Monthly Archives: October 2009

Um. Wow. The StarCraft II petition launched at the end of June to get LAN funationality implemented in the game now stands at 213,016 signatures.

Blizzards announced in June that LAN play was to be left out of the RTS, as it wanted instead to push all multiplay through the soon-to-be-relaunched Battle.net.

In other petition news, the MW2 dedicated server petition is now approaching 100,000 names. Go internet, etc.

Thanks, Gekidami.

Following 2D Boy deciding to offer World of Goo for any price punters wanted to pay, the game’s shifted an extra 57,000 units according to this RPS piece.

There’s an awesome graph through there showing exactly how people people paid what. Basically, Mr Boy is now significantly better off.

Must-read.

Warner PR boss Mark Ward makes an appearance on the latest One Life Left, which can be listened to online now.

Ward’s there to chat about Scribblenauts.

Give it a waz. The boys and girl done good at the GMAs. Give ‘em a hand.

Nintendo just said its black Wii bundle, which includes Wii Sports Resort and Wii MotionPlus, will release in Europe on November 20.

British and Irish punters will get it on November 6.

Americans get the new black kit on November 16, as previously announced.

PR after the break.

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PC Gamer editor Tim Edwards has explained why he’s signed an ever-growing petition aimed at getting Infinity Ward to provide dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2 PC multiplayer.

In his own words:

• Dedicated server hosts are judged by their reliability.
• Dedicated servers are fair.
• Dedicated servers are adaptable.
• Dedicated servers create community.

There’s a detailed explanation of all of those points through the link.

Inifinity Ward said over the weekend that Modern Warfare 2 wouldn’t feature dedicated servers for online play.

The linked petition now has more than 92,000 sigs.

THQ’s Darksiders will release on January 8, 2010, the publisher said overnight.

The Vigil-developed action-tastic Four Horseman-based apocalothon features large baddies and much violence.

PS3 and 360 are the weapons of destruction.

Game Informer’s posted up heaps more artwork, shots and movies from Junction Point’s Epic Mickey. Take a look.

There’s five pages’ worth there, all to do with the game’s graphics, design and animation. “Epic” is definitely the word.

It’s out on Wii next year.

Update – Looks like it’s confirmed. Sega’s tweeted it. Thanks, Gamoc.

Kotaku‘s chalking this up as rumour, but word is Famitsu’s awarded Bayonetta top marks, making it only the twelth game in the magazine’s entire history to get 40/40.

And the others are:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
2. Soulcalibur (1999)
3. Vagrant Story (2000)
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003)
5. Nintendogs (2005)
6. Final Fantasy XII (2006)
7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)
9. 428 (2008)
10. Dragon Quest IX (2009)
11. Monster Hunter Tri (2009)

It’s out in Japan on October 29 and in Europe and the US early next year.

All You Need is Love was downloaded more than 100,000 times for The Beatles: Rock Band in September, MTV said today.

The DLC was a 360 exclusive, as announced at E3 this year.

The game itself was the second bestselling title across all formats in the US last month, as detailed in last night’s NPD release.

PR below.

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BioWare’s chucked up a few new Mass Effect 2 screens from the “arsenal” section of the game’s official site.

If you wanted to know about the Avenger Assault Rifle, soldier, today’s your lucky day.

The RPG’s out in January.

We don’t care if this is old. Nelson told HipHopGamer at E3 that PS3′s going to be gathering dust soon thanks to Metal Gear: Rising going multi-plat.

“I’m going to be happy when I come to your place next time and I see your PS3 off with dust on it,” said the exec.

“That’s all I want to say.”

You must watch this video. At 6.20 Nelson’s asked, “How was you able to whip the Wii’s ass?”

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Nintendo may be on the verge of warning of a drop in profits and revenue for the first time in six years, according to this Bloomberg piece.

Net income will probably fall 11 percent to 249.3 billion yen ($2.7 billion) this fiscal year, the first drop since the 12 months ended March 2004, according to the median of 10 analyst estimates compiled since the company cut Wii’s price on September 24.

Nintendo is scheduled to report earnings on October 29.

“Nintendo may cut its profit projection about 30 percent because of sluggish sales in the first half, the price cut for the Wii and currency-related impact,” said Satoru Kikuchi, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG in Tokyo.

“Investors are expecting the company to fully reflect its business environment in its forecast.”

Whoops. Lots more through there.

A Mercedes movie detailing its collaboration on the SLS-AMG in GT5 has seemingly made a first showing of the game’s box – with space for three discs.

Watch it after the break. The box is seen at about 52 seconds, and apparently shows red, black and blue disc cases in the overall pack.

Bear in mind this could be bollocks. It’s out in Japan next March. Thanks, GTPlanet.

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Gamestop’s released a new Modern Warfare 2 video, this one showing off multiplayer on the game’s Rust map.

Watch it on VideoGameZone.de.

It’s sandy and has guns. You can clearly see it’s suffering from the lack of dedicated servers, however. That’s a joke.

It’s out November 10.

Sony’s pumped about its September PS3 sales in the US. So much so, in fact, that boss Jack Tretton has claimed the company is changing the shape of “entertainment” as a whole.

“We are in the midst of one of the most exciting times for PlayStation as we continue to redefine entertainment experiences for consumers, both at home and on the go,” Tretton said, pointing to the price drop for the Playstation 3 and the release of the PSPgo.

“We’ve made unprecedented strides in digital and mobile entertainment with the availability of PSPgo.”

He added: “The best part is that we’ve only just begun an onslaught of relentless, rich content hitting throughout the fiscal year, including Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time, God of War III, MAG, and ModNation Racers.”

“Relentless” is a great word. Get all the rest of the NPD news here. Thanks, Kotaku.

Microsoft’s post-NPD statement dropped some pretty staggering stats on Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, confirming that over 5 million unique players have racked up playtime with the Halo 3: ODST’s single-player campaign or Halo 3 and the multiplayer maps showcased on the game’s second disc, totaling over 116 million hours of play.

ODST was the biggest selling game in the US in September.

MS also claimed the lead in revenue for third party game sales in September, with $154 million in sales generated by third parties on 360.

According to Microsoft, 360 has maintained a lead in third party sales dollars for every month of 2009.

More on Gama.

Wii Play is the bestselling game so far in the US this decade, NPD said last night, with 11.1 million units moved.

Guitar Hero III and GTA: San Andreas are second and third respectively, with 10.3 million and 9.8 million units sold respectively.

Full list below. These are sales from January 2000 to August 2009. Thanks, Gamespot.

1. Wii Play with Remote (2006) / Wii / 11.1 million
2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (2007) / PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 / 10.3 million
3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) / PS2, Xbox/ 9.8 million
4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) / DS, PS3, Xbox 360 / 8.5 million
5. Wii Fit with Balance Board (2008) / Wii / 7.9 million
6. Madden NFL 07 (2006) / GC, GBA, PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360
7. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) / PS2, Xbox
8. Madden NFL 08 (2007) / GC, PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360,
9. Call of Duty: World at War (2008) / DS, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii
10. Halo 2 (2004) / Xbox

For the rest of the new from last night’s NPD release, hit this.

We’re very lucky. We can go to sleep, and a writer in Northern Ireland magically writes up the entire NPD.

Want all the detail on American sales in September? You, love, are in the right place.

• September NPD – Slight YoY increase reported, second best September since ’07
• September NPD – ODST wins on software front
• September NPD – PS3 bested only by DS in the US
• September NPD – Wii Play bestselling game decade-to-date
• September NPD – Microsoft focusses on ODST success
• September NPD – Sony “continues to redefine entertainment”

Well, this is no good. Q-Games President Dylan Cuthbert has tweeted that Sony’s infinitely pirateable portable probably won’t be seeing any more of his company’s flagship franchise.

“I don’t think we’ll port anything else to the PSP, we have to see how [PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe] does as there’s a *lot* of piracy,” he said.

When confronted with the possibility of rigging the game’s code with anti-piracy measures, Cuthbert was less than optimistic.

“Unfortunately, the pirates could just hack those kinds of things out.”

For shame, pirates. For shame.

Boy, time sure flies, doesn’t it? Yet another month is in the books, and we’ve got NPDs to prove it. Now all that’s missing is… oh, good timing – thanks, MTV! Let the post-NPD trash-talk begin!

“We outsold them two-to-one on a revenue basis and we outperformed on a unit basis as well, despite the fact that they had an eight-day advantage, and were giving away free software,” said MTV Games general manager Scott Guthrie to Gamasutra.

“At the end of the day, The Beatles: Rock Band clearly outperformed them, and we’re not done yet. We’re anticipating a very successful holiday period.”

Guthrie also gave out a bit of advice while standing on the winner’s podium.

“I think when you’re giving away a great artist like Van Halen, to me it marks a little bit of desperation in trying to move their product,” he said. “Van Halen is a great artist, and it’s a pity that they went from trying to sell that product this December to giving it away in September.”

Aw, Van Halen, you look cold. Here’s a blanket and some hot cocoa. Yep, good ol’ Harmonix’ll treat you right.

More through the link.