The Call Of Duty franchise has surpassed 55 million unit sales since debuting in 2003, generating over $3 billion at retail.
That’s according to data from the NPD Group, Chart-Track, GfK and publisher Activision’s internal estimates.
The latest title in the franchise, Infinity Ward's Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, broke box office and videogame records with a worldwide estimated five-day sale through of approximately $550 million.
I really do believe that interactions with characters are going to be a huge big deal in the future of gaming, a revolution that will permanently change things. I do not mean MMOs featuring new ways to communicate with real humans. Not cutscenes with superior rendering of facial expressions. Not dialogue trees with a kazillion branches. Instead, I mean the stuff I typically write about: some way to craft your relationship with an NPC with the same freedom you have when building your RTS base or attempting a combat tactic in an FPS.
Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live, expects Project Natal to “be the largest leap of TV experience since the remote control".
"I don't believe we are currently in the golden age of the television or the golden age of the game console or the golden age of the internet; frankly, five years from now I don't know that you'll be able to tell the difference between those worlds," Whitten said the Streaming Media West show, according to Yahoo Tech.
Nintendo’s is investigating a potential case of copyright infringement after a Nokia blog post showed a video of the handset maker’s new N900 smartphone playing emulated retro games.
“There’s already a bunch of great retro gaming emulator apps available for you to download,” says the video, which shows buttons that appear to open emulators for systems including Nintendo's Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, NES and SNES.
A US survey of 1,000 consumers found that 83 per cent of shoppers plan to purchase at least one electronic gift this Christmas, with videogame consoles the most in demand products.
60 per cent of those polled said that they intended to gift a console, while MP3 players, digital cameras and camcorders were also popular choices.
Brand will play a major role in the purchasing choices consumers make and is most important to those shopping for consoles, with 88 per cent of those intending to gift a console looking for a specific brand.
Nintendo’s DSi LL has made an impressive start in Japan, shifting just over 100,000 units in its debut weekend.
Media Create sales figures for the new handheld are consistent with those released by Famitsu publisher Enterbrain earlier this week. In comparison, DSi sold 170,000 in the same timeframe following its release last year, while Sony’s PSPgo moved just over 28,000 units on November 1, the day of its Japanese release.
Game review scores are one of the least important factors when it comes to making purchasing decisions, according to the findings of a new survey by Cowen and Company.
Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada has said that Sony and Microsoft are already prepared for the death of the console era.
“In ten years’ time a lot of what we call ‘console games’ won’t exist,” the executive told MCV.
Genre veteran Jeff Strain has revealed that his new studio will “almost certainly” adopt a subscription model for its upcoming console-based zombie MMO.
December sees the opening of a new videogame art – or should that be art videogame? – exhibition at the FACT gallery in Liverpool. Otherwise known as the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, the venue will be hosting Space Invaders: Art in the Computer Game Environment, survey of works by a range of artists expressing themes based on and around videogames, or using videogames as a canvas for expression.
UK-based developer nDreams has struck a partnership with M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment to provide the advertising agency’s clients with non-traditional gaming based solutions.
The new partnership has its first global project in development and launch details are expected to be announced early next year.
Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver moved up one place to top the Japanese software chart during the week ended November 22.
Nintendo platform titles took the top five spots, with Tomodachi Collection placing second ahead of Wii Fit Plus, Inazuma Eleven 2 and the week's highest new entry, Taiko Drum Master Wii 2.
The Rock Band Network, a new initiative enabling artists and record labels to author their own original recordings into gameplay files and sell their music as playable tracks, is set to launch fully in 2010.
Announced in July, the Rock Band Network will work with Rock Band 2 and be native to Xbox 360, plus users will need to be members of Microsoft’s XNA Creators Club Online.
Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter expects Activision's Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 downloadable content to generate in the region of $140 million next year.
Every week, the Edge Games Index, produced in association with Brandwatch, rates games according to the volume of positive and negative buzz they're inspiring on the web.
China-based online game operator The9 posted a third quarter loss as revenues dived on the back of the expiration of its World Of Warcraft license agreement.
Net revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2009 decreased by 91 per cent quarter-over-quarter and by 94 per cent year-over-year to $3.7 million.
80 per cent of the female game playing market in the US are Nintendo console owners, according to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.
Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets conference earlier this month, the executive said that there are around 11.7 million female “primary players” using consoles in the US, compared to 33.3 million males. “Primary player” refers to the main user of a home console, reports Kotaku.
Square Enix Europe is to cut a number of jobs at Beautiful Game Studios in a bid “to build a successful commercial future for the Championship Manager brand”.
News of the studio’s restructure comes via GamesIndustry.biz, which reports that around 80 per cent of jobs will either be cut or relocated to China in order to reduce costs.
Edge readers needed to play Realtime Worlds' massively multiplayer shooter.
E209, which is now available in UK shops, has a full preview feature on what Realtime describes as its persistent online action game. You might describe it as GTA Online. Or WOW meets Counter-Strike. Now's your chance to decide for yourself.
Dell has announced that its Alienware line of PC gaming systems will now come with digital distribution service Steam pre-installed.
"With its automatic game updates, easy friend finding and the ability to play your Steam purchased games on any PC, Valve has helped simplify PC gaming to make it more enjoyable," said Frank Azor, senior manager of product planning for Dell's gaming group. "It's for these reasons we selected Steam to compliment the Alienware experience."
The second Games Convention Online event will be held in Leipzig, Germany from July 8–11, 2010, organiser Leipziger Messe has announced.
The browser, client and mobile games fair will feature an extra day this year to accommodate requests from trade visitors.
Call Of Duty: World At War Zombies yesterday became the top-grossing iPhone and iPod Touch application on the iTunes App Store.
Developed by Ideaworks Game Studio for publisher Activision, World At War Zombies is the mobile version of the hit gameplay mode from Treyarch's 2008 console title Call Of Duty: World At War. It features single and co-op play for up to four gamers.
Pandemic Studios has announced that a new game in EA’s Mercenaries franchise is in the early stages of development at EALA.
Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz has declared that the “Wii bubble could be deflating” and “PS3 may finally be poised for a rebound.”
Having polled 1,312 individuals and 1,013 game players on purchase intent as part of Cowen’s Fall 2009 Video Game Survey, Creutz suggested that Wii software sales are fading.
