Metroid Prime Trilogy - Not Published, But Played?

Quick Brew Info:
     Metroid Prime Trilogy was released in North America on the Wii, on August 24, 2009.  It was developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo, and released with a MSRP of $49.99.
     The play-time data shown below was collected 372 days after Metroid Prime Trilogy released in North America; or 1 year, 7 days.

Click image to enlarge

Approx. Number of Players Reporting Data:
     Metroid Prime Trilogy has 56,120 players reporting their play-time data, through the Wii's Nintendo Channel.

Average Play-Times:
     Metroid Prime Trilogy's "per person" average hours of play reported are 29 Hours 41 Minutes, over just 13 play sessions.  The average play session, for each person reporting play-time data on Metroid Prime Trilogy, is about 2 Hours 15 Minutes.

Sale Rank & Advertised Price:
     Metroid Prime Trilogy's Amazon.com sale rank was #383, with a listed "new" price of $69.98 from a third party vendor.
     As I reported back in January, I believe that Metroid Prime Trilogy is still no longer being published, as I was told by two Nintendo employees.

Review Score Averages:
     As the image above shows, Metroid Prime Trilogy has a 92.27% review score average, based on 33 "professional" reviews on GameRankings.com.

     On Amazon.com, Metroid Prime Trilogy has what appears to be a 5 out of 5 Star rating, based on 75 customer reviews.

Actual average would be about a 9.5 out of 10

Thoughts:
     I purchased Metroid Prime Trilogy back in December, when Best Buy put the game(or games?) on sale for $20.  I JUST opened the game case last week, but the disc still hasn't made it into my Wii yet.

     I still find it strange that Nintendo of America hasn't commented on the publishing status of Metroid Prime Trilogy, or even Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, since January of this year.  I would think with Metroid: Other M just releasing, having Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, or even Metroid Prime Trilogy available in some fashion would encourage sales of those games.

     Here is the complete trailer for Metroid Prime Trilogy:


Questions:
     Did anybody run out and purchase Metroid Prime Trilogy back in January when the news broke about the game not being published anymore?  If you didn't get a copy then, have you tried to find a copy recently and had trouble finding one?

If anybody is interested in Metroid Prime Trilogy, you can see new and used prices on Amazon.com below:

August Finished, September Beginning

     August was an extremely busy month for me!  Before I get into my list of coffees and games consumed/played in August, here are a few things that happened in August.

Many of you may not know, but I am officially back in college now full-time.  My classes started on August 16, and I'm enrolled in four different classes/labs:

1) Simulation & Games (SGD) 111 - Introduction to Simulation and Games

2) SGD 112 - SGD Design

3) SGD 116 - SGD Graphic Design Tools

4) Computer Information Systems 115 - C++

Here are the books I have for the classes:

SGD 111 -

1) Break Into The Game Industry: How to Get A Job Making Video Games

2) Google SketchUp 7 For Dummies

3) Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture

SGD 112 -

1) Fundamentals of Game Design (2nd Edition)

2) The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners (Book & CD)

SGD 116 -

1) Exploring Adobe Photoshop CS4 (Design Exploration)

CIS 115 -

1) An Introduction to Programming With C++

     On top of starting school, I had to show up for jury duty on August 25, and thought that because I was a student I could get dismissed easily.  I was told that if I was dismissed, I would have to be back in either November or December, so I decided I would just wait it out and get it over with quickly...at least I thought that!

     I ended up being selected as a juror for a trial, and the trial lasted Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; it ended in a mistrial!  It was a very interesting experience though, and it showed me how crazy the legal system is.

     With the start of school and a lot going on in August, I consumed a good bit of coffee, and did find some time to play some games.  Let's take a look...

Coffees Consumed in August:

     Folgers Gourmet Supreme Dark Roast

     Starbucks Italian Roast Coffee X-Bold Dark Roast

     Folgers Classic Decaf Medium Roast

     Trader Joe's Organic Fair Trade Five Country Espresso Blend Dark Roast

     Maxwell House Breakfast Blend Mild

     The one coffee oddity you may have noticed was the Folgers Classic Decaf Medium Roast, because I normally don't drink decaf.

     The weekend after I started school, we had some friends come in town and stay with us.  The first night they were here, I asked if anybody wanted coffee at about 11:00PM or so, and my friend said he would take decaf if we had any.  After the initial shock of somebody requesting decaf wore off, I went and dug through our pantry to see if had any; sure enough, we did, and I brewed us some.

Games Played in August:

     Call of Duty: World at War (PS3)

     Groovin' Blocks (WiiWare)

     Pearl Harbor Trilogy - 1941: Red Sun Rising (WiiWare)

     Call of Duty: World at War (Wii)

     Rage of the Gladiator (WiiWare)

     Excitebots: Trick Racing (Wii)

     Monster Hunter Tri (Wii)

     New Super Mario Bros. Wii

     When our friends visited us, they brought New Super Mario Bros. Wii with them.  If you weren't following my blog back in January, you may have missed my post, "New Super Mario Bros. Wii Causes Marriage Problems!?"  My friend knew that Mrs. CwG and I had played New Super Mario Bros. Wii before, and during the weekend, we attempted a four player battle against Bowser.

     There was lots of friendly yelling and screaming, and "BUBBLE!!" was probably shouted 100 times, but we were successful, completing it with four players.

     During the weekend they visited, a lot of games were played.  The amount we played Excitebots: Trick Racing surprised me the most, and I still had a lot of fun with the game.

     When our friends departed, we did an old school "trade" on games.  He had been renting Super Mario Galaxy from the library, but the game was scratched up and had issues playing in his Wii.  I own Super Mario Galaxy, so he "traded" me New Super Mario Bros. Wii, for Super Mario Galaxy.  It's not a permanent trade, but it will be for a while.

Totals:

     In August, I had five different coffee blends, and I played eight different video games.  One of the coffee blends I should be posting about separately in a few days.

Questions:

     What games did you play during August, and did you have any drink of choice during August while gaming?

Max and the Magic Marker Speed Run - Welcome home!

     In June, I had a post "Max and the Magic Marker Speedrun Contest".  In the post I included a video of a speed run I had done, completing the level "Welcome home!" in 1:06.  I had recorded the footage as a response to a challenge from the guys at WiiLoveIt.com, and I mentioned that in the original post.

     I haven't seen a response video from them yet, but I did beat my own best time of 1:06.  Here is my new speed run through Max and the Magic Marker's first level, Welcome home!

     Anybody else want to give it a try?

PS3 vs. Xbox 360 - August 2010 Sales Ranks

The Coffee Beans(what makes up this chart):
     The chart below shows the sales ranks for the PS3 120GB AND 160GB consoles priced at $299.99, as well as showing the sale ranks for the Xbox 360 250GB console priced at $299.99.  The sales ranks were captured between August 2 and August 31, 2010.  The sales ranks were captured on 18 different days in August, with one day having sales ranks captured twice at different times; for a total of nineteen sales ranks on the chart.
     The higher the line is on the chart, the better the sales ranks were for the consoles on Amazon.com.

     When looking at the chart, you may notice August 13, 15, 16, and 20 are highlighted at the top and have asterisks next to the dates and times.  On August 13, 15, 16, the 120GB PS3 was noted as "Out-of-stock" directly from Amazon.com, but was available from third party vendors at the time.
     August 20 was the first day I recorded sales ranks with the 160GB PS3 being listed on Amazon.com, instead of the 120GB PS3 console.
     So, from August 2 through August 16, the sales ranks for the PS3 are for the 120GB console model; from August 20 through August 31 on the chart, the sales ranks for the PS3 are for the 160GB model.

Click chart to enlarge

Highs & Lows:
     The highest recorded sale rank for the 120GB PS3 was #8, on August 10 around 12:30PM.
The lowest recorded sale rank for the 120GB PS3 was #22, on August 15 around 11:15PM.

     The highest recorded sale rank for the 160GB PS3 was #5, on August 20 around 4:00PM.
The lowest recorded sale rank for the 160GB PS3 was #15, on August 31 around 7:45PM.

     The highest recorded sale rank for the 250GB Xbox 360 was #10, on August 16 around 8:20PM.
The lowest recorded sale rank for the 250GB Xbox 360 was #23, on August 14 and August 31.

Thoughts:
     While the Amazon.com sales ranks don't tell us how many units were sold, they do give us an idea of what may be happening in retail stores.  I think it will be interesting to see how close the sales numbers are between the consoles, when the August 2010 NPD data is released in a few weeks.
     Whenever I was recording the sales ranks, I thought it was very interesting that Amazon.com was "out-of-stock" of the PS3 on August 13, so much so that I wrote a note with the sales rank that day.
     It was on August 17, when Sony announced the 160GB PS3, and a 320GB PS3 model that will be available to purchase on September 19 for $399.99.
     I am hoping this data will start giving us an idea of which console versions/bundles are selling well, so when we look at the NPD data, the general "PS3", "Xbox 360", and "Wii" listings may make a little more sense.
     I do have more data from August, and I'm hoping to get the rest up over the weekend.

Questions:
     Though this data doesn't show all console versions sold; based off these sales ranks, do you think that the PS3 will take first place overall in the NPD's August 2010 data?

If you are interested in either the PS3 or the Xbox 360, you can see both listed on Amazon.com below:

3 Years of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Play-Time Data

Quick Brew Info:
     Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was released in North America on the Wii, on August 27, 2007.  It was developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo, and released with a MSRP for $49.99.
     The play-time data shown below was collected 1,100 days, after Metroid Prime 3 released in North America, or 3 years, 4 days.

Click image to enlarge

Approx. Number of Players Reported Data:
     Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has 466,646 players reported play-time data, through the Wii's Nintendo Channel.

Average Play-Times:
     Metroid Prime 3's "per person" average hours of play are 22 Hours 19 Minutes, just over 10 play sessions.  The average play session for each person reporting data on Metroid Prime 3 is about 2 hours 7 minutes.

Sale Rank & Sale Price:
     Metroid Prime 3: Corruption's sale rank was #748 and is selling for $49.99, from a third party vendor on Amazon.com.
     I believe Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, like Metroid Prime Trilogy, is still no longer being published by Nintendo.

Review Score Averages:
     As the image above shows, Metroid Prime 3 has a 90.16% review score average, based on 66 "professional" review scores on GameRankings.com.

     On Amazon.com, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has a 4.5 out of 5 Star rating, based on 133 customer reviews.

Thoughts:
     As I mentioned in my review of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, it is my third most played Wii game.  I played and completed it four complete times, and unlocked everything in the game.
     Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is currently my favorite main franchise game from Nintendo on the Wii.

     If you have never see any footage of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, here is a brief video; but be warned it does show some bosses in the game, though only briefly:


Questions:
     I know a few of you have mentioned playing Metroid and Super Metroid, but did any of you purchase and play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, before Metroid Prime Trilogy was released?


If you are interested in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, you can see new and used prices on Amazon.com linked below: