Fact: Madden sold like freakin’ crazy on the usual platforms, around two million copies across the PS3, 360, and PS2.

Also fact: The game sold terrible on the Wii, only pushing 100,000 copies.

These facts does make a happy Peter Moore. He sees a logical issue with this sales dilemma:

“The challenge we face is that that consumer gets ‘Wii Sports’ right out of the box and that’s a sports experience that’s good enough for a lot of people.”

The ‘09 series geared its games on the Wii for the more casual crowd, branding them “All Play.” That strategy must have backfired, at least in terms of Madden. Moore didn’t delve into the statistics for Tiger Woods and NBA Live however. Maybe the problem is game quality? Comparatively, there’s no comparisons between the games on the different hardware.

Dear Cammie,

We understand that you’ve been under a lot of pressure lately. After a rough go at E3, the lack of games for your longtime fans, and loads of criticism from the gaming press, you need to try and salvage something. However, coming out and stating that the Conduit is the thing to bring us back and relying completely on its visuals to do it? Not a good move.

Mad World? I’ll give you that one. Punch-Out? Maybe. Depends on the controls. The Conduit? Looks like a FPS. Not saying it won’t be great. For all I know, could be the game of the year. But stating that it’s the one game that will draw us back in isn’t best business strategy. Blow us away with the originality the console offers but has yet to full realize, not visuals. I wish you the best. You’ve got a ways to go.

No offense to anyone who worked there, but we have no idea who you were. Secretive internal studio Blueprint has been shuttered by EA, supposedly to house smaller teams who would work together virtually on projects. The only time the studio had any of the public eye was with Boom Blox, which they managed.

That said, EA stated that a sequel to Boom Blox is on its way, and honestly, can’t come soon enough. It still stands as one of the best games on the system. No word on what will happen to any of the other projects they might have been working on.

Some thought going back to World War II would be a mistake. Some might have felt giving the series back to Treyarch was a truly bad idea.

Those people would be wrong.

World at War has doubled first week sales of Call of Duty 4. It should be noted that two more platforms are hosting the WWII shooter, the PlayStation 2 and the Wii. However, the numbers breakdown didn’t specifically state sales numbers across all hardware. It’s hard to tell if a PS2 version made a huge difference or not, though Call of Duty 3 didn’t turn out so bad on the Wii. Only time will tell us if WaW outsells its predecessor or not for all time sales though.

While gamers may claim to be shying away from the Wii in many cases, it seems the sales charts tell a different story. In fact, four of the top five games of the games of year so far are all exclusive to Nintendo’s console. Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, and Wii Play all cracked the charts, with Grand Theft Auto IV being the only game to beat out the crowd.

This doesn’t include some major holiday titles recently released, including Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, Little Big Planet, and Call of Duty World at War. There’s a good shot one of those games will break into the list (Gears 2 sold two million copies in three days), but it’s a telling stat regardless.

If you follow the industry at all, you know that game companies hate used game sales. They gain nothing from them, so it’s understandable if they want to try something to curb them, but making something worthless is NOT the way to do it. Nintendo’s Wii Speak microphone will require the Wii Speak Channel, which can only be downloaded with a one-use code included in the package. In other words, the next poor sucker can’t use it all. Nope, the Channel can’t be bought or downloaded any other way.

It’s fine if you want to make the Channel, say, $5 to make some money off of the second-hand users. To completely eliminate that portion of the market is flat out stupid. Way to alienate more gamers Nintendo.

Given the backwards compatibility of the Wii, why Nintendo sees it necessary to re-release Gamecube games on the Wii and consider it something new is beyond me. Those of you that are excited, well, the first two titles that are coming to the States are Mario Power Tennis and Pikmin. In Japan, they retail for about $38. Or, you could just find a used Gamecube copy of either for a lot less, play it today instead of waiting, and likely not have to deal with any sloppily implemented motion controls. If the games didn’t use motion before, they sure as hell don’t need it now.

Due to Nintendo’s restrictions on file size, two popular downloadable titles won’t be happening on the Wii. Ever. At least in download form. Bionic Commando Rearmed and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix simply won’t fit within the file size restriction set by Nintendo for WiiWare releases. Christian Svensson laid out the reasons which include costs in downgrading the game and the file restrictions.

They could work as a retail release on a disc, but Capcom doesn’t see that as a viable alternative. On top of that, anything with “HD” in the title probably shouldn’t be downgraded in the first place. It’s missing the point otherwise.

9-9-99. That was the day the Dreamcast and a Midway classic called Ready 2 Rumble was born. The game went on to have a single sequel, and then apparently faded from view. Thanks to developer Aki (maker of those awesome N64 wrestling titles) and Atari, another sequel is on its way entitled Ready 2 Rumble Revolution. The screens show new characters, and not a whole lot else. Hopefully it controls okay.

With Nintendo reviving Punch-Out, and now Ready 2 Rumble making a comeback, maybe everyone can forget the mess that was Facebreaker which tried too hard to emulate both.

Oh how quickly gamers forget… and how quickly companies would like to take advantage of it. For some reason, Metal Slug 2 is on the Virtual Console, and it will run you $9. That’s a deal, sure.

However, remember a little game called Metal Slug Anthology when the Wii launched? Well, a used copy will run you only a few dollar more. That compilation includes seven games in the series, which includes Metal Slug 2. As such, who in their right mind would buy the Virtual Console version, or better yet, why not give gamers a deal on this single release for about $4 or something along those lines?

Note to Nintendo: I hate you. Really I do. See, I work retail, and since the Wii launched, every day has been hell on Earth. You constantly advertise the Wii on TV, get people worked up, and then they call my store 10 times a day asking for the damn thing (double that during the holidays). Now you’re going to tell me that I’ll have to endure another Christmas of this crap because you can’t meet the demand?

Guys, how hard can it be to produce this thing? Do you understand that it’s turning the retail side against you? Don’t expect us to push this thing given how many times we have to tell people no. You’re turning us into mindless zombies at this point. Itchy. Tasty.

Japanese and European gamers have been enjoying Club Nintendo for a ridiculously long period. US gamers could only froth at the mouth at some of the bonuses those countries have received, including a number of rarities. The loyalty program lets players prove their worth to Nintendo buy buying lots of their crap in exchange for freebies.

This is all well and good, but given the current state of Nintendo and their strained relationship with the hardcore audience, is this enough to pull them back in? Count me out. Push more than cheap shovelware like Wii Music into the market and more stuff like Wario Land Shake It and we’ll talk.