Monthly Archives: May 2009

Ubi’s released the first trailer for Splinter Cell Conviction. There’s nothing in it apart from a very miserable Sam Fisher banging on about how he’s shot his mate and lost his daughter.

His wife probably doesn’t understand him either. There’s no gameplay in it at all.

After the break. E3 reveal. Thanks, Joystiq.

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As promised GTTV’s shown the first teaser of the new Hawk game: it’s called Ride. Watch it after the break.

It’s got a plastic skateboard. Who knew?

No detail. It’s to be debuted properly at E3 and released later this year.

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DS sold more than 1 million consoles in the US last month, shifting 1.04 million units.

There’s no split on the the figures to tell us how many DSis are included in the figure.

PlayStation 2 outsold it’s younger, shinier brother by 45,000 units: the ancient machine, freshly cut to below $100, sold 172,000 to PS3′s 127,000.

Xbox 360 just managed to hold off the resurging PS2, selling 175,000 machines.

Wii won the home console battle yet again: It sold 340,000 in April.

For the full figures, go here.

As predicted, American games sales were down 17 percent for April compared to the same month last year.

Total sales were at $1.03 billion, down from $1.24 billion in 2008.

Hardware was down 8 percent to $391.63 million, while software dropped a dramatic 23 percent $510.74 million. Tough comps indeed.

Peripherals were down 15 percent to $129.45 million.

“While April sales might appear soft on the surface, it’s important to remember that April is being compared against a month (April 2008) that realized nearly 50 percent growth over April 2007,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

“This year’s performance still represents the second-best performance for the industry in the month of April, besting April 2007, which is the previous second-place holder, by 26 percent.

“Given how strong the growth was in the industry last year, there are still some months ahead where year-over-year comparisons may be difficult, but May should be an easier comparison than the last two months have been.”

Wii Fit was the biggest selling game in America last month, with 471,000 units sold.

Pokemon Platinum DS was second with 433,000 units moved, and Mario Kart came third at 210,000 units.

Matter of fact, the top four are all Nintendo titles.

Top ten below:

1. Wii Fit – 471K
2. Pokemon Platinum DS - 433K
3. Mario Kart Wii - 210K
4. Wii Play – 170K
5. The Godfather II (360) – 155K
6. Resident Evil 5 (360) – 122K
7. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) -  119K
8. Mario Kart DS – 112K
9. Guitar Hero Aerosmith (360) – 110K
10. The Godfather II (PS3) -  91K

Hardware Units

Apr-09
PlayStation 2 172K
PlayStation 3 127K
PSP 116K
Xbox 360 175K
Wii 340K
Nintendo DS 1.04M

Top 10 SKU’s April 2009

Publisher Platform Rank # Units
FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA Wii 1 471K
POKEMON PLATINUM VERSION NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 2 433K
MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA Wii 3 210K
PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA Wii 4 170K
THE GODFATHER II ELECTRONIC ARTS 360 5 155K
RESIDENT EVIL 5* CAPCOM USA 360 6 122K
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 7 119K
MARIO KART DS NINTENDO OF AMERICA NDS 8 112K
GUITAR HERO AEROSMITH* ACTIVISION BLIZZARD (CORP) 360 9 110K
THE GODFATHER II ELECTRONIC ARTS PS3 10 91K

LucasArts has released a trailer and bevy of screens for Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes.

Head on over to CVG and have a look at the shots.

It’s the same video Entertainment Weekly posted last Saturday, but now you can watch it here instead of clicking through.

Game’s out for DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 and Wii in September.

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IGN has posted a new video for Terminator: Salvation showing off the rail sequences.

Basically you will get an idea of what it’s like to be shooting from a moving vehicle while things are trying to blow you to mushy bits.

Best trailer for the game yet, we think. Just because it’s hectic. We like hectic.

Grin’s shooter is out in May for PC, 360 and PS3.

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Nelson’s just posted some shots of a premium Crackdown theme coming to NXE tomorrow.

It’ll cost you 240 Microsoft Points.

A premium theme for a two year-old game. Wonder why?

Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian says that the PS3 could get a $100 price cut between E3 and the end summer.

Putting the console at $299 would not only be good for business, but the purse strings as well. Anything less “would likely be perceived negatively by the market,” Sebastian told Gamasutra.

“In addition to a $100 price reduction, which would put the PS3 in easier reach of a mass market audience, we note that Sony has a healthy lineup of upcoming first-party video games planned over the next year, including inFAMOUS, God of War III, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2 and Gran Turismo 5,” said Sebastian.

“For Sony PlayStation, we believe the next 12 months are critical to regain market share, particularly with Nintendo losing some momentum near- term, and with Microsoft likely introducing a new gesture-based user interface.”

More through the link.

Microsoft has announced eight new titles for the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits collection.

Each of the following games will arrive in retail for as low as $19.99, complete with repackaging.

• Army of Two
• Battlefield Bad Company
• Burnout Paradise
• EA Sports Fight Night Round 3
• Forza Motorsport 2
• Gears of War
• Mass Effect (includes Bring Down the Sky)
• Viva Pinata

Check your local retail stores for availability.

Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic is up on the PSN store free this week, Bionic Commando Rearmed is on sale for $4.99 (original price $9.99), and of course there’s the usual round-up of DLC and game add-ons.

Get the full thing from the US PS Blog. Also, in case you passed it up, here’s what the folks across the pond got.

Harmonix has announced that six Alice Cooper tracks will hit Rock Band next week.

Offerings include live versions of Billion Dollar Babies, I’m Eighteen, Raped and Freezing, and School’s Out along with the studio tracks Poison, and Vengeance is Mine.

Taking Back Sunday tracks Liar (It Takes One to Know One), Makedamnsure and What’s it Feel Like to be a Ghost will also be made available.

Time to get out the eyeliner.

Thanks’ D’toid.

Konami has posted record sales figures for fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, with total sales reaching $3.24 billion which is a y-o-y increase of 4.2 percent.

Net income fell 40.7 percent ($114m) over last year, but revenue in the Digital Entertainment division increased 4.9 percent to $1.96 billion.

Worldwide, Metal Gear Solid 4 stood at 4.75 million units with Metal Gear Online claiming 1.3 million registered users, and the Pro Evolution Soccer series sold over 8.48 million units.

More numbers and figures are posted on Gamasutra.

Screens showing the new Mario & Luigi RPG 3 are posted over on The Nintendo, and it looks rather cute.

The RPG has mini-games, the ability to play as Bowser, Luigi and Mario and makes use of the DS microphone and touchscreen. Battles are turn-based, and the game starts you off inside Bowser and you will be able to go back inside him using a pipe system.

A new ranking system has been implemented allowing players to earn rank as they level up. This allows Boswer, Luigi or Mario to buy, earn and equip more items.

The game is slated for a summer release in Europe, and North America sometime this year.

A new trailer for Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is posted over on StarWars.com, and it shows Han Solo filling in for Indy.

Apparently the surprise for Star Wars fans in the new Indy game was a playable Han Solo. Fancy that.

Hans will be able to use his standard issue laser pistol, but it looks like he will be using the whip more. Just like his alter ego.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is scheduled for release on June 12 for DS, PS2, PSP and Wii.

Thanks, VideoGamer.

Croteam’s CEO Roman Ribaric has posted on the company website that Serious Sam III is still in development, but it will still be a while before it’s ready for the adoring public because it still needs a publisher.

“Since the Serious Sam 2 was released in end of 2005, we have been working hard on a number of things, one of which is new next-gen ‘Serious Engine 3′ technology,” he wrote.

“We have also recently started the development on two games, one of which is the next Serious Sam FPS game. Here, we are pretty close in signing the publishing deal, so when that happens, you’ll hear it here as well.

“Since a lot still has to be done, especially on the next Sam game, we don’t have a firm release date on it yet. When we do, we’ll announce it here on our pages.”

More through the link.

Thanks, DarkZero.

The full content list for the European PSN Store is posted after the break, courtesy of CVG.

Games released this week include Bejeweled 2, and Texas Cheat’em, while Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 has three new  missions for you.

Get to downloading.
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Those crazy splicers were everywhere in the first BioShock, and the sequel’s no exception.

Eurogamer France has a few shots posted of these Adam obsessed sickos, along with a few others.

You can get them through here.

Frogster has announced that its free-to-play MMO Runes of Magic already boasts one million users.

The game launched just two scant months ago in Europe and North America. Russian and a Korean language versions will be added soon.

During the next few weeks, BitRaider will start streaming the game in North America so players can spend minutes playing throughout the day until they get home from the office to log in.

More through the link.