Voice chat/Virtual Console
– Reggie talked about how Nintendo is still considering voicechat, and how he wouldn’t be surprised to see it on Wii in the future.
– Both expect it to happen (when Nintendo say stuff like this, it basically means it is happening) but are dumbfounded by how long it is taking.
– Both really hope it comes out in time for Smash, but are doubtful.
– For the majority of VC games, we’re not going to see modifications or upgrades (like we did with Pokemon Snap), simply because Nintendo doesn’t need to do it.
– Don’t expect a VC price drop in the future – they’re doing great and there’s no need to change anything.
– Hope to see more import games (like Sin and Punishment) and expect this because it appears that Nintendo is paying attention to the wider gaming community.

NPD
– Both Wii and DS did exceptionally well.
– Analysts are predicting around 1.6-1.7 million for Wii in December.
– Make sure you camp out if you want to get a Wii – don’t go on ebay or anything because you will be ripped off.
– If the quantity had been there, Wii sales would have definitely been over 1 million. Nintendo would be kicking themselves right now because of their inability to get more units out.
– Very solid performance by 360 (not too far away from Wii) and PSP, as well as Playstation 2. Playstation 3 numbers are still comparatively low, but much improved from last month.
– Galaxy released a week later than COD4, so both games are basically selling at the same pace – if Galaxy came out earlier, then it would probably have reached around the same numbers as COD4.
– Guitar Hero 3 Wii should be a 1 million seller by the end of the year, which should do very good things for future Wii 3rd party support and also proves that 3rd party games can sell very well if they are high quality and appeal to the Wii audience. EA should be kicking themselves for not releasing Rock Band on Wii.
– Bozon thinks it’s taken way too long for the mono issue in Guitar Hero 3 Wii to be fixed. Action needs to be taken.

Wii Software LTD’s

Super Mario Galaxy = 1.2 million

Smackdown vs Raw 2008 = 53,000 – not very good first-month numbers, and comparatively lower to PS2 and 360.

Carnival Games = 300,000 – has sold better than Nintendo’s Big Brain Academy.

Boogie = 172,000

Call of Duty 3 = 310,000

Cars = 115, 000

Cooking Mama = 190,000

DDR Hottest Party = 176,000

Dragon Ball Z Buokai Tenkaichi 2 = 166,000

Elebits = 130,000

Excite Truck = 266,000

Fire Emblem = 53,000

High School Musical = 185,000

GT Pro Series = 108,000

Guitar Hero 3 Wii = 715,000

Happy Feet = 87,000

Harry Potter = 150,000

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess = 1.8 million

Madden 08 = 292,000

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games = 330,000

Mario Party 8 = 1.4 million

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 = 31,000

Metroid Prime 3 Corruption = 490,000

MySims = 200,000

Wii Play = over 3 million

Rayman Raving Rabbids = over 500,000

Rayman Ravings Rabbids 2 = 60,000

Red Steel = less than 400,000

Resident Evil 4 = over 400,000

Resident Evil : Umbrella Chronicles = 120,000

Sonic and the Secret Rings = 350,000

SSX Blur = 125,000

Super Paper Mario = 808,000

The BIGS = nearly 200,000

MLB Power Pro = around 80,000

Tiger Woods 07 = almost 350,000

Tiger Woods 08 = 175,000

Transformers = 150,000

Trauma Centre = 210,000

Trauma Centre: New Blood = 15,000

WarioWare: Smooth Moves = 604,000

Zack and Wiki = under 35,000

– Bozon thinks that the great sales of Resident Evil on Wii should lead to an original Resident Evil game on Wii, likely in the vein of Resident Evil 4.

– It seems that casual and minigame titles on Wii are selling best, with a few exceptions.

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
– A bit disappointing. Some publications (eg: Nintendo Power, who gave it a 9) are giving it high scores, but Matt and Bozon think that it doesn’t get close to the original.
– It’s still a solid game but it has a lot of flaws that bring it down.
– Bozon was a fan of the previous game but is let down with this installment.
– The flying feels very mechanical, and feels very analogue – it’s not very fluid (you can actually see the degrees of movement) – stuff like Galaxy feels much better. Also surprisingly features camera issues.
– However, it has a bunch of cool features, such as using the weather channel.
– Easily works best with analogue control, but therefore doesn’t provide an experience unique from other consoles.
– Review should come out early next-week.

2008 Support
– Wild Earth announced – looks pretty dull, appears to be in the vein of Afrika.
– Baroque announced on Wii and PS2 – action, hack-and-slash game, somewhat of a Wiimake.
– Sonic Riders – went hands-on with it and think it is pretty average.
– Wii Love Golf – turning out really good. Good fun and has a lot of Capcom nostalgia.

– They have several planned exclusives next week – revealing one or two games that are nothing mind-blowings but should at least be interesting.

Game of the Year
– Most likely contenders are Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, Mass Effect (which is the least likely due to it’s technical issues) and Super Mario Galaxy.
– Uncharted is a chance but features too much repetitive gunplay.
– Assassin’s Creed is really fun but also very repetitive with its missions.
– Matt thinks Metroid Prime 3 won’t be a consideration but deserves much more attention.
– Peer thinks Phantom Hourglass also deserves more attention as it is an excellent Zelda title.
– Halo 3 doesn’t really have a chance at all.

Reader Questions
– Both expect a delay of Mario Kart Wii. Think it will probably release around the summer period.

– Talk about how releasing games around the same time can canabilise sales (eg: No More Heroes and Smash Bros. Brawl releasing around the same time) – for example, the game Stranglehold (which had tons of money put into it) was released around Halo 3 and has so far has sold less than 200,000 on 360 and even less on PS3 (115,000).

– So far 3rd party support for Wii hasn’t been amazing. They know of a few cool games coming to Wii, so expect some good announcements next year, but there hasn’t been enough AAA 3rd party games announced for Wii.

– Guitar Hero 3 Wii shows the right 3rd party games on Wii can sell very well. Matt believes 3rd party Wii games, if they are supreme quality, well advertised and appeal to the right demographic, can sell over a 1 million in a month.

– Both still think Street Fighter 4 on Wii is a very slim chance.

– Matt thinks Resistance is the most overrated title on PS3 – doesn’t understand why people got so excited over it. Bozon (who played Halo 2 a ridiculous amount) thinks Halo 3 is also overrated – Matt was bored out of his mind.

– No hints as to when the next Zelda game is coming out on Wii. Have heard nothing about it. They expect to hear the first news about it probably in 2009. Be prepared for a very long development cycle for this game, as it’s the first ‘true’ Wii Zelda game.

– Don’t expect the Friend Code system to cease anytime soon.

– Matt can’t say anything more about the mystery games. Peer has read the design documents – he is a big fan of the franchise and hasn’t seen a big installment in that franchise for a long while, and thinks it uses the Wii well. It takes the genre in a new direction.

– The other game – Peer was never a big fan of the franchise due to the characters, but Matt thinks certain gamers will wet themselves upon learning of this game.

– Both games are going to be very cool, and everyone should be very excited about them. The are big titles.

– Both believe the headset will come before any hard-drive, and that the hard-drive is a pipedream at this stage.

– Matt will be playing Bioshock, Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4 during the break. Peer just finished Call of Duty 4 and Assassin’s Creed, and will playing Halo 3, God of War 2, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Mass Effect. Bozon will be playing co-op Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles with his brother, as well as Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, and play handheld games like Dementium.

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