October sales for North America

[Melf]

I'm also surprised that 360 took such a dive compared to the previous month. I know its September sales were only high because of Halo 3, but I thought Halo 3 would have longer coattails. It's at the top of the charts for October but its effect on 360 sales seems to have already disappeared. It seems Microsoft fired their only clip and have no more ammo.

Just about everyone who was going to buy Halo 3 did so at launch. It dropped so much because it made the bulk of its sales in the first three days, and I don't think we'll see any game save GTA 4 match those kinds of numbers for the next year or so.

As for MS not having any more ammo, do they really need it? The 360 outsold both the Wii and PS3 COMBINED in software last month. MS has to be pretty happy with those numbers. First party games like Halo 3, PGR 4, and Mass Effect will continue to sell well into the holidays, and the lower priced 360s should sell well if there's a Wii shortage as has been reported. The lower end PS3 should fare well too.

[Cobra Commander]

I don't understand something. The Wii is totally hot shit now right? It looks to me like the Wii has already passed the 'Cube sales or getting near that point. So why isn't it getting games like RE5 or any other 3rd party title that's appearing on both the 360 and PS3? I only have 3 games for my Wii, and they're all made by Nintendo.
Are 3rd parties just not taking it seriously or what? I mean really why is the best selling console, the one that MORE PEOPLE OWN, not getting the BIG games? It just seems elementary to me.

[j_factor]

I don't understand something. The Wii is totally hot shit now right? It looks to me like the Wii has already passed the 'Cube sales or getting near that point. So why isn't it getting games like RE5 or any other 3rd party title that's appearing on both the 360 and PS3? I only have 3 games for my Wii, and they're all made by Nintendo.
Are 3rd parties just not taking it seriously or what? I mean really why is the best selling console, the one that MORE PEOPLE OWN, not getting the BIG games? It just seems elementary to me.

RE5 started development a really long time ago. You'll see (and we have seen, recently) with the newer announcements that the Wii is getting more. As of June the Wii had more exclusive games in development than the other consoles. I don't think that's changed, and if anything the Wii has widened its lead a little -- but new game announcements in general (like, across the whole industry) have been pretty slow lately. I think we'll be seeing more big game announcements for the Wii (relative to other consoles) in the near future.

[Sothy]

Glad to see Orange box up there. Great compilation of games for that price point.


Honestly... surprised a ps2 game wasnt #1

Honestly...Not suprised a ps3 game isnt on the list.

[Sothy]

Oh by the way j factor... What is the deal witha picture of Colonel Sanders in Pajamas jumping over fireworks saying "ITS OK TO BE GAY!" Im not disagreeing... just wondering.

[swlovinist]

I think that we only have to go back to the 360 on year one to see that quality games take time, epically 3rd party games. On that note, Zack and Wikki is an example of a top quality third party game on the Wii. On the note that many around here have stopped playing their Wii, I am one who is still going strong. I play it differently thank my 360, but I than that will change when Smash comes out.

To clarify a couple of things: Mass Effect is a 3rd party game done by Bioware, not done by Microsoft themselves, although there was alot of in-house support.

The 360 has an impressive holiday lineup as it should have....it has been around a full year longer.

Next year, I see all three systems having a "crazy" software lineup for the holidays. On the PS3 note, I have talked to many stores and game shops locally, and they all say the same thing...The PS3 40 gig is not selling that great versus the Wii and the 360. I think that the PS3 is still new enough to still reestablish itself possibly this next year, but I think that the average consumers is still waiting on a cheaper price point and more AAA titles. Personally it is not a bad system, but it has some fierce competition, something Sony is not really used to(like 10 years domination?) I definately think that a soft economy and family image is going to help the Wii......alot. I see the 360 as the "all around system' that will do pretty good as well this holiday. All three are trying hard to get their user bases up, and I am sure that the battle will wage on this next year.

[smokehouse]

Not to totally derail the topic but right now, my Wii sees more game time than any of my other consoles. I guess at this point in my life I'm looking for the quick fix...a few games of bowling, a few jams on GH III, some VC action (Love SUper Mario World and now I can play it without dragging out the SNES...still waiting for NES Contra)...I'll sit down and play for 30 min than walk away. I love it.

[j_factor]

Oh by the way j factor... What is the deal witha picture of Colonel Sanders in Pajamas jumping over fireworks saying "ITS OK TO BE GAY!" Im not disagreeing... just wondering.

It's a Johnny Turbo reference (as is my avatar and custom title). Specifically it's an alteration of a frame from the final "episode". I lifted it from the semi-famous site that has full scans followed by very amusing commentary. I think the guy that did that site writes for Hardcore Gamer Magazine now.

In case you don't know what Johnny Turbo is, it's a very weird ad campaign run by TTI in support of their Turbo Duo system. In it, they ridicule the Sega CD, which the ads indirectly imply was selling like hotcakes (although it did outsell the Duo still). It stars this mild-mannered "computer expert" who loves his Turbo Duo and "the arcade feel!" it provides, while he hates the Sega CD because it "doesn't even compare!!" His name is Jonathan Brandstetter, but he is secretly Johnny Turbo, the Turbo Duo superhero who battles the evil Feka Corporation. Anyway, the guy pictured is his ambiguously gay sidekick/roommate.

I highly recommend you visit this site for The Johnny Turbo Story. It's long, but it's really funny.

[Gentlegamer]

What is the deal witha picture of Colonel Sanders in Pajamas jumping over fireworks saying "ITS OK TO BE GAY!" Im not disagreeing... just wondering.

It is a pic from the saga of Johnny Turbo. Click this link to learn about an important part of video game history.

Edit: j_factor already explained it. Seriously, though, click the link and learn about the glory of Johnny Turbo.

[Rob2600]

I don't understand something. The Wii is totally hot shit now right? ... So why isn't it getting games like RE5 or any other 3rd party title that's appearing on both the 360 and PS3? ... Are 3rd parties just not taking it seriously or what?

Here's something I don't understand. Why do people like you insist that the Wii has hardly any third-party support?

Look at a list of Wii games; there has been tons of third party support. Zack & Wiki, Resident Evil 4, The Godfather, Medal of Honor Heroes 2, Madden NFL, Guitar Hero III, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Elebits, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Scarface, Lego Star Wars, Naruto, etc.

Is every third party Wii game A+? No. Is every third party Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 game A+? No. But there are plenty of third party Wii games that are great.

[UniHamachi]

The problem with the Wii isn't that there is no 3rd party support. Nor is it that there isn't any A+ Trd party support. The problem is there isn't even any announced A+ 3rd party support. Compared to the XBox, the quality of 3rd party software is uniformly awful. RE4 is great, but after that, the best stuff is in the 7-8 out of 10 range (and you can count the number of those on one hand).

[Rob2600]

Compared to the XBox, the quality of 3rd party software is uniformly awful. RE4 is great, but after that, the best stuff is in the 7-8 out of 10 range (and you can count the number of those on one hand).

So according to you, there are a maximum of six good third party Wii games? Really?

Instead of making things up, I chose to look at actual scores. These are averaged from metacritic.com, gamestats.com, and gamerankings.com:

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure - 8.7
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - 8.5
Trauma Center: New Blood - 8.5
MLB Power Pros - 8.4
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 - 8.2
Madden NFL 07 - 8.1
Geometry Wars: Galaxies - 8.0
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - 8.0
Trauma Center: Second Opinion - 8.0
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles - 7.8
The Godfather: Blackhand Edition - 7.8
Mercury Meltdown Revolution - 7.7
Rayman Raving Rabbids - 7.7
Madden NFL 08 - 7.6
The Sims 2: Castaway - 7.6
Elebits - 7.5
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - 7.5
Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution - 7.5

That's 18 third party Wii games that rate 7.5 or higher, which is quite a bit more than can be counted on one hand...unless one of your hands has 18 fingers.

[UniHamachi]

Yes Rob, you got me. I didn't bother to check gamefaqs. Although, if you don't count multi-platform and DS ports, the number is actually 6. So yes, I would need polydactylism to count them on one hand, but it's not a lot.

Also, I may have set the bar too low with a 7 rating.

Don't get me wrong, I have the Wii and I'm not wanting for games, but the lack of big time 3rd party exclusives points to a system with a limited lifespan.

Also note that the Wii is also missing out on PS3/Xbox 360 multi-platform games. The lack of power is preventing the 3rd parties from putting first tier games on the system.

[j_factor]

Don't get me wrong, I have the Wii and I'm not wanting for games, but the lack of big time 3rd party exclusives points to a system with a limited lifespan.

Also note that the Wii is also missing out on PS3/Xbox 360 multi-platform games. The lack of power is preventing the 3rd parties from putting first tier games on the system.

Rayman Raving Rabbids is a big time 3rd party exclusive. Guitar Hero 3 is the highest of top-tier multi-platform games.

Things are changing. The importance (and the number being produced) of big-budget, graphically intense games is diminishing greatly due to the budgets getting higher and higher and the risk involved. Remember Namco's big-budget Gundam game for PS3? Remember when they publicly stated that it would have to sell over a million copies in Japan for them to break even on it? It sold like 1/4 of that. Shortly thereafter, Namco Bandai released a statement that they were going to put their largest focus on Wii games, and scaling back their budgets. Namco Bandai is one of, if not the biggest game company in Japan. If they have to adjust their business strategy, they certainly can't be alone.