Monthly Archives: December 2009

Valve’s released a patch fixing hit boxes and the like in Left 4 Dead 2. There’s also been some tweaks to crouching, using the defibrillator, and loads more. Patch notes are below the break.

The Xbox 360 should get these same fixes and the other ones released for PC before the end of the month.

On the Team Fortress 2 front, soldiers are battling it out with the Demomen and whatever side kills the most over the next week, gets a new gun.

You can read up on that as well through here.

Have fun with both.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

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MTV Games and Harmonix announced today that Rubber Soul will land on the music store for The Beatles: Rock Band December 15 and 17 for Xbox 360/Wii and PS3, respectively.

Drive My Car, I’m Looking Through You and If I Needed Someone are already on the disc, so you can either download the following individually ($1.99/£.99/€1.49/160 MS Points/200 Wii Points) per each individual track or through a Complete the Album pack ($13.49/£7.49/€8.99/1440 MS Points).

Here’s the rest of the tracks:

• Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
• You Won’t See Me
• Nowhere Man
• Think For Yourself
• The Word
• Michelle
• What Goes On
• Girl
• In My Life
• Wait
• Run For Your Life

Via PR mail.

The EU PlayStation VDS has been updated, and here is what you’ll get:

• Fast & Furious
• Road Trip – Beer Pong Unrated Edition
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Inglorious Basterds
• The Hangover
• Shorts
• Fighting
• Moon
• Band Slam

Those waiting on 5.1 audio update, here are this week’s new additions:

• Cheri
• Tormented
• Drag Me To Hell
• The Hangover
• Road Trip – Beer Pong Unrated Edition
• Public Enemies
• Bruno

It’s hard to believe that Diablo II is nine years-old, isn’t it? But what is not hard to believe is that Blizzard is still supporting the title, and continues to release patches and content for the super dungeon game.

Today’s a prime example of this support, as patch 1.13 has been released on the public test servers. It includes the addition of character respecialization, and you get this free opportunity once you have completed the Den of Evil quest along with a new challenge included in the “Hell” difficulty mode.

“Players of Hell Difficulty Realm games are hereby warned once again, that a series of new and challenging tests await you! The answer lies within Diablo’s Bosses, which span across the world from the Den of Evil to the Throne of Destruction” revealed the patch notes.

The usual list of bug fixes, class changes and balancing were also noted, and if you want to try it out before it goes live (no date yet) , log into the ClassicBeta through Battle.net when starting up the game.

You can read the full notes through a Q&A through here.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

NOA’s Reggie Fils-Aime has said that despite the decline in hardware sales for this year, software will prove to be huge this year and in 2010.

“The record year of 2008 is very difficult to overlap. I look at our performance and see it’s right on track with where we believed it would be,” Fils-Aime told Bloomberg. “Our read on the consumer is very strong. What we are seeing today is a strong momentum for hardware and software.

“Profitability in this industry is in software. The software peak in this industry should be this year and next year. This industry is cyclical in that a system’s sales peak in the third calendar year. The fact that we’ve seen a decline year on year is standard.”

Truly, 2008 was a banner year, and while it will be hard to top that in terms of sales – all those great games pushed into 2010 may just come close to doing it.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Sony director of development John Hight has told the US PS Blog that God of War III is “complete”. Awesome sauce.

“The entire game is complete – we’re not adding anything to it,” he said, adding: “We just made beta with the game so we’re doing a lot of play-testing, tuning the game to make sure that it’s fun, got the right level of complexity and of course optimised so that it runs super-smooth.”

It’s out in March. Get pumped. Interview after the break. Thanks, CVG.

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The Japanese version of Modern Warfare 2′s beaten 100,000 day one sales, according to this Japanese blog post.

The split was 42,000 copies on 360 compared to 64,000 on PS3.

There’s more on Kotaku.

Halo: Reach will be the biggest game of 2010, Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg’s assured Gama, and not Polyphony’s GT5.

“Is it launching next year?” he joked of the racer.

“I’ve seen years and years of mini-games, but I haven’t seen that the game is done. They just released the PSP version – maybe that’s what they’ve been working on. I feel confident that there’s nothing that will compare in size. Halo: Reach will be the biggest game of 2010.”

Reach is expected towards the end of next year: GT5 is slated for a March launch in Japan.

Thanks, EG.

Sega’s to release a Resonance of Fate demo in Japan on December 22, according to Siliconera.

It’ll be up on PSN and XBL, but you’ll need a Japanese account to access it, obviously.

The RPG ships in Japan on January 28. The US and Europe will get it later on in the year.

IW’s Rob Bowling’s confirmed that Modern Warfare 2′s 360 Javelin patch has been given the nod my Microsoft.

“Xbox 360 update: latest patch just passed certification,” he tweeted.

“They just need to push it live. Goodbye Javelin glitchers!”

This means you won’t be able to turn yourself into a flying bomb and risk being banned from Live any more. Shame.

Nintendo has responded to the November NPDs, stating that DS has set an all-time record for the month while the installed base for Wii has surpassed 23 million in the US – with both systems selling over 3 million units combined.

With Nintendo hardware representing more than half of all video game systems sold in the US through November, Wii moved more than 1.25 million units making it the “fastest-selling home console to surpass an installed base of 23 million.”

DS was not to be left out, though, as it set a record for the most hand-held video game systems sold in the month of November – ever. According to NPD numbers, 1.7 million units were moved compared to 1.57 million in November 2008.

“Nintendo products top Amazon.com’s Most Wished For and Most Gifted lists for video games, and Wii remains at or near the top of the most-searched for video game terms on Yahoo!,” said NOA VP Cammie Dunaway. “As families and friends gather for the holidays, Nintendo games offer the best shared experiences.”

Four games published for Nintendo finished in the top 10 with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, coming in at number three with nearly 1.4 million units sold and when you combine that with Nintendo’s internal sales figures, the game has already surpassed the 2 million sales mark when including December sales figures.

Other top 10 NPD titles included Wii Sports Resort with more than 580,000 sold, Wii Fit Plus moving more than 490,000 and Mario Kart Wii with more than 310,000 sold.

Approximate year to date figures cited by Nintendo include:

• Wii Fit – 3.5 million units
• Wii Sports Resort – 2.4 million units
• Mario Kart Wii – 2.2 million units
• Wii Play – 2.1 million units
• Pokémon Platinum Version – 1.9 million units
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii – 1.4 million units
• Wii Fit Plus- 1.1 million units

NPD figures for November revealed that Tony Hawk: RIDE crashed and burned at retail for the month, moving only 114K units across all platforms since its release on the 17th.

While reviews were not very kind to the game, it’s a no brainer that the $120 price tag probably was a contributing factor that kept folks from picking it up – despite the innovative skateboard peripheral.

December may be a bit kinder to the title, what with consumers purchasing gifts and what not, so hopefully things will get better for the skating game -otherwise the sequel may get shelved.

That or it will only be remembered as Tony Hawk: RIDE – Epic Fail.

More through IndustryGamers.

Microsoft seemed rather pleased with the NPD figures for November, citing the move of 819.5K units and calling it the “best-ever November in Xbox 360 history”, repeatedly.

The Seattle giant was also pleased with Modern Warfare 2 selling 4.2 million units on the console beating out the PS3 version by more than two-to-one.

It also brought up the fact that more than 5.2 million multiplayer hours on XBL were logged playing Modern Warfare 2 on the first day alone – which scrambles our brain to be honest.

Xbox 360 also led games sales in November, with four of the top ten console games with third party titles selling “more on Xbox 360 last month than on the other current generation platforms combined.”

Assassin’s Creed II, Left 4 Dead 2, and Dragon Age: Origins rounded out 360 versions on the NPD top ten and it was the company’s “best-ever November for game sales, reaching $514 million in total sales”.

Consumers also spent a whopping $838 million on 360 hardware, software and accessories, adding to the stellar month for Microsoft.

Overall industry sales were down 7.6 percent versus last November, but still revenues were enough to make this the second-best November in industry history taking into account the incredible year that was 2008.

Year to date, the industry is still up 7 percent over 2007, and it looks like December may help fatten the number with the stellar promotions the industry has planned leased up to Christmas.

“Based on seasonality the industry looks like it will reach $20 billion for the year, which means December would have to be up over last year by 11 percent. Impossible? I don’t think so,” said NPD’s Anita Frazier. “More positive economic news combined with ‘frugal fatigue’ could positively impact industry sales during these last weeks of the holiday season. Breaking even seems more out of reach.

“In order to break even to last year, December sales would have to be up 36 percent over December 2008.

“There was even heavier promotional activity this year than normal, and while they seem to have benefited hardware sales, they don’t appear to have positively impacted software sales since unit sales of software are down even more than dollar sales are for that category.”

Still, second best November on record. That has to stand for something.  All told, retail sales of systems, software and accessories totaled $2.7 billion.

Hardware sales totaled $1.05 billion for the month despite being down year-over-year by around 13 percent.

But Nintendo is sitting rather well, having moved 1.7 million DS units for November, and Wii hitting at 1.26 million selling two and a half times what it did in October.

Xbox 360 tripled in sales, and Sony doubled making the hardware sales only around 12 percent behind what the overall figures were this time last year.

Here’s the full thing:

• Nintendo DS – 1.70M
• Wii – 1.26M
• Xbox 360 – 819.5K
• PlayStation 3 – 710.4K
• PSP – 293.9K
• PlayStation 2 – 203.1K

“All hardware systems realized an increase over October but one would expect that from seasonality alone ,” said NPD’s Anita Frazier. “I was really impressed by the performance of the PS2, which after 109 months in market is still experiencing strong sales (Nov’09 unit sales of over 200K – only a small decline from last November).

“While there has been a lot of focus on Wii sales as compared to last year, the system was still the best-selling console system by a margin of 54 percent. At this same point in the PS2 lifecycle, the PS2 was down in unit sales by 23 percent  over the previous year, but as history has shown, it continues to have a great deal of life left in it. So focusing on a comparison to Wii’s stellar 2008 performance masks the reality of just how well this system is selling.

“The PS3 realized the greatest increase over last year’s November sales and had its third best month in unit sales ever, coming in just under Decembers ’07 and ’08.”

Looks like Modern Warfare 2 was tops in November, unsurprisingly, selling over 6 million copies combined on PS3 and Xbox 360 with the later the clear winner at 4.20 million units moved.

New Super Mario Bros Wii didn’t do too bad though, as it moved 1.39 million units.

Here’s the full thing:

1. Modern Warfare 2 (360) – 4.20M
2. Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) – 1.87M
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii – 1.39M
4. Assassin’s Creed II (360) – 794.7K
5. Left 4 Dead 2 (360) -744.0K
6. Wii Sports Resort – 720.2K
7. Wii Fit Plus – 679.0K
8. Assassin’s Creed II (PS3) – 448.4K
9. Dragon Age: Origins (360) – 362.1K
10. Mario Kart Wii -315.0K

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has achieved the top spot for first-month sales of any game at the title level,” said NPD’s Anita Frazier. “Halo 3 previously held the spot when it sold 3.3 million units in September ’07 in 12 days at retail. MW2 bested Halo 3′s daily sales rate by 16 percent in its 19 days at retail in November.

“While this year’s top-selling item bested last year’s by 283 percent, it couldn’t make up for softness elsewhere. The top 50 games this year sold 5 percent less units than did the top 50 last year.”

Some new releases that did not make the top 10 despite the buzz (per Kotaku): Lego Rock Band, Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles and Tony Hawk Ride.

This week, the US PSN update has the Unhcarted: Eye of Indra Motion Comics 2, 3 and 4 for grabs at $0.99 each along with the following:

Downloadable Games

• PixelJunk Shooter ($9.99)
• Revenge of the Wounded Dragons ($9.99)
• Frogger Returns ($4.99)

PSone Classics: PS3/PSP: Bomberman Party Edition ($5.99)

Demos: topato, Dante’s Inferno,Mushroom Wars

Add-on Game Content

• inFAMOUS Gigawatt Blades Power (free)
• High Velocity Bowling GingerCharacter, Jarvis Character, Animal Patterns, and the Winter Holiday Ball Pack for $0.99 each
• Dragon Ball: Raging Blast Alien Warriors Pack (free)
• The King of Fighters XII: Classic Pack ($1.99)
• The King of Fighters XII: Dance Pack ($4.99)
• The King of Fighters XII:Hard Rock Pack ($4.99)
• The King of Fighters XII: Jazz Pack ($4.99)
• Need For Speed Shift: Team Racing (free)
• The Saboteur: The Midnight Show DLC ($2.99)
• PAIN: PAINBall Mode ($1.99)
• Guitar Hero 5 and Rock Band Tracks

Themes: PAIN: Elvira, Flava Flav, and Smooth Jarvis Themes (free), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Deployment ($1.99), Christmas Pinups ($1.49), Off The Beat ($1.99)

PSP Downloadable Games

• Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
• Coded Arms ($9.99)
• Death Jr. ($9.99)
• Death Jr. 2 Root of Evil
• Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2
• Gradius Collection ($19.99)
• Kurulin Fusion ($4.99)
• Silent Hill: Origins ($14.99)

PSP minis: Stand O’Food ($4.99), Battle Poker ($2.99)

Add-on Game Content: Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce Pack 8 (free)

There’s more through the US PS Blog.

MTV and Harmonix announced today that The Beatles: Rock Band has sold over one million units worldwide.

“MTV Games and Harmonix are very pleased with the sales of our Rock Band titles and we expect to continue to see strong sales throughout the holidays across all of our titles,” an MTV spokesperson told IndustryGamers.

“The Beatles: Rock Band has sold over 1 million units worldwide to date.”

Good to hear. Now all we need to do is get it ourselves.

More through the link.

PS3 has beaten out PC, Wii and Xbox 360 to finish on top of Metacritic’s first annual Game Platform Power Rankings.

With five games included in the top 10 for the year, PS3 titles garnered an average Metascore of 72, with only 7 percent of titles created for the console garnering a “bad” score.

In comparison, Xbox 360 which came in third behind PC, its games averaged a Metascore of 70 percent, with 11 percent scoring badly with 51 more games released for the year than PS3. Seven of these games received a “great” ranking, while 10 on PS3 received the “great” rating.

While PS3 came out on top, followed by PC and then Xbox 360 – PSP came in fourth, followed by DS and Wii respectively.

Full thing through the link.

Via PushSquare.

A video for Mass Effect 2 is posted below the break.

By watching, you will become privy to the in-game items you’ll receive by preordering the game from GameStop.

The Terminus Gear and the Blackstorm heavy weapon. Kick ass.

Thanks, GamingToday.

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