MadWorld places relationship between online hype and actual sales in doubt

killzone 2, imo sales are pathetic to the pre-hype this game had. hype was mega-ton especially among ps3 owners saying how this will crush xbox, statements like "feb 26 ps3 wins console war". anyways the game dropped made little effect on console sales and at this point has sold less than half the copies compared to resident evil 5.

Percieved hype doesn't mean much of anything dude. Of course an incredibly well established franchise will warrant more sales from the sequel of an immensely popular title in said series, when compared to a much younger franchise that had low scores for it's first game.

I honestly never though Killzone would push that many units, but it does add to it's lineup, which is important and will increase console sales eventually.

The biggest cause of sales in my opinion is to have bunches of people telling each other about the game. People who visit Joystiq probably decide for themselves what to buy, but the vast majority of the population simply hear "AWW MAN CALL OF DUTY 4 IS AMAZING! HIT ME UP ON MULTIPLAYER SOMETIME DUDE" and take appropriate action.

You're post was too long
-1 heart

Your*

Who cares if his post is too long? Are you a fake mod for this blog? Your post (and now mine) are off topic.

Your game is based on high scores instead of story
-10 arbitrary points

Your game is developed or published by Sega
-50 chicken legs

Your game is heavily based around "waggle"
-71.22 nerf darts

Your game is hardcore on the wii
-200 tickle me elmo dolls

Ghen - Definitely agree about the high score bit, overall it's not something I care about. I think it can make a lot of sense sometimes when used as a gameplay mechanic to unlock/progress onto another level, but sometimes it can be a bit much.

I think you're off on your chicken leg count. I don't see the Sega influence as being *too* much a defining factor.

The only heavy waggling I can think of for me was in Twilight Princess when you waggle to swing the sword, which I didn't think was too bad at all. Not sure how waggle intensive Madworld is...

And wouldn't it be + tickle me elmo dolls? I think it'd be + :P

Thats the problem Markez. You would think it would be +200 but it just isn't. Look at every hardcore game that has come out on the wii since smash brothers. All 3rd party and all horrible sales compared to both other consoles (for multiplatform) and nintendo's install base no matter how totally awesome the game is.

" Look at every hardcore game that has come out on the wii since smash brothers. All 3rd party and all horrible sales compared to both other consoles (for multiplatform) and nintendo's install base no matter how totally awesome the game is."

What "hardcore" mainstream 3rd party game has come out in the last year for the wii that didn't get mainstream sales? Are you using a handful of niche titles (titles that probably wouldn't have sold any better had they been on the ps2 with its 120 million install base) as some sort of indicator of how well all future 3rd party games on the Wii will sell? Or whether the wii is worthy of 3rd party support at all?

Because that would be kinda stupid wouldnt it?

lol, no I meant moreso if you're saying that hardcore on the Wii is real lame, then you'd also be loading 'em up with Tickle Me Elmo dolls, which are also lame. Not subtracting.

Guess that wasn't a very clear joke :P

I don't think its fair to suggest that a game not aimed at the family will perform badly on the DS as it would on Wii. The DS has an outstanding library of great games that have done well. I believe that part of the problem with GTA's sales on DS is that the series traditional fans stick to ps, xbox (now), and pc. In ways it is off the radar or out of budget for some of those gamers. Not to mention i've read some poor reviews for it probably will not pick it up until its super cheap.

I don't want to start the whole "Nintendo is teh kiddy" arguement, but I have to agree. These sorts of games clearly just don't have an audiance on Nintendo systems. Released on anything else, I'm sure they would have sold into the millions.

Why does the system it appears on make you less interested in it?

I have to agree with Tashpool. THERE ARE actually wii or ds owners who would buy mature games, but they are pale in comparison with other systems. We can say that it's not fair to generalize wii and ds that way, since some of us do buy these awesome games on the wii and ds, but the figures don't lie. I've always checked out game sales figures at vgchartz.com, but sorry to say, they just dont sell enough. If rockstar had devoted their time and energy to develop a new GTA game for the psp, i'm pretty sure they would sell in the millions. Again, because more psp owner are willing to buy the game than ds owners, despite the ds outselling psp ridiculously.

I tend to disagree to a point. I don't think that's the only reason people bought their wiis. I for one have always wanted a system where actions were the commands, and i could aim at the t.v. with a gun while using an analog stick to move. I seriously wanted all this years before i had even heard about the wii (or the revolution when i first heard about it) What i see as the truth in the point your trying to make is that it's been years since it's release and only now is it getting attention from developers making more mature games for the console. By now the system has gotten the reputation for being the system you claim it is by starting out with (comparatively) no mature titles, and overloading on "causual" titles and in doing so given the "gaming community" the impression that they should just go play 360 and ps3. There have to be others like me however that have been waiting patiently for games like the ones that will be released this year. You see the only games i had bought until this year were zelda, RE 4, and metroid prime. This year i've bought madworld, conduit, and GH world tour already and i'll be buying punchout, RE 1, final fantasy 4 the after years, silent hill shattered dreams (if it comes out this year) and maybe cursed mountain and new play donkey kong and hotd overkill if it comes down in price. The wii will be earning earning 2 to 3 times the amount of money from me personally in this one year than it has in the past 3 years combined. But as i said before, by now i'm probably in the minority. I guess instead of writing this book i could just say it's too little too late to try to snag a mature or "gaming" audience, but it didn't have to be this way. Sad face.

"Released on anything else, I'm sure they would have sold into the millions."

Let's not start this again, please. Spent way too much time debunking this one in the past.

@Wicker Man

Where have you seen poor reviews for Chinatown Wars? It's easily one of the best DS games ever and probably my favourite GTA game. It combines elements of GTA IV with the more fun elements from previous games.. I know a lot of people are turned off by the perspective and immediatly assume it's similar to the original two games, but that's definitely not the case.

If the DS isn't the right platform for Chinatown Wars, I'd love to see a sequel for it on XBLA/PSN.

@snow zeropunctuation and gameinformer also (though it scored well) said some major game mechanics (shooting-and yes it is gta) were off.

I agree in part that games like MadWorld have trouble finding an audience on the Wii because they aren't kid friendly. But along with the argument that the game is too mature I would like to suggest that it also suffers from not being mature enough.

Case in point, I'm a slightly older Wii owner who still considers himself a gamer. I'm planning to get Conduit and would totally get China Wars if I owned a DS. But there's no way I would pay good money for a game like MadWorld. I've reached a point where sensationalistic violence and corny humour have lost their appeal. As interesting as the art style. I think one of the reasons for MadWorld's failure is that it's aiming at a very concentrated but small age group: late teens to early-mid twenties. And yes, most people in that age group probably prefer their 360/PS3. But don't discount 'mature games' on the Wii altogether based on this one example and please don't define 'mature' based on a game whose premise is "you have a chainsaw and you kill guys lots of ways".

For the kind of hardcore 3rd party games that end up coming to Wii (niche ones), they sell fine. Suda 51 was overjoyed at No More Heroes' ultimate performance, for instance. Best selling game he's ever had.

@The Wicker - You must of had to dig for those poor reviews. The game sits at a current 94.

They were both hyped by internet junkies despite being terrible?

Madworld isn't terrible.

I can't speak for madworld but Ron Paul is certainly not terrible. He speaks the TROOF.

Last time I was down in Austin and DFW for business, the Ron Paul signage was absolutely everywhere.

@ WRE

Madworld wasn't terrible, but it wasn't anything particularly special either. Average at best. I thought it was rather mediocre though.

@ Kenny

I hope that "Troof" means you're being sarcastic, I really do.

If you can find a better statistic than the lifetime sales in the US listed at the link below, I'd love to see it. :P

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Wii

Well that's mostly cause the GTA game on DS was a piece of shit.

I'd much rather have MadWorld than CoD, L4D, and especially than Fallout 3.

See how this works? For some, the Wii just tends to satisfy, for others, it doesn't.

Contrarian. I was referencing the repetitive game play. Style over substance does not ensure great sales or reviews.

@MrKhan - I am not judging you or anything, but that is a truly amazing statement.

Amazing? Its the most ridiculous thing i've ever read.
Proof, if need be, that if Mr Khan isn't a nintendo shill, then they're a 12yr old girl.

You can always argue science. Your post, however, is not science.

In other words "Look at me! I know all! Praise me! Praise me! Nobody praises me in real life, so I need it in this comment thread!"

mmm the bitter tears of a nitendo fanboy. One of my all time favorite tastes.

mr nimblewick, your words couldnt ring any more true.

Cody, you shouldn't be agreeing with what he said since you follow certain people around on here trolling them.