Top Japanese Sellers of 2005

Gamasutra reports on a partial list of the top-sellers in the Japanese market for last year. From the article: "With the Nintendo DS dominating hardware sales during the year, it was no surprise to find Oide yo Doubutsu no Mori (aka Animal Crossing: Wild World) at number one with approximately 1.17 million copies sold. The second ranked title, and one of the few games to feature prominently in the top tens from all three countries, was Sony's Gran Turismo 4 for the PlayStation 2, with 1.07 million units sold."

Comments

Nintendo is Doomed

[Anonymous Coward]

The 1,084 new releases in Japan during 2005 sold a combined 55.43 million units
Nintendo easily dominated the other publishers during 2005 with 13.32 million software units sold

Nintendo is Doomed, and no one wants their games, after all ONLY 1 IN 4 GAMES in Japan was published by Nintendo.

As noted, the Nintendo DS was the best selling hardware of the year, with more than 4 million units sold, compared to 2.23 million for the PSP, 2.13 million for the PlayStation 2, 831,221

And just look at how the Gimicky Nintendo DS only OUTSOLD THE PSP AND PS2 COMBINED; obviously people don't want new gameplay experiances, they want the same games repackaged with prettier graphics (oh yeah, and HD, got to have HD)

Re:Stupid question...

[Gulthek]

It's not comparable, GT is a simulator where PGR is an arcade racer.

Re:Stupid question...

[Guppy06]

"I was under the impression that the Japanese market wasn't a kind place to racing games."

Actually, driving games tend to do better in Japan than the United States, where people are far more likely to go out and drive a real car.

Animal Crossing in the US

[idonthack]

Animal Crossing is probably the best-seller for the DS in the States, too. When I went to buy a copy my local EB said they were sold out for three weeks.
 
Luckily, I can play Mario Kart online to heal my wounds :)

I don't understand Animal Crossing at all.

[yuud]

so I have a DS, and I play lots of mario kart on it. great fun etc etc.

been reading a lot about nintendo's "lets make fun games and not harp on about specs" party line and I dig it.

so I decide to try out animal crossing. after tinkering with it for about 3-4 hours, I still fail to see how this is fun or even a game at all.

I've never played the sims, but to me it seems that animal crossing is essentially goal-less, and there are a stack of mini-games like "fishing", "bug catching", or "collecting shells on the beach" that, to me at least, are about as fun as navel gazing.

Re:I don't understand Animal Crossing at all.

[77Punker]

It's not about completing a goal. Sometimes I'm in the mood to play a video game but not in the mood for a challenge. When the mood strikes, I pick up Animal Crossing. The characters are entertaining and I find it satisfying to see what new characters wander through and what sorts of new items I can uncover.

Bottom line is that it allows you to explore and have fun without having the pressure of a challenge. It certainly isn't for everyone, but the freedom and low pressure make it great for escaping the stresses of the real world. Just like the character we create in the game who is running away from home, so does the player run away into the same fantasy world when everything else is just tiresome.

To make a long story short, it's just plain entertainment without the idea that you need to be skilled at anything. It's not really supposed to have a point, although there certainly are goals that can be achieved with patience.

Re:I don't understand Animal Crossing at all.

[justchris]

No, I think you understand it just fine.

Animal Crossing is one of a "new" type of game called sandbox games.

The definition, 'It's like playing in a sandbox. There's no goal, there's no pressure, you can pretty much do whatever you want.'

This type of game appeals to a very different mindset than the "standard" video game. Some people, enjoy it, some do not. Much like Nintendogs (which also has no real goal) and the Sims (again, no real goal) it appeals very strongly to female gamers and older gamers, a market Nintendo targets because they also have money to spend.

Re:I don't understand Animal Crossing at all.

[Senjutsu]

The fishing and shells and so forth aren't games, they're too simplistic for that. They're means to a goal. The real game is in paying off your debts, expanding your house, collecting all the items in some set to decorate your house with, collecting all the fully playable NES games (although those are only in the 'Cube version), bettering your village so more people move in, filling the museum by catching one of everything, getting on the good side of everyone in town, getting all the rare items, etc, etc.

There are all kinds of goals you can pursue, but the key is you have to set them for yourself.

Square-enix having a bad year?

[Lifelike]

Didn't FFXII come out in Japan already considering that it's due out in the US in a matter of weeks? Guess the fact that it didn't make any of the top 10 lists bodes poorly for the company. I swear, if they make an RPG that explores similar sci-fi themes to FF7 (evil corproration opressing the people) and throw in some dramatic twists and horriffic tragedies (the plate collapsing on the slum residents of midgar) they'll have another winner on their hands. It's a sorely underrepresented genre in videogames, and one of the reasons "Beyond good and evil" was so much fun (its just that noone played it because it wasn't an established franchise.. the FF series on the other hand...).

Re:Square-enix having a bad year?

[paedobear]

I suspect you'll find it's not out in Japan til March and not out in the US til late this year.