Wow. I heard that MS gets spanked in Japan, but holy crap. Even the PS2 is outselling it by over ten thousand units.

Japanese just don't know what they're missing, that's for sure.

I spy the Lite... But where be the Phat? Tragic to hear the fall of the GC, but its games shall live on in many of those 75,000 Wii I am sure.

Good god! And going by what's happened with the DS, those wii figures probably wont be dropping off any time soon. Very hard to see how sony can get back ontop of the japanese market this gen at all.

Personally, I think we're heading for a strange situation where, in two years or so, the Wii dominates Japan, ps3 edges ahead in Europe, but th 360 holds ground in the US.

I wouldn't exactly equate the term "era" and Gamecube. Out of the generation it saw the least amount of truly awesome games IMO.

@Gian:

You know what, you just might be right - each console will probably dominate a major market each.

But then again, wait till FFXIII is released...

@Gian:

You can't see how Sony can get back on top in sales this gen "at all" based on the first 5-6 months of sales? You must be new to this whole gaming thing.

@PapaBear:

they are missing fps/shooting games and blue dragon. maybe oblivion. maybe some games with boobage.

I hate to be a prune, but using that same image every topic related to Japanese sales is getting a little stale.

On-topic: Go DS!

Why would anyone even buy a gamecube if you can get a Wii? I know it's cheaper but come on it makes since to get the Wii even if you don't want to play Wii games but gamecube games. Heck I can think of 2 reasons why the Wii is better then the Cube

1- I can actually purchase component cables for under $50 and I don't have to order it through Hong Kong.

2- The graphics seem to be sharper (not dramatically but I can almost swear Windwaker looks better then I remember)

I skipped over the Cube last generation (though I owned it, I never really bought many games for it). This generation I'm racking up as many player choice games (under $20) for the Cube. Yeah sure there is a Wii shortage of games but at $20 a pop, I can purchase a Cube game every week.

Maybe all these DS sales will mean a few more good games sometime this year... /waits

@zany_ninja:

"But then again, wait till FFXIII is released..."

By the time FF13 drops in like late 2008/early 2009/whenever, the Wii lead will be so severe that not even Dragon Quest can save the PS3 from second there.

Of course, this all takes into consideration that FF13 stays exclusive.

@moonfirelol:

you must have not seen this:
http://www.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2006/11/prints_mone...

which I believe deserves a comeback... although some would argue that its been done too much :(

@moonfirelol: Dude you must be as tired as I am Dragonquest's next iteration is appearing on the DS. I honestly doubt we'll see a FF game before mid 2008 going by previous development cycles which could be very bad for it's exclusivity if PS3 sales don't pick up, though what I'm really curious about it post launch EU sales. Will it continue to make headway or has everyone that wanted one bought one? I personally think it will have at least another 2 weeks of half decent sales before any drop simply due to that I know a lot of people work to a monthly paycheque.

@Aex:

Hell they all ready got ninja gaiden and drasgon quest...

The key here is this chart is ran completely off games people want to play over there. -Japan

In america we have a mix bag with MS giving americans a system to stand by and halo.

Europe is all about bling tech it seems as Sony is one of the masters of this with Apple teaching the way with POP tech.

Right now it's not know good the Wii did with the new adult casual gamers. Of course they did good but they need more games.

I was wondering why only japan sales? Whats up with america and the europe?

@moonfirelol: This guy has a point, and sony put too much hopes on single games, like motorstorm, or other that where not the hit that they expected, and yea by 2008 the wii and the ds will have a price drop and the 360 as well and then the PSP and the PS3 are going to be with a sword at its neck, and i doubt a FF title for the PS3 would make a significant hit in overall sales...

I wish the smaller developers would keep developing GC titles, though. If the price of producing on the old format drops low enough, it could be a cool little way for up-and-coming developers to get their feet wet with a powerful enough (for smaller games) system. The fact that the Wii fully supports the format could keep it alive in this way.

Then again, this is just crazy talk and it'll probably be dead by Christmas.

As puzzling as Dragon Quest's move to the DS seemed, as they say, "numbers don't lie".

@macdeth: It's nice to hope, I mean it's not totally impossible depending on how Nintendo feels. I mean the dreamcast kept having games released up until a few months ago I believe.

@Runna: ... I don't know if I would call those GOOD ds games. Good console games maybe... good handhelds... I unno. We'll have to wait and see for when they come out.

Anyone else extremely disappointed they decided to do Ninja Gaiden in 3d on the ds, instead of 2d, like me?

@TOCATL: Obviously, X360 is NEVER going to sell well in Japan and it's certainly not going to surpass the PS3. Microsoft has had a year, if not more, to boost the sales of their product. It ain't gonna change ... if anything, the PS3 will INCREASE in sales when FFXIII comes out (those Japanese sure like Final Fantasy).

This constant doomsday talk about the PS3 is startin' to get a bit irritating.

Considering Japan has something like ~80 million people of console buying age (14-65); selling just over 16 million DS.. they've got 20% market penetration. ridiculous!

NINTENDO IS MADE OF DS WIN!
Seriously. By now, everyone in Japan must have 2 DSs.

@a7knight: As much as I like the 360, I'd definitely have to agree. The best MS can possibly hope for is for it to do decently (not even close, yet) by the end of this gen. They can release as many RPG's and "killer apps" (if there is such a thing, anymore) as they want, but I really don't think they'll be putting up much of a fight over there. America is a whole different story, though!

PS3 is now selling in Japan at a fairly steady rate of about 90K/month. In the USA the PS3 sold 125K in February and I have not heard any indications that any improvement is foreseen for the console.
So excluding the holidays, the PS3 is on track to sell a combined 2M units in the USA and Japan through October.
The wide card is going to be Europe. How much of a momentum do the PS3 gained there?
The launch reports somewhat mixed. Sony certainly moved a large volume during the launch weekend though no excitement appears to be in the air. Moreover, since supply was abundant it may be safe to assume that the initial demand surge had been fully satisfied. Further anecdotal reports suggest that like in the US there are sizeable stacks of the machines in stores and the PS3 is moving slowly.
Assuming that the adoption of the PS3 in Europe (& ROW) is going to be similar to that of the USA we should expect another 800K or so machines sold through October in addition to the 600K sold at launch.
This lands Sony at 3.4M PS3 sold through October in 2007. With another 600K machines that were moved in 2006 the PS3 will start the holidays with an installed base of about 4M machines.
Compare this with the Wii and the 360: The Wii should see an installed base of about 10M by the holidays. The 360 should have a over 15M units sold by the same time.
It is therefore easy to see why some publishers are taking a wait and see approach with the PS3. Porting games to a machine that will have 15% share of the market and is known to be costly to develop for is not an easy business proposition. The very low software attach rates of the PS3 are also discouraging for the developers. Sony has some significant work ahead of them to close these gaps and change these market dynamics.

@macdeth: There's no point at all in developing GC titles. If you can develop GC titles you can develop Wii titles too. It's the same system and while it has more power which means you could spend a bit more money creating better graphics, it's pretty clear that most developers aren't doing that so far...

@Runna: We only get Japanese weekly sales data because only Japanese weekly sales data is available online for free. US sales data is available monthly (and is sometimes sketchy/not as detailed). European sales data I never see except for 'special occasions'... I'm sure it's possible to get data in both markets but you have to pay for it and agree not to publish it anywhere.

@TOCATL: X360 is not going to compete with PS3 in Japan. The issue is just whether Wii continues to dominate over PS3 or not. (I think it will this year but probably not after that.)

@PapaBear: Doesn't PS2 still sell more than X360 (and PS3 obviously) in the US, too? At least over Christmas I think it outsold Wii as well...

Wii sells as much as competition combined. Cool.

The Brits are still pining for them though!

Here i thought that the Micro was an exclusive one month deal.. I can't believe people are still buying those, no matter how little they are.

Wii - 76%
PS3 - 21%
360 - 4%

DS - 76%
PSP - 24%

@quen:

NPD has the US numbers every month, and sites do report sales montly from them. So I wouldn't call it "sketchy/not as detailed."

@quen: My point in this suggestion is that because the GC format is old, it's possible that it could be even cheaper to produce than the more recent Wii format. This is, of course, presuming that producing this format IS cheaper...

At the same time, the smaller capacity of the GC discs would lend itself to smaller productions (which would be perfect for indie or very small development companies looking to spread their name around). Developers like to use as much possible storage as they're allowed, so to keep production costs down, limit the developers on how much space they have to work with. Counter-intuitive, I know. lol

Since GC games don't have access to the remote's motion-sensing abilities, the developer would need to focus strictly on regular control schematics and basically use the GC format as kind of like a stepping stone to get to know the system, eventually "graduating" to the Wii format. Once they move onto the Wii, they can then devote time to learning how to best utilize the motion-sensing.

Also, puzzle games. Why use the bigger Wii format for simple games, when you can use a smaller disc?

I think that the GC's potential was never really fully realized, and everyone gave up on it much too early. Being integrated into the Wii could be looked at as a way to give the GC another life, and I still believe there's a place for it within the confines of Nintendo's domain.

The ability to play GC games is built right in there; might as well use it, right?

Like I said in my first post: crazy talk.

Why does this have to be posted every single month? I think we get the point, Japan's obsessed with Nintendo. As a whole though, do you think it reflects a change in the Japanese mentality or simply an appeal to a different segment? It might not be such good news for Square/Enix when they release a flagship game on a console where perhaps only 25 percent of its owners care about it...that is, if DS owners are mostly gamers or casual types [which it seems the majority of these sales are, seeing how "train your brain" "nintendogs" are the typical top sellers and games like pokemon fell off pretty quickly]

@moonfirelol: Prune. Hahaha. Yes, this image will be changing soon. I'm still in love with it!

I would really like to see how many DS and Wii would sell if Japan had a week of *unlimited* supply.

The doom 'n gloom sentiments on the PS3 are understandable, but a little naive at the same time. Give it a couple of years and I'm sure it will be on top. It's a good system. It's just a little pricey right now.

On the flip side, anyone waiting for the Wii sales to taper off shouldn't hold their breath. As long as mainstream media keeps referring to it as the "hottest new video game console," people will continue to want it. Plus, there are some great games coming this spring. Check IGN's spring release features for all three consoles. I think the PS3 has *one* exclusive title coming (Lair) while the Wii has many (8 or 9). I count "Spiderman 3" as a Wii exclusive because the Wii version was built separately from the ground up as a Wii title.

And that's just this spring. Fall could be *amazing* for Wii owners.

Ds still on number one...what surprise...so exited :| .

Sales in late 2005 showed that Japan would gobble up over half a million DSs each week. If they could ship a million units they would sell a million units each week.

Wii demand just keeps increasing once the casuals and nongamers get a demo of it.

I think Nintendo expected the demand for the wii to build like the demand for the DS did. A slow but steady year then bam huge explosion of sales once the inventory had built up to a million or two in each region.

"I wouldn't exactly equate the term "era" and Gamecube. Out of the generation it saw the least amount of truly awesome games IMO."

The key word being "opinion". Why push your opinion on the writer. I happen to agree with his use of the word. 3 of my top 5 last gen games were on the cube. It represents an era in gaming just like the PS2 and xbox do.

Hey Subnet6, mind naming those 3? Not having go, just wonderin' what they are, and what I might've missed out on.

As an aside, this really makes me wonder about high powered consoles... maybe we really are moving towards a time when PC's are the gaming powerhouses and handhelds/speciality consoles do the rest.

Maybe ps5 will be an IBM computer with a built in PS3 "chip", or else something aproximating the ViiV platform. I think microsoft are already moving in this direction with games for windows.

Why does anyone think that FF13 will come to PS3?

In Japan, the logical choice is Wii.

In the Americas, the 360 is way ahead.

In Europe it is not as clear.

Squenix cannot sell many copies to the tiny PS3 market. Right now Squenix is shifting development away from PS3 because they are a company and companies need to make money. Sony will throw money away on PS3 titles because they will lose even more money if the system tanks. Squenix has no reason to waste their time on PS3.

Sorry Sony fans but the reality of busines is that if you guys don't go out and buy a second and a third PS3, Squeenix won't release FF13 on your system.

Ask yourself why would they?

If it was your company you wouldn't do it.

Remember that FF13 will be Japanese production with dialog in Japanese.
What country will be able to play that game?
Japan.
What companies systems does Japan play?
Nintendo.
What is the first language that FF13 will be translated into?
English.
What game system(s) dominates the English speaking world?
360 and (more every day) Wii.
What is the first system to see FF13?
Wii.
Second?
360.
Third?
PS3.

@kNZA: Except for the fact that FF13 has been in development for the PS3 for quite awhile. I am hard pressed to believe they would scrap the PS3 version of it. Besides that point, I can not see what they currently have for FF13 working on the Wii hardware.

And remember the boost of PS3 sales led by Gundam Musou, that'd be nothing compared to what I imagine the effects of a FF game release will be.

wii sells almost as much as psp + ps3+ ps2.

wow.

@Chikebo: NPD numbers are not exactly accurate as they have to estimate sales from large chains like Walmart who do not release sales figures, (and considering how much of a market share [40%+] that the ol' Walmart has) we have to take NPD numbers with a grain of salt.

@Gian,

Only because you asked.....
My top 5 favorite games last gen on all platforms are (in no particular order)

Metroid Prime (GC)
Resident Evil 4 (GC)
Halo (XB)
Eternal Darkness: Sanities Requiem (GC)
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)

Why does the PS2 KEEP selling?! Hasnt everyone already got one yet??? Or are they just breaking? No seriosuly, who buys these PS2s?

@Aex:
yEHA i WANT MORE 2D GOODness too. Yet this game looks pretty good actualy way better than the 3d shonobi. Also too I think most 2d artist have more on to comics it seems. 3d animation seems to be taught more it seems. Hey but follow me to the next responds!

@macdeth: OK you got a cool idea going and nintendo sould release the GC dev kit to high schoolers since most of them doing get to play with 3d graphics...LOL it may be too much for them but the dev system on it is stright forward. Hell they should do this even with the colleges. Some times people work hard for a club than for their class room work. You could see some really good 2d games for sure.

@Covert-X:

Who knows they may be breaking but I don't think that will work for the PS3 at it's current price. I havn't check but how is blue ray doing in japan as that could be effecting PS3 sales also. Another thing thing that maybe hurting the PS3 and the xbox even is the fact that the title just seem like they should be PC games? I don't know but it may just be me.

@Gian:

I'm all for this because by the time the PS4 comes out intel or amd maybe holding the multicore crown then sony can concentrate on ewhat ever they want to focus on in the near future i mean dang they already have a PC market why not do this? If people can pick and choose how to put their system together then how can they complain?

This is the same reason why I'm happy to see taito got with a PC in a box for their arcade platform. And I'm hoping SONY final makes some thing to give PC some comp! I'm wondering if it's possible though becuse I believe AMD has more money than sony and even they can't keep up with intel r&d.

It's crazy to see the DS and the Wii doing good though and it just proves