Red Steel 2 Blunted After Poor UK Chart Debut

Do we have any real numbers? It's a shame, but hopefully things will pick up in the coming weeks. I think they might have a hard time due to the proximity to big releases like Monster Hunter 3 and upcoming Nintendo titles; not to mention having to overcome the reputation of the first in the series - maybe calling it Red Steel 2 was a mistake?

As was expected. I think your suspicions are right on Sean - especially that it was a mistake calling it Red Steel 2.

Gamers have already abandoned the Wii. This is just more proof.

Until wii 2 comes out the wii 3rd party will suffer.
more online please.

it seems to be doing just fine in the U.S. In fact it's doing remarkbly well. Bestbuy had it sold out, and numerous Gamestops said that it's selling amazing. it's in amazon's top 40 wii games consistently. Great games consistently do sell great on the Wii... and this one will too.. Monster Hunter will be a huge hit as it already was in Japan. Just by looking at Amazon's top 100 wii games you can see great games. If they released the games that sell well on other platforms on the Wii they will sell great as well. Modern Warfare Reflex is a prime example. ((Note to self: If I ever make a game, I'll sell it on the Wii with its larger install base. And I'll make it mature and good, not kiddie.))

Damn! That game is the best! I had never heard of Red Steel before RS2 (I didn't get a launch Wii, I got mine in Sept, '08) but yeah, I'm pretty sure people are holding out for SMG2, Other M & the other awesome games coming out for Wii this year. Just wish that they would buy this game more, it deserves the money!

EDIT: mnementh's US sell rates news is awesome though

Such a shame....
Why cant more gamers see the good side of wii? VC, good 3party games, new way of gameplay......... Maybe Wii will become like the NES: Many awesome games where uknown/forgotten for that system as well.

I am neither interested in Red Steel 2 nor in Pokemon. But I am interested in other games on the Wii. So whats the problem?

Humbug.

btw, I don't see why 34th is bad. It's like the 10th best selling Wii game there. What spot did Settlers 7 take? 360 games will sell more when they debut... they're stronger games for mass appeal with online support... but good Wii games will sell for years. 34 is pretty good. As long it continues to sell, this is very good. If it was on TV like Alien vs Predator always is... it would have sold even more.

I'm sorry, but I haven't seen a single advert for this game. Colour me unsurprised.

So if I don't buy a game within the first week of it's release, I'm somehow letting the developer down? o.0

I bought Red Steel on day 1 for full price (and got burned). I'm going to buy the sequel, but with a short single player mode and no multiplayer, I'm waiting till it goes down in price. Reading this, I'm guessing that's gonna be sooner than I thought.

@Sean: Considering it has next to no link to the original, a new IP might have been a better idea.

@diego_pmc: True with PS360, but as we are told so often, the Wii demographic is completely different. If you want to reach them, a prime-time TV advert would have increased interest in this greatly.

edit: And I mean a proper advert, not Ant & Dec stroking each other whilst waggling a mote.

Demographics, demographics, demographics. Fact: Nintendo focuses more on the "all-ages crowd" than the "serious gaming" crowd. All the kids want Pokemon and aren't old enough to buy a game with a racey "T" rating. This game will still do well, but it won't be one of those "must buy" games because it isn't catering to the largest portion of Wii owners. Sad but true.

In my opinion it´s really a piracy problem especially since the game was out a week before the official release date. The "casual" gamers don´t really about pirating a game but the so known "hardcore" gamers (the potential buyers for this game) are just more open btw. interested to this hacking stuff and of course pirate the games then
(not everyone ).
However i´m pretty sure over a longer period it will sell especially if the price goes down.

You can blame no adverts, but be aware that most Nintendo games have next to none (like the new pokemon games) and they are in top place.

I've seen more prerolls, print and web ads than most Nintendo games save resort, nsmbwii and rythem whatever.

I'm not gonna buy Red Steel 2, too. If Wii was my only next-gen console I would maybe consider it though.

Wow. 3 negative comments in a row (5,6 & 7).

I'm so getting this game.

It will come with the magazine I've ordered a subscription for, and I'm quite looking forward to it, although if it wasn't for Infinite Space, Monster Hunter, WarioWare D.I.Y and No More Heroes 2, I would have planned on buying it myself.

Obviously I haven't played it yet, but it looks to be a vast improvement over the first one (and not by virtue of it using Motionplus)

So in a week where Red Steel 2 was released at the end of the week and thus only having 2 days of sales possible, this is bad?

Let's wait for next week and start whining then.

Try marketing it.

This game is exactly what the Wii needs more of. It uses the wiimote as it should be used and more than anything, this game is loads of fun to play. I meant to play for about 30 minutes last night and then get some sleep, well 3 hours later I was still playing and didnt go to sleep until 3am. I can understand if people have more than one console and want to play their 'hardcore'(Im starting to hate that label more and more) games on their 360 or PS3 but this should have been one of the ones you get for Wii. Honestly, if thats the case why even have a Wii along with another console???

This game rocks and was a day 1 buy for me. I really hope anyone out there that wants good Wii titles in the future will spend the money and support this game. Play the hell out of it and trade it back in for Monster Hunter 3 in a month, just get it!

@Stryker: Agreed, figures based upon UK pre-orders alone make hand-wringing premature.

I'd also like to know chart numbers PAL-wide rather than just for the UK - could be France, Germany and Australasia more than make up for relative British indifference, though as noted this is multiplatform and therefore Wii-only charts may prove more interesting reading since Red Steel 2 isn't necessarily competing with releases on other platforms.

Whilst this is a "gamer's game," it certainly pays to pitch it at fans of action films who may be Wii owners, but not big gamers - motion-based controls can bring in a wider audience than ones focused on button/stick twiddling so ignoring the "non-gamers" may be a mistake.

Call me a sadist or whatever but there is no way I am going to buy non-blockbuster games on Wii in the first month. Its fairly predicable what games will not do so well and those games rapidly fall into the bargain bin. A lot of them are great games.

I got Animal Crossing a few months ago for $29 and now its $20. Including Wii Speak. The game launched for $109AU! Why the hell would I buy it during the first week? Same for some of the other smaller games like de Blob, Zack & Wiki, The Conduit, Punchout and most probably Red Steel 2. There is no way I am going to pay $79 for it when by the time the next drought comes around its in the bargain bin for $20 waiting for me.

So don't expect me to be surprised when a non-Zelda game isn't lapped up by fans in the first week. Only Zelda still costs full RRP years after launch. Although having said that, by the time it IS in the bargain bin I'll probably be over it. Its a vicious cycle.....

It's just the same old crap from the Europe game market, let me guess the top three games on the chart were Just Dance, Fifa 06 and Professor Layton and Mario and Sonic At The Summer games was probaly in the top 5. You can blame it on advertising all you want but the hardcore gamer that this game is directed at know when games are coming out and I'm sorry to say it but there just arn't that many hardcore gamers in Europe. This happens all the time there look at Punch Out huge bomb in Europe just over a million copies sold over 800 thousand them in North America. Same thing with Modern Warfare Reflex and World At War over a million more copies sold for WAW in NA and MWR 700 thousand copies in NA only 260 thousand for Europe. Now take any casual game for any system not just the Wii and it always sells more in Europe Little Big Planet, Mario And Sonic, Raving Rabbids. Don't believe me try this one Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games sold 12.3 million copies betwwen the DS & Wii 6.84 million just in Europe that more then Japan & North America put together but take a non casual game even from Nintendo like Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story which got great review sold really well almost 2.5 million copies just 150 thousand in Europe. Its always going to be this way and Monster Hunter 3 will be the next game it will happen to it will sell pretty well in NA and Europe will buying Mario and Sonic At The Special Olympics. Or the same damn copy of Pro Evolution Soccer with a different number on it I still can't figure out how Konami tricks you every year into to buying the same game over and over again.

I agree it's too soon to jump into conclusions especially without numbers and as someone said, the game was released on Friday....

I'm sure the game will do pretty well, but it has to compete with some very good games in a time where most people don't have much money to spend on games... I considered getting it but I couldn't get both Infinite Space and this, so I got just Infinite Space. I just enjoy Science Fiction Better. And with Sin and Punishment just around the corner, then Wario Ware DIY, then SMG2, then Metroid other M.... well... chances are I won't be getting this one anytime soon...

I don't understand! Everywhere I went, it was No 1! It managed to outsell Just Dance and NSMBW.

We'll have to see how it does in America. I don't know about the UK, but it's been receiving a fairly big advertising push on TV over here. If it doesn't sell well here, then that spells trouble.

@skywake

I just hope you don't complain if/when devs completely quit making "hardcore games" for the Wii (though I can totally sympathize given how ridiculously expensive games are in Australia).

This is a definite purchase when I get back to the States though.

I have a feeling many were cautious buying/pre-ordering this game before seeing the reviews because of how the first one did. After a week or so, when people have read the positive reviews and realized this is not another Red Steel 1, I think the sales will increase.

I thought this would happen. Despite the fact that hardcore games on the Wii are in fact brilliant and critics praises those game people just don't want to buy them. I am one of those people. I find this game to be a lot better than its original, but I rather rent the game, because I don't feel like coughing up $50 dollars for the game.

And so the world finally realised that the reason people own Nintendo hardware is to play Nintendo software.

It came out on the 26th...it's had a few days to sell. What's the big deal? Until we have a full month's worth of sales (or lack therof) I don't think it's a big deal.

the game has no replay value. just a good rental.

you'd think nintendo would want to get some marketing push behind it since it is one of the few motionplus titles out there. And it also feels a void in 1st party software.
I do agree that late month releases tend to chart poorly on monthly sellers. Ubi could have released early the next month so it would look better.

So, in essence, based on all of the comments here, it's a huge sh*tstorm of possible half-facts that perpetuate the notion that a 3rd party, non-casual (I hate the term "hardcore" as well) game just can't sell on the Wii. Personally, I think the biggest contributors to this is that the sales figures are based on only two days worth of possible sales and that the non-casual crowd -- the very people who this game is marketed towards -- were burned on the first Red Steel and wanted to wait until after the reviews to make up their mind. Since this game has NOTHING to do with the first game, Ubisoft only shot themselves in the foot by attaching its name to the previous sub-par -- although financially successful -- first game.

anyway, Red Steel 2 is a great game that will have nice sales (definitely over a mlilion).... it is surprising though that they didn't make an event in the Nintendo store about the game. Hopefully they will for Monster Hunter (pretty sure they will).

Advertisement will get stronger in time I believe as will sales. Still there was enough pre-release hype on this game. People say the first Red Steel had a bad reputation but that doesn't stop other sequels to "bad" games from selling. I found Red Steel to be "rubbish" but I bought Red Steel 2 day one solely for the motion plus factor (just like I got Shaun White due to the balance board, another quality Ubi game).

If your going for a name game as to something not selling that's a real poor excuse. Why is it that Crystal Chronicles was doing well until the Crystal Bearers. Is "Final Fantasy" and "Crystal Chronicles" names people scoffed at? Well not according to the rough million that bought the DS titles.

I think with the right post release advertising sells could pick up. I just don't understand how a console can continue selling while software continues to decline. Well, I'm sure all you haters will be buying the Petz games for your little sisters, so no problem for Ubi.

Also, why hasn't anyone jumped on Silent Hill yet? Seriously it's gotten to a point where I find 200,000 units sold impressive.

This is your warning Ubisoft. As one of the few Nintendo fans of your core efforts, stop while you can in making decent titles for the Wii. Cut your losses as you will be wasting your time with your upcoming Wii versions of Prince of Persia, Ghost Recon, and Shaun White Skateboarding. GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

I'm sure it can't help that this game was leaked to the internet over 2 weeks before the release dates in either region.

Had I not had to save for Pokemon HGSS, and continue saving for Monster Hunter Tri, I may have picked it up. I just dont have the money.

I will admit i am one of the gamers that abandoned the Wii in favour of my 360 for games.. Basically i have the Wii for New Super Mario Bros, Pinball Hall of Fame and Home Brew.. ah well, maybe next Nintendo system will be better... (yes, this is opinion, but the Wii has lost its charm factor for me)

guys if these numbers don't pick up.... don't be surprised when in a few months, Red Steel 3 is announced.... as a Sony Move exclusive.

As Stryker pointed out it's only been out since friday(so only two or three days will be counting) and probably the biggest audience in Europe for the game is France, not the UK. Ubi are a French publisher and their games seem to do awesomely in France, Rabbids Go Home apparently did 300k in France alone.

meh... this is the result of all those 'I'll pass' and 'maybe'...

developers are eventually going to stop trying and it's your fault.

Why has anyone "abandoned" anything. What made this platform so much worse than past Nintendo efforts? Nintendo still makes great games and many 3rd party titles aren't up to snuff. It's been that way since the N64.

Maybe Wiis are uncool because our parents like it or something and that automatically makes it suck.

I own a 360 and am getting a PS3 soon. I buy games that look interesting regardless of platform. Enough with the money excuses too. People paid $600 to have PS3 at launch and it has a far superior attachment rate than Wii. I guess Wii owners are just stingy.

Also Sean mentioned many are waiting for big name titles to be released like MH and M:OM. That doesn't make much since because Red Steel 2 was pushed just as hard as those titles. It was one of the pack. Even if Red Steel 2 did/does sell well it would be one of the last great 3rd party Wii exclusives I believe. What sells may mean though is rather or not they continue making Wii versions as well as PS3/360 versions.

Modern Warfare 2 got leaked before launch and that didn't seem to do sales too much harm.

Still, I'm with those who say that it's a little too soon to pass judgement. Ubisoft were only projecting sales of 500,000 for the game worldwide, so a seemingly poor performance in one country after a few days hardly spells curtains for it.

Why is everyone hating Ubisoft?

Ubisoft did project a fairly small number but I'm still a bit concerned. 2009 saw a lot of high quality flops compared to previous years. Even a game as mainstream as the Rabbids was just over 600,000 last year, not nearly the numbers the party games made previous years.

@jakob
Who's hating Ubisoft right now? Sure there are complaints about the shovelware they produce in forums but from the comments I've read so far no one has been hating on Ubisoft as company.

Is this game doing bad or are you not counting both sku's of the game? I thought it was doing bad here until I realized there are 2 that should be counted not 1. So don't write this game off yet.

What a shame, Red Steel 2, looks sweet. I think the reason of this poor performance, are all those first party titles about to come out (Sin & Punishment and SMG 2 are around the corner, money must be saved), and of course Monster Hunter 3, which seems to have full Nintendo support (many videos on the Nintendo Channel). I don't think I will be able to get MH3 nor RS2 in a while. Still, if I had to chose between slaying "old west human badies", or "cute (imo) awesome monsters", bring on the badies >:3.

We told you to put in multiplayer; shoot I even begged but they didn't listen. Better luck next time.

Sorry, just not greatly motivated to buy this. Really enjoying Fragile & Sky Crawlers though. Also have GTI Club on order (another retail no show for a game I'm interested in). I like the Wii by the way and been gaming for over 25 years...

So...how'd it do in the U.S. of A?

If Ubi had come out with a new sword-and-gun game for Wii and called it something like "BLADES AND BLASTING" or whatever, everyone would have just said "oh, like Red Steel?" There was no way they could get the name right.

With regards to the sales, I think it's a shame it's charted low but let's remember it requires a (still pretty niche) specialist controller as well as having to overcome the Red Steel apathy and general poor sales of boxed Wii retail products of similar kinds. For what it's worth, it's a great game that I hope more people get to pick up and enjoy: it's an absolute blast and I'm sure those people that did buy it will be enjoying it.

I havent seen any advertising at all for it! none on tv and bearly any in game retailers! few posters oh yeah that help! 34 not that bad it mite not even been in charts then you have sumthing moan about! give it few weeks and am sure it make top 10!
God at mo all ive seen is monster hunter tri advertisements everywere! you dont get notices if you dont advertise crap out of your new game!! creeping titles out & hoping them score big is bad move! there are hardcore gamers out there but you gotta show them what there missing out on.

I agree with #60. Tate24, I didn't see any kind of advertising/trailer at all! I remember the first Red Steel had a huge campaign on tv. I was planning to rent the game first and then buy it but I have to be honest I'm kind of disappointed. The first Red Steel had a decent story in my opinion but pretty bad gameplay in this one it feels like the developers went to the other extreme, great controls and good gameplay but the story it's mediocre. I wasn't expecting an amazing script (meaning it's a shooter right? ^_) but they just don't explain anything about where are you? what or who are you? or why you supposed to fight with this guys? After a few hours I just turn off the console and send the game back. I'm not saying the game is bad but I just didn't care about the main character.

What people need to bear in mind in all this is that we are in a bad time economically.For many a £30-45 investment in a game is a chunk of money.With so many people owning multiple consoles theres never any reason to play anything other than AAA titles with games like RS2 being relegated to rentals or when the price drops which happens so quick in the UK that is really pointless to buy any game on release.I bought Madworld today from play for £3.99 YES!! £3.99 its a cool game but theres not a chance in hell I would of paid £30 for it .Unfortunatley for games companies there just gonna have to get used to the fact that unless there is a big hype machine and marketing budget for a game its never gonna sell that good at release but will probably sell quite well in the end for a lower price.Maybe they should just sell em for £20 straight away!

Am I the only one not buying Red Steel 2 cos of all the swinging etc. If it was two player it might be fun, but I can't bothered with it on my own.

If it's just me I'd rather chill out on the couch with a good VC game or something.

I wonder what these sales figures say for Wii Zelda? I guess if any game can make Motion Plus work it has to be Zelda.

Sorry I forgot to mention something, I also don't understand why they called Red Steel 2. I think it doesn't have anything to do with the first game so I think that hurts the sales because:
1) Gamers that never tried the first are not going to play the second one.
2) Gamers who hated the first are not going to buy it either.
I think sometimes the title is important in a game. I'm sure the sales were better with a silly new name like "Far West Katana" or something like that.

I agree with #63 after an single hour (and I'm in good shape ^_) the game is physicallly exhausting!

@Luigi-La-Bouncy Yeah me too.I'm finding myself playing my 360 or VC and even DS more than Wii recently. i've got young toddler so when gaming time comes around I've had enough of swinging my arms about.When gaming all that I wanna move is my mouth for beer and cigs and my thumbs for shooting s**ff. I suppose when my kids are older the Wii will be more fun but deep down I'm just a lazy git!

Sad.

Proof that first party titles are SUPERIOR.

@Luigi78 Yeah it's partly out of respect for others in the house. I can sit peacefully and play most games, but it just doesn't seem right to be acting out a ninja sword fight when others can see or here me bang about, it just seems inappropriate to do it on my own.

Unfortunately my girlfriend feels the same way, which why occasionally I have to play Just Dance. lol

Edit: Sorry, my point is: Red Steel 2 needed multiplayer

Ummm the game has been out a week or less and it's already a failure? Sure initial sales do tell an important story but with the first Red Steel being judged so harshly most people that were perhaps slightly interested in the game were waiting for reviews. I do think the more educated console owners are getting a lot more choosy with titles. With such a big industry if you own multiple consoles there's not much need to get many games rated less than 9/10.

Maybe if the Wii would get hardcore games THAT APPEAL TO ME? A Western-themed shooter is nothing new; on the other hand, I was frothing at the mouth to play Sadness... which then turned out to be a giant hoax. Go figure.

@JebbyDeringer You're right. Personally I would be much more tempted if I didn't have a PS3. As it is, for the foreseable future, on retaill Wii, I will limit my purchases to SMG2 and Metroid. Anything else would have to get highly favourable reviews, like Monster Hunter Tri or S&P2, for me to buy first week.

Darn the Wii owners who doesn't see the mature Wii game potential! All games on my birthday wishlist are PEGI 16 or higher, so I'm doing my duty!

Well, who would buy a "Wild West Samurai warriors" game?

I sorta agree on the multiplayer front as single-player fare, casual or hardcore, typically fails without a multiplayer/social component. See, CoD, music games, party games, etc. for an idea of success stories.

@Sabre
LOL at being turned off by a semi western themed game. Never mind the gameplay, it's western so it sucks. I don't like post apocalyptic worlds but it didn't stop Fallout 3 and Gears of War from being successes now did it?

I'm not going to plunk money down on a game no matter how wonderfully it plays if the premise doesn't appeal to me. Same reason I'm not going to sit through the latest Oscar-winning inspirational movie about a sports team that "gives it all they've got" and comes from behind to win the Big Championship(tm). That's the joy of opinion.

Fantasic. Now I get to listen to some mindless, lifeless morons grapple at each other's throats over the "hardcore on the Wii" thing.

...No that's not sarcasm, listening to those ridiculous hardcore debates is actually a lot of fun

I hate it when a great game isn't bought by anyone. This doesn't look good for the future of the mature Wii titles. I haven't seen any advertisement for this title on tv though and in Holland it has only been out since Friday. We'll have to wait till this Friday/Saturday to see how the game is doing in the Dutch charts.

https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii/wii_top_10_list

Damn, how long has this game been out and they're already calling it a failure?

I have to wait until my financial aid refund comes in before I pick this up but I'm definitely getting it, probably in a couple of weeks. Although by then I'm sure the news of this game's "failure" will have trickled down to the masses. _

Its doing fairly well in the US as far as I have seen it, I can't find it in many stores right now and when I was in Gamestop just to be piddling around, I saw 3 people come in buying something for Wii and saying they just bought Red Steel 2. So I say it just might meet that 500,000 copies it needs.

I think having to have M+ is also a big barrier to entry too.

If everything I just read is true, then yeah out for 1 weekend toward the end of tax season, at least here in the US, is a pretty harsh way to judge anything. That being said, at least for me, people nailed it, money and waiting for more reviews on the game because of what I heard about the first one. I am not as much waiting on other games, I am undecided about MH3, but just have a backlog of games i would like to catch up on first.

Pick this game up, now. It's amazing. If this game fails as well I really don't see 3rd party developers/publishers giving the WIi another shot. Yeah, 1st party efforts are great and all, but not enough to fill a year. This is the Wii experience we've been promised years ago, come on people.

I am not going to say anything until I see REAL numbers (like NPD or simmilar). Then I can give conspiracy theories or not.

The game wasn't advertised like it should (no, Internet doesn't count) Would that been an issue? who knows? Wii games have slow long term sales, like House of the Dead Overkill and Call of duty modern warfare) because wii users have different buying habits. They rarely go to buy a game in day 1. They take their time because unlike HD users, we do have a life besides videogaming.

But again, that page info is as useful as Amazon or EDGE charts. Until I see the real deal I won't trust this.

I'll likely either be getting this or MH3 in the next month or so, so we'll see how things play out. It does seem like a good game, but I lament the lack of co-op or Vs.

@Skywake (27)

I saw MarioKart DS, a game released in 2005, on sale for $80NZD, average launch price for a new DS game.

I loved the first Red steel....I seriously don't get why people hated it.....
It had nice graphics,controls were abit crap but managable.

Split screen was fun with friend(s).

I guess many gamers have abandoned Wii by now returning only for big Nintendo franchises or Virtual Console highlights.

Everyone keeps calling this game mature. Seriously??? To me this game is as kiddie as anything released by Nintendo. I mean, yeah, I may want to give it a try but I won't fool myself thinking it's mature... Like saying Madworld is mature because of all the blood and stylish graphics...

As far as I know, there are almost no mature videogames in the same sense as in other media. But that's ok, because I don't look for mature themes and deep stories that will move or affect me in videogames. If I want those I'll read a book or watch a serious movie... Heck, even Opoona with its "kiddie" graphics, deals with more mature themes than most FPSs...

FPSs are not mature just because they have lots of action, they're for everyone, teens and adults alike. Gory themes are not mature just because small kids should not be exposed to them, and they seem to appeal mostly to teens and young adults anyway...

Why do adults don't play what most gamers call "hardcore" games? Are adults less mature than kids now? You forget people play videogames to have FUN. There are many ways to a accomplish that, and to me someone that solves the hardest sudokus quickly is as much a gamer as anyone else...

And it's not like I hate FPSs, I bought most of the Metroid Prime games and almost finished the last one (got bored with the last boss) and loved the game, but I wouldn't say it's mature, just a nice adventure through a well thought out Sci-Fi world.

There's a reason why all videogame movies are crap, you know?

@maka: I understand what you're saying about "mature" games, but when people say that they're actually referring to the rating in the USA, which is "M for Mature" - you know, what would be an 18+ PEGI-rated game?

Just take it easy, okay?

I only received the obligatory promotional email from Nintendo this morning, usually they send them out in advance of release. I wonder if they didn't bother and are now reacting to apparent bad sales? Or did they just forget? Hmmm.

"Just take it easy, okay?"

ok,ok... I know what you mean, but this game is not even a 18+ game... I just have a hard time believing a game about samurais in the old west can be considered something "adult" in any sense... but well...

Edit: As I think about it, I must ask: what's so important about 18+ games anyway? What makes them essential? 18+ movies aren't usually the most important in film industry, nor in books. Why are they so important in videogames for some people? When something is aimed at adults in the sense that children just can't understand the underlying themes then yeah, I can see it, but those stories usually can be seen by kids (they just won't understand them) and usually don't have a 18+ rating. Take a film like 2001 A Space Odyssey (a PG film). I'd much rather play a videogame I can compare to that movie than any 18+ game about killing zombies (or other gory stuff). Age rating is pretty meaningless when it comes to measuring how deep or mature a movie/book/videogame is...

Sword + WM+ should be just another tool to make a game interesting, not just the only focus and excuse for a game. Even more true for a game with a so much ridiculous environment as this one trying to mix in one west and oriental flavours. I bet this will not please the japanese audience and of course if will please even less the western one.

March was a busy month for new games, and if you release one on the same day as Pokemon, you're gonna suffer...

Maybe its because its rated 16 here instead of Teen, wich limits the number of gamers that can bye this game?

*Buy

It is a great game, probably my favorite 3rd party Wii title. I recommend everyone pick it up at some point.

Saw an ad for this during Champions League half time. That's more like it!

hey...
1. Avatar and Red Steel 1 sucked
and 2. That was the UK, this is US. they have another day, another chance