Nintendo Wii Games: Data, Sales, and Review Scores for Shooter Based Wii Games

 House of the Dead: Overkill, The Conduit, Metroid Prime: Trilogy, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex  Nintendo Channel data, Amazon.com Sales Ranks, MetaCritic.com Review Score Averages

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Nintendo Channel Data Breakdown

Number of Players Reporting Data: 

House of the Dead: Overkill has had 33,443 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel, since the game released in February.

The Conduit was released in June, and has had 49,563 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy has had 26,449 players report their data, since the game released in August. 
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] was released just in November and has 17,016 players report data on the Nintendo Channel.

"Total" Game-Play Hours Reported/Increased:
House of the Dead: Overkill had 277,641 Total Hours reported, an increase of 7,263 hours from last week.
The Conduit had 1,089,146 Total Hours reported, an increase of 22,593 hours from last week.
Metroid Prime: Trilogy had  601,776 Total Hours reported, an increase of 36,869 hours from last week.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] had 403,907 Total Hours reported, an increase of 83,638 hours from last week.

Amazon.com Sales Rank:

House of the Dead: Overkill's Amazon.com sale rank is #57, and is selling for $12.99.

The Conduit's sale ranked is #875, and is selling for $21.79.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy  is ranked #154, and is selling for $44.00 from Amazon.com 2nd Party/3rd Party Sellers.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] is ranked #123, with a selling price of $46.99.

Player Increase:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex], again, saw the largest increase in players reporting data on the Nintendo Channel.
House of the Dead: Overkill had 445 more players reporting data this week, than last week.
The Conduit had 1,075 more players reporting data this week.
Metroid Prime: Trilogy had 1,503 more players reporting data this week.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] gained 2,600 more players reporting data in the last week.

Thoughts:
As I reported last Friday, Metroid Prime Trilogy Collector's Edition is no longer being published or shipped from Nintendo.  When the I broke the news last week, it spread pretty quickly around the internet, and I'm hoping that many gamers, and maybe some of you that visit my blog every now and then, were able to buy the game before it becomes harder to find.
Being that Metroid Prime Trilogy Collector's Edition is no longer being published or shipped from Nintendo, I'm going to replace it next week, with another "shooter" game that was released on the Wii in 2009.  I will track Metroid Prime Trilogy's stats every now and then, to see how the game is performing, but I probably won't report it on a weekly basis.


Questions:
Being that Metroid Prime Trilogy Collector's Edition isn't being published anymore, did my news last week help any of you make a decision to buy the game?  If so, were you able to locate a copy locally, or did you buy it offline?

If you're interested in purchasing any of the games in the article, you can see the game and "best price" on Amazon.com below:

























Notes:
As I noted last week, I did acquire a video capturing device, and that's how the pictures of the Nintendo Channel Stats/Data were provided in the photo above.  I did need a few more items, other than just the device to get it all set up, and I received my last item in the mail today and got everything set up and working this evening.

The Nintendo Channel data was captured after the Nintendo Channel updated on Monday, January 11, 2010.  Numbers of players reporting data are rounded down to the nearest whole number.

Nintendo Wii Games: Data, Sales, Review Scores

House of the Dead: Overkill, The Conduit, Metroid Prime: Trilogy, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex:  Nintendo Channel data, Amazon.com Sales Ranks, MetaCritic.com Review Score Averages

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Nintendo Channel Data Breakdown

House of the Dead: Overkill has had 31,591 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel, since the game released in February.

The Conduit was released in June, and has had 46,377 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy has had 22,017 players report their data, since the game released in August. 
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] was released just in November and has 9,552 players report data on the Nintendo Channel.

Sales Rank

Starting this week, I'll show Amazon.com's position for the games and the current selling price, because Amazon.com is usually below the MRSP just a little.

House of the Dead: Overkill's Amazon.com sale rank is #157, and is selling for $16.77.

The Conduit's sale ranked is #612, and is selling for $27.99.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy is ranked #423, and is selling for $41.90 from Amazon.com 2nd Party/3rd Party Sellers, because Amazon.com doesn't have Metroid Prime: Trilogy in stock.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] is ranked #93, with a selling price of $46.99.

Caffeinated Thoughts
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex], again, saw the largest increase in players reporting data on the Nintendo Channel.  Metroid Prime: Trilogy, for some reason, still isn't in stock on Amazon.com, and it's only available from 2nd or 3rd party vendors.  I emailed Nintendo about this a few weeks back, but still haven't received a reply.

House of the Dead: Overkill had 767 more players reporting data this week, than last week.
The Conduit had 1,316 more players reporting data this week.
Metroid Prime: Trilogy had 1,309 more players reporting data this week.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] gained 2,082 more players reporting data in the last week.

Question
Did anybody receive any of these games for Christmas (or other holidays you may celebrate)?



Nintendo Channel data captured after the Nintendo Channel updated on Monday, December 28, 2009.  Numbers of players reporting data are rounded down to the nearest whole number.

House of the Dead: Overkill, The Conduit, Metroid Prime: Trilogy, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex: Nintendo Channel data, Amazon.com Sales ranks, MetaCritic.com review score averages

Nintendo Channel data updated on Monday, December 21, 2009

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Nintendo Channel Data Breakdown:

House of the Dead: Overkill has had 30,824 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel, since the game released in February.

The Conduit was released in June, and has had 45,061 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy has had 20,708 players report their data, since the game released in August. 
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] was released just in November and has 7,470 players report data on the Nintendo Channel.

Sales Rank:

Starting this week, I'll show Amazon.com's position for the games and the current selling price, because Amazon.com is usually below the MRSP just a little.

House of the Dead: Overkill's Amazon.com sale rank is #194, and is selling for $13.79.

The Conduit's sale ranked is #665 and is selling for $27.99.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy is ranked #373, and is selling for $35.99 from Amazon.com 2nd Party/3rd Party Sellers, because Amazon.com doesn't have Metroid Prime: Trilogy in stock.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] is ranked #139, with a selling price of $44.99.

Thoughts:
Again, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] was the only game out of these four, this week, to see an increase of game-play data reporting by 1,000 more players than last week.  Metroid Prime: Trilogy, for some reason, still isn't in stock on Amazon.com, and it's only available from 2nd or 3rd party vendors.

House of the Dead: Overkill had 621 more players reporting data this week, than last week.
The Conduit had 998 more players reporting data this week.
Metroid Prime: Trilogy had 810 more players reporting data this week.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] gained 1,286 more players reporting data in the last week.

Last week, The Conduit needed just 18,658 reported play-time hours to cross one million "Total" game-play hours, and it actually gained 24,672 game-play hours this past week, crossing one million "total" game-play hours reported.

I think it will be interesting to see how these games perform in the few weeks following Christmas, and if we'll be able to tell from the number of players reporting data, if it looks like gamers received some of these games as gifts.
Did any of these games make your Christmas list?

Flashback Comparison: The Conduit vs Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]

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The Nintendo Channel Data:

The data presented here was captured 34 days after both games released, so it's basically comparing apples to apples, when talking about the data reported on the Nintendo Channel for both games.

"Total" Game-Play Hours Reported:

The Conduit had 263,608 "Total" hours of reported game-play 34 days after it released.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] had only 138,726 "Total" hours of reported game-play 34 days after it released.

In the first 34 days, The Conduit beat Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] by 124,882 "Total" reported game-play hours.

Number of Players Reporting Data:

The Conduit had 16,743 players reporting game-play data on the Nintendo Channel, 34 days after it's release.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] had 6,184 players reporting game-play data on the Nintendo Channel, 34 days after it's release.

The Conduit had 10,559 more players reporting game-play data 34 days after it's release, than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] did 34 days after it released.

Average Total Hours Per Person:

This piece of data I find extremely interesting.

The Conduit averaged 15 Hours 46 Minutes of play-time, "Per person",  34 days after it released on June 23.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] averaged 22 Hours 27 Minutes of play-time, "Per person", 34 days after it released on November 10.

As of the data on the Nintendo Channel on December 14, 2009, The Conduit has averaged 22 Hours 16 Minutes of play-time "Per person", since it released back in June.

In just 34 days since it released, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] has passed The Conduit's average play-time, "Per person".

Reviews:

The review score average is not based off of data 34 days after both games released.

The Conduit has a MetaCritic.com review score average of 69% out of 100%, based off of 79 "critic" reviews.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] has a MetaCritic.com review score average of 77% out of 100%, based off of 35 "critic" reviews.

Thoughts/Questions:

Kotaku.com's, Stephen Totilo has tracked and shown "The 10 Most Avidly-Played Wii Games", according to the average hours "Per person", for several months now.  Call of Duty: World at War currently sits in 4th place overall, with an average of 50 Hours 48 Minutes "Per person".

Being that Call of Duty: World at War was released in November 2008, and with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] already at 22 Hours 27 Minutes average play-time "Per person", I wonder if it will join Stephen Totilo's "Top 10" most played games chart on the Wii within the next year?

I've only played The Conduit, and I enjoyed the single-player campaign, and I enjoyed the multi-player, when it functioned properly.

If you have played both The Conduit and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex], I would love to know which game you think is better, and your reasons why you favor one game over the other.

Nintendo Channel Data, Amazon.com Sales, MetaCritic Scores: House of the Dead: Overkill, The Conduit, Metroid Prime: Trilogy, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]

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Nintendo Channel Data Breakdown:

 House of the Dead: Overkill has had 30,203 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel, since the game released in February.

The Conduit was released in June, and has had 44,063 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy has had 19,898 players report their data, since the game released in August.

Last, but definitely not least(well, maybe), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] was released just in November and has 6,184 players report data on the Nintendo Channel.

Sales Rank:

Starting this week, I'll show Amazon.com's position for the games and the MSRP, which Amazon.com is usually below the MRSP just a little.

House of the Dead: Overkill's Amazon.com sale rank is #242, and it's MSRP is $19.99.

The Conduit's sale ranked is #499 and it's MSRP is $29.99.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy is ranked #422, with an MSRP of $49.99.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] is ranked #73, with an MSRP of $49.99.

Thoughts:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] was the only game out of these four, this week, to see an increase of game-play data reported by 1,000 more players than last week.  Metroid Prime: Trilogy, for some reason, isn't in stock on Amazon.com now, and it's only available from 2nd or 3rd party vendors on Amazon.com.
If The Conduit can pull in another 20,000 hours of reported game-play by next week, it will finally cross 1,000,000 "Total Hours" reported played.

Nintendo Channel Data, Amazon.com Sales, MetaCritic Scores: House of the Dead: Overkill, The Conduit, Metroid Prime: Trilogy, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]

     Last week I said it, this week it's happened.  Instead of The Conduit, Wii Sports Resort, Punch-Out, and EA Sports Active being compared, we'll take a look at games in a similar category, and see how they are performing.  Today's data is for First-Person games, games that take place in a first-person perspective.

This week the data is for:

House of the Dead: Overkill, The Conduit, Metroid Prime: Trilogy, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex].

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Nintendo Channel Data Breakdown:

 House of the Dead: Overkill has had 29,772 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel, since the game released in February.

The Conduit was released in June, and has had 43,252 players report play-time data on the Nintendo Channel.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy has had 19,178 players report their data, since the game released in August.

Last, but definitely not least(well, maybe), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] was released just in November and has 4,949 players report data on the Nintendo Channel.

Sales Rank:

Starting this week, I'll show Amazon.com's position for the games and the MSRP, which Amazon.com is usually below the MRSP just a little.

House of the Dead: Overkill's Amazon.com sale rank is #352, and it's MSRP is $19.99.

The Conduit's sale ranked is #526 and it's MSRP is $29.99.

Metroid Prime: Trilogy is ranked #415, with an MSRP of $49.99.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] is ranked #92, with an MSRP of $49.99.

Thoughts:

I find it interesting that a new IP, The Conduit, has more players reporting data than House of the Dead: Overkill and Metroid Prime: Trilogy.  Both House of the Dead: Overkill and Metroid Prime: Trilogy come from established franchises, and I would have thought their name recognition would have helped one of them have more players reporting game-play data on the Nintendo Channel than The Conduit, but neither one does.

Again, The Conduit has 43,252 players reporting data, compared to House of the Dead's 29,772, and Metroid Prime: Trilogy's 19,178.

Questions:

Did you purchase any of these four games?  If so, which ones and what are you opinions of them?

I didn't purchase House of the Dead: Overkill, but I did purchase The Conduit the day it released.  As for the other two, I'm on the fence still with Metroid Prime: Trilogy, hoping for a price drop on it, whereas I do plan on getting Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] in the near future.

The Conduit wrestles Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] and Metroid Prime Trilogy

Earlier today, I posted up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]'s Nintendo Channel debut data.
After looking at the data, you may be think, "Well, how did Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] debut compared to The Conduit and perhaps Metroid Prime: Trilogy?"
It does seem that the FPS market on the Wii is one that is neglected for the most part, after-all, it's Wii owners that got stuck with the holidays with only ONE first-person shooter, and it's a two year old port of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The Pre-Match Talk:
The Conduit boasted before the match, that it was going to have the best controls for a FPS on the Wii, the most robust online multi-player, as well as some powerful graphics, flying high above the rest of the competition.  The Conduit was hyped up and many thought it would easily knock-out any FPS game before it on the Wii. 
Metroid Prime Trilogy boasted before the match, that it would be bringing old school talent, but with new moves, and it would give you the most for your money in one package.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] was extremely humble before the match, not really speaking out much about himself, and some say his former agent(Infinity Ward) had a lot to do with keeping him quiet and humble.

So, in their debut match in the Nintendo Channel Data ring, which game came out on top?  Let's take a look:

The Match Performance Breakdown

Days:

13 days from when The Conduit released, that's how long it took The Conduit to debut with data on the Nintendo Channel.

21 days from when it released, that's how long it took for Metroid Prime Trilogy's Nintendo Channel debut.

20 days, that's how many days it took Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] to have game-play data reported on the Nintendo Channel.
Days verdict: The Conduit delivered a stunningly fast performance and blasted both Metroid Prime Trilogy and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] with it's speedy attacks, showing it's 13 days of game-play couldn't be beat by just name recognition for the other two.

Players:

6,963 players reported data for The Conduit's Nintendo Channel debut.

5,415 players had reported data by the time Metroid Prime Trilogy debuted on the Nintendo Channel.

3,748 players reported the data for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]'s debut.
Player verdict:  Again, The Conduit showed in this match-up that talking trash and bragging loudly about yourself before a match can help you have fans showing up to support you.
The Conduit had 1,548 more fans(players) than Metroid Prime Trilogy and 3,215 more fans than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex].

Nintendo Channel Total Hours:

74,522 total hours were reported for The Conduit's debut.

63,930 total hours were reported for Metroid Prime Trilogy's debut.

65,114 total hours were reported for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]'s debut.
Total Hours verdict: Again, The Conduit outperformed the Metroid Prime Trilogy and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] in this category.

Nintendo Channel Hours Per Person:

10 Hrs. 42 Min. reported per gamer for The Conduit's Nintendo Channel debut.

11 Hrs. 48 Min. reported per gamer for Metroid Prime Trilogy's Nintendo Channel debut.

17 Hrs. 22 Min. reported per gamer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]'s Nintendo Channel debut.
Hours Per Fan(Person) verdict:  Though Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] may have lost the debut match overall to The Conduit, Call of Duty's fans were the most dedicated in giving of their time for support.  They were outnumbered by more than 3,000 fans for The Conduit, but Call of Duty's fans must have been camping out late, and stayed late long after the match had ended, and it shows with their match(game) time per person, being nearly 6 hours longer than Metroid Prime Trilogy and nearly 7 hours longer than The Conduit.

In the end, I believe it was the hype for The Conduit that High-Voltage Software was able to create for the game, that allowed it to perform better than Metroid and Call of Duty in their first debut.
Will there ever be a rematch?  Perhaps in the future, but for now, The Conduit can boast having the best FPS debut on the Nintendo Channel for 2009.

Have you played any of these games?  If so, are you still playing them or have you moved on to something else?  Also, if you watch wrestling now, or have in the past, do you have a favorite wrestler?  Check the comments for my favorite wrestler!

The Wii's Nintendo Channel Data: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] Debuts

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare[Reflex] Nintendo Channel data debut

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This is the first week since it released, for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] to debut on the Nintendo Channel with game-play data.

Days:

21 days, that's how many days it took Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] to have game-play data reported on the Nintendo Channel.

Players:

3,748 players reported the data for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]'s debut.

Were you one of the 3,748 players that contributed game-play data for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]?  If you've played the game, what are you opinions of it, good or bad?

Is the Wii's Pudding Tainted!

 

 "What does, "The proof is in the pudding", even mean?"  I'm glad you asked!

According to The Word Detective, “The proof is in the pudding” is a popular figure of speech meaning “the quality, effectiveness or truth of something can only be judged by putting it into action or to its intended use” and when applied to food, according to The Word Detective, "A dish may have been made from a good recipe with fresh ingredients and look delicious, but you can really only judge it by putting it in your mouth. The actual taste is the only true criterion of success."

"The proof is in the pudding", isn't the original phrase, and The Word Detective says, "But the key to the mystery lies in the fact that “the proof is in the pudding” is actually a mangled form of the original phrase, which was “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

I've applied the statement, "the proof is in the pudding" to the gaming world, particularly, the idea that Wii games sell well, despite being reviewed poorly.
Analyzing what analyst Michael Pachter said, "A well positioned game with an interesting concept can sell well on the Wii regardless of review scores..."
For the sake of this example, "pudding" would be poor review scores for games, and  "proof" would be how well those games sold.

Is Michael Pachter correct?  Are there Wii games that have sold millions of copies that were reviewed poorly, or "regardless of review scores"?

Absolutely!  The "proof" is Wii games like Carnival Games and Deca Sports that have reportedly sold a million copies or more, and the "pudding" is that Carnival Games has a MetaCritic average score of 56 out of 100, while Deca Sports has a MetaCritic average score of 50 out of 100.

While some may think those games are poor examples to use, let's take a look at several games that have only been out a few weeks.

A picture says a thousand words, so here you go:

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What do you think of the information displayed in the photo?

I find it very interesting that Tony Hawk: RIDE is outselling both, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.  All three games come from established franchises, but Tony Hawk: RIDE is also more than double the price of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]!

How is it that Tony Hawk: RIDE on the Wii has a higher sales rank than does Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex]?

A couple of reasons I think could explain it:

1)  Tony Hawk: RIDE isn't rated "Mature" like the other two

2) The Wii's "casual" crowd that "...wouldn't know Metacritic if it fell on them.", is buying the game because they are used to Wii games selling with peripherals, and they want to try something new.

Tony Hawk: RIDE is another example right now of a game that is reviewing poorly, but selling better on Amazon.com than other games that have reviewed better than it.

What do you think of the Wii's game market and the way seemingly "bad" games, sell well.

*The prices, sales rank, and Metacritic.com score averages were gathered on Sunday, November 29, between 4p.m. and 5p.m.

A couple of links you may find interesting based around this topic: 

MetaCritic scores not important, but genre and franchise continuations are.

Predicting review scores.

Pachter says MetaCritic scores aren't important.

Wii software doesn't review well.

THQ, high review scores bring in high sales.

The pressure of MetaCritic scores.

Critics Speak, We Listen, Why?

Do Game Journalist Lack Morals?

Eidos asked low scores held back.

A Wii FPS Year's Perspective: Call of Duty

A Year's Perspective of Call of Duty: World at War

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Call of Duty: World at War was released November 11, 2008 on the Wii.  I've been tracking Call of Duty: World at War's Nintendo Channel data on the Wii for a few months now, and it's been increasing more than 100K hours every week that I've been following it.

Numbers:

Over the last year, according the the Wii's Nintendo Channel data, Call of Duty: World at War has amassed 6,897,580 hours of total game play data, from approximately 137,925 players.

Thoughts:

I played A LOT of Call of Duty: World at War on the Wii.  I bought the game at the very end of December and played it pretty consistently through April.  I finally beat Call of Duty: World at War on Veteran difficulty, which was absolutely insane, in October.  Call of Duty: World at War is my most played Wii game to date, which I find a little odd, considering I bought my Wii one week after it's release, and didn't buy Call of Duty: World at War until more than two years later.

Question:

Being that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] just released on the Wii, if you played Call of Duty: World at War before, how would you rate Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] to Call of Duty: World at War?

Do you think in one year's time, that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [Reflex] will pass Call of Duty: World at War's one year totals for game play data on the Wii's Nintendo Channel?