Japanese <3 Nintendo.

[Professor_Chris]

PS3? Pfft.

Famitsu surveyed 50 game makers, 126 game shops, and 736 game players on a variety of subjects including what they thought would be hot in 2007. Results show an overwhelming support for Nintendo's Wii and DS, although other platforms did have some positive comments as well. Without further ado, here are the results.

Question 1: What will be hot in 2007?
1 - Wii (412)
2 - Dragon Quest IX (122)
3 - Nintendo DS (107)
4 - Playstation 3 (56)
5 - Cannot predict (50)
6 - Xbox 360 (28)
6 - Final Fantasy XIII (28)
8 - Metal Gear Solid 4 (22)
9 - Blue Dragon (16)
10 - Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (15)

Break down of votes:
Players
1 - Wii (357)
2 - Dragon Quest IX (122)
3 - Nintendo DS (79)
4 - PS3 (52)
5 - Cannot predict (31)

Makers
1 - Wii (24)
2 - Cannot predict (8)
3 - Nintendo DS (5)
4 - Network related games (2)
4 - Hardware peripherals (2)

Shops
1 - Wii (31)
2 - Nintendo DS (23)
3 - Cannot predict (11)
4 - Network related games (8)
5 - Playstation 3 (4)

Write-in Feedback
-I think the Wii will become even more popular than now due to word of mouth. (Male, 19, College Student)
-Even though everyone is surely giving attention to the Nintendo DS, I think the big hit in 2007 will be the Wii. (Female, 19, Trade School Student)
-I want the new Dragon Quest IX that uses the touch-panel and Wi-Fi! (Male, 31, Government Worker)
-I think if the Playstation 3 were to offer more free game downloads than it would better prosper. (Male, 26, Company Worker)
-70% of inquiries coming to our shop are concerning the Wii. (Game Shop, Yamagata)
-Playstation 3 sales are settling down while we can't keep the DS and Wii in stock. It seems this year will be the year of Nintendo. (Game Shop, Saitama)
-The Wii has had a much better reaction than I thought it would. (Game Maker)
-Considering what has already been announced for it, it seems like the DS will do the best this year.(Game Maker)
-There are many possibilities of new uses for the Virtual Console and Wiimote.(Game Maker)

Question 2: Which hardware will have the best sales?
1 - Nintendo DS (432)
2 - Wii (326)
3 - Playstation 3 (116)
4 - Xbox 360 (26)
5 - Cannot predict (15)

Break down of votes:
Players
1 - Nintendo DS (311)
2 - Wii (272)
3 - Playstation 3 (106)
4 - Xbox 360 (26)
5 - Cannot predict (15)

Makers
1 - Nintendo DS (34)
2 - Wii (13)
3 - Playstation 3 (2)

Shops
1 - Nintendo DS (87)
2 - Wii (41)
3 - Playstation 3 (8)

Write-in Feedback
-Nintendo has gained a lot of weight with the announcement of Dragon Quest IX for the DS. The age of the portable game machine is about to come. (Male, 31, Designer)
-If the Playstation 3 was more available and the price dropped it seems like it could sell extremely well, but... (Male, 15, Jr. High Student)
-The Wii has received a wonderful reception from customers. It's selling like nothing before. (Game Shop, Shizuoka)
-Due in part to it's simple to use Wi-Fi, the DS has grown to have a plentiful lineup that can fit to any game player's likes. (Game Maker)
-As it has no regard for age or gender, the DS has the strength to take a very large audience. (Game Maker)

Question 3: What will be the game to look for on each system?

Playstation 2
1 - Nothing in particular (280)
2 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (97)
3 - Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix + (67)
4 - Super Robot Wars: OG (64)
5 - .hack//G.U. Vol.3 (28)
Write-in Feedback
-With the next generation already out I can't think of anything noteworthy coming to the Playstation 2. (Male, 25, Part-time Worker)
-There are a lot of male targeted games and nothing really fresh coming to the Playstation 2. (Female, 34, Government Worker)
-After Secret of Mana 4 there's really nothing that big coming out on the Playstation 2, is there? That said, I'm still hoping for more new releases. (Male, 22, Part-time Worker)

Playstation 3
1 - Metal Gear Solid 4 (269)
2 - Final Fantasy XIII (262)
3 - Nothing in particular (115)
4 - Resident Evil 5 (45)
5 - Gran Tourismo 5 (41)
Write-in Feedback
-The Playstation 3 most worth noting is Final Fantasy XIII. With this high-powered machine there's no telling how far it will take the game. (Male, 21, College Student)
-White Knight Story seems like a title that should draw a lot of people in. (Male, 18, Student)
-Metal Gear Solid 4 should be the the real catalyst. (Male, 32, Company Worker)
-Many people were amazed by Final Fantasy XIII's demo trailer. (Game Shop, Chiba)
-I'm interested in what kind of game Afrika will become. (Game Maker)

Wii
1 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl (370)
2 - Nothing in particular (127)
3 - Dragon Quest Swords (122)
4 - Super Mario Galaxy (94)
5 - Fire Emblem Wii (56)
Write-in Feedback
-Children buy Super Smash Bros. year after year so the newest installment is going to sell like crazy. (Female, 39, Company Worker)
-I also have hopes for the virtual console. (Male, 27, Dentist)
-I hope that Animal Crossing for the Wii will work with the immensely popular DS version. (Game Shop, Tokyo)
-It seems that Super Mario Galaxy is going to revive the life-less, Orthodox Mario of Old. (Game Maker)

Xbox 360
1 - Lost Odyssey (199)
2 - Nothing in particular (166)
3 - Halo 3 (95)
4 - Blue Dragon (91)
5 - Lost Planet (67)
Write-in Feedback
-Little by little the Xbox 360 is showing it's true spirit. It's fun to think how well it will sell when Halo 3 comes out. (Male, 27, unemployed)
-I've played the Lost Odyssey demo and I think this game will generate a lot of attention. (Male, 33, Company Worker)
-With games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey being released there's more and more to get Japan's attention. Let's see some more titles come to Japan! (Male, 28, Police Officer)

PSP
1 - Nothing in Particular (243)
2 - Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (219)
3 - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (109)
4 - Final Fantasy Tactics: Lion War (71)
5 - Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (58)
Write-in Feedback
-With games like Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII coming, there are loads of titles to watch. (Male, 19, College Student)
-I'm planning on buying a PSP with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. (Male, 25, College Student)
-I'm really looking forward to the sequel to Monster Hunter Portable. (Game Shop, Kanagawa)

Nintendo DS
1 - Dragon Quest IX (608)
2 - Phoenix Wright 4 (52)
3 - Nothing in particular (51)
4 - Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (23)
5 - Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (21)
Write-in Feedback
-With Dragon Quest 9 coming to the already popular Nintendo DS it will become a super mega-hit! (Male, 27, IT Engineer)
-I'm looking forward to the new training and practical type software for the DS. (Male, 19, unemployed)
-Of course Dragon Quest IX is the one to look for. I also anticipate playing other big game franchises. (Game Shop, Kanagawa)
-I'm interested in Level 5's new title, Prof Layton. (Game Maker)


Question 4: Who will be THE game maker of 2007?
1 - Nintendo (266)
2 - SquareEnix (181)
3 - Capcom (118)
4 - Sony Computer Entertainment (60)
5 - Sega (45)
6 - Konami (41)
7 - Microsoft (28)
8 - Level 5 (27)
9 - Bandai Namco Games (25)
10 - Mistwalker

In addition, participants were asked who they thought will be the game creator of 2007. The top 3 were: Hideo Kojima(1), Shigeru Miyamoto(2), and Yuji Horii(3).

Source: Famitsu via http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=7392

 

[Shellshock929]

If Capcom is 3rd, then We'll get to see more Street Fighter games (hopefully 4 on the Wii and 360), A new Resident Evil, and More Megaman Games. Too bad we wont see Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Capcom vs. SNK 3.

Other than that, the Wii is looking good, although the 360 in Japan has fair responses, while the PS3 is just garbage in Japan.

I may like the Wii and 360, but there are going to be lots of stuff going on here.

 

[Professor_Chris]

Other than that, the Wii is looking good, although the 360 in Japan has fair responses, while the PS3 is just garbage in Japan.

Have you been paying attention to the "Japan is weird" thread? PS3's LTD after launch (MAYBE a week after) is greater than the 360's LTD even after Blue Dragon. So, if the PS3 is trash in Japan, then the 360 is worse than that and the Wii and DS look down upon them atop their mountain of money and laugh themselves to sleep every night. Though, much like nearly everywhere in the US, PS3s are now sitting on shelves in Japan. But it's certainly out performing the 360 by a large margin. 360's LTD is like ~250k and recently has been selling 5 digits weekly (I'd expect it to go back down to 4 soon, 'til the next Japanese centric title, then it'll jump up to 5 again). PS3's LTD is liek almost 2x that despite the huge head start 360 had.

Wii, of course, slaughters them all with an LTD over 1mil as of last week and constantly sells out.

 

[Phazon Elite]

Wait, Microsoft actually bothered to release the 360 in Japan?

WTH? XD

 

[ZAKtheGeek]

The only surprising thing here is that DQ isn't #1.

 

[Dek]

Wait, Microsoft actually bothered to release the 360 in Japan?

WTH? XD

Well, they "bothered" to release Windows around the world, so it would make sense to release the rest of their products around the world. ;D

If Capcom is 3rd, then We'll get to see more Street Fighter games (hopefully 4 on the Wii and 360), A new Resident Evil, and More Megaman Games. Too bad we wont see Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Capcom vs. SNK 3.

Well, Megaman ZX came out during Fall of 2006, Street Fighter II is available on Wii's Virtual Console as well as Xbox Live Arcade, and Megaman Star Force was announced a few months ago for the DS.

Resident Evil 5 was announced. However, it will only be for the PS3 and Xbox 360 at the moment.

(also, Street Fighter III: Third Strike is still going strong in Japan)

To be honest, there was one comment I was surprised to hear...

There are a lot of male targeted games and nothing really fresh coming to the Playstation 2. (Female, 34, Government Worker)

Do they NOT have Guitar Hero?

 

[Professor_Chris]

Well, Megaman ZX came out during Fall of 2006, Street Fighter II is available on Wii's Virtual Console as well as Xbox Live Arcade, and Megaman Star Force was announced a few months ago for the DS.

Ryuusei no Rockman/Megaman Star Force has been doing rather meh (but still okay) in Japan (see: Wow Japan is Weird thread). Though, it's their own fault for going with three versions. :\

Resident Evil 5 was announced. However, it will only be for the PS3 and Xbox 360 at the moment.

Pretty sure I heard there was a Wii exclusive RE in development.

To be honest, there was one comment I was surprised to hear...


Do they NOT have Guitar Hero?

I'd assume not, aside from that, western games don't sell nearly as well. Besides, I'd doubt GH as is would appeal to many Japanese. It'd have to have some sort of reverse-Ouendan thing going on before they'd consider it.

 

[Phazon Elite]

Well, they "bothered" to release Windows around the world, so it would make sense to release the rest of their products around the world. ;D

Ah. Touche, sir. :lol:

 

[King3567]

eh....i tend to not concentrate on the japanese gaming market becuase they tend to go nowhere...fast. If it were up to Japan, online gaming probably would not exist on consoles and we would all be enjoying Final Fantasy 293 on our lovely PSw/e.
American game devs, imo have advanced the industry more in last generation than the japanese have done in six.

but out of the two, im glad Nintendo is winning, at least they try something new and kind of know when they are beat (gamecube anyone?)

 

[Tagrineth]

eh....i tend to not concentrate on the japanese gaming market becuase they tend to go nowhere...fast. If it were up to Japan, online gaming probably would not exist on consoles and we would all be enjoying Final Fantasy 293 on our lovely PSw/e.
American game devs, imo have advanced the industry more in last generation than the japanese have done in six.

but out of the two, im glad Nintendo is winning, at least they try something new and kind of know when they are beat (gamecube anyone?)

You ARE aware that Nintendo and Sega tried online gaming with the 16-bit generation and it didn't take off? And Sega had a fairly successful online play capability in Dreamcast? Hint: Sega isn't an American company.

 

[Professor_Chris]

eh....i tend to not concentrate on the japanese gaming market becuase they tend to go nowhere...fast.

Yet, without them, we wouldn't have much of a video game industry. Funny how that works. (HINT: Without Sony, a Japanese company, Microsoft would have never made a game console and without Nintendo there would have been no Sony)

If it were up to Japan, online gaming probably would not exist on consoles and we would all be enjoying Final Fantasy 293 on our lovely PSw/e.

Super Famicom and Dreamcast say hi. The former was far too ahead of its time. =( I'm not sure about Japan but I know the Sega Genesis had an online download service via cable in the US. Again, ahead of it's time.

American game devs, imo have advanced the industry more in last generation than the japanese have done in six.

Elaborate. Examples. Wii and DS are pretty freaking HUGE innovations right out of Japan. Heck, without Final Fantasy, Sony wouldn't be the behemoth it is today. Japan has always been the key spot for the video game industry. Otherwise, Microsoft wouldn't be so desperate to try and get into it.

but out of the two, im glad Nintendo is winning, at least they try something new and kind of know when they are beat (gamecube anyone?)

Are we forgetting the 360 or the PS3? There's more than two. Right now Microsoft still has the highest WW install base, but Wii's hot on it's trail with half of it already.

 

[King3567]

i meant the developers of japan. They often stick to the same tried and true formulas. Dont get me wrong, Final Fantasy is fun, but really, it is mostly the same since FF1 (accept choosing parties, classes, length) with the major differences between them being Graphics. Which is why I am glad some Japanese Developers look to the style of american developing (Capcom, Kojima Productions, etc.).
One of the best examples of "the japanese cycle" is the gameboy. Dont get me wrong, the GBA is one of the BEST systems ever in terms of games, but (starting with the gameboy) it took them nearly 11 years to make any real significant changes. Why did they do this in 2004? Why not earlier? Because they had no challengers for the handheld department. PSP was shaping up to be the new winner in the handheld industry, but thanks to new games and (finally) new ways to play, the DS won.
as for the "out of the two statement", I was disregarding the 360, because it doesnt stand a chance in Japan so it has little to no influence on japans gaming industry.

EDIT: for elaborating, I am talking about the sixth generation, not the seventh (as it is not close to being over).
Gamecube-prettier version of N64 (comfortable controller though) had pretty much nothing going for it except that you know you would get a Mario game (worst to date imo), a zelda game (very fun), and a couple of donkey kong games (*** HAPPENED!?)

PS2-prettier version of PS, but that is not a bad thing because PS kicked ***. Though it had strong games it did not advance anything other than graphics. Still had 2 controller slots (***) and its online play was a last minute thing and was laughabley bad

Xbox-had a pretty bad start but surprising outcome in the 6th generation. Had pretty bad Dev support in the beggining, but when they got rid of the "octopus" sized controllers, started Xbox Live, and started having kick *** games, people were no longer wondering what Microsoft had to bring to the table. Yes Dreamcast had online play, but it wasnt that structured and there was really only PSO that was fun. Xbox Live had a universal friends list, and voice chat. Sony tried to imitate this and failed misribley (sp?). Nintendo did not really try at all stating something "i think gamers would rather play games they love together in person", ironic that they have the Wii online.

 

[Tagrineth]

US companies definitely don't stick with tried-and-true games!

The biggest American games are all sequels too =/ every company works that way.

SEGA used to be the 2nd most innovative game company right behind Nintendo but they got extremely lazy after Dreamcast died. Both companies are based in Japan. =/

 

[King3567]

the biggest japanese games are sequels too, many originated on the NES-snes era (FF, Mario, MGS)

Gears is the #1 game right now, and that is not a sequel.

 

[Professor_Chris]

Gears is the #1 game right now, and that is not a sequel.

Says who? I know it certainly wasn't the best selling game of last year (New Super Mario Bros>Gears; I also know that GCN+Wii Zelda sold more than Gears in December). Is there any basis to this other than your opinion?

 

[ZAKtheGeek]

Also, the US is where the repetitive barrage of sports games is sold.