Tag Archives: michael jackson

Ubisoft has released screenshots for three of its Vita games, literally on the system, which the firm is showing at TGS this week.

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Today’s shorts are largely themed around nostalgia, helped along by a healthy dose of forgetfulness. Ask Pat about his memory trouble today, he won’t mind.

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The DS, Wii, and PSP Michael Jackson music-rhythm games from Ubisoft have now sold 3 million copies worldwide.

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Ubisoft had a rather nice holiday as far as sales went, as Michael Jackson: The Experience on DS, PSP, and Wii sold 2 million units on all formats combined.

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Michael Jackson zombie wanted to be bad. He really, really did.

But instead, he just beat it.

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Ubisoft’s announced its Michael Jackson game will be known as Michael Jackson: The Experience when it releases in November with motion control capabilities.

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We were honestly a bit surprised when Ubisoft offered us an interview involving its newly announced Michael Jackson game. After all, our experience with the game – like everyone else’s – was limited to a surprise dance-off at the end of Ubisoft’s E3 conference. Flashy? Sure. But about as revealing as women’s fashion in the 1800′s.

And so, having literally seen neither hide nor iconic white suit of the game, we decided to start from the top. What is the Michael Jackson game? What do you do in it? Is it Moonwalker 2, and if so, why would you do that to the world, you monster? We asked all those questions and more, and international brand manager Felicia Williams was kind enough to answer.

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Ubisoft’s E3 press conference has come to a close, and we’ve decided to round all the news up for you.

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Ubisoft has announced a Michael Jackson dancing game at its press tonight at E3.

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SCEE’s just told VG247 it has no plans on releasing the just-announced Michael Jackson This Is It PS3 bundle.

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No, your eyes do not deceive you.

There is a Michael Jackson PS3 bundle, and it’s coming to Japan on January 27.

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Word on the street, kids, has Michael Jackson actually being one of the composers for the Sonic 3 soundtrack, but he wished to keep his name off the credits.

Just like that Simpsons episode.

According to the official Michael Jackson publication Black & White, the French magazine interviewed composer Brad Buxer who confirmed that he and Jackson worked on Sonic the Hedgehog 3′s soundtrack.

B&W: Can you clarify the rumor that Michael had in 1993 composed the music for Sonic 3 video game, for which you have been credited?

Buxer: I’ve never played the game so I do not know what tracks on which Michael and I have worked the developers have kept, but we did compose music for the game. Michael called me at the time for help on this project, and that’s what I did.

And if he is not credited for composing the music, it’s because he was not happy with the result sound coming out of the console. At the time, game consoles did not allow an optimal sound reproduction, and Michael found it frustrating. He did not want to be associated with a product that devalued his music.

B&W: One of the surprising things in this soundtrack is that you can hear the chords from Stranger in Moscow, which is supposed to have been composed later.

Buxer: Yes, Michael and I had composed those chords for the game, and it has been used as base for Stranger in Moscow.

So, there ya go.

Thanks, Videogame Music Database (VGMDB)

Digital distribution sales are on the up and up compared to retail sales, which took a dive for the month of June.

Sales for Steam increased 97 percent year-over-year and larger titles are planned for the service in the future. Direct2Drive sales increased 56 percent, and VP Jeff Steele expects “more of the same into 2010.”

Microsoft’s Xbox Live also saw a 73 percent year-over-year increase the last six months, but despite all the good news, Michael Pachter says that download sales only make up 5 percent of videogame sales.

“Downloads are probably $1 – 2 billion worldwide this year, compared to a $26 billion packaged goods market. Significant, but not enough to cause a 20% monthly sales decline,” Pachter told IGN. “Perhaps a 5 percent incremental impact in a given month, but not likely that the impact was more than that.”

NPD Analyst Anita Frazier agreed, saying in her monthly report: “While some of the decline in retail sales could be a migration on the part of consumers to acquiring content via digital distribution, our reports on downloads and subscriptions reveal that it’s not yet having enough impact on the console market to be an overly meaningful factor in the retail down-turn.”

Figures regarding digital sales may climb a bit more once more publishers start divulging revenue from download services.

More through the link.

Speaking to IndustryGamers, MJJ Productions, Michael Jackson’s production company, has apparently confirmed work on a home console game based on the now-dead singer.

Apparently it’ll feature both Jackson’s likeness and his recorded speech, as well as, obviously, the guy’s songs.

“I am sure it will still be released,” a MJJ Productions said. “Michael loved games.”

It’s out later this year, apparently.

Via MCV and Kotaku.

Harmonix has confirmed to IGN that the track list for The Beatles: Rock Band will not be affected by the passing of Michael Jackson or the dispersal of his stake in Sony/ATV.

Jackson, as you know, originally owned the rights to over 200 songs from the Beatles’ catalog before a merger with Sony in which he retained 50 percent of the publishing rights.

Via Joystiq.

Battlefield Heroes is giving players the chance to buy Michael Jackson-esque costumes for their character, which may or may not be in really bad taste.

There’s a white suit for the goodies and a Bad outfit for the, um, baddies.

The game’s now live. Unlike Michael Jackson. Thanks, Kotaku.

More than 50,000 people took advantage of Microsoft’s offer to download Michael Jackson’s Thriller for free at the weekend, MTV reports.

The promo was only available in the US.

Sega has told MTV that it is “very sad” to hear of Michael Jackson’s death adding that he “was a true music legend whose songs touched each of us at some point in our lives.”

Sega, who gave us the classic Moonwalker videogame (article image), added:

“We are proud to have worked with him and included his music in some of our most well-remembered games and are sure that his genius will live on through his great body of work. We have no doubt that future generations will be moonwalking to all his greatest hits.”

Microsoft has announced that Michael Jackson’s legendary music video Thriller is free to download on Xbox Live until the end of today.

The information comes via Microsoft Xbox’s twitter page that reads: “Michael Jackson’s – Thriller music video is currently FREE on Xbox Live Marketplace, until the end of today.”

Sadly, this offer appears to be limited to US consoles only and strangely enough, if you access the song via Marketplace on your console (we’ve got a US account), it says the video currently costs 160 Microsoft Points. However, Xbox.com has it listed for free, so we suggest you use that instead.

It’s a standard definition only affair and therefore is a tiny 173Mb in size.

Update: Whoops: “EDIT- Michael Jackson’s Thriller video was FREE for a short period to only ‘US’ region Live Members. Apologize about the inconvenience.”

The great circle of life inextricably wheeled again this morning, Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett passing into the everafter while the Japanese videogames industry appeared to emerge from the ashes. So poignant. So fitting.

Here’s last week’s figures. We love you, Michael.

• DSi – 40,464
• PSP – 27,884
• Wii – 19,386
• PS3 – 10,359
• Xbox 360 – 6,734
• DS Lite – 5,531
• PS2 – 3,770