Japanese hardware sales, Mar. 19 - Mar. 25: olympic pairing edition
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Mar 30th 2007 at 11:40PM }
"What if?" It's a question, albeit a lazily constructed one, that we here at Joystiq often enjoy asking. What if the PlayStation 3 was cheaper? What if the DS Lite was a miserable failure? What if human beings had balloon whisks for arms and flashlights for eyes and were forced to lead an existence composed entirely of unblinking and brightly lit baking? All important questions, though none as important as the one recently posed by the Olympic union of Mario and Sonic, two of gaming's most famous guys who jump on other guys to kill them.What if Mario chose someone else to go to the Olympics?
- DS Lite: 130,549
9,078 (7.47%)- Wii: 75,571
8,501 (12.67%)- PSP: 41,546
2,223 (5.08%)- PS3: 20,459
1,176 (5.44%)- PS2: 16,961
3,640 (27.33%) - Xbox 360: 3,492
582 (20.00%)- Game Boy Micro: 765
38 (5.23%)- GBA SP: 607
50 (8.98%)- Gamecube: 270
97 (26.43%)- DS Phat: 135
24 (15.09%)- GBA: 22
13 (144.44%)[Source: Media Create]
See also: Previous Japanese hardware sales charts
After the break -- the games that could have been.
Mario & Kratos at the Olympic Games
Good idea: Being a chronically angry native of Sparta, Kratos is very familiar with Grecian traditions and the culture in general. His physical prowess and dedication make him an excellent competitor in the Olympic games.
Bad idea: Kratos' encounters with known mythological characters is fairly limited, mainly due to the fact that he murders them shortly after meeting them. In addition, tearing his opponents limb from limb and turning even the simplest of track events into a skull-stomping exercise makes him a poor fit for Mario's ideals.
Target market: Half-naked Italians currently attending anger management classes.
Mario & Lara Croft at the Olympic Games
Good idea: The addition of gaming icon, Lara Croft, to the Olympic games highlights an element which is only applied to Mario in the most bizarre and fundamentally wrong cases -- sex appeal. Having her nimble frame leaping over rods and handling heavy balls is likely to expand the overall audience.
Bad idea: Aside from sporting an extreme disliking towards the medals handed out at the event, Lara Croft's inclusion will no doubt reinforce the misguided attempts by some to return the Olympic games to their ancient roots -- their ancient, naked roots.
Target market: Warm-blooded males who can't appreciate Mario's sensual side. So, just warm-blooded males then.
Mario & Luigi at the Olympic Games
Good idea: It's Luigi!
Bad idea: It's Luigi!
Target market: Luigi.
Mario & Ratchet & Clank & Jak & Daxter & Kane & Lynch at the Olympics
Good idea: Variety is key, especially when there's a danger of it being missing in the actual minigames. With so many pairings of famous pairings, getting consumer interest should be as simple as one... two.
Bad idea: The fight for the spotlight is bound to become a bloodbath -- and Mario's chances aren't entirely assured. Best to keep it simple.
Target market: Hopeless mascot addicts with a loathing for loneliness.
Mario & Cthulhu at the Olympic Games
Good idea: Not only is the dark lord Cthulhu particularly efficient at playing mind games with his competitors during the games, he also makes for an excellent and always entertaining master of ceremonies.
Bad idea: Getting Cthulhu to limit his scope to ceremonies only is a difficult prospect.
Target market: Everyone, whether they like it or not.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dark @ Mar 30th 2007 11:58PM
How about Mario & the Sesame Street. awww that would be awesome. The best day of my life.
Sensai @ Mar 31st 2007 12:00AM
If they had not chosen Sonic, then Sonic would not be in Smash Brawl.
Therefore, Sonic is the most important character by far....although that thing about Luigi just about made me piss my pants.
quazi @ Mar 31st 2007 12:04AM
just wondering doesnt sonic win by default?he turned blue because he broke the sound barrier.marios cool and all but i never seen an italian plumber break 10mph running
dark @ Mar 31st 2007 1:49AM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=N1ftKOQaGbU
How can you resist not having him. I'm telling you it'll be sweet. Or maybe they could have cookie monster be a playable character in SSBB, I mean he's been in Nintendo games previously, so why not.
syco @ Mar 31st 2007 2:06AM
The paltry 3500 unit spread between the archaic PS2 and the brand new PS3 has got to have Sony's suits scratching their collective heads.
Powermonger @ Mar 31st 2007 3:13AM
Wow, the 'paltry' 3500 difference, is more than the total number of 360s sold... Hmmm...
comtar @ Mar 31st 2007 3:19AM
Does that PS3 arrow ever go up? I'm not bagging, I'm serious. I think it's been red since the second week of release.
razer @ Mar 31st 2007 3:38AM
Yikes! The 360 is getting killed.
Catprog @ Mar 31st 2007 3:55AM
Ps3 went up for the weeks ending
10th December 2006 +17500
17th December 2006 +23250
24th December 2006 +7250
11th February 2007 (Virtua Fighter 5) +3750
04th March 2007 (Gundam Musou) +25,750
i79 @ Mar 31st 2007 4:37AM
Where are those DS phats coming from? Are Nintendo still cranking them out?
Scott Mackenzie @ Mar 31st 2007 8:08AM
All other competitor sales numbers COMBINED and then DOUBLED is still ~40,000 less then Nintendo's share. Is it safe to say that Nintendo is not just back in the game, but also the champion of this generation?
Slaziman @ Mar 31st 2007 8:37AM
The PS3 is selling more than 360 and PS2 combined! hahahahaha! Eat that xbots! Sony for life!
Andy Grey @ Mar 31st 2007 10:16AM
The Wii is selling more than PS3, 360 and PS2 combined! hahahahaha! Eat that sony whores! Nintendo for life!
Matt Wagner @ Mar 31st 2007 9:57AM
let's all keep judging the success of Nintendo based on the sales figures of one crazy-ass island...
comments 5-11 are pretty much ridiculous and hilarious. good job guys.
Dipskana @ Mar 31st 2007 5:12PM
@Matt:
I'll admit I'm somewhat of a Nintendo fanboy, but hasn't the DS outsold the PSP almost two to one globally and the Wii even more so when compared with the PS3? This is according to VGCharts, of course.
ish @ Mar 31st 2007 11:06AM
@ Matt Wagner
Wii regularly outsells both ps3 and 360 in america as well, so we don't just judge their success from one 'crazy ass island'. last month's npd figures showed wii to have sold 335,00 units, compared 228,000 for the 360 and a disgraceful 127,000 for the ps3 (btw the gba outsold the ps3 by 9k, lol). Also in Janury wii sold 486,000 in north america compared to 294,000 360's and 244,000 ps3's, so shut up and get your facts right and you won't look stupid.
jayblezzy @ Mar 31st 2007 11:57AM
The DS may even top the original GameBoy Success. It's funny how everyone complains about Japanese sales figures like they don't matter. FYI they definitely matter and it's starting to show across the whole world of the success of all the systems, especially Nintendo.
Scumdog @ Mar 31st 2007 1:37PM
Sony fans are so desperate to find some good in all the bad news that comes out.
Look, it had a good launch day in Europe, just like it had a good launch day here. But it's all downhill from there. Once the first wave of suckers clears out there'll be no one else interested.
My local EB has 7 of the 10 they got over a month ago. Target hasn't sold even 1 of the 4 they got who knows how long ago. Best Buy has a huge pyramid on their salesfloor that isn't getting smaller.
Seriously, all that needs to happen now is MGS4 and FF XIII go to 360 and it's all over.
Rubang B @ Mar 31st 2007 1:37PM
Sales figures from all 3 markets are important, since all 3 markets are pretty close in size. But the figures from Japan are possibly the most important, since the vast majority of developers are over there deciding what platforms to develop for.
P.S. Insert gratuitous "Why don't we get weekly sales figures from America you asshats!"
P.P.S. Penis joke, duct take jope.
Mr Khan @ Mar 31st 2007 3:11PM
@ 11, thier dominion is practically insured in Japan at this point, since the Japanese seem to be eating up those Touch Generations-esque games, and because PS3 was trying too hard to imitate 360, which the Japanese hate
It would be interesting if 1 company dominated each of the 3 markets, and it looks as if that's at least plausible. Personally, i think in North America, it'll be a brutal competition between Wii and 360, in Europe, it'll be such a brutal competition between Wii and PS3, and Japan will just be owned by Nintendo
maylon @ Mar 31st 2007 4:51PM
Sony will pull ahead and dominate by 2009, 130 million sold. Thats my prediction anyway, even though I am not fond of the Ps3 and own and love my 360.
Paul Gale @ Mar 31st 2007 7:30PM
+2 karma paul_gale 3.29.2007 at 09:35:38 PM
Well, there's nothing too different this week from the last, but at least it's good to see more 's than -'s. As for soon-to-be milestones, it looks like Wii just might break two million units sold in Japan by April 1st. Also, the DS Lite has a chance at selling 2 million for 2007 alone in a few day's time. We'll see.
Not a whole lot is going on in Sony's side of things, but at least the PSP is doing better as a whole lately thanks to Monster Hunter's success. Sometimes just a few big, great games are needed to revitalize a system and give it its needed boost.
Xbox 360 did have Blue Dragon, which helped it out for a little while, but even though 360 isn't anywhere near PS3/Wii, look at it's sales compared to where it was during most of 2006. At least for it's lifetime it'll have made its way into more homes than its predecessor. Here's to some milestone-breakin' next week.