MC 2009-07-20 and Famitsu 2009-07-13: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 241 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 194.3 weeks (November 18, 2003), where DS was at 103.1 weeks (November 20, 2006), and where GBA was at 162.5 weeks (April 29, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 189 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.7 weeks (January 11, 2002), where PS3 was at 39.3 weeks (August 7, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.7 weeks (January 5, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 141 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 47.3 weeks (January 23, 2001), where PSP was at 70.1 weeks (April 10, 2006), where GCN was at 130.7 weeks (March 12, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.3 weeks (August 7, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 138 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.7 weeks (February 14, 2003), where DS was at 77.5 weeks (May 24, 2006), where PS2 was at 118.2 weeks (June 3, 2002), and where PSP was at 168.9 weeks (March 1, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 38 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 52.3 weeks (February 10, 2004) and where DSL was at 19.2 weeks (July 10, 2006).

So DSi has passed what GBASP did in its first full year with 14 weeks to spare. Clearly DSi is a more successful reiteration of hardware than GBASP, but also clearly not the giant DS Lite was.

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 75.2 / 24.8 bring total shares to 68.4 / 31.6. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 477.9 weeks (September 23, 2018).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 25.5 / 74.5 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 706.8 weeks (February 11, 2023).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 27.3 / 72.7 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 549.3 weeks (February 4, 2020).

Week over week, there's no uniformity or real pattern to the ups and down.

Through the first thirty weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -61.8%
DSL+DSi: +11.9%
PS2: -51.9%
PS3: +4.8%
PSP: -46.6%
X360: +171.5%

Home hardware: -39.4%
Portable hardware: -21.3%
Sum of all hardware: -28.6%

Last year:


This year:


With YTD sales of 245K by Media Create, X360 could stop now and still have its second best year yet. #1 is 2008 at 322K.



Famitsu Software Stuff

In its second week Dragon Quest IX continues outpacing Dragon Quest VIII, though at 2.95 million it narrowly misses 3 million. Though not pictured here, it's worth noting that through week two Dragon Quest VII was at 2.93 million.


After its first week, Dragon Quest IX became the DS's #8 title. After its second week, it is #7, passing Pokémon Platinum. Everything else is currently at 3.4-5.7 million, so further passing will be slow-going.


PSP's Ys I & II Chronicles starts off well, matching the better two PS2 Ys starts. I'm not finding any other Ys games in Garaph. I specifically looked for the DS release of I & II, but it appears so far that has only released in North America.


In some sort of sales turkey, Momotarou Dentetsu 20th Anniversary has ranked #30 for three weeks in a row.

THQ Reports Record $6.4 Million Profit from UFC 2009 Undisputed

Following the success of UFC 2009 Undisputed, THQ has posted a $6.4 million Q1 profit. The addition of Red Faction: Guerrilla to its core lineup of games has helped boost net sales up 77 percent to $243.5 million.

With its cut-cutting measures in recent years, including trimming studio personnel and overhead, THQ has started to rise from financial trouble to a potential profitable year at last.

THQ CEO Brian Farrell acknowledged the company’s global employees, citing their “hard work and dedication” as a key to THQ’s success.

Source: Gamasutra

UK - Wii Sports Resort Debuts at Number One

Following the premiere of the Wii MotionPlus controller this summer, Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort, which fully utilizes the technology, has taken first place on the UK software sales chart.

EA remains strong with Harry Potter in second (sales down 4%), and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 in third (sales down 3%).

Wii franchises have sold well; Wii Fit is at number four with just a 3% increase in sales. Fight Night Round 4 saw its sales decline 24%, dropping it to 6th place.

Other Wii titles that utilize MotionPlus technology could see an increase in sales in the near future, including Virtua Tennis 2009 in 13th place, and Grand Slam Tennis in 25th.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Wii Sports Resort – Nintendo
2. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – EA
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
6. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
7. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
8. The Sims 3 – EA
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
10. EA Sports Active – EA

11. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
12. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
13. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
14. FIFA 09 – EA
15. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
16. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
17. Wii Play – Nintendo
18. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
19. Pokémon Platinum – Nintendo
20. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard

21. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
22. Race Driver: Grid – Codemasters
23. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
24. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
25. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
26. Infamous – Sony
27. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
28. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
29. Transformers: Revenge – Autobots – Activision Blizzard
30. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega

31. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney
32. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony
33. Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite – Capcom
34. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
35. My Fitness Coach: Get In Shape – Ubisoft
36. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – Activision Blizzard
37. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
38. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
39. Mystery Stories – GSP/Avanquest
40. New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo

MC 2009-07-13 and Famitsu 2009-07-06: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 240 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 193.9 weeks (November 15, 2003), where DS was at 102.9 weeks (November 18, 2006), and where GBA was at 162.1 weeks (April 26, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 188 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.6 weeks (January 10, 2002), where PS3 was at 39.2 weeks (August 6, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.7 weeks (January 5, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 140 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 47.1 weeks (January 22, 2001), where PSP was at 69.8 weeks (April 8, 2006), where GCN was at 130.1 weeks (March 7, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.2 weeks (August 6, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 137 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.6 weeks (February 13, 2003), where DS was at 77.4 weeks (May 24, 2006), where PS2 was at 117.8 weeks (June 1, 2002), and where PSP was at 168.7 weeks (February 29, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 37 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 50.6 weeks (January 29, 2004) and where DSL was at 18.3 weeks (July 4, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 81.6 / 18.4 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 603.9 weeks (February 14, 2021).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 24.6 / 75.4 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 748.9 weeks (November 26, 2023).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 29.9 / 70.1 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 555.8 weeks (March 14, 2020).

Week over week, DS is down about 20%, everything else down about 10%.

Through the first twenty-nine weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -62.2%
DSL+DSi: +10.3%
PS2: -51.5%
PS3: +5.2%
PSP: -46.4%
X360: +183.6%

Home hardware: -39.4%
Portable hardware: -21.9%
Sum of all hardware: -29.0%

Last year:


This year:



Famitsu Software Stuff

Of course the big release this week is Dragon Quest IX. Though the only other new mainline Dragon Quest in Garaph is VIII, take my word that it had the biggest first week of the series. The biggest week of ANY game only available for two days in a week. So it's pretty impressive to see IX beat it by about 100K, even if that doesn't look like much on the scale of this image.

Final Fantasy VIII with its 2.5 million is still the greatest first week overall, but like most games FFVIII was available for four days its first week.

DS has some incredible selling games and there's no guarantee Dragon Quest IX will reach 5 million territory as some of them have, it's still pretty interesting to see the difference in how quickly it starts. With its first week DQ IX became the #8 game on DS by lifetime sales; here it is compared to the games above it.

The closest any game gets to starting like DQ IX is #1 Diamond/Pearl, but even after three weeks it was still a little short of DQ IX's first week.

Its first week also makes it the #15 overall game in the PS2/GBA/GCN/Xbox/DS/PSP/X360/Wii era Garaph properly covers, though I'll leave it to you to follow the link and see all 2+ million sellers if you wish. It is most interesting to note that it beats out the final totals of Final Fantasy X and XII, though that doesn't include any budget or international rereleases.

I usually don't show the Famitsu Top 30 software bar, but this week's is particularly amusing.


Moving away from Dragon Quest...

PSP's Boku no Natsuyasumi 4 (3629) beats out the last known total of PS3's Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 (4).


Though this news would've been more appropriate a few weeks ago, it's been brought to my attention that Kirby Super Star Ultra has apparently become the best selling Kirby on DS, passing up Kirby Squeak Squad. It's possible Squeak Squad is still a little ahead, but considering it averaged about 1K/week throughout 2008, it won't be by the time we get another update on it--if we ever do.

The only better-selling Kirby games are the original two early 1990s Game Boy games, which reached about 1.5 million each.

New Super Mario Bros. and Inazuma Eleven are friends. This week thanks to the DS bump they're sitting next to each other on the Top 30, at #27 and #28. Last week they were sitting together at #36 and #37. The week before they were sitting together at #49 and #50.

Famitsu Software Pie note: Thanks to Dragon Quest IX, DS takes a monstrous percentage of total software sales, resulting in low percents for everything else, include a record low for PS2. DS's weekly percentage is actually a record high for any system since Famitsu started giving percentages that cover the whole market and not just the Top 30.

DS:   88.8
Wii:   5.1
PSP:   3.5
PS3:   1.4
PS2:   0.8
X360:  0.4
Other: 0.1

Sam Raimi to Direct Upcoming Warcraft Film

Academy-Award winning director Sam Raimi has been confirmed to direct the upcoming movie based on the popular MMO Warcraft, gamesindustry.biz reported today.

Raimi, best known for his work on the Spider-Man trilogy, will be working alongside Charles Roven of Atlas Entertainment. Atlas has brought numerous successful films to the public, including The Dark Knight. Raimi and Roven will bring a plethora of producing partners to the film, with several from Blizzard Entertainment.

Legendary Pictures plans to release the film, although specific dates, as well as casting choices, are currently unknown.

UK - EA Commands Top 10 as Harry Potter Takes 1st

With the theatrical release of Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, sales of the EA game rose by 5%, helping boost yet another of the publisher’s titles to number one on the UK Software Chart.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10, the frontrunner last week, saw its sales decline by 20% as it dropped to number 3, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen rose to 2nd. EA now commands virtually every other title in the Top 10.

Fight Night Round 4 lost nearly one-third of sales last week, dropping from 2nd place to 5th. In 9th place, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare continues to outsell the newer Call of Duty: World at War.

Notably, sales of Rhythm Paradise increased an astonishing 96%, boosted by a recent commercial featuring Beyonce.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10 – EA
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
6. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
7. The Sims 3 – EA
8. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
10. EA Sports Active – EA

11. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
12. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
13. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard
14. FIFA 09 – EA
15. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
16. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
17. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
18. Wii Play – Nintendo
19. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
20. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard

21. Rhythm Paradise – Nintendo
22. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
23. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
24. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
25. Infamous – Sony
26. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony
27. Buzz! Master Quiz – Sony
28. Overlord II – Codesmasters
29. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
30. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ

31. Transformers: Revenge – Autobots – Activision Blizzard
32. Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits – Activision Blizzard
33. Singstar Singalong with Disney – Sony
34. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosuars – Activision Blizzard
35. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
36. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
37. MySims Racing – EA
38. My Fitness Coach: Get In Shape – Ubisoft
39. Fallout 3: Game Add-On Pack – Bethesda Softworks
40. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training - Nintendo

MC 2009-07-06 and Famitsu 2009-06-29: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 239 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 193.3 weeks (November 11, 2003), where DS was at 102.7 weeks (November 17, 2006), and where GBA was at 161.6 weeks (April 22, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 187 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.5 weeks (January 10, 2002), where PS3 was at 39.1 weeks (August 5, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.7 weeks (January 5, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 139 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 46.8 weeks (January 19, 2001), where PSP was at 69.5 weeks (April 6, 2006), where GCN was at 128.9 weeks (February 29, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.1 weeks (August 5, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 136 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.4 weeks (February 12, 2003), where DS was at 77.3 weeks (May 23, 2006), where PS2 was at 117.4 weeks (May 29, 2002), and where PSP was at 168.4 weeks (February 27, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 36 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 47.8 weeks (January 9, 2004) and where DSL was at 17.4 weeks (June 28, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 82.9 / 17.1 are the best DS has done relative to PSP since the PSP un-bump the week before Crisis Core/PSP-2000 hit. This brings total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 544.4 weeks (December 19, 2019).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 26.6 / 73.5 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 608.0 weeks (March 7, 2021).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 30.8 / 69.2 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 498.3 weeks (January 29, 2019).

Week over week, DS is way up and everything else is down.

PS3 and PSP in particular have some long term downs. To find a lower month for either you'd need go back to October 2008.


Through the first twenty-seven weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -62.5%
DSL+DSi: +7.6%
PS2: -51.0%
PS3: +5.7%
PSP: -45.7%
X360: +194.8%

Home hardware: -39.2%
Portable hardware: -22.7%
Sum of all hardware: -29.5%

Last year:


This year:


Looking at these YTD pies, we can see that now both Wii and PSP are down more than a million units from last year.


Famitsu Software Stuff

Wii Sports Resort's second week brings it over 500K, and pushes the Wii Sports series over 4 million.


Wii Sports Resort also passes up RE5 PS3 and Yakuza 3 to become the best-selling console game of the year. It's interesting to note how similar all of their first weeks are, but obviously WSR is less front-loaded.


Boku no Natsuyasumi 4 (3629) starts off slower than PS2's BnN2 (926) did in 2002, but does about double what PSP's BnN Portable (344) did in its first week in 2006 or what PS3's BnN3 (4) did in 2007.


Once again, Infinite Space sees a week-over-week increase.


With one more week of numbers past the mid-2009 Top 100, the DS and Wii Taiko no Tatsujin games seal the #2-4 positions in the franchise, all in the 580sK. Another interesting franchise event that looks likely to happen soon is Taiko Wii (3314) ceasing to be the fastest-selling Taiko game from launch. While its legs have been impressive, the original PS2 game (939) was even less front-loaded.


Pokémon Platinum has poked back into the charts recently, so seeing it again this week is no surprise. What is more of a surprise is that Pokémon Diamond/Pearl also popped back into the Top 30 for its first appearance since September 2008. It was also in last week's mid-2009 Top 100, though, so this doesn't update its number much beyond what we already knew.



Famitsu Software Pie note: A rare week of near-parity among the top three software selling platforms, though with two new games sitting at #2 and #3 this week PSP takes the top spot for the first time since the release of Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 in January.

PSP:  30.3
DS:   29.2
Wii:  27.8
PS3:   7.1
PS2:   3.4
X360:  2.0
Other: 0.2

UK - Tiger Woods Fights to the Top as EA Pushes for Top 3 Dominance

With the critical and commercial success of Fight Night Round 4, other new releases like Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen have yet to claim the top spot on the UK Top 40 Software Chart. This week, the latest iteration of the Tiger Woods franchise has fought its way number 1, with sales down just one percent.


EA Sports, continuing its dominance of the charts, has seen sales of Fight Night Round 4 plummet 45% this past week, but the seminal boxing title managed to edge out Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (sales down just 2%).

Notably, the latest Harry Potter game has seen a 73% increase in sales, which could catapult EA to command of the top 3 spots, something which Nintendo has been doing frequently.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is still going strong, as it comes back to the top 10 with a 10% increase in sales.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10 – EA
2. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
4. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA
5. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
6. Wii Fit – Nintendo
7. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
8. The Sims 3 – EA
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
10. [Prototype] – Activision Blizzard

11. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
12. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
13. EA Sports Active – EA
14. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
15. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
16. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
17. FIFA 09 – EA
18. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo
19. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
20. Wii Play – Nintendo

21. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
22. Fallout 3: Game Add-On Pack – Bethesda Softworks
23. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
24. Infamous – Sony
25. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony
26. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
27. Buzz! Master Quiz – Sony
28. Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits – Activision Blizzard
29. The Conduit – Sega
30. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2

31. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – Activision Blizzard
32. Mario Kart DS – Nintendo
33. Overlord II – Codemasters
34. Transformers: Revenge – Autobots – Activision Blizzard
35. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings – LucasArts
36. My Fitness Coach: Get In Shape – Ubisoft
37. Football Manager 2009 – Sega
38. Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite – Capcom
39. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
40. MySims Racing - EA

MC 2009-06-29 and Famitsu 2009-06-22: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 238 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 192.1 weeks (November 3, 2003), where DS was at 102.4 weeks (November 15, 2006), and where GBA was at 160.9 weeks (April 17, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 186 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.4 weeks (January 9, 2002), where PS3 was at 38.8 weeks (August 4, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.6 weeks (January 4, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 138 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 46.3 weeks (January 16, 2001), where PSP was at 69.2 weeks (April 3, 2006), where GCN was at 127.8 weeks (February 20, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.9 weeks (August 4, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 135 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.3 weeks (February 11, 2003), where DS was at 77.3 weeks (May 23, 2006), where PS2 was at 117.0 weeks (May 26, 2002), and where PSP was at 168.1 weeks (February 25, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 35 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 47.0 weeks (January 4, 2004) and where DSL was at 17.1 weeks (June 26, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 62.3 / 37.7 bring total shares to 68.2 / 31.8. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 436.6 weeks (November 16, 2017).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 34.4 / 65.6 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 367.4 weeks (July 20, 2016).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 31.0 / 69.0 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 437.9 weeks (November 26, 2017).

Week over week, everything is a little up except PS3.

Through the first twenty-seven weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -62.9%
DSL+DSi: +3.0%
PS2: -50.5%
PS3: +6.3%
PSP: -45.5%
X360: +204.7%

Home hardware: -39.1%
Portable hardware: -24.6%
Sum of all hardware: -30.6%

Last year:


This year:



Famitsu Software Stuff

Of course the big game of the week is Wii Sports Resort.

It (3615) has the biggest start of any "Wii" game yet. You can tell here that most of them had fewer days of availability on their first week, but the only one which is higher even through week two is Wii Fit (2674).


This also pushes the series as a whole past 10 million units.


BlazBlue did surprisingly well for a 2D fighter. It's something of a successor to Guilty Gear, and with combined PS3/X360 sales of 48K had a better first week than any Guilty Gear since 2002's PS2 Guilty Gear XX.

With so many new games this week, there was only one return from off the chart. Infinite Space went from being #1 to #39 back to #22. Bit of a supply situation there.



Famitsu Software Pie note: Thanks to Wii Sports, this is the first week that Wii has been the #1 software platform since Mario Kart Wii's second week back in April 2008.

UK - Fight Night Round 4 Edges Tiger Woods '10

New titles this week include Tiger Woods PGA Tour '10 and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood.

Rank – Title – Publisher

1. Fight Night Round 4 – EA
2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’10 – EA
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Activision Blizzard
4. Wii Fit – Nintendo
5. UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ
6. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Ubisoft
7. The Sims 3 – EA
8. Prototype – Activision Blizzard
9. Virtua Tennis 2009 – Sega
10. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince – EA

11. Grand Slam Tennis – EA
12. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Activision Blizzard
13. Call of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard
14. EA Sports Active – EA
15. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – Nintendo
16. Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo
17. FIFA 09 – EA
18. Overlord II – Codemasters
19. Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Sony
20. Pokemon Platinum – Nintendo

21. Wii Play – Nintendo
22. Red Faction: Guerrilla – THQ
23. Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits – Activision Blizzard
24. Infamous – Sony
25. Guitar Hero: World Tour – Activision Blizzard
26. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Sega
27. Fallout 3: Game Add-On Pack – Bethesda Softworks
28. Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite – Capcom
29. Guitar Hero: Metallica – Activision Blizzard
30. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings – LucasArts

31. MySims Racing – EA
32. Carnival: Funfair Games – Take 2
33. Sega Superstars Tennis – Sega
34. My Fitness Coach – Ubisoft
35. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires – Koei
36. Grand Theft Auto IV – Take 2
37. Street Fighter IV – Capcom
38. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force – Disney
39. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training – Nintendo
40. Football Manager 2009 - Sega

MC 2009-06-22 and Famitsu 2009-06-15: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 237 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 191.1 weeks (October 26, 2003), where DS was at 102.2 weeks (November 13, 2006), and where GBA was at 160.1 weeks (April 12, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 185 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.3 weeks (January 8, 2002), where PS3 was at 38.6 weeks (August 2, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.6 weeks (January 4, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 137 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 45.9 weeks (January 13, 2001), where PSP was at 68.9 weeks (April 1, 2006), where GCN was at 126.5 weeks (February 12, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.7 weeks (August 3, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 134 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.1 weeks (February 10, 2003), where DS was at 77.2 weeks (May 22, 2006), where PS2 was at 116.6 weeks (May 24, 2002), and where PSP was at 167.7 weeks (February 22, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 34 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 46.8 weeks (January 2, 2004) and where DSL was at 16.8 weeks (June 24, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 62.9 / 37.1 bring total shares to 68.2 / 31.8. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 534.5 weeks (September 26, 2019).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 33.8 / 66.2 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 373.5 weeks (August 25, 2016).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 34.2 / 65.8 are the best Wii has done relative to PS3 since the first week of the year. These bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 432.2 weeks (October 10, 2017).

Week over week, there's no uniformity in up and down, and Wii is the only one to change by more than 10%.

Through the first twenty-six weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.4%
DSL+DSi: +2.6%
PS2: -49.7%
PS3: +7.0%
PSP: -45.6%
X360: +216.7%

Home hardware: -39.1%
Portable hardware: -24.9%
Sum of all hardware: -30.7%

Last year:


This year:



So with Media Create we now have 26 sales weeks of 2009. Usually this would be the clear end of one half of the year, and while 2009 is an odd 53-week year, it's still about as close as we get. So I'm returning to a comparison I did a few times earlier in the year but haven't in a few months. This looks at the first 26 weeks of each DS-and-later system for each year, to see how things are stacking up not just in comparison with each other this year, but with each others in previous years.

DS   2007: 3,971,518
DS   2006: 3,546,051
PSP  2008: 2,135,961
Wii  2007: 1,954,852
Wii  2008: 1,699,410
DS   2009: 1,656,077
DS   2008: 1,613,620
PSP  2009: 1,161,825
PSP  2007: 1,083,147
DS   2005: 1,071,450
PSP  2005: 1,000,071
PSP  2006:   920,939
Wii  2009:   622,169
PS3  2009:   589,937
PS3  2008:   551,318
PS3  2007:   492,931
X360 2009:   229,608
X360 2007:   118,583
X360 2008:    72,509
X360 2006:    56,961

No surprise that DS's craziest two years take the top two spots. X360 takes the bottom spots, and PS3 takes the bottom-except-for-X360 spots. In between those extremes is a mish-mash of PSP, DS, and Wii.

Looking at this year's numbers in particular, we can see that X360 has by far its best start. PS3 has by little its best start. PSP and DS are middling, neither the best or worst among their historical performances. Wii is quite low, not only being the worst Wii start by far, but also the worst first 26 weeks for anything that isn't an HD console.

Famitsu Software Stuff

As the big two leggy games of late 2007/early 2008, it's been noticed that Monster Hunter Portable 2G is slowly catching up to Wii Fit. It was actually ahead at one point, but then its legs slowed down until the Best rerelease. Anyway, as long as I was looking at a couple titles in that range, I noticed there were a few more even older titles in the same area. They show up lower and more infrequently on the charts anymore, so both Mario Kart DS and Wii Sports could end up topped by Wii Fit and Monster Hunter 2G by the end of the year.


Speaking of long-time leggy games, it appears that Taiko no Tatsujin Wii has recently passed up both DS games. However, since they don't show up on a weekly basis but seem to get nice boosts whenever they do show up there or on a large Top X list, it's quite likely they're both actually still ahead. The last time I brought up these three I said it looked like they were going to meet around 600K. Still sounds about right.

MC 2009-06-15 and Famitsu 2009-06-08: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 236 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 190.1 weeks (October 19, 2003), where DS was at 102.0 weeks (November 12, 2006), and where GBA was at 159.4 weeks (April 7, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 184 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.1 weeks (January 7, 2002), where PS3 was at 38.3 weeks (July 31, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.5 weeks (January 4, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 136 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 45.6 weeks (January 11, 2001), where PSP was at 68.6 weeks (March 31, 2006), where GCN was at 125.6 weeks (February 2, 2004), and where Wii was at 35.6 weeks (August 2, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 133 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.0 weeks (February 9, 2003), where DS was at 77.1 weeks (May 22, 2006), where PS2 was at 116.3 weeks (May 21, 2002), and where PSP was at 167.4 weeks (February 20, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 33 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 46.6 weeks (January 1, 2004) and where DSL was at 16.6 weeks (June 22, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 62.3 / 37.7 bring total shares to 68.3 / 31.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 512.8 weeks (April 20, 2019).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 39.4 / 60.6 bring total shares to 24.8 / 75.2. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 319.0 weeks (August 2, 2015).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 34.8 / 65.2 bring total shares to 28.4 / 71.6. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 470.9 weeks (July 1, 2018).

Week over week, everything is slightly up except X360, which is slightly down.

Through the first twenty-five weeks of the year, overall sales are down. However, the systems can be split into camps of 3 up and 3 down. Here's how the year-to-date year-over-year percents stand as of now.

Wii: -63.6%
DSL+DSi: +2.9%
PS2: -49.6%
PS3: +8.5%
PSP: -45.4%
X360: +232.1%

Home hardware: -38.9%
Portable hardware: -24.6%
Sum of all hardware: -30.4%

Last year:


This year:


Famitsu Software Stuff

Monster Hunter G Wii popped back on the charts this week; this is probably the last time. It looks like it should definitely have the juice to do another 12K and pass up the PS2 Monster Hunter G, but with MH3 around the corner I'd say there's pretty much no chance for it to do the additional 56K needed to pass up the original PS2 Monster Hunter, which it fell behind on the third week.


Wii Sports Resort anticipation? This week sees appearances by sometimes-charters Wii Sports (up to 3.52 million now) and Deca Sporta 2 (up to 0.05 million almost).
[quote=HK-47">I dont see why Tales keeps getting brought up as a big title. The best selling Tales game recently was a spinoff on PSP. 200k isnt big if we dont lower standards.[/quote">
In the world of today, 200K is big for a third party game. A game hitting 200K today would be within the top 20 console third party games of the generation, or top 10 for Wii. There's also that a Wii Tales already surpassed 200K with what was clearly not a full-out effort, so with a bigger title and a few million more people to sell to we wonder how much higher it could go. Is PSP really the Tales system now? Or is there still a large market for Tales on a leading home console that just hasn't been properly tapped since a 2005 PS2 original and a 2006 PS2 remake?