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This Week In Sales: Another Century’s Episode: R

By Ishaan . August 27, 2010 . 4:30pm

This Week In Sales: Another Centurys Episode: R

Namco Bandai are probably pleased with the debut of Another Century’s Episode: R, which topped the sales charts during the week of its release in Japan.

 

Coming in at 219,849 units, the game’s closest competition was Wii Party, which continued to hold up well weeks after its release, at 68,853 units. Sengoku Basara 3′s performance, too, continues to impress as the game consistently attracts more of an audience each week.

 

Compile Heart’s Neptune, unfortunately, did not fare as well.

 

The top-ten chart for the week of August 16th to 22nd is as follows:

LwTwTitleTw. SalesSys.Publisher
New01.Another Century’s Episode: R219,849PS3Namco Bandai
01.02.Wii Party68,853WiiNintendo
New03.Super Dimensional Game Neptune22,574PS3Compile Heart
03.04.Inazuma Eleven 3: Challenge the World! Spark / Bomber17,986NDSLevel 5
02.05.Sengoku Basara 317,574PS3Capcom
04.06.Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X16,326PSPNamco Bandai
06.07.Super Mario Galaxy 213,856WiiNintendo
07.08.Art Academy13,142DSNintendo
05.09.Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2nd12,973PSPSEGA
08.10.Tomodachi Collection10,443DSNintendo

 

Sales data obtained from the Media-Create software rankings.

 



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  • DudeOnly

    Neptune more like Trinity Universe clone!!

  • Aoshi00

    So even otaku didn’t take the moe bait eh, I thought the whole console goddess thing was just too gimmicky… that Valkyrie up there looks awesome!

    • http://twitter.com/zabardo William Oroz

      Dont get me started on ACE R because it does have its own shares of problems, but they outdid themselves giving a small almost forgotten ps3 feature, which is custom BGM selection and that is just bloody genius such a small feature that can change the whole game, they also took all of the people still waiting for ZOE3 so its expected that it would sell well, i just would liked a bit more of freedom on that game, like.. multiplayer :/ .

  • http://www.themogblog.com/ Edward Walton

    Personally I have the same problem with Neptune that I do with Trinity Universe, it just does not feel right. Also the recycled enemies does not sit well with me either. To many games this gen with the same enemies. Its begging a bit redundant.

    I also don’t enjoy the battle animations much…. :/

    • godmars

      yeah, the attacks are just too stagnant, plain and long.

    • http://www.siliconera.com Melinda

      There’s quite a bit you could say is wrong with the game, although sometimes I’m actually convinced they did it deliberately.

      Just say the good and bad lists are quite, well, long.

  • http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

    Will we get more coverage of Neptune on this site?

    Anyway, wow, just 22K; I hope that doesnt mean it wouldnt come out here. Nevertheless, why is the PS3 version of Sengoku Basara 3 doing so well, wasnt it also released on the Wii, suroprised its not up there too.

    • http://www.siliconera.com Melinda

      I’m working on it – The live playtest finished on Thursday Australian time, and I’m finishing the first draft.I’m not entirely surprised about the sales since well… Actually, I’ll save that for the playtest.

      Oh, and we do have footage – about 40-50 hours of it, all of the online playtest. I sort of need some help sorting through it all and picking out the good stuff though, due to technical restraints at my end – Namely rewatching the footage as stored online is difficult when you live in a country where you have a quota.

    • Guest

      1.Wii owners care about 1st party games.
      2.90% of the Sengoku Basara fanbase are female.
      3.There are actually a lot of female PS3 owners in Japan (judging from personal experience from roaming around Japanese Playstation Home…(or they are males in disguise)
      4.Sengoku Basara fans remember the PS2 games so they are Sony fans as well.
      5.I like Pie.

      • Hraesvelgr

        I’d say “males in disguise” is pretty likely, considering it’s the internet.

        • raymk

          Ah don’t be like that my sister has a ps3 and she’s 25 so there may be more in japan as more of their females much like Korea’s may be gamers.

          • Aoshi00

            I dunno, loitering, mingling, and wasting time in virtual space (I mean dancing?), I would assume males in disguise just to be safe. When I watched the movie Gamers (the one w/ Gerard Butler and that Dexter guy), it totally reminded me of Home, the avatars just look creepy to me, unlike the cute Miis or 360 avatars.

  • http://www.nisamerica.com NickyD

    It’s a decent number for Neptune, really. The only costs going into it are design/writing/programming since the engine isn’t newly developed.

    Besides, #3 isn’t bad… all things considered… If you expected 100k+ sales, you definitely need a reality check, in my humble opinion.

    • http://www.siliconera.com Melinda

      It’s also a perfect example of deceptive advertising though – Really, REALLY deceptive advertising, and I understand that people caught onto that, and that upset quite a few people.(Namely, most of the cast don’t show up in any sort of combat capacity until the last fragment of the game. Don’t get me started on Gust and Ippon Ichi…)

      • http://www.nisamerica.com NickyD

        A fair point. Hopefully a few nifty and lengthy DLC missions of some sort are in the future. I honestly have no idea, though!

        • http://www.siliconera.com Melinda

          At the moment it’s Ippon Ichi and Gust are scheduled sometime September, and a post story dungeon has been released.

          Of course, I’ve only clocked in the main storyline and only just figured out how to manipulate those bars, and that’s after clocking about 50-60 hours hours…

          I actually liked the fact it proved to be wonderfully deceptive advertising, except well, the fact it also stymied gameplay, making about 1/3 the combat mechanics mostly unused for most part until well, the end of the game.

          • Ereek

            Late replay here, sorry.

            But if it’s anything like other titles by CP/IF, even though you only use them a bit in the main storyline, the post-game content will be the longest part and it will balance out, time-wise.

          • http://www.siliconera.com Melinda

            Well, the issue is they put in a very difficult to manage curveball, which I’m fairly confident will turn a lot of people off.

            It’s not the fact I don’t understand the mechanics – I know exactly how it works now, it’s just that trying to achieve the results desired has been proving… difficult and very slow, to say the least.

  • cmurph666

    Still buying Neptune Day 1.

  • http://vanilladice.deviantart.com/ Dice

    Neptune kinda represents what I hate in anime now. Too many…
    - girl panty scenarios
    - girls who are so light-headed and stupid their IQ mind as well be 5.
    - girls kickin ass in tight outfits, one teased for being absolutely flat, the other who for boobs that are gloriously large
    - a game sold based on the “moe” factor that perverts pry on

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3WYMREBHZWTQ6MVXY2N7IGFDOE Ibr Far

      this this a hundred times this

      i completely agree with you

    • http://www.carpefulgur.com SpaceDrake

      You’re basically preaching my gospel, brother. While I certainly do not object to proactive heroines, Neptune represents the *wrong* way to do it. It’s blatant fetishization, it’s unappealing, and it drags down the reputation of the entire genre by virtue of it’s mere existence.

      I don’t like coming down hard on a product (especially one that might see a release from another studio), but Neptune is like a case study in everything that’s wrong with the Japanese game industry right now.

      • http://vanilladice.deviantart.com/ Dice

        I think the sales are a testament of that at least. So, I don’t mean to be negative, but I’m kinda glad this title performed poorly – it demonstrates people have some better senses about these sort of things.

        • Ereek

          But it didn’t perform poorly, not really. For a small company like this, 20,000 copies is fine, even good. IF/CH titles rarely break 30,000 in the first week in Japan.

          • http://vanilladice.deviantart.com/ Dice

            True say, but I don’t think it’ll mean sequels or much a lot of “must” to bring it here… I hate comparing different companies, and genres and etc. But Ar Tonelico 3 sold 80k it’s first week, and Atelier Rorona did twice as Neptune.

            You’d call those sales “good not great” if anything.

          • JustaGenericUser

            Yeah, but keep in mind both Ar Tonelico and Atelier are established franchises, so it’s not a surprise they’d get more sales than a new IP.

          • http://vanilladice.deviantart.com/ Dice

            I think you guys are missing my point, and I had a feeling I’d be attacked for the established franchise remarks….

            What I’m saying is they are niche games, unlikely to make it big because they appeal to so few, and unlikely to make it big because so few sales don’t really look too good to spawn a sequel (let alone make it stateside… but hey, NISA loves these types of titles).

            Like it or not, NA does *not* do a good job selling these games because they are a bit too “kiddy” and (generally, judging by reviews and sales) not very good…

        • http://www.siliconera.com Melinda

          To be honest, I suspect from my time with the game that it was never intended to be a massively sold game with a huge quota to make their margins and costs.

          It’s bug enough for them I suspect, and that’s all they were expecting.

    • nyoron

      I unapologetically enjoy all of that.

      I just wish they could put it into a better game.

      • http://vanilladice.deviantart.com/ Dice

        I agree with this too. I think the moe-overkill would be more tolerable if the game was more enjoyable.

    • FireCouch

      And people wonder why some of these games are hard to localize.

      • Pichi

        Makes me wonder if there are still any publishers interested in releasing it now…

        • http://www.carpefulgur.com SpaceDrake

          Well, I can think of somebody who posts here who’d want to bring it over. :P

          • Pichi

            Totally slipped my mind! Nevermind then!

    • JustaGenericUser

      >- girls who are so light-headed and stupid their IQ mind as well be 5.
      >mind
      >”the other who for”

      Delicious irony.

      • http://vanilladice.deviantart.com/ Dice

        Thanks, Captain Perfect, didn’t realize I was being graded on syntax; I was out the door when I wrote that. xP

  • Guest

    Maybe if Neptune had the creativity and novelty of SEGAGAGA it woulda done better since it’s more or less just a repackaged Trinity Universe

  • Ereek

    I’m surprised so many people were expecting it to be drastically different. Compile Heart and Idea Factory aren’t exactly known for change. They’re still using the same basic combo system they used about 10 years ago, just modified, enhanced, and, arguably, made better.

    I think they’re slowly changing for the better.

  • shion16

    USA and Japan have their kind of brainless games
    USA have muscles
    Japan have Moe

    • raymk

      Yeah that’s a good way to put it, that’s why the other side always looks down on the other for it.

    • http://vanilladice.deviantart.com/ Dice

      Haha, I always liked this, it’s funny how otherwise, both sides like coming down on each other for exact reasons they both have faults in (the sort of gaming type-casting you just described!)

    • JustaGenericUser

      At least Japan has more variations of moe. Moe RPG, Moe Platformers, Moe Visual Novels, Moe Puzzles… Hell, Japan does “muscles” sometimes, too. USA seems stuck on Muscle Shooters for some reason. It’d be nice if America tried cute once in a while; cute but with western humor instead of japanese humor. What happened to the Spyros and all the other western platformers? It’s sad.

      • shion16

        when japan does muscles games is for weird games (they call them baka games, like cho aniki or muscle march,or mayor armstrong in Fullmetal Alchemist)
        About america trying cute characters…..its just my opinion but with the nintendo characters in the market, the success for that kind of ideas is more difficult than finish ninja gaiden with one life.
        Just take a look of all the characters stuck in the SNES

        • JustaGenericUser

          By Japan “Muscles” I mean games like Demon’s Souls, Monster Hunter, Nier or other grimdarkish game where you play as a big guy/not-prettyboy.

  • http://thrust-the-sky.deviantart.com/ WildArms

    woh, i hope tales of studios is doing better now, they did well with tales of phantasia X :D

  • http://www.siliconera.com Jenni

    I still can’t understand why Nintendo isn’t announcing Tomodachi Connection for other regions. Look how well it keeps doing in Japan!

    • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

      Sakamoto mentioned it at GDC and said he’d like to bring it over, but they aren’t sure it’ll do well outside of Japan.

      • http://www.siliconera.com Jenni

        I remember. You’d think with its success in Japan, and the success of EA’s Sims series here, that it’d be worth the risk.

        I bet it’d do better than Rhythm Heaven.

    • Joanna

      If they had to choose one more game to bring over to North America, I would rather have it be ASH, or Soma Bringer. While Tomodachi looks interesting, I can’t help but feel after a few hours it will get dull like Animal Crossing. Yeah, I know it won’t happen, but how I really wish they would release ASH here. I loved the SRPG with RPG battles in Devil Survivor, so I would love to play another game with similar mechanics.

  • JustaGenericUser

    If/when this game gets localized I’ll still get it even if the sales in Japan aren’t the greatest. I just wish it was made by Atlus, Gust, or NIS. Basically, not Compile Heart/Idea Factory. Sure their combo systems are neat, but they also drag battles out too long, especially since you have to wait a turn to gain more AP or else you’ll just do a single attack, meanwhile enemies don’t have to wait because they gain full AP every turn. The three companies I listed probably would have done the same battle systems but better.

    At least the art is delicious.

    • http://www.siliconera.com Melinda

      You sure you’re talking about the same game here? I understand Trinity Universe had a fixed AP regen system (And so did Cross edge), which is what you probably were referring to.

      Neptune you receive all your AP back when your turn comes around. The only benefit I’ve seen of not using all your AP that turn is the fact by doing so, you also defend for any incoming attacks.

      The combat does drag on, particularly as you progress through the game. The reason for this one’s fairly simple though – Enemies at the end of the game can have upwards of several hundred thousand HP.

      • JustaGenericUser

        You get all your AP back in a turn? That’s very good to hear. That’s one of the things that annoyed me about Cross-Edge (and Trinity Universe when I play it). At least battles will be a bit more fair now.

        They still have random enemies with way too much HP, though? Hmm, hope I’ll be strong enough where that isn’t much of an issue. I’d hate to have to grind again.

  • john411

    No one should be surprised at Neptune. At all.

    -Multiple bugs on release
    -Ideaf developed, which means it was doomed from the start with boring gameplay, repetitiveness, and last gen graphics

    It’s not any better or worse than Compile Heart’s other offerings (Trinity Universe, Agarest, Cross Edge), but what makes it sting more is that the concept had *so* much more potential. Put in the hands of a competent team (Gust, Bandai, Atlus, Sega) and this actually could have been a big hit, and that is why so many people are disappointed at its sales.

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