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Armored Core V Sold Through 90% Of Its First Shipment Upon Release

By Ishaan . February 2, 2012 . 10:46pm

Armored Core V Sold Through 90% Of Its First Shipment Upon Release

As reported earlier in the week, Armored Core V was quite the success story in Japan for From Software. The game sold close to 164,000 copies on the PlayStation 3 in its first week on store shelves.

 

That’s about 5 times the amount Armored Core IV on PlayStation 3 sold in its own opening week in 2006, and over twice the amount Armored Core: For Answer sold across PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in it first week in 2008. 

 

On Xbox 360, Armored Core V sold another 24,700 copies in its first week. 

 

Media-Create weigh in as usual with their weekly supplementary information, and say that Armored Core V sold through 90% of its first shipment across both platforms. That is undoubtedly a resounding success.


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  • kupomogli

    So the only next gen Armored Core that runs at a constant sub 30fps sells the most. I again blame Namco.

    • Exand

      The fps “problem” is exaggerated. It’s noticeable in some parts but it’s no where near as bad as people make it out to be. The game really is fun to play. Well, if the servers would stay up, but hopefully From sorts that out for the Western release.

      • kupomogli

        30fps and 60fps are a noticeable difference.  30fps you can see judder, while 60ps is completely seamless. 

        Check out this video.  Youtube runs a max of 30fps, or I think 29.97, so no framerate would have been lost in the transition.  Watch the first few seconds when the AC aims its camera downward.  Look at the red building on the right.  You can see it judder as it goes towards the top of the screen.  The red building and then the white building behind it are easier to see than anything else because they stand out, but if you look close enough you’ll see it even on the background of the mountain.

        youtube.com/watch?v=isnBz1uF3es

        Now take a look at Armored Core 4…. in 30fps.  Again, Youtube runs at 30fps, so if you own Armored Core 4 the difference of playing a high speed game at 30fps will be very noticeable as soon as you see this video.  Just look at when passing the buildings, especially when the Next is ontop of the Spirit of Motherwill and then pans over the buildings in the desert, it’ll become very apparent.  

        youtube.com/watch?v=xNbAY9_fblo

        For a lot of games high framerate really doesn’t matter.  Uncharted, Gears of War, Saints Row the Third, etc, you’re not constantly changing the whole view of the screen from one direction to another.  Drake going from one area to another you’re not going to notice much judder.

        Not only that, but reducing it from 60fps to 30fps also cuts the reaction time in half.  Let’s test the reaction time of your brand new mobile suit?  Sorry, but it’s now worse.

        It doesn’t matter much, but when you’re used to playing a series that has higher framerate, then it drops much lower. 

        With all the flaws that Dark Souls had and the fact that the game dropped in the single digit framerate, it just pisses me off that this would also happen to Armored Core.  Two games announced “and” released in less than a year.  Thanks a lot Namco Bandai.

        • http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

          You really didn’t just say that Dark Souls has major frame rate issues too, did you? That’s more minuet than exaggerated, because that rarely occurs during boss battles that launch a flurry of extra textures at you. Other than that (and Blightown of course), the game runs smooth entirely.

          I’d agree that Namco might have took FromSoft for granted and having them develop Dark Souls WHILE they’re developing AC5 WHILE they’re developing the Gundam UC game (On Bandai’s end, but that’s irrelevant).

          • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

            Most of Dark Souls‘ frame-rate issues lie in Blighttown, where there are multiple objects stacked vertically. And since the latest patch had already taken care of that, I don’t think there are any major frame issues left in the game at this point.

          • http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

             And that’s the real issue: textures. It’s the same issue in AC5. This is one video I found where the fps is higher than expected. Most likely to due to being uninfluenced by many textures within a single area.

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bJPA_DjNiw&feature=related

          • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

            @Garyuu:disqus

            Personally, I don’t understand why some people make a big deal out of frame-rates, or fixate on the apparently “absolute” 60. If a game requires a rate higher than 30, but can’t run well at 60, then why not 40 or 50? For that matter, do those really matter as long as the game runs smoothly and consistently enough to not disrupt the flow? (Even then, the frame-rate is never consistent throughout a session depending on how “busy” it is to render the current screen, be it video or games.)

          • http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

            @DrakeAmatras 

            I don’t care about fps’, really, not by differentiation. 30fps games aren’t automatically bad ones, they’re just complicated to deal with. 60fps games like Vanquish are a good sign, yes, but we don’t have game engines that make these kinds of games the norm yet. But hey, so long as I’m able to have fun, that’s more than enough.

          • Neckbear

            @Garyuu:disqus : Uh, bro, Vanquish runs at 30FPS, not 60. In fact, Vanquish even dips into the 20FPS territory at times.

          • kupomogli

            Blighttown has constant frame drops, but the game doesn’t “run smooth entirely.”  It drops in frames at Firelink Shrine(despite nothing really happening aside from Skeletons,) and at one point in Anor Londo when nothing was going on dropped to the single digits.  I was climbing the ladder you kick down for the shortcut at probably 2fps.  It looked like a slideshow.  It was weird though, as again, nothing was going on.

            I’ve already beaten the game and haven’t went to it since, but there’s the fact that defense is worthless.  No armor or the heaviest armor doesn’t make a difference.  Attacks stuck in queue where your next button press would enable the attack, and this was rare, but your attack doesn’t come out so you go to block the enemy attack 10 seconds later since your attack didn’t go through and then your attack comes out instead.  The response rate of your button presses in comparison to the game Dark Souls was based from.  The game froze “all the time.”  It wasn’t all the time but more in the time that I’ve played it than any other game I own.

            Those are clearly the workings of a great game.

            Take Demon’s Souls though.  It’s practically exactly the same so comparison wise it’s the perfect game.  You will also notice frame drops in Demon’s Souls, but in comparison to that of Dark Souls, definitely not.  One place you’ll notice frame drops is the area right after you defeat Phalanx.  The area has a bunch of breakables littered around close together and you can see them all, so you can actually see the framerate drop to about 12-15 or so.  Sort of weird because you don’t see these frame drops that bad anywhere else.  Nothing else is very noticeable if noticeable at all.

            Demon’s Souls response rate is great.  I’m one who often swaps between two handed and single handed on both games.  In Demon’s Souls, if you swap by hitting triangle or even swap weapons by hitting right, and then you decide to switch back, you can hit the button during the animation and it’ll go through.  Dark Souls on the other hand, most of the time hitting the button to swap during animation may or may not work, and like mentioned previously, it may get an action stuck in queue that screws you later. 

            Defense.  On Demon’s Souls you take off all your armor it’s noticeable.  Unless one of the patches fixed it in Dark Souls, equipping the Havel equipment on Dark Souls, and taking damage and then unequipping everything and taking the same hit only takes slightly more damage.  It’s barely noticeable visually so the only way you can really see the difference is by the status menu in your inventory.

            So when Namco Bandai asked for From Software to create Dark Souls for them and that they’d release Armored Core 5, yet gave them a deadline of less than a year for all of that.  Yes, it’s Namco Bandai’s fault when the games aren’t as good as they should have been because of a strict deadline.  If that’s not easy enough, Dark Souls had a day one patch which fixed other major problems, like characters not even appearing in game.

          • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

            Not all of Dark Souls‘ problems you mentioned can be attributed to frame-rates. Attack delays have more to do with the coding (and it’s been patched as well). I also don’t understand what you’re trying to say by “defense is worthlesss”; if defense doesn’t matter, my success rate throughout the game would have stayed mostly the same, but that was not the case at all.

            And you need some source for the claims that Bandai Namco influenced the production of the games in any way. The ones who published both Dark Souls and Armored Core V in Japan are none other than From Software themselves; BN only takes care of the Western distribution. I know Bandai Namco tends to pull off questionable work ethics from time to time, but come on, be a little more logical.

        • http://twitter.com/Cudgeon Raji

          Stop blaming Namco Bandai.
          The Problem is that this Armored Core looks better than the last one but is on the same Hardware. How can you not “get it” that better graphics either come with a drop in framerate or better hardware? I mean, AC IV looked like a PS2 game, of course it runs smooth on a PS3. AC V at least looks good.

          And all the flaws of Dark Souls? Just leave.

          • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

            There’s also the fact that battlefields are more intricate, with lots of buildings and damage details, which demand more system resources. If the game has to run at 60 on top of that, I don’t think the PS3 can keep it up for long, powerful as it may be.

          • Gatchaman1

             Unicorn runs at 60fps

          • http://www.genkaibreak.com Code

            I don’t get this argument about AC4 running smooth; it never ran smooth for me unless you were fighting one AC in an empty desert o~o’ Which I mean sure most of the game involved that, but that’s a pretty low bar. DrakosAmatras nails it below, the game’s environments are a world more detailed, which is what is dropping the FPS. Not that I’m crazy about the FPS dropping in ACV, but the game is at least playable during low FPS moments. 

            But yeah to blame this on Namco is ridiculous, they are just the publisher. Yes, they could have control over deadlines/schedule for the game, but it doesn’t strike me as that is the reason for low FPS. Rather the direction From Software took with ACV and Dark Soul’s with more focus on environments, and less focus on optimizing is likely is the biggest issue. As far as I’m concerned earlier games they have made, have suffered framerate issues too so, it’s not foreign to From Software’s work.

        • Gatchaman1

          Better yet just watch a gameplay video of Gundam Unicorn on Youtube then watch it on the official site. 30 fps vs 60fps. Same developer as AC V too

        • Exand

          You lost me at “playing a series that has a higher framerate”. AC4 / Answer had frame rate problems that were noticeable just like in ACV. And you obviously have not played the release copy of ACV and are simply criticizing it by watching video’s online. Why not first play the actual release game and then judge for yourself? 

          I’m not saying there aren’t some frame rate issues in ACV btw, but I’ll take some minor frame jitters to the currently available mecha games on current gen consoles. I also like the style of gameplay they went with ACV over AC4 as well.

          And blaming the publisher instead of the developer? What? BTW, from Software published ACV in Japan, not Bamco… Bamco is doing the NA / EU release only.

        • http://www.facebook.com/sebastian.n.insua Sebastiàn Gómez Insúa

          Agree, but personally, I don`t care much for the framerate of dark souls, It`s like S.O.T.Colossus for me, of course It would be great if dark souls didn`t had that flaws, but for me, frame rate only matters in fighting games and action games.

          bayonetta on ps3 anyone?

    • SolidusSnake

       Seems a little premature to say that AC 5 is DOOOOOMED! because it doesn’t run at 60 fps. Have you played the full game yet? This reminds me of when EA accounced that BF3 for consoles would be locked in at 30 FPS, and everyone on the internet pointed out how that game was DOOOOOOOOMED! The game came out, it ran smooth as butter, and no one mentioned frame rates ever again for that title. Let’s spend some time with the actual game before we start blaming people.

  • Gatchaman1

    Why now

  • badmoogle

    Well they can count one more (European) preorder.

    Personally i didn’t mind the low framerates in the demo.This is FS’s most ambitious AC to date so for that alone i’m willing to forgive them.
    Hope the Western mecha community embraces this game.

    • ddh819

      what other mecha game is there?

  • http://twitter.com/seph_luis_br Luis Camargo

    I’m really interested in this game. Hopefully this game will be another hit for From Software and they will keep developing great games (especially more games in the Souls series. Yeah, I need more).

  • PrinceHeir

    congrats From Software!!!!!!!

    definitely buying this, sucks about the frame rate though :(

    hopefully next gen will fix this on consoles. heck im perfectly fine with 720p(native) and we can have as good as 60fps in most games :P

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