DS/PSP Holiday Sales

[neotokeo2001]

Media Create Hardware Sales: 12 - 18 Dec (Japan)

........platform............this week......last week......2005 total........02 – 05 LTD

1 Nintendo DS......408,770 299,328 3,163,547 4,659,143

2 PSP..................95,689 86,403 1,928,537 2,410,889

3 PlayStation 2.....55,342 45,893 1,792,725 11,197,931

4 GameBoy SP.....19,098 10,456 644,500 5,639,553

5 GameCube........17,849 12,212 223,955 3,107,095

6 GameBoy micro.14,432 8,326 376,682 376,682

7 Xbox360............8,623 43,970 52,593 52,593

8 Gameboy Advance.416 396 23,827 4,552,205

9 Xbox....................182 164 11,754 472,189

 

 

408,770 In one week!!!!

 

Looks like the X-Box 360 is DOA in Japan.

[bruser_inc]

Really?

[sega saturn x]

Holy shit, the DS is out selling the ps2?

[kevin242]

Holy shit, the DS is out selling the ps2?

987771[/snapback]

 

The DS has been outselling everything in Japan since this summer. It's

also outselling the PSP in Europe and the US. It will be interesting to

see how the two platforms come out after Christmas (esp in the US)

Im sure there are alot of PSP's and DS's wrapped up under Christmas

tree's this year.

[Clint Thompson]

Wow... Go Nintendo!

 

Really though... the DS is a fun little machine!

[sega saturn x]

Holy shit, the DS is out selling the ps2?

987771[/snapback]

 

The DS has been outselling everything in Japan since this summer. It's

also outselling the PSP in Europe and the US. It will be interesting to

see how the two platforms come out after Christmas (esp in the US)

Im sure there are alot of PSP's and DS's wrapped up under Christmas

tree's this year.

987795[/snapback]

Goes to show you that innovation still can sell, and really well on top of that!

[gulag picture radio]

I don't want this to sound like I have some sort of wierd ethnic stereotype thing going on, because that's the furthest thing from my mind. From experience I've seen that the japanese appreciate creativity and ingenuity to be sure, but also attractive is small size. A company I was working for made handheld microphones for CB's. They couldn't sell any of them in Japan until they made a somewhat scaled down version that was more compact. I believe that the original Xbox controller had the same issue.

 

Again, I hope that this doesn't end up sounding weird. I think that a big part of the DS' success in Japan is that it packs a ton of power into a small package. I can only imagine how much smaller a DS II is going to b somewhere down the line.

[liveinabin]

Oh, you're dead right. You're not drawing an ethnic stereotype at all, that really is the case. It's heavily rooted in traditional Japanese religion and culture- basically everything has a soul, be it person or object (which is why robots are more popular in Japan than elsewhere also), a small object has a more fiery spirit. Cool, eh?

[classicgamingguy]

Yeah, very cool. I also heard this somewhere about the smaller, more compact design being very popular over in Japan. They have some wicked technical electronic doodads that I'd love to own. I keep telling my wife we need to vacation over in Japan one year just to say we've been there.

 

Aren't Tomagotchi's still popular in Japan?

 

Steve

[8th lutz]

Not a big shock. The Ds Sales were help by braining Training games this year in Japan.

[bowser724]

Yeah, the DS seems to capture people's interests more than the PSP. I think they just might not be into a handheld gaming system that does too much more than games.

[figgler]

I want to know who the folks are that are still buying and old school GBA

Do they even still make those?

[kevin242]

I want to know who the folks are that are still buying and old school GBA 

Do they even still make those?

988161[/snapback]

 

 

Wow even the original non backlit oldschool GBA outsells the XBOX in

Japan, that's pretty funny.

[Jess Ragan]

Oh, you're dead right.  You're not drawing an ethnic stereotype at all, that really is the case.  It's heavily rooted in traditional Japanese religion and culture- basically everything has a soul, be it person or object (which is why robots are more popular in Japan than elsewhere also), a small object has a more fiery spirit.  Cool, eh?

987995[/snapback]

 

I tend to think that it has more to do with the country's limited real estate. Homes and apartments are very small in Japan; in fact, there are capsule hotels with rooms no larger than coffins. We don't mind larger game systems, because in America (and to a lesser extent, Britain), we've got the room to stretch our legs. However, when space is at a premium, your stuff has to be pressed into the smallest possible size.

 

JR

[awsomo3000]

Holy shit, the DS is out selling the ps2?

987771[/snapback]

 

The DS has been outselling everything in Japan since this summer. It's

also outselling the PSP in Europe and the US. It will be interesting to

see how the two platforms come out after Christmas (esp in the US)

Im sure there are alot of PSP's and DS's wrapped up under Christmas

tree's this year.

987795[/snapback]

 

Im hopin theres one under mine

[classicgamingguy]

I just picked one up for myself yesterday with Lost in Blue and Castlevania. The electric blue one...but I noticed it didn't have the pack-in demo of Metroid Prime: Hunters, which is no biggie. The full game will be out soon enough. I'm having trouble with Lost in Blue...can't seem to move "fast enough" to keep my guy alive. I might trade this one in for something else, but Castlevania is a keeper. I also went out looking for AC:WW but haven't found it anywhere around me.

 

Steve

[Mendon]

Yeah, very cool. I also heard this somewhere about the smaller, more compact design being very popular over in Japan. They have some wicked technical electronic doodads that I'd love to own. I keep telling my wife we need to vacation over in Japan one year just to say we've been there.

 

Aren't Tomagotchi's still popular in Japan?

 

Steve

988016[/snapback]

 

I only occasionally watch G4 TV but did catch an Icon's show not too long ago about the making of the Xbox 360. During the show, the point was made that the main reason the original Xbox didn't sell well in Japan was because of its size & weight as the Japanese consumers like smaller items. So when they designed the 360, they brought in Japanese consultants to make sure that the 360 was more of a size and design that would appeal to the Japanese customer.

 

Mendon

[ninjarabbit]

The X Box and X Box 360 sales in Japan are just pathetic.

 

It'd probably be cheaper and easier of me to import a 360 from Japan than trying to find one here in the US.

[sega saturn x]

Yeah, very cool. I also heard this somewhere about the smaller, more compact design being very popular over in Japan. They have some wicked technical electronic doodads that I'd love to own. I keep telling my wife we need to vacation over in Japan one year just to say we've been there.

 

Aren't Tomagotchi's still popular in Japan?

 

Steve

988016[/snapback]

 

I only occasionally watch G4 TV but did catch an Icon's show not too long ago about the making of the Xbox 360. During the show, the point was made that the main reason the original Xbox didn't sell well in Japan was because of its size & weight as the Japanese consumers like smaller items. So when they designed the 360, they brought in Japanese consultants to make sure that the 360 was more of a size and design that would appeal to the Japanese customer.

 

Mendon

988651[/snapback]

 

That could be it, or maybe it's the fact that about 60% of the x box games are fps a genre far more popular in the west.

[Bruce Tomlin]

The biggest problem was probably the quality problems with the original xbox units. I've said that if the 360 has major hardware problems, they're going to be dead in the water in Japan unless they send people around to personally exchange them, while at the same time bowing and apologizing profusely.

 

The second biggest problem is the selection of games. In Japan, the main reason people by xboxes is for the DOA games, especially DOA volleyball. The 360 was not only released in Japan with very few games of the types that are popular in Japan, but the emulator only supported very few Japanese xbox games. I know I'd sure feel insulted by the poor emulator support.

 

The next biggest problem is the name. In Japan, "O" means correct and "X" means wrong. "X" also means "batsu", which means "penalty". So "X box" literally means "penalty box" in Japan. In Japan there is something called the "batsu game", which is sort of like Truth and Dare. Also, a particular kanji with an "X" in a box (凶) means bad luck in traditional Japanese fortune telling.

 

http://slashdot.jp/comments.pl?sid=290912&cid=846317

 

In the above thread, someone even jokes that adding the 360 makes it mean "bad luck comes around again". Others joke about how X + box + circle means they only need a triangle to catch up with the Playstation.

Edited December 24, 2005 by Bruce Tomlin

[NE146]

I want to know who the folks are that are still buying and old school GBA 

Do they even still make those?

988161[/snapback]

 

Well yeah.. considering Wario Ware Twisted is for the GBA.. a game I consider one of the games of the year for 2005 you better believe it It even blows away it's DS counterpart.

[Avid Fan]

I think he meant the old non-lit GBA

[MegaManFan]

I think he meant the old non-lit GBA

988759[/snapback]

 

Yeah, I only keep mine as a collector's item. Play it anymore? Nahhhhhhhh. Hell the Micro has moved up to my current favorite portable Nintendo, but I still need the DS for Meteos, Castlevania DS and Mario Kart DS.

[shep]

I sold my nonlit GBA off ebay over the summer with some older GB titles I never play so I could get some new DS titles. Got like 70 bucks for it, I was happy.

[keilbaca]

I think he meant the old non-lit GBA

988759[/snapback]

 

Yeah, I only keep mine as a collector's item. Play it anymore? Nahhhhhhhh. Hell the Micro has moved up to my current favorite portable Nintendo, but I still need the DS for Meteos, Castlevania DS and Mario Kart DS.

988968[/snapback]

 

hell you should have let me known that you wanted it, i traded it into gamestop after completing it... i would have practically gave it to you.