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[dammitmattt]

So don't purchase the product until the end of the generational cycle?
And don't complain when Mario Party garners high sales, because it's the same damn premise. Tweak a game every year and add to it, and sell it for full price.

*Bangs head against wall. Repeatedly.

It's not the same thing at all. You are advocating that we sports gamers should just not play console football games for 5 years. Riiiiiight....

Also, I'm not complaining about Mario Party sales. I like Mario Party. I just think MP8 is a weak, lazy version that rarely uses the motion controls in any interesting way. However, Mario Party is absolutely nothing like Madden.

 

[mepaco]

*Bangs head against wall. Repeatedly.

It's not the same thing at all. You are advocating that we sports gamers should just not play console football games for 5 years. Riiiiiight....

Also, I'm not complaining about Mario Party sales. I like Mario Party. I just think MP8 is a weak, lazy version that rarely uses the motion controls in any interesting way. However, Mario Party is absolutely nothing like Madden.

So, outside of generational leaps, what are you paying for? I only buy football games every couple of years and I don't ever see much difference. Tell me what your $50+ gets you for a typical new Madden?

 

[dammitmattt]

So, outside of generational leaps, what are you paying for? I only buy football games every couple of years and I don't ever see much difference. Tell me what your $50+ gets you for a typical new Madden?

I really like college football and the NFL so I want to play with this year's teams. I like playing online with my friends and for the last two years, in the online GAF leagues. That's well worth my $60.

 

[mepaco]

I really like college football and the NFL so I want to play with this year's teams. I like playing online with my friends and for the last two years, in the online GAF leagues. That's well worth my $60.

So, you feel forced to upgrade because everyone else is stuck in the same stupid upgrade cycle as you are. Great! I'm not trying to bash Madden, but if I cared to, I could do the roster updates myself through the provided features. I don't see enough material in the new release every year to warrant a full purchase when I should be able to download an Updated Roster & Rules pack for $5-$10.

 

[dammitmattt]

So, you feel forced to upgrade because everyone else is stuck in the same stupid upgrade cycle as you are. Great! I'm not trying to bash Madden, but if I cared to, I could do the roster updates myself through the provided features. I don't see enough material in the new release every year to warrant a full purchase when I should be able to download an Updated Roster & Rules pack for $5-$10.

You just don't understand. For the most part, the core game is improved enough every year that you can't go back to last year's version. I've never felt "forced" to upgrade. Every time that July rolls around, I am just as excited as ever about the new football games.

 

[vanguardian1]

Well, not to join in either side, but when someone is heavily "into" something (like football), they're more likely to notice the minor differences and detail changes within their interest than a person who is not.

 

[mepaco]

You just don't understand. For the most part, the core game is improved enough every year that you can't go back to last year's version. I've never felt "forced" to upgrade. Every time that July rolls around, I am just as excited as ever about the new football games.

If you feel that it has enough improvements to warrant a purchase, I'm in no place to tell you not to buy it. I also want to make it clear that I am a football freak. Die-hard Steelers fan and I'm from the south so college football addiction is a given. But I think other games would be (and are) criticized for only showing the marginal improvement that Madden shows every year. I have 07 and it has some of the same problems that have been there for years. Ridiculous tackles, balls the change directions in mid-air, freaking Reuben Droughns running through a pack of 8 defenders to take it to the house, in addition to some strange bugs. I don't think there have been many changes to the core gameplay mechanics but I guess I could be missing something. For me, a roster and rules update pack would be just fine most years.

 

[FrankT]

Has Croal and Keighley done there back and forth yet? Little late, perhaps they were waiting on Sony's TGS showing.

 

[jvm]

That graph is a little puzzling. Xbox brand sales last year should be just a little over 800k, the chart appears to be low ... at the same time, Playstation looks like it may be a little high. I wonder what numbers they used for last year.

I used the historical data NPD sent me two weeks ago. The number you have for Xbox + Xbox 360 last year does not fit what I was given. The number I have is closer to 700k, not 800k.

I really think we're putting too much emphasis on a single month's sales. Last year's game sold about 7 million copies when all was said and done. Almost 5,000,000 people didn't buy the game immediately, so there is a long way to go before anyone should start celebrating.

True, but the shot out of the gate is still an indicator of demand. The PS2 sold the most last year in the first month and also sold the most overall. Perhaps I could ask NPD if first month sales are always an indicator of final tallies (for Madden). That would answer it for you?

Fanboyisms aside, I find these sales to be rather troubling for EA. Given the extra time, sales are down across the board. If September doesn't show a large increase, EA may be in some trouble. The game didn't get THIS insanely huge until the PS2, maybe it needs it to thrive.

It needs a platform as ubiquitous as the PS2. We're not there yet.

 

[Haunted]

who could resist those two gems? i mean, really? not this snowman.

Get outta here! You're not a real snowman

Spoiler

are you?

 

[Odysseus]

Get outta here! You're not a real snowman

Spoiler

are you?

me and frosty go way back

 

[JJConrad]

I used the historical data NPD sent me two weeks ago. The number you have for Xbox + Xbox 360 last year does not fit what I was given. The number I have is closer to 700k, not 800k.

Last year's Madden had two SKUs for the PS2 and 360... the Hall of Fame Edition. That is probably the difference.

Are you counting the PSP and PS3 in the Playstation first month total?

 

[donny2112]

For everyone decrying Madden Wii sales, it is worth noting that this is the largest launch month for Madden on a Nintendo system since at least the N64. Will the Wii ever match historical PS2 Madden sales? No. Will it do much better than the GameCube for Madden? It already is.

Spoiler

I'm only up to page 10 on this thread, so forgive me if this has already been discussed to death.

 

[schuelma]

For everyone decrying Madden Wii sales, it is worth noting that this is the largest launch month for Madden on a Nintendo system since at least the N64. Will the Wii ever match historical PS2 Madden sales? No. Will it do much better than the GameCube for Madden? It already is.

Spoiler

I'm only up to page 10 on this thread, so forgive me if this has already been discussed to death.

Interesting

What was the best GC opening month?

 

[dammitmattt]

For everyone decrying Madden Wii sales, it is worth noting that this is the largest launch month for Madden on a Nintendo system since at least the N64. Will the Wii ever match historical PS2 Madden sales? No. Will it do much better than the GameCube for Madden? It already is.

Spoiler

I'm only up to page 10 on this thread, so forgive me if this has already been discussed to death.

It still got outsold by a version on a dead system.

 

[Jokeropia]

Well yeah, but the PS3 owners didn't really have anything else to play.

 

[mood]

Well yeah, but the PS3 owners didn't really have anything else to play.

ice cold

 

[dammitmattt]

Well yeah, but the PS3 owners didn't really have anything else to play.

I've been drinking all day while tailgating for my sorry team, but even sober that was a AAA :lol :lol :lol

 

[donny2112]

What was the best GC opening month?

< 100K

It still got outsold by a version on a dead system.

Which is really bad, but the "dead" system sold Madden even better when it was alive. The crowd to buy Madden owned the Xbox. The same cannot be said about the GameCube. This is improvement, but there's still a ways to go. On EA's part, too.

 

[donny2112]

 

[felipeko]

:lol

 

[donny2112]

Concerning page 36 ...

I find Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends to be a big waste of time. Dora the Explorer is much better for the 7 and under female crowd. Spongebob's first few seasons rocked, but the last few seem like they've been written by teenagers, i.e. there's a strong shift toward even more pointlessness and a big increase in the painful-to-watch level of violence. *shudders at the Strangler episode with the metal cleats impaled in the eye sockets of a living being*

Barney is good for kids, but I can't watch it.

Teletubbies is also good, but it's too sugary sweet to watch. :lol

Well, TTWO just got the Dora license and is creating a new label called 2K play to deal with casual games.

However, Dora sounds like disaster, IMHO. Those kids are too young for videogames.

Putting the thread back on the rails accomplished!

Take Two has already made a couple of Dora games under their Global Star brand. The GBA one was a mini-game without save with everything unlocked at the beginning. Pretty good for the under 7 crowd. The PS2/GCN game was an actually well-made 3-D Dora game with a lot of voice acting and a nice, slow pace. Again, a great game for the under 7 crowd. Global Star is also who made Carnival Games for the Wii.

Nobody on GAF gives a crap about Dora or Carnival Games.

I do.


More concerning Madden sales ...

If you were to look at the percentage of first month console Madden sales for the Xbox + 360, PS2 + PS3, and GCN + WII since 2002, you would see that the percentage of PS2 + PS3 has been slowly dropping while the Xbox + 360 percentage has been slowly rising. GCN + Wii fluctuates a little but has not been very significant. This is also the first year that PS2 + PS3 has fallen below 50% of the first month sales. Xbox + 360 is also below 50%, but it's the highest it's ever been.

That said, the Xbox and 360 have shown a proclivity toward first month sales, so expect the PS2 + PS3 percentage in a LTD chart to rise as the months go on.


Concerning who is the PS2 of this generation for third-parties ...

From July 20:

The Wii will be the PS2 for install base and smaller, quirky stuff. The 360 will be the PS2 for mega-third party hits. The PS3 will be the GameCube if the Xbox hadn't existed.


Also, PC Bioshock numbers were 91K for August and not the 77K mentioned in the thread.

We cannot give away the shop but we're always willing to provide as much information to you all as possible so that you can better follow what's happening.

Can you better define "giving away the shop"?

Don't get me wrong. I am glad that NPD is willing to release anything, and the Canadian numbers this year have been a real treat. However seeing a top ten + a few misc games in software is more like seeing a picture of half the doorknob to the shop, and nowhere near giving it all away. There are probably thousands of games in the monthly NPD report, after all. Even months-delayed data would be great, as we just want to know how a game sold and have no interest in investing based on the results.

However, as the Ferengi would say, never try to bargain with someone who has all of the supply when all you have is demand. :lol

If Crisis Core is any indication, FFXIII could move a million units of hardware in Japan alone.

Sending it screaming past the GameCube's LTD and cutting the Wii's lead to just several million.

Both Cooking Mana and RE4 are budget titles.

$50 is a budget title now? What is the world coming to.

Remember, this is an NPD thread...Sonic, Cooking Mama, and Elebits bombed in the US.

Sonic sold better than the PS360 version.
Cooking Mama was praised by Pachter multiple times for being a great boost to Majesco.
Elebits sold decently in the U.S.

Care to rephrase your statement? :lol

What GC third party launch titles sold as much as RR and RS besides Rogue Leader anyway?

>300K by August 2002 on GCN

THPS3
REmake
Sonic Adv. 2
(and Rogue Leader)

Very simply, the Wii is saying: we don't want madden. We want Wii Football. Is it that hard to grasp EA?

Exactly what I was thinking! Wii Football 08 with stylized characters (not MySims style, think The Bigs), but with all the normal Madden gameplay. EA made the brain leap for the Sims franchise, so I hope they can make the same leap with Madden.

Crazy. Is Mario Party 8 the best selling of the series in USA ?

I'd like to know that as well.

Not yet (Mario Party 2), but it should be in another month or two.

 

[donny2112]

Annnnddddd..... I'm done. I've read all 55 pages of this thread, most of which was either saying Madden was important (by PS360 fans) or Madden was not important (Wii fans) or Nintendo is a special case with Madden (Wii fans) or the market leader always has good Madden sales so Wii can't be the "true" market leader (PS360 fans who only started gaming with the PS1). I fall into the "EA doesn't know how to make games that appeal to an audience used to playing Nintendo games, because they haven't had to for 10 years" group. Wii Football 08 is their saving grace, if anyone at EA has the brains enough to come up with the idea.

Next month will see 30% of the top ten belonging to Halo 3, so I really hope NPD lets sonycowboy post a few sales outside of the top ten. I think the 360 has a good shot at passing the Wii in September, and Halo 3 > 3 million (

Spoiler

combined

).

Peace out.

 

[speculawyer]

Concerning page 36 ...

I find Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends to be a big waste of time. Dora the Explorer is much better for the 7 and under female crowd. Spongebob's first few seasons rocked, but the last few seem like they've been written by teenagers, i.e. there's a strong shift toward even more pointlessness and a big increase in the painful-to-watch level of violence. *shudders at the Strangler episode with the metal cleats impaled in the eye sockets of a living being*

Barney is good for kids, but I can't watch it.

Teletubbies is also good, but it's too sugary sweet to watch. :lol.

I picked up Fosters Home on DVD . . . I enjoyed it but it seemed a bit too scary for a 2 year-old girl. Barney is unwatchable but Teletubbies is so spacey, campy, and psychedelic that I find it amusing. I don't like the normal video interludes though . . . I like the spaced-out tubbies.

 

[speculawyer]

Exactly what I was thinking! Wii Football 08 with stylized characters (not MySims style, think The Bigs), but with all the normal Madden gameplay. EA made the brain leap for the Sims franchise, so I hope they can make the same leap with Madden.

Doesn't Madden for the Wii have that? I thought EA was adding a special 'family mode' for all its sports games on the Wii that uses Mii characters. Like this guy from FIFA 08:

 

[donny2112]

Doesn't Madden for the Wii have that? I thought EA was adding a special 'family mode' for all its sports games on the Wii that uses Mii characters. Like this guy from FIFA 08:

I don't believe so. Family Mode just means you can play with the Wii-mote only and player movement is automatic. As far as I know, Miis or Mii-like characters aren't in Madden 08. However, it's the branding that is more important. Wii Football 08 as a name should appeal more to new Wii gamers than the normal Madden NFL 08 would. Stylized characters should also appeal more to what they've been seeing on the Wii (Wii Sports) than realistic characters. Maybe EA could release both a Wii Football 08 and a Madden 08 like they are doing with MySims and the annual Sims 2 multi-platform game this fall?

As an aside, outside of video game websites, I've never seen the Family Mode mentioned, anyways. Am I just missing it or is EA not advertising it?

 

[speculawyer]

I don't believe so. Family Mode just means you can play with the Wii-mote only and player movement is automatic. As far as I know, Miis or Mii-like characters aren't in Madden 08. However, it's the branding that is more important. Wii Football 08 as a name should appeal more to new Wii gamers than the normal Madden NFL 08 would. Stylized characters should also appeal more to what they've been seeing on the Wii (Wii Sports) than realistic characters. Maybe EA could release both a Wii Football 08 and a Madden 08 like they are doing with MySims and the annual Sims 2 multi-platform game this fall?

As an aside, outside of video game websites, I've never seen the Family Mode mentioned, anyways. Am I just missing it or is EA not advertising it?

You're right. It is just simplified controls.

That is still a neat idea but a game with Mii-like characters would be cool too.

BTW, The simplified controls is a good move. I actually posted that as a suggestion last year after playing NHL 2K7 with some people and watching them struggle. I suggested a 'party/arcade mode' where the game would be limited to just move, shoot, and pass controls. Ironically, the actually made their controls even more complex this year (NHL 2K8) and they got HAMMERED for it. Hopefully they've learned a lesson.

Complex controls are fine, but there should also be a dumbed down mode. I think the EA 'family play' mode is a great idea.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Concerning who is the PS2 of this generation for third-parties ...

From July 20:

The Wii will be the PS2 for install base and smaller, quirky stuff. The 360 will be the PS2 for mega-third party hits. The PS3 will be the GameCube if the Xbox hadn't existed.

It is freaking obvious that America will end up exactly like this. Sony had a small window, and broke their neck jumping into a wall.

SNES and Genny style situation here.

Who won then?

Spoiler

I did. Sonic, Mario... how the hell could you beat that?

Exactly what I was thinking! Wii Football 08 with stylized characters (not MySims style, think The Bigs), but with all the normal Madden gameplay. EA made the brain leap for the Sims franchise, so I hope they can make the same leap with Madden.

It's a simple thought.

But... hopefully they realize that the Madden name means little to most Wii owners. Give them something branded with the same title of the sports games that came with the system, and they might be much more apt to buy it.

 

[First Children]

What happened to bunkum?

 

[Mithos Yggdrasill]

:lol Quite a nice experiment.

 

[RBH]

Just wondering, what is the tracking period for September NPD, and when will we get the numbers for it?

 

[Eric WK]

Just wondering, what is the tracking period for September NPD, and when will we get the numbers for it?

Five week period, not sure about exact dates. Numbers on the 18th.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Five week period, not sure about exact dates.

September 2 - October 6

 

[Fuzzy]

This is the first NPD thread that I haven't bothered going through.