Monthly Archives: January 2009

Lazard analyst Colin Sebastian said the the research firm expects US software sales to round the $10 billion mark “for the first time.”

On the whole, the US market was up from five to ten percent in spite of the current economic crisis.

What won’t really come as a surprise to anyone is that Lazard says Nintendo dominated the market for the month, saying the family friendly Wii sold over 3 million units.

Of the other two, Sebastian added:

“”We also believe Xbox 360 sales benefited from the fall price reductions, particularly with the Arcade console now at a $199 value price point.”

“While the PS3 continues to lose market share, we note that publishers and retailers alike are anticipating a price reduction on the platform this year,” he said.

The official NPD numbers are released tomorrow evening at circa 0030 CET. Make sure you’re right here to get them when they arrive.

Thanks, Edge.

By Mike Bowden

In the latest copy of Famitsu, Hideo Kojima has revealed in a developer chat with Yakuza’s Toshihiro Nagoshi, that he thinks 2009 is a very important year for him, and he hopes to at least have one new game out before it ends.

According to the IGN piece, Kojima also appears to be working on either three or four games in total.

The game he is designing himself is something that can be released quickly – so that’s presumably the one mentioned in the headline.

It’s all rather vague at the moment.

Anyway, expect a new Kojima game this year, is the message here.

By Mike Bowden

Nintendo reigns supreme down under at the moment with no less than seven entries on the Aussie top 10.

The top four is all Wii with Wii Play leading the way with Mario Kart only just behind. Wii Fit is pushing down hard at third, and Mario & Sonic at the Olympics fourth.

Full top ten below. Thanks, Aussie-Nintendo.

By Mike Bowden

505 Games has unveiled We Rock: Drum King for Nintendo Wii which carries the tagline, “become a music legend, without the need for costly instrument peripherals.”

The game boasts that all you need to use is two Wii remotes, so you don’t need to fork out for extra gear. Take that! Activision and EA.

The Wii-motes become your virtual drumstick, apparently and you can play along to tracks like Bloc Party’s Banquet and Born To Be Wild by Steppenwolf.

Brand new images after the break followed by the full release.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Lionhead has released a set of six new screenshots of Fable II’s Knothole Island, released yesterday on Xbox Live for 800 MS points.

We’ve had a little go on it, and suffice to say we’re very impressed so far.

Check out the pics after the break.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Following this morning’s rumour that Guitar Hero Metallica being released in the US in March, Activision has confirmed to Eurogamer the Guitar Hero Metallica will be released in Europe in May.

The protracted date was on the same press release with the (now removed) Indiana Jones and the Sceptre and Kings game we told you about yesterday.

By Mike Bowden

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has just issued a note detailing and commenting on Majesco’s financial results for Q4 2008.

“The company feels the results were mixed but generally positive,” says the research note.

“Majesco provided initial FY:09 guidance for revenue ‘in excess’ of $70 million and for positive operating income and now Wedbush Morgan is raising its finacial year 2009 estimates for revenue to $72 million from $70 million, and for EPS to $0.11 from $0.10.”

Pachter said that Wedbush “continues to believe that Majesco can deliver sustainable profits, so long as it is able to grow revenues.”

Last year, Cooking Mama made the company $2.7 million which was more than enough for Majesco feel that a second helping was warranted.

By Mike Bowden

The latest set of Famitsu scores are in and the Japanese games magazine has awarded Valve’s Left 4 Dead 35/40 and Namco Bandai’s excellent looking Fragile:Farewell Ruins of the Moon 31/40.

Full set of scores below:

• Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360, Electronic Arts): 10 / 9 / 8 / 8 – (35/40)
• WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2009 (PS3, THQ): 8 / 8 / 7 / 7 – (30/40)
• Zubo (NDS, EA): 6 / 7 / 7 / 7 – (27/40)
• Monster Racer (NDS, Koei): 8 / 8 / 8 / 7 – (31/40)
• Inukana no Ichizoku (NDS, From Software): 8 / 8 / 7 / 7 – (30/40)
• Rabbids Party: TV Party (NDS, Ubisoft): 5 / 6 / 6 / 5 – (22/40)
• Hokuto no Ken: Raoh Gaiden – Ten no Haoh (PSP, Interchannel): 6 / 6 / 7 / 5 – (24/40)
• Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekidou (Wii, Kadokawa Shoten): 6 / 6 / 5 / 5 – (22/40)
• Fragile: Sayonara Tsuki no Haikyo (Wii, Bandai Namco): 8 / 8 / 8 / 7 – (31/40)
• Rabbids Party: TV Party (Wii, Ubisoft): 7 / 7 / 6 / 7 – (27/40)

Thanks, NintendoEverything.

By Mike Bowden

Koei has announced that the Euro release date for Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is March 27.

The game will be released simultaneously for 360 and PS3.

From the release:

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 combines the devastating power of the Mobile Suit, the rich legacy of the GUNDAM universe and the furious Tactical Action game play of the DYNASTY WARRIORS series. The game will thrust players into incredible battles against legions of enemy Mobile Suits on distant planetary surfaces and in the far reaches of outer space. For the first time, DYNASTY WARRIORS: GUNDAM 2 will let players engage in melee battles against colossal enemies such as the Psycho Gundam. The massive Psycho Gundam can quickly reconfigure their bodies into titanic mobile fortresses which can move with remarkable speed. However, highly-trained pilots can utilize their own Mobile Suit’s speed, agility, and of course firepower to defeat these deadly juggernauts.

Sounds pretty awesome to us.

Full thing after the break.

By Mike Bowden

2K boss Christoph Hartmann told MCV that the market is “flooded by crappy titles” for Wii and therefore makes it very hard for a new game to shine.

“Where people go wrong in the casual market is that, while the development costs are exploding on the casual side, they’re treating the Wii like the old PC market – making cheap, accessible games,” said Hartmann.

“They think if they make ten titles and two are hits, they will finance the other eight. But they forget these eight crappy titles will flood the market and will lead to problems in terms of production – and upset retailers.

“Also, the consumer will be pissed off because they’ll be confused,” he added.

2K has recently released Carnival Games. When asked as to any potential sales success for the game, Hartmann added:

“Had we released it last week, it would have been much tougher. There’s far too much stuff in the Wii market [now] and it’s hard to shine.

“While the Wii is the strongest growing console, it’s a risk not to have well known brands in your games.”

By Mike Bowden

Ubisoft announced Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood last night and said that in terms of story, the game will be a prequel.

“Call of Juarez was well received by gamers and critics,” said John Parkes, Marketing Director at Ubisoft EMEA.

“We’re confident this new collaboration with Techland will bring an even bigger and better adventure to fans of shooters and the lawless Wild West.”

Bound in Blood will be released for PC, 360 and PS3 at some point this year.

Full release after the break.

By Mike Bowden

More »

EA has told videogamer that BioWare is “working towards Mass Effect 2″.

“They’ve (BioWare) talked about it being a trilogy,” said the rep. “It’s no surprise that they are working towards Mass Effect 2.”

Well, yeah, it isn’t. Especially as it was revealed last week that BioWare devs Dusty Everman and Corey Andruko would be talking about the game at GDC 09.

Slow news day.

By Mike Bowden

The CEO of Nintendo Korea, Mineo Koda, has told the Asian News Network that the company doesn’t see itself in competition with either Sony or Microsoft.

“People often ask such questions, and we say our competitor is neither those companies, but consumer indifferent to games,” he said.

Koda went on to say he feels Nintendo has a big task ahead of it in changing people’s perceptions of video games in the region.

“As there were many violent games, many parents had negative images of games,” he explained. “We face a major challenge of changing those negative images.

“We believe that the Korean market has growth potential as there are many people who are not interested in online games and who used to play online games, but do not play them anymore,” he added.

Thanks, GI

Images after the break. The extra content will be available to download in Japan on January 15.

The DLC gives you some new uniforms and a quest rewarding you with the Sword of Magic.

It all sounds very exciting and Level 5 promises there will be more content to come.

It was recently confirmed that White Knight Chronicles will be released in the US sometime this year. Nothing on Europe so far, we’re afraid.

Update: The extra content is for the online mode and is recommended for players of level 36 and over. The content is called: ‘What are you looking for?’

Thanks, TripSkyWay.

By Mike Bowden

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SCEA social media manager, Jeff Rubenstein, has left a comment on the PlayStation Blog revealing that there will be no Killzone 2 Collector’s edition due to Guerilla focusing primarily on making the game a masterpiece.

“There is no collector’s edition slated for Killzone 2,” Rubensein wrote last night.

“Guerrilla Games has put all of their effort into creating this masterpiece of a game, so we didn’t actively pursue a CE.”

So there you have it.

By Mike Bowden

IGN reckons it’s got the skinny on exactly when Nintendo’s new DSi will be reaching American shores.

The site claims are “multiple sources” have revealed that Nintendo “has allegedly relayed to its partners that DSi will ship stateside in early April, most likely on April 4,” so the rumour goes.

“Insiders assert that they have been told the system will retail for $179.99 when it launches domestically.”

DSi launched in Japan on November 1 last year.

The impossibly popular handheld sold over 1 million units on December 21 – that’s a little under two months, people.

Nintendo has previously stated that Europe will get DSi in the Spring.

By Mike Bowden

Nintendo of Japan has announced a new Pokémon game entitled Explorers of the Sky fro Nintendo DS.

Explorers of the Sky will include five new characters – Riolu, Eevee, Phanpy, Vulpix and Shinx.

It is also revealed that Grovyle the Thief returns to the game. There will also be new guild-based episodes in which you’ll be able to take control of Pokémon.

Explorers of the Sky has been announced for a Spring release in Japan.

By Mike Bowden

Kotaku is rumouring that EA has shut its Pandemic Studio in Brisbane, Australia.

The ‘Destroy All Humans!’ developer was apparently “set free” allowing the team to retain its original IP and equipment.

“It was more of a ‘Find a new publisher. Good luck.’ kind of thing,” says the source.

Last year it emerged that The Dark Knight game-of-the-movie was canned because Pandemic Studios “couldn’t keep up.”

We wish Pandemic the best of luck in its future endeavours.

By Mike Bowden

Harmonix and MTV have announced that the Rock Band Music Store is now available for Nintendo Wii.

There are an initial 50 tracks including 20 free and 30 paid-for. Each track will cost you 200 Wii Points.

For everything that’s available, see the press release after the break.

By Mike Bowden

More »

The first print reviews of Capcom’s Street Fighter IV are in and so far, so very good, reports the Capcom Blog.

The Official PlayStation Magazine has given the game 5/5 saying that SF IV is “a proud addition to the Street Fighter legacy that fighting fans will love” and that the fighter “kicks ass and takes names.”

The Official Xbox Mag chimes in with a 9.5/10 score and says that Street Fighter “does the impossible: Preserves the past while embracing the future.”

Sounds good.

Games out 20th February.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden