DS outsells Ps2 in Japan

[Gadfly2317]

I'm mostly interested this because strong system sales of the DS will ensure continued game development. My biggest concern was always that this system would be too odd for the gaming public at large, and would die off before achieving its obviously amazing potential. Good to see it going strong. . . apparently on the strength of the title Nintendogs; all three versions are selling well.

http://www.nintendojo.com/infocus/view_item.php?1115820055

Japan: Nintendo DS Continues To Top The Sales Charts
The Nintendo DS continues to top the hardware sales, with the latest numbers coming between April 25th, to May 1st. The lead has dropped a bit, although it still has quite a margin over the rest.


DS, 64,247 Sales
PS2, 40,471 Sales
PSP, 38,778 Sales
GBASP, 14,616 Sales
GC, 6,125 Sales
GBA, 448 Sales
Xbox, 271 Sales
Five Nintendo games make it into the Top 10, but we see software sales drop overall.

(2)Naruto, DS, 32,958 Sales
(4)Nintendogs Shiba & Friends, DS, 30,463 Sales
(6)Fire Emblem, GC, 22,221 Sales
(7)Nintendogs Dachshund & Friends, DS, 19,971 Sales
(8)Nintendogs Chihuahua & Friends, DS, 18,483 Sales
These numbers cover the first half of "Golden Week," a week long holiday in Japan. (cal)

Source: Media Create

[theWacoKid]

Unfortunately, japan is very sketchy. Ds sales were quite weak and threatening to go below 20k when they introduced the new colors for the DS. NIntendogs seems to be a genuine hit but its too early to see what staying power it has. The problems for the DS are anemic third party sales. Nilntendo dominates sales, the top 8 selling DS titles are published by nintendo. No third party has 100k in sales in japan.

Psp sales despite a real dearth of recent software sales to move the system have remained suprisingly robust.

Here, i think nintendo has some problems. I see a lot of used and returned DS units at stores. Nintendo is far too slow bringing over titles to NA and the system is still begging for software, especially software that's fleshed out. Mini games, micro games, puzzle games, tech demos stretched far too thin, and some uninspired ports isn't going to cut it. If it wasn't for the gba software I picked up, I'd really be questioning my decision to pick up a DS.

Currently I've got wario ware in the gba slot and wario ware touched in the DS slot and I game between the two. Wario ware has the better overall set of game, but Touched has some nice presentation and I like using the stylus. The gba lineup looks better. Its the saving grace of the system. Nintendo needs to stop fooling around. If sony drops the price on the psp and software development kicks into high gear, the psp is going to give nintendo major headaches especailly in NA and Europe.

[Aylmer]

And I like them both. But I got Lumines for the PSP a couple of weeks ago, and I have to tell you, the short battery life of the PSP blows chunks. Lumines is a great game, but on my PSP, the time between a low battery warning and a shut down is only seconds. God, it pisses me off.

No such problem with Polarium on the DS, however. Like the EverReady bunny, it keeps going and going...But what is a problem is the fact that now, almost 6 months after launch, there isn't squat for game selection on the DS. I mean, it is really pathetic.

I was in a game store here that has import games on the shelf, and the guys there are real Nintendfreaks. They were laying this line on me about how Nintendo is sandbagging games for the pre-Christmas market. I say, what a load of crap.

My take is that developers are waiting to see which handheld is going to reign supreme, and then they'll jump. A shortsighted attitude, perhaps, but it sure seems like that is what is happening.

I don't know which is worse. A handheld with a killer display that kacks out in the middle of a game session, that gronks like a floppy drive when a game is loading, and that has long-assed load times, or a handheld with an OK dual screen display, with a nice long battery life, that loads instantly, with tons of neat features, and not shyt available to play.

Those of us that bought both systems and the necessary stuff that goes with them have $450-$600 into the game hardware alone, and we have been thoroughly shafted, IMO.

[theWacoKid]

You're overstating the case of batttery life with the psp. Certainly on a game like lumines, I'm getting at least 4 hours. It only takes 2 hours to fully charge. And in most of the games, I'm unaware that the drive is even working. The achilles heel of the psp are load times. They range from tolerable to terrible. Tolerable, RR, Lumines, HSG. Terrible, Tiger Woods Golf. TW has ridiculous loading times, load times so brutal, I don't know how EA thought they could release the title and do well. Against my better judgement, I got a copy. Great golf game, btw, but it takes about 2 1/2 minutes just to get to a tee and start swinging. After that, you're averaging 35 seconds between holes and the menus are laggy as hell. I sold it off and picked up HSG:OT which loads up much quicker to start with and has no, let me repeat that, NO load times between holes.

The psp software lineup is stronger in NA than in japan. NA is a big sports market and there are some quality sports titles for the psp while the DS sports selection is spotty at best and largely crap. The psp will clean up in categories like sports and racing, which means that Nintendo needs to get the lead out and get its japanese titles over here pronto. Not this, several months delay or we have to think it over if this title is appropriate for the NA or euro audience BS.

I don't see strong third party development on either system for the time being.

[Aylmer]

It means that I need to get into the habit of charging my PSP after every use. If four hours or even a little more is the max battery life for a PSP, and if the average gameplay session is two hours or so per session or per day, then failure to recharge the PSP after every session means it will kack out during every other play session.

I knew the numbers regarding the PSP battery situation going into it, but the reality of how it affects gameplay, especially after years of playing GBAs and GBCs, is pretty bleak now that I've actually taken it out and around. Four hours on paper and four hours out in the world are very different things.

I carry a portable gaming console of one kind or another in my work satchel and have done so for years. On long days, especially when I have to cool my heels waiting for clients, it is easily possible to run the console two or more hours a day, with many turn ons and offs.

If the game library for the DS was large enough, my PSP would stay home and be my insomnia/play-in-bed choice, and the DS would be my travel/work choice.

[Gadfly2317]

I pretty much agree with both of you guys.

As far as sad third party sales, is there even a truly good third party game out yet? I expect Final Fantasy 3 to do really well, and also Castlevania. I would be all over a good third party game; can't wait for the Capcom lawyer simulator.

Battery life on the PsP. . . I'm using it just like Aylmer says; the PsP I charge after every gaming session, and it mostly stays on the end table beside my bed for insomnia or before sleep gaming. The DS stays in my backpack and goes with me everywhere. But I even play it at home a lot.

Currently, part of why I'm not even posting much is because I've become a complete gaming autistic with the DS; totally hooked on listening to this band I just discovered "Sleepytime Gorrila Museum" their first album with "Sleep is Wrong" and playing old Atari games on the DS, specifically Breakout, Warlords, and Lunar Lander. It's kind of embarassing, really as both a gamer and music fan. I haven't had a band do this to me in years. . but I've been listening to this album nearly non-stop for 6wks now.

Whatever the PsP has in coolness and graphics, the load-times and traditional nature of the system don't excite me. I like it very much, and am excited about Smart Bomb's rapidly approching release, but once there are games of substance out for the DS like Another Code, Animal Crossing, Advance Wars and a good RPG or strategy game, I'm almost positive I'll hardly be gaming on anything else. About the only console gaming I'm doing right now is GT4 on my Ps2.

I NEVER would have predicted I'd be THIS smitten by the DS, but my tendonitis and thumbs are grateful to have this gaming alternative.

[theWacoKid]

You might want to rethink smart bomb, two very poor reviews. 1.5/5 from opm and 4.8 from gamespot.

[Gadfly2317]

You might want to rethink smart bomb, two very poor reviews. 1.5/5 from opm and 4.8 from gamespot.

Thanks for the heads up. I haven't even followed reviews on it. I've got it pre-paid in full. Got any recommendations as to what I should shift my money to that comes out by the last week of June (that's when I move to another state.) Any game on any system besides Xbox, and it doesn't have to be brand new. I've just gotta use the crdits before I move. I've also already got Killer 7 pre-paid, but I'm getting it no-matter how bad the reviews are, except maybe if they are THAT bad likke 1 out of 5. . .though I don't expect them to be as bad as what you just said Smart bomb is getting. I suppose Killer 7 might really be Killer, but I've always had this feeling there was going to be something structurally wrong with the gameplay that would knock it down to at least a 7. A killer 7, but still. . . .

Like in that thread about games we love with poor reviews, I've loved games with poor reviews, but I don't think I've ever loved a game that got a 1 out of 5. . . that's usually a sign there's something VERY wrong with the game. I'll read the reviews later when I have some free time but just briefly, what was the big problem or problems with Smart Bomb.

This kinda sucks. It sounded like such a cool idea.

[Aylmer]

Funny that you mention the music diversion. My wife's badgering finally got to me and she got an iPod last night. I like my Sony MD device for music myself, but I heard some things about the iPod that were pretty cool. Primarily, though, she wanted it for work.

Of course, you have to charge the thing for 5 hours the first time. And, though the iPod is my wife's (her cubicle got repositioned at her job and she cannot have a radio anymore) I will leave it to your imagination as to who is tasked with converting her audio CDs and transferring them to the iPod :( . BTW, Apple, like Sony, has it's own audio compression technology in addition to MP3 support.

[Gadfly2317]

Funny that you mention the music diversion. My wife's badgering finally got to me and she got an iPod last night. I like my Sony MD device for music myself, but I heard some things about the iPod that were pretty cool. Primarily, though, she wanted it for work.

Of course, you have to charge the thing for 5 hours the first time. And, though the iPod is my wife's (her cubicle got repositioned at her job and she cannot have a radio anymore) I will leave it to your imagination as to who is tasked with converting her audio CDs and transferring them to the iPod :( . BTW, Apple, like Sony, has it's own audio compression technology in addition to MP3 support.

Exactly. My wife is the advanced scouting party for our upcoming move. . . she's currently already there and working, so prior to leaving I had to convert 30 gigs of CD's to put on the Creative labs Zen player so she could have our music collection with her. I don't even want say how much time I spent ripping. But the Creative Zen 30GB is great. I got myself the 1gb samsung player with the color screen; it's also nice, since now that all that music is on my harddrive, the Samsung is a lot easier to just drag and drop what you want to listen to for the next few days. I'm WAY more into music right now than gaming. When I do game on handhelds, I just turn the sound off and listen to MP3's. Some games I find I really want to hear the game when I play it (like Wipeout Pure) but these puzzle games I don't need to hear them.

I find the PsP to be useless as an Mp3 player. I put a couple on there (for my own amusment and sense of Irony one of the songs is "Safety dance", safety being the primary concern when holding a PsP.) It just doesn't put out enough sound and its ackward, unless its cold whether you can put it in an inside jacket pocket. Plus, I have no interest in buying a $150 memory card to put Mp3's on it when its a half-assed Mp3 player.

I've been using wma as my compression format; it irritates my Ipod friends, but oh well. I like having a player that will play all formats, which is why I didn't get an Ipod, though I do like their style factor.

[Aylmer]

Well, I have to admit that her iPod is pretty cool, now that I've spent a good part of last night and today ripping CDs to it. She got an iPod Photo, 30gig, and I slaved it to the Mac (in theory at least, Apple wants iPods to have one parent computer at a time, tho you can find software to get around that)

I used iTunes on the Mac, and it goes out on the web and checks a database for each CD I put in the drive, so now all the songs on the iPod have titles, not just track numbers. It also has a neat option where you can 'glue' two or more sequential tracks together so they'll play as one file from the iPod.

It's photo display is the only one I've seen that comes close to the PSP in quality, though it's only a fraction of the size.

My wife is usually an anti-tech person, but she is oddly possessive of the iPod. She won't even let me put any of my music on it, unless she likes it, too. Man.