Blue Dragon Outsells Zelda in Japan At Launch

Computer and Videogames is carrying the news that the 360's new JRPG Blue Dragon has outsold Zelda (and all other Wii software) since the game launched last month. This can mean only good things for Microsoft, as by all account the Wii's software lineup didn't do too shabby a job of selling either. From the article: "The latest Media Create Japanese chart puts the Mistwalker RPG at number four in the top selling titles in Japan for December 4 through 10, which has managed to shift a respectable 80,000 copies in the country giving it the number two all-time 360 sales record behind Dead or Alive 4. Blue Dragon has received a considerable level of hype in Japan, largely thanks to the fanbase surrounding Dragon Ball Z artist Akira Toriyama who designed the characters in the game, and a special edition Japanese Blue Dragon 360 bundle which some Japanese retailers reported to have sold out of within minutes of opening pre-order." Update: 12/15 01:10 GMT by Z : As Chris Kohler points out, the game outsold Zelda the week of its launch.

Comments

HDTV adoption growth rates

[jchenx]

While this might matter in Japan, where HDTV is standard in most households, in the US only 5 percent of households have an HDTV, and in most cases Dad won't let the kids play games on it, because he bought it to watch sports and pr0n.

That 5% seems low to me, but I can't find any 2006 reports that cover what it looks like now. What would be interesting, though, is the growth aspect. If the number of households with HDTV is doubling or tripling every year, then it certainly won't be long till HDTV really matters. I am constantly surprised by how cheap HDTV sets are becoming every year.

The biggest stumbling point, IMHO, to HDTV though ... is really the content. It's not clear that to get the best image, not only do you need an HDTV, but you have to subscribe to HDTV with your cable/satellite TV provider. For me, that's an extra $5 a month, which is affordable and worth it. But that's probably not the cause for a lot of other households, which aren't prepared to make additional monthly payments. Additionally, there's the cost of having all the right wires, and potentially upgrading the equipment that uses the TV (game consoles, DVD players, etc.).

The xBox360 doesn't have many games on a standard 480p normal TV that look that much different, and so far all the game reviews I've seen say that most of the games aren't that great.

Ehh, what reviews are you looking at? Well, it'll all be moot. Come back in a few weeks when all the gaming magazines and websites start listing their "Game of the Year" nominees. The "buzz" is that several 360 games will be nominees for sure: Oblivion and Gears of War. I would argue that Dead Rising and Viva Pinata also deserve to be high marks in their respective genres.

Then again, if you don't have a 360 or have any notion of owning one, you probably don't know about these titles. Which is a shame. That's why I try to be multi-platform, since ultimately, I don't care which console a good game is on. (Of course, not everyone can afford to go multi-platform, which is completely understandable as well)