Xbox 360
If there were any doubt that the Xbox 360 is the home of
first- and third-person shooters, let this top five list put that question to
rest.
Four of the top five games this year on the Xbox 360
involve guns and explosions and lots of online mayhem. Moreover, they are all
third-party titles: Take-Two, Activision, Ubisoft, EA, and UbiSoft.
After examining the PS3 top five, seeing Grand Theft Auto
IV at the top of the Xbox 360 list is again no surprise. According to NPD Group
figures, GTA4 has sold 4.8 million copies across both the Xbox 360 and PS3.
We
estimate that the Xbox 360 version should account for around two-thirds of that
total, or just under 3 million units, although neither NPD nor Microsoft have
released specific figures.
Moreover, the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty 4 was
in the top 10 from January through April and we know it was above 100,000 units
in May. That puts it somewhere higher than 1.2 million copies for the year.
In August the Xbox 360 version of Madden NFL 09 was right
at 1 million units, although some of those were the 20th Anniversary
Edition which wasn't counted in the NPD data used for this ranking.
We don't have definitive data on the last two titles, but
it is quite likely that Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is between 900,000 and 1 million
units while Army of Two is around the 800,000 to 900,000 mark.
|
Printer-Friendly Version
Nintendo's list is surely innovative, but how long will Super Mario games manage to carry the torch? The two top additions are sequels, or in other words calculated "sure-sellers".
Hope lies with those smaller companies who can risk going for those quirky and distinct gaming experiences. I think next-gen/current-gen graphics will be downplayed in the future, from a marketing point of view the important part is standing out. Why spend so much time on looks, that seems to be the norm, at the expense of gameplay and amount of content?
With all the consolidation in the industry, I think we'll see small independent startups taking the spotlight soon. :)
They already are. Look at online distribution in all platforms. Games like Braid are huge hits.
And mid developers are already investing on the Wii: LostWinds (Frontier), The Conduit (High Voltage Software), Cursed Mountain (Deep Silver), Sadness (Nibris)... The lower costs of production allows them to bring technology that rivals the big companies, and to get recognition (and sales) by providing great software.
Thanks for the info on those games. (Yes, I knew about Braid) :) It's just so easy for games like that to drown in the massive hype of other games, I had not heard about the other one's. Maybe that wind game.
So, we can hope that the larger gamer mass will pick up those original games and try them out. (Just like with Braid) So, definitively change is happening as you said. (I stand corrected)
Still looking at those lists, there will be some time before we see very original or genre pushing titles appearing as bestsellers. That's perhaps a consumerchange we're seeing with Braid. :)