not the Wii's fault the game flopped. Perhaps the game was just lacking the same thing Bionic Commando lacked.

Funny thing about Wii flops though, is I guess these dumb developers don't know when to quit because games proclaimed by forum goers to be flops are seeing sequels, NMH2, Boom Blox, maybe even De Blob.

Again maybe I'm missing something. What do you all think? What is your perspective on all of this?

HotD is nowhere near a platinum selling game and Red Steel is rated T....

Deadly Creatures most likely flopped because the game seems very odd.. Who really wants to play a game as a bug?

Wii still has to prove that it can sell certain genres. But you're right, most of the flops just haven't been appealing games.

I would suppose its because 220k is considered a massive flop on its competitors game systems. I've heard people say that it "generates a healthy profit on the Wii, whos development costs are half HD consoles." If this is true, then no JRPG has ever flopped on the 360 or PS3 ether, bar Eternal Sonata

They aren't. It's just that because the Wii has less games coming out(games gamers care about), when some games flop like BC no one cares. People care when Lair flopped, but that was a long time ago, before the PS3 had a strong library.

de Blob is sure to get a sequel. It sold 300k more units than it needed to break even. THQ themselves said games of de Blob's caliber need 100k-400k to break even.

@damkira- House of The Dead 2&3 Return sold 1 million.

As for Wii flops, every system has them, but since the majority of gaming media in general just don't like the Wii, they are exemplified even more. It is an attempt to convince Publishers and Developers not to develop ideas for the system in favor of the PS3 or 360. Look at the Gamepro review of The Conduit-- dude said he wished it was on the PS3/360

No More Heroes, one of the coolest new IPs this generation, is also desired on an "HD" console for the graphic upgrades. These "gamers/journalists" just don't want their games on the Wii in fear of them being inferior because the lack of AAA HD budget/graphics.

Similar releases like on-rails shooters and fitness games are then categorized as trends, in an attempt to force people (Pubs/Devs) to believe that since they are the only things "Wii owners" want, and the only thing other devs are doing, that should be the only type of thing they should release on the Wii, and therefore place their more "focused" efforts in other genres on the PS3/360.

Its because most people don't understand that the sales don't mean much and that its how many $ you earn. You can make a game cost $1 but and sale 30 million.. Yet is a flop yes yes it is

The real problem lies in the Image the media has placed on the Wii. The Gamecube was labeled a Kiddy Console where only kid oriented games would sell well. Now on Wii, the label changed to "casuals". And this is fed up by the fact that many media want the core games on Wii to FAIL and FLOP in sales in order to sustain that image, because they do not want them to be on Wii hoping to stop the mommentum.

The real reason, taking aside the fanboyism, is that many of these games actually fail to deliver something new that cannot be replicated on onther consoles. They focus too much on the story like a conventional game or they put too much waggle when there is not needed and makes the experience tiresome. The game must be inviting to the people, not juet because of the motion controls, but also in the content, it must be accesibe (NOT dumbed down)

Which genres would that be..just curious.

Just compare the sales of CoD WaW, yeah it sold 1m on Wii, but it sold 3m on PS3. So yeah it can sell mature games, but in most cases they would be better off on PS360