Japanese hardware sales, July 6 - July 12: Secret to success edition
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Jul 19th 2009 at 10:00PM }
The Squeenix-developed RPG -- which is apparently perfect -- sold an absolutely staggering 2,318,932 copies in its first two days on store shelves. After running the numbers, we've calculated that during those two steamy Akihabara nights, 13.2 copies of Dragon Quest IX were sold every second. (Seriously.) We've also discerned that Square Enix will harvest a million buckets of money from the Japanese sale of this game alone -- but it's nice to see Nintendo's catching a few pails of their own.
- DSi: 118,202
71,347 (152.27%)- PSP: 26,527
6,322 (19.25%)- Wii: 22,141
2,830 (11.33%)- DS Lite: 10,161
2,654 (35.35%)- PS3: 9,864
1,332 (11.90%) - Xbox 360: 3,561
2,315 (39.40%)- PS2: 3,508
226 (6.05%)[Source: Media Create]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kill a mans jiro @ Jul 19th 2009 10:06PM
LAST!
...Oh, wait..
Cheesus(Crust) @ Jul 19th 2009 10:06PM
Holy shit! The DSi is up 71 THOUSAND from before.
Blank-Mage @ Jul 19th 2009 10:07PM
That's over ni...
...I can't go through with it.
bongoes @ Jul 19th 2009 10:24PM
I'll do it.
IT'S OVER NIN... nah I don't feel up to it.
Leroy_Octopus @ Jul 19th 2009 10:27PM
FINE! I'll do it! It's over NINETY!!
I'm not sure, but I think I may have done it wrong.
WINterfang @ Jul 19th 2009 10:34PM
It's over NINTHOUSAND!!!!
MystileArmor @ Jul 19th 2009 10:37PM
I got an angry email from the letter E. Something about equal rights oppertunity?
Wiizer (Fix the Comment System) @ Jul 19th 2009 10:52PM
Mystile,
There's a memo going around from "O", too.
And I don't mean Oprah.
MystileArmor @ Jul 19th 2009 11:15PM
My O wanted to become an E actually. He felt inspired.
Mr Khan is over 9000 @ Jul 19th 2009 11:22PM
(coughs loudly)
Cheesus(Crust) @ Jul 19th 2009 11:51PM
Joystiq: What the report about say about the DSi's sale level?
Nintendo: Its OVER 71 THOUSAND!
Joystiq: WHAT 71 THOUSAND? That cant be right!
CJLopez @ Jul 20th 2009 1:20AM
Chessus, you just combo breaked this awesome thread
Go and break more over sankaku complex
THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Jul 20th 2009 2:14AM
*Sigh* "power level over nine thousand...!" *sigh*
okay, its still kinda funny.
Spartan @ Jul 20th 2009 5:49AM
*scouter explodes*
WINterfang @ Jul 20th 2009 11:40AM
What Nine thousand?!
tmacairjordan87 (aka Mr. Negativity) @ Jul 19th 2009 10:08PM
Well duh, everyone knows the secret to success in Japan is to make the same JRPG they've been playing since the SNES era but for some reason Sony and MS must not care.
Blank-Mage @ Jul 19th 2009 10:11PM
That would be because Sony and MS know better than to try making a JRPG. I applaud that. Although Lost Odyssey wasn't bad, I'll admit.
Leroy_Octopus @ Jul 19th 2009 10:13PM
It's the exact same game? I didn't know they had online play in the original Dragon Quest.
tmacairjordan87 (aka Mr. Negativity) @ Jul 19th 2009 10:13PM
Well Japan is getting to the point where it's too small to care about, and yeah Lost Odyssey was ok for a modern JRPG but they are completely stuck in the past as a gaming nation.
Blank-Mage @ Jul 19th 2009 10:17PM
I love Japan's entertainment too much to agree with you there.
Gomenisai.
Leroy_Octopus @ Jul 19th 2009 10:18PM
Why do you single out JRPGs, tmac? It's not like every other genre has fundamentally changed their gameplay structure.
tmacairjordan87 (aka Mr. Negativity) @ Jul 19th 2009 10:20PM
Pretty much every genre has changed over time with the exception of fighters and racers and of course jrpgs. Lost Odyssey was literally a HD PS1 rpg.
Leroy_Octopus @ Jul 19th 2009 10:23PM
How have shooters evolved or action games?
Markez @ Jul 19th 2009 10:24PM
Racing games have evolved substantially in a number of ways, in my opinion.
Arnie @ Jul 19th 2009 10:25PM
Well, I would have appreciated your comment if I saw serious sales of games which are not franchises in the Western market. Gimme a fraking break. Americans and most of the Western audience have been buying the same Space Marine or WWII shooters for a crazy long time. Just because Japan have their own type of game they like does not mean you have to show a condescending attitude towards their gaming habits.
If MW2 was not going to be the largest seller of this year(with Halo:ODST probably second) then one can claim to be superior & say they embrace all games regardless of type. Your comments smack of hypocrisy & maybe you should think before you put them out.
There hasnt been any serious gaming evolution in any country because the audience does not want it and budgets have risen too high to risk anything else. Obviously a large section of their target audience likes the type of RPG's played and obviously you dont does not mean 'JRPGs suck' cause I dont like them.
Your opinion like mine means nothing cause a majority of the population have a preference and folks will gyrate towards that.
tmacairjordan87 (aka Mr. Negativity) @ Jul 19th 2009 10:32PM
yeah good shooters sell here, but many other things sell too. Uncharted broke lik 3-4 million (eventually :P), UFC just broke a million, Prototype just broke like 500k.
Shooters evolved to have dual wielding, regenerating health (like it or not), the first genre to really break into online gaming and get it 100% right, vehicles, etc etc. Action is a pretty broad genre and covers thousands of games, and has evolved in a number of ways over the past 15 or so years.
JRPGs to this day are still select Attack, Magic, Summon, Item, Defense or Run...then watch and wait, then rinse repeat until monster is dead. I wasn't exaggerating when I said games like Lost Odyssey were an HD ps1 jrpg.
Leroy_Octopus @ Jul 19th 2009 10:36PM
How are shooter not still point and shoot?
tmacairjordan87 (aka Mr. Negativity) @ Jul 19th 2009 10:41PM
Ok if you want to break everything down to its core gameplay then yeah it's still the same. Developers innovated in other areas, because you can't change an FPS' core mechanic and have it still be an FPS.
JRPG is still what I said above, still cutscene driven (since the ps1 era), still has the stereotypes we make fun of (is it a boy or a girl? why is my hometown getting burned again? I'm' still saving the world from a maniac). They added voice acting last gen, but most of us probably agree that they can't get it down correctly for the most part and it still has the same linear gameplay that we've experience since the SNES era.
MystileArmor @ Jul 19th 2009 10:41PM
Tmac, the population of Japan is around 127 million (give or take). The US has a population of 306 million.
You can't really compare the two sales figures.
JXCgunrunna @ Jul 19th 2009 10:45PM
Have to correct a few things for you tamc. there are very few shooters that get it even 90% right. RPG's like WoW have it as right as CoD4 and Halo. There are plenty of racing games that have good online. you also have to realize shooters have always been a genre that is best when you have living people to shoot at because a computer does not have the ability to think as fast as a human and with the same amount of unpredictability.
Prototype has sold over a million.
JXCgunrunna @ Jul 19th 2009 10:49PM
Thats what makes it a JRPG. if you take away the linear story driven game play of a hero emerging from being nothing to save the world, then you have a WRPG such as fallout 3. fallout 3 has a decent story but I wouldnt say it was wonderful. FF7 has a wonderful story. its moving and very gripping and i do not even really like JRPG's that much.
Vcize @ Jul 19th 2009 10:49PM
Ok seriously, comparing the amount JRPG's and shooters have evolved in the last 15 years is like comparing the amount, well, I don't have a good analogy here but let's just say it's not even close. Don't get me wrong, I love JRPGs, but comparing the changes in JRPGs to the changes in shooters is just silly, it's not even close.
Mr Mobius - the wandering artist @ Jul 19th 2009 10:51PM
So shooters aren't still primarily marine types, or other badasses who have a vocabulary in the double figures? Apart from graphics, nothing major has changed in most of the games since the days of Duke Nukem 64.
Duel wielding just means two bullets fire at once, and if I recall, couldn't you do that in Goldeneye on the N64?
Vehicles in shooters? Yet again, am I correct saying that you could drive vehicles in Goldeneye?
Many shooters are still as linear as they were a decade ago, and the stories still leave a lot to be desired.
Wiizer (Fix the Comment System) @ Jul 19th 2009 10:58PM
tmac,
I would write a response to point how ridiculous your statements are, but everyone else seems to be doing a good job.
But seriously, check your attitude. No one wants to read all that. Because, then we have to try to correct it, and it ends up being a mess in the end.
tmacairjordan87 (aka Mr. Negativity) @ Jul 19th 2009 11:00PM
Anyone else notice how no one has defended JRPGs? All they've done is say "well genre x hasn't changed either!", but no one's denied that jrpgs haven't changed at all. Thank you all for proving my point.
Mr Mobius - the wandering artist @ Jul 19th 2009 11:04PM
Things have changed, but I'm not a JRPG follower to be able to point out all of these. The battle system has changed throughout the Final Fantasy series alone as far as I'm aware. I'm more fed up that you consider the FPS genre to be rapidly advancing because as far as I can see it, that genre is getting stale faster than any other, and is a reason why I don't buy many FPS games now.
tmacairjordan87 (aka Mr. Negativity) @ Jul 19th 2009 11:08PM
I didn't say rapidly advancing, I said over the course of time the genre has changed a lot. There's a massive difference between the original Doom and COD 4, but there's not much difference (if any) between, say, FF7 and current gen JRPGs. It's getting stale now just because of the sheer number of FPS released each year.
JXCgunrunna @ Jul 19th 2009 11:13PM
JRPGs have changed. FF12 is a great example and from what I have seen from FF13, there are a lot of changes there too. I would say shooters have changed more in the last 15 years than JRPGs have but you have to look at what makes those games up. JRPGs are story driven and Shooters have always been mechanic and graphics driven.take call of duty 1 for example. in 2003 IW was the first to add the ability to look down the sight of ur gun. before that the most we had was a little zoom function. Goldeneye did let you dual wield but halo added the left trigger to shoot the left gun which made a bigger difference to how you were going to use your weapons. Tom Clancy games have always pushed the ability to use stealth froward including better cover systems and hot swapping suppressors in game.
Heres a test to prove my point. Go back and try to play goldeneye or the early id games. its hard to do and get used to. I have a hard time player a shooter that I can not shoot through cover since iv spent so much time with CoD4. not go back and play Crono Trigger and FF1-7 The final fantasy games play just as well and its not because they were so well made then that they withstand the test of time because 007 was easily the best console shooter of its time and so much shit has changed that everything from lack of grenades to the controls makes it near impossible to play. I just replayed through FF7 last year and Crono Trigger and FF4 when i got my DSi and they are awesome and fun as they were when i played through them on the SNES/PS1
Sly @ Jul 20th 2009 12:42AM
shooters haven't evolved much in terms of single player. most of the non-graphical changes have been in multiplayer.
deanb @ Jul 20th 2009 3:36AM
FF1 -Side on, 2D sprites, no names, generic fantasy story, random encounters.
FFII - names
FFIV - ATB
FFVII - 3D, manapunk(?) story, chocobo racing
FFX - Voices, full 3D
FFXI - MMO
FFXII - World encounters, ADB, gambit system
And on top of all that the various changes to levelling up system, from materia, traditional levelling, sphere grids, licences etc. And limit breaks (dunno what one they were added) And that's just one franchise.
JXC listed the shooter changes.
Cody @ Jul 20th 2009 8:32AM
Good lord tmac. Racking up those downvotes again I see.
Every thread, you just snowball yourself into oblivion by the end.
JRPGs are just fine. Why? Because people not named you still purchase them and ENJOY them, despite your brain washing attempts over the Joystiq masses.
Wanna be Elitist ass...
tmacairjordan87 (aka Mr. Negativity) @ Jul 20th 2009 10:16AM
If you're gonna call someone a wannabe, you shouldn't have your myspace linked anywhere. I thought people were supposed to grow out of their wigger phase after high school? Or are you still there?
CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ Jul 20th 2009 10:49AM
I think just the fact that you can play through an old JRPG just fine, while it is nearly impossible to play through an old shooter says a lot about what has and hasn't changed.
Cody you look like a complete idiot when you can't come up with anything other than a lame attack against tmac. Come up with your own thoughts on it or don't bother posting.
Duke @ Jul 20th 2009 1:02PM
So this is degrading quick eh? If people get past being defensive over the games they find most appealing, I think that many would agree FPS have made more changes than JRPG games have over the years. The last major change I remember taking notes of JRPG's is the random encounters being done away with in some. Other than that, most of the gameplay has remained largely the same. In FPS we have seen everything from utilization of driving mechanics, destructible worlds, ragdoll physics and the growth and expansion of online MP that have dramatically changed them along with many other features.
I love the FF series myself, but not enough to be blind to Square's refusal to really mix things up in the JRPG world. As they see it, if it isn't broke than why fix it.
stormtrooper190 PSN= (im not telling you that) @ Jul 20th 2009 6:06PM
i used to respect you tmac now i just dont like you enymore
sony boy @ Jul 19th 2009 10:17PM
that's nearly impossible.
Blank-Mage @ Jul 19th 2009 10:17PM
No, just very improbable.
DangerMouse @ Jul 19th 2009 11:01PM
Oh no, your week's ruined.
mr mobius - the wandering artist @ Jul 19th 2009 10:24PM
The PSP must feel lonely up there.
NOT ME @ Jul 19th 2009 10:25PM
I hope no one here cares about these numbers anymore japan has chosen their path apparently anything rpg gets their blood flowing. I guess some people like making choices rather having control an doing it themselves. Say what u want but at least we play sports race and play shooters oh and wait we play RPGs too it just so happens that we and the rest of the world enjoy different genres as well