Japanese Game Developers talk Next-Gen consoles

[trancejeremy]

Right, but beyond those fantastic Japanese RPGs, their games aren't usually the top sellers over here either.

We like Halo and Project Gotham Racing.

Sure both countries like stuff like Final Fantasy but I don't think those cheerleading games on the Nintendo DS are about to break into the import market here anytime soon.

Well, here's last month's top 30 US console/handheld sales:

1 Madden NFL 07 PS2 EA1 1,013,500 1,013,500
2 Madden NFL 07 X360 EA1 540,000 540,000
3 Dead Rising X360 Capcom1 382,000 382,000
4 Madden NFL 07 XB EA1 286,500 286,500
5 Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus PS2 Square1 229,000 229,000
6 New Super Mario Bros DS Nintendo4 203,500 1,372,000
7 NCAA Football 07 PS2 EA2 184,500 748,000
8 Madden NFL 07: Hall of Fame PS2 EA1 146,000 146,000
9 Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories PS2 Take 23 118,000 778,500
10 Madden NFL 07: Hall of Fame X360 EA1 104,500 104,500
11 Nintendogs DS Nintendo13 99,000 2,581,500
12 Naruto: Ultimate Ninja PS2 Bandai2 84,500 203,500
13 Brain Age DS Nintendo5 84,500 681,500
14 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas PS2 Take 223 84,000 7,666,500
15 Ninety-Nine Nights X360 Microsoft1 84,000 84,000
16 NCAA Football 07 X360 EA2 83,500 459,500
17 Big Brain Academy DS Nintendo3 83,000 377,500
18 Guitar Hero PS2 Red Octane7 82,500 488,500
19 Star Wars: Battlefront II PS2 LucasArts6 74,000 1,465,000
20 Madden NFL 07 PSP EA1 67,500 67,500
21 God Of War PS2 Sony18 67,000 1,596,000
22 Mario Kart DS DS Nintendo10 64,500 1,259,000
23 NCAA Football 07 XB EA2 63,500 227,500
24 Super Mario Advance GBA Nintendo63 60,500 2,717,500
25 Cars GBA THQ3 57,500 367,000
26 Madden NFL 07 GC EA1 56,500 56,500
27 Tekken: Dark Resurrection PSP Namco2 56,500 94,500
28 Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition Remix PS2 Take 24 55,500 255,500
29 Shadow of The Colossus PS2 Sony2 55,500 163,000
30 Animal Crossing: Wild World DS Nintendo9 52,000 821,000

I think 11 or 12 of the top 30 are Japanese. Not just RPGs - Survival horror is popular (Dead Rising), Nintendo games in general, fighting games (Tekken and I think Naruto).

Then look at last week's Japanese top 30

"01 PS2 92016 302,408 Everybody Tennis
02 NDS 58739 731,690 FFIII
03 NDS 54595 3,099,175 NSMB
04 NDS 32846 3,229,770 BrainTraining 2
05 NDS 26642 26642 Gintama DS: Banji Ousoudou!
06 PS2 21467 94461 Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne
07 NDS 20447 3,219,324 Animal Forest
08 NDS 20195 116,168 Tingle
09 NDS 19821 505,027 Cooking Navi
10 PS2 19085 19085 Harukanaru Toki no Nakade Maihitoyo
11 PS2 18928 18928 Chaos wars
12 NDS 17648 44189 Sega Brain Training DS
13 NDS 15758 503,888 Tamagotchi 2
14 GBA 15060 158,819 Rhythm heaven
15 NDS 14258 2,758,225 Brain Training
16 NDS 13250 1,332,905 English Training
17 NDS 12829 308,731 Mario Basketball 3x3
18 PS2 12555 41244 God Hand
19 PSP 10794 39352 Ridge Racers 2
20 NDS 10069 1,566,849 Mario Kart DS
21 NDS 9612 842,293 Tetris DS
22 PS2 8229 8229 Ryu Koku
23 PSP 7926 7926 Metal Gear Solid
24 PSP 7791 43465 Valhalla Knights
25 PSP 7349 87743 Tales Of Phantasia Full Voice Edition
26 PSP 6701 6701 Bounty Hounds
27 PS2 6644 149,819 Everybody Golf
28 PS2 6606 172,392 Phantasy Star Universe
29 NDS 6120 82997 Rune Factory
30 PSP 6043 28466 Taiko 2 where you put on airs"


I think of that list, only 2 are non-Japanese. Tetris (which is Russian) and Bounty Hounds (which is, I dunno. Syd Mead did the design of the graphics, dunno who did the game design, but IIRC, it's not Japanese)

 

[Vigilance]

Well my point wasn't so much that Japanese games aren't popular here, more that the tastes are different, which your lists illustrate nicely.

For all the people who act like we consume Japanese products of all types while they turn their noses up at American games, my point was more that they like different sorts of games than Americans do (which I believe you said as well Jeremy- I dont claim it's my unique butterfly of an idea )

Chuck