Mass Effect Sells A Million, Halo 3 Sells Five

Sales news is starting to trickle out for some of the big Fall games, with the Xbox 360 so far looking very strong. BioWare's Mass Effect has sold a million copies, while Bungie's blockbuster Halo 3 has already sold over five million copies since its September 25th release date. That last figure comes from a GameDaily interview with Xbox Marketing VP Jeff Bell. Aside from noting this week's release of Halo 3's first downloadable map pack, Bell also connected these sales back to the console itself: "The reaction has been very positive. In fact, we saw incredible sales of Xbox 360 for the week of November 18, including Black Friday of more than 310,000 Xbox 360 in the U.S. alone. This is really strong momentum for us given that we're already in our third year on the market."

Comments

bad article title

[techpawn]

I know it's five million, but that just read funny.

We sold five whole copies of Halo 3! Pop the boxed champaign!!

Re:bad article title

[gEvil (beta)]

No kidding. You'd think if they were pressed for space that Zonk could have figured out that '5M' would work better.

Re:bad article title

[JK_the_Slacker]

Ironically, it looks that way in my dorm. When Halo 2 came out, 9 of the 10 Halo owners in my dorm bought it. Halo 3? 1 person. 1.

Ah well, I suppose that one of these days, I'll get me one of those new-fangled consoles. And immediately take it apart to see if I can't improve on the manufacturer's design.

Re:bad article title

[MBraynard]

Who lives in a dorm for three years? Maybe your friends have moved on to other ways to spend their time - like girlfriends. Look into it, eh?

Re:bad article title

[JK_the_Slacker]

I did. The marriage ended badly. In the dorm, at least I get regular meals.

Re:bad article title

[Anonymous Coward]

You're divorced and living in a dorm? Christ do the world a favour and end your life already. You're just too damn pathetic.

Re:bad article title

[MBraynard]

That other one wasn't me, btw.

Re:bad article title

[bigstrat2003]

Uh... are you serious? Many people at my college lived in the dorms all four years. Not all colleges have other on-campus options, some colleges (like mine) require on-campus residence, and not everyone cares enough to find off-campus residence. It's very easy to live in a dorm for four years.

And the profit is?

[rustalot42684]

So, now that you've got these impressive sales, how long until Microsoft's gaming division finally turns a profit?

Re:And the profit is?

[JK_the_Slacker]

They already have.

They turned the profits from the sales of Halo 1 into "The Abomination" sometimes referred to as Halo 2.

Re:And the profit is?

[MeanMF]

Negative two months: http://www.latimes.com/technology/consumer/gamers/la-fi-micro26oct26,1,5719202.story

Re:And the profit is?

[FinchWorld]

Off games, they technically are making a profit on games, its just the actual console that makes a loss. I always found that strange because I thought selling something cheaper AND at a loss against a competitor was grounds for antitrust or similar for trying to force competitors out of the market. Though its likely Im not a lawyer for a reason.

Re:And the profit is?

[hansamurai]

The Xbox 360 and PS3 are considered "loss leaders", similar to Gillette sending out razor handles and then making a killing on the razor blades themselves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

Re:And the profit is?

[iainl]

You're not allowed to sell a loss leader at less than the physical component cost. But the reason the 360 sells at a loss isn't component costs, it's R&D, infrastructure and those legendary repairs.

Re:And the profit is?

[tb3]

You need to read that article more closely. The games division showed a profit for that quarter. They're still a long way from erasing that gaping 6 billion dollar wound that the games division has created. And now that the Halo trilogy is over they're going to somehow come up with another blockbuster on the same scale, or greater.

Personally, I don't see how they're going to do it. They bought Bungie just for the game that became Halo, but other studios, like Rare, have yet to produce anything resembling a hit. I think they're screwed. They're never going to recoup the initial investment.

Re:And the profit is?

[Erwos]

"Personally, I don't see how they're going to do it."

Gears of War 2, of course. How soon people forget how many zillions of copies that game sold.

Re:And the profit is?

[flewp]

I have no idea, as I've seen conflicting reports, but are MS still taking a loss on the actual production on each machine? Not counting R&D, warranties, etc, is MS able to sell the consoles for more than the materials and manufacturing costs yet? I know that's only a small part of the story, but I'm wondering how much the actual production process has been refined.

Re:And the profit is?

[aichpvee]

They turned a profit for ONE quarter. As a division they're still seriously in the red. With the $1.3 billion (or whatever) warranty extension they did a few months back they'll be staying there for a long, long time.

What Is Wrong With 360 Graphics?

[Anonymous Coward]

My roommate has a 360 and he has spent the last two years babbling about how powerful the 360 is supposed to be and I think the guy has moved beyond fanboyism and straight into delusion.

Halo 3 looks like a last gen game. It's filled with jaggies all over the place. The framerate seems to drop into the low 20s often. I hear that the game isn't even running at 720p. I was shocked when I came home one day and didn't even realize he had gotten his copy of Halo 3 and I thought he was still playing Halo 2.

Mass Effect is a complete graphical basketcase. The problems with texture loading being delayed. The horrendous framerate in places. Outside of the closeups for dialog the game looks like a last gen game.

These were supposed to be the two 'big games' that would finally show that the 360 didn't deserve the Xbox 1.5 label.

Re:What Is Wrong With 360 Graphics?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sadly enough for you, Mr Annoymous Coward Sony fanboy troll, the XBox 360 has the graphically superior version of practically every multiplatform game.

Re:What Is Wrong With 360 Graphics?

[toolie]

You think those are bad, check out Madden on the PS3.

Re:What Is Wrong With 360 Graphics?

[MMaestro]

Um, compared to what? The PC? The PC has always pwn3d consoles in the graphics department. The Wii? Nintendo put up the white flag before the Wii even launched. The PS3? Mileage varied based on the game, Madden on the PS3 looks like crap while videos of Final Fantasy XIII and MGS4 trailers continue to impress all but PC graphic whores (who are too busy scraping together money for a DirectX 10 video card for Crysis).

Re:What Is Wrong With 360 Graphics?

[Doctor_Jest]

Bzzt! Thanks for playing.

Fight Night Round 3. (slowdown issues fixed from the 360 version). Oblivion... better framerates and much better load times...

Granted, most of EA's ports are half-assed, but the Burnout folks are saying a PS3 developed game (Burnout Paradise) makes the 360 _port_ better.

So, let me mention one thing... "graphically superior" is subjective. And since it is, you can stop trying to convince everyone your opinion is correct.

And as for poorly done ports... Call of Duty 4 looks awesome on BOTH machines... which shows that companies who think the PS3 is "underpowered" or "less" than the 360 are just lazy or stupid about developing for it *cough* EA *cough*

The 360 has always had good sales

[Liquidrage]

At least in the US and Europe. And it's enough, even with bad sales in Japan, to say it has good sales. So this is no surprise.

And it's clearly the best mover of games (please spare me Sport and Play since the opportunity for 3rd parties to have their games inlcuded with the console or a second remote is slim to none) based on sales.

Even when looking at games available on all systems, the 360 cleans up.

It was a great fall for the 360 considering the releases:
Halo, Guitar Hero 3, The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4, Assassians Creed, Mass Effect, Rock Band, amongst other lesser titles.

That's a pretty impressive list for people that like "games". And what is being missed by some is that in those titles there's really some new things. Orange Box has Portal. AC took interactive environments to a new level letting you scale nearly every single building in the game. Rock band is rock band. Mass Effect introduced a new dialog system to the new standard for action-RPG's that let the game unfold like a movie.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Danse]

Mass Effect introduced a new dialog system to the new standard for action-RPG's that let the game unfold like a movie. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to save the game from getting boring and repetitive very quickly. It's pretty to look at, but the gameplay can't even match Oblivion, and even Oblivion needed a major overhaul to actually have any staying power. Too bad we can't mod Mass Effect, it has some very good potential.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Pojut]

I would have to disagree...uncovering some part of the game universe via the codex, going on varied side quests, and just simply discovering more of the main plotline kept it interesting for me from the start right up until the credits began to roll. If anything (other than the obvious technical issues), my biggest gripe is that the game wasn't LONGER...I was a little upset that I finished it as quickly as I did, even with all of the side quests and such that I did. Realistically, I could have completed the main storyline in under 15 hours...a game like this should have at LEAST a 30-40 hour storyline with 15-30 hours of sidequests...a bit suprised at how short it was.

Regardless of that, it was still an awesome game...fighting was intense, storyline was interesting, the choices were truly difficult at times, and the production values were sky high. Only the second game that I have started playing a second time as soon as I finished it (the first game I played back to back like that was Secret of Mana 2)

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[vonPoonBurGer]

the gameplay can't even match Oblivion

Well, to each their own I suppose. Personally, I hated Oblivion, but I love Mass Effect. I didn't like the "use it to level it" system they use in the Elder Scrolls series. Mass Effect lets you level a skill into competency before you start using it. I didn't like the way quests were scattered all over the damn place right from the get-go in Oblivion. The quests you get introduced to in Mass Effect are always in the same system that you're currently in, or an adjoining system. I didn't like the travel time to get to new areas in Oblivion. Travel to areas both new and old is near-instant in Mass Effect. I didn't like the way that enemies scaled in Oblivion, making me feel like I was really on a pointless levelling treadmill. I really felt a sense of growing more powerful with Mass Effect. Oblivion's story never really grabbed me, the Mass Effect story was a lot more interesting and well-told, for my money.

But the thing I hated most about Oblivion was the impossibly wide scope of the world. It took too long to get anywhere initially, and it was too easy to get side-tracked. Seriously, in hour two of Oblivion I was being given quests on the complete opposite side of the game world, in the complete opposite direction from the main storyline. Why?? How does that add to the game?? Maybe it's just me, but it felt like the gameplay equivalent of waterboarding: here's a bucket full of choices, let's pour them all right up your nose. With Mass Effect, I can fully explore most uncharted jump points in about an hour, including exploring the planets, scanning everything, taking care of any side quests there, etc. Makes it a lot easier to just take bite-sized chunks of the game, and I never feel like I'm being drowned in choices.

Assassin's Creed has something similar with its viewpoint system. Each city is divided into quarters (well, thirds really, things like the Poor Quarter, the Merchant Quarter and the Rich Quarter). In each quarter are half a dozen or so tall vantage points which are premarked on your map. You can scale one of these towers and survey the area, which will put all mission objective in the vicinity of that tower on a map. While the cities are quite large and complex, you can easily break them down into smaller chunks, and clear out each chunk before moving on to the next one. Mass Effect uses the multiple layers of the galaxy map (Galaxy > Jump Node > System > Planet) to do the same thing. I think for a lot of gamers, this sort of thing is a really important feature to include in any game with a significant measure of openness and nonlinearity in the game world. Without it, people like me play the game for a couple hours, get overwhelmed with too many choices and not enough tools to track them, and then leave and never come back.

Too bad we can't mod Mass Effect, it has some very good potential.

I'd say it's a given that there will eventually be a PC port of Mass Effect, probably around the six month mark from Mass Effect's release. I'm sure enterprising PC users will find a way to tweak the game. There are certainly lots of issues that could use addressing (loading times, texture caching, the cover system, and oh god, the interface system), but I think it says a lot about the game that I am completely willing to tolerate its flaws in order to experience the core gameplay. Personally, the mod I'm looking forward to is called Mass Effect 2. If I were giving notes to Bioware, I'd say convince Microsoft to let you cache to disk on those systems that have a hard drive, make the cover system work like the one in RB6: Vegas, overhaul the inventory system, but otherwise just open up another 3rd of the galaxy for me to explore and fill it with new content.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Danse]

I would have to disagree...uncovering some part of the game universe via the codex, going on varied side quests, and just simply discovering more of the main plotline kept it interesting for me from the start right up until the credits began to roll. Except that all the sidequests are basically the same thing. So are all the guns and outfits. The enemies are generally morons. The MAKO vehicle is a pain. If it wasn't for the graphics, music and dialog, the game wouldn't be worth playing. It's just really lacking in the gameplay department.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Pojut]

While the guns and outfits may look similar, they definately play differently...sure, the guns may not make as big of a difference as they do in say rainbow six vegas, but the three stats produce a very noticible difference from one to the next. The side missions, I thought, were similar enough to not seem out of left field but different enough for them to be worth doing. The MAKO definately could have used some work in terms of control, but it was fun sending it flying off cliffs :-)

As far as general gameplay goes, I think the base system works very well...navigating the gameworld, the auto-map, the fighting system....only small tweaks are needed really. Out of everything, the fighting system took the longest for me to get used to but once I did it was easily my favourite part of the game...fights are intense and never seem "cheap"...the cover system could definately use some work, but other than Rainbow Six Vegas no game (yes, I'm including Gears of War in that) has really gotten the cover system down properly.

A lot of people seem to gripe about the interface...really, the only thing the interface is missing is the ability to sort your stuff....other than that, I thought it's layout was very simple and was easy to navigate using a controller.

But to each his own, I suppose....

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Kalriath]

And you're the reason noone likes the Playstation and the millions of dimwitted Sony fanboys.

It's a console, not a fucking religion. I suppose you own an Apple iMac and iPod and iPhone and use iWork for everything in your iLife too - since Apple users are the most likely to make a religion out of a piece of equipment.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[flitty]

Maybe it's just me, but it felt like the gameplay equivalent of waterboarding: here's a bucket full of choices,

This should be on the back of Oblivon's box for advertising.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Anonymous Coward]

Hate to break it to you, junior, but your thread on the GameFAQs boards is not "the gaming world".

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[buffer-overflowed]

Yea, I love the Mass Effect story. I loved it more though when it was called Star Control. Sure they claim never to have played SC2, but they're fucking lying.

Oh, and the close-ups look like ass. Everyone has been injected with copious amounts of botox, they have dead zombie eyes, and it just looks poor, unstylized and lazy, like something someone tossed together in Poser 4 about 10 years ago.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[buffer-overflowed]

Even when looking at games available on all systems, the 360 cleans up.

No it doesn't. That's a matter of opinion. The XBox has very little genre coverage and suffers from pretty much the exact same problem the original XBox had. Very few unique games that aren't better on the PC.

Let's look at your list:
Halo - A mediocre single player fps, redeemed only by multiplayer.
Guitar Hero 3 - Can play it on a PS2, and everyone owns a PS2.
Orange Box - An inferior port of a PC title.
Call of Duty 4 - See Orange Box.
Assassin's Creed - Crossplatform.
Rock Band - Crossplatform, will be coming to the PS2/Wii eventually.
Mass Effect - Excellent, but it's basically a blatant ripoff of Star Control.

Orange Box in particular runs better even on older PC hardware than the 360 version. You get free live-esque service via steam or XFire, dedicated servers, more players per map, more maps, the ability to create your own maps, a better control interface, etc.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Danse]

I didn't like the way that enemies scaled in Oblivion, making me feel like I was really on a pointless levelling treadmill. I really felt a sense of growing more powerful with Mass Effect. Oblivion's story never really grabbed me, the Mass Effect story was a lot more interesting and well-told, for my money. After playing for a couple of days, I truly despised Oblivion's level-scaling. We were not alone in that, as that was one of the first things that mods were created to fix. Well, that and the horrible xboxy interface. Mass Effect definitely does a better job of storytelling than Oblivion.

But the thing I hated most about Oblivion was the impossibly wide scope of the world. It took too long to get anywhere initially, and it was too easy to get side-tracked. Seriously, in hour two of Oblivion I was being given quests on the complete opposite side of the game world, in the complete opposite direction from the main storyline. Why?? How does that add to the game?? The world isn't very big in the game. In fact, that's been one of the big complaints that a lot of people have had, and there are several mods in the works that expand the size quite a bit, the equivalent of adding new countries to the map. Given that you can fast-travel to any major city and any place that you've already been, I don't think it ever takes me more than a few minutes to get anywhere. Maybe a bit longer if I'm being stealthy about it.

Without it, people like me play the game for a couple hours, get overwhelmed with too many choices and not enough tools to track them, and then leave and never come back. I guess this is just a personal preference thing, as many gamers don't like to be lead from one area to the next and spoon-fed quests along the way. In fact many of the mods for Oblivion remove the map markers that guide you to the next objective and make you rely on your journal notes to figure out where you're supposed to go. I found it quite easy to follow the quests in Oblivion. You just select a quest in your journal and it tells you what to do and puts a marker on your map showing you exactly where you need to go. Seems simple to me. Maybe even a little too simple.

Personally, the mod I'm looking forward to is called Mass Effect 2. If I were giving notes to Bioware, I'd say convince Microsoft to let you cache to disk on those systems that have a hard drive, make the cover system work like the one in RB6: Vegas, overhaul the inventory system, but otherwise just open up another 3rd of the galaxy for me to explore and fill it with new content. Yeah, I really can't believe they didn't let the game use the hard drive if it is present. That is the most retarded decision ever. I'm thinking that Mass Effect 2 might be the game that ME1 was supposed to be. Maybe once they've gotten through most of the technical details and got a lot of the game-world resources created, they can focus on filling in all the stuff that was left out and fix all the crap that they should've fixed to begin with like the interface. I would love to see it modded on the PC though. That could turn into something really cool.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Liquidrage]

That was in reference to game sales. How could you take any other way? The 360 outsells Wii and PS3 buy a large amount in games like GH3, Madden, etc. GH3 sold better on the 360 then the PS2 btw.

No, and stop looking at "my list". You can crap on it all you want, but it doesn't mean you've got a good point. Sales show most people don't think like you.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[buffer-overflowed]

Sales show most people like licensed games. Sales show the original Pokemon for the GBC set a nigh-unbreakable bar of 15 million units sold in north america alone. Sales show Titanic is one of the greatest movies of all time. If you wanted to list cold hard sales data you should have listed cold hard sales data and refrained from any comments as to quality/originality, but you chose not to. You instead chose to spout untruths about innovation in the 360 lineup, which is almost barren of that quality, outside a handful of exclusive titles.

You have no point to make a counterpoint to, no meaningful analysis, and have backed nothing up with facts or references. Just vague handwaving, innuendo, and assertions.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Liquidrage]

No jackass. I covered a few things. I talked about sales first, which is what the story was about. And that was based on facts.

Then I put forth my opinion on the originality of the fall lineup. I ever clarified that when I noted that people aren't talking about the originality much. Learn to read dumbass. I even went so far as to briefly explain the parts of the game I thought were original.

Is two things in a reply too much for you to follow or something? Everyone else seemed to grasp it OK. Maybe instead of just being a pissy know-nothing you should try reading and not having some presupposed bias forcing you to retort with nothing but ignorance and insults. In conlcusion, you're an asshat.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[buffer-overflowed]

Something strike a nerve, some reason to resort to personal attacks? Well, if that's the way it be, so be it.

Learn to fucking write. I don't see a SINGLE reply to you about sales. NOT ONE. In fact there are TWO comments about game quality, so evidentally I'm not alone in not "getting" that your post was about sales and not a value judgement on quality(I think it's pretty obvious my initial reply was a statement as to quality). This supposed legion of people who got what you meant apparently felt no need to reply to you. Why, this could mean you were so damn clear, they felt no need, or it could mean you're a fucking idiot. This is also setting aside the fact that you referenced NOTHING. You provided no meaningful analysis of what any potential, assumed true of course, data could mean. You just spouted off shit and gunned for the insightful mod from the 360 legion. You've still referenced NOTHING. You've made no points, you've made no argument, and are now engaging in the final resort of trolldom, the personal attack.

And this also sets aside the fact that there are no reliable methods of tracking PC sales, your list of cross-platform games(was that what it was? I can't tell. Perhaps you should take a remedial english class) doing well on the 360 isn't a list of cross-platform games. This is also setting aside the fact that without supplying any competing information your assertion that the 360 is "cleaning up" is just that, an assertion. Now, I have seen attach rate figures from NPD and a few other groups that are favorable to the 360, but it also has more systems in the wild in NA(we'll refrain from Europe since only the UK has any sales data really), and has been out a full year longer than it's competitors. Without a whole metric asston of other data, that particular little factoid(attach rate/sales data[to clarify]) is utterly meaningless except as an interesting tidbit. That's also console on console, I believe I brought up the PC, or can you not read?

I can only conclude that you take my difference in opinion(and HOLY FUCK! I SAID it was an opinion, do 360 people not understand that these judgements are opinion? Evidentally not) on the quality of those games personally, and thus chose to reply to me . Was it that Mass Effect is Star Control of the Old Republic RPG? It is, btw. Halo is also an overrated average/mediocre game. The horror of someone saying that! Fire up the defense force! Hey brah, somebody said something bad about Master Chief! No, not Master Chief! Yah, brah, can't stand for that. To the fratmobile!

Enjoy being associated with a bunch of antisocial, relatively poor and poorly educated fucktards brah. Because that's how nielson paints the 360 crowd in their last demographic study. I'd provide a link, but I understand we don't do that in this conversation, it might support an assertion.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[bigstrat2003]

Halo - that's your opinion. Many Halo fans are of the opinion that it's an excellent single-player FPS. Your opinion is very far from universal.
GH3 - PS2 doesn't have online play or downloadable tracks.
Rock Band - again, PS2 (Wii version is not confirmed) version doesn't have online play or downloadable tracks... and that cuts a lot of the game out, because Rock Band's DLC is excellent.
Mass Effect - no one really cares if a game rips off another game, as long as it does it well. I haven't played Star Control, but even assuming Mass Effect is a rip-off of that game, it's a VERY well-done rip-off.

Otherwise you're correct.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[el_benito]

I could appreciate the frustration if not for the fast-travel system present in Oblivion. You could essentially fly to any landmark you'd previously seen without having to suffer the meaningless incidental combat along the way. It can be argued that it can take you out of the moment, but it sounds like you should try using it more.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[buffer-overflowed]

I never claimed it was anything other than my opinion. And yes, a lot of Halo fans are of the opinion that the single player aspect of the game is good. Frequently, these people have not played many other FPSes. If it was a PC title, it would rate as maybe Average. Well, actually, Halo and Halo 2 for the PC rated as abysmal, but that's more due to lazy ports than anything else.

Also, you should play star control 2. It's free now. The plot/story elements are very similar to mass effect, gameplay is different though(Star Control isn't an RPG). Don't get me wrong I like Mass effect, I just don't find it's storyline particularly original or it's botox-injected face graphics particularly appealing, and if we're going to rank things, that counts. It's an excellent RPG and has provided me with many hours of entertainment, but it has many flaws.

GH3/Rock Band. Well, to each their own. A lot of people already owned the guitar controller for the PS2, so the PS2 versions will be much, much cheaper. Especially factoring in that PS2/Wii/PC games are $10 less a copy than 360/PS3 games. That sort of counts for something.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[bigstrat2003]

I know you didn't claim that your opinion on Halo was anything else, my point was that your (highly minority) opinion isn't really cause to say that Halo 3 isn't a good reason to buy a 360 in general, which is what you seem to be claiming.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Criterion]

I feel truly sad for anyone that has not played Star Control 2. Maybe you should try it and then you can judge whether Mass Effect did a good job of copying or not ;). Most of the posts I've read by people that have seem to find it... lacking in comparison. I can't judge first hand as I've not played Mass Effect.. I've been interested in it somewhat but now that the similarity to SC2 has been pointed out and I've read more about it I am a bit more eager to check it out, mainly due to how DAMN good SC2 was (right up there in my best games of all time list with XCom).

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Liquidrage]

Then how about my actual post dumb ass. You know the one titled "The 360 has always had good sales" and then starts off:

"At least in the US and Europe. And it's enough, even with bad sales in Japan, to say it has good sales. So this is no surprise.

And it's clearly the best mover of games (please spare me Sport and Play since the opportunity for 3rd parties to have their games inlcuded with the console or a second remote is slim to none) based on sales"

So save your "you couldn't fucking understand I was talking about sales in the 1st part" jackass.

And it wasn't your opinion I had a problem with. You writing "No it doesn't." in response to "good sales" isn't your opinion. It's you being wrong. The facts are the 360 cleans up compared to the other two new consoles in sales of games available on all systems.

And you can bitch about them all you want. Your right. But don't act like everyone agrees with you, because the "sales" show they don't.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[buffer-overflowed]

You might want to you know link to those facts. Just a thought.

Your right

It's you're. Thanks for being a big man and admitting it though.

Re:The 360 has always had good sales

[Liquidrage]

No, it's "your". As in "it's your right to have an opinion". Not, "you are right". Because you're not.

Hell, you want a link. Sure. How about in the games section of /. in a newer story devoted to nothing but sales.

I like games

[pembo13]

But I don't like any of the games you mentioned about and I own a Wii, but keep (fairly) up with gaming news. Does that make me a bad person, an outlier, or is it possible there are a lot of people like me?

Re:I like games

[Blakey Rat]

You don't like ANY of the games on that list? I find that kind of hard to believe. What if the list included the more casual titles, like Viva Pinata?

Re:I like games

[brkello]

None of them? Really? Well, I can't criticize you...we all have our own preferences. Right now there isn't anything compelling to me on the Wii which probably would be read as blasphemy on here. The Wii certainly is an interesting console and I am all for getting more people in to my hobby. I don't quite understand all the fanboyism though. I like that I have a choice...a lot. And that the choices this time are distinct in multiple ways. No matter what you like, you have to admit it is a pretty good time to be a gamer. I am with the GP that the 360 has the games I want the most right now. I am still patiently waiting for a good deal before I get any current gen console (and I still have to beat Oblivion).

Re:I like games

[Anonymous Coward]

Does that make me a bad person, an outlier, or is it possible there are a lot of people like me? Uh, all it means is you don't like those games.

Are you fishing for validation because you like unconventional games?

Re:I like games

[Anonymous Coward]

here's my impression of you:
"hey look at me ive bought into nintendo's lies about a revolution and bought myself the gamecube that comes with a mouse and tiny keyboard, im apparently 90 years old and enjoy fast-paced short attention span mini-games"

cut the bullshit and just enjoy the games you self righteous idiot, im really tired of you people

Re:I like games

[Anonymous Coward]

This would be a compelling argument if the 360 had any games.

Re:Just how much of that 5mil in sales...

[twistedsymphony]

Just how much of that 5mil in sales... ...is accounted to scratched disks?

probably none since MS offered free replacement of effected discs and that doesn't get counted in sales figures.

Re:Just how much of that 5mil in sales...

[vux984]

Actually, if you return a scratched disc to the store where you bought it and exchange it for a replacement, it often counts as a sale of a new copy on the books and in the stats. (Most retail exchanges of defective merchandise are processed as a return and new sale.

In theory the people that track and publish sales -can- also track returns / exchanges, but don't reliably. its twice as much work, and its usually just statistical noise anyways.

Unless there is a systemic problem... like rrods, or halo3 scratched discs its not worth the effort tracking returns/exchanges. And in those cases sales figure get inflated.

Speaking of rrods, it would be interesting to know how many of THOSE replacements got counted as new sales as well. If you got your replacement from MS it wouldn't be... but if you just took it back to best-buy or whatever it probably *was*.

Compare to Guitar Hero III for context

[brokeninside]

if you total all the versions of Guitar Hero 3 together the game sold over 1 million units--and many of those were the more expensive bundle with guitar--in only a week. So says Ars Technica

Also, note that the latest version of Madden NFL is in the same ballpark for number of units sold as Halo if you count all versions of Madden.

Re:Compare to Guitar Hero III for context

[darkrowan]

Right, but how many 'versions' are there of Madden, vs only 3 Halos. Apples, meet Oranges.

Re:Compare to Guitar Hero III for context

[Frenchy_2001]

I think he is talking about adding Madden on all the platforms for one year.
Halo is an exclusive, so all the sales will be on one platform, while a game like madden gets its sales split up between 4 platforms.

Re:Compare to Guitar Hero III for context

[IKnwThePiecesFt]

I'm pretty sure he meant "all versions" in the context of "Madden '08 for X360, PS3, etc" not "Every Madden game ever produced"

Re:Just how much of that 5mil in sales...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually no it doesn't as MS ship them free replacement discs. unless the store is stupid enough to eat the cost (which I know the one I work at isn't), then none of the damaged disc returns are included in the numbers (not to mention even scratch replacements are only a very tiny fraction of discs anyway)

Re:Astroturfing?

[Liquidrage]

There's tons of Wii stories that have been on the site. Almost all positive. It's not /.'s fault the 360 is a good system that has done well. And since /. isn't based out of Japan, there really isn't much of a reason for a lot of PS3 stories.

Why are there more iPod stories then Zen stories? Hmmm, not hard to figure out.

Re:Just how much of that 5mil in sales...

[vux984]

Actually no it doesn't as MS ship them free replacement discs.

Irrelevant. If I take the disc back to the store to exchange it, and the store exchanges it with regular stock, it may count as a sale.

unless the store is stupid enough to eat the cost (which I know the one I work at isn't),

Why would they eat the cost? Of course they'll still send in a claim for replacement discs to microsoft.

Then none of the damaged disc returns are included in the numbers

Depends entirely how 'the numbers' are computed.

If the store just forwards the number of discs that went out over the counter then it will. How many stores go to the trouble of subtracting returns/exchanges from that number? Some do. Some don't.

(not to mention even scratch replacements are only a very tiny fraction of discs anyway)

Right. Like I said, normally its just statistical noise. But if there is a systemic problem like rrods or scratched halo discs, and that number of exchanges climbs from 1:10000 to 1:100 suddenly a game that sold 5 million, might only have sold 4.95 million.

may I add...

[juanfgs]

movie at 11.

Re:Just how much of that 5mil in sales...

[Anonymous Coward]

Irrelevant. If I take the disc back to the store to exchange it, and the store exchanges it with regular stock, it may count as a sale.

Then the store gets slammed by the IRS for accounting fraud. If you take a product (disc) back to the store to exchange it, and the store marks it as a sale, thats illegal. First of all, theres no sale. Its an exchange for an equal product. Secondly, you (the store) get an equal product back so unless the product is damaged there is no net change in assets. Third, IF the product is damaged then it counts as a LOSS since it has to be written off as damaged merchandise and either disposed of, repaired or replaced.