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 Digg.com Facebook Google Bookmarks N4G Gamerblips del.icio.us Reddit Slashdot.org StumbleUpon Man, what a crybaby. The game tanked there because GTA type games dont sell in Japan. Take a look at any given month's top 10 for the Wii in Japan, and you will find 4-6 of those titles by 3rd party developers.
I love his comment about the Wii being for only non-gamers, because ya know, grandma is the one rockin out on Metroid Prime 3 and Re: Umbrella Chronicles.
Devs, get your crap together and STUDY YOUR MARKET first. Any company making any product studies their demographic before even investing time in making the product. If this dev would have done that, he'd have expected No More Heroes to flop in Japan. It's not their type of game. Seriously, what is up with the gaming culture in Japan at the moment? This can only be bad news for the rest of us. this game was a definite purchase then it got censored. sorry suda,blame the publisher. It's not just Japan, take Zack and Wiki for example. It's got rave reviews from almost all the media and yet it struggled in both Japan and the US.
Then we consider the European release. It was delayed from before xmas, and the reason given was to give it a better chance at retail and to advertise it more. Well here we are less than 2 days from the European release and i'm yet to see and advert anywhere.
Take a look at the nintendo site (www.nintendo.co.uk) and you'll see the smallest image peeking out from the games list, that's the advertising right there!
3rd parties won't spend the cash on advertising because it's a risk, just like new IPs are. So Nintendo need to step in and help them out, which is what it sounded like they'd done with Zack and Wiki. I was very wrong on that one! Hear hear. Uncensor the bloody thing, and then judge it's success by releasing it into a market that doesn't crave weird RPGs and even weirder collect furry animal sims, then we'll see how well it does.
I loved Killer 7, and was really looking forward to this, then the big fat censor stick reared its head AGAIN. Same old Nintendo eh? I thought they were getting better with their advertising (they couldn't have gotten worse), but aside from gaming mags reviewing it, I've seen next to nothing on Zak and Wiki... It just goes to show that the Japanese gaming tastes have changed and not for the better, but Third Party developers have to realise that one of the main reasons people buy Nintendo's consoles is because of the fantastic first party games that come out from Nintendo even the cash ins are quite good!
I disagree with Sudo 51's analysis that most people who buy Wii are casual gamers at least half of Wii's go to hardcore gamers, you just have to look at the sales of proper games to realise that!
Its a shame that No More Heroes has sold so poorly in Japan but I am sure European and American gamers will lap it up even casual gamers who bought the PS2 for Grand Theft Auto and gun games will go crazy for No More Heroes for the Wii, We all know that Japanese gamers like party games because their avarge week at work clocks up to 70 hours a week so its no wonder that games like Wii Fit and Mario Party DS are selling better than traditional games it is just the way it is over there but in the west people have more times on their hands and can play massive games like No More Heroes, Super Mario Galaxy and and Zelda, that is why they sell a lot better in the west. We are also gamers that expect more from games I would say that Japan is not the spiritual home of Videogames any longer and the sooner developers realise that the better.
It is a waste of time and money to realise proper games in Japan first now and although casual games are popular here and in America too (I have even picked up a few! :oops:) it is not fair to say that the only people who buy Wii are casual gamers as that is totally wrong and the lineup for 2008 proves that you can sell proper games for Wii and make a fair profit just make sure you put the effort in and advertise so that even casual gamers might be interested in traditional games and after all why should they buy traditional games as most of the ones they buy are crap film licensed games that they buy out of ignorance and then realise how crap they are so just stick to Nintendo's offerings, its about time the gaming industry realise that even casual gamers want to play proper games they just need to know which ones are any good!
I know a lot of casual gamers that have bought Wii and are lapping up games like Mario Galaxy and Resident Evil 4 just because I recommended the titles to them and they have said they would have never bought them otherwise just goes to show why there is a two tier gamers out there at the moment, new gamers don't know what they are doing or where to turn when picking out games and vetran and hardcore gamers snub them and take the piss out of them for there ill informed game choices which is no fault of there own.
So if any developers are reading this and know they have a great game on their hands then advertise and reep the rewards of a newly expanded gaming industry which we have to thank Nintendo for even though it was slightly ill concieved in terms implementing the idea but hey gaming is more accepted than ever now so be happy and enjoy 2008 Nintendo Microsoft and Sony have some real treats out this year so lets help them shout it from the rooftops!8) No More Heroes is really a game geared for western audiences tbh much like a number of Capcom games it will have better success outside of Japan on the other hand though the were only a few third party titles worth picking up over the last few months so I imagine it will pick up although even Mario was outsold by Wiifit and Dynasty Warriors over there. I ve saw ads for it. Mainly on the kiddy channels my nephew watch though, but there have been ads. That's what happens when the owner of the console brand is a strong game maker too. People associate Nintendo consoles with Nintendo games, as though all other games are not quite as good. I think it comes from the times when Nintendo provided themselves with larger capacity game cartridges, that third party publishers couldn't afford to use, making Nintendo games much bigger, with better graphics and sound. Read most of the reviews for non-nintendo games and you find a string of shovelware and generally poor quality games that could have used far more development time. People everywhere are sticking to Nintendo titles because those are the only ones that are reliably good. thats because 3rd party developers aren't creating anything unique and then you look at the nintendo games it was wii sports 1st then wii play and the most recent 1 is wii fit these are all great and they are all original ip its a real shame because you know suda and his team really worked hard on the title for the last 2 years. Maybe japan arent interested in the violence? the decline in sales has to simply be that people want multiple sequels and yearly updates of sports games. also if a game doesnt have any connection to rockstar or ea chances are nobody will buy it I question why he is coming out with this now. Perhaps trying to find a scapegot for his shareholders or something? Killer 7 didnt sell well either for instance so why the big deal now? Facts are that some great games just dont sell well. If NGamer is accurate, then the game's lack of success is indeed unfortunate, blood or no blood. However, this style of game isn't really suited to the east. The west will snap it up like a crocodile annoyed with its resident cleaning bird. (Or at least, the hardcore gamers will.)
As for the rest of the third-party line-up - well, I wonder why that is? Maybe it's because it's mostly god-awful. Just a thought. Just like the Okami guy was crying, so is Suda. OK, his game might be good but like people are saying, watch your market. Obviously they don't like this type of game. It could have maybe done better here too if they'd have kept the blood in but I reckon its sales my get hampered by that.
The fact that 3rd parties simply don't have the creativty to compete with Nintendo and a lot of them are just making pants games. Don't give your game PS2 graphics either. Make them look good. At least Capcom are tyring (and ain't crying about it either). These guys need to get a grip.
And his statement about Wii owners goes to show he doesn't have a clue about the market anyway I think he's right. The number of casual owners of Wii must dwarf the number of hardcore gamers and I suppose when he started development he didn't see that coming. I'll bet all the 3rd party games in the charts are rubbish Japanese equivelants to Deal or No Deal and the like. It's a console for people to play for half an hour before Coronation Street comes on.
Plus it's been well known for many years that Nintendo's games generally outsell 3rd party games on their systems. It's part of the reason they lost ground to Playstation. So in this respect it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise to this Suda 51 outfit. It is irrelevant on who makes the console, but simple economics says that if your products don't sell , you take them somewhere else.
With third party games not having great attach rates on certain consoles they will eventually wind down support on them and concentrate on where they can make the most money.
That's one of the reasons why I think the 360 is safe for a good while yet it has quite incredible attach rates for games with multi platform titles selling up to 7 times more than on other formats.
This is why Sony should be spending more time pushing the fact that the PS3 is not just an upgradeble blueray player but is also a damn powerful games machine ( which you wouldn't know with recent cvg news) The main reason 3rd party games are not selling is because 80% of them are crap. i have 6 non-nintendo games. and 2 of them are crap, 2 of them sold well (as far as i am aware) lego star wars, i am not sure of the sales, but it is amazing. and eledees, which is a niche market anyway.
Try thinking of good 3rd party games? its really difficult, zack and wiki won't sell well (unfortunately) because its unorthadox, and is again quite a niche market.
another big reason, as already said is advertising. 3rd parties dont advertise their games, and IF we are saying the wii is a casual gamer console, then people arn't going to take the time to look into reviews and stuff, they'll ust see adverts about games and base their purchasing decisions on that.
this isn't news really. its just someone new saying the same thing.
although saying that, most of the games coming out in the next few weeks that i want are 3rd party games. It can only be one massive stuff up by the market research team. To say the wii is for non-gamers/casual gamers just shows you their lack of understanding. Sure it is selling like hotcakes, but thats to a much wider demographic as just casual/non gamers.
From the variety of game genres out there, it makes sense that not everyone is going to buy every game. But the reason people are buying the wii is simply because of the unique controls, so if a 3rd party sports game developer ACTUALLY produced a decent sports game that used the controls properly, then based on the number of sales of the wii, they will sell the necessary stock to make a profit. The same goes for RPGS, Platformers etc.
I was really interested by the potential of sports games (boxing in particular), but now before even the release of Showtime Boxing, I have already read reviews that the game is pants and the controls worse than Wii sports.
Dear 3rd Party Developer,
Find your market, think about how the wii can improve the games you make, and utlise the controls to the fullest...If you make them the sales will come Yeah, I only play wii for half an hour before coronation street.
You idiot! It's Mappman, he has a real issue with the Wii.
Probably save him a lot of time if he just added a small statement to a signature saying as much, rather than post in every Wii thread, but whatever. Ah... "Whatever", the retort of the dim-witted. I was making a light-hearted analogy of a casual gamer who picks up games for a brief blast, not harcore gamers. Or do you play Wii Sports for 60 hours a week? No? Precisely. Read the whole damned comment instead of getting all tetchy like a little fanboy and you'll see that I make the same point many others do; that Nintendo generally out-sell 3rd parties and that Suda 51 should have done better market research based on Nintendo's current demographic.
But you're right, I do have a problem with the Wii, but then I have a problem with the 360; the fact that I have to be online to access the XBLA games I bought on my last 360 because, secondly, the 360 is an unreliable piece of crap. I have a problem with PS3 because it is a little more than a vehicle for Sony's Blu-Ray bid and has continually failed to live up to it's cheesy "this is living" hype campaign.
Just because I criticise things doesn't mean I'm wrong or haven't got the right to be sarcastic when I do it. Yeesh, calm down man. The 'whatever' was simply there to imply a 'it's up to him (i.e. you)' rather than any kind of dim-witted retort.
However, I've read quite a few of your posts over the last week or so, and the majority of which have been anti-Wii/Nintendo, or at least, negative towards them.
I have no problem with that, I was merely pointing out to the poster above that it's your way. No offence intended.
As for fanboy, that's a little unfair. Yeah, I like Nintendo, they make some quality games. I'm not *entirely* convinced with their decision to go in a different gaming direction right now, but the Wii is certainly enjoyable nevertheless. I like the 360 a lot too. It has some great games, and offers everything that the Wii doesn't (and vice versa). Sadly, the corporate monstrosity that is Microsoft is at it's helm, but whaddya do?
The only company that I have a real issue with is Sony. From their arrogance that we'd have to put in extra hours to afford a PS3, to their shoddy workmanship (I lost count how many PS2s my nephew had), and don't even get me started on SOE - single handedly destroying Star Wars Galaxies in one foul swoop. I could rah on for ages.
So, call me what you will, but my prefered sobriquet is Sony-hater rather than Ninty fanboy.
Peace out. Any manufacturer who proclaims 'This is living' - when all they sell is a box for people to play games in darkened rooms for hours on end....deserve to crash and burn!
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And im not saying there is anything wrong with playing games (as long as you also get your exercise) but saying that 'This is living' is an absolute joke Ninty made a very specific product with the Wii and were clear that it was offering a mixture of fun and exercise and a relief from the 'hard-core' gaming of shooters, racers and the like that games were associated with. Being cheap as well, it has sold loads and the people who buy it want more of the same and look to Nintendo for this.
To their credit, Nintendo has made some really great games in their own right for it, like Galaxies, but the image has stuck and effected people's expectations as well. Games are being thought of more as toys again- not totally, but more than before. Other makers will have to put some effort into showing how enjoyable their genres are, too and not rely on their technical power. This will be even harder on the Wii, as there isn't so much technical power to fall back on and the 'non-gamers' buying it go for the Nintendo name and style.
I'm sorry to say it, but they won't have much chance on the Wii unless they get really close to Nintendo the way, say, Rare did. Sorry about that. I was having a tough day at the office when I wrote that one! Calling you a fanboy was unfair. It's true I have been down on Nintendo recently, but it's mainly because every time they've announced something it seems to be to the detriment of the dedicated gamer.
I remember agreeing with Nintendo ages back about simplifying and putting the fun back into games. I remember musing over the huge potential the controller could bring.
But sadly they've just thrown the baby out with the bath water with decisions to shift most future IP innovation toward the casual market and also the constant delays their first party games suffer. I suppose they're doing very well out of it but I was really looking forward to gaming coming back to the gamers but it looks like I was wrong. :cry: Umm... What has the PS3 slogan got to do with this thread? | 
