We know a lot of you outside of Japan are crazy about those pocket monsters, so who's waiting to catch 'em all?
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Pokemon Platinum nears a million sales in two days
We know a lot of you outside of Japan are crazy about those pocket monsters, so who's waiting to catch 'em all?
DS Daily: Armchair sales warrior
Every month, we post the new NPD numbers detailing the sales of game hardware in the US. We spend a lot of time talking about Japanese sales as well. Typically, the DS is at the top of the sales list, though it is occasionally overtaken by the Wii, or, in Japan, the Monster Hunter machine.When the DS does top a sales list, does it inspire pride? Does it make you happy to be on the winning team? Is it like watching the stock market, except instead of making money, you're earning shares in the DS's popularity? Or does it excite you for more practical reasons, like the fact that continued DS sales probably means that new games will be coming out for the current DS for a while?
DS Daily: Bargain bin hunter
So what was the last great find you had from a bargain bin? Something that was a featured sale, perhaps seen here? Was it something you found at your local shop? What was it?
Nintendo makes ridiculous amounts of money in Q1
During Q1 of this year, Nintendo earned nearly 1 billion dollars (107.2 billion yen). We can only imagine how many Deathstars that could build. Hardware sales showed the DS at 6.94 million units (which was down from 6.98 million year-over-year), bringing lifetime DS sales to 77.54 million units. As for DS software, sales were up, increasing by 2.33 million units to 36.59 million. With this slight dip in DS hardware sales, some analysts are showing concern.
Hiroshi Kamide, an analyst at KBC Securities Japan, commented to the AFP in Tokyo that "for the first time, we've actually seen DS hardware sales fall year-on-year. The DS has hit a bit of a high-water mark." If the opinions of gaming bloggers count for anything, we're going to go on the record and state that we aren't worried in the least. With a Grand Theft Auto game coming to the DS, along with the DS just being awesome overall, we think the handheld still has a fighting chance.
Pachter: Nintendo financial earnings greater than expected
Michael Pachter is of the mind that Nintendo made a whole ton of money during the second quarter. Nintendo is supposed to release figures on the 30th, but that hasn't stopped Pachter and Wedbush Morgan from coming up with some figures of their own. Pachter says the company will report earnings of ¥421 billion ($3.91 billion) and raise their yearly estimate to ¥1,907 billion ($17.7 billion)."Nintendo's recent financial performance has been spectacular and we expect this to continue in FY:09," Pachter commented, going on further to state that "Nintendo's Wii and DS appear to be selling even better in FY:09 than in FY:08, and we believe the momentum will last through the end of FY:09." This is likely due to some smart advertising campaigns, which had female celebs showing off how awesome the handheld is. Plus, you know, the handheld has tons of amazing games.
June NPD: Solid Snake farts in our general direction
The only console on a downslide for the month was the Wii, yet it still trounced all non-Nintendo competition. It's like those guys at school who barely even tried and still got top marks, while everyone else studied their butts off to scrape by. Ah, the mysteries of life.
- DS: 783K
368.2K (+ 88.7%) - Wii: 666.7K
47.5K (- 6.6%) - PS3: 405.5K 218.4K (+ 116.7%)
- PSP: 337.4K 144.7K (+ 75%)
- X360: 219.8K 31.8K (+ 16.9%)
- PS2: 188.8K 64.4K (+ 51.7%)
Continue reading June NPD: Solid Snake farts in our general direction
DS download centers and new colors boost sales in the UK
Following word that the UK would be receiving some new download stations, as well as some new DS Lite models, we now hear that this new switch is driving sales in the region. It's pretty much a winning combo.Despite the success, don't bet on more DS Lite models being released anytime soon. "There are now seven different DS colours available, so we have no plans to release more colours at this time," said a Nintendo spokesperson. The new download centers, however, will be rolling out in a "steady and consistent manner," so expect new demos on a regular basis.
Nintendo teams up with distributor to bring DS to Taiwan
For all of you in Taiwan who have relied on non-official distribution to satisfy your need for Nintendo, know that a new third-party distributor has made a deal with Nintendo to supply the region with video games from the Kyoto-based company. FarEasTone (FET) will be teaming up with Nintendo to provide the region with DS units and hopefully find as receptive a market as the handheld has in all other regions of the world it's available for sale.Two specific models of DS Lite were mentioned, in the crimson black (or "senior") unit and a "New Super Mario DS Lite console." The handheld will be available from July 3rd on.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 5/19-5/25
- PSP: 64,449 (
6,087) - Wii: 49,047 (
7,475) - Nintendo DS: 37,404 (2,499)
- PlayStation 3: 9.071 (1,370)
- PlayStation 2: 7,189 (167)
- Xbox 360: 1,947 (473)
Check out the sales numbers and rankings for yourself after the break.
Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 5/19-5/25
E.U. topples U.S., becomes second largest gaming market
Another interesting statistic comes from the average age of a gamer in the UK: 33 years old. On top of that, 42 percent of UK game players have children. This ties into another nice statistic, which shows 81 percent of parents across Europe admitting that they often enjoy games with their children.
It would seem the landscape is changing across Europe, for the better. Gaming is looking to be viewed in more and more of a favorable light. Now, if only we could get some of that over here in the United States. Because, here, if you play games, you must be a child.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 5/12-5/18
In other sales news, the announcement for another Professor Layton game in Japan managed to push the first title in the series back into the top thirty. Aside from that, there weren't any differences in DS software worth mentioning.
In terms of hardware, the numbers for the DS weren't so hot. In fact, we don't remember the sales numbers for Nintendo's handheld ever being this low in Japan. With everyone and their mother already owning a DS in the country, does the system still have room for growth? We won't know for sure until the next big software push, but for now it looks like the dual-screened handheld should get comfy in that third place spot.
- PSP: 70,536 (19,348)
- Wii: 41,572 (25,736)
- Nintendo DS: 34,905 (16,323)
- PlayStation 3: 7,701 (353)
- PlayStation 2: 7,022 (442)
- Xbox 360: 1,474 (176)
*DS Fanboy claims no responsibility for those who get bitten by our sales figures.
Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 5/12-5/18
DS almost hits 20 million in the U.S.
Even though Japan has a much smaller population and reached the 20 million mark months ago, such a landmark can't be seen as anything but a success for Nintendo. It'll only be a matter of time now before the U.S. joins Europe and Japan in the category of "regions that have sold 20 million DS systems."
Counterpoint: No redesign this year
Sure, it may seem pretty likely that we'll see a DS redesign eventually, but will it be this year? Despite the coy denials so reminiscent of the weeks leading up to the last redesign announcement, it just doesn't seem like the right time for a new DS.In the past, Nintendo has adhered to a pretty predictable cycle on redesigning their handhelds. Every year and a half to two years or so, it's time for a new model. But no handheld has ever been quite like the DS. It's everywhere. Your grandmother just may own one (or more), and because of that incredible success, Nintendo can afford to break out of that cycle and take a little extra time. Sales of the DS in Japan may be flagging a little of late, due to the PSP actually selling, but the system still boasts extremely robust numbers and is consistently in the top three there amongst hardware. The story is the same here in the U.S.: the DS continues to sell like crazy. Why put out a new DS now? It seems to make much more sense to simply wait a while, until sales actually start to drop off.
In the meantime, Nintendo boosts sales of the Lite by releasing new colors, which they have suddenly started doing a lot more outside Japan. That seems to be another sign that we're still not quite ready for a redesign. Nintendo may make some less-than-brilliant decisions at times, but announcing a new design mere months (or weeks, if we see more colors this year, as is rumored) after the release of new colors may have a negative impact on sales. Sure, that new sparkly-striped-gold-plated rainbow Lite is spiffy, but if you're about to buy the new Ultra Lite anyway, would you drop an additional hundred-plus dollars? Probably not. You'd wait to check out the new model instead.
Some could argue that colors are now going to multiple regions in order to get rid of back stock, but c'mon -- are there really piles of DS Lites lying around unsold? Considering that we still have occasional DS shortages, it doesn't seem likely. Also, we're still getting brand new colors on top of the shades that are just now becoming available in new regions, and it's not like those were piled up. Would we really get new colors now if we were about to see a new DS? It just doesn't make sense.
Next year, maybe, Nintendo will get around to tweaking the DS design further. This year, we'll see more peripherals and accessories instead, and a focus on the Wii, because there's just no reason to do anything else.
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Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/28-5/4
We realized today that we don't know Japan as well as we thought we did. With our reasoning, a new Gundam game + the popularity of the DS = cha-ching. While the debuting Emblem of Gundam had decent sales for its first week, though, taking the twelfth spot isn't all that impressive -- especially since there was only one new release cluttering up the top ten.On the other hand, We're Fossil Diggers, Pokemon Ranger, and the Taiko Drum Master DS sequel continued to shine, giving the DS a nice piece of top ten representation. Batonnage managed to reach the half-million mark, while the other two games neared 100,000 copies sold.
For hardware, DS numbers went up since last week, but the handheld is still convincingly behind the PSP and Wii in recent sales. If you want to see the numbers, though, just click past the break. You can check out the software listings there, too.
Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/28-5/4
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/21-4/27
Not only did the PSP gain momentum with the hideous brown, er, we mean shiny bronze model that released in Japan last week, but the Wii also beat out its portable cousin, sending the DS to third place in hardware sales:- PSP: 92,411
- Wii: 48,796
- Nintendo DS: 42,435
- PlayStation 3: 9,107
- PlayStation 2: 7,108
- Xbox 360: 1,283
To check out the other new releases and software placings, just keep on reading ... forever.
Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/21-4/27
