The Wii's Most Played Game - Total Hours

Coffee Beans
Is the Wii's most played game a release title game?  Or, is the Wii's most played game one released later, and perhaps one with online multi-player? Take a guess before looking at the answer, and see if you're right!

When the Wii was released 4 years ago, games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Excite Truck, Red Steel, Rayman Raving Rabbids and several more were available for purchase.  In North America, Wii Sports was bundled with every Wii console, and not available for purchase separate from the console.

Every Wii release title mentioned above has seen some form of a sequel, except one:

The one title mentioned above that has not seen a true sequel, is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.  While The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has been announced and is in development, it won't be released until sometime in 2011(it's just been reported that Skyward Sword is more than 50% finished, thanks to reader Nicodemus_at_Nite for the heads-up on that).

The one feature all Wii release titles lacked was any direct form of online connectivity or play.  Rayman Raving Rabbids had online leaderboards, but required writing down codes, and entering them through a separate website.

Two other big Nintendo Wii games released within the first year of the console's life that didn't feature online multi-player, were Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Super Mario Galaxy; released on August 27, 2007 and on November 12, 2007, respectively.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption did have an online function, but it wasn't online multi-player of any sort.  The online function was used to exchange tokens in the game, with other Metroid Prime 3 players so you could unlock everything in the game.

The first Wii game to feature online play was Pokemon Battle Revolution, which was released on June 25, 2007.  While Pokemon Battle Revolution was the first Wii game with online play, other games like Battalion Wars II and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 were released soon after, and included online play.

Nintendo released other big titles like Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Animal Crossing: City Folk in 2008, all featuring online play in some form. What is the Wii's most played game according to "Total Hours" reported through the Nintendo Channel, for the 1,493 days from November 19, 2006 to December 20, 2010?  Let's take a look!

Data reported is for the United States of America Wii owners, not world-wide.

Approx. Number of Players Reporting Data
Wii Sports has approximately 4,206,547 Wii owners reporting their game-play hours, through the Wii's Nintendo Channel.

Reported Player Increase Since Last Week
Wii Sports has seen an increase of about 25,462 gamers reporting play-time data, since just last week.

Average & Total Game-Play Hours Reported
Wii Sports has 170,395,036 Total Hours of game-play reported, an increase of 1,303,103 Total Hours of game-play since last week. The average play-time for Wii Sports is 40 Hours 31 Minutes "Per person"(or console) reporting data, and the average play-time per session for Wii Sports is just over 1 Hour 16 Minutes.

Sale Rank & Advertised Price
Wii Sports' Amazon.com sale rank is #459, and is selling for $22.23 from a third party vendor.
     (Sale rank and advertised price recorded around 3:45PM on 12-23-2010)

Review Score Averages
Wii Sports' review score average is 76.22%, based on 60 "professional" reviews on GameRankings.com. (Review score averages recorded around 3:45PM on 12-23-10)

Wii Sports' Amazon.com review score average is 4.5 out of 5 Stars, basically a 90%, based on 97 customer reviews.

Filtered Thoughts
I am really surprised that Wii Sports is still the Wii's most played game, according to "Total Hours" reported.  I really thought games like Mario Kart Wii or Super Smash Bros. Brawl with their online multi-player, or even The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess being a "core" Nintendo game available since the Wii's release, would have higher reported play-times.

I guess considering Wii Sports is included with every Wii console sold though, and a lot of families play it together during the holidays, it makes sense. Wii Sports' reported "Total Hours" of game-play are equivalent to 19,438 years(rounded down) of straight game-play!

The number of game-play hours Wii Sports increased since just last week is more than most Wii games will ever have reported; and the same can be said for the number of players increased reporting their play-time data for Wii Sports since last week also.

I was surprised at Wii Sports' Amazon.com sale rank being as high as it was, considering the only way to sell the game is if it used and a trade-in, and also considering that every Wii owner should have Wii Sports since the game comes with every Wii console sold.

Wii Sports' sale rank was higher than other games released just this year, such as Endless Ocean: Blue World, Monster Hunter Tri, Red Steel 2, and Sin and Punishment: Star Successor.

I haven't played Wii Sports in a longtime, and the last time I tried to play it, I couldn't find my game disc!  Perhaps, I need to invest in another copy, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my copy of Wii Sports is at my parents' house, from when we visited last Christmas.

The one thing I always wanted to accomplish in Wii Sports was a perfect 300 in bowling, but I never did. I came close several times, but it seems frame seven was always my downfall.

Questions
Are any of you surprised, or not, that Wii Sports is the "most played" Wii game according to its "Total Hours" reported?

Also, have any of you scored a perfect 300 in Wii Sports bowling?


If any of you are like me, and have misplaced your Wii Sports disc, you can see prices for Wii Sports on Amazon.com linked below: