Channel Surfing: VC/WW Weekly Sales Chart for America, W/E July 20th,

Methodology
W/E June 29th, 2008
W/E July 6th, 2008
W/E July 13th, 2008

Virtual Console Chart:

Some observations and disclosures:

• Donkey Kong for the NES now has data available, and rounds out the top 10.
• The top 10 has had slight adjustments made to match the order in the Wii Shop Channel, but the actual titles are the same.
• Pac-Man for the NES enters the chart for the first time, with two weeks of data available for comparison.
• Ninja Gaiden for the NES is also in the data for the first time, but is off the chart at number 32.
• Overall the chart remains largely undisturbed, with the biggest drop that stayed in the chart being Yoshi's Story from 19th to 26th, though it only dropped 200 units.
• The biggest rise was Metroid from 31st to 23rd, and a 500 unit increase over last week.
• Pokemon Snap maintains its unique trend of bouncing around, as it dropped out of the chart from 14th, after placing 27th the week prior.
• If the numbers continue to look good, then next week the chart will expand to include the top 40.

Now, for Wiiware:

The key points:

• The Wiiware chart has been expanded to include two titles with no data, and weekly sales for these are estimated based on their order in the Wii Shop Channel.  These titles are marked with an *.
• The three bottom titles are placed as in the Wii Shop Channel, with no data available or estimates made.
  
• Pokemon Ranch still rules the roost, though it's dropped off a bit from last week.  Everything seems to be selling at a solid, steady pace.

The bonus round of data for this week:  A value chart, calculated in terms of average play time divided by cost, for titles with available data.  There will be a version for each platform, including the limited data available for retail titles.  Play time is in hours, while value is in hours/$ -- higher is better.  For reference, buying a $10 ticket to a 2-hour movie gives you an hour/$ value of 0.2.

Two of the more expensive N64 games top the chart, with gamers pouring nearly 19 hours on average into what many call the best game of all time, and for just $10.  Spots three through five highlight some lower-selling titles that still offer gamers a good value, including a couple third-party gems.  The rest of the chart goes to justifying their continuing high weekly sales.

Final Fantasy takes the top spot despite its higher $15 price point, though that value does not include any downloadable content purchased, which can up to double its total price.  Defend Your Castle holds strong in the middle, with its cheap $5 price tag making up for it having the shortest play time.  And LostWinds trails the pack among the rest of the $10 titles, with Dr. Mario Online Rx offering more than double the play time for the same price.  Since Wiiware titles are newer, their value will likely go up over time as users continue to play them.

Retail titles have some interesting price points.  Wii Sports is a pack-in, and can be said to have anywhere from infinite value to no value at all, depending on your point of view.  For this chart, its price was estimated at $30, and its high playtime is worthy of a chart spot in any case.  Wii Play is the other debatable item, as its price was calculated here at $10 (the extra on top of the included remote), while if one does not need a remote, its price would be $50, and thus its value miniscule, about 0.18.  Some older, currently budget-priced titles fill out most of the bottom half of the top 10, although the premium-priced $90 Guitar Hero III also places on the chart, and is 2nd in play time only to Super Smash Bros Brawl itself.

Overall, Ocarina of Time's lower price point wins out over Brawl's massive play time to take the crown as the best value you can find on the Wii, and there are actually 6 Virtual Console titles that are technically more worth your money than the most valuable retail title.  Of course, these numbers say nothing about the quality of the time spent playing these games, but the length play times seem to indicate that they were pretty well-liked.

One final note:  I'm looking for volunteers to spend 1-2 hours a week extracting data from the UK Nintendo Channel, as well as data for any other regions as it becomes available.  Please send me a PM if you're interested.

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Further Reading

Video Game Releases in America from Sept. 5th to Sept. 11th

Weekly Analysis, 28 August 2010 - DS, X360 at the top - Wii Rises

2010 Year on Year Sales and Market Share Update to August 28th

Americas Preorders Chart, 28 August 2010 - Metroid: Other M Jumps