Media Create Sales for 06/25 to 07/05 - Handhelds On Top

[Chris_D]

Here are the software and hardware numbers from Japan, straight from Media Create (http://www.m-create.com/ranking/), for the week 06/29 to 07/05.

Last week saw a decent boost in handheld sales prior to the release of Dragon Quest IX. Home console sales continued to fare poorly, although the Wii saw a small boost.

Wii Sports Resort continued to dominate, already passing a half million in sales. The PSP showed again that it can move software in Japan with 4 games in the top 10. Unfortunately, Japan is the only region where the PSP has experienced this kind of success.

In a market where even the Wii has a tough time selling big numbers, it was no surprise to read this article from Edge Online:

Japanese Game Market Slumps 25 Per Cent (http://www.edge-online.com/news/japanese-game-market-slumps-25-per-cent)

Where the same period last year saw four million-selling games, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, this year has seen none. The latter game remains the country’s second-biggest seller in 2009, the biggest being Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! for DS. In descending order, the runners-up were Yakuza 3, Resident Evil 5, and Wii Fit.
...
It is hoped and widely assumed that the second half of 2009 will see a turnaround, at least for software sales. Dragon Quest IX, for which reservations were being taken last month, is expected to sell in the region of five million copies. Other major upcoming releases include Monster Hunter 3 and Final Fantasy XIII.


Also, Capcom was quick to trumpet the success of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (Monster Hunter Portable 2G):

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite Breaks PSP Record (http://www.edge-online.com/news/monster-hunter-freedom-unite-breaks-psp-record)
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite has become the first PSP game to ship over 3.5 million copies, according to publisher Capcom.

First released in Japan in March 2008, the local-multiplayer action RPG was the country’s bestselling PSP game last year.

This week we have Grand Slam Tennis (http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-10l-49-en-70-3ff3.html), EA's Wii tennis game with MotionPlus support. On the PSP is Sekai wa Atashi de Mawatteru: Hikari to Yami no Princess (http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ch-49-en-70-3cg9.html), a cutesy JRPG. For the DS you can get Hayarigami 2 DS: Toshidensetsu Kaii Jiken (http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-cl-49-en-70-3d2b.html) from Nippon Ichi, a horror adventure game, or learn to draw with Minna no Oekaki Yasan (http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-cl-49-en-70-3dqm.html).

Saving the biggest till last, Dragon Quest IX: Hoshizora no Mamoribito (http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-cl-49-en-70-376c.html) (Protectors of the Starry Sky) comes out today, July 11th. Based on previous Dragon Quests, this one is likely to be huge, potentially selling millions in the first week. There shouldn't be any problem getting a copy as many convenience stores are stocking the game, even at a slight discount. Look forward to the sales numbers next week!

Hardware
DSi - 46,855 39,885 (+17%)
PSP - 32,849 26,789 (+23%)
Wii - 24,971 21,790 (+15%)
PS3 - 11,196 11,310 (-1%)
DS Lite - 7,507 5,595 (+34%)
Xbox 360 - 5,876 5,766 (+2%)
PS2 - 3,734 3,578 (+4%)

Software
01. [Wii] Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) 154,617 / ~514k
02. [PSP] Hatsune Miku: Project Diva (Sega) 101,414 / NEW
03. [NDS] Tomodachi Collection (Nintendo) 63,111 / ~237k
04. [PSP] Boku no Natsuyasumi 4: Seitouchi Shounen Tanteidan, Boku to Himitsu no Chizu (Sony) 49,680 / NEW
05. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 14,223 / ~786k
06. [NDS] Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Square Enix) 13,392 / ~491k
07. [NDS] Sloan to Michael: Nazo no Monogatari (Level 5) 11,941 / ~168k
08. [PSP] Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono 2 (Acquire) 11,782 / ?? (Data unavailable)
09. [PS3] Rorona no Atelier: Arland no Renkinjutsushi (Gust) 10,849 / ~54k
10. [DS] Infinite Space (Sega) 9,654 / ~67k

Source - Media Create (http://www.m-create.com/ranking/), Play-Asia (http://www.play-asia.com/), Edge-Online (http://www.edge-online.com/news/japanese-game-market-slumps-25-per-cent).

See the previous week's sales (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=10060).

Note: Software cumulative sales estimates are provided by Media Create via Chart Get (http://chartget.com/2009/06/01.html) and VGChartz (http://www.vgchartz.com/).

[J Arcane]

Nice to see Infinite Space pick up more sales.

Assuming it's any good anyway.

[RandoM51]

Fingers crossed for DQIX.

[Chris_D]

1UP's coverage of the DQIX launch is out:
Dragon Quest IX Japanese Lauch Pictures and Videos (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175138) (spelling error 1UP's, not mine :p)
Dragon Quest IX Impressions and Videos (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175125)

Some things I picked up on:

We managed to snag a copy of the highly anticipated DS RPG a day before its official release in Japan (on a Saturday, of course, so no kids skip school to buy it)

Actually, pretty much all private schools have classes on Saturdays (parents complain otherwise). So at the school I worked at today about half my class was missing. I was told that they had some kind of sports activities but who knows what to believe!


In the 23-year history of the Dragon Quest series, one thing has gone unchanged, and that is that battles have always been random. In DQ9, Square Enix has finally strayed from the formula and completely done away with random battles, making all enemies visible on the field.

For me that's a nice feature.


Fans in Japan are already complaining that there's only one save slot on the card (which might explain why series creator Yuji Horii recently said he expects families in Japan to buy multiple copies of the game)

WTH!! Kind of shocked.. They might fix that for the English release.


My morning began at 5:10 a.m. When I got to Shibuya, one of the largest shopping and business districts in the Tokyo area, only 52 people were in line. I joined the crowd already lined up along a tall staircase.


Yeah, there was no reason to queue up for this one unless you wanted to participate in a special promotion that a store might have been running. Copies of the game are everywhere and my local convenience store still had a bunch, shrink wrapped, on the counter, ~¥5300, when I was there earlier.

[J Arcane]

WTH!! Kind of shocked.. They might fix that for the English release.

Horii's comment makes some sense if you consider the multiplayer angle than DQ9 brings to the party.

[Chris_D]

For Infinite Space I found some pretty detailed impressions in this Neogaf thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=362602

Okay, I'm in Chapter 3 now after putting in about 5 hours into the game. I understand the game a lot more now so I can give proper impressions. Not sure if anyone really cares judging from the responses (or lack thereof) in the thread so far but I'll give it a shot anyway.

I can say for sure that anyone expecting a "RPG" from this game will be disappointed and I honestly hope Sega will promote it as something else when it is released in the US. Adventure or Simulation would definitely be more fitting. That said, it's a really good game!

It's best to think of the game as a visual novel adventure for all the story sequences (which means sometimes there is an event still, and most of the time you're looking at the portrait of a character talking with a background still in the background, and sometimes you'll get to pick decisions) while the rest of the game is a space simulation.

You need design plans before you can build a ship or install a module, and you find these plans either through the story, a sidequest, or buying them from planets which have industrial offices that sell plans. You can only build/customize your ships on planets which have a orbital factories, so you can't do it on every planet.

You recruit crew members through the storyline as well as through sidequests and optional events. They are all named characters and have their own personalities and substories. Think of it as Suikoden, but in space. Characters have stats and stuff which will help you determine where to best place them on your fleet. There's a huge amount of roles you can assign characters to in the game, but it's not really overly complicated - but rather something that gives you the feel that everyone can have a responsibility on the crew. As long as a character is equipped as a crew member, they will gain exp in battles and level up. I like to think of the ships as the characters (in a normal RPG), and the crew members and modules as accessories/equipment you equip.

Battles are rather simple but effective, and simple doesn't mean they're easy either, just that you don't have a gazillion options to play around with and tactics can be obvious but timing is still important. You have an ATB bar that builds up and it has 3 levels: Green, Yellow, Red. There is also a side-view panel showing the distance between your fleet and the enemy fleet, as well as your attacking range. You can set your fleet to either be moving forward, backward or standing still at any time during the battle it doesn't cost anything.

When the ATB's green bar fills up, you can empty it to put your fleet on evasive mode, this will last until you make your next command. When in evasive mode, if the enemy uses "Fire all cannons" on any of your ships, you'll evade it, but it doesn't do jack shit for regular attacks. When your bar turns yellow, you'll be able to do a regular attack which fires a single volley of all weapons. If you let your bar turn red, you can drain it all for a "Fire all cannons" attack which fires 3 volleys of all your weapons. But remember, while this is effective, it can also be evaded by the enemy if they are able to.

There are other options which open up in battle later on in terms of special commands characters can make (think Valkyria's Orders) or you can even do boarding attacks which are rock-paper-scissors-ish. Mostly the battles create a very good feel of simulating space battles, without making them too complicated. It could be more complex and more strategic, but I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with how they are in the game. Especially since there are random encounters when you travel between worlds, making it simple might actually be better in the long run.

Outside of customization and battles, the gameplay also revolves around the star map. The star maps are basically like a menu driven World Map system, except while travelling between planets you can get into random encounters. The game has no "dungeons" or anything to speak of, instead each chapter in the game involves your fleet getting involved in some incident in the star system you're in, and you travel from world to world talking to people and you'll get missions to travel to different places to get information and/or find something/someone. Aside from random battles there are also story battles, etc.

As the story grows, you begin to encounter more people and learn more and more about the large and detailed worldview crafted for the game. It's a lot like Mass Effect in that sense, where it's an epic space opera adventure, and you get more and more involved and the history and scope of the universe grows larger. The difference here is, since you're the captain of a spaceship, as your crew grows larger and your fleet of ships grow in both size of fleet and size of the actual ships, you definitely get a good sense of being more involved in the events of the universe and growing in both fame and responsiblity.

Basically, everyone who loves space stuff should DEFINITELY check out this game when it's out in English.


BTW, it's the biggest week of sales for Infinite Space since the opening week (it sold about 4000 the last 2 weeks). Hope it continues.

[Chris_D]

Horii's comment makes some sense if you consider the multiplayer angle than DQ9 brings to the party.

Still, I'm used to running with at least 2-3 saves for my RPGs, even on cartridge games where the media should be very reliable (usually 10-20 saves on memory cards, more on hard drives). Also, for hardcore players who play through the game over and over again, I wonder how they'll go with saving for their second play-through? I mean, I guess they would have to delete the save from the previous play-through although that might be less of a problem if there's a New Game+ mode that runs on from your previous game.

[Xerxes]

So IX is coming out before the remake VI: Realms of Reverie?