I think that the gaming journalists haven't picked up on this yet..  game was intentionally released at the same time as GTA and Pokemon just so people would see it, even if it means it will have poor initial sales.

They did nearly the same thing with Boom Blox, and that game _appeared_ to bomb, but had steady sales, and a marketing push for Christmas, and ended up selling around a million copies.  It's a very different pattern for launching a game than most people are used to, they're stucking thinking that a game can only sell in the first weekend.

Gaming journalists didn't really pick up on that story at all, they wrote it off and forgot about it while it continued to gain momentum in the market.

Interesting -- I hadn't thought about this at all. It's pretty awesome.

I'm thinking it's safe to say Henry Hatsworth will have a similar effect. Between Pokemon and GTA they get attention from (among) the biggest franchises of the casual and hardcore markets. And the cover is awesome. Sword in one hand, cup of tea in the other. Saving the mother****ing day.

I hope you're right, that EA has such a plan.  Let's see a big ad campaign with a former member of the cast of Friends.