Monthly Archives: September 2009

According to the NPD Group’s Anita Frazier, all hardware systems with the exception of PS2 “realized an increase in unit sales over July”.

The PS3 captured the greatest increase month-over-month with unit sales boosted by 72% over July levels, but DS was the clear winner in August.

• DS 552.9K (538.9K)
• Wii 277.4K (252.5K)
• Xbox 360 215.4K (202.9K)
• PS3 210.0K (121.8K)
• PSP 140.3K (122.8K)
• PS2 105.9K (108K)

All hardware systems with the exception of the PS2 realized an increase in unit sales over July – those figures are in parenthesis.

Frazier also noted in the release that Wii is selling at levels comparable to what PS2 was doing at about this point in its lifecycle.

Interesting.

EA CEO John Riccitiello has stated in a memo that Madden NFL 10 sales are “discouraging”, and he is disappointed that “one of our highest-rated and best-marketed ‘Madden’ titles in years is facing strong headwinds” during its debut.

No word yet on what the sales figures were has been revealed yet, as the NPD numbers have yet to be released; however, as of October of last year, Madden NFL 09 has sold 4.5 million copies.

The Wall Street Journal has posted the memo in full, and we have it for you after the break.

Maybe the NPDs will shed more light on the situation.

Via Kotaku.

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The US PS store update this week is rockin’ if we do say so ourselves, what with Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain being made available.

There’s also, TMT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, Silent Hill, Syphon Filter 2, and demos for Katamari Forever, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, and TMNT.

Add-on content includes Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Gary Player, UFC 2009: Undisputed Additional Fighters, High Velocity Bowling, George Takei for PAIN, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Juggernaut Playable Character, Red Faction Guerrilla Multiplayer Pack 2, and the usual Guitar Hero and Rock Band stuff.

PSP gets WipEout Pulse, Wild Arms XF and a demo for Half-Minute Hero along with Love Spreads by The Stone Roses and I Stand Alone by Godsmack for Rock Band: Unplugged.

Themes, videos and the rest can be found over on the US PS Blog.

Turn 10 sat down with GiantBomb during PAX and talked all things Forza Motorsport 3.

Speaking with the site, senior designer Bill Giese gave a demo of the game, which is currently in certification with Microsoft.

The video is posted after the break, or though here if you prefer.

Game’s out October 23.
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A new Dragon Age: Origins, which is posted below the break, reveals the character Leliana.

The former bard has chosen the path of the Maker and is a fighter for the light and a possible love interest for your character.

Watch on, courtesy of BigDownload.

Game’s out in November.

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SCEE has stated that its looking into to changing the redesigned Friends list that launched with PS3 firmware update 3.0.

“The updates to firmware don’t always suit everyone’s tastes, but on the flip side there are those that really like the changes – except maybe the friends list – which we are looking into based on your comments,” wrote SCEE’s brand manager Mark Bowles on the EU PS Blog.

“In fact we are looking at all your concerns raised in these pages and will keep you posted with developments as we always try to do. We really do appreciate the feedback you guys give us, both positive and negative.”

Sounds like a plan.

Via Joystiq.

Activision has issued a statement, regarding Courtney Love’s outburst on Twitter over the use of Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero 5.

“Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain’s likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero 5,” Activision told Kotaku.

Wonder what the fuss is about then.

We have been trying to contact Love’s manager, PR firm, and personal lawyer since this morning when the news broke to get a statement – just for the sake of fairness and the facts.

Hopefully, we will hear back from one of the three soon.

Direct2Drive’s turning five, and to celebrate, its putting some games up for sale each week for five weeks for $5/£5.

The first week’s offerings, which end on September 14, consist of Ubisoft and strategy titles, which are listed after the break. The following genres will be put up for sale each week, with titles to be revealed at a later date:

• Week Two: Action Games
• Week Three: RPGs & MMOs
• Week Four: Indie Games
• Week Five: War Games

Head on past the break to see what’s up for grabs in your region.

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SCEA has announced that since the new 120Gb PS3 hit at $299 on September 1, a 300 percent increase in hardware sales has been reported.

Total revenue for PS3 hardware increased by 140 percent, comparing the first week of September to the week before the $299 price adjustment.

Sony plans for the upswing to continue leading up to the holidays, with its “It Only Does Everything” marketing campaign bringing awareness to the multimedia console.

Additionally, according to an August OTX industry survey of the launches that gamers want to buy most, five of the top 10 titles were on PS3.

These most wanted titles included God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII, Gran Turismo 5, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Sony has stated that with 25 exclusive titles slated through the holiday and into early next year, “these games are just the tip of the iceberg”.

The August NPDs come out this evening, and while the figures will not include the numbers from the Slim or new price point launch week, there is bound to be some good news there for Sony, we reckon.

The fourth Star Wars: The Old Republic timeline video details the return of the Mandalorians, which were a warlike, nomadic group of clan-based people with members from multiple species.

Mandalorians made great mercenaries and bounty hunters – think Jango Fett.

Though unproven, as no evidence exists, Imperial agents played a role in the Mandalorian rise to power and support of the Empire.

Cool stuff. Hit the link to find out more.

Mike Kebby, from SCEE’s PlayStation Store Team, has posted on the EU PS Blog that the upcoming DLC for Batman: Arkham Asylum landing on September 17 will be Insane Knight.

The other bit of DLC, Prey in the Darkness, will land on September 24.

This confirms rumors from earlier in the week.

You can find Kebby’s response to DLC content for the game in the comments section through the link.

The first screenshots from Funcom’s upcoming MMO, The Secret World, surfaced today.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has ‘em.

Rather cool looking they are, go see for yourself.

The Halo 3: ODST live-action trailer will be released in its entirety tonight on FX (Sky 164) in the UK.

It’s two minutes and 30 seconds long, and will air at 11:41pm during True Blood.

If you can’t wait that long, GamersHell has it for download, and if you want a taste of it, here is an excerpt.

Game’s out on September 22.

The latest European PSN update includes a free WipEout HD dynamic theme, demos for FIFA 10, LBP, and Fat Princess, while those who play Pain can get a George Takei pack.

Games, demos and the rest are after the break.

Rock Band, Guitar Hero, videos and normal themes can be found over on the EU PS Blog

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Microsoft’s Alex Cutting, Halo 3: ODST producer, has told VideoGamer that as far as a Natal version of Halo is concerned, the firm will only do it “when it makes sense”.

“A lot of people are interested in what Natal’s presence in Halo’s going to be,” he said. “We are committing to only doing it when it makes sense. We are not going to produce a gimmicky feature that just takes advantage of motion controls when it doesn’t feel right.

“We’re going to make the games we want to play. We’re not going to make a feature that’s not fun. If there’s an opportunity to do it, we will definitely investigate it. If it’s fun we will leave it in the game. But further than that, I can’t tell you any specific plans.”

More through the link.

Atari has moved the release date for Ghostbusters on DS, PC, Wii and Xbox 360 from October 23 to November 6.

Currently available on PS2 and PS3, the PSP version is still on track for an October 30 release.

Great. Another delay. Sorry kiddos.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

A source close to Eurogamer has confirmed reports earlier in the week that PS3 Slim bundles will be made available this year in the UK, and maybe as soon as October.

The Slim in question will be 250GB and will include either Assassin’s Creed II, Gran Truismo 5, or Uncharted 2 for £299.99.

According to the anonymous retail source, the October bundle will be Uncharted 2, and the one with Assassin’s Creed 2 is to be released in November. With Sony officially stating GT5′s to be released sometime during Q4 2009 – that bundle is due between October and December.

Sony has yet to comment at this time, but the source says that an announcement will be made soon.

More through the link.

Capcom released its Platinum Hits Triple Pack featuring Devil May Cry 4, Dead Rising, and Lost Planet: Colonies Edtiion this past Tuesday.

It was such a nice package of games, we decided to contact Capcom to find out if more were planned for the year or the very near future.

“We’ve been doing “Triple Pack” collections pretty steadily over the last three years,” Capcom’s Chris Kramer told VG247. “In 2006 we did a DMC collection for PS2 and in 2007 we did a Resident Evil PS2 collection.

“These collections are a great way to introduce new players to ongoing series, extend life of our back-catalog products and bring old favorites back at reasonable prices.

“We don’t have any new announcements at the moment — the Triple Pack is just launching — but I wouldn’t rule out more collections in 2010.”

Hear that kiddos? More Triple Packs may be coming next year. That’s good to hear.

Buried in a piece on Warner Bros.’ formation of DC Entertainment, the LA Times has thrown in figures for Batman: Arkham Asylum.

According to the report, the game – which was released on August 25 – has already moved “nearly two million units in less than a month” and calling it a “major hit”.

Technically, the game has been out – as of today – two weeks and two days. That’s about a million per week.

Not too shabby. the NPD figures are released today, so we may get an actual number for it later in the day.

More through the link, via Joystiq.

Xbox Europe boss Chris Lewis reckons multi-format games work better online through a 360. Massive shock there.

“We have a great journey through to Christmas,” he told MCV, via OXM.

“There are key titles that are exclusives but also great cross-platform titles that will just work better on Xbox Live.

“And in terms of content and networking, we have more content partnerships for Xbox Live.”

What have you got to say to that, Sony? Eh?

Thanks, CVG.