Conduit, Grand Slam Tennis feel June gloom, Red Faction hits 267,000

Wow, GS actually doing some good industry reporting. Might actually bring a tear to my eye.

I got Madworld via a sale and paid $25. I got through about half-way and I'm trading it. Madworld and NMHeroes are trash games. If you disagree, play GodHand (PS2) and realize how much better that game is. Godhand isn't the best game out there, but it's really pathetic that MW and NMH keep getting touted as these great "mature" Wii titles. No, they're mediocre. In the eyes of this gaming afficionado, they're garbage, and not worth your time or money. There's tons of better games out there. The Wii deserves much better games. Don't sell yourselves short, fellow Wii owners. Continue not buying the trash until 3rd parties get it right and give us something worth our while. Are the above-mentioned games close to the quality of Fallout3, MGS3, Mario Galaxy etc.? No. Not even close.

"The Conduit was hyped as a hardcore FPS for the Wii. It had a huge marketing campaign, and considering the lack of competing titles aimed at the hardcore demographic on the Wii, it should have been a blockbuster. Bound in Blood, on the other hand, was a fairly under the radar sequel to the mediocre first CoW. It's not rocket science that the Conduit should be selling WAY better than it has so far." The Conduit is a game with a smaller budget, from a small profile developer that has already promised more Wii support in the future, on a console with a history of long tail software sales and no immediate competition in the near future, with a confirmed strong opening in sales from its publisher. For all intents and purposes The Conduit is in a much better position than Call of Juarez, which is why the Wii FUD in this article makes absolutely no sense. The only thing people can really argue about here is how much The Conduit "should" have sold in its first week, but that would be kind of useless because I don't think anyone would find an arbitrary number to agree on. The Grand Slam Tennis FUD was sort of surprising too, but doesn't really deserve much attention as the game will most likely end up outselling every game mentioned in the article.

according to vgchartz.com, the conduit sold 94,000 in its first week. So, one of these guys are lying o.o

I think too many of you are confusing "hardcore" with "mature". I can point out quite a few of Nintendo's first party games that are more "hardcore" than some of the PS3/360 offerings many of you are referring to. Why? Because they take some hella mad gaming skills to beat. But what you guys are really talking about here..........is MATURE games. Having a gritty, mature theme does not a "hardcore" game make.

I'm used to GameSpot crying "DOOOOOOOM" on every remotely anticipated Wii title (and some not so anticipated - see their Deca Sports 2 panic) but I'm surprised they roped the PS3 in with the "doomed" crowd as well. I guess if it's not on 360 it's not safe. And someone else already pointed out the Call of Juarez hypocrisy.

I have played the conduit I liked it but I wouldnt go far to place it among Metriod Prime games on the Wii.The controls were great for a FPS on the Wii.While playing the game I felt that the developers spent more time perfecting the controls than actual gameplay. Most of the levels were ordinary nothing new and the multiplayer was ok but I wished something more. I understand why the game got low sales. Even if this game tanks( I am not saying it will) but rest assured atleast they got the controls right for a fps on the Wii and I hope other developers will take adventage to it.

"Somebody please explain why 44k in 5 days is good while 72k in 7 days is not." The Conduit was hyped as a hardcore FPS for the Wii. It had a huge marketing campaign, and considering the lack of competing titles aimed at the hardcore demographic on the Wii, it should have been a blockbuster. Bound in Blood, on the other hand, was a fairly under the radar sequel to the mediocre first CoW. It's not rocket science that the Conduit should be selling WAY better than it has so far.

I believe the true test for a hardcore game on the Wii will be Dead Space:Extraction when it's released. So far it's really the only one I can see that deserves the title "hardcore." The Conduit, Mad World? I see those as mediocre attempts at best. EA has a proven base to work from with the gem that is Dead Space. If they can make it work and please those of us that have played the original as well as newcomers to the series, then we'll see the viability of hardcore titles for the Wii. I, for one, am excited to see how it will turn out!

Maybe if developers spent more time and made great hardcore games for the Wii instead of just simply kinda good ones, we wouldn't have all these people saying "Teh Wii is for teh sisseh babies who playz teh Wii Fitz and Carnival Gamezez!!!1!!!!!1!!!!!1!!!" Seriously, the Wii has more than mini-game collections and fitness games, it's just that the mini-game collections and fitness games get more media attention due to them being completely different from the conventional video game (plus, they sell like hot cakes). Besides, why don't you just try playing these kinds of games? Just because the casual crowd tends to play it more doesn't mean they're bad. Some of them are actually lots of fun to play, especially with your friends. :)

Somebody please explain why 44k in 5 days is good while 72k in 7 days is not.

So... The Wii... Still in deep... Supposedly, there was supposed to be an idea **** storm for the Wii and DS. The DS barely makes the cut as a tremendous success with a majority of its catalog occupied mostly by SNES worthy titles with surprisingly above average quality (baring in mind the actual SNES wasn't too bad as well) with possibly a shot glass-ful of equally great DS titles throw in the pot that take full use of the touch screen and 3D graphics. I can see how they can both get piledriven by **** in a chamber pot. They've both been out for less than a decade while the Xbox and PS3 and perhaps the PC have all stuck to the norm first established by presumably Atari and Activision and Nintendo whose works were successfully followed by countless organizations. However, Nintendo chose to veer from the norm with the best of intentions but without a solid plan to deter unfortunate consequences and have successfully created pile-up on the super highway of gaming. Many say things get worse before they get better (the economy being only one grain of sand in this instance among many throughout the ages) and it may not happen this year or even until a few more years, but the Wii is bound to get the gears working once the entire factory isn't covered in sludge and I guess the DS could do better, but I already wrote a very detailed thesis above on how to optimize it.

How about the Sales figures for Tales of vesperia? that game only came out a few weeks ago. I give that game 9.5 out of ten.. the Game is Simply Amazing

@ facistinabag You sir, are a super fanboy. Why do you have a Wii if you don't enjoy it? I got my Wii day 1, and it's brought me nothing but fun, and joy. Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy, Zelda, Metroid, and Smash, along with tons of others that are 3rd party are the games I play. Hardcore Nintendo fan here, proud to say I am, and proud to say I still have an xbox360 and PS3. Why can't you leave the comments like yours out of boards? They are fanboyish, and not necessary.

I bought Conduit and I like the game. Its a step in the right direction for Nintendo and I hope more games come out for the WII. As for Gran Slam Tennis I wasn't impressed with the controls and sent it back to Gamefly. Red Faction is a great game period.

Ignorant fanboys. So annoying. :P

"...the game's poor showing underlined the risks of launching non-mass-market IP on the Wii." No! If these games were actually GOOD, people will buy them! I'm not saying Madworld and The Conduit don't have good qualities, but they aren't great games. I'm sick of hearing about these games being "good... ... ... for the Wii." When GOOD core games come out, we will buy them!

Where were the hardware numbers? They didn't get them this month?

COJ FTW!!!!

Out of all those games listed I liked Call of Juarez the best. I didn't really care for Red Faction, it just seemed really repetitive, and I don't own a Wii so I can't really say anything about The Conduit. It looks to be one of the Wiis' stronger titles, but like facistinabag said, I'm not really that sold on the Wii. It just seems like everything that is being done on the Wii could be done on the Gamecube, via some sort of peripheral like Project Natal, so that's mainly why I haven't put the Wii"on my "next gen" list of consoles beside my PS3 or 360.

The Wii is nothing but a joke an a gimmick, I've played more Fallout 3 than all the games I have for my Wii, totaled. I regret the day that I said "Hey, I got enough money for a Wii, lets pick one up." What an epic waste of my money. The people who claim that they "game" on the Wii are kidding themselves. There's like 4 games total on the Wii that are even remotely good, and those are subpar compared to the real games being released for PC, Xbox and PS3. The conduit? I wouldn't have bought that on Xbox, what makes you think I would have bought it on my Wii? Crap framerates? Cheesy controls? Whats with Ninteno's online support? It's like they said "Hey, this internet thing is just a fad, it'll never get big, how about we just make people pay for games the paid full price for 5 or 6 years ago, again so they can play it on the wii?" It's even sadder when the best games released for the DS are the same series of the games released for the Wii. Yeah, sure, no more heroes isn't on the DS, but hey, they'll probably make a straight port to the DS, the graphics are practically the same, and, they'll make another version of the DS so people will buy it again.

Ouch 54,000 for Grand Slam Tennis I thought this is the kind of game that caters to the Wii crowd and do well in sales.

I'm just going to call out all the people who haven't bought The Conduit, MadWorld, No More Heroes, and/or Twilight Princess. We have been asking Nintendo for hardcore Wii games since the dawn of time, yet somehow we find a lousy excuse to not buy their answers. Nintendo has delivered what we have asked for, but we have not received it kindly. So basically, GO BUY WHAT HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR US.

Bwhahahahahahahaha The Conduit......That may be a little immature but come on. The Wii is crap for actual games. If you want some Wii Fit or EA Active maybe a Mario or Zelda.....But other than that it sucks. If I were a publisher I would not even have looked at it for a game like the Conduit. It really shows you that your Wii isn't going to get Hardcore games unless they are from Nintendo.

@ Mr Tweedy Red faction Guerilla sold around 300,000 copies on the 360 alone in the first 2 weeks.The Conduit has sold 180,000. Typically after the first 2-4 weeks of a game being released on a home console sales plummet so It will not sell as well as Red Faction Guerilla even just on the 360. Now, considering the Wii's user base is SOO much larger than the 360s it should be dominating the in the sales department. Especially for a highly advertised title such as the Conduit. My sole point for the risk of developing M rated titles for the Wii is this, all the Wii's huge sellers are casual games. I'll provide links at the bottom for anyone who thinks I'm wrong, but do yourself a favor and count the M rated top ten sellers the Wii has compared to the PS3 and the 360. The fact is that Mature titles tend to sell better on the 360 and PS3 and casual games sell better on the Wii. I personally don't even think it's the Wii's fault. It just seems like no developer will take the time out to produce a AAA M rated game on the Wii other than RE remakes. 360: << LINK REMOVED >> Wii: << LINK REMOVED >>

@BigBacon87 Thats a five year difference genius. So its not the same:)

@Egotte The Conduit is an near average shooter that tries to be a a normal FPS, RF:G is a Shooter trying to be a forgettable casual lulz fest. The game's only claim to anything is that you can blow stuff up, the AI is weak, the story a joke and controls/weapons are so so. Its was made a disposable game ,becuse there is nothing to go back to much less keep you interested beyond blow up the sand box.

its such a shame that it's madworld and the conduit that illustrate to developers "the risks of launching [a] non-mass-market IP on the Wii", when in actuality it is really the risk of selling any sub-par game on any console. Why don't they finally make a quality "hard-core" game for the Wii and then see how much that sells...

actually mcgenious (bigbacon) I am 19 and I own a wii, dare you say that now?

@Halcalix 17 year olds and 13 year old are pretty much the same thing.

@fleshandblood10 Even if its only US, that seems very low for a game that got massive advertising, great reviews, and a big fan group on many different sites.

@Theacejoel99 I assume its only the US sales figures cus Everywhere else I have looked, it seems that they are all doing much better, for example call of Juarez seems to have done 74,835 copies worldwide, and is now up to 50k in the US

@ ThaDirtySouth- You are right lol, I see more comercials for games that aren't so great vs. games that are. This isn't always true but I'll always see Cooking Mama advertised more than any other game that deserves more attention.

like a week ago, I saw sales for the conduit were close to 300,000 units, maybe they meant to put 272,000 and forgot the 2? Or are they only counting the US in these sales numbers?

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

@Grantsplace2004 You are completely right, I agree with you fully, however, wii sports wasnt sold separately in the US. Those arn't counted twords the total units sold, because its a pack in. But it did sell well in Japan.

Not sure why everyones calling this particular article biased, nearly the entire thing is the reporting of sales numbers. Gamespot does have some obviously biased articles, but this isnt one of them. It's not fair to call a difference in reported sales numbers a bias, otherwise gamespot must be extremely biased in favor of the ds and wii considering wii sports 45 million units sold and nintendogs 22 million.

@angelgp32 I meant "find a game" in the online sense: There's always someone playing, hence a good number of copies must have been sold.

Very Interesting

How many hardcore gamers on this site own a Wii? Quite a few (thousand). So there is no difficulty making an M-Rated game and having it sell. It's just that the Wii devs cater to the un-hardcore (softboiled :p)gamers.

Hahah biased article is biased.

Ouch to Call of Juarez..... hope it does better than that cause it was a good game.

Grand Slam tennis deserved bad sales!!! My family bought it to play casually like the wii is ment to be played and they have only played it once. We wasted our money on that stupid wii motion plus!!! We have wasted so much money on that wii, I will never purchase another wii game for as long as i live this is the end of throwing 50 dollers down the paper shredder. The conduit is so bland, im glad i only rented it. Dont thumbs down my comment because i giving my experience and opinion.

The funny thing is, Prototype sucks and Red Faction is a great game, especially multiplayer wise, yet I see more commercials for Prototype than RFG.

@jmace1 The Conduit IS selling well. The Conduit sold almost 200,000 in its first two weeks (see my post below). It's off to a great start, and I expect Sega is pleased as punch. The Conduit is shaping to be a SUCCESS story that should ENCOURAGE devs to make mature games for Wii. This article is biased because it deliberately misrepresents the data to make it sound like The Conduit is doing poorly, with the strong insinuation that that is proof that mature games don't sell on Wii. The opposite is true.

i think that ps3 exclusives are a cause for low sales formultiplatform games on ps3 if u think about it. take infamous and prototype for example: prototype sold a lot better on 360 than ps3 cos ps3 had infamous to play so they had a choice between the 2

I'm very suprised everyone is crying biased by this report. Yes, using words such as "only x amount" is slightly biased but the majority of this report is just reporting numbers. That's it. I think if the majority of gamespot users wouldn't be so biased towards their console of choice you would see these reports are actually very interesting and insightful. For instance, I'm curious to see how many companies are willing to risk putting their M-rated titles on the Wii and DS with Mad World, The Conduit, and GTA: China town not selling well. I'm interested to see how Sony will react to these numbers considering mutliplatform titles such as Red Faction only sell one copy for every 3 that the 360 titles. Will they start to cave in from the pressures of Activision-Blizzard demanding a price cut for the PS3 or ignore them. Try to look at things with an open mind and see the bigger picture rather than saying "Oh, my favorite game/console is selling well/poorly I'm so awesome/everyone else sucks and will see my console game is the best sooner than later."

@ huntervaneg I agree, and this is really making it hard for publishers to push M games on the wii

Hmmm... looks like the PS3 sucks, and the Wii is for little kids.

@OverkillAzault Funny you should say the Wii is for under 13 year olds when im 17 and I own one. Infact, its my most played console:)