Games People Play

The summery month of June hosts a cavalcade of gaming showcases. In international football (soccer), there’s the FIFA World Cup. In basketball, there’s the NBA Finals. In tennis, there’s Wimbledon. And in golf, there’s the U.S. Open. Major national (and sometimes international) events that capture the imaginations of their respective audiences barely able to contain their accolades for their favorite players and teams. The same spirit exists in the much less physical sport of videogaming when the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) makes its extravagant arrival each year around this time. When the sun makes its strongest impact on the Northern Hemisphere, the world relieves the heat through the celebration of games people play.

‘Games people play’ are the primary words that come to mind whenever I think about the NPD Group. After PUBLICLY delaying May’s results for nearly a month, NPD releases these June figures back to back in boomerang fashion. When it comes to systems sold, things are definitely looking up. But when it comes to game sales, outside of the top dogs things seem a little flatter. Perhaps the extravaganza known as E3 pumped a little more life into the game business overall and the 2nd half of 2010 will get back on trajectory. Lots and lots of good stuff to look forward to in the next few months. If only NPD will actually show their goods so we can SEE that good stuff. Guess you gotta pay to play. Hey, no mind games here. Play around with these NPD estimates and have yourself some fun!

Nintendo’s DS hit “GOOOOAAAL!” to cheers from the vuvuzelas of South Africa with 510,700 extra large eyes that light sold in June, the month of Father’s Day. In May, the month of Mother’s Day, the DS Trifecta sold 383,700 foldable fun fabrications showing a good increase. What a difference an extra tracking week makes! Every 3 months NPD adds an extra week to balance out partial weeks that run over in the calendar. Being at the half-million mark again is a great thing but it’s clear that the impending arrival of the 3DS has affected the potency of the existing DS platform. Usually when summer hits and the kids get out of school, handheld sales jump up high. This is a more modest high than the 700,000 range figures it usually gets around this time. But with 4 games in the Top 20 this month, I’m sure the DS doesn’t sweat it. And there may be new highs once that Japanese DS price drop makes its way to the U.S. This system has more days in the sun yet.

Microsoft’s XBox 360 edged out rivals like Kobe and the Lakers with 451,700 ‘S’ specials sold in the month of Superman’s Birthday. In the month of Star Wars Day, NextBox forced 194,600 Super Elites across the dashboard more than DOUBLING its previous total! The fallout from E3 2010 has paid off for the Microsoft this month. With the surprise introduction of their sleek slimmed down edition of the XBox 360, the mean green machine beats out the Wii! For the 2nd time this year! The 360 hasn’t been able to top Wii twice within a year since Wii’s launch period in November/December 2006. Factors contributing to this achievement (ha!) are partially due to the new ‘S’ model of the 360, part due to the corresponding $50 clearance price cuts for their existing Elite and Arcade models, and maybe in a minor way due to the existence of Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption. Perhaps hope that the new model banishes the Legend of the Red Ring to history contributes to this success. Great accomplishment but the new 360 model isn’t all that’s buzzing with Microsoft’s gaming plans.

The name is now Kinect. Made official on June 13th at a Cirque du Soleil-featured gala just before E3, the new name for Project Natal seeks to embed itself in the consciousness of the audience inclined to buy Wii. Who could forget the cute little girl calling out for Skittles or the giddy duo of river rafting ladies or the nerdy guy getting his groove on to Dance Central? Much less the racing lady stunting with her imaginary steering wheel or the presenter who commanded Kinect to play his favorite Justin Bieber tune on the Zune channel? And the ESPN dudes? Don’t forget about them! Microsoft is betting the mortgage on Kinect but is their laser focus on the imagined ‘casual’ audience going to be a detriment or a delight? Answers to this question won’t be known until November 4th.

Nintendo’s Wii served aces like Serena and Rafael selling 422,500 intergalactic planetaries in the month of Meteor Day. In National Tennis Month, Wii Sports Deluxe backhanded 334,800 videogame volleys into customers’ courts showing an increase. The extra tracking week obscures the fact that this total is essentially in the same boat as last month. If you took May’s total, divide it by 4, then add one of those fourths to the original May total, you get a number not much less than this. But the Wii may get a serious shot in the arm for the 2nd half of this year after Nintendo’s earthquake-level E3 announcements (haters time to come home!).

There will be Kirby’s Epic Yarn, the new NBA Jam, the new GoldenEye 007, and the shock surprise of Donkey Kong Country Returns to contend with towards the end of the year. These monsters and more follow the delayed but patiently awaited Metroid: Other M which hits shelves on the last day of August. And maybe there’ll be some Epic Mickey from Disney to round out this epic 2nd half? Unfortunately (and predictably), there won’t be any Zelda to send your MotionPlus sword skyward this year but with a lineup like this Wii can’t HELP but to pick up some steam! Those gripers who always talk about their Wiis gathering dust have no excuses anymore. Wii’s upcoming lineup is CRUCIAL!

Sony’s PlayStation 3 tamed a Tiger in the fairway with 304,800 sur-Plus PlayStations sold in the month of World Environment Day. In the month of International Nurses Day, the rehabilitated console sold 154,500 of its kind to Lives with PlayStation showing nearly double its previous output. This is certainly an improvement over May’s numbers and that’s not just because of the extra week. Now the PS3’s back on its proper trajectory and just in time too. Sony’s going to need the PS3 to keep this momentum up when they deliver their 2nd answer to Wii with the PlayStation Move on September 19th.

Beating the 360 to the punch by almost 2 months, the PS3 bets big on motion control in hopes of luring Wii’s new audience. Move will need to steal the hype away from Kinect in order to better close the worldwide gap between the HD rivals. America is the last battlefield for these two and the 360 has home team advantage. And now that Nintendo’s 3DS has effectively killed Sony’s plans for their 3D World (complete with costly 3DTV and 3D glasses), Sony depends more than ever on Move to switch status with Microsoft in the U.S. With the help of Sony’s mega-powered Gran Turismo 5 finally gracing the system it was tailor-made for this November, they have their shot. I’m tellin’ ya. That game’s real just like it should!

Sony’s PlayStation Portable splashed around in the backyard wading pool with 121,000 Marcus Rivers rescues sold in the month honoring National Morticians Day. In the month of World Laughter Day, Poor Sympathetic Portable sold 59,400 jokes at Sony’s expense showing more than DOUBLE its prior total! Well the PSP can breathe a little easier now. E3 2010 didn’t show the debut of the rumored PSP2. Instead, it got an advocate. Marcus Rivers is determined to save the PSP from oblivion and he will not abide by good kids playing bad games (especially on iPhones). The handheld answer to Kevin Butler is here!

Sony seems willing to ride it out with their chariot out of the gaming ghettos and perhaps its successor is not in the immediate future. Giving up the long lost battle with Nintendo, Sony focuses on the other rival the PSP was designed for—Apple and its gadgets named ‘i’. Well, I’ll say this much. Marcus does have his work cut out for him. It’s now 22 months of decline in yearly comparison for the PSP.

Matched together, the U.S. videogame industry basketed $1.1 billion in total sales for June, a 6% slide from last June. Of this billion-dollar figure, total hardware sales lobbed up 5% to $410.7 million while total software sales bunkered down 15% to $531.3 million. In the same field, total accessory sales headed up 6% to $169.6 million. This is the reverse of this past May with its small rise in software and sizeable dip in hardware in comparison to last year’s May.

For the year-to-date and the 1st half of 2010, the industry dribbled down 9% to $6.6 billion (hardware: down 16% to $2.11 billion; software: down 8% to $3.51 billion; accessories: up nearly 3% to $1.03 billion). So far, it seems that 2010 is flying at a lower altitude than 2009 did. Things will have to pick up for the second half or this will be yet another year in the shadow of the record 2008. As you know, all percentages refer to year-to-year comparisons between June 2010 and June 2009.

In games this month, the charts were especially good to Wild West outlaws and Italian-American plumbers. Red Dead Redemption is the mountain’s peak with Super Mario Galaxy 2 as the snowcap. The forever-seller in the red case still propels itself skyhigh into the clouds while Just Dance makes sure to get feet on the dancefloor This dancing sleeper hit looks to be Wii’s first 3rd party high-listing evergreen title. Not sure if it can become a Wii Play just yet but it certainly has staying power. Two more Nintendo surprises on the list through Toy Story 3 on the DS and Lego Harry Potter on the Wii. Everyone knows the Lego games are solid but this movie tie-in was unexpected. Was it actually good like the movie? Elsewhere, the Wii workouts continue alongside the UFC tapouts.

NPD’s still toying around with the numbers. Still only officially giving you the Top 5 of software leaving the other numbers to be filled in by the publishers themselves (if they choose to). I find this excerpt from NPD’s Anita Frazier interesting: “We'll also be reporting consumer reported sales of digitally distributed, rental and used games content to provide insight into those non-POS sources of game sales.” So that means MORE incomplete data to speculate upon, eh? Hm. Game for some data? Charts in play below.

NPD’s Top Hardware Sales in June

Nintendo DS – 510,700
Microsoft XBox 360 – 451,700
Nintendo Wii – 422,500
Sony PlayStation 3 – 304,800
Sony PlayStation Portable – 121,000

NPD’s Top Ten Software Sales in June

01. Red Dead Redemption (X360) – 582,900
02. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) – 548,400
03. Red Dead Redemption (PS3) – 380,300
04. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) – 200,900
05. Just Dance (Wii) – 174,800
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) – ???
07. Toy Story 3 (DS) – 164,000
08. UFC Undisputed 2010 (X360) – 148,000
09. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Wii) – 136,000
10. UFC Undisputed 2010 (PS3) – ???

The fun’s not over yet. See numbers 11 through 20 for more diversion!

NPD’s Top Twenty Software Sales in June

11. Pokémon SoulSilver Version (DS)
12. Transformers: War for Cybertron (X360) – 132,000
13. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
14. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (X360)
15. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (X360)
16. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (PS3)
17. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
18. Pokémon HeartGold Version (DS)
19. Toy Story 3 (Wii)
20. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) – under 100,000