_Brain Buster Puzzle Pak_ may be clonily named and packaged, but it's actually a collection of puzzles by the Japanese publisher Nikoli (http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/). Though the puzzles in _Brain Buster_ are generally on the easy side, Nikoli is respected as one of the most careful publishers of abstract logic puzzles, even in an the market glut where computer-generated sudoku are puzhed out in the thousands. Nikoli, who refined the modern sudoku, is also responsible for the sudoku puzzles in Nintendo's orginal _Brain Age_.

Why, yes, I am planning to write about Nikoli soon. Why do you ask?

I have to disagree. The kind of people who pick up "Billy the Wizard" in the first place aren't the kind of people who pay attention to who's publishing what. To them it's "Wii games". They won't know the difference between EA, Nintendo, Nikoli, etc., and are more likely to think "Wii games suck" IMHO.

I, as an avid gamer, certainly pay attention to publishers and have some blacklists, but I also would never pick up a blatant mascot ripoff game in the first place.

I don't see how shovelware would be benefiting Nintendo at all.

Heh - that's really interesting, Tablesaw - I didn't know that!

"In addition, let's face it - concept approval for Microsoft and Sony's consoles hasn't always led to top quality titles, and in fact, may have dissuaded the kind of simpler, more 'mainstream' games that are thriving on the DS and Wii right now."

What non-Nintendo games are thriving on the DS and Wii? Unless by "thriving" you mean, "taking up shelf space." There's a lot of games out there, but most aren't selling squat, particularly when compared to the sales of Nintendo's games. Whether that's because of their lack of quality, the strength of the Nintendo brand, or something else, I dunno.

It seems to me that the only platform where third-parties regularly sell big numbers is on the 360. And it's the hardcore audience that's driving those sales.

Well, there are SOME titles that are selling well, Steve - High School Musical for DS was in the Top 20 all-formats for NPD last month, for example.

Ah, right. A handful of licensed games do sell for the DS. The Disney/Pixar games do well too. (Basically, we're talking about kids games, or the odd Puzzle Quest.)

But it's just amazing that for all of the talk of the size of the install base for the DS and how the Wii is "taking over the world," neither moves that much software for anyone other than Nintendo. DS and Wii games should be dominating the Top 10 lists every single month. Instead, it's mostly 360 (and PS2) games.

So yeah, good for Nintendo, not so useful for anyone else.

Well... maybe. I don't think it's as simple as that.

For one thing, I'm pretty sure breakeven point on development/distribution costs for DS and Wii titles is significantly smaller than PS3/Xbox 360 games. So domination of NPD charts may not matter to profitability.

50-100k could be breakeven on a DS title, compared to 250-500k for a PS3 game.

Secondly, there's been some claim - at least by Nintendo - that their products have much longer shelflifes, and don't sell massively in the first month and then tail off majorly in subsequent months.

If a lot of the consumers are more 'casual' and don't pay attention to when a game comes out, this may be true - and the games will factor less into the very top of the charts as a result, but sell more steadily.

Having said all that, I am to a certain extent playing devil's advocate - I do think the Wii/DS market is dominated by first-party games a lot more than third-party publishers are realizing when they rush to put their games on those platforms.

"For one thing, I'm pretty sure breakeven point on development/distribution costs for DS and Wii titles is significantly smaller than PS3/Xbox 360 games. So domination of NPD charts may not matter to profitability."

It is and it isn't on the DS, at least from the (minimal) research I've done. The actual game costs a lot less to make, but the COGs---and risks involved when predicting sales numbers---is off-the-charts compared to other games. From what I gather, a $30 game is eaten up by like half in upfront COGs for the damn cartridges and licensing fees.

So, when people say the DS prints money, it does for those games that go way beyond 50K or 100K. And while those low sellers may make modest money for someone, Nintendo is still the only one making guaranteed money.

You could definitely make more money on the Wii with fewer sales, though.

(I don't doubt the longer shelf life claim, though that may only work for non-licensed stuff; I wonder how many kids want a Cars game a year after the DVD releases?)

I don't see why Nintendo is getting the stick for this... the PS2 certainly had a huge share of crap shovelware titles. So if Sony has a review board, they had lax standards over the past five years. Getting a flood of below-average titles just means the userbase is large enough that any POS has a chance of selling.

Every game printed by Nintendo is subject to a licensing fee paid by the publisher during the manufacturing process. This means that every 3rd party game manufactured, regardless of the number sold, profits Nintendo.

Why, then, would Nintendo want to limit the release of 3rd party titles? More titles means more profit, and there is very little monetary risk on Nintendo's part because they are paid before a single game is sold.

A general lack of quality games could potentially lead to fewer console sales and a diminishing active install base. Console sales attract developers to the platform. They develop games, which profits Nintendo. Good games, in turn, drive console sales. It is, therefore, important to have a steady supply of titles that people want to buy. Otherwise, console sales will lapse, developers will more elsewhere, and your revenue stream will disappear.

This is where Nintendo's first party titles come into play. Their titles, which are subjected to stricter quality control, provide stability for the platform and lead to a steady stream of console sales. People buy the console because they want to play "Game X." In turn, this brings more 3rd party developers to the platform and the cycle of console and game sales continues.

As long as Nintendo can continue to supply users with enough quality titles to maintain interest in their platforms, 3rd party games, despite their quality, will be important to Nintendo's business.

I can imagine that part of it is that Nintendo had a reputation for being uncooperative with third parties, and so they are deliberately being more forgiving in order to combat that reputation.

What about the fact that all these 3rd party games fill the shelves with...well, DS & Wii games. When someone goes into a store, and looks at the number of games each console has, they might be more willing to pick a DS or Wii on the fact that it has TONS of games for it. I think it's part of the buying decision for many.

"When someone goes into a store, and looks at the number of games each console has, they might be more willing to pick a DS or Wii on the fact that it has TONS of games for it. I think it's part of the buying decision for many."

That's true for the hardcore, but for the person who's heard about this "Wii thing" or seen it on TV---which Nintendo (and the press) keeps saying is happening all the time---the big library is probably less important than the one game (or two) that actually got them to the store in the first place.

And if you believe some of the consumer studies, more choice isn't always a good thing. Games aren't cheap, so a person might wonder what's actually worth buying. When faced with a wall-o-software, yikes. What criteria do they use? Reviews? Hah, right.

This may lead them back to Nintendo only, who they already trust.