Japanese hardware sales, 14 August - 20 August: supreme bias edition
Much like a used car purchased from a licentious and overbearing salesman, people often come with their own set of inherent, sometimes unpredictable quirks and predilections. It's part of being human and, in most cases, can be kept under control. Unfortunately, that's not how things regularly work in the realms of video games, internet communication and poorly constructed vehicle metaphors.
Some people are driven mad by the desire to travel down the road of their favorite console manufacturer, logic chicanes and reality potholes blissfully ignored in pursuit of victory over those driving in the opposite direction (or in the case of the Wii, avoiding the road entirely and taking to the sky in a Da Vincian flying contraption). This week, we ponder what it would be like if such a person wrote Joystiq's weekly Japanese sales recap.
The ranking, according to number of units sold:
- DS Lite: 74,495
122,224 (62.13%)
- PSP: 41,535
246 (0.60%)
- PS2: 26,833
286 (1.08%)
- GBA SP: 3,823
772 (25.30%)
- Game Boy Micro: 2,266
235 (11.57%)
- Xbox 360: 1,493
289 (24.00%)
- Gamecube: 922
18 (1.91%)
- DS Phat: 712
222 (23.77%)
- GBA: 20
3 (13.04%)
- Xbox: 7
1 (16.67%)
The PlayStation persuader: As you can see, dear readers, the PSP is well on its way to the top of the charts. The DS Lite takes the biggest plunge this week, no doubt caused by people realizing that they'd rather play a full game on the PSP's big screen than half a game on two, tiny screens. Sure, "41,535" is technically a smaller number than "74,495" but a huge number is a huge number. And nobody does huge numbers like Sony.
The Microsoft minion: At least the Xbox is consistent. It has always remained in the prestigious top 10, talking directly to a confident and highbrow society within Japan. The Xbox 360 doesn't need to pander to the masses with mundane and "appealing" games. Not everyone can understand the significance of shooting from a first-person, nay, first-mersive experience.
The Nintendo neophyte: Has this thing changed yet? No. The DS Lite is still outselling everything ever made and proving once again that innovation is the key to success. Indeed, redesigning the DS Phat and releasing New Super Mario Bros. was the one-two punch of freshness that gave the competition a bloody nose.
The N-Gage encapsulant: Uh ... we'll let our commenters discuss these numbers.
[Source: Media Create. Image: Daily Dinosaur Comics. Trying: too hard.]
