Namco Bandai Sales VP: Wii and DS market has collapsed

[hardrrocker]

Okay call me a n00b but, come on how the heck do you pirate a DS flash Cart unless you use a Emulator and roms

[alienjesus]

Just judging from these predictions for e3, which includes a lot of already announced games,I wouldn't exactly describe DS gaming as a drought: http://ds.nintendolife.com/news/2010/06 ... redictions.

I guess the DS has had a lot less games than it had once upon a time, but i still dont understand talk of a drought as such. So many other consoles I've owned (N64, Gamecube) have had less games coming out this far into their lifecycle. I remember the nightmare I had finding games towards the end of their life cycle, such as Pokemon Stadium 2, Paper Mario, Mario Party 3 (none of which I could find) and Chibi Robo. Those were real droughts, there were almost no games for them even in the game shops. I imagine it was similar for Saturn owners too.

[ZeroAX]

hm you could be right. Though too many JRPGs for my sake, still some good games. But not as original as what came out in the first years, but then again we did get scriblenauts last year

[alienjesus]

Come to think of it, I didnt see Super Scribblenauts mentioned there either, anothe rgame in development

[skyknight]

The interview was done with the European VP of sales, and some things may be different on both sides of the Ocean.

OK, from the US:
Wii - USD $199 - latest bundle includes two games with Motion-plus
DS/DSi/DSi XL - $129/159/189 - there are several bundles that include games

PS3/X360 - $299 for entry
PSP - $179 for barebones / 199 for entertainment bundle

iPhone - 199 + month subscription (2yr contract as well) - AT&T only!

Common price for games:
Wii - $50
PS3/X360 - $60
DS - $30~40
PSP - $30~40

I don't know how different it is for our fellow gamers in Europe for the above (you can tell us what it is like there on your side).

From the technical standpoint, both Wii and DS have already peak out; my bro who is quite a tech geek, even suggested that the Wii was already out-dated just one year after its launch, and he thought last year would be the peak for the entire DS family. Both him and I do agree that this E3, Nintendo should have something in their sleeves to stay in the gaming business - the 3DS is already confirmed, but what about the main console? I do think a Wii with HD (Hard Drive + High Definition) should appear at this E3 or Tokyo Game Show later.

From the gaming selection, boy, does the DS outshine the Wii! While there are quality games on Wii, most of it are buried under the shovel-ware in many (traditional) retail stores, and I agree that that the Seal of Quality has completely lost its meaning now. For the DS, there are plenty of great games, but unfortunately I think most gamers would follow the cliche - all of my younger co-workers play Pokemon, while other older ones would play FF/DQ/puzzle.

As for piracy, I won't go into that too much. But I do think everyone should know people want to make money, and think about the efforts that go into a game design.

[alienjesus]

UK Common price for games:
Wii - £35-40
PS3/X360 - £40-50
DS - £30-35
PSP - technically £30ish, but generally cheaper because they sell so badly.

Yeah, the prices here don't vary much. A year or two ago, Wii and DS games woulda been about £5 cheaper in general, with most wii games being £30-35 and most DS being £25-30 but thats not true anymore, even Sin and Punishment 2 debuted at £40, whereas nintendo games used to appear at the cheaper end of the scale.

I couldn't tell you exactly how much the consoles are, but roughly:
Wii - £160-£180 although this has just recently gone down from £180-200
Xbox 360 - £130-200ish?
PS3 - £250-£280
DS Lite/DSi/DSi XL - £90/120/150
PSP - £135-250 depending on model.

Most places will generally have some sort of bundle on the consoles, but sometimes you can see portables with no bundled games. The wii generally comes with wii sports, wii sports resort, and a motion plus in addition to the standard console now.

[yomomma1]

Prices, Michael Pachter explains. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episo ... ack/100545

[ZeroAX]

Prices, Michael Pachter explains. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episo ... ack/100545

please don't link to that idiot. This show is insulting.

And the reason for Europe's prices is that $ = €. Plain and simple.

If an American makes 5000$ a month it doesn't mean a European should be payed what is 5000$ in € just because the exchange rate at the time means 1€ is more than 1$. Otherwise when the € is at it's lows prices will hike up and when € is at it's highest prices will crumble. There is just no reason to compare European and American prices in exchange rate prices. The wii costs 200 in both continents. Only in Europe it's € and in the US it's $. The added taxes in Europe can be retrieved from the difference in currency value.


Though it remains to be seen what will happen if the Euro falls bellow the dollar.

[yomomma1]

Prices, Michael Pachter explains. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episo ... ack/100545

please don't link to that idiot. This show is insulting.

In what way? It tells you why games are priced higher.

Also, for an idiot he seems to be very good at his job.

[ZeroAX]

Prices, Michael Pachter explains. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episo ... ack/100545

please don't link to that idiot. This show is insulting.

In what way? It tells you why games are priced higher.

I was talking in general. The only thing that show does is please fanboys that bring the most hits to gametrailers.

In that video you linked, he dares say that if we don't like DRM we should find something else to do. This idiot ever heard of consumer rights? Yeah protect your games guys but not in a way that hurts my rights to resell/lend/gift a game I own.

In another video he says that pc gaming is dead because gametrailers only talks about consoles. Yeah PC gaming ain't at it's strongest but really calling it dead is really pushing it, but as I said it's a show that insults your intellect, just so it can please fanboys, who are it's main userbase.