A Major Blow to Sony in Japan

[Blight]

Dragon Quest 9 will be coming to the Nintendo DS, and ONLY to the Nintendo DS. That is a big F'ing Deal. Dragon Quest is like the Madden of Japan, maybe even more potent. It blows my mind. It also excites the hell out of me. An RPG with that kind of pedigree is going to be a DS exclusive? Awesome, especially now that I have picked up a new and shiny Onyx DSlite, which totally kicks the ass of my original DS. With all the quality titles coming down the pipe, and my limited time to play games any more, the DS has easily become my number one gaming platform. Maybe the same is true across the pond, and that's why their biggest franchise is being risked to a portable system.

Edit: Oh, I guess I should say why that is a blow to Sony, since it is the title for this thread. Well, that is a simple matter. Is it on PS3? Nope. Is it on PSP? Nope. Is Square Enix shifting it's focus to a new company? Not entirely. I think they are projecting that Sony's brand strength in other parts of the world is warrant enough to keep Final Fantasy, which is bigger than Dragon Quest at least here in the States, on their winner for that games more important sectors. But Japan, that might just become DS territory, if not all together Nintendo territory

[Cidien]

I never understood why it's so big in japan. I've always found it to be boring and stupid. 8 was ok but nothing overly special. Any FF game just beats the crap out of it in all departments except maybe "stupid" humor, which FF obviously has very little of.

BTW the PSP is getting a lot of final fantasy love fairly soon so sony isn't all that screwed in the rpg department. Not to mention 13 will be out in december + Japan loves sony for seemingly no reason and hates M$ for the same reason. I'm actually kinda surprised the 360 hasn't sold better over there. When it launched, sure. But now that some people have the system and can tell people how awesome it is i'd think sales would pick up. I'd definitely want a 360 over a ps3. FF is the only game guaranteeing i'll buy a ps3. MGS and devil may cry are just kinda bonuses for me.

[Schultz]

I never understood why it's so big in japan. I've always found it to be boring and stupid. 8 was ok but nothing overly special. Any FF game just beats the crap out of it in all departments except maybe "stupid" humor, which FF obviously has very little of.

BTW the PSP is getting a lot of final fantasy love fairly soon so sony isn't all that screwed in the rpg department. Not to mention 13 will be out in december + Japan loves sony for seemingly no reason and hates M$ for the same reason. I'm actually kinda surprised the 360 hasn't sold better over there. When it launched, sure. But now that some people have the system and can tell people how awesome it is i'd think sales would pick up. I'd definitely want a 360 over a ps3. FF is the only game guaranteeing i'll buy a ps3. MGS and devil may cry are just kinda bonuses for me.

Well whats really funny and Andromida corrected me on this.. Square Enix is doing a weird thing. They are not soly developing for one console they will be making games for Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. But the games themselves won't be cross console. Like the main FF series is staying on Playstation. the FF:CC will be on nintendo's consoles and not off the top of my head knowing the name i belive they have a game in the works for the 360 platform. So its kinda weird to see there marketing stratagy.

[Batz Kage]

I never understood why it's so big in japan. I've always found it to be boring and stupid. 8 was ok but nothing overly special. Any FF game just beats the crap out of it in all departments except maybe "stupid" humor, which FF obviously has very little of.

My thoughts exactly!

[Cyrus]

to be honest besides maybe 3 or 4 games i don't really want to play any other games on the ps3. it seems every game im interested in ends up looking like a real dissapointment. ff13 and mgs4 both look good but other then that im kinda bleh. Not to mention mgs4 will prolly hit 360 anyways.

right now the DS looks more appealing then the ps3 in fact the ps3 is definately at the bottom of my consol list. That and i can get a Wii and 360 for the price of a ps3.

i'm not saying the ps3 is a bad consol at all it's just as far as rpg's go which is what i mainly play i think it's missing out big time this time around.

[Elcoholic]

There?s hardly anything announced for it yes, but I think it will have the most games in the end. Especially rpg?s. Noone is going to make an jrpg for the 360 unless MS waves bundles of cash in their face. I love the 360 but it?s a very one sided console with its overload of shooters. Sure there are other genre?s coming for it but for each original game they have 2 shooters. Ps3 will (I hope) have everything the ps2 had plus the shooters which it has the power to run now (as proven with Resistance which seems great). And the online which finally seems to work like it should. I like what they?re doing with their strategy. They?re really trying to make an awesome console here, not just a money cow. You can swap the HD for any brand, you can hook up any Bluetooth headset, keyboard, mouse and the linux kit has many possibilities. This round it seems MS is taking sony?s ps2 strategy to hart with asking cash for everything they can. I completely understand this but I?m very surprised about how consumer friendly sony is making its console. That?s something I don?t hear enough and tends to be overlooked.

As far as DQ9 goes, I don?t see how a handheld game can keep people from getting a ps3. There most likely will be a DQ on the ps3 and that will take a long time to make. The DS game should be finished in no time aka quick cash in. I doubt it will expand on DQ8.

[Blight]

As far as DQ9 goes, I don?t see how a handheld game can keep people from getting a ps3. There most likely will be a DQ on the ps3 and that will take a long time to make. The DS game should be finished in no time aka quick cash in. I doubt it will expand on DQ8.

I don't think you understand something. This isn't a remake or port or something. This is number 9 in a series of games that has immense popularity. Just because they move it a portable platform, doesn't mean it will be half-assed effort.

And while it won't keep people from getting a PS3, what it does do is not FORCE them to get a PS3 to play their favorite game series but instead get a DS, which is why this move has a strange power in it.

And the Japanese market is in a shift right now. The DS is projected to sell more units there than any home console by a significant margin. That is probably why SE has decided to make this move. Hand held gaming is what will be biggest there, and it isn't like that everywhere else. Since DQ's market strength solely rests in Japan, why not go with the platform that will preform the best there? I think you have trouble seeing the rhyme and reason for this because hand held gaming isn't as essential everywhere else, but in Japan it is becoming top dog.

As for there will most likely be a DQ game on PS3, yes probably but it won't be one from the numbered series. It'll be some lame spin-off ala Crystal Chronicles.

Schultz also points out something I touched on, and that is that SE is planting flags in all camps. It honestly seems more like DQ will become wholly a Nintendo thing with all the recent content they have gotten for that franchise, and this recent announcement of the numbered series being on the DS. The numbered franchise for FF leaving the PS brand will not likely happen any time soon. Microsoft does seem like an after thought however. SE is a Japanese company, and is probably a bit ticked that they are supporting a group that formed from many former employees or collaborators from SE. But knows there market will be just as important as any other, so I don't know what kinda of games they will be making for M$, but I don't think they will be games that fit in the traditional mold that have made for themselves.

[Elcoholic]

Well, I?m not into what the Japanese like as much but are handhelds really replacing consoles over there? Are people playing those things in their home?s for a few hours instead of ps2/gamecube etc.? If so then disregard what I say below.

I like to think that devs are creative people who want to make better, prettier games. That?s only possible on the ps3 (since 360 is not a popular rpg console). The Ds version must be a step down from DQ8 on the ps2 and hence will probably not be better. It?ll be less pretty and smaller. Doesn?t sound like a worthy successor to me. That?s all. The real next dragon quest will be the ps3 version I think (and hope).

I know, you think I?m a shallow graphics whore but so should the devs be. They should strife to expand and improve on their past games, not go a step back. And I think they feel the same but need money or something I can?t explain it otherwise.

[Schultz]

Actually Blight is right.. Even in america the DS is outselling Xbox 360's, Ps2's and any console out there.. here is a image of the statistics for November. even the older GBA is outselling the Xbox 360.

[Blight]

Actually Blight is right.. Even in america the DS is outselling Xbox 360's, Ps2's and any console out there.. here is a image of the statistics for November. even the older GBA is outselling the Xbox 360.

You aren't joking. Do you know how many OTHER Wal-Marts I called today looking for ANY kind of Nintendo DS? Four days ago, we had about 30 DSlites. Now we have none. And the feather in the big N's cap is that they could have sold more if ALL our stores weren't dry. I'm glad I picked up the Black DSlite while I had the chance or it would be forever before I would be able to get one.

[Cidien]

Ya gotta consider the price in there though. $150 or less is a lot easier to drop than $400. Look at the Wii. If that was priced at $500 like the ps3 I guarantee you it wouldn't sell half as well.

[Cidien]

BTW I wouldn't count out the 360 in the rpg department. They are getting several decent looking rpg's, not the least of which will eventually be the next knights of the old republic. The Toriyama game looks pretty decent too. Blue something, always forget the name.

[Andromeda18_]

Okay, first I'm going to quote myself.

Well, I don't know exactly what the other companies' approach is going to be, but Square isn't going to launch the same game for all the systems. So far 2 games for the 360, 2 for the Wii and 3 for the PS3 have been announced and they're all different and exclusive to their own system (well, except for FFXI). Final Fantasy XI and Project Sylpheed for the Xbox 360, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers and Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors for the Wii, and Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and an untitled MMORPG for the PS3 (the MMORPG will be available for Windows Vista as well).

As you can see Square had already announced a DQ for the Wii so I was a bit surprised to hear they're going to launch another one, and DQ9 at that, for the DS. Maybe the PS3 will get a DQ in the future but definitely not in the near future, that's for sure. Maybe it is a blow for Sony but it's one they've known about for some time now. Plus, they keep the FF franchise which is no small matter. If we assume FF and DQ are equally famous in Japan and the US, the same definitely can't be said about Europe, FF wins hands down. Actually, I just read this:

It is Square Enix's most successful franchise after Final Fantasy. Although Dragon Quest is more popular than Final Fantasy inside Japan.

Final Fantasy is Square Enix's most successful franchise, and the third biggest selling video game franchise of all time, having sold over 63 million units worldwide as of Spring 2006.

As of 2006, the Dragon Quest series has sold over 40 million units worldwide, as stated by Square Enix in the E3 conference.

Like I said, FF is no small thing.

As far as the 360 goes, there are some very good looking (that's as much as one can say for now) JRPG's coming out for the console. Lost Odyssey and Eternal Sonata are two good examples.

[Zagatto]

This is kind of interesting to me... it's not a big market watch but it is something that I can verify. The people in my office are all hard core gamers. I took a poll to see what people have and currently there are 2 360s (with no plans to buy more), 2 Wiis (with four people planning to buy one), 1 PS3 (with only one person planning on buying one) and 14 DS lites (with two more people planning to buy after Christmas).

In my office, the DS lite outnumbers the three new consoles almost three to one. We regularly have Mario Kart DS races and Bomberman DS throwdowns during breaks. It's looking like Tony Hawk is going to be a regular now that I've discovered that it totally rocks (I was expecting it to play horribly but it plays very well).

Is it fair to count a handhelds sales in numbers against the three consoles?
Does it really matter as long as people have games to play that they enjoy?

[evilomar]

I'm still going to call it Dragon Warrior 9, my old school heart won't give up ! I've played the first four DWs on my nintendo in my younger days and thanks to Dragon Warrior 1 I got into RPGs. Now, more copies of Dragon Quest 7 were sold than FF 7, 8 and 9 combined in Japan; just to show how big the series is in the land of the rising sun. Zag, I thought my office was the only one with Mario Kart and Tetris Tournaments at lunch! The DS is actually my favorite system at this moment, I haven't turned on my PS2 in a year an a half...(since DQ8 actually).