Wii breaks records in PAL territories
American developers tend to focus on American gamers. Japanese developers are more split, but many still focus primarily on local customers. Do Australian and European developers give a shit about gamers in their own countries or do they instead focus on North America because that’s where the cash money is?
The answer to this question may have a large impact on this generation of consoles. If the PAL developers focus mostly on Americans, these record breaking sales are good news for Nintendo. If, though, these territories developers do care about the local gamer, this means that the Wii should be getting a good number of Australian and British developed games. This could be bad news for Sony and Microsoft.
Nintendo: Did we say one million Wiis? Doesn’t sound like something we’d say
Nintendo announced in a press release that they’d make over a million Wiis available in North America before the year is over. Then they retracted it. Smooth. They also told players to calm down after Wii remote strap breakage got a lot of press. Now they offer free strap replacements. I’ve got to hand it to them, they are very subtle about how they put their foot in their mouth.
People without basic ability to reason allowed to post on blogs
So this report says that Blue Dragon completely crushed Twilight Princess in Japan. Zelda was outsold by a huge margin but Zelda also 1) Came out the week before Blue Dragon and 2) Is sold out almost every where.
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This dragon may be cute, but he is also a convicted felon. |
So what’s Evil Avatar’s deal with running this story and not mentioning these facts? Blogging isn’t always glorious and doesn’t pay very well so I really don’t mind if someone posts something that isn’t completely thought out. But here is some advice from a tiny site to a bigger one — When your readers point things out to you, please add the facts to the story. A mostly inarticulate poster did point out the spin of this post and the guy who wrote the story responded with, “Wait, are you just anti-everything-Microsoft-related, or is there something else bothering you? If this was a story about Resistance or Genji topping Zelda, you would likely be all over it like flies on shite.”
More Final Fantasy Tactics coming
A remake port thing of FFT will be coming to the PSP. Just another reason to say, “It’s pretty sad that the most compelling reason to buy a PSP is a port of a PS1 game I already own.” Still, depending on how well the additions work, I am still very interested. Squenix has also announced something called FFT A2, which seems likely to be Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2. They haven’t announced the system it’s coming to, but it’s unlikely it will be a GBA game. Which is odd and negates the purpose of calling it FFT Advance.
Sony says the Wii is a novelty
Sony is not concerned with simply beating Nintendo, they want to ruin its name. Sony reps have mocked the Wii and the DS on a handful of occasions, saying the DS is a gimmick, the Wii is a toy and now the Wii is also a novelty.
First I want to address the perception that Nintendo makes toys. Yes, they do. Grown men who have a hard time accepting that playing video games consists of playing and not working or having sex need to work on their self esteem or have penis enlargements. There is absolutely nothing wrong with playing nor toys.
Anyway, it’s apparent that the Wii will sell at least a couple million systems. That seems like a lot for a novelty. Although those grocery stores must sell a billion boxes of novelty ice cream treats every year. Sony’s strategy is not to say simply, “We will have better games.” They mock their opponents and attempt to negatively brand Nintendo. This seems like a sign that Sony understands they have real competition in the console market and have been defeated in the handheld market by a gimmick. Every time a Sony rep says something like, “They don’t show up on our radar because we make electronics and they make toys,” you know that on the inside, he is a scared little child.
Nintendo study says old people want technology gifts
Also, Pfizer study shows people being treated for depression wish they could get erections.
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Your guess of what the blue rectangle means is as good as mine. |
Two sites that track consoles sold by randomly guessing compete for your love
Both sites have secret methods for tabulating how many systems each manufacturer has sold. They have different numbers, so clearly at least one of them is wrong. Since they probably just scavenge press releases and then add or subtract a few thousand here and there, my guess is they are both pretty wrong.
Which site is better at making numbers up? VG Charts has a nice breakdown according to region, but also has pop up ads and in between page ads. Next Gen Wars has more precise numbers but doesn’t show any game sales and has a god awful forum. I guess I’ll check on VG Charts periodically and not NGW since the country info is pretty useful. Also, it says more Wiis have been sold so it must be right.
Check out Mii shirt
I’ve always thought it to be kind of lame how often big blogs post about PSX hats and NES mint tins, but I have finally found something even a cold blooded cynic could adore. A British company will charge you the exorbitant price of 35 bucks to print your Mii on a shirt. Show people what you look like, not just with your head, but with a cartoon rendering of your head on your chest.
When companies banter back and forth about how bad their opponents wares are, it’s basically their job. I actually don’t think they are scared, they just need to do that for the whole PR scene. You can’t say, "Yeah, they are actually outselling us. Maybe we fucked up on this one…" They’re going to convey the fact that nothing matters to them, that they are still bigger and badder than everyone else. They’re playing a game no one gives a shit about. I fucking hate when they say shit like that. You’ve done nothing for me. They look like pussies when they say shit like that. No one has the balls to say I fucked up anymore or someone else his is having well-deserved success like Nintendo. That’s probably the best sign of integrity for a company, just like how Microsoft said they’d like a Wii60 holiday. That was the only time I’ve ever seen that, but I’m pretty sure it will be the only time. At least Reggie didn’t sugar-coat his response.
Microsoft is either very civil with Nintendo, or just as harsh, and this seems to be chronicled over the entire xbox project. A lot of it has depended on who is said it and when, though overall I think Microsoft has realized that while they believe they have the best product, it is very much possible for them to cooexist with Nintendo. Sony just doesn’t seem to like anyone. I know they have always had something of a cockiness to them, but when you blunder as badly as they have, you look even worse saying such silly things. By the way, where’s the uber critical interviews with Nintendo and Sony reps from 1up like the one they did with Peter Moore?