TVGB: "They've said it before and they're saying it again; Sega wants to find the Wii's core gamer market."
From its inception, Platinum Games declared its games were being engineered with worldwide appeal. MadWorld struggled to find an audience earlier this year for reasons Sega hasn't yet figured out, according to recently appointed Sega president and COO Mike Hayes.
Nintendeals writes:
Retailer Amazon.com this week price cut Sega Corp.'s MadWorld for Nintendo Co.'s Wii to under $20 in a new sale.
GameStop.com just kicked-off a great offer for the Nintendo Wii. GameStop is offering a free Wii game selection of your choice with the purchase of a Wii system. The games you can select from include:
Sumthing Else Music has announced that the official soundtrack of MadWorld, which contains 20 original hip-hop songs, is available from retailers and iTunes as of today. The songs were produced by composer Naoto Tanaka in collaboration with HipHop and Rap artists OX, Doujah Raze, Sick-YG, Bandy Leggz, Wordsmith, S.O.U.L. Purpose, and Optimus.
Sega's recent targeting of a mature audience on the Nintendo Wii has been successful in the long-term, with the publisher telling GamesIndustry.biz it has more budget for similar adult content on the format.
The Conduit, the upcoming Wii-exclusive sci-fi FPS billed as having graphics on a par with games on the Xbox 360 and PS3, won't suffer the same fate as other Wii titles aimed at core gamers, developer High Voltage has insisted.
While MadWorld didn't sell as much one would have thought given the hype, it still managed to earn an 81 on Meta Critic. If you're one of those (apparently many) who didn't pick up the game when it was released, you may get the chance to snag it for a reduced price.
President Glen Schofield of Visceral Games (formerly EA Redwood) has given his opinion on M-rated games on Wii and what he thinks went wrong with Madworld and it's sales.
Kotaku writes: "With just 66,000 in sales MadWorld could serve as a warning to developers to stay away from hardcore games for the Wii, but Capcom's Masachika Kawata, says that's not the case for Resident Evil.
There has been a great deal of speculation about the underwhelming retail performance of PlatinumGames' MadWorld, but now OTX research group GamePlan Insights has released detailed data illustrating the often-thin correlation between online acclaim and real-world retail success, particularly on the Wii platform.
"SEGA and Hudson have in recent days and weeks realised that it remains difficult for some third-party developers coming to the Nintendo Wii.
Initial NPD sales data reports are in for two hardcore Nintendo titles: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and MadWorld. Unfortunately, neither title seemed to have sold particularly well.
It's not exactly a secret that publishers are watching the sales of hardcore Wii games. For Capcom, however, the sales of MadWorld are not too important.
LusoGamer said: "Sean Ratcliffe, vice president of marketing for SEGA of America, made some statements relating to two of the most recent titles released by the company, The House of Dead: Overkill and MadWorld, and the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, which is expected for the end of the year".
DarkZero: "In what is likely to be some very bad news for Sega, although good news for us, Madworld has started dropping in price at many retailers across the UK - a sure sign that stores are having trouble shifting their stock.
Ripten writes: "If you ever wanted proof that the Nintendo Wii console is not just for little kids and rump shaking girls in their twenties, you can find several limbs strewn about England grasping a game you won't see advertised during Sesame Street … or will you?"
" Wow Sega put a lot of effort into this game, not like the last Sonic was any frame of reference. F%$#ers"