News: Another Century’s Episode Portable tops the Japanese charts
Posted on : 20-01-2011 | By : Cacophanus | In : News
Hardware: PlayStation Portable
5
The recently released Another Century’s Episode Portable has topped the Japanese charts in its first week of release with over 70,000 sales, toppling Monster Hunter Portable 3rd in the process. Compared to the impressive sales of ACE R, the newer ACE P only sold a third as much by comparison. Some think this is the result of massive public disappointment with ACE R, as ACE R’s success has been attributed to the quality of three previous PS2 games, which built up the fanbase in the first place. Though it’s more likely that PSP shortages in Japan have affected the sales of the game too, on account of the Monster Hunter fervour that’s been gripping the nation as of late.
In any case, from what we’ve been playing the new ACE P is a vast improvement over ACE R and we’re happy to report that the original boosting setup from the PS2 games is definitely back. With any luck our review will be up over the weekend. In addition, you can still buy ACE P here.
From an earnings report Bamco made a while ago, they said that they sold 310,000 copies of ACE:R.
Link: http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/11/06/namco_bandai_earnings/
But as your link shows, 70,000 first weeks sales vs 210,000 first week sales is a vast difference. I can probably see the 70,000 number slowly rise to about 100,000 over the next few weeks, but that’s probably all its going to get to.
P is an enjoyable game, with excellent game mechanics(I really like the weapon customisation and item creation), but the small cast and lack of story mode means it feels like a half backed game to me.
I was only comparing first week sales, not total (as ACE P has only just been released).
I personally think it’s a much better game to play than ACE R was though.
Man, Japan really loves the PSP. I prefer more buttons for mech games, but my only real concern is how smooth the gameplay and camera controls are. ACE R had horrible camera controls (though they did exist, it just took some extraneous effort to use the camera). I’m saddened at the prospect that this game could suffer from the backlash of ACE R, but it did seem a bit short on the content side to me. Here’s hoping the next one is a good combination of solid controls and great story.
I’m enjoying ACE:P personally. It feels like a port of ACE:3 into the psp with some minor improvements on the map setup and refueling. I never touched R, which I guess from what I’ve seen and read from numerous websites and blogs that’s a good thing. I think it would have ruined my love for the series.
This game might not be high-end in terms of graphics but the game play and longevity really makes up for it. ACE was never “pretty” anyway if you ask me.
I only wish that they had more interaction between the characters like the PS2 series. Story always makes a good mech game better.
Awesome! Hopefully word of mouth will cause sales to pick up again once people realize it’s not like R.
For me the small character roster isn’t a problem – has enough old favourites to hold my interest. Time to start planning to order…