MC 2008-12-15 and Famitsu 2008-12-08: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 210 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 157.9 weeks (March 8, 2003), where DS was at 93.2 weeks (September 11, 2006), and where GBA was at 143.0 weeks (December 14, 2003).

X360 comparisons: After 158 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 15.3 weeks (December 25, 2001), where PS3 was at 21.8 weeks (April 6, 2007), and where Wii was at 4.3 weeks (December 26, 2006).

PS3 comparisons: After 110 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 25.6 weeks (August 24, 2000), where PSP was at 55.3 weeks (December 27, 2005), where GCN was at 114.5 weeks (November 20, 2003), and where Wii was at 27.2 weeks (June 5, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 107 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 91.7 weeks (December 20, 2002), where DS was at 72.4 weeks (April 18, 2006), where PS2 was at 103.9 weeks (February 23, 2002), and where PSP was at 158.0 weeks (December 16, 2007).

DSi comparisons: After 7 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 10.3 weeks (April 22, 2003), and where DSL was at 6.9 weeks (April 15, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 63.5 / 36.5 bring total shares to 69.0 / 31.0. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 93.9 weeks (October 9, 2010).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 24.8 / 75.2 bring total shares to 24.1 / 75.9. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 136.3 weeks (August 3, 2011).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 23.0 / 77.0 bring total shares to 26.0 / 74.0. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 121.8 weeks (April 23, 2011).


Week over week the big improvers are DS, PSP, and Wii; with PSP and Wii switching places from last week.

Are PS2's 10K hardware days finally over? It has done so a few times this year, but is now failing to do so in the peak of the holiday season and doing far worse than the year before.


GCN and PS3 get compared a lot, and now their third year numbers are looking pretty similar. This is a turnaround from earlier in the year, where PS3 got an early lead and kept it with things like the MGS4 spike. However, GCN was a bit of a holiday machine and is making up ground FAST in the last weeks of the year. Unless PS3 hits 91K next week (more than a doubling of this week's sales), it falls behind.




Famitsu Software Stuff
Animal Crossing City Folk (3281) continues its previous trend of both failing to keep up with Wild World (95) while still doing much better than previous console releases. It should soon be the #1 console version.


Inazuma Eleven fell off the charts, but has returned with legs showing.


Pokémon Platinum joins the 2 million club. It also apparently passes up Pokémon Emerald on the charts, though since Emerald's last update was 2007's Top 500 list its number is out of date.


New software group: Taiko no Tatsujin
Among known numbers, Taiko no Tatsujin Wii's (3314) first week gives it rank 9 of 15. At 115K, it's the best first week of the series since... actually, ever, it appears.

Media Create Sales: 12/15 - 12/21 (Hardware)

HARDWARE
DSi 204,100
PSP 146,000
Wii 131,000
DSL 50,300
PS3 39,100
X360 12,900
PS2 8,700

Stay right here for all the latest charts, coming later tonight!

FIFA 09 Scores the Winning Goal in UK; Resistance 2 Slips to 30th

UK - FIFA 09 kicked itself into first place just before the Christmas holiday according to GfK Chart-Track's Software Charts for the week ending December 20th.

After sitting in the top 5 for several weeks, it was able to finally pass Call of Duty: World of War, which held on to the spot for eight weeks.

Nintendo has a strong presense in the top ten with Mario Kart Wii holding onto third, Wii Play sitting in sixth, the DS phenom Professor Layton debuts at eighth, and Wii Fit coming in at tenth.

Sony's LittleBigPlanet remains steady at fifteenth, but Resistance 2 slips another four spots to thirtieth.

Top 40 Software
01. FIFA 09
02. CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR
03. MARIO KART WII
04. NEED FOR SPEED: UNDERCOVER
05. DR KAWASHIMA'S BRAIN TRAINING
06. WII PLAY
07. QUANTUM OF SOLACE
08. PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE
09. TOMB RAIDER: UNDERWORLD
10. WII FIT
11. GUITAR HERO: WORLD TOUR
12. MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES
13. LEGO INDIANA JONES: ORIGINAL ADVENTURES
14. FALLOUT 3
15. LITTLEBIGPLANET
16. PRINCE OF PERSIA
17. FAR CRY 2
18. CARNIVAL: FUNFAIR GAMES
19. LEGO BATMAN: THE VIDEOGAME
20. SONIC UNLEASHED
21. GEARS OF WAR 2
22. KUNG FU PANDA
23. GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS: THE VIDEOGAME
24. MORE BRAIN TRAINING FROM DR KAWASHIMA
25. SINGSTAR ABBA
26. PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2009
27. RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS TV PARTY
28. WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2009
29. STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED
30. RESISTANCE 2
31. WII MUSIC
32. ANIMAL CROSSING: LET'S GO TO THE CITY
33. SHAUN WHITE SNOWBOARDING
34. FOOTBALL MANAGER 2009
35. MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA
36. MIRROR'S EDGE
37. WALL-E
38. LIPS
39. GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
40. NINTENDOGS: LAB & FRIENDS

PSP Loses Further Ground to DS; Now Behind in 2008 Totals

Japan - After putting together its best year ever in 2008, the PSP is now losing the yearly hardware total battle in the eleventh hour.

The PSP outsold the DS almost every week from February until August, but the release of the DSi has the Sony handheld back on its heels. The strong move by PSP came after the release of Monster Hunter 2G, which helped it take back around 5% market share in 2008, from 26.1% to where it sits now at 31.06%.

Now the PSP has been outsold seven weeks in a row and sits just behind the DS in 2008 hardware sales (3,428k vs 3,447k).

As Sony is dealing with tough numbers in nearly every territory, is this another blow to the giant of last-gen? Or should Sony be content that it has any marke share in the hanheld arena? With the release of Dissidia for the PSP next week, we're certainly look at a close finish to 2008, a defining year for the PSP that may just be a little bittersweet in the end.

Japan: Holiday Console Sales Down 34% From 2007

Japan - This is typically the one time per year that console manufacturers can look forward to significantly increased hardware sales, but 2008's holiday season in Japan has been a disappointment (so far).

Combined, all three have seen a 33.76% drop in sales in similar time periods* from 2008 compared to 2007 holiday seasons.

Sony has seen the biggest drop, selling 200k PS3s in the same time it sold 340k last year, a 40.68% drop. Nintendo has also seen a significant drop in sales, selling 360k Wii systems compared to 576k in 2007, 37.76% less than 2007 totals.

The lone bright spot isn't much of a consolation prize, though. Microsoft has sold 91k units in 2008 compared to 68k in 2007, both numbers considerably lower than its competitors. Still, small victories that show growth in a difficult territory have to be an encouraging sign to Microsoft.

(click to enlarge)

*Notes:
1. Comparison of "2007 vs 2008 Holiday-Heightened Sales" uses Media Create sales data 10/15/07 -12/10/07 and is a comparison of like weeks to Media Create sales data 10/13/08-12/08/08.

2. By "holiday heightened sales" Chart Get! does not suggest that Japanese people celebrate Christmas, although a growing number are participating. Rather, this time period generally reflects a sharp and extended upswing in sales for all systems and software.

Japan: Nintendo Takes More than 59% of Total Market Share for 7th Week In A Row

Japan: The latest hardware data has been released and Nintendo has taken 59% total market share or better for the seventh week in a row. DSi (173k) and DSL (31k) combine to sell two hundred thousand, and the Wii (91.6k) vaulted to almost one hundred thousand units.

Sony's three systems all had modest gains from the previous week, with the PSP hitting 71.k and the PS3 hitting 33.7k, and the not-yet-forgotten PS2 still selling more than 6k.

The 360 brings in the rear for this-gen hardware at 11.8k.

Hardware | This Week | Last Week | Last 4 Weeks |    YTD    |    LTD    
DS+      |   204,813 |   138,800 |      565,072 | 3,447,039 | 24,620,093
PSP      |    71,540 |    54,800 |      242,656 | 3,428,322 | 11,093,399
WII      |    91,641 |    56,700 |      233,487 | 2,596,804 |  7,212,943
PS3      |    33,688 |    30,300 |      116,402 |   895,663 |  2,537,339
360      |    11,797 |    10,000 |       48,694 |   296,184 |    804,629
PS2      |     6,659 |     5,700 |       23,268 |   453,380 | 21,380,420

NINTENDOMINATION: Media Create Sales: 12/08 - 12/14 (Software)

Japan - Nintendomination. That would be the word for what Nintendo has done to the Media Create software charts this week; every title in the top ten is on a Nintendo platform and seven of them are published by Nintendo/Pokemon.

It gets better (or worse if you're not working Nintendo systems right now). Seven of the top ten titles have sold more than half a million units, and four of those have already sold more than a million!

Just looking at the LTDs for the top ten this week is a mind-boggling affair: it represents over 10.4 MILLION units of software sold on Nintendo platforms, and all of them games that have been out for a year or less. That is staggering.

Software:
01. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Namco Bandai) 105,900 / NEW
02. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) 97,700 / 587,000
03. [NDS] Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe (Nintendo) 94,500 / 629,400
04. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode (Nintendo) 63,100 / 341,700
05. [NDS] Penguin no Mondai: Saikyou Penguin Densetsu! (Konami) 59,000 / NEW
06. [NDS] Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel (Level 5) 57,600 / 492,000
07. [NDS] Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon) 57,500 / 2,066,300
08. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo) 45,200 / 1,289,400
09. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 43,000 / 2,916,900
10. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) 34,300 / 1,938,400

11. [PS3] Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami)
12. [PS2] Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World (Namco Bandai)
13. [NDS] Tamagotchi Star School (Namco Bandai)
14. [WII] Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat Wii (Nintendo)
15. [NDS] Chrono Trigger DS (Square Enix)
16. [WII] Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes (Capcom) 24,100 / NEW
17. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III (SCE)
18. [NDS] Tongariboushi and the 365 Days of Magic (Konami)
19. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (Capcom)
20. [NDS] Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo)
21. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo)
22. [PSP] Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin (KOEI)
23. [PSP] Kenka Banchou 3: Zenkoku Seiha (Spike)
24. [WII] Wii Music (Nintendo)
25. [PSP] Gundam vs. Gundam (Namco Bandai)
26. [WII] 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de (SEGA)
27. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo)
28. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
29. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven (Level 5)
30. [NDS] Taiko Drum Master 2: The Seven Island Adventure (Namco Bandai)

Notes and questions for consumption:
1. Pokemon Platinum recently crossed 2 million.

2. Wii Fit is quickly closing in on 3 million sold.

3. Rhythm Tengoku Gold has not-so-quietly been one of the best selling games this year. Interesting counterpoint to Wii Music.

4. Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel will certainly pass 500k next week. Third in the series and almost guaranteed to get yet another sequel. If you were Level 5, would you attempt this formula on a different system like the Wii?

5. Wagamama Fashion looks like the next in line of offbeat hits for Nintendo. Between this and their other titles targeted towards the fairer sex, is there any question who owns that mindshare?


Famitsu Charts:

(click to enlarge)

*please note that Famitsu charts are based on data one week older than this week's Media Create data, but for visual purposes function exactly the same.*

Wii Cuts Deeply into HD Lead; Will 360 and PS3 Lose Grip on 3rd Party Exclusives?

US - Nintendo continued its console dominance with a shocking sales total of 2.04 million systems sold in November. At the same time, the Wii made major gains against the combined force of HD systems 360 and PS3.

After a full year on sale in November 2007, it appeared the HD systems would fend off the sensational sales of the Wii with landmark sales of their own.

As both the 360 and the PS3 shared an extremely common library outside of several marquis exclusives, one could observe the strategy of 3rd parties favoring the higher-powered systems with multi-platform hardcore titles while pushing sub-standard shovelware onto the Wii audience.

And you could see why, too. The audience for the HD systems is clearly an older set than what many presume the Mario Kart audience is, and most 3rd parties are still marketing primarily to the older group.

Beyond that, the combined total of the 360 and PS3 in the US outpaced the Wii by almost five and half million as late as March of this year (60% market share). With the difference in audience, HD system's sales lead, and more viable options for after-the-purchase revenue streams (DLC), 3rd parties really haven't had a choice.

This month does not erase everything, but it certainly will raise the eyebrows of 3rd parties that haven't yet taken the Wii audience seriously. In the past eight months the Wii has lowered the HD lead by two-and-a-quarter million units, a million of that in the last month alone. How 3rd parties respond to that, or if they do at all, remains to be seen.

Questions for consumption down below.

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Questions for Consumption
1. Will Wii LTD ever pass the combined total of the HD systems in the US? When? Does it matter?

2. Will Japanese 3rd party exclusives like Monster Hunter 3 and Dragon Quest X significantly alter the race in the United States?

3. Wii Western Publishers see the significant Japanese exclusives and return volley with their own?

4. Will the certain addition of jRPG-enthusiasts from MH3 and DQX mean even more jRPGs for the Wii?

5. Considering the current Western 3rd party struggles on the Wii as well as the acknowledged difference in audience, is the Wii a viable option for 3rd parties to publish traditional harder-core games?

PS3 and PSP Sales Down; DS Still White Hot

Japan - This time of year is always the biggest for hardware manufacturers, and that continues to hold true for Nintendo. The sizzling-hot DS and Wii brands improve upon week-over-week sales for the 4th and 5th week in a row respectively, with the DS weighing in at 139k and the Wii landing at 57k for the week. Nintendo took a combined 65.98% of all hardware sales this week.

Sony is struggling to see the same returns, with both the PSP and the PS3 down slightly from the previous week. Clearly a concern for any hardware manufacturer, Sony's PSP is down for the 3rd week in a row in what is supposed to be the busiest time of year. The PS3, a known quantity at this point, is doing its best to keep its head above water and maintain slightly elevated seasonal sales.


Hardware
DSi 126,700
PSP 54,800
Wii 56,700
PS3 30,300
DSL 12,100
360 10,000
PS2 5,700

Hardware | This Week | Last Week | Last 4 Weeks |    YTD    |    LTD
DS+      |   138,800 |   114,036 |      449,145 | 3,242,226 | 24,415,280
WII      |    56,700 |    49,848 |      168,633 | 2,505,163 |  7,121,302
PSP      |    54,800 |    55,090 |      209,269 | 3,356,782 | 11,021,859
PS3      |    30,300 |    34,978 |      100,162 |   861,975 |  2,503,651
360      |    10,000 |    11,423 |       44,880 |   284,387 |    792,832
PS2      |     5,700 |     5,628 |       22,030 |   446,721 | 21,373,761

Editor's Note:
Hey hey! I'm back. I will be publishing the last 3-4 days of data and charts, so stay right here for full charts for Japan and the US.

I have a couple other things coming down the pipe that should be quite exciting both for you the reader and for the growth of Chart Get! We look forward to various improvements as the coming weeks pass and as always, your feedback is appreciated. Hit me up any time at chartget.pl@gmail.com .