PS3 Beats Wii for the 2nd Week in a Row in Japan

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Market research firm Media Create has revealed data for weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending November 18th, following details of the software top thirty.

With last week’s hardware sales results only covering the first few days of the PlayStation 3’s price cut, and the launch of the 40GB model, Sony’s next generation console has beaten both the Wii and Xbox 360 for the second week running.

Despite continued strong sales of Dynasty Warriors 6, though, overall sales did slip, by over 16,500 units, to 39,178. The Nintendo DS remained the number one selling console of the week though, with sales down by almost 3,000 units to 76,084.

The PSP however saw sales rise by over 6,500 units to a total of 65,609. As ever, though, there was little or no correlation between PSP hardware and software sales, with not a single PSP game in the top twenty – the highest ranked being Hudson’s PC Engine remake Dungeon Explorer at number twenty-four. Given the sales of the lowest ranked title in the software top ten (the only titles for which figures are given) the game likely recorded sales well below 10,000 units.

Despite the success of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Wii sales rose by under 2,000 units to 36,230. PlayStation 2 sales remained below the 10,000 mark for a second week, almost unchanged at 8,855 units. The Xbox 360 rallied by a few hundred units to 6,525, while the Game Boy Advance family of consoles dropped to 262 units.

Uncharted highlights the power of the PS3

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Hear that? It's the sound of Sony revving its engine.

Like a post-pubescent kid just finding his voice and confidence, the PlayStation 3 system has some swagger these days. It's on a roll with a roster of tremendous new titles and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a star player.

The key to its allure is the power under the hood of the PS3. The Cell Broadband Engine has made it possible for developers to create complex animations. So many things can happen at once, and in such great detail, it produces an extremely realistic experience for the player. Characters express lifelike emotion using gesture and facial expression while next-generation rendering techniques and high dynamic range lighting deliver first-class environments.

While you play, you traverse incredibly gorgeous, lush jungles and spectacular ruins, solve puzzles, and experience a great deal of gunplay, a few high-speed chases and a round or two of mano-a-mano brawling...

...Drake's Fortune will inevitably draw comparisons to such games as Tomb Raider and Far Cry, the TV series Lost and the Hollywood film Tomb Raider. There's nothing wrong with that. They all have in common brilliant stories laden with intrigue, peril and baffling yet mesmerizing circumstances.

How Unreal Tournament 3 Ended Up on the PS3 First (Mark Rein)

Release Date Dec. 10.  It should be at retailers Dec. 11.

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Simply put, it's the ability to run (really run) user generated content. Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield and Christian Nutt sat down with the Epic Games' mouthpiece to chat about all things Unreal--why Epic won't dedicate time to porting Unreal Engine 3 to Wii, why he's "very sensitive" about accusations that all UE3 games have a "look" and why the team decided to go to the PlayStation 3 for their latest shooter. Rein clears up some differences between user created content in Sony's LittleBigPlanet and Home which is decidedly non-"Wild West", almost anything goes when it comes to Unreal Tournament III mods.

Of course, Rein says they'll have a mechanism in place to blacklist certain mods that users report as objectionable, but the user created content on the PS3 version is the real deal. It's not just "rearranging chairs on the deck" a la LittleBigPlanet, it's scripting, graphics, models, level design.

EA Thinks Sony Will Hit Sales Projections


1 Million PSP Slims Sold In 1 Month In Japan (Not including the Crisis Core)


Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Review on PSN (IGN gives it 9.5)


Gamespot: Infamous (PS3) Q&A: Good Versus Evil

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For us, the most exciting part of the PS3 has been the cell processor, the SPUs specifically. In our highest density scenes right now, we are currently using about 30 percent of the SPUs' capabilities--with the SPUs doing lots of heavy lifting for us on rendering, visibility, particle systems, skinning, animation blending, and so on...this with scores of pedestrians, cars, fires, etc., all going on. And the best part? We've not made any significant attempts to even optimize the SPU code. I think it's reasonable to guess we could put 10 times as much stuff on the SPUs and still make our frame budgets. It's really pretty amazing.

Infamous (Old HD Trailer)


Naruto PS3 Project Website

Trailer of Naruto PS3 Project (no sound)  This version of Naruto has the Rasengan technique in it!


New Golden Axe for PS3 and Xbox 360


Burnout Paradise for PS3 and Xbox 360 Jan. 22 Release  ...Big demo in Dec.


PS3 a Hacker's Dream...and...PS3 Withstands Hack Challange


'Net Explodes Over Journalist Firing

Quoting Unicus69:

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Quoting Ascended_Saiyan:

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PS3 Beats Wii for the 2nd Week in a Row in Japan

Can you say "market saturation"?  I knew you could. 

Its easy to outsell something that is sold-out everywhere, but of course FanBoy Giant ASC will spin the vast gap between the popularity of the Wii and the PS3 in his favour.

Quoting Unicus69:

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I got the 'Rock Band Special Edition' from Best Buy.  It includes the guitar controller, drum controller, microphone and game software.  At most, I might have to buy an extra guitar but they claim that the Guitar Hero guitars will work so I might get lucky there.

So envious! Here in the UK there is still no release date, other than a vague "Early 2008". And no idea if MTV can secure the rights to the same DLC tracks in other territories. 

The recent increase in PS3 sales anywhere is fairly easy to explain!!!  Parents/friends/significant others (etc...) get Christmas lists with game consoles on it.  In Japan those lists are probably dominated by Nintendo Wii, especially since Mario Galaxy's recent debut.  The shoppers then hit the retail outlets only to find that the Wii is a very scarce item.  Retailers then push the PS3 40gb console, offering 10 free Blu-Ray movies to the now frazzled holiday shopper, who, desparate now and looking for a bargan, grab the PS3 in hopes of placating those they are shopping for.

Simply put, in absence of the hot selling Wii, the desparate shoppers snatch up whatever they can find in order to replace the Wii, in this case, the new lower priced 40GB PS3 with a huge 10 free movie offer!!!

Quoting Calidain:

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The recent increase in PS3 sales anywhere is fairly easy to explain!!!  Parents/friends/significant others (etc...) get Christmas lists with game consoles on it.  In Japan those lists are probably dominated by Nintendo Wii, especially since Mario Galaxy's recent debut.  The shoppers then hit the retail outlets only to find that the Wii is a very scarce item.  Retailers then push the PS3 40gb console, offering 10 free Blu-Ray movies to the now frazzled holiday shopper, who, desparate now and looking for a bargan, grab the PS3 in hopes of placating those they are shopping for.

Simply put, in absence of the hot selling Wii, the desparate shoppers snatch up whatever they can find in order to replace the Wii, in this case, the new lower priced 40GB PS3 with a huge 10 free movie offer!!!

Could you please provide a link to the 40GB PS3 being sold with 10 free Blu-ray movies?  The PS3's sales increase started BEFORE the offer of the 80GB PS3 being sold with 10 free Blu-ray movies at Wal-Mart ONLY...on Black Friday.

Quoting Ascended_Saiyan:

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Availability is the same as before.

And you know this how?

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Yes, the Wii is outselling the PS3 and Xbox 360 everywhere else in the world (except in some smaller countries in Europe).  That was NEVER in question.  I don't dodge the facts (numbers).  They keep people from succeeding in trying to convince me that up is down.  What IS interesting is that a lot of trends start in Japan FIRST and then spread to the rest of the world.

Name 10 A/V trends that started in Japan and then spread to the rest of the world. 

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It will be nice to see the NPD numbers on Dec. 13.  I want to see if MS lied about saying they beat the PS3 2:1 during turkey week.  Hopefully, stefc can post those numbers like he usually does.

I have no doubt that, given the chance, MS will spin the numbers just like Sony and every othe company does.  That is why I don't buy into the industry hype.

To those of you who already own a Wii or those who have played one I got one for my wife for Christmas and I would like some input on a two or three games that would fit the "must have" list. I have a 360 so most of the FPS games I will get for the 360. Looking for more fun games that we can play with 2- 4 people.

Thanks for any input that you guys can provide.

Quoting graymadder:

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To those of you who already own a Wii or those who have played one I got one for my wife for Christmas and I would like some input on a two or three games that would fit the "must have" list. I have a 360 so most of the FPS games I will get for the 360. Looking for more fun games that we can play with 2- 4 people.

Thanks for any input that you guys can provide.

The Wii's "must-haves" are few and far between, as a general rule, ONLY buy Nintendo made games as alot of 3rd party exclusives are dross. None of these must-haves are multiplayer though i.e.

Super Mario Galaxy (Platformer)
Metroid Prime (FPS)
Zelda (RPG)

And that is why I personally see no reason to buy a Wii. After the first few hours of Wii sports, there is nothing I would enjoy on that system. Have a look at metacritic and see if you can find anything that you might enjoy.