This week comments on the crapshow that is going on with most of the third party publishers. That, and some updates to games that people really care about.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
The Xbox 360 saw a huge jump last week with Tales of Vesperia from Namco Bandai, but has dropped back down to normal sales (about none). Some are saying it’s mainly because of a short supply as the 360 sold out in Japan as a result of Tales of Vesperia.
In other news, the PlayStation 3 still isn’t selling very well, a bit more than the PlayStation 2 but nothing like the PSP. The DS holds the record yet again, no surprise there, but we always though the 360 was losing to the Wii and PS3. Although the Wii isn’t doing bad it’s not at the same crazy sales pace it is here in the United States.
The drop in sales for the 360 was fast, hopefully it was indeed due to out-of-stock issues, else that drop was faster than the drops we’ve seen here for GTA IV or MGS4!
(Thanks, Kotaku)
The crew bemoans the decline of handheld gaming as it gets dominated by mobile platforms like Apple iOS, while they rejoice at Justice League being available on Netflix Streaming. There’s no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, but there is some Reader Feedback.
This week’s news items include:
Gamers can read Jordan’s “Death of Handheld Gaming” article here.
PlayStation 2 fans may recall a little title called Okami, it’s an action adventure game developed by Clover Studios and published by Capcom. The original Okami title received fairly high reviews by many popular game sites, although there were a few flaws, the receiption seemed well received.
Clover Studios was closed after the release and all the intellectual properties went back to Capcom, the company that funded the studio, leaving Capcom responsible for future sequels.
Christian “Sven” Svensson said “I think we need a lot more people buying the current version before we seriously consider a sequel”. A harsh statement on the game’s combined sales figures, perhaps, but also probably an accurate one. (Kotaku)
This is the sound of a developer not so happy with prior performance and finding it too risky to try for a second title. Although many sequels outshine their parents there is some truth to the fact that slow selling parents will create slow selling sequels, there is something to be said about learning form past experiences.
The game had good reviews, isn’t it worth trying to make a second game based on that? Maybe people just aren’t jazzed about Japaense folklore, myths and legends as the basis for a game.
