Category: Console Wars

NPD Console Sales Figures Top 10 Games of April 2010

Here are NPD Group’s console software sales figures for April 2010. It was a slow month for the business and the list is full of old releases. Check ’em out!

  1. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction (Xbox 360): 486,100
  2. Pokemon SoulSilver Version (Nintendo DS): 242,900
  3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii): 200,300
  4. Pokemon HeartGold Version (Nintendo DS): 192,600
  5. God of War III (PlayStation 3): 180,300
  6. Wii Sports Resort (Wii): 179,000
  7. Battlefield Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360): 166,000
  8. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Wii):
  9. Just Dance (Wii): 144,000
  10. Super Street Fighter IV (PlayStation 3): 143,000

Unless my eyes are broken — which is entirely possible after way too much Scrabble — Splinter Cell: Conviction and Super Street Fighter IV are the only new games on the list. Again, there weren’t that many big releases in April so  seeing the usual suspects makes total sense. It also makes this month’s list kind of boring. The one thing that makes me happy is seeing Pokemon trounce the world. Tell me again that Pokemon is dead. Tell me!!!

Coffee Talk #141: Who is Nintendo’s Rival?

Batman vs. The Joker, Goku vs. Vegeta, Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates, Ash Ketchum vs. Gary Oak — these are all examples of classic rivalries that will be waged until the end of time. Should Apple vs. Nintendo be added to that list? According to The Times Nintendo no longer views Microsoft and Sony as its primary competition. Instead, it sees Apple as the biggest threat:

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Paul Daley’s awesome sucker punch at UFC 113, Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron reenacting the WWE Royal Rumble, or the brilliance of Intelligentsia’s Los Inmortales El Salvador Finca Matalapa Guayabo, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Batman vs. The Joker, Goku vs. Vegeta, Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates, Ash Ketchum vs. Gary Oak — these are all examples of classic rivalries that will be waged until the end of time. Should Apple vs. Nintendo be added to that list? According to The Times Nintendo no longer views Microsoft and Sony as its primary competition. Instead, it sees Apple as the biggest threat:

Satoru Iwata, the Nintendo president, is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the “enemy of the future”.

Those comments are a stark contrast from Iwata’s previous statements. In the past he dismissed Apple as competition and brushed off the iPad as just a big iPod. (I wonder why nobody asked, “Then what the hell is the DSi XL?”)

While I think Apple and Nintendo do compete, the overlap isn’t 100 percent. Obviously the Nintendo DS reaches a younger audience than the iPhone, while Apple’s products reach an older audience. (If you’re a parent that has armed your child with a 32GB iPhone then kindly smash your head on a brick wall seven times.) Still, I can’t see Nintendo dismissing Sony like that. Sony has ruled the console world before and all it takes is one great product backed by great marketing to take it back.

What do you think of these provocative comments? Has Nintendo passed Microsoft and Sony by? If so, is Apple really its primary rival? If not, is it foolish to dismiss competitors that could swiftly strike back? I miss having a rival! I’m going to go find bleahy and hit him.

Coffee Talk #128: Predicting the Rest of This Gen’s Console Wars

In preparation for my interview with EEDAR Jesse Divnich, I wanted you ladies and gents to play analyst for a second. This console generation is roughly halfway over, depending on how long you believe this gen will last. The Nintendo Wii has slaughtered the competition. The Xbox 360 has done very well. The PlayStation 3 had been picking up steam since August 2009. How do you think the rest of this generation will play out?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Big Ben’s suspension, Crystal Bowersox almost quitting American Idol, or RIM being stuck in 2002, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Reminder: please submit your questions for EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich here. He’s cool, smart, and awesome. You should ask him some questions.

In preparation for my interview with EEDAR Jesse Divnich, I wanted you ladies and gents to play analyst for a second. This console generation is roughly halfway over, depending on how long you believe this gen will last. The Nintendo Wii has slaughtered the competition. The Xbox 360 has done very well. The PlayStation 3 had been picking up steam since August 2009. How do you think the rest of this generation will play out?

Will Nintendo be able to sustain its ridiculous momentum? If not, will it still be able to edge out the others? Will Natal give Xbox 360 a boost in the casual market? Will the PlayStation 3 be able to do the same with PS Move? Do you think Sony can catch Microsoft?

Let your opinions fly (please) and predict the rest of this generation’s console wars!

NPD Console Sales Figures Top 10 Games of February 2010

Here are NPD Group’s console software sales figures for February 2010 (sorry for the lateness!). Along with the usual Nintendo sales, there were some pleasant surprises that should make every hardcore gamer happy.

  1. BioShock 2 (Xbox 360: 562,900
  2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii): 555,600
  3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360): 314,300
  4. Just Dance (Wii): 275,400
  5. Wii Sports Resort (Wii): 272,500
  6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfware 2 (PlayStation 3): 252,800
  7. Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360) 246,500
  8. Dante’s Inferno (PlayStation 3): 242,500
  9. Dante’s Inferno (Xbox 360): 224,700
  10. Heavy Rain (PlayStation 3): 219,300

I’m thrilled that BioShock 2 snagged the top spot in February. I’m even more thrilled that Heavy Rain managed to crack the top 10, despite being released at the end of the month. As you can imagine, seeing a BioWare game on the list makes me happy (duh). It’s also cool to see a new IP like Dante’s Inferno make the cut. Last month I was surprised that Just Dance made the list, but a lot of people in the business play it (to my astonishment). One game designer I know shocked me at GDC when he said that he plays it for at least an hour a day.

Now’s the important part — let me know what you think of NPD Group’s top 10 games of February 2010. Anything surprise you?

NPD Hardware Sales Figures for February 2010

NPD Group released its console sales data for February 2010 while I was at GDC. The numbers are pretty interesting. Check ’em out!

  • Nintendo DS: 613,200
  • Xbox 360: 422,000
  • Wii: 397,900
  • PlayStation 3: 360,100
  • PlayStation Portable: 133,400
  • PlayStation 2: 101,900

The continued onslaught of the Nintendo DS shouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s a great portable console with tons of games and a huge March release (Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver). I was a little surprised to see that the Xbox 360 beat out the Wii; logically there are more interesting games for the 360 in Q1 and the Wii has to slow down some time (right?), but Nintendo’s systems have been defying logic for quite some time. Sony continues to lag behind Microsoft in 2010, which is bad news if the company hopes to close the gap this year. That said, March should be more interesting for the PS3, with a number of excellent first-party games and the real version of Final Fantasy XIII.

Now unleash your Pach Attack and go after the numbers as if you were a very tall gaming analyst. I can’t wait to hear your analysis of NPD Group’s sales figures!

Today’s Poll: Which Version of Final Fantasy XIII?!?

With the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Final Fantasy XIII getting a nice technical comparison from Digital Foundry, I thought it would be a good time to ask you which version of the game you’re getting. As for me, of course I’m getting it on the PS3! Reona Rewis 4 life!!!

[poll id=”30″]

Final Fantasy XIII Graphics Comparison: PlayStation 3 vs. Xbox 360

The fine people at Digital Foundry have posted a technical comparison of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Final Fantasy XIII. As expected, the PlayStation 3 version is superior. Here’s DF’s conclusion:

“Adequate but a touch disappointing” best sums up the Xbox 360 version. Fine edges lose precision, and while the effect is mitigated thanks to the MSAA along with the multitude of post processing effects the engine has at its disposal, the fact is that the lack of resolution can make the 360 build look sub-par. The clean CG look of the PS3 game in motion is unduly compromised, and while it’s still a handsome enough title on Xbox 360, it lacks the pristine presentation of its sibling.

If you’re interested in high-level graphics talk, the article is definitely worth checking out. The read reminded me of my PC Magazine Labs days when we’d scream at each other about competing graphics card technologies. Ha!

Hmmmm, I think I’ll start a poll while I’m at it.

Source

Coffee Talk #96: Can Nintendo Be Stopped?!?

“Can Nintendo be stopped?” That’s the question a lot of game writers have been asking for the last few years. With the ridiculous success of the Nintendo DS and Wii, it seems like a good question. I, however, think it’s a stupid question considering what a lot of these people have been writing about Nintendo for the last 15 years. The story goes a little something like this:

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your closing thoughts on the Vancouver Winter Olympics, why there isn’t a PSN error 867-5309, or the hotness of Mika Brzezinski, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

“Can Nintendo be stopped?” That’s the question a lot of game writers have been asking for the last few years. With the ridiculous success of the Nintendo DS and Wii, it seems like a good question. I, however, think it’s a stupid question considering what a lot of these people have been writing about Nintendo for the last 15 years. The story goes a little something like this:

  • Nintendo 64: Can Nintendo be restarted?
  • GameCube: Really, can Nintendo be restarted?
  • DS/Wii starting hot: Can Nintendo keep it up?
  • DS/Wii continuing to be hot: Can Nintendo be stopped?
  • DS/Wii in 2010: Will Nintendo remember the people that got them here?

While Nintendo did well with the N64 and GameCube (despite what some people think, the company was highly profitable and cash-rich back then), it was clear to the entire world that it needed to do something different in order to overtake Microsoft and Sony. It did and now the company gets heat from the Nintendo “faithful”. A lot of N64 and GameCube owners were rooting for Nintendo to reclaim the throne, but I guess that was a conditional wish. Funny how it goes….

Anyway, the answer to the question, “Can Nintendo be stopped?” is obviously, “Hell to the no!” — at least for this console generation. As for the next generation…well, the market is constantly changing and there are way too many things that can happen between now and then.

The better question, in my mind anyway, is this: “Will Microsoft and Sony be able to reach as broad an audience as the Wii with their next-gen consoles?” What do you think?

PadCast: EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich Talks About the Console Wars in 2010 and How to Become a Gaming Analyst

Catching up with EEDAR director of analyst services Jesse Divnich was completely cool. Naturally, I asked him about how the console wars will shake out in 2010, as well as Project Natal vs. PlayStation Arc/Gem and traditional handheld gaming vs. iPhone/iPod/iPad.

Things got really fun when I asked Divnich about his background and how he became a gaming analyst. It’s a tale of a “hick from French-Canada” moving to America by himself, living in a trailer park, studying hard, and working his ass off to become one of the top analysts in the business. Divnich also revealed why he’s better than his competitors and spoke about his relationship with Michael Pachter. (If I had it my way it would be The Divnich Debrief vs. Pach Attack.)

Oh yeah, you’ll also learn why Canadians would make the best terrorists. How can you pass that up?!?

NPD Hardware Sales Figures for January 2010

The first NPD hardware numbers of the new year and new decade are out! Let’s take a look at the console hardware sales figures for January 2010:

  • Wii: 465,800
  • Nintendo DS: 422,200
  • Xbox 360: 332,800
  • PlayStation 3: 276,900
  • PlayStation Portable: 100,100
  • PlayStation 2: 41,600

Naturally, sales had to be down from December and the ultra-busy holiday period. The Wii and DS continued to lead the business, while the Xbox 360 beat out the PlayStation 3. It will be interesting to see if the PS3 picks up in February and March. There are a few PS3 exclusives that will surely sell well, what will they move hardware?

Now channel your inner Jesse Divnich and analyze the numbers yourselves!