Japanese Gamers, Retailers, Developers Sum Up 2003

Thanks to Game Science for their news story compiling the results of an end-of-year survey in Japanese videogame magazine Famitsu. Among the intriguing results: the most popular game of 2003 for readers was Namco's GameCube RPG Tales Of Symphonia, with another GC title, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, coming in second, and Square's Final Fantasy X-2 for PS2 was voted the most disappointing title of the year. Elsewhere, game developers and shops voted Western-developed Grand Theft Auto III the game that "sold better than your expectations", and Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII is the most-awaited Japanese title of 2004 among developers, retailers, and gamers, with that company's Dragon Quest VIII firmly ensconced in second place. Finally, as an aside, the Game Science site has collected a neat conglomeration of Happy New Year postcards from Japanese game developers.