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[Luckyman]

I wonder how much THQ is even profiting from UFC.

Dana White must have got at least 50%. :lol

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Supporting JPRGs on Wii is hard. I mean, there's... Opoona? Arc Rise Fantasia is 2010. @_@

This has given me plenty of time to get to old games, though. Rather than spending money on theoretical new Wii games, I've played things I missed last gen like Xenosaga, Fable, Knights of the Old Republic, and Paper Mario TTYD.

You coulda loved on Knights of the Old Republic a little in that post.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

I disagree somewhat on this point. Code reuse / engine outsourcing and team experience can help keep costs down, especially near the end of a console's cycle when the tools have matured. A lot of the R&D dollars are being spent towards the next generation right now, not this one.

But history (as well as what's currently happening this generation) has shown that development costs has increased this generation as time goes on. Yes the reuse of code, engine outsourcing, and team experience helps, but it doesn't override the higher expectations the average game has.

Flying_Phoenix, this is one of the most intelligent, neutral and well-thought posts I've very seen on GAF. Thanks buddy.

Anytime.

Seriously though the reason why the Wii looks so "weak" in comparison to the PS3/360 is because people always directly compare the PS3/360's strengths against the Wii, yet you next to never see the opposite. I view this similar to how some people do PC to Mac comparison threads and often come out with one or the other (usually PC) running circles around the other due to immediately comparing ones strengths to the other and the whole thread just follows. Case and point these platforms are just two totally different beasts that focus on being VERY different things as well as having VERY different business models that results in a VERY different experience when using the two.

MadWorld may break 100k next month!


Yaaaaaaay, MadWorld!!

...well at least it has some type of legs. :lol

Finally.

 

[Scrubking]

Oh, and Madworld may have bombed, but Bionic Commando bombed harder.

And in typical fashion it will get swept under the rug and forgotten while every Wii bomb gets article after article and thread after thread because only Wii bombs say something about the console and its audience.

MadWorld may break 100k next month!


Yaaaaaaay, MadWorld!!

It sold more than God Hand, but this is GAF and things like perspective and realistic expectations don't exist here. It didn't sell Millions lolololololololo BOMBA!

MadWorld is all kinds of awesome. Third best game on Wii, after No More Heroes and Galaxy if you ask me. It deserved to sell much better, more focused advertising would have certainly helped that (the game itself is extremely niche - it's an ultraviolent brawler in black and white - but what about getting people to actually know what the game is about?).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0YQ5FljJQU

Here is the TV AD for the game. It's nothing but cutscenes of Jack walking around. They in no way convey what the game is about other than in words and I don't blame them. The idiots want to quote what I said about the ads, but I'm right. Madworld is the most violent vidoegame ever made. The entire game is about killing people in the most brutal ways possible. The more brutal the better. The game encourages the brutality which is shown in all it's graphic glory. You can't convey that in a TV AD without scaring people, drawing unwanted attention or getting it censored.

 

[nincompoop]

Madworld nearing 100k is interesting, considering it's apparently still full price at most major retailers. Could it eventually achieve No More Heroes type sales after it drops in price?

 

[DNF]

Let's assume you are Capcom. You have hired quite a few Majinis that will magically develop for you Resident Evil 6 in less than six months, right in time for Christmas.
Let's assume that developing it for Wii, having to update the RE4 engine, costs you half as much as a PS360 version (which can be considered as a single SKU thanks to their MT Framework making multiplatform development easy as cake).
Your data says that RE4: Wii Edition sold 1.5M and that RE5 sold 4-5M on PS360.
Where would you develop it for? Wii or PS360?

You are comparing a port (with budget sales-price ?) from a game which was available 1-2 years ago on 3 different platforms before with sales numbers from a new main game. So even if a WII-version of an imaginery RE6 would quite cost a lot and high manpower would be needed, the potential / most likely sales of +1,000,000 units would make versions for PS360 and WII seem smart.
Even if Capcom had many Million-Sellers this generation, i don't understand why they would dismiss this oppertunity (like the had with RE5) even if much effort to make it playable on weaker hardware would be needed.
With such high selling franchises i think it doesn't matter if a game sells 5Mil. on console x and 1Mil. or 15Mil. on console x and 1Mil. on console y. If the possibility to run on a hardware and the potential market is there, there should be versions for as many platforms as possible.

 

[Jocchan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0YQ5FljJQU

Here is the TV AD for the game. It's nothing but cutscenes of Jack walking around. They in no way convey what the game is about other than in words and I don't blame them. The idiots want to quote what I said about the ads, but I'm right. Madworld is the most violent vidoegame ever made. The entire game is about killing people in the most brutal ways possible. The more brutal the better. The game encourages the brutality which is shown in all it's graphic glory. You can't convey that in a TV AD without scaring people, drawing unwanted attention or getting it censored.

I agree they couldn't have shown brutal killings and blood spurts painting the screen red, but they didn't get the point through with their ads, and I'm pretty sure this didn't help sales for an already niche game.

You are comparing a port (with budget sales-price ?) from a game which was available 1-2 years ago on 3 different platforms before with sales numbers from a new main game. So even if a WII-version of an imaginery RE6 would quite cost a lot and high manpower would be needed, the potential / most likely sales of +1,000,000 units would make versions for PS360 and WII seem smart.
Even if Capcom had many Million-Sellers this generation, i don't understand why they would dismiss this oppertunity (like the had with RE5) even if much effort to make it playable on weaker hardware would be needed.
With such high selling franchises i think it doesn't matter if a game sells 5Mil. on console x and 1Mil. or 15Mil. on console x and 1Mil. on console y. If the possibility to run on a hardware and the potential market is there, there should be versions for as many platforms as possible.

Actually, Capcom's best option would have been working on some tools to port their MT Framework games to the Wii easily from the very beginning. This way, they could have made Wii SKUs for their biggest titles pretty cheaply and get a higher overall userbase to sell their games to, but they never thought it was worth it and ultimately never bothered.
I agree there is a decent-sized market for third person action games on the Wii, but that wasn't my point: my point was analyzing the current situation and the current sales data they have, and what decision would an exec make.

 

[Sadist]

It sold more than God Hand, but this is GAF and things like perspective and realistic expectations don't exist here. It didn't sell Millions lolololololololo BOMBA!

MadWorld selling more then God Hand isn't a achievement you know.

 

[Jocchan]

MadWorld selling more then God Hand isn't a achievement you know.

Exactly. Drawing feet a bit better than Rob Liefeld doesn't automatically make you a decent artist. You're still horrible, and you'd better keep hiding them behind conveniently placed curtains of smoke/crates/whatever.

 

[markatisu]

MadWorld may break 100k next month!

Yaaaaaaay, MadWorld!!

Despite the sarcastic tone, that probably bodes well for No More Heroes 2 to be Suda's biggest game ever. From the thread here on GAF it seems that the same small core fanbase bought both games.

 

[Jokeropia]

Still, though, again, this is the tragedy of lowered expectations: 500k worldwide is not in any way a tremendously impressive accomplishment, even when one is forced to hold it up as a nigh-unique example of success in a sea of failure.

Now you're exaggerating again. Sea of failure? :lol

There is no absolute bar for success, it's all based on development costs and publisher expectations. NMH is a huge success and there're no qualifiers or disclaimers needed. Likewise for Boom Blox and De Blob. Your statement was that no "ambitious new IPs" could succeed but to prevent the above games from qualifying perhaps you should've said "no big budget ambitious new IPs that are not family friendly" instead, though you'd be hard pressed to find too many of those among the "ambitious new IPs" Wii has gotten.

 

[Scrubking]

MadWorld selling more then God Hand isn't a achievement you know.

So the Platinum guys should be sad that their new brawler sold better than their last one? This is what I mean when I say too many people here lack perspective.

 

[Sadist]

So the Platinum guys should be sad that their new brawler sold better than their last one? This is what I mean when I say too many people here lack perspective.

That's not what I'm saying. They sold more copies of MadWorld, but their ultimate goal to reach the western audience didn't go that well. I mean, going from 26k sold with God Hand to maybe 100k with MadWorld isn't that bad, but in the long run it won't matter. 100k isn't that good. No matter how hard you try to spin it.

 

[HK-47]

Have to say I'm with the 'unbelievers' here, that's pretty much it for the Wii in terms of being treated as the market leader it is by third parties.

While I never expected it to get in on, say sequels to already going HD franchises (Assasins Creed, Mirrors Edge etc), there are so many missed opportunities that would have been perfect for the Wii but which have been put on PS360 instead. Older examples lke Beyond Good and Evil come to mind - not a huge franchise sure, but given the original was best on GameCube and it was very Nintendo like (sort of Metroid meets Zelda in some ways), and even had a stylised art style, it was a no brainer for Wii. Yet it was put on PS360, which in my opinion has hurt the game by making it too 'graphic' for the perceived wants of that audience.

Castlevania was the biggest one of E3 for me. Konami has consistently mishandled the franchise for years, but with the established DS fanbase, retro prescence on the Wii because of the Virtual Console, and failure of the last few console games, Castlevania was begging for re-invention back home on Nintendo where it began. Judgement fits the 'cheapo Wii spinoff' story, but for once it actually came out first, so it wasn't a 'spin off' of an existing PS360 game and as such wasn't established on any current home console, and if any, was established on the Wii. So it was free of 'existing environment' concerns. Konami also really wants it to be re-established as a series in Japan, and there's only one console that can do that.

And yet, there it is on PS360, a new announcement (if an adapted one of an already existing game). Castlevania will join the crowded pool of games trying to be graphically intense and 'mature' (read: teenage) in theme on that platform environment. It will be released and forgotten about within a month like most games. It does look pretty good though.

Just cause BG&E is Zelda like doesnt mean anything for either platform. Its not like having the Zelda audience did anything for it the first time. And clearly Ancel himself didnt find motion controls or IR as adding anything significant to his vision. We will have to see what is up with that parkour style PoC video was all about. If its parkour, then HD makes even more sense because you have a built in audience with AC, Infamous, Prototype, ME, and so on.

Also the wants of what audience? The 20k people who bought and enjoyed BG&E are probably glad Ancel managed to throw his weight around and have the series revived.

 

[dammitmattt]

So the Platinum guys should be sad that their new brawler sold better than their last one? This is what I mean when I say too many people here lack perspective.

But you have to look at the bigger picture for Sega and Platinum Games. Let's say that Madworld ends up with 250k sales worldwide at $50 (that's generous since it will likely sell more units, but with some of that coming at a lower price point). So without going into any complicated retailer stuff, that's about $9.5 million in revenue ($38x250k) to be split among the developer and publisher to cover all development and marketing costs. Is that enough to recoup the investment and even make a little extra money? We don't know for sure, but they put a lot of effort into this game so I'd guess that it's probably not enough and it's definitely less than they were hoping.

But like I said, we won't know for sure unless we get some good post-mortem interviews.

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

Given the strong sales of properties like Gold's Gym Cardio, Boom Blox, and EA Active, I think third parties know exactly what sells on the Wii.

 

[dammitmattt]

Given the strong sales of properties like Gold's Gym Cardio, Boom Blox, and EA Active, I think third parties know exactly what sells on the Wii.

A couple of third parties have gotten it right, but most of them are just blindly throwing darts at a board, hoping to make something stick.

And unfortunately, Boom Blox Bash Party seems to be doing even worse than it's predecessor out of the gate :/

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

A couple of third parties have gotten it right, but most of them are just blindly throwing darts at a board, hoping to make something stick.

And unfortunately, Boom Blox Bash Party seems to be doing even worse than it's predecessor out of the gate :/

Yeah but it is the disadvantages of the Blue Ocean Strategy.

Nobody can quite figure out how many people who bought it are consistent gamers or the soccer moms and grandmas who just want to play a party game and then put it back in the closet.

It is how Party Games can sell hundreds of thousands but More Party Games sells a small fraction of the prequel.

 

[jj984jj]

Given the strong sales of properties like Gold's Gym Cardio, Boom Blox, and EA Active, I think third parties know exactly what sells on the Wii.

Err... strong sales?

 

[Stumpokapow]

And unfortunately, Boom Blox Bash Party seems to be doing even worse than it's predecessor out of the gate :/

Dating back as far as Doom 2 or even farther, the industry has been fine with sequels that are largely just a new mission pack for the original game. After all, if the original is great, why wouldn't more of the same be great?

But if you're the kind of buyer who bought Doom 1, played the first episode, and never got around to the other 2/3, Doom 2 doesn't offer much to you. Sure, the new levels are great, but you never even managed to finish the levels from the first game, so why would you buy more?

Boom Blox 2 strikes me as sort of a very 1.1 upgrade; yes, the visuals are much better, the physics are better, the internet level sharing is better... but if we're operating on the assumption that the people buying the game are not internet message board types--I'm not sure if I'd group Boom Blox into the "mom who never played video games" casual group or the last-gen "plays madden and maybe reads Gamespot but doesn't buy many games" casual group, but the distinction is sort of irrelevant here--the game's pitch is basically "more of the same great formula" and the reality is that I suspect that 80%+ of the people who played Boom Blox didn't exhaust the content in the original.

Rayman Raving Rabbids, on the other hand, has gotten away with incremental upgrades. I think it's largely been able to do so by making the most prominent element of the games the "theme", and then varying up the "theme" (2 being "Road Trip", 3 being "TV Channels"). So it's not necessarily that buyers are looking at buying the games to get more Rabbid content, it's that they're looking at buying the games to get DIFFERENT Rabbid content.

So, if I were a casual game producer, I would work on making sure that my sequels are perceived as qualitatively different as opposed to quantitatively more.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Err... strong sales?

The first Boom Blox has actually done fairly well. Of course, that's relative though. It did, however, get a sequel.

 

[jj984jj]

The first Boom Blox has actually done fairly well. Of course, that's relative though. It did, however, get a sequel.

But the former 2 games he mentioned have been selling at a very slow pace like several "core" Wii titles have.

 

[charlequin]

People criticize them today for their open fanboyism.

Again, I don't think this was wildly unreasonable. Wii should have much more in the way of meaty third-party development than it does. I really just meant to point out that not too long ago the idea of a huge exodus to Wii seemed viable, whereas now all people can reasonably hope for is an improvement of support relative to what the system's getting.

I think the Wii has a good variety of games that will be worth purchasing in 2009.

Oh, I definitely agree. I really need to get one. :-/

Oh, and Madworld may have bombed, but Bionic Commando bombed harder.

So true.

Madworld nearing 100k is interesting, considering it's apparently still full price at most major retailers. Could it eventually achieve No More Heroes type sales after it drops in price?

Err... no. Mad World already dropped to $30 at most places a while ago. If it makes it to 100k it'll be on the back of price-collapse, not word-of-mouth legs.

though you'd be hard pressed to find too many of those among the "ambitious new IPs" Wii has gotten.

Sure. My entire point has been that developers should have been making real efforts at new IP upfront, but they didn't. The problem is that, as with all things in software sales, these things become a self-fulfilling prophecy after a while. Early on, third-parties made an irrational decision to avoid making an effort on Wii, but now, that irrational decision has accumulated evidence: the games that people have made an effort on, and built to appeal to core gamers, have consistently put up mediocre-to-poor performances unless they have a party game mode.

Again, if Wii owners are satisfied with games like Boom Blox and Guitar Hero (fence-sitting games with both core and expanded-audience elements) they should be happy: these games very clearly and unambiguously sell well, and can do well even if they're a brand new IP like Boom Blox. It's if you're not satisfied with these games, and want core-emphasized games that you have a problem.

 

[dammitmattt]

Dating back as far as Doom 2 or even farther, the industry has been fine with sequels that are largely just a new mission pack for the original game. After all, if the original is great, why wouldn't more of the same be great?

But if you're the kind of buyer who bought Doom 1, played the first episode, and never got around to the other 2/3, Doom 2 doesn't offer much to you. Sure, the new levels are great, but you never even managed to finish the levels from the first game, so why would you buy more?

Boom Blox 2 strikes me as sort of a very 1.1 upgrade; yes, the visuals are much better, the physics are better, the internet level sharing is better... but if we're operating on the assumption that the people buying the game are not internet message board types--I'm not sure if I'd group Boom Blox into the "mom who never played video games" casual group or the last-gen "plays madden and maybe reads Gamespot but doesn't buy many games" casual group, but the distinction is sort of irrelevant here--the game's pitch is basically "more of the same great formula" and the reality is that I suspect that 80%+ of the people who played Boom Blox didn't exhaust the content in the original.

Rayman Raving Rabbids, on the other hand, has gotten away with incremental upgrades. I think it's largely been able to do so by making the most prominent element of the games the "theme", and then varying up the "theme" (2 being "Road Trip", 3 being "TV Channels"). So it's not necessarily that buyers are looking at buying the games to get more Rabbid content, it's that they're looking at buying the games to get DIFFERENT Rabbid content.

So, if I were a casual game producer, I would work on making sure that my sequels are perceived as qualitatively different as opposed to quantitatively more.

All good points. I'm a core gamer and I didn't even exhaust the content from the first Boom Blox, which is the main reason I'm waiting until the sequel is on clearance to pick it up. It's reliable fun that's good to have around, but by no means is it a "gotta play it now" type of game.

 

[nincompoop]

Err... no. Mad World already dropped to $30 at most places a while ago. If it makes it to 100k it'll be on the back of price-collapse, not word-of-mouth legs.

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=71454
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3475650
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10339490
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019SY1D4/?tag=neogaf0e-20
???

 

[schuelma]

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=71454
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3475650
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10339490
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019SY1D4/?tag=neogaf0e-20
???

Maybe it was temporary, but I definitely remember MadWorld being down to 30 at amazon and other online sites a while ago.

 

[Chumly]

Err... no. Mad World already dropped to $30 at most places a while ago. If it makes it to 100k it'll be on the back of price-collapse, not word-of-mouth legs.

Uh most places are still selling Mad World for full price.

Best Buy
Gamestop
Amazon
Toysrus
Target
walmart


If you mean that there was a madworld sale a while ago then yes you would be right but almost everyone is selling it at full price.

 

[jvm]

Even though I'm supposed to be on holiday with my wife and children, I've spent hours trying to put together my feature. When it goes up, and I actually can get back to a computer, I'll start a thread.

I hope it's good enough for you guys. Traveling with kids, spending time at the beach and pool, and then dealing with absolutely no network access (until like two hours ago) has been a challenge!

Of course, you guys always go easy on me...

I'll check back in later.

Edit: Only thing I can really add in this thread is that the Uncharted 2 voucher probably had a small effect on inFamous relative to Crackdown/Halo 3. I hope to be able to explain that more in an upcoming feature, with hard data.

 

[chubigans]

Awesome jvm, always love your analysis articles. Have fun with the family!

 

[markatisu]

Err... strong sales?

You must not have been paying attention to the complete NPD Top 20/Top 10 per platform to see that Golds Gym has been steady in at least the Wii Top 10 and now broke into the overall Top 20. And it will continue to sell just as EA Active, Jillian Micheals, Wii Fit, and My Fitness Coach all have. So yes Golds Gym constitutes strong sales when you stop having a pissing contest over it making 75% of its sales in the first month line of thought.

As for MadWorld dropping to $30, that is true but SEGA has done this with every single Wii game, you people must have memory loss or something because thats how they do things. Even their most successful game Mario and Sonic Olympics dropped to $29 twice in less than 6 months after being released, HoTD Overkill did, HoTD 2/3 Returns, etc, etc.

$30 is not bomba price for them, they tend to do it in cycles with Target and Best Buy. For SEGA games $19.99 is the bomba price point (see Ghost Squad, Alien Syndrome, and Samba De Amigo for proof).

Did it help move units, most likely, was it a bomba price point for SEGA....not if their past Wii pricing history is looked at.

 

[charlequin]

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=71454
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3475650
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10339490
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019SY1D4/?tag=neogaf0e-20
???

Dunno what to tell you. It was, as schuelma notes, selling for $30 on Amazon earlier and I've seen it for $30 in person. Must not be an across-the-board drop.

 

[AniHawk]

MadWorld and Overkill are selling rather consistently month-to-month. Of course, it's not by any large amount. Overkill's about two months away from 100k at its current pace.

But Klonoa. Maaaaaaaan, Klonoa.

And on the PS3, the top-selling exclusive game in the US is MGS4. More than Resistance, Killzone 2, LBP, Uncharted, R&C, etc.

The PS3 is also the only system where a multiplatform game is the number one seller.

 

[wackojackosnose]

MadWorld and Overkill are selling rather consistently month-to-month. Of course, it's not by any large amount. Overkill's about two months away from 100k at its current pace.

But Klonoa. Maaaaaaaan, Klonoa.

That's a shame. Klonoa's definitely one of the prettiest Wii games I've played and it has such a nice PAL conversion (full 60hz and 480p unlike Madworld and Little King's Story :/).

Hopefully they'll somehow justify the sequel in PAL land though.

 

[nincompoop]

MadWorld and Overkill are selling rather consistently month-to-month. Of course, it's not by any large amount. Overkill's about two months away from 100k at its current pace.

But Klonoa. Maaaaaaaan, Klonoa.

And on the PS3, the top-selling exclusive game in the US is MGS4. More than Resistance, Killzone 2, LBP, Uncharted, R&C, etc.

Didn't you say the original Klonoa only sold around 25k lifetime on the PS1? So shouldn't be THAT much of a shock that the Wiimake bombed, there's just not a big fanbase for it.

 

[AniHawk]

Didn't you say the original Klonoa only sold around 25k lifetime on the PS1? So shouldn't be THAT much of a shock that the Wiimake bombed, there's just not a big fanbase for it.

Yeah, but Klonoa 2 wound up doing around 100k in the US iirc (this was back in 2001 when PS2 owners were starved for games). I think this is a case of very few retailers ordering the game. I reserved it at my old store and they only got two copies in. And there were stories of people here having a hard time finding it.

I dunno. I guess it could do well over time. If it hasn't at least outsold the original by the end of the year, then it's pretty much the end of the series in retail, probably.

 

[Chumly]

Dunno what to tell you. It was, as schuelma notes, selling for $30 on Amazon earlier and I've seen it for $30 in person. Must not be an across-the-board drop.

It was on sale on Amazon for a couple of days (Maybe a week) and it was on sale on Gamestop for like a week. There was no drop only a sale at a couple of places.

 

[charlequin]

It was on sale on Amazon for a couple of days (Maybe a week) and it was on sale on Gamestop for like a week. There was no drop only a sale at a couple of places.

I see. I was misinformed then! :lol

 

[donny2112]

Actual

Cumulative

Year-over-Year

Estimated

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Man the Wii better start pulling its weight or my Wii > PS360 both in US and worldwide in 2009 prediction will be in jeopardy.

 

[Dalthien]

1st graph

Look at the balance board go! :lol

 

[Jonsoncao]

The PS3 is also the only system where a multiplatform game is the number one seller.

:lol :lol

 

[Eteric Rice]

MadWorld and Overkill are selling rather consistently month-to-month. Of course, it's not by any large amount. Overkill's about two months away from 100k at its current pace.

But Klonoa. Maaaaaaaan, Klonoa.

And on the PS3, the top-selling exclusive game in the US is MGS4. More than Resistance, Killzone 2, LBP, Uncharted, R&C, etc.

The PS3 is also the only system where a multiplatform game is the number one seller.

How about world wide for Madworld and Overkill?

Also, poor Klonoa. I bought it! The box art is awful, though.

 

[AniHawk]

How about world wide for Madworld and Overkill?

Also, poor Klonoa. I bought it! The box art is awful, though.

For shipment numbers, i gotta imagine that MadWorld's somewhere around the 500k mark, with maybe 60% or so of that going to the US and the rest to Europe. It didn't release in Japan. Actual sales probably peg it at 200k at best.

Overkill's probably doing better. Its European sales were encouraging. So probably the same shipment with about 100k more sold.

Of course, these are absolute guesses pulled from my ass. Just going by what little European numbers we get. I don't think either one hit Japan. Not that it'd make a difference.

 

[donny2112]

Look at the balance board go! :lol

Launch-aligned, it's ahead of the Wii.

 

[farnham]

That's a shame. Klonoa's definitely one of the prettiest Wii games I've played and it has such a nice PAL conversion (full 60hz and 480p unlike Madworld and Little King's Story :/).

Hopefully they'll somehow justify the sequel in PAL land though.

and lisa simpson/sailor moon is hupo in the german version..:lol :lol

 

[EDarkness]

That's not what I'm saying. They sold more copies of MadWorld, but their ultimate goal to reach the western audience didn't go that well. I mean, going from 26k sold with God Hand to maybe 100k with MadWorld isn't that bad, but in the long run it won't matter. 100k isn't that good. No matter how hard you try to spin it.

100k is pretty good depending on what the publisher wants to sell. If my game sold 100k, I'd be dancing in the streets. Granted, maybe for some company like Capcom 100k isn't that much, but for a small developer like Platinum who don't have a company reputation yet, I'd say they're doing pretty well. It's like saying that No More Heroes wasn't a success when the developer says it was. Who do we believe?

 

[ZAK]

Granted, maybe for some company like Capcom 100k isn't that much, but for a small developer like Platinum who don't have a company reputation yet, I'd say they're doing pretty well.

Oh, Platinum has a reputation, and Madworld plays right into it.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

Oh, Platinum has a reputation, and Madworld plays right into it.

That's cold.

 

[Neo C.]

100k is pretty good depending on what the publisher wants to sell. If my game sold 100k, I'd be dancing in the streets. Granted, maybe for some company like Capcom 100k isn't that much, but for a small developer like Platinum who don't have a company reputation yet, I'd say they're doing pretty well. It's like saying that No More Heroes wasn't a success when the developer says it was. Who do we believe?

The key word (which you haven't mentioned yet) is the budget of the production. Even Capcom could be satisfied with 100k as long as there is a profit, while even small developers can be dissappointed when they get a loss as the result (though in this case, the publisher is rather taking the hit).
I think Mad World wasn't a cheap development. It certainly isn't an AAA production, but the game is solid quality and Sega has spent some money on ads.

 

[TheUnknownForce]

Yeah, but Klonoa 2 wound up doing around 100k in the US iirc (this was back in 2001 when PS2 owners were starved for games). I think this is a case of very few retailers ordering the game. I reserved it at my old store and they only got two copies in. And there were stories of people here having a hard time finding it.

I dunno. I guess it could do well over time. If it hasn't at least outsold the original by the end of the year, then it's pretty much the end of the series in retail, probably.

Yeah, I don't think Klonoa was getting much in terms of orders out from retailers, considering Nintendo had Punch-Out!! and EA had its Active game coming out shortly.

Thankfully, with downloadable games becoming more prominent, I wouldn't be surprised if Namco-Bandai decides to release the next game on WiiWare or XBLA/PSN or all three. There's at least some life for platformers there.


And in regards to Sega's releases, I believe that HOTD is being considered a success for Sega (it would have sold more if it debuted less than 50 bucks, I reckon), based on what reps have said.

Madworld is a bit iffier, though. It seemed to be pushed a bit more than HOTD. It probably is considered a miss, but not a terrible miss (such as Namco-Bandai's horrid launch of The Munchables). The Conduit is the last of the three big "hardcore" Sega titles coming out for the Wii at the moment, so we'll see how it goes. So far, I think it has been 1-1 when it comes to hit-misses as far as they're concerned, and The Conduit might be the barometer for bigger efforts from Sega as a publisher and the future of HVS in general.