Check out the top ten PC games for July 7-13, and the top twenty for June:
http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories...875615,00.html
Morrowind got bumped out of the top 10 pretty quickly I must say. For a game that took 4+ years to complete, Bethesda Softworks has to be very very disapointed about the sales of this game. I bet the game cost them a ton of money to produce.
Is the Xbox version selling well? Anyone know?
And...
I have a feeling that Neverwinter Nights will also have a brief stay in the top 10. It's allready down to number 4 and it will probably continue to slide down further in the coming weeks. And this game took 4+ years to complete also. I'm sure it wasn't cheap.
By the way...
Medal of Honor and GTA 3 are kicking some major ass. And when the hell are the Sims going to die? God... Someone end this damn game.
It's allways interseting to see how well the PC games are doing....
:D
Wow!!! The new Backyard Baseball 2003 is out. How did that one get past all of our radars?
AIM: The Sims will never die. I am afraid they are the Aerosmith of PC Games. No matter how miserable the material gets, the core fans will buy whatever they put out and there is a lot of each: fans and miserable material.
When I feel like giving up on gaming entirely, I like to look at Japanese console game sales charts. Nothing will make you want to hang up your controllers in shame faster.
It's made for little kids. Are you a little kid? Then I'm not surprised it "got past your radar". I'm glad little kids are playing it though.Originally Posted by Tyjenks
I know what it is. All of the Backyard series seems to sell like hotcakes. As soon as my daughter is a little older I plan on picking up the B'ball version.It's made for little kids. Are you a little kid? Then I'm not surprised it "got past your radar". I'm glad little kids are playing it though.
Just trying to make a little joke.
Thanks for policing these posts, though, so those of us living in ignorance can be sufficiently chastised and brought up to speed.
Hey, some people have a problem with people dissing gaming in general (see other thread), I have a problem with people dissing children's gaming selling well. And I inferred the dis from your joke. No offense intended, just being a smartass.
Your daughter will probably love the Backyard series (I've only played the earlier versions). But they're simple, feature real-world players in cute and short "paid less and therefore less whiney" form, and offer the best that sports gaming offers. The opportunity to play a season and accumulate stats at the end and the opportunity for her to beat her daddy at something.
So be sure to let her win now and then.
Well, given that I played for three weeks or so and haven't touched it since, I'm not surprised. It looked great but the gameplay isn't even as good as Daggerfall -- not enough real dungeons, not enough suspense. And the game gets easy too quickly.
It's not a bad game, but it's not a great game, either. So I think it's probably getting the sales it deserves.
Bub,
To quote Scrubs, "It's all good in the hood."
I completely understand your point of view. I wish it had been a Barbie game. Would you have been cool with that? :)
What I do find amusing is that many of us continuously and seriously debate the merits and shortcomings of these games and what developers need to do to make them better and thereby sell more. Then you look at the numbers and kids games, the Sims, and, until recently, Roller Coaster Tycoon dominate the charts. We have these lofty ideas (ideals?) for games and are just a tiny, tiny portion of the purchasing public. :wink:
Heh, I'm resigned to the whole inevitability of the Barbie game thing. I guess I really don't mind, so long as it's good. I have a daughter too. Now, Sid Meier's Barbie! that would be something!
I think what you're noticing could also be said of movies, music, books, even food. Only the connoiseurs really enjoy the good stuff and a lot of great games are an acquired taste.
People really anticipated these games a lot, so I'm not surprised that their sales shot up and then dropped off quickly.
As for Xbox Morrowind, most websites stopped taking pre-orders well before it went gold. So, yeah it's probably doing pretty well. Shoot, they may be looking at their 4th million-seller. Now is a great time to be publishing a good Xbox game. There's all this installed base with nothing to do. HALO gets old after a while.
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if game companies use their own list to determine what they rank by filtering out games that have superhuman methods of staying on the charts:
1. filter out all Blizzard games
2. filter out all Maxis games
3. filter out any game with the words "extreme hunting" in it
4. filter out any Myst derivatives
Then determine where your game stands relatively from there.
Daggerfall never even made the monthly top 10 list for PC (it made a couple of weeks), but it had incredibly long legs -- it sold steadily, at full retail price, for a couple of years. I think Morrowind will enjoy decent longevity for the same reason -- if you're going to recommend an RPG beyond the action/RPG hybrids, there's still a short list (NWN, BG2 (although intimidating for newbies), Fallout and planescape games (getting long in the tooth), maybe Wizardry 8 or MM7/8 if you think they're patient enough).
It's hard to judge Morrowind's sales right now because RPG sales are being cannibalized*. Dungeon Siege, Neverwinter Nights, Warcraft III, Freedom Force, all on some level (like the box) claim to be role-playing games. All are competing for the RPG market. Especially DS, NWN and Morrowind. Plus, Icewind Dale 2 is due in a little over a month. I think Desslock is right to think Morrowind might follow in Daggerfall's footsteps. Bethesda just has to keep it front and center until the word of mouth carries - and despite detractors here Morrowind is enjoying excellent word of mouth.
Also, aren't these sales charts driven by Wal-Mart sales? I'd be surprised if Morrowind was selling well at Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, or Target.
*except on the Xbox, where it has no RPG competition
I had to make a choice between investing time in NWN or Morrowind. There was a pretty long thread (Morrowind v. Neverwinter) on the CGO forums and maybe here also. I chose Neverwinter and plan on picking up Morrowind if and when I get through. I wonder how many folks are doing the same.
I wish she was a little older and I could justify to my wife a GBA (see Tom Chick's thread for why I do not have one. I did buy a Mary Kate and Ashley game for my niece. I made sure I told the clerk that, as well).
I am glad we staightened things out, Mr. Bub. I was about to go back to your 20th anniversary Hubbub article and find something in it to make fun of you about. Even though I liked it initially. :lol:
http://www.gamesdomain.com/gdreview/.../hubbub20.html
The monthly NPD lists include Best Buy, EB, Gamestop, etc...and so they are more accurate representation.
The weekly lists only include the Costco's and other non-hardcore gaming markets. That's why you see Starcraft Battlechest on there all the time and titles like The Sims.
I'm not sure where Wal Mart falls. I actually think I read they aren't reporting to NPD at all, but may be wrong.
In any case, its the monthly lists that should carry more weight.
I've heard that Morrowind's PC sales have slowed, but their Xbox sales are still strong. I'd imagine all those other PC game titles are diluting the PC dollars. Also, Bethesda distributes their own product so it may be their distribution muscle isn't on par with EA and Vivendi.
>I'm not sure where Wal Mart falls. I actually think I read they aren't reporting to NPD at all, but may be wrong.
Wallmart reports to NPD, and has a huge impact on its results. The only significant U.S. retailer that's not included in NPD's results is Frys, which I guess is a decent-sized chain on the west coast.
Just fyi, Fry's Electronics isn't only on the west coast, we have them here in Texas as well.
Maybe the world can get chemo or something before the cancer spreads any more. I like reading their ads, but their prices are unremarkable for anything that is not an advertised special.
Supertanker,
Ah, but Fry's gives new meaning to the term "customer service."
I've honestly never dealt with a company quite like them.
Glad the nearest one is a couple thousand miles away.
According to Extended Play today, Morrowind is the best selling console game out there for all systems. It's ahead of number 2 Eternal Darkness, and number 3 GTA3 (amazing how it is still selling so well...who doesn't have it?). That's a good sign. It sold well for the PC as well. I think being in the top ten for even a couple of months is great actually.
Personally, it's the best game I have played in a long time. I completely disagree with Qenan. Of course, neither of our opinions matter much as far as sales go. Whether or not the two of us liked it won't mean much to Bethesda ;). But I would say that it has already sold well enough to warrant a sequel, and that's great news for me. I wish more people would try it. If you give it time (the beginning of the game is very disorienting and in many ways boring) I think you will learn to really appreciate it. I like it much better than Daggerfall, which I never got into because of the random dungeons and repitition.
If nothing else, I hope Morrowind is a sign to other developers that this sort of game will work. It's ambitious and open-ended, which is great. If it were combined with the attention to detail and NPC interaction of games like Planescape, I think it would be much better.
That's being kind. I enjoy walking around and looking at their stuff, but their prices are generally uncompetitive with shopping around for the same item on the internet. I really only use them for small items where the price isn't much of a factor.Maybe the world can get chemo or something before the cancer spreads any more. I like reading their ads, but their prices are unremarkable for anything that is not an advertised special.
But hey, that's retail.
I'm curious, what exactly do you like about it? I enjoyed the non-linearity, but after a while I felt like I was living in a land full of zombies. And as I said, the dungeons weren't very impressive. Daggerfall's were too big and crazy, but even that would be better than the endless caves thing. (There are a few big ones, but not nearly enough.)
And the game is really, really easy -- at least with a fighter.
I didn't end up hating the game, I just got so bored I stopped playing. I played Daggerfall for many, many months, so by comparison I find Morrowind lacking.
"And as I said, the dungeons weren't very impressive."
"I felt like I was living in a land full of zombies. "
You could use those phrases for Daggerfall too.
" I just got so bored I stopped playing. I played Daggerfall for many, many months, so by comparison I find Morrowind lacking."
How was Daggerfall with its repetative randomly generated dungeons and NPC's not just as boring?
Yeah, OK, I didn't give much detail. The average dungeon in Daggerfall was much bigger, and much scarier -- I remember being on pins and needles every time I turned a corner. The dungeons in Morrowind tend to be small and not very scary. As the game went on they also became very easy, for the most part. (That didn't happen in Daggerfall because the mobs were scaled to the strength of your character.)
Fair question. The NPC's in Daggerfall were also terrible; you'd think that with the improvements in CPU power, etc. there could be some improvement, but there really wasn't any." I just got so bored I stopped playing. I played Daggerfall for many, many months, so by comparison I find Morrowind lacking."
How was Daggerfall with its repetative randomly generated dungeons and NPC's not just as boring?
I liked the random dungeons in Daggerfall better because they were bigger and looked more like dungeons to me. Yes, they were random and kind of crappy for that reason -- the dungeons in a game like MM6 were much better. But in Morrowind most of the dungeons were quite small, and mostly they looked like caves -- with the result that 1) they were also repetitious, and 2) hand-designed or not, they weren't impressive.
I remember the whole Monty Haul loot aspect as being a big part of Daggerfall. It was less of a factor in Morrowind, in part because I didn't have a cart to haul everything back with. That omission also made the game a little flatter for me.
I remember the whole Monty Haul loot aspect as being a big part of Daggerfall. It was less of a factor in Morrowind,>>>>>
My biggest problem with this in Morrowind, is who the Hell can afford to buy the 52000 Gold sword I just found? :cry:
I've played about every RPG since 1990 and Morrowind has given me the most enjoyable game experience yet. I particularly liked the M&M, Ultima, and Wizardry series, Fallout 2, Betrayal at Krondor, BG 1&2, Planescape, Icewind Dale, and especially Ultima IX because of the graphics (but not the story). Most other games I did not finish due to boredom or something better came along and this includes Daggerfall: the dungeons, story and NPC's became more of the same very quickly.
I probably have 200 or more hours in Morrowind mainly because I love the visuals, plus the story and quests are not boring to me; I also find the mods keep my interest alive and add to the gameplay.
I'm in no hurry to play Neverwinter Nights because I'm having so much fun with Morrowind, and, for me, this is highly unusual as I usually buy and try every RPG the day it comes out.
Ken
So, you're the other guy who liked Ultima IX?? Don't say that too loud around these guys...They're brutal about that game!! :)I particularly liked [snip] and especially Ultima IX because of the graphics
Oh, and I think I'm the last guy here who doesn't have Morrowind yet. I'll be getting it soon, but I'm in the middle of the Computer Upgrade from Hell (it's been months!! Aaaargh!!), and until that's done, I don't think I can run it, anyway. I'll be getting it soon, but I'm loving NWN.
Well, I can understand the dungeon problem, but I like having smaller, more concise dungeons. The huge sprawling dungeons didn't do much for me, to be honest. I do like the colors of Daggerfall better, as I get sick of all the greys and browns (I need a tree mod!). And yes, the game is easy if you are a fighter type, though I am a fighter type and I still get killed at 28th level! Go take on some dremora lords or lich king types and you won't have an easy fight of it. BTW, you can up the difficulty level if you want. Of course, the combat is not good, IMO, and hotkeys do'nt help me manage my inventory as well as I would like. There aren't enough of them, and they have to cover too much.
But none of that is what impresses me. The game is flawed in a lot of ways. But, it is incredibly immersive. Unlike Daggerfall, I feel like I am in the world. I forgot to take my Indoril helmet off one time and an Ordinator attacked me, so I killed him. Now, every time I see one, they attack me. People remember me, and the things they say to me reflect how they feel toward me and my reputation in the world. Since everything is hand placed, the world has a continuity that is easy to appreciate. I spend lots of times doing quests and such and just soaking up the world, which is VERY detailed compared to Daggerfall.
So I guess in the end, if you want a character developing RPG, with nice combat, Morrowind isn't going to work very well. However, if you want to live in a world for 80 hours or so, it's perfect. The graphics are incredible, which helps suck you in. The NPC interaction is still a bit lifeless and I wish there were changes over time to make the world seem more alive. But overall, I really feel like I am out on an island trying to live my character's life. That's an experience I have never gotten out of another RPG.
Actually, you just reminded me of another thing I liked better about Daggerfall -- it had seasons. I remember loving the first time I saw snowfall.
Don't get me wrong, Morrowind is not bad, it just didn't give me the zing I got from Daggerfall.
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