Posts Tagged ‘New Super Mario Bros. Wii’
By: Jon Christensen on January 21st, 2010 pm31 7:30 pm
Nintendo releasing a Mario 2D side-scroller, rather than a 3D platform adventure, was probably a great move on their part. According to the latest numbers from NPD, New Super Mario Bros. Wii has already outsold Super Mario Galaxy, which is ridiculous because Galaxy has been out for over two years. While the newest installment of Mario has been out for a little over a month. As of today, Super Mario Galaxy has sold about 4.1 million copies, while the New Super Mario Bros. Wii has moved about 4.2 million.
Now we can blame a number of reasons why NSMBW has already outpaced what the critically acclaimed Galaxy has done, since it launched way back in 2007. One obvious answer could be contributed to the fact the Nintendo Wii has a much larger install base then when Mario Galaxy debuted to gamers. However, I think it goes much deeper than just numbers.
Nintendo has been marketing their system to not only the casual gamer, but also insuring it would be a family friendly console. Many of the moms and dads who purchased the system, as well as a person who wouldn’t normally buy a videogame system, but felt compelled to own a Wii, probably saw the New Super Mario Bros. Wii and fell in love with the nostalgic look to it. I’m pretty sure these ‘people,’ who probably don’t buy many games to began with, pretended to go back in time and play with a game that reminiscent their growing up days. Now combine that with a fun multiplayer aspect, and Nintendo has a hit on their hands.
Either way, it was smart for Nintendo to go back to its roots once again with Mario.
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By: Jon Christensen on January 1st, 2010 pm31 7:53 pm
Last week, FInal Fantasy XIII saw a tremendous launch in Japan. The famous RPG series saw more than a million copies moved in the first day alone and by the time the forth day came around, Square-Enix had sold nearly two million units. Obviously, Japan’s love for role-playing games was still here; however, according to Media Create, this past week the numbers had slowed.
Kotaku is reporting that Media Create has tallied the total numbers of videogame sales in the Land of the Rising Sun, and Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros. Wii had taken the top spot, something it has already done. The side-scrolling game moved about 506,000 copies and now has totaled almost 2.5 million. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the DS, also published by Nintendo, debuted at number two selling about 291,000.
Final Fantasy XIII saw a drastic change since its first week launch and came in forth place overall and moved about 189,000 copies. Beating out the famous 13th installment of FF was the surprise hit, yet critically smashed game Tomodachi Collection, selling 227,000 and 2,317,000.
After the jump, check out the top ten best selling games in Japan. (more…)
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By: Jon Christensen on January 1st, 2010 pm31 1:09 pm
Amazon.com has compiled a list which represents what sold best during the year of 2009 in their videogame category. The big winner would have to be Nintendo — nine of the top ten things sold last year, were a Nintendo product. We should note that it is not just a game title that Amazon considered, but they also took in account accessories as well, and we all know the Wii has a ton of those.
The top three were not even a game; the Wii system, a Wiimote controller and the Wii MotionPlus accessory are listed respectively. The first game to be on the list is Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros. Wii at number four, followed by the Wii Nunchuck controller, and the expansion pack Wii Fit Plus with the Balance Board chimed, in at number six. The heavily marketed Wii Sports Resort stands at number seven, with the original Wii Fit right behind it. The first non-Nintendo product to be included on the list is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the Xbox 360 at number nine, but than amazingly Mario Kart for the Wii is next to that.
The first time Sony even has something on the list, is at number 11, which is nothing more than the Dualshock 3 controller. The first game by Sony was Modern Warfare 2, but sadly is listed at number 13.
Obviously these numbers are only for the online retailer Amazon.com and does not actually speak for the industry as a whole in 2009. But this list does prove Nintendo has experienced another great year, while their competitors are still playing catchup and last year might have proven to be the final nail in the coffin.
After the jump, check out the top 20. (more…)
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By: Jon Christensen on November 20th, 2009 pm30 12:00 pm
GameStop is trying everything to entice potential customers to buy videogames at the chain’s website and after a month, trade the discs in. Siliconera spotted the “deal” on the retailers website for both The New Super Mario Bros. Wii, where customers get a $30 credit and Left 4 Dead 2, where they get $40 instead — as long as they trade the titles within 30 days after the purchase.
I put the word deal in quotation marks because when you actually think about it, it’s just a $20 rental (not including tax) and not this great promotion the retailer is offering. Now if you think of it that way, you could easily find a better ‘deal.’ For instance, if you head over to the online videogame rental website Gamefly, you can spend about $20 and rent two games and keep them out for as long as you want. AND you’re not just limited to the games they hand pick.
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By: Jon Christensen on November 10th, 2009 pm30 10:12 pm
Kotaku received a copy of the “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” and they decided to capture some pictures of the box art and shared them with their readers. We picked one of the many shots to share with you, so if you want to see the rest, head over to their site.
As you can tell, Nintendo decided to make the whole entire box red, and I’m assuming the company wants to make sure it’ll stand out to the casual gamer, who, has no clue an ‘old-skool’ Mario game is available for the Wii — and trust me, there are a lot of them.
Obviously, this color selection is geared towards the causal gamer, and not us hardcore; however, I don’t mind the color either. Although, is it me or does this remind you of the old porn VHS cases, movie rental stores use to have? Not that I rented them, I was far too young — but I did wish I could’ve back then. Didn’t you!?
I should also mention that I love the art of the pixelated Mario Bros. in the instruction booklet.
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By: Jon Christensen on June 15th, 2009 am30 2:00 am
Nintendo is keeping its commitment to promote their console as ‘casual’ friendly because the company is going to debut a feature in the ‘New Super Mario Bros. Wii‘ game. USA Today talked with the legendary Nintendo game designer Miyamoto. He spoke about how players will be to let the computer take over spots they can’t pass, and continue playing when they feel like they can successfully proceed.
“In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, if a player is experiencing an area of difficulty, this will allow them to clear troubled areas and take over when they’re ready” confirmed Miyamoto, through his translator. “And yes, we’re looking into this for future games, too.”
I’m not sure how I feel about this. To me, it’s encouraging the player to almost cheat. Look, I would love to say I would refuse to use this new feature, but having it there would certainly make it tempting to beat an area. Sure, with practice I could do it and that should be the only way — but having this new option would entice me to take advantage of it. Especially if I wasn’t enjoying a particular part of the game.
I also feel it helps the perception to some individuals that videogames are a second rate form of entertainment. You could never do this in another medium and have it make sense. Imagine watching a movie and fast forwarding scenes that you find uninteresting. If you do this, chances are the film wouldn’t make sense during the conclusion of the story.
One of the greatest feelings in videogames, is the achievement of beating the whole game through trial and error. But with Nintendo introducing this “demo play”, the casual gamer won’t get this self entitlement.
Why call it a game when you don’t have to PLAY by the rules at certain points?
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