Lego Star Wars II Sells 1.1 Million

LifesBlood writes "Lego Star Wars II has gone Platinum in under two weeks, reports TheForce.net. The title, showcasing the adventures from the original Star Wars Trilogy, has sold over 1.1 Million copies already." From the article: "Set in a tongue-in-cheek Star Wars galaxy, LEGO Star Wars II allows gamers to build and battle their way through the events of Star Wars: Episodes IV through VI. It has earned rave reviews from both consumer and trade press, largely because it is designed for the entire family."

Comments

Co-op

[Enoxice]

The only reason I bought it was for the super-awesome and really fun co-op (on xbox). I also own it for PC, and it needed a replacement 3rd-party msi before it would install.

If I had one complaint, it's that it doesn't have online co-op on PC, but the co-op on the xbox version more than makes up for it.

Re:Co-op

[rwven]

Honestly...the game is pretty funny. That's one of the reasons I've been enjoying it (on my PSP, btw). The cutscenes and "artificial talking" are pretty entertaining. There's also nothing like walking up to another character in the game, chopping it with the lightsaber, and watching it pop apart at its little lego seams. The sound effects are just priceless.

Not to mention that you can't really "die" in the game. If you die you just respawn right where you were... That definitely lowers the "bang head against desk" moments.

Re:Co-op

[row1]

Yeah don't get the PC version, I can't believe they would release a product which doesn't INSTALL on a significant amount of PCs (mine included)) ... ohh wait it's published by Lucas Arts, they also released Battlefront II which was unplayable on a significant amount of PCs (yes I am talking high end PCs well above the minimum requirements) and required waiting 2 months for a patch.
At least they got a installer patch out for the PC version of Lego II after a week or so....

Is it just me...

[Rude Turnip]

or does anyone else find the picture of the Lego version of Leia on the game packaging mildly attractive?

Re:Is it just me...

[meringuoid]

or does anyone else find the picture of the Lego version of Leia on the game packaging mildly attractive?

You can get a Lego boxset of 'Jabba's Palace'.

Leia in the gold bikini: hot. Leia in the gold bikini in Lego: deeply disturbing.

Re:Is it just me...

[IflyRC]

Hi, no matter what you did with your Legos as a child...we don't want to know about it!

Re:Is it just me...

[Lectrik]

I do ... but I also think Fievel's sister is a total fox (despite, obviously, being a mouse ... er, a cartoon mouse), so I'm not sure if you're in good company - probably not.

Pssh.... Gadget was more of a fox in the cartoon mouse category. But I only ever saw the first American Tail movie though (and a few minutes of her singing in a saloon from the second one I think) so I don't know if she was hotter in the later movies.

Re:Is it just me...

[Rude Turnip]

Sweet creeping zombie Jesus, I am really beginning to regret my post.

Star Wars Essence

[IflyRC]

Somehow, through digital representations of Legos they captured the feeling of Star Wars. They did a lot of things right unlike Sony Online Entertainment and Star Wars Galaxies. SOE continues to try to make the game into something it can't be - World of Warcraft. Games like this bring fun, adventure and nostalgia to new and old fans alike not to mention it opens up the market for small children.

Re:Star Wars Essence

[Vraylle]

I have to agree. Somehow, they seem to have accurately captured the "Star Wars Experience" in the game. It's one of the most fun games I've played in quite a while.

Re:Star Wars Essence

[meringuoid]

Somehow, through digital representations of Legos they captured the feeling of Star Wars.

Lego is the perfect medium for Star Wars.

Consider why it is we remember Star Wars so favourably. Star Wars gave us a universe painted in broad, bold strokes, but with vast expanses of the unknown. We follow an innocent farmboy into a galactic war, leaving his narrow horizons to change the world, learning to use the Force to reconstruct reality itself... The film shows us the outlines of a magnificent world, with endless possibility. So much detail, implying so much more than we ever saw, and a mysterious backstory we never got to hear the whole of and had to speculate and build it for ourselves. For the eight-year-olds we were, this all adds up to the greatest movie ever.

Now, what about Lego? Again, we were eight years old, and playing with this toy that comes with instructions for how to make this one plane or spaceship or whatever it might be... but has pictures of a few other things you might build with it instead. And of course you do. And in time it gets broken up and goes into the sack with the rest of the Lego and next thing you know it's something else entirely, something that's yours.

To my mind, rebuilding my Lego as I wanted it, into something based on the original design but definitely my own, is the same impulse as building my own backstory to Star Wars - of how Darth Vader hunted down the Jedi, how Yoda and Obi-Wan managed to hide themselves and the children, of General Kenobi and Bail Organa and the Clone Wars, of how Anakin fell, of the long and proud history of the clan so famous for their command of the Force that they gained the title of Skywalker. And of course it's the same impulse as picking up a stick and waving it around going 'whoom... whoooooooom.... whooom!' It's taking what you're given and expanding upon it, making it your own. It's creativity.

I might add that my own imagination of the untold stories of Star Wars did not involve midichlorians, or Gungans, or virgin births, or anyone going 'yippee' for any reason whatever. Which perhaps is why even Revenge of the Sith, which was actually pretty good, will never be as well loved. It was beautiful, sure, but it was like that one guy who glued his Lego together. There's just nothing there to have any fun with.

Re:not that impressive

[sprayNwipe]

Because, believe it or not, every person doesn't buy every SKU of the game. In fact, it'd be rare for someone to buy more than one SKU.

Re:not that impressive

[Frag-A-Muffin]

Why does it matter how many platforms they release it for? 1.1 million is 1.1 million. It's not like many people are buying multiple copies for different platforms.

Because developing for 8 different platforms is going to cost you a lot more money. So 137,500 copies per platform doesn't sound that spectacular business wise. I doubt they've even recouped their costs yet. (Granted it's only been a week). I didn't see /. posting about FFIII's 600,000 copies sold in 5 days in Japan on a single platform. That seems much more impressive to me.

Re:not that impressive

[Wdomburg]

There are DS titles that have sold 3 million now individually.

And it's taken them months to reach those numbers; e.g. Animal Crossing has been out since last year, and New Super Mario Bros since May.

FFIII for DS in Japan sold almost 600,000 copies in less than a week. How is this impressive?

Total sales of FFIII have only hit 655,533 a month after release.

Re:not that impressive

[Babbster]

I didn't see /. posting about FFIII's 600,000 copies sold in 5 days in Japan on a single platform. That seems much more impressive to me.

There are several factors at work:

1. LEGOs are awesome and often Slashworthy.
2. Star Wars (most notably the original trilogy) is nerd porn.
3. Final Fantasy III for the DS is a remake of a game that was never released in the US in its original form and, thus, is slightly obscure.
4. Slashdot is a site based in the US and as such will usually have little interest in the sales of a particular videogame in Japan.
5. FFIII for the DS will be here in the US before Christmas, giving Slashdot more than enough time to geek out over it when it arrives in English (if the previews and screenshots are right, it'll be huge in the US, too).
and, finally, 6. 1.1 million is a much cooler number than 600,000, whether the number relates to 1 hardware platform or 20.