February 2008 NPD

[CFRTim]

Hardware
Nintendo DS - 587,600
Wii - 432,000
PlayStation 2 - 351,800
PlayStation 3 - 280,800
Xbox 360 - 254,600
PSP - 243,000


Top 10 Software

Top-Selling VG Software - February 2008
RELEASE TOTAL U.S. RANK
TITLE PUBLISHER DATE UNITS

360 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE* ACTIVISION 7-Nov 296.200
360 DEVIL MAY CRY 4* CAPCOM USA 8-Feb 295.200
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA 7-Feb 289.700
PS3 DEVIL MAY CRY 4* CAPCOM USA 8-Feb 233.500
WII GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK* ACTIVISION 7-Oct 222.900
NDS MARIO AND SONIC: OLYMPIC GAMES SEGA OF AMERICA 8-Jan 205.600
360 LOST ODYSSEY MICROSOFT 8-Feb 203.600
360 TUROK TOUCHSTONE 8-Jan 197.700
PS2 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK* ACTIVISION 7-Oct 183.800
360 ROCK BAND* MTV GAMES/ELECTRONIC ARTS 7-Nov 161.800

[BYan]

Let the trash-talking begin!

C'mon don't be stuck up, it's going to be great! The head honchos of the respective consoles sitting in their doom fortresses are already going at it, might as well queue up the fanboys to join in. :D

[PCDawg]

The PS3 will have a big year will plenty of good releases.

But the biggest surprise is the PS2. Are people still buying them??

[sfu_lifer]

Congrats Sony. Looks like you've turned the corner. Unless Microsoft does something drastic and surprising, they're doomed for 3rd. The PS3 took their best punches last year and really didn't suffer all that much. I doubt they'll overtake Nintendo in the next 5 years but this is good for them.

[Lone_Prodigy]

But the biggest surprise is the PS2. Are people still buying them??

Heck, last year more Game Boy Advances were sold than the PS3 in some months. I guess the allure of near-obsolete dirt-cheap consoles appeals to people. :D

Things are looking up for Sony: DMC4 sold almost equally on both the 360 and PS3.

I wonder if the 360's price cut will increase sales.

[Digo]

Things are looking up for Sony: DMC4 sold almost equally on both the 360 and PS3.


That is actually an important point. Shooters obviously do much better on the 360 (just look at COD4 at #1 for just the 360), but it seems the other games are more equally distributed with a slant towards the 360 probably due to the userbase and achievements combo.

I don't think the 360 will do 'bad' this year, but I do think the PS3 will continue to get good numbers mainly due to blu-ray, and some heavy hitting releases later this year.

In all honesty though, I care more about PC gaming now. It seems to be dying, mainly due to pirating and WoW. This really sucks as I do like to play some games on the PC over the consoles (mainly RTSs).

[Emancipated]

That is actually an important point. Shooters obviously do much better on the 360 (just look at COD4 at #1 for just the 360), but it seems the other games are more equally distributed with a slant towards the 360 probably due to the userbase and achievements combo.

I don't think the 360 will do 'bad' this year, but I do think the PS3 will continue to get good numbers mainly due to blu-ray, and some heavy hitting releases later this year.

In all honesty though, I care more about PC gaming now. It seems to be dying, mainly due to pirating and WoW. This really sucks as I do like to play some games on the PC over the consoles (mainly RTSs).

Are you sure PC gaming is dying off? I really doubt that. More people have PCs than consoles and the upgrading is still pretty even Stevens so the upgrading PCs culture is still alive and well as far as I can see.

Good for Sony. You can't kill Goliath in one shot. I'm just happy Sony is still in it because they always seem to bring out good racer titles.

[Menace]

Yes, I was wondering the same thing. PS2 is still big in the shopping list?? I got to agree the white PS2 is very sexy, so is the silver one.


But the biggest surprise is the PS2. Are people still buying them??

[christonian]

Heck, last year more Game Boy Advances were sold than the PS3 in some months. I guess the allure of near-obsolete dirt-cheap consoles appeals to people. :D

Things are looking up for Sony: DMC4 sold almost equally on both the 360 and PS3.

I wonder if the 360's price cut will increase sales.

price cut to 360 was in europe only unless your talking about here in canada but that was just matching the US price because of our dollar plus canada numbers arent in those numbers

[BYan]

Are you sure PC gaming is dying off? I really doubt that. More people have PCs than consoles and the upgrading is still pretty even Stevens so the upgrading PCs culture is still alive and well as far as I can see.

Good for Sony. You can't kill Goliath in one shot. I'm just happy Sony is still in it because they always seem to bring out good racer titles.

The thing is with PCs, only the really dedicated upgraders will put down $400 for a videocard, and odds are the people who are fluent in the language of drivers, installation, overclocking and whatnot are the same people who are just as knowledgeable about newsgroups, bittorrent and ftp file sharing. So the group of people who have the top end rigs are probably the ones most actively not buying games. Your average fella who loathes scrounging around to DL games probably isn't all that interested in upgrading videocards and fiddling around with drivers either. Sad, but true. Everybody else just plays wow, since it runs on almost any machine.

As for Sony, well the trojan horse paid off for them in the end, although I have a feeling that most people who buy the console and driving up the statistics are buying it for BR, and not the games. But who's to say they won't pick up a title or two down the line?

I'll wait until God of War 3 ships. By then there should be enough titles on the machine to warrant a purchase. I hate most shooters, so this year I'm actually buying more games than last year. So called big hitting titles only applies to those who are interested, and all that.

[CFRTim]

As for Sony, well the trojan horse paid off for them in the end, although I have a feeling that most people who buy the console and driving up the statistics are buying it for BR, and not the games. But who's to say they won't pick up a title or two down the line?

LOL, a 62 year old co-worker ended up with a PS3 after trying 2 different stand-alone BD players and talking to me. Anyway, it's good to see a tight competition, well minus Nintendo. :cheesygri

[jeffyjaixx]

Great Sony numbers, PS2 :-0.

To be fair, MS has manufacturing problems so we have to cut them some slack. We'll see how everyone does when GTA drops.

[BYan]

LOL, a 62 year old co-worker ended up with a PS3 after trying 2 different stand-alone BD players and talking to me. Anyway, it's good to see a tight competition, well minus Nintendo. :cheesygri

No question. When it comes down to a BR player, a PS3 is the definitive choice. $400 for games and movies? AND DL upgrades? Can't beat that. As a gaming rig it's debatable. For me there's actually to date only 1 or 2 titles I can even remotely consider buying into that I can't get elsewhere.

Nintendo is going to be an household item, mark my words. If you have a toaster, you'll have a wii. The ps3 and 360 are either/or, but a wii seems to have tapped into that crowd of "I have it, I must have it, but I have it because it's just a normal thing to have" household appliances market. Pretty soon everybody is going to have one just for the sake of having one.

[drdrma]

Great Sony numbers, PS2 :-0.

To be fair, MS has manufacturing problems so we have to cut them some slack. We'll see how everyone does when GTA drops.

haha, yeah, microsoft has told us that. they manage the media story very well.

[sfu_lifer]

haha, yeah, microsoft has told us that. they manage the media story very well.

Actually it's true. Some major metropolitan areas aren't very well stocked (blame it on MS distribution).
But regardless, Sony's turned it around PR wise which is a good thing.

[play_b3yond]

after all these years, ps2 is still a f'n beast :D love my ps2 slim silver, no complains :cheesygri

[Digo]

Are you sure PC gaming is dying off? I really doubt that. More people have PCs than consoles and the upgrading is still pretty even Stevens so the upgrading PCs culture is still alive and well as far as I can see.


It's not the upgrading part that is killing it, but rather that the developers have been saying for some time now that the PC market has been shrinking or not giving enough returns. I blame this on WoW, casual games, piracy, and consoles that are better than PCs.

[Lone_Prodigy]

price cut to 360 was in europe only unless your talking about here in canada but that was just matching the US price because of our dollar plus canada numbers arent in those numbers

Oh right I forgot the US only dropped the price once.

With PC gaming I think a lot has to do with the cost and compatibility. How many people do you see post on a console forum that their game gets to a certain level/screen/menu and just crashes (unless it's a universal bug)? Computers are so diverse and every one is so different that developers must develop migraines making patch after patch after patch. Plus there's the install time, the steep requirements of the newest games, and the cost of a gaming PC vs. a console + games. Consoles can control the smaller casual games by releasing them on their online networks. With PCs, anyone can play almost any game for free on the Internet.

Piracy is a concern as well. Too much copy protection (Starforge etc.) and gamers boycott it. Game developers also turn off the modding community by protecting everything. I remember when Half-Life 2 first came out: you couldn't play offline without logging into Steam.

[Digo]

I somewhat agree about the costs of maintaining a gaming PC, but I also think that is partly the fault of a game developer. Just look at the console side. We can get games over a long period of time for the same spec'd machine. If the PC gaming industry had such a standard, and if PCs were sold to that standard, then that would pretty much eliminate that argument. But then companies like Crytek release games like Crysis which separate the PC market. People who buy high-end PCs wouldn't really like games that don't take full advantage of their machines.

As for copy protection, I think it is mainly the faullt of publishers, and not necessarily the game developers. I think most publishers force the copy protection scheme onto developers as part of the contract. I equate game publishers to the music distributors/publishers of the RIAA of the music industry.

[Evil Baby]

It will be interesting to see if games sales start to follow or if a large portion of people are buying the PS3 for its BD player. If FS had the trade in the HD-DVD player for a PS3 I'd have bought it in heart beat but for now I'll wait.

I'm sure once FF comes out my g/f will make buy the PS3 but like last generation for us anyways there will be a lot more xbox bought then playstation games.