"Guitar Hero WII" Sells Best
Yeah. Sorry about the Wii puns today. I really thought I got that out of my system by launch day. Guess not.
Anyhoo, in case you've been living under a legend of rock, Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock came out on Sunday, and has been tearing up the sales charts. But see, one particular version of the multiple console release has been doing a little bit more tearing and shredding than the others.The Wii version of the game ranked number one on Amazon's Computer & Videogames division, slightly ahead of the Xbox 360 version at No. 7 and way ahead of the PS3 one which slumped at No. 40.
Now, I don't really think Amazon.com is any real guide to how a game is really selling, but I found this interesting. See, I can understand the 360 version outselling the PS3 one because there's simply more 360's than PS3's out there being played. But for the Wii to outsell the 360 is fascinating. I wonder if it's because the Wii owners are simply so starved for new quality games that they're jumping on Guitar Hero. Or maybe they've never had another console to play Guitar Hero on, so this is their first opportunity to try it out? I just wonder how the casual game-players who bought GHIII for their Wii are going to react when the difficulty spikes when you try to play Hard or Expert... (okay, no cracks... I simply can't even get past the first section on Hard... my fingers aren't that nimble...)
Of course, next month, Rock Band will release, and the gaming world will likely forget Guitar Hero even exists. Hm. Maybe that's why the Wii version is selling so well... the 360 and PS3 owners are holding out (and saving their ducats) for Rock Band!
Guitar Hero III Wii louder than Xbox 360, PS3 at retailer [Punch Jump]
Wootini
Posted to Video Games on 30 October 2007
· Comments (10)
Other stuff like this: guitar hero III, sales, wii
...Or maybe more people prefer to play the Wii over the 360? Is it just me or is the 360 getting a little too glorified here?
"But for the Wii to outsell the 360 is fascinating. I wonder if it's because the Wii owners are simply so starved for new quality games that they're jumping on Guitar Hero."
Yeah..ouch dude.
if you had to choose between rock band and gh3, you should go with rockband. it's definitely worth the extra 70 bucks!!
what's up with the wii bashing? there are plenty of quality games for the wii, many of which have come out relatively recently (i'm thinking specifically of re4 and metroid prime 3), and with u r mr gay just around the corner, i'm sure it's going to be a bumper holiday season for the good folks at nintendo even without smash bros.
there are a number of possible reasons for the wii version outselling the 360 (and you're right, i wouldn't put too much stock in the amazon numbers either). it seems to me (and i'll admit, i'm biased, having always viewed the 360 as an expensive paperweight good only for viva pinata, eternal sonata, and... um... that's it) that the "anyone can pick it up and play" philosophy of the wii lends itself quite a bit more to gh3 than other consoles... also, people may well be holding out for rock band, or still playing halo 3 and the orange box. who knows?
what's going to be more interesting is, in a few weeks, when gh3 goes on sale elsewhere, since "elsewhere," as we all know, is wii country.
I also don't really find this terribly shocking...
Wii's install base is more than the 360's now, isn't it? It's also a new franchise for the Nintendo platform, and I believe it's cheaper for the Wii as well unless I'm mistaken. And then again, there's already GH2 on the 360, so I don't know how starved they are for another copy of essentially the same game.
And, on a personal note, I sort of have to agree with PrinceLandon....I'm a 3-console gamer, but... between the 360 game-themed countdown clocks for every big title and the 360-game-themed design contests, the "omg the 360 is teh roxxorz" around here is getting laid on a little thick, dontcha think? Some of us love our PS3's and Wii's too y'know!
Wootini, you're making some pretty big assumptions about the Wii's audience. I'm going to counter your over-generalization with one of my own:
Maybe Wii owners simply have more cash to blow on it because their system isn't ridiculously expensive like the other two.
I have to agree with you, Spaz.
...on both counts.
Just because Wootini's tone in regards to the Wii may not match your own, doesn't invalidate his point that Rock Band may be affecting the numbers of GHIII's beind bought on the 360/PS3...
I'm not shocked. Formulaically Guitar Hero has Wii-fanbase written all over it. Pick and play? check. Good multiplayer? check. Reliance on gameplay over "teh grafx"? check.
Do I think that Rock Band had a huge affect on this? No. Rock Band prices itself out of comparison with what is essentially a GH expansion pack. Even as someone who's preordered it, I don't think that Rock Band is going to take off as quickly as Guitar Hero did. $160+ is just too much of an investment for the majority of mainstream gamers. Things will be very different though once the "just guitar", "just drums", "just mic" editions come out.
On the 360 love /Wii-ish bashing: The 360 is a gamer's console. MS and third parties do a lot of things that appeal to hardcore gamers really well and the steady stream of games throughout the year (learn from this Sony!) keeps gamers close to the controller. I think the Wii factor here is that we keep hearing about how the Wii is outselling this or that platform by 5:1 for multiple weeks and we still only get a relative (to the 360) trickle of games. So many publishers were caught off guard by the Wii's success and are STILL getting up to full speed. The wait can be frustrating, but one that is getting better with time, with more quality releases. Anyone claiming their Wii is collecting dust needs to pick up Metroid or Zack and Wiki. Anyways, but by the end of Nov. Wii will have the game of the year on it, so does it really matter? :)
Your article contradicts itself.
you state: "See, I can understand the 360 version outselling the PS3 one because there's simply more 360's than PS3's out there being played. But for the Wii to outsell the 360 is fascinating."
BY THAT LOGIC, should there not be more Wii versions selling since there are 'simply' more Wiis out there there than 360s?
The Wii may attract more 'casual' gamers, but there are PLENTY of 'gamers' and 'hardcore' gamers who have one.
"should there not be more Wii versions selling since there are 'simply' more Wiis out there there than 360s?"
This is not accurate. In North America, the Wii has sold 5.74M consoles, while the 360 still has the lead with 8.16M consoles [numbers from vgchartz.com]. The 360 version *should* be selling more based on numbers alone.