Each Kinect unit is rumoured to be costing Microsoft $150 to manufacture.
That’s according to Develop, which received the tip from a “highly-positioned, trusted" publishing source.
Microsoft told the site that it “does not comment on rumour or speculation”.
The folks behind game modifications website Mod DB – which reaches over 1.5million people monthly – have launched a new site called Indie DB.
The site will is 100 per cent dedicated to independent titles and offer readers the chance to interact with developers, according to its founders.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick believes consumers are “clamouring” for an online, subscription-based Call Of Duty service.
"If you could snap your fingers, and instantly make one change in your company what would it be?" Kotick was asked by the Wall Street Journal.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has expressed concern over the ongoing instability in the global financial markets.
‘With fixed prices at the tills, along with distribution, retail and transport costs, any devaluation of the local currency can have a direct impact on how much money console manufacturers will make,’ reports the BBC.
Leipziger Messe has detailed the social gaming talks due to take place at Games Convention Online 2010.
Lloyd Melnick, general manager of European operations at Playdom, will give a speech titled Pivoting To Social Media. It will cover the opportunities in the social media space and how developers of MMO, core and casual games can capitalise on them.
Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kaz Hirai believes that there are limitations to naked-eye 3D on portable devices.
Speaking to Japanese publication Sankei Biz at E3 last week (via Andriasang), the executive suggested that the glasses-free technology lacks precision.
Kinect is to retail for around $149, if product listings at major US retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop and Walmart are to be taken at face value.
Back in May a source also told us that the then-named Natal would cost $149, although Microsoft has so far dismissed retailer “estimates” as “purely speculative”.
Red Dead Redemption claimed a fifth successive week atop the UK all formats chart during the seven days ended June 19.
Mario Galaxy 2 remained in second place in its second week on the chart, but the sales gap between the top two widened from 1,000 copies to 5,000.
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa held third place, ahead of Just Dance and Rooms: The Main Building.
Microsoft is to release an entry-level slim Xbox 360 this fall, according to an internal marketing Q&A document obtained by Kotaku.
While the new Xbox 360 - announced at E3 and released in the US last week - retails for $299, the entry-level system will cost $199.
I have a new hero. Maybe you heard about him. He’s what you might call a Great American Hero – a super-stupid super-patriot driven to save his country and end up as a corpse and a role model. Davy Crockett, Rambo – meet your new bro, Gary Faulkner.
Nintendo has warned that the 3D effect on its 3DS shouldn’t be viewed by “young children” under the age of seven.
The platform holder said that its guidance is in line with the message being put out about all types of 3D content, including movies.
Capcom Europe COO – and former SCEE president – David Reeves thinks Sony needs to react to Nintendo’s 3DS “pretty quickly to stay in the [handheld] game”.
The 14-year Sony veteran told GamesIndustry.biz that the launch of a true PSP successor would be essential if his former employer is to continue to compete in the market.
PricewaterhouseCoopers expects the global games market to grow from $52.5 billion (£35.5b) in 2009 to $86.8 billion (£58.6m) in 2014, growing at a compound growth rate of 10.6 per cent.
“This will make it the second fastest-growing segment of entertainment and media behind internet advertising wired and mobile, but [it] will be the fastest-growing consumer/end user segment ahead of TV subscriptions and license fees,” the company said in its Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2010-2014 report.
Activision is taking a cautious approach to launching fresh IP and games for new motion control interfaces from Sony and Microsoft.
Speaking to GameSpot about this week’s E3, the publisher’s chief operating officer, Thomas Tippl, explained why Activision hasn’t announced any dedicated titles for Kinect and Move.
Interest in 3D gaming is widespread, spanning core and casual game audiences, but consumers also harbour concerns about the technology, according to a new study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
The US study - 3D Gaming: Entertainment’s Next Dimension - found that 64 per cent of those interested in 3D gaming were “avid” gamers, while 35 per cent of those interested were “casual” players.
Portables continued to dominate Japanese hardware sales during the week ended June 13, while a new Wii game topped the software chart.
PSP-3000 remained the bestselling individual system, although combined DS sales outstripped those of Sony’s handheld platform.
Wii and DS were the only platforms to record a lift in weekly sales, with the former jumping ahead of PS3, while at the foot of the table the PSPgo dropped beneath 1,000 sales.
Weekly hardware sales totals (previous week):
PSP - 21,662 (23,588)
New research from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has found that 67 per cent of US households play videogames.
The trade association’s Essential Facts About The Computer And Video Game Industry report also revealed that 62 per cent of American gamers play with other gamers in person at least one hour per week and that 48 per cent of parents play with their children at least once a week.
E3 organiser the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has announced that this week’s LA-based gaming show featured approximately 300 exhibitors and attracted 45,600 visitors - up compared to 2009’s 216 exhibitors and 41,000 attendees.
The ESA also said that next year’s E3 Expo will take place from June 7-9, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Gaikai has signed a multi-year-licensing agreement to make a number of Electronic Arts’ major PC franchises available via the cloud gaming service.
The Dave Perry-headed company will offer EA games from the Battlefield: Bad Company, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Medal Of Honor, Need For Speed and The Sims series.
Social gaming company Zynga has secured a 13.5 billion yen ($147m / £98.8m) investment from Japanese telecommunications and media firm SoftBank.
The Tokyo-based company and the FarmVille maker are in talks to distribute and jointly promote games through SoftBank’s mobile-phone service in Japan and other countries, according to Nikkei English News (via Bloomberg).
The 3DS will allow users to copy multiple games to its internal memory, according to Japanese financial paper Nikkei.
The software install feature will enable owners to switch between games by selecting a title from the system's main menu, meaning there’s no need to switch cartridges, reports Andriasang.
Game Group has reported a drop in sales during the 19 weeks to June 12 and announced the appointment of a new CEO.
In an interim management statement the company said that total sales were down 11.4 per cent and like for like sales down 12.3 per cent during the period from February 1 to June 12. UK and Ireland sales declined 18.5 per cent year-on-year, while international sales were up 1.2 per cent.
Microsoft has detailed the line-up for its third annual Summer of Arcade promotion.
The downloadable titles to feature are Konami’s Castlevania: Harmony Of Despair, Square Enix’s Lara Croft And The Guardian Of The Light, and first party games Hydro Thunder Hurricane, Limbo and Monday Night Combat.
They’ll be released via Xbox Live Arcade over a five week period beginning next month.
Splash Damage developed shooter Brink has been delayed until 2011, publisher Bethesda has confirmed.
The ambitious FPS, which aims to blend singleplayer, co-op and multiplayer gameplay into one seamless experience, was originally scheduled to launch in spring 2010, but was previously delayed to the autumn of this year.
Source: VG247
US consumers spent $15-$15.25 billion on videogame content last year, according to new research from the NPD Group.
The figure includes $4.5-$4.75 billion generated by second hand games, rentals, subscriptions, digital content and mobile game apps, but doesn’t take into account social network gaming.