Monthly Archives: May 2009

Want some screens of Fable II DLC See the Future? Go to Kotaku.

When’s it out? Tomorrow.

How much does it cost? 560 MS Points.

And that’s that.

Sega just confirmed a Vintage Collection 2 for XBLA and PSN, including the long-rumoured Gunstar Heroes.

The platform shooter will be coming to both PSN and XBLA this summer, while the rest of the titles – Shinobi, Comix Zone, Phantasy Star 2, Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles – will be XBLA-only.

Press release after the break.

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Aion’s success has lifted NCsoft out of the doldrums, giving the Korean firm a 51 percent sales rise in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.

Sales of KRW 133.4 billion ($107.7 million) were achieved in the first three months of the year. Operating income was up heavily to KRW 42.5 billion ($34.3 million), an increase of 128 percent year-on-year.

Aion generated KRW 42.65 billion ($34.57 million) in sales for the period, nearly as much as Lineage 1 and Lineage 2 combined.

More on Gama. Aion releases in the West later this year.

EEDAR’s released its consoles sales estimates for the US in April, putting 360 numbers significantly lower than Michael Pachter.

The company put 360 at 210,000, PS3 at 160,000 and Wii at 425,000 for the month.

Pachter said earlier that Wii had sold 480,000 units, 360 275,000 and PS3 175,000 consoles.

More on GoNintendo.

According to figures released by Nintendo today, one of every five Japanese people owns a DS.

The company has sold 26.1 million units in the nation, to a population of 127 million.

Bonkers. Thanks, Kotaku.

Eidos Montreal has confirmed its second title, and, as everyone apart from the deaf, blind, simple man sitting outside the baker’s knew, it’s Thief 4.

The official site’s here.

“Were in the early development stages for Thief 4, but this is an incredibly ambitious project and a very exciting one,” said general manager Stephane D’Astous.

“It’s too early for us to offer any specific game details, right now we are focused on recruiting the very best talent to join the core team at the studio and help us make, what we believe will be one of the most exciting games on the market.”

So there we are. No other detail as yet.

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter just put out his US console sales estimate for April, putting Wii at 480,000 units, 360 at 275,000, and PS3 at 175,000 consoles.

The analyst predicted another tough comp for the month, saying he expects sales of $550 million, down 17% compared to last year’s $660 million.

“April presents another month of difficult comparisons (after March’s –17%), with last year’s spectacular launches of Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto IV selling 2.9 million units and Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii selling 1.1 million units (combined for $235 million and 36% of April 2008 total sales),” Pachter said in a note.

“The release slate in April 2009 was very light.”

April’s NPD releases on May 14.

Beyond belief. “Noob” could be the millionth official English word, according to this MSN report, citing UK newspapers the Telegraph, the Sun and the Independent.

Global Language Monitor acknowledges new words once they have been used 25,000 times by media outlets, social networking websites and in other public sources, apparently.

That’s not even funny. Full thing through there.

This is getting boring now. Wii Fit’s still top of the UK chart, holding off Wolverine in second place twice in a row.

Last week’s chart here. Data below for the week ending May 9. Full top 40 here.

Intent’s released its Develop 100 listing, with Blizzard sat at the top.

Nintendo won it last year. Wii death confirmed.

Full thing through the link. Press release after the break.

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Up to 8,450 game industry professionals have lost their jobs since July 2008, according to analyst Wanda Meloni.

Around 6,300 jobs have been lost from the North American trade, the rest coming from Asia and the UK.

Meloni noted that multiple studios have bitten the dust during the period.

“A handful of others are on life support, operating with a skeletal workforce and actively looking for buyers,” she said.

More on Gama.

A schedule of planned Capcom games for the coming year suggests the firm may be working on a PS3 exclusive.

There are 13 PS3 titles listed on the slate, as opposed to 12 360 games.

Bet it’s MegaMan. More on 1UP.

A few new shots of The Sims 3 after the break, two of which were labelled “gone gold” on Gamespress.

This may mean the game’s gone gold. Watch for a press release later.

It’s out on June 5.

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While it’s hardly the most revelatory news in the world, in a mini-documentary about the relationship between the Audi R8 and Gran Turismo 5, creator Kazanori Yamauchi has confirmed the game will have weather effects and night racing.

The developer also said that the hilariously-delayed damage model, which was supposed to have been applied to GT5 Prologue a great many moons ago, will happen “soon”.

There’s a translation of the interview on the EG forums.

No real change in the Japanese hardware charts this week. DS Lite’s popped up above 360, but that’s about it.

Last week’s figures here. Data below for the week ending May 3.

• PSP – 49,557
• DSi – 49,133
• PS3 – 23,588
• Wii – 21,546
• DS Lite – 7,540
• Xbox 360 – 7,313
• PS2 – 5,479

Bethesda’s Splash Damage game sounds like the most amazing thing in the world, if Euro MD Sean Brennan’s to be believed.

“We’re not announcing the name yet, but it’s a first-person shooter. That’s a product that we believe is a genre-breaker, it’s a real killer app,” he told GI.

“From a quality perspective we’re pitching that along the same lines as Fallout 3. We’ve kept it under lock and key, there are so many innovative features in there we don’t want to reveal them too soon. We’ve spent significant resources developing the title. And that’s a great example of our European work.”

Nothing’s known of the game as yet. Hopefully that should change very soon.

Eidos chief Ian Livingstone’s teased the next Tomb Raider for the first time, saying the game is to “reinvigorate” the IP after a lukewarm Underworld reception.

“The next Tomb Raider, I think, will surprise a lot of people and reinvigorate the franchise,” he said, talking to GamingIndians.

“There are some remarkable things we’re doing in the next Tomb Raider to make you say, ‘Oh Lara, I love you so much!’”

We’re willing to bet you a huge amount of money it doesn’t make us say that, Ian.

There’s no other detail as yet. More soon, hopefully.

There may be another Tomb Raider movie on the way. Eidos boss Ian Livingstone said so in an interview with GamingIndians.

“It’s great that we’ve had Tomb Raider movies, we’ve had a Hitman movie; now there’s a Kane and Lynch movie and possibly another Tomb Raider movie,” he said.

“We’re also looking at the possibility of a television animated series based on Mini Ninjas.”

Amazing. Thanks, GoNintendo.

There’s a video after the break of an interview with Jerry Bruckheimer which contains the first footage from the Prince of Persia film.

It includes fighting, pouting and man-breasts. See for yourself. It’s out next year.

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A Trooper class has been announced for BioWare MMO The Old Republic. Get details here.

It’s a Republic soldier, basically, favouring a blaster over a light saber.

In addition, the latest comic for the Star Wars game has been released. Get it here.