Category: video games

Nintendo DS 587.6k
Nintendo Wii 432k
PlayStation 2 351.8k
PlayStation 3 280.8k
Xbox 360 254.6k
PlayStation Portable 243.1k

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Xbox 360) 296.2k
2. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom, Xbox 360) 295.2k
3. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) 289.7k
4. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom, PS3) 233.5k
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, Wii) 222.9k
6. Mario & Sonic: at the Olympic Games (Sega, Nintendo DS) 205.6k
7. Lost Odyssey (Microsoft, Xbox 360) 203.6k
8. Turok (Touchstone, Xbox 360) 197.7k
9. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, PS2) 183.8k
10. Rock Band (Xbox 360) 161.8k

Last generation gaming here we come. Nintendo DS continued its dominance in the portable market, while Wii ticked up nicely to retain the lead in the console race. PS2, now in its 8th year, saw a solid performance, not only beating the other consoles other than Wii, but actually posting its best February since 2005. PS3 has firmly established itself in second place, despite still being way too expensive. This shows significant improvement over last year’s numbers. Microsoft did pre-NPD damage control, telling us they expected to be off both in February and March due to shortages.

On the software front, we see Activision’s usual suspects (Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero 3). Turok makes what will likely be a short-lived return to the top of the charts. Wii Play remains consistent as it has since it was released a year ago. The Devil May Cry gap is interesting. Despite having a userbase advantage of over 150%, the Xbox 360 version only outsold the PS3 version by 26%.

Cheat codes for: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
System: Nintendo Wii

3D Hot Rally Title (Music)
Clear Target Level 5 with any character.

All-Star Mode
Unlock all the hidden characters.

Boss Battle Mode
Defeat the Subspace Emissary with any character.

Captain Falcon
Beat Classic in 20 minutes or less then defeat him in the match following.

Donkey Kong Virtual Console Trial
Play ten or more hours.

Dream Chaser (Music)
Play 10 VS. matches on Port Town.

Electroplankton Stage
Complete Event #28.

Falco
Beat 100-man brawl or play 300 VS. matches.

Fire Field (Music)
Complete Event #24.

Frozen Hillside (Music)
Play 10 VS. matches on Halberd.

F-Zero Virual Console Trial
Defeat Subspace Emissary using Captain Falcon.

Ganondorf
Clear Classic on Hard with Link or Zelda, or play 200 VS. matches.

Geruda (Music)
Play 10 VS. matches on Halberd.

Great Temple (Music)
Complete Event #33 on Difficult.

His World (Music)
Play 10 VS. matches on Green Hill Zone.

Ike’s Theme (Music)
Find Ike in the Subspace Emissary.

Jigglypuff
Complete Classic Mode with any character other than Ike, or Complete Event #20.

Jungle Japes
Play on any Melee Stage ten times in VS. Mode.

King Dedede’s Theme (Music)
Complete Event #15.

Kuru Kuru Land (Music)
Achieve 400m in the Home-Run Contest with any character.

Legendary Air Rider Machine (Music)
Complete Event #13.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Virtual Console Trial
Use Toon Link ten or more times.

Lucario
Defeat Subspace Emissary with Meta Knight, or complete five Target Tests with any character.

Luigi
Complete Classic Mode on Easy.

Luigi’s Mansion
Complete Classic Mode on Easy.

Mario Bros.
Complete Event #19.

Marth
Complete Classic Mode using Ike.

Mr. Game & Watch
Beat Classic Mode with every character.

Ness
Play five matches, or reflect ten projecticles, or meet Ness in the Subspace Emissary.

Pokémon Stadium
Play on Pokémon Stadium 2 ten times in VS. Mode.

Port City
Play as Captain Falcon ten times in VS. Mode.

R.O.B.
Play 160 VS. matches.

Snake
Play ten matches on Shadow Moses Island.

Sonic
Complete the Subspace Emissary.

Super Mario USA Virtual Console Trial
Win in VS mode with Peach five or more times.

Super Mario World
Play Yoshi’s Island (Melee) three or more times.

Toon Link
Finish the Classic Mode as Ganondorf.

Use Zero Suit Samus
Select Samus on the character screen and hold the following button (before the match starts):
Gamecube/Classic controller: Hold the R button.
Wii Remote with Nunchuk: Hold the Z button.
Wii Remote: Hold the Minus (-) button.

Wolf
In Iseki Stage (Ruins), pass by the first door, and enter the second door when lowered in to the pit, or play 450 VS. matches.

Nintendo Wii 274k
PlayStation 3 269k
PlayStation 2 264k
Nintendo DS 251k
PlayStation Portable 230k
Xbox 360 230k

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Xbox 360) 330.9k
2. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) 298.1k
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, Wii) 239.6k
4. Rock Band (Electronic Arts, Xbox 360) 183.8k
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, Xbox 360) 182.7k
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Wii) 172k
7. Burnout Paradise (Electronic Arts, Xbox 360) 144.1k
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, PS3) 140k
9. Mario Party (Nintendo, DS) 138.5k
10. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega, DS) 133k

A turnaround for Sony? Not quite. It’ll take another price drop or two before they regain their kingdom. While Nintendo and Microsoft struggle with supply, Sony’s competent and long established supply chain allowed them to come within spitting distance of the Wii with their PS3 (finishing ahead of Xbox 360 for the first time), and the PSP wasn’t too far off the DS. Year over year, PS3 was the only one that was up (243k to 269k), while both Wii (435k to 274k) and Xbox 360 (294k to 230k) saw sharp declines. Not to be overlooked is the PS2, the 8 year old system that just keeps going.

On the software side, Activision continues its dominance, with strong performance out of Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero III. Rock Band joins the music game fest. Nintendo’s got typically strong first party performance as well.

After multiple delays, what was expected to be the biggest game of last year finally has an official release date that looks like it will stick. GTA 4 will be released on April 29 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

“We are so excited to be releasing Grand Theft Auto IV,” said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. “We’ve pushed ourselves very hard to make something incredible and hope the game sets a new benchmark for interactive entertainment.”

Nintendo DS 2.47 million
Wii 1.35 million
Xbox 360 1.26 million
PlayStation 2 1.1 million
PlayStation Portable 1.06 million
PlayStation 3 797.6k

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Xbox 360) 1.47 million
2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Wii) 1.40 million
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, PS2) 1.25 million
4. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) 1.08 million
5. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft, Xbox 360) 893.7k
6. Halo 3 (Microsoft, Xbox 360) 742.7k
7. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (Nintendo, DS) 659.5k
8. Madden NFL 08 (Electronic Arts, PS2) 655.2k
9. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, Xbox 360) 624.6k
10. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega, Wii) 613k

December, typically the biggest month of the year with holiday sales, was no slouch as could be expected. Nintendo DS has now firmly replaced the GameBoy Advance and taken its place at the top of the hardware charts. By a slight margin, Wii retains the console lead. Xbox 360 now in its third holiday season came a close second and up from last year, but even still, it’s a questionable performance for a system that’s been on the market for so long. Granted, with only one very small price cut in over two years, it’s not overly surprising. PS2, with over 130 million sales and counting, continues to refuse to die. Its younger sibling, however, came up short as usual, although 800k units is pretty good for a $500 system.

On the software side, the story remains Xbox 360, Activision, and Nintendo. Activision, which throughout the year has shown itself to be as strong as Electronic Arts in terms of sales, continues to get a strong performance out of Guitar Hero and now Call of Duty. Wii Play, the second best selling game of the year behind Halo 3, is still selling strong nearly a year after its release, while Super Mario Galaxy, despite struggling in Japan, has been a strong performer as we’ve come to expect from other Nintendo first party efforts.

Our friends over at VGF have a couple of new websites up that video game fans may want to check out. Both are for Square’s upcoming PS3 games: Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

Nintendo DS: 1.53 million
Wii: 981k
Xbox 360: 770k
PSP: 567k
PS2: 496k
PS3: 466k

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Xbox 360) – 1.57 million
2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Wii) – 1.12 million
3. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft, Xbox 360) – 980k
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, PS2) – 967k
5. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) – 564k
6. Mass Effect (Microsoft, Xbox 360) – 473k
7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, PS3) – 444k
8. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, Wii) – 426k
9. Halo 3 (Microsoft, Xbox 360) – 387k
10. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft, PS3) – 377k

Nintendo’s systems continue to perform strongly. Sony’s PS3 is showing significant strength on the heels of a price cut, but far from enough for any belief there’s going to be strong enough momentum before the next price cut to really kick into high gear. Call of Duty being added to the already hugely popular Guitar Hero 3 made for another massive month for Activision. Super Mario Galaxy launched well, at least in the US.