For those not in the known, it looks like Scribblenauts is already due for some serious success.  Between all the accolades it got at E3, and the limitless amount of press it's gotten on sites like IGN, all the early word of mouth has really done wonders for the game. As I mentioned in amother thread, it's already been in Amazon.com's top 100 video games (and accessories) for 35 days and still has almost 20 days to go till it launches.  The manager at my local Gamestop has told me that they've already hit their limit on the preorder bonus (a kick ass rooster hat).  Kingdom Hearts launch date got pushed back again, possible because it was launching too closely to this game.  I think it's very safe to say that Scribblenauts will break a million copies.  

The interesting thing though is that all of this word of mouth is pretty much limited to gaming sites, press, etc.  Places where the "hardcore" get their information. It's not being given Nintendo's commercial treatment of some hot chick playing the game and talking to herself like Layton, Zelda, Rythm Heaven, etc have received (not yet anyway). So it's safe to say that most of the people who've put up their preorder dollars are what we would call the Hardcore gamers.

Scribblenauts isn't the first (non Nintendo) DS game to get wild amounts of praise in these channels. In fact, you only have to look back a few months to GTA: Chinatown Wars.  Everyone loved that game.  It's the best scoring DS game on Metacritic to date.  But relatively speaking, it tanked.  It got a ton of hype and critical acclaim directed toward the same audience like Scribblenauts, but none of the pay-off.  What happened?  Why is Scribblenauts making out so much better?

Discuss over punch and pie.

I'd wait to see actual sales before saying anything.

For Chinatown wars I think they made it too violent for not much reason, which sort of segregate the game away from a large part of the market. The game is cel shaded and cartoony there was really no need for the swearing or really copious amounts of blood.

I appreciated it but as a business decision it makes no sense.

SteelAttack said:

Because even if GTA does wonders with the DS interface, it's still based off a traditional game premise. Shoot guys, blow shit up. Scribblenauts is built around a mind-fucking-bending premise (write something, watch it appear in the game, holy shit) that actually executes flawlessly, unlike most games with breakthrough features.

In fact, word of mouth seems to be the perfect way of advertising this game.

As well as that, Scribblenauts isn't a mature rated game. It has a much better chance of selling than GTA would.

ASK_Story said:

Well, I'm glad 5th Cell can achieve some good success. They deserve it. They're a talented group of developers who make nothing but good, and wholesome games. Drawn to Life did pretty well too, right? But I don't think Lock's Quest did that well. It was definitely more hardcore than casual, and a very good original, tower defense game.

Scribblenauts also look original and innovative, but it does have mainstream and casual appeal as well. It's a nice balance. I hope 5th Cell is successful and wish them all the luck!

 Drawn to Life is a million seller if I am not mistaken!

Lock's Quest is really niche so no surprise it sold bad.