Just Dance was released on the Nintendo Wii on November 17, 2009.
The game released with a MSRP of $39.99, and has since sold more than 3 million copies.
Just Dance has been in the NPD's "Top 20" every month since it released, except its release month of November 2009.
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Approx. Number of Players Reporting Data
Just Dance has 69,535 players reporting play-time data on the Wii's Nintendo Channel.
"Total" & Average Hours
Just Dance has 525,895 Total Hours of game-play reported, as of this past Monday.
I think it is interesting that the average play-time "Per person" is just 7 Hrs. 34 Min.
Amazon.com Sale Rank & Advertised Price
Amazon.com sale rank is
Review Scores
For me, I think this is the biggest surprise about the game.
Just Dance has a GameRankings.com review score average of 48.41%, based on 17 reviews.
There have been numerous articles and even a recent report, that say how much GOOD review scores matter.
Well, if there is a game exception to the rule, that game is Just Dance.
One line from the IndustryGamers.com article says, "...we need to keep in mind that one of the primary reasons anchoring is so effective with video game consumers is because of the strong trust between gamers and credible professional critics."
Most "core" gamers may see Just Dance's review score average from "credible professional critics" and think the game isn't very good.
Looking at Amazon.com user reviews though, shows a different side of reviews and opinions on the game.
On Amazon.com, Just Dance has what appears to be a 4.25 out of 5 Star rating, based on an incredible 533 customer reviews.
(Amazon.com's Just Dance review average)
How is it that "credible professional critics" seem to be so far off from customers that actually purchased Just Dance, in their opinions of the game?
Well, I think that's a topic for another day, but I'm glad to see that consumers that paid for the game, are enjoying the game.
Thoughts
If you visit Just Dance's YouTube Channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/justdancegame, you can see videos that have been uploaded by Wii owners, showing themselves playing the game.
When a game releases and sells 3 million+ copies, a sequel for it is basically guaranteed these days.
When a game releases and sells 3 million+ copies, a sequel for it is basically guaranteed these days.
During Nintendo's E3 press conference this year, they announced and showed a trailer for Just Dance 2
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Just Dance 2 will be released later this year, on October 12; if Amazon.com's release date is correct.
Here's the trailer they showed for Just Dance 2 at E3:
Questions
Confession time you core gamers, how many of you have played Just Dance? If you played it, did you enjoy it, or did you think it deserves the "professional" review score average it has?
I haven't played it myself, but I do think the play-time data and number of sales for the game show that sometimes it is better to try a game for yourself, than to listen to a "professional".
If you are interested in Just Dance, you can see prices for it on Amazon.com below:
You should always play a game first instead of going of a review! Just Dance is an example of a different type of gamer who doesn't care about head shots and tea bagging. The last time I checked dancing has been around a lot longer than Master Chief and it's something the average person can get into and have fun, with out feeling like your being verbally assaulted by a prepubescent teenager.
ReplyDeleteJust my 2 cents. Plus I bet the average person doesn't troll the gaming websites to get a game review. Oh and plus the games name is the same as a Lady GaGa song. So smart move Ubisoft. Oh yeah also you can take these comments and throw them out the window too!
I haven't played Just Dance, but I'm watching some videos and what I wonder most about is, how well does the Wiimote recognize the moves you are supposed to do, or is it really just a guideline and you're freestyling it and the wiimote just keeps up some kind of illusion the game measures how good you are?
ReplyDeleteI mean there's quite a few videos where one of the people just dances along without any Wiimote and has just as much fun, so I guess the problem might be with reviewers rating it purely as game on a scale that was made for their own audience.
Which is something I think that you can see a lot these days as well when reading "professional" reviews. Reviewers "sell" to a certain kind of customer too and it seems that is even a smaller range of people than what most core games target. Games that fall out of the norm or need you to play along to a certain degree or even offer controls outside the realm of the dual analog set-up get rated down or nit-picked to hell and back. Not due to technical issues or obviously bad design, but because it's doing something different than what the franchise is usually about, or you can't fight for once but have to flee or you have to acquire a bit of skill with a tilt sensor instead of relying on your analog sticks.
Something that might be natural for regular people, which have not been trained on games for years and years how things are "supposed" to work.
I think with Just Dance it might be a bit like that, if you can play along and have fun it's all good, but if all you do is try to break the game or want a percentage rating of how well you did, maybe it's just not the kind of thing that works for you. Now as I said, I haven't played the game and maybe it is a technically awful thing, but seeing as how people have fun wiht it, it might as well be nothing more than a dance along video and still work for them and be worth their money.
P.S. coffeewithgames - Did you get my email regarding MH Tri or was it lost or maybe your reply? Just so I know if I have to add your address to my spam filter white list to have it come through.
:O I actually played this with my Niece last christmas. I gotta say it was pretty fun in that setting :). I don't know if I'd play this all by muhself or anything, but I also don't think it was meant to be played alone, it's 4 players at once after all!
ReplyDelete@ Den, so can u just waggle or do you have to be concious of where your moving the Wiimote ?
ReplyDeleteYou gotta be concious of where you move the wii-mote. But it can't track your legs, so you don't have to do all the jumping around and kick and dipping... but I did it anyway :D
ReplyDeleteThe problem with reviews is that they don't rate the fun they have with the game, they rate the parts. Sometimes you'll hear someone say that a game was good, but when you ask them if they had fun playing it and they hesitate and say that if it was good, it must mean that it was fun, which is not always the case.
ReplyDeleteThe studies don't actually prove anything. If you put a bunch of people in a room and ask them to choose between two games, they'll always pick the highest rated one unless they have more knowledge about the games or they are two completely different types and one of them doesn't interest them. Only idiot fanboys that call themselves hardcore actually follow reviews. Any self respecting gamer would rather try every game to see if they like them.
As for Just Dance, I haven't tried it. I'm not much into dancing but as everybody seems to say, I bet it is pretty fun with a crowd of people. It's not a game you can go through and put it on the shelf when you're done. It's a game you play to have fun and pass the time, which in my opinion makes it a much better game.
Hardcore gamers feel like they are wasting their time playing a game like Just Dance because there is no clear goal or achievement other than playing, dancing and having fun. But really, no matter what game you're playing, you are wasting time. Might as well have fun with it.
@The Butcher:
ReplyDelete"You should always play a game first instead of going of a review!"
I definitely agree!
" Oh and plus the games name is the same as a Lady GaGa song. So smart move Ubisoft."
Kind of funny you mentioned this, because I saw this in my research when I was writing this post. Is her song even in the game?
@gLitterbug:
I think it's more of a guideline, of where you are supposed to be moving.
"Reviewers "sell" to a certain kind of customer too and it seems that is even a smaller range of people than what most core games target."
Exactly. That's why I included the Amazon.com USER reviews with this data, to show the difference between "professional" and "user".
As for your P.S., I did get your email, and I replied to it about 2 days ago. Let me know if you received my reply; if not, I can send it again.
@Den:
"I actually played this with my Niece last christmas."
Now the truth is starting to leak, all those nights you aren't on Monster Hunter; you're filming dance sessions to upload to YouTube!
BTW, is the Lady Gaga song Just Dance actually in the game?
@The Butcher and Den:
I have watched a few of the user videos on the YouTube Channel I linked in the article, and I will say some of the groups seemed really well choreographed/practiced.
@Jonath:
"Any self respecting gamer would rather try every game to see if they like them."
I wish I had the money and time to try more games, but I agree with what you're saying.
"But really, no matter what game you're playing, you are wasting time. Might as well have fun with it."
Exactly.
Thank you all for the comments and thoughts! I'm glad to see the comments/thoughts on this, as I was thinking this post would end up with zero comments, but I was pleasantly surprised!