Wow Japan is weird

[Tagrineth]

LOL at Gears being up there with no PS3 in sight.

 

[Professor_Chris]

Are GoW and Seikaiju Maze new releases in Japan? Cuz their week and overall totals are exactly the same...

Yes, I missed them when I reformatted the list.

No hardware yet? lol

Not yet. I suspect Better than average, but still pitiful, 360 sales. The usual godly Wii/DS sales. And Pitiful PS3 sales.

Oh, and this chart is koolies

It was more amusing with less ghosts and the higher cherry from last week. I thought the others were real spiffy as well.

Back to back posts merged. The following information has been added:

Hardware added!

Fun fact: Not only is the PS3 20 gig barely more than the PS2 launched at Japan (I forget how much the PS2 cost at launch in Japan) which makes it cheaper one store put out an add that listed the PS3 10,000 yen (39,980 yen/330$ vs the normally priced 49,980 yen/412$ 20 gig) off! Of course, in their add they put "Sony-san Sumimasen" because they couldn't sell the consoles otherwise. x3 Didn't help apparently. I know the buy-back rate for a PS3 20gig is like 33,000 yen (272$) and the 60 gig is 44,000 yen (363$).
I just got home and am browsing the weekly media-create thread. I'll update with T50 and links to charts when I get there.

Quote of the week:

With the DS, it's fair to say that Nintendo stepped out of the technical race and went for a feature differentiation with the touch screen. . . . I fear that it won't have a lasting impact beyond that of a gimmick -- so the long-lasting appeal of the platform is at peril as a direct result of that. . . . Nintendo knows its target audience, because it has really narrowed that down; and it's pretty much defined by a boy or girl's ability to admire Pokemon. . . . The idea of a handheld rivalry with Nintendo is an irrelevance. Those formats dont appear in our planning. It's not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it's the truth.

It's always fun to look back on Sony quotes and see just how much arrogance/stupidity/irony/any combination of the three is contained within.

 

[GweedyJ]

eh i dont see why it matters what does well in japan if ya dont live there.

 

[Phazon Elite]

It's always fun to look back on Sony quotes and see just how much arrogance/stupidity/irony/any combination of the three is contained within.

ULTRA-QFT

 

[bullados]

With the DS, it's fair to say that Nintendo stepped out of the technical race and went for a feature differentiation with the touch screen. . . . I fear that it won't have a lasting impact beyond that of a gimmick -- so the long-lasting appeal of the platform is at peril as a direct result of that. . . . Nintendo knows its target audience, because it has really narrowed that down; and it's pretty much defined by a boy or girl's ability to admire Pokemon. . . . The idea of a handheld rivalry with Nintendo is an irrelevance. Those formats dont appear in our planning. It's not a fair comparison; not fair on them, I should stress. That sounds arrogant, maybe, but it's the truth.

He's right, though. It ISN'T fair to compare the DS to the PSP. DS is teh awesomeness, PSP sux. End of story. You can compare the PSP favorably to the NGage, Game Gear, and Neo Geo Pocket, but you can't compare it to GB or DS. End of story.

Sony is teh phunny!!!

 

[Professor_Chris]

eh i dont see why it matters what does well in japan if ya dont live there.

You're ABSOLUTELY right. Japan doesn't matter becasuse we don't live there. What happens there does not affect us AT ALL. I mean, if Pokemon had bombed there we wouldn't have ever seen it! OH WAIT. That means what happens in Japan DOES AFFECT US. Unless you play only 100% Western-made Video Games on your Xbox/Xbox 360 what happens in Japan is very important. Whichever system does the best will get the most Japanese support. Japan is a very key area in the console war because Japanese developer support is very important.

He's right, though. It ISN'T fair to compare the DS to the PSP.

You're right that he's right and that's the irony.

 

[Tagrineth]

eh i dont see why it matters what does well in japan if ya dont live there.

Um, probably because that's where the companies are based...

 

[King3567]

lol wow, japanese gamers usually dont like shooters, hats off to epic for an amazing game (well...until they patched it at least...)

I find it funny that a .hack game made number 1. That is sad. Those games are EXTREMELY generic rpgs, stick with the anime.

 

[Professor_Chris]

Japanese love shooters. They just don't usually care for the First Person kind. If I recall correctly, Halo did decent numbers there. They just aren't the phenomenon they are here. HOWEVER, this does mean that the Japanese think GoW>Resistance. :x I'm not terribly suprised by GoW's first week sales. After all, Famitsu gave the game all 9's/10's.

At any rate, this week (well, last week now, but we're getting the info this week) I expect GoW and .hack to be gone from the T10. If not this week, then the week after. I suspect at least one of those PS2 games will fall off. Not to mention DQM:J sales should be back up due to new shipments. I heard they were supply restrained (much like FFIII was when it launched). Speaking of FFIII, it should hit a million soon in Japan. =)

I hope Excite Truck makes the T10. *_* It's so close. :x Looks like it did decent numbers for its first week.

 

[Marril]

I find it funny that a .hack game made number 1. That is sad. Those games are EXTREMELY generic rpgs, stick with the anime.

It's sort of a meta-RPG in a sense. It's an RPG about an RPG. It's not an artistic statement for the ages, but it's an interesting principle that makes it better than just Generic RPG X. If nothing else, some of those Harald Hoerwick quotes are pretty good. I wouldn't call it a number 1 game, but it's not unsuitable for the top 10.

 

[GweedyJ]

You're ABSOLUTELY right. Japan doesn't matter becasuse we don't live there. What happens there does not affect us AT ALL. I mean, if Pokemon had bombed there we wouldn't have ever seen it! OH WAIT. That means what happens in Japan DOES AFFECT US. Unless you play only 100% Western-made Video Games on your Xbox/Xbox 360 what happens in Japan is very important. Whichever system does the best will get the most Japanese support. Japan is a very key area in the console war because Japanese developer support is very important.


You're right that he's right and that's the irony.

oh no not japanese developer support. hmmm 360 is bombing there well was..and wowzer they got capcom suporting them. Sega supports them to what!? how about konami yeah i see konami supporting them. all that and crappy sales. go figure. Obviously the US is a much bigger video game market. I mean look at the Wii we got Wii sports for free. Did japan? nope why? because japan does not matter. Japan might of matter if this was 1996 but its not. It does not matter how the system does in japan for the system to get developers.

 

[bullados]

Dragon Quest.

 

[Tagrineth]

oh no not japanese developer support. hmmm 360 is bombing there well was..and wowzer they got capcom suporting them. Sega supports them to what!? how about konami yeah i see konami supporting them. all that and crappy sales. go figure. Obviously the US is a much bigger video game market. I mean look at the Wii we got Wii sports for free. Did japan? nope why? because japan does not matter. Japan might of matter if this was 1996 but its not. It does not matter how the system does in japan for the system to get developers.

Dreamcast was a huge success in US but bombed HARD in Japan.

Wow, but wait, Japan doesn't matter...

 

[bullados]

I'd say more of a moderate success in the US. It sold quite a few units at the beginning, but its popularity waned dramatically after about 6 months...

 

[Poor Trainer]

First off, I want to thank Professor_Chris for relaying the info for all the PokéGym members to see and analyze, it has been very interesting seeing the ups and down of the current Japanese game market. The only thing I can say is that Japan Land will probably be DS Land once DQIX comes out (does that make Japan weird? not to me).

Dragon Quest.

I shed a tear every time I hear somebody mention the Dragon Quest name (I would be bawling if it was 4+ years ago).

 

[Professor_Chris]

Japan is already Nintendo land. DoraQue will just be icing on the cake.

Back to back posts merged. The following information has been added:

It's that time of week again!

01 (PS2, Capcom) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 227,261 / NEW
02 (NDS, Square-Enix) Dragon Quest Monsters Joker - 103,706 / 1,026,700
03 (NDS, Sega) Sangokushi Taisen DS - 77,229 / NEW
04 (NDS, Nintendo) Picross DS - 71,794 / NEW
05 (NDS, Nintendo) Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 59,379 / NEW
06 (Wii, Nintendo) Wii Sports - 58,886 / 910,422
07 (NDS, Nintendo) Wario: The Seven - 47,350 / 138,599
08 (Wii, Nintendo) Wii Play - 43,612 / 808,425
09 (PS2, Huck Berry) Pachinko Winter Sonata - 41,411 / NEW
10 (NDS, Nintendo) More Brain Age - 34,028 / 3,902,307

The Rest:
11 (NDS, Nintendo) New Super Mario Brothers
12 (NDS, Nintendo) Common Knowledge Training
13 (NDS, Nintendo) Animal Crossing Wild World
14 (PS2, Konami) Prince of Tennis: Doki-Doki Survival
15 (360, Bandai-Namco) The Idolm@ster
16 (NDS, Nintendo) Mario Kart DS
17 (NDS, Pokemon) Pokemon Diamond
18 (NDS, Nintendo) English Training
19 (NDS, Nintendo) Brain Training
20 (PS2, Sega) Shining Force EXA
21 (NDS, Spike) IQ Supply
22 (NDS, Pokemon) Pokemon Pearl
23 (NDS, IE Institute) Kanji Brain Test 2M
24 (PSP, Konami) Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops
25 (PS2, Bandai-Namco) .hack//G.U. Vol. 3
26 (NDS, Nintendo) 1000 Recipes
27 (Wii, Nintendo) Wario Ware Smooth Moves
28 (PSP, Capcom) Monster Hunter Portable
29 (PS3, From Software) Enchanted Arms
30 (PS2, Flight-Plan) Dragon Shadow Spell

Top 30 Break Down:
DS: 17
PS2: 6
Wii: 3
PSP: 2
360: 1
PS3: 1

31. (PS2, Marvelous) Happiness! Deluxe (1st ed.)
32. (NDS, Rocket Co.) Kanji Test
33. (NDS, Sega) Puyo-Puyo!
34. (WII, Nintendo) The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
35. (NDS, Sega) Love & Berry
36. (NDS, Bandai-Namco) Heisei Kyouiku Inkai DS
37. (NDS, Nintendo) Kirby Squeek Squad
38. (PS2, Sega) Yakuza
39. (NDS, MTO) Tea Dog's Room DS 2
40. (WII, Nintendo) Excite Truck
41. (NDS, Nintendo) Jump Ultimate Stars
42. (PSP, Ertain) Lost Regnum
43. (NDS, Shougaku-kan) DS Yama Method Math Drills
44. (NDS, Atlus) Etrian Odyssey
45. (NDS, Capcom) Biohazard: Deadly Silence
46. (NDS, Nintendo) Tetris DS
47. (NDS, Nintendo) Cooking Navi
48. (PS2, Prototype) Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life CS Ed.
49. (PS2, Aquaplus) Routes PE
50. (PS2, THQ) WWE 2007 SmackDown vs. Raw

As I predicted all PS2 games in the top 10 have dropped out. I suspect the same of these new ones. Lotsa new software this week; and, of course, DQM:J is back it stock it seems. Or rather it was. Not sure how much it sold through but it definately has legs. The biggest suprise is that PS3 finally has a game in the T30! This game is Enchant Arm. :x I was totally disappointed by Idolm@ster not making T10. What with the recent trend of great week 1 selling 360 software I thought it was almost given. Not to mention the cel shading in that game is AMAZING. I suspect it will follow the normal 360 trend and drop way out of the T30 never to be seen from again (except maybe in the next week's T50).

Hardware, Top 50, Graphs, etc will be posted when I get them.

 

[Professor_Chris]

TOP50
NDS:29
PS2:11
Wii:5
PSP:3
XBOX360:1
PS3:1

Hardware:
1.) Nintendo DS Lite - 194,526 | 127,647 | 756,338 | 8,179,662
2.) Nintendo Wii - 83,754 | 86,395 | 459,188 | 1,378,831
3.) PlayStation Portable - 35,700 | 37,032 | 239,722 | 4,771,851
4.) PlayStation 2 - 20,995 | 20,169 | 115,864 | 20,270,723
5.) PlayStation 3 - 19,996 | 21,105 | 136,576 | 594,134
6.) Xbox 360 - 7,365 | 7,041 | 41,676 | 306,378
7.) Game Boy Micro - 1,177 | 1,864 | 8,311 | 568,241
8.) Game Boy Advance SP - 1,023 | 1,498 | 6,432 | 5,921,472
9.) Nintendo GameCube - 347 | 554 | 2,770 | 4,172,238
10.) Nintendo DS - 82 | 123 | 321 | 6,582,676
11.) Game Boy Advance - 34 | 94 | 264 | 8,823,373

X1.) Nintendo DS Total - 194,608 | 127,770 | 756,659 | 14,762,338
X2.) Game Boy Advance Total - 2,234 | 3,456 | 15,007 | 15,313,086

Graphs:
Next-Gen Hardware Totals
Pie Charts
Moar Pie Charts

PS3 am bomba confirmed. /GAFspeak
DS only about 3 weeks away from passing Game Boy Advance and never looking back.

 

[GweedyJ]

Dreamcast was a huge success in US but bombed HARD in Japan.

Wow, but wait, Japan doesn't matter...

Dreamcast huge success!? are you out of your mind? And yes japan does not matter. And the Dc could not of bombed that hard in japan if they brought it back in 04 . and infact it still has a few games coming out for it. Not something a company would do for a counsle that bombed eh?

 

[Tagrineth]

Dreamcast huge success!? are you out of your mind? And yes japan does not matter. And the Dc could not of bombed that hard in japan if they brought it back in 04 . and infact it still has a few games coming out for it. Not something a company would do for a counsle that bombed eh?

For its time, yes, Dreamcast was a huge success, and had the biggest and most successful US launch of any console pre-PS2.

I'm dead serious.

And YES, it bombed. The Saturn had games still coming out for it until about a year or two ago too. Would you call that a viable system? 1-2 non-dating-sim releases a year isn't a viable system.

 

[Professor_Chris]

Dreamcasts last two games evar come out this year then they stop making GD-Rom disks. 2 games a year=BOMB. It was a complete failure. You absolutely cannot argue otherwise. For all intents and purposes it is a dead system.

Gweedy, you're a fool if you think Japan is irrelivant. The video game market there is HUGE relative to their size. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is only a close second to the US--if that. I'm thinking software sometimes sells more there than here. I remember looking at the December NPD numbers and being completely underwhealmed. He who wins Japan wins the world. Japan is the reason the Xbox 360 will never stay the market dominator WW. It's just missing that HUGE market share that Japan contributes to the market.

How well these systems do in Japan HEAVILLY influence Japanese developers (except Capcom, it seems).