MC 2009-08-17 and Famitsu 2009-08-10: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 245 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 196.0 weeks (November 30, 2003), where DS was at 104.0 weeks (November 26, 2006), and where GBA was at 165.7 weeks (May 21, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 193 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 18.2 weeks (January 14, 2002), where PS3 was at 40.0 weeks (August 12, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.8 weeks (January 6, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 145 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 48.0 weeks (January 28, 2001), where PSP was at 71.1 weeks (April 17, 2006), where GCN was at 134.3 weeks (April 6, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.8 weeks (August 10, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 142 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 101.6 weeks (February 27, 2003), where DS was at 78.3 weeks (May 30, 2006), where PS2 was at 122.2 weeks (July 1, 2002), and where PSP was at 172.0 weeks (March 23, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 42 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 58.2 weeks (March 22, 2004) and where DSL was at 20.9 weeks (July 22, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 70.6 / 29.4 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 543.6 weeks (January 24, 2020).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 81.4 / 18.6 make this the most X360-tilted week ever. This brings total shares to 25.2 / 74.8. At this week's rates, X360 catches up to PS3 in 313.6 weeks (August 28, 2015). If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 241.9 weeks (April 13, 2014).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 7.1 / 92.9 make this the most Wii-tilted week ever. This brings total shares to 28.0 / 72.0. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 2,503.1 weeks (August 13, 2057).

Week over week, everything is returning from a holiday bump, though for their own reasons Wii and PS3 drop even more. X360 drops the least and continues floating strangely high.

Through the first thirty-four 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: -54.2%
DSL+DSi: +14.0%
PS2: -52.2%
PS3: +1.8%
PSP: -46.2%
X360: +107.0%

Home hardware: -35.9%
Portable hardware: -19.6%
Sum of all hardware: -26.2%

Last year:


This year:



Famitsu Software Stuff

Freaky-deaky Tomodachi Collection increased its weekly sales AGAIN and AGAIN. This last holiday-bumped week was its biggest yet.


In its sixth week Dragon Quest IX not only continues outpacing Dragon Quest VIII, but has outsold the initial release altogether! Should take another week or two to additionally outdo what DQ VIII sold in Best form. Though not pictured here, it's worth noting that as of week six Dragon Quest IX is back ahead of Dragon Quest VII: 3.62 M to 3.57 M. Thanks to Chris1964 for keeping up with that stat in particular.


Monster Hunter 3's first week put it ahead of the initial PS2 release of Monster Hunter 2. The second week put it ahead of PS2 MH2 combined with its Best release. The third week is just gravy.


Tales of Versus isn't off to a bad start for a modern Tales game, but it's not quite matching up to this year's first PSP Tales hit, either.


Continuing the comparison of decently successful Puyo games from a few weeks back, it looks like DS's Puyo Puyo 7 is behaving a lot like PS2's Puyo Puyo Fever.


Tingle's second outing doesn't start off as well as his first.

MC 2009-08-10: Things of Note

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers... (from the week starting August 10)
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 70.6 / 29.4 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 369.6 weeks (September 16, 2016).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 60.7 / 39.3 bring total shares to 25.0 / 75.0. At this week's rates, X360 catches up to PS3 in 677.2 weeks (August 9, 2022). If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 237.9 weeks (March 9, 2014).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 11.1 / 88.9 bring total shares to 28.1 / 71.9. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 859.9 weeks (February 8, 2026).

Week over week, everything is up, though it's almost unnoticeable for PS2/PS3/Wii. Seems like a holiday bump which these systems have countered by being old/about to be replaced/coming down from another bump.

Through the first thirty-three 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: -54.8%
DSL+DSi: +13.9%
PS2: -52.0%
PS3: +3.0%
PSP: -46.3%
X360: +105.7%

Home hardware: -36.1%
Portable hardware: -19.8%
Sum of all hardware: -26.4%

Last year:


This year:

MC 2009-08-03 and Famitsu 2009-07-27: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
Actually, Famitsu is in the middle of one of their two-week periods, so their website doesn't have them. Next week it will update with the sum of the sales from the two weeks. However, an external site does list the Top 20 software, so there's still plenty from Famitsu to see at the bottom of this post.

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 69.9 / 30.1 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 433.3 weeks (November 28, 2017).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 48.3 / 51.7 bring total shares to 24.9 / 75.1. If PS3 stopped selling and X360 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 301.5 weeks (April 20, 2017).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 11.0 / 89.0 bring total shares to 28.2 / 71.8. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 870.2 weeks (April 4, 2026).

Week over week, Wii returns to Earth, and the biggest other change is that a PS3 drop and X360 gain put them within kissing distance.

Through the first thirty-two 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: -56.0%
DSL+DSi: +13.6%
PS2: -52.0%
PS3: +3.9%
PSP: -46.5%
X360: +110.7%

Home hardware: -36.6%
Portable hardware: -20.3%
Sum of all hardware: -26.9%

Last year:


This year:


You may notice that X360's year-to-date year-over-year is now tanking. Five weeks ago it was over 200%, now it's at 110%. That's because we've reached the time of year when X360 started doing pretty well last year:


PS3 had one of its worst weeks this week. It has has three lower weeks: all during October 2008, immediately preceding a new bundle and Grand Theft Auto IV / Little Big Planet / Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III.


Famitsu Software Stuff

This week's hotness is of course Monster Hunter 3. Though different trackers see things differently, by Famitsu's reckoning in its first two days MH3 became the best-selling single console Monster Hunter SKU.


However, it doesn't beat out PS2 MH2 when combined with its Best rerelease.


It also has a smaller start than the two PSP versions of Monster Hunter 2: MHP2 (412) and MHP2G (2838)


In its fourth week Dragon Quest IX continues outpacing Dragon Quest VIII. Though not pictured here, it's worth noting that through week three Dragon Quest VII is slightly higher: 3.42 M to 3.39 M.


Dragon Quest IX also passes up Monster Hunter Portable 2G + its Best rerelease this week, to become the top third-party portable game of the generation.


Tomodachi Collection is a weird game: its weekly sales keep going up. This seventh week is its best since its first. I don't know what the record is for continuing to increase each week, and frankly it seems like it'd be a bit of a pain to write something to try to weed such knowledge out of the database. However, if you know of others like this it could be interesting to compare them. Keep in mind that it's not so unusual for this to happen for a game that releases shortly before the end-of-year holiday rush, and then rides the general bump.


At 51K, Puyo Puyo 7 seems to be the best Puyo launch in quite some time. Among all on modern systems I only see one with a greater launch (2004's Puyo Puyo Fever on PS2), and one other over 40K (2006's Puyo Puyo! on DS).


Gears of War 2 starts bigger than its predecessor.


Armored Core 3 Portable for PSP starts off quite a bit better than PSP's other Armored Core: Formula Front. However, that was a launch game.


The new DS Chibi-Robo (3638) isn't performing quite as well as the DS original (109), but better than either the GCN original (1763) or its Wii rerelease (3605).

MC 2009-07-27 and Famitsu 2009-07-20: Things of Note

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
PSP comparisons: After 242 weeks, PSP is where PS2 was at 194.8 weeks (November 21, 2003), where DS was at 103.3 weeks (November 21, 2006), and where GBA was at 163.0 weeks (May 2, 2004).

X360 comparisons: After 190 weeks, X360 is where GCN was at 17.8 weeks (January 11, 2002), where PS3 was at 39.4 weeks (August 8, 2007), and where Wii was at 5.7 weeks (January 5, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: After 142 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 47.5 weeks (January 24, 2001), where PSP was at 70.4 weeks (April 11, 2006), where GCN was at 131.6 weeks (March 18, 2004), and where Wii was at 36.4 weeks (August 8, 2007).

Wii comparisons: After 139 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 99.8 weeks (February 15, 2003), where DS was at 77.5 weeks (May 25, 2006), where PS2 was at 118.7 weeks (June 7, 2002), and where PSP was at 169.2 weeks (March 4, 2008).

DSi comparisons: After 39 weeks, DSi is where GBASP was at 53.5 weeks (February 18, 2004) and where DSL was at 19.9 weeks (July 15, 2006).

Based on the latest Media Create hardware numbers...
DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 72.2 / 27.8 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 443.0 weeks (January 28, 2018).

X360 vs PS3: Weekly shares of 28.8 / 71.2 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 614.3 weeks (May 12, 2021).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 8.4 / 91.6 are the first time Wii has had over 90%. These bring total shares to 28.2 / 71.8. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 574.0 weeks (August 3, 2020).

Week over week, Wii explodes, DS continues sliding down, and everything else stays relatively unchanged.

Through the first thirty-one 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: -57.6%
DSL+DSi: +13.1%
PS2: -52.1%
PS3: +4.6%
PSP: -46.6%
X360: +160.0%

Home hardware: -36.9%
Portable hardware: -20.7%
Sum of all hardware: -27.3%

Last year:


This year:



Though it's been near for the last eight months or so, this week finally pushes Wii 5 million over PS3.



Famitsu Software Stuff

In its third week Dragon Quest IX continues outpacing Dragon Quest VIII. Though not pictured here, it's worth noting that through week three Dragon Quest VII is slightly higher: 3.26 M to 3.22 M.

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.

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

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