BBRoundtable

TOKYO--Though it's only been six months since the release of the PSP in Japan, its games have been selling poorly. For the week of May 23 to 29, only four PSP games remain in the complete top 50 sales ranking charts of Media Create and Dengeki Online, and none cracked the top 20. The lackluster sales are a result of few major releases this spring. <
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>During the last full week of May, the PSP saw the release of its anticipated new puzzle game Intelligent License, but it appeared in 22nd place on Media Create's chart and 38th place on Dengeki Online's. Other recent PSP releases, Derby Time and Dorasulot: Shuyaku wa Zenigata, slipped below the top 30, but managed to stay above the top 40. The only other PSP game in the sales charts is Minna no Golf Portable, which currently holds 36th place at Media Create and 40th place at Dengeki Online. <
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>On the other hand, six Nintendo DS titles ranked in the top 20 of the two sales charts, three of them being different editions of Nintendogs. Two DS titles ranked inside the top 10: SD Gundam G-Generation DS and the laboriously titled Touhoku Daigaku Mirai Kagakugijutsu Kyoudoukenkyuu Center: Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju no Nou o Kitaeru Otona DS Training, a
ainteaser and education game codeveloped by Nintendo and professor Ryuuta Kahashima of Touhoku University. This latter game features innovative gameplay and design, and translates to English as Touhoku University's Future Technology Collaborative Research Centre's Professor Ryuuta Kawashima presents: DS Brain Training for Adults. Additionally, Bura Bura Donkey (DK: King of Swing), a Game Boy Advance title, weighed in at 17th place. The DS rankings are all the same on both the Dengeki Online and the Media Create charts. <
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>Nintendo seized the opportunity to release Nintendogs during the typically slow spring season. The company further strengthened the game's sales by strategically shipping it right before the golden week of national holidays in Japan. Nintendogs has been a major hit in the country, and it boosted sales of DS hardware from 21,698 units to 96,191 units during its first week of release. DS sales continue to lead the PSP and PS2 for the week of May 23 to 30. According to Media Create, the dual-screen handheld sold 39,687 units, while the PSP sold 21,996 units and the PS2 sold 35,143 units. <
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>There have been 39 titles released for the PSP thus far, eight of which are published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The number of games available for the DS is nearly identical, with 37 titles, 14 of which are from Nintendo.<
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>-GS- <i></i>

The latest issue of Otonafami magazine gives a glimpse at how the next-generation handheld war between Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS is shaping up in Japan. According to a survey conducted with 1,000 gamers above age 20 by the magazine, 14 percent said they owned a PSP, 25 percent said they owned a DS, and 19 percent said they owned both. Out of the remaining gamers who don't own a next-generation handheld, 31 percent said they are planning to get a PSP, while 35 percent said they want to get a DS, 19 percent said they want to get both, and 15 percent said they didn't want either of the handhelds. <
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>Otonafami reports that the average PSP owner in Japan owns one to three games for the handheld; 27 percent said they owned one game, 24 percent said they owned two games, and 22 percent said they owned three games. The statistics for the DS were a bit different, with 23 percent of its owners saying that they owned more than six games for the handheld. Curiously, two percent of the users for both the PSP and DS said they had no games, which makes one wonder what they play. <
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>Owners of both handhelds also seem to think that they aren't taking full advantage of their machine. Seventy-five percent of PSP owners replied "no" when asked if they were using all of its hardware capabilities. Many PSP owners commented that they don't understand how to use its multimedia functions or that they find it too troublesome. <
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>The comments also show that users view the PSP as a multimedia device more than a gaming machine. Sixty-seven percent of DS owners answered "no" when they were asked the same question. However, DS users complained that their DS's Wi-Fi capability goes unused, especially if they live in the countryside where nobody owns a DS. <
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>When PSP owners were asked what they thought about their handheld, they praised its fantastic graphics and entertainment functions and commented that they found its battery life surprisingly long. The main PSP complaints were that its games were mediocre, its game li
ary had too many ports, its load times were too long, and that some games froze often. <
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>DS owners said they enjoy its backward compatibility to GBA games and touching the handheld's screen. On the other hand, they also said that the audio in DS games isn't loud enough, there aren't titles for adults, and the screen sizes are too small. <
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>When looking at the two handhelds in terms of sales figures, the Nintendo DS has sold approximately 2.2 million units in Japan since its launch on December 2, versus the PSP's 1.39 million units since it went on sale 10 days later. The top-selling games for the two machines in Japan are listed below. <
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>CUMULATIVE GAME SALES <
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>Nintendo DS <
>WarioWare: Touched! : 740,000 units <
>Super Mario 64 DS : 710,000 units <
>Nintendogs: 400,000 units <
>Pokémon Dash: 320,000 units <
>Kirby: Canvas Curse: 190,000 units <
><
>Sony PSP: <
>Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee: 350,000 units <
>Ridge Racers: 260,000 units <
>Dynasty Warriors: 260,000 units <
>Tales of Eternia: 170,000 units <
>Metal Gear Acid: 110,000 units <
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>SURVEY RESULTS <
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>Q: How many Games do you have? <
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>PSP: <
>None: 2% <
>One game: 27% <
>Two games: 24% <
>Three games: 12% <
>Four games: 6% <
>Five Games: 9% <
>More than six games: 10% <
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>DS: <
>None: 2% <
>One game: 16% <
>Two games: 20% <
>Three games: 19% <
>Four games: 12% <
>Five games: 8% <
>More than six games: 23% <
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>-GS- <i></i>

Quote:Touhoku Daigaku Mirai Kagakugijutsu Kyoudoukenkyuu Center: Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju no Nou o Kitaeru Otona DS TrainingGlad to see the Japanese haven't stopped putting absurdly long names on things. My mother once found a Japanese book (which I still have . . . somewhere) called, "Shiokaze no hoteru ni ayashii roorerai no uta ga kikoeru," but that game's name surely trumps it.<
><
>(For the frongs out there, or anyone else who knows Japanese and tries to translate the book title: Since I had a lot of trouble deciphering this word myself, roorerai is a katakana word taken from the German word, "lorelei," a mythological creature very similar to English's sirens -- a sea creature who lures sailors to their doom with its music/voice.) <i>There are many rules of<
>physics that govern our world.<
>There is only one exception.<
>His name is Nakor.</i><
><
>--Nakor, the Blue Rider<
><
><i></i>

EGADS!!! What a lengthy title!!! No Frong (laughs)<
>I am... so this would prove to be a challenging<
>task for me, especially since my Nihongo is<
>lacking due to lack of use and exercisin-<
>g via speaking it on occasion (since <
>I cannot remember the last time<
>I have said much in Japanese<
>even... laughs). After che-<
>cking a bit, this is wha-<
>t the US titles is sup-<
>posed to read. No-<
>w I am not cert-<
>ain if any wo-<
>rds were le-<
>ft out in<
>transl-<
>atio-<
>n:<
><
>"Touhoku University's Future Technology Collaborative Research Centre's Professor Ryuuta Kawashima presents: DS Brain Training for Adults" <i></i>

Oh, so somebody had to stick his life history in the title just so everybody would know how conceited he was. That, of course, makes it perfectly acceptable, eh? <i>There are many rules of<
>physics that govern our world.<
>There is only one exception.<
>His name is Nakor.</i><
><
>--Nakor, the Blue Rider<
><
><i></i>

Laughs! With that in mind, I wonder<
>if this is really a game or an att-<
>empt at stardom (laughs)? A-<
>pparently having ones na-<
>me included in the cr-<
>edits is not enoug-<
>h for notoriety!<
>I wonder wh-<
>at the seq-<
>uel will b-<
>e nam-<
>ed??<
><
>(laughs) <i></i>