Last month I told you about the best selling games for the first 11 months of 2009. NPD Group has wrapped up its data for the year and revealed the full Monty. Here are the best selling games of 2009:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
- Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
- Wii Fit (Wii)
- Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
- Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
- Wii Play (Wii)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PlayStation 3)
- Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360)
- Pokemon Platinum Version (Nintendo DS)
Kindly discuss (preferably inebriated)!
I don't own ANY of these.
agreed smartguy
agreed
wii fit outsells assassins creed 2 and dragon age
who the hell is buying this crap?? Its like michael bolton cds, i know there were millions sold, but ive never met anyone who owned one.
@Thunder: Sadly my mother bought a Wii for Wii fit (and Tiger Woods for my golf obsessed step father)…..and she also owns at least 2 Michael Bolton CD's. So go ahead, blame her for both.
Lies, nobody knows who buys Michael Bolton!!
The resentment towards Nintendo is amusing.
@Ray: I don't resent Nintendo for their success, I just don't find the appeal to 5 of the 7 Nintendo of the games on this list. It's just kinda like the really drunk girl at the party who's showing her tata's to everyone. Just cause it's accessible doesn't necessarily mean it looks like fun.
a sad year for the industry. very sad.
@Nightshade386 It sounds like you resent the company. I remember another thread where you mentioned not owning a DS or Wii. Why even bring that up?
I dont resent nintendo either, i wouldnt mind having a DS, its just that i hate seeing a console generation being dominated by a kid's toy. Those guys print money though, so, i give them respect. I just feel like nintendo has almost forgotten about core gamers this gen with the wii
@smartguy
im a big kurt warner fan, and id hate to see his career ended like that, but that was a convincing win.
that reggie bust guy sucks though
@Thundercracker
I can't find the Reggie haters anymore man. S.O.B. that guy is awesome. Wearing my jersey with extreme pride right now. Looking like a postseason MVP.
I'm also a big Kurt Warner fan, even when we were in the same division. I was glad to see him come back in the game. I really hope he is a first ballot guy. Truly a great American story.
@Nightshade
Everyone plays with the drunk girl's tatas at one point or another. :)
If Nintendo had "forgot" about the core gamers, they never would have put out games like their COD:MW, MadWorld, and others the like. I think what actually happened goes back to the beginning of the generation.
Towards the end of last generation (which Nintendo lost bare in mind), the surveys were done by all 3 as to what gamers want in the next generation. Nintendo was apparently the only ones who stepped back and said "Wait a minute, these numbers are only the people who already play games and only a small percentage of people as a whole". So the folks who wrote the book in the first place, re-wrote it, and took it to the bank.
I want to relate it the "Johnny Cash of consoles". Cash fell off and came back on the pop charts like 4 times in his life span. He's an early pioneer of rock 'n' roll as well. Elvis opened for him at first. He always had his niche market as well (the way Nintendo always had handhelds). When he went to Def American, the country folks said "Is he crazy! Rubin's the guy who produced Slayer, the Beastie Boys, and Danzig. What is Johnny thinking?" Sure enough, those 4 American records are amazing and brought his career full circle. He died with "Hurt" still on the pop charts.
I have a great respect for Nintendo. If a band said "Screw the numbers, I'm just gonna do what I want to do with my craft" I applaud them for it. I can't help but relate the sentiment to the console manufacturers.
Nintendo didn't put out Madworld.
I just can't play the games that require motion controls. Madworld is no exception.
@ Smartguy
I meant "release it for their console" not "publish".
@N8R
I knew what you meant. My banter didn't come through in text though haha.
@N8R. I agree, Nintendo wrote and then re-wrote the book within the industry, but I do also feel like they have abandoned the hardcore gamers slightly, but I cannot come down on them for knowing how to make a product that sells. I do love their niche market of handhelds, and always have.
That said, they re-wrote the book, yes; but that does not mean that they re-wrote the book with hardcore gamers in mind. I don't feel like they did do as much as they could have for hardcore gamers, but they also don't make the consumer buy so much wii fit or wii sports, etc. I would love to see Nintendo come out and say that they are going to make a new IP for the wii with hardcore gamers in mind. I can always hope at least…
@ bsukenyan
First off, I believe the core gamers abandoned them first (i.e. Gamecube). They were set to do something revolutionary as it was. After the Gamecube, they were gonna have a hard time bringing us back to them no matter what. It really isn't their fault that motion controls isn't for us. It peaked our curiosity at first, but then we wanted to go back to what we knew. Meanwhile, all the other consoles are following in their wake.
Secondly, they already had us. What they did was expand the market to more people than just us. Think of the long term effects it may have. More gamers for us to play with, and less wedgies for our grandkids.
Thirdly, a new Nintendo console right now would make no sense. They have Wii HD on the brain but when you think about it, they've proven with the handhelds that graphics are indeed not the core of the core gamers. It has been and always was gameplay. We got spoiled on the great graphics.
Fourthly, there was the Conduit. They tried, and we let them down. As for an IP with the core in mind… what about Zelda, dude? There is not a fiber in my being that can talk trash about Zelda. I still consider Ocarina to be one of the best games I've ever played with Twilight Princess on a close level.
It's a style. A new, radical style of gaming. People hated on Elvis, the Beatles, Motown, early metal, hip-hop, all of that. Especially the music aficionados of the times. To quote Bob Dylan, "The times they are a-changing" and we truly are the old breed. It's not like there's absolutely no market for us because of the big N.
All in all, it's not just us anymore. There are more people to think about besides ourselves. We might only be concerned about our own personal bubbles, but we surely can't expect the manufacturers to cater to only us. That's ridiculously selfish.
@Ray: You're making a pretty big leap assuming that I resent a company because I don't own any of their current systems. I don't like handhelds in general because I have trouble seeing the screen, so thus I wouldn't own a DS to begin with. I don't own a Wii because there's a real lack of games that appeal to me. My comment about not owning either of those on a previous thread was comment on the absurd number of people that do own them, and that I must be in the minority of people that don't own either. Not sure where you get "resentment" from all of that.
@Nightshade386 It's not that you don't own them, it's that you feel the need to mention it. I don't know why you keep bringing it up. Equating owning a Wii with owning a Michael Bolton CD? That's hardly complimentary.
It's almost like saying Nintendo is a no talent ass-clown.
Trivia:
Name the reference.
@N8R Fantastic comment! I
@N8R
I do think Nintendo has lost some of its talent. Right now they are definitely capitalizing on a nontraditional demographic, but as a whole…their titles have remained static for a decade. SSB for Wii was the same as the one for GameCube. While the gamecube version was a practically an upgraded (graphically) version of the N64 title. The same goes for MarioKart. It's the same game released no matter the system. 64, GC, DS, Wii.
I do applaud them on SMG. That was pretty fun. I found it frustrating to run a straight line while holding the nunchuk with the analog in my left hand. I seem so out of sync with a control scheme like that.
I wouldn't call them "no talent-ass clowns" but I do feel that they aren't trying very hard. My practical side is screaming that their business model right now as far as hardware is great, and their software lineup is genius since people will buy the same title over and over again without a significant dev cost.
@Ray: I didn't make the Michael Bolton reference, thundercracker did. Do I need to add a "j/k" or "lol" whenever I crak a joke in response to someone else's posts?
@ Smartguy
With all that said… what's the big deal about GOW 3? What about Halo 3 vs Halo 2?
Better graphics? Is that all it comes down too anymore for "the core"?
@ Smartguy
I should have been more descriptive… but I just woke up.
I argue that our beef is traditionalism. We've been in this game (pun completely intended) for quite some time. To us, motion controls are like driving a car that doesn't have foot pedals or worshiping a different deity of a different denomination. It's not what we know i.e. it's a foreign concept.
Kids however (the new breed), are a different animal. They are the future of gaming. I downloaded the demo of Hail To The Chimp on XBL simply because it was the worst rated demo on XBL. I found out quickly why it was the worst rated demo on XBL, BUT…. it remains on my HDD because my son loved it and I refuse to buy the actual game.
A relative example is that I have a brother who's 12 years older than me and has been an avid gamer as long as I have. He skipped out on the NES and SNES/GEN eras because he had issues with the d-pad. He was used to arcade analog sticks which Atari also implemented. When PS1 first dropped the dual shocks, he got back into gaming as a serious hobby. The point is… traditionalism. Our own fascist beliefs that everyone else should like what we like because we obviously have so much fun with it that others couldn't possibly have more fun than us doing it differently.
I'm gonna stop now before this becomes about gay marriage.
@N8R
I'm no fan of sequels, however the fundamental difference between your examples and Nintendo is that you included games that have running storylines.
@n8r
i generally dont make a point to sit and curse nintendo's success on a regular basis. They do what they do, they are where they should be, at the top. I really dont think any of us in here have anything against nintendo. The bottom line here is im not going to buy a wii, most of my friends wont…but thats fine. I dont consider the wii to be a fun gaming experience. This is just my opinion, and i am obviously in the minority…i dont care about being an iconoclast, or having unpopular opinions.
why dont you go by "mike" bolton?
and in the specific example of god of war…thats a game that doesnt treat me like a child. Thats a game not made for children, i especially appreciate unapologetically vulgar or violent games, movies, music…you cant find that on the wii
i know you do too
@ Smartguy
So does Zelda… and (sort of) Mario Bros. I hear what you're saying because I struggled and stretched to name those. They apparently just see the whole thing differently. They aren't as in to stories as they are gameplay. Hence games like Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and just about every other Nintendo IP with few notable exceptions… like Metroid.
@ Thundercracker
I'm with you. My Wii is my kids' console and will probably only get some serious time put in from me when the next Zelda drops.
"Why should I change, he's the one that sucks."
@ Thundercracker
Why would you think that the guy with a Sleazy P. avatar is into violent and vulgar media?
… oh.
I owned a Gamecube and still haven't bought a Wii. Loved my Gamecube and never once regretted my decision to get it over the PS2. Nintendo did shaft their core gamers in my opinion, but not with their first party support. It is their third party support that is ruining their console. They technically have great third party support, but most of it is not for core gamers.
@ Sandrock
I'll adhere to that.
@ everyone
I'm off to Chuck E Cheese for my nephew's birthday party (why they decided to have it during playoff games… I don't know, but it is what it is). So if I'm out of the loop today, you know why.
@Nightshade386 Nah, I wasn't criticizing you. It was just an observation. I'm generally amused by numerous attitudes towards Nintendo these days. Yours is particularly interesting because you also write about games.
My opinion about the Wii is pretty much that the games don't look appealing to me. I'm not gonna buy one just to throw it in a closet somewhere until the next Zelda game comes out.
Just because I don't own a Wii or find the games appealing, that doesn't mean I can't write an unbiased article about them.
@N8R
It was an Office Space reference
@N8R. I agree with Ray about your comment earlier, great comment. You are right, it is about the gameplay. And I can understand what you mean about the market expanding with the Wii, but I also want to keep in mind that if I'm not a little selfish about what I as a hardcore gamer want, than who else is going to speak for me?? Certainly not any other demographic who is more satisfied with the Wii (Nintendo in general) than I am. So you are close to right with the comment of being selfish, but I think we as hardcore gamers need to be a little selfish sometimes, but still keep in mind other demographics.
As far as IPs, I love Zelda. I remember playing the Legend of Zelda on my NES in high school for endless hours after school until I beat the game both times. I also have loved a lot of the sequels since, and I did love Twilight Princess for the Wii, but I still want to see mire games along that same line to come out on the Wii. That's where I think a new IP could cone in and use the motion controls to it's advantage (sort of like how the DSi game system flaw uses the camera in a unique way in the gameplay). Once a game like system flaw comes out, people will want some more games like that to play (I think). As they should, it looks like a cool game. Hardcore gamers can be, and where pleases with the Wii, like you said. But you also said that hardcore gamers then lost interest with the Wii, I think they lost interest because there was a lack of new innovative games, and that a new IP could fix. It could give more of the Wii's benefits a chance to shine within some cool gameplay.
Nintendo has done well for themselves, and I'm glad to see them do well, I would like them to focus on their hardcore audience a little more often though. Correct me if I am wrong, but outside of Mario, Zelda, and Metroid what are Nintendo's big first party long running IP's? I am probably mistaken, because that is my nature, but I feel like those are their constant games and their constant sellers, and while I love those games, I as a customer would like some butter pecan sometimes instead of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.
In regards to #25, I would like to say that gameplay is more important, but graphics are immediatly seen, making them persuasive. One who is testing a new game must see the graphics first before tge gameplay, which can cause some people to lose sight of sone important qualities in gaming.
Finally, I loved the Dylan quote.
@Nightshade386 Unbiased? Probably. But that wasn't what I was suggesting. As someone that writes about games, don't you think you should have first-hand experience of DS and Wii games so that you can give informed opinions on those platforms?
We have other people on staff to do those reviews.
@Nightshade386 I wasn't talking about reviews at all.
Well other than posting sales numbers or trailers, I don't really write about the Wii because I know it's not my area of expertise. I think that as someone who writes about video games on the side, I have other obligations before I go out and buy consoles I won't really play…..at least not enough to justify the necessary monetary investment. I believe my opinion would be different if I were profiting from my writing. Until then, I'm a consumer first and game writer second. That doesn't mean I can't write articles on subjects I'm more comfortable with.
I have no delusions of seeing myself as a journalist until we start making enough money to actually do the things that journalists do on a regular basis. But we try to be more professional than a lot of other "Enthusiast" sites out there. We're certainly not some thinly veiled fansite like PSXExtreme.com that does nothing but hate on one console while heaping praise on everything the other one does. (They get real defensive if you call them a fansite, FYI.) We try to be fair and unbiased in our articles.
Honestly, out of all the home consoles our Wii coverage is the weakest. But we have a couple of guys who do own them. The problem is getting people to spend their own money to do reviews on games they don't really want to play. That's why we're working towards getting review copies for more games, but it's a slow process. We're also still working on building our staff so that it's a little more rounded out.
@ Bsukenyan
I totally see where you are coming from. I just don't think they abandoned us as much as we abandoned them. The Gamecube was up to par, and we as a whole didn't support it. The Nintendo name was being dragged through the mud. To quote Dylan yet again "The pump don't work 'cause the vandals took the handles". Therefore I can see why at the beginning of this gen they stepped back and said "alright… what else can we do?'
Also, RE4… was absolutely best on the Wii. I got a few games on the Wii just because of certain aspects that the motion controls could do. Scarface was one for example. The swearing option worked via shaking the nunchuk and was VERY sensitive. Therefore, everytime I moved my left hand, it would spout out obscenities in the style of that cock-a-roach Tony Montana. I thought it was brilliant (couldn't play it around my kids, but still brilliant). I also got Ghostbusters on the Wii and that was awesome as well.
They are there, you just have to look. As for the IP's, my kid loves anything Mario. I don't blame them for pimpin' Mario out like a prison bitch because the kids keep demanding more. Which leads me to another Nintendo IP… Pokemon.
"It ain't no use to sit and wonder why babe, if you don't know by now."
@N8R The gamecube as a system was up to par, yes, they did lose me with that controller though. I love the N64 controller, I know some people who say it is a horrible controller and maybe one of the worst ever, but I think it is very comfortable to hold. I could never get used to the gamecube controller though, and believe me it was not because of lack of trying. It just didnt click. I loved the graphics and gameplay of the zelda games, and even something as basic as mariokart was mixed up a little bit on that system. But the controller is one of the very first things to judge a console on, I would imagine that is so just because it is the very first tangible item most people experience when they use a new system. Therefore, with a sub-par controller, a lot of people can be persuaded against a system that might be amazing in every other aspect.
Your point is well made though, hardcore gamers did abandon Nintendo in that generation, which does make perfect sense to me why they took a step back to reassess the situation.
As far as the IPs, yeah I understand exactly why they pimp out Metroid, Mario, and Zelda (which is actually mostly Link, they just use her name still)…and of course Pokemon (a favorite of mine, but it still can get old going through all of the generations that are available. I really only play the original and the newest versions for the DS). With your point that the IPs are out there, you just have to look for them, whenever I play my roommates Wii or my family's Wii, I will have to search out some of these games. Some of them sound interesting, they just aren't console sellers for me like a lot of the first person shooters are for my 360, or what I am used to on my PC. I read in GameInformer recently about how people complained about the lack of mature content on the Wii, and then came MadWorld, about as mature as the Wii gets, and it sold horribly. I think what some of the writers there are forgetting is that one game is not a console seller, so I am not surprised a mature game did not sell well on a console that is dominated by social gamers. I will say that it would be nice to see some of the better games for Wii marketed better than they are.
"There is nothing so stable as change."
@bsukenyan I was also a big fan of the N64 controller, particularly the Mad Catz model with the center stem that curved downwards. It made it feel a little like a gun. The feel totally worked for me.
@ bsukenyan
I still have my 64 up and running in the other room.
It just so happens that I was the Assistant Manager at a mom and pop game store at the time of that generation. Kind of a pre-Gamestop, Gamestop. We did alright too. Believe it or not, more people were in to PS1 games at that time as well. They said (get this) "It seems like Nintendo only makes games for kids." and we were even told to market it as "the family friendly console". Basically, Nintendo was in the same boat then too.
The one promising thing I recall about the Gamecube controller mainly refers to one game and a trick my oldest brother taught me. The game was Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. I don't know if you remember the game or not, but I'll assume you don't just to make sure the point gets across. You were Jango Fett and collecting bounties while on a linear mission. It was an awesome game. Your default weapon was your 2 laser pistols. These things fired as fast as you could tap the button with apparently non-existent recoil or reload.
Anyway, on the GC controllers the A button (that fired the pistols) was massive. I am a bass player and started with punk music and upgraded along the way. I could hold the controller in such a way that I could get both my index and middle fingers on this massive A button. I could shoot those pistols in 64th notes or faster. With those pistols, I could take out anything faster than I could with the strongest weapon in the game holding the controller normally or on the PS2. Jango was truly a badass on the GC.
Other than that… I see your point.
@rpad the feel was perfect on the N64 controller, I agree. Mine is still running, and actually tomorrow night is one of the nights my friends and I have our video game night with N64 games only allowed.
@N8R I never really thought of the N64 so much as the "family friendly" console. But it does seem to be what Nintendo is good at. I can remember stories from plenty of families who bought the NES and would sit around and take turns playing SMB, or one of my friends mom's who got addicted to Link to the Past that she was calling in to the Nintendo support line to get help in order to beat the game.
Maybe Nintendo has just always been this family friendly, but since so many people grew up with it and logged so many hours on it, they perceived it as a hardcore gaming system when really it was not. Maybe I am just putting way too much thought into that one, but it's an idea. That we have just been glorifying the past, and labeling an always family friendly company as marketing to hardcore gamers simply because Nintendo was one of the first big household names, and because of how it used to own roughly 70% of the market share.
Purely my conjecture though.
also, how long have you been playing bass for? I love listening to great bass players, and even tried learning a little bit, but found out that not only am I uncoordinated for sports (which is why I stuck to long distance running) but I was also uncoordinated for instruments.
@ bsukenyan
Well technically, I started when I was 7. But, really got in to it when I was 10 and have been playing professionally (for money) since I was 13. Today (now… the 20th) is my 31st birthday so technically I've been playing for 24 years, 21 really, and 19 professionally.
I completely see your point about big N always being family friendly. My mom was also addicted to both Zelda games. At one point, she even beat both Zelda quests in 1 life. That takes dedication. I think she gave up on the last castle in The Adventures of Link though. Eventually, she got in to Final Fantasy. Now, she plays Guitar Hero and other RPG's. She'll be 63 this year (don't tell her I told you).
My dad was the musician. My whole life, that was the only job he had. He was an amazing finger picking guitarist and I'm not just saying that because he was my dad. The dude held workshops, played all over the world, and even played for the Pope at one point. I don't know if you've ever heard of what it's like to get an audience with the Pope, but let's just say you have to be on a different level of awesome. He passed in 2006.
I've thrown Victor Wooten videos out here before, because in my opinion, he's the best ever:
That's him sitting in with Dave Matthews.
I still have my 64 hooked up to a spare TV. At least a few times per week I play The New Tetris on it. I love that game. Sometimes when a bunch of folks start drinking…we have to settle our differences in Revenge.
@N8R. Yeah Vic wooten is an amazing bassist. I used to have some of the flecktones albums until my laptop lost a lot of music. Sorry to hear about your dad passing, but those are some cool accomplishments. That's a long time to be playing, but that is very cool. My little brother is about 13 now and he is more of a drummer, he is just a natural though. He had lessons for a year and then his teacher said he had nothing left to teach him. Then about a month ago he just bought an amp and electric guitar and just started playing. No formal lessons or anything.
There is this small chain of good game stores around my area, and one of the workers i used to always talk to, his mom used to beat the legend of Zelda in just under 2 hours. But I think beating the game with one life is very impressive!! My mom struggles with N64 games, lol. And the more I thought about parents who used their kids consoles and got addicted to games, it just made sense to venture a guess about Nintendo being family friendly.
@smartguy. Alcohol always makes the N64 interesting.
@ 64 games
My son stays trying to get me to play No Mercy with him. I'm usually down too. Him and his friends play Pod Racer alot as well.
@ bsukenyan
I had a friend in high school who turned me on to the Flecktones. I owe him alot for that.
I'm sure your roommates and alot of your friends will tell you the same thing I would tell you for why you lost all that music on your laptop… here's a hint: it's like comparing ________ and oranges.
I love to hear about the next generation of musicians up and coming. I live in CA where they took all arts programs out of public schools. Plainly stated, the state that brought us Hollywood has no plays in public schools. It's gross if you ask me.
@N8R. Yeah my friends definitely would tell me that, but I think (if I recall properly) it was a problem with iTunes that made me lose some music. I also didn't have any spare room on my hard drive to store music. At one time before I got an external hdd I had to get rid of about 3000 songs so I would have room to defrag my hdd.
Nonetheless, the flecktones and Vic wooten are amazing though and I'm glad I've heard them.