It took just one drawing to turn my child into a raving Sonic The Hedgehog fan. We were at Jetpack Comics when he saw the cover of Sonic X #37, and somehow the character just hooked him: the spiky hair, the bright blue body and the eyes that screamed, “I am a wiseass”. So I bought him an issue. And then another, and another.
EA's on-
Microsoft looks set to launch an Xbox 360 rewards programme after sending out invites for a pilot scheme to select Xbox Live members.
According to emails sent to XBL subscribers and forwarded to Kotaku, recipients have until October 21 to sign-up for the “exclusive pilot rewards programme”, which promises "cool stuff" to those who register.
NCsoft’s Aion has debuted atop September’s US PC games retail chart, with the Collector's Edition also taking fifth place in the rankings, according to data provided by the NPD Group.
Nintendo will release a black coloured Wii in Europe next month as part of a limited edition bundle also featuring a Wii Remote, Wii MotionPlus accessory, Nunchuk, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort.
The black Wii will be available to buy in the UK and Republic of Ireland from November 6 and in mainland Europe on November 20.
Additional black Wii controllers and accessories will be available to purchase separately across Europe from November 20, as will the new black Classic Controller Pro.
.[Update: Added IWNET details]
Almost 100,000 gamers have signed a petition against Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward’s decision to drop dedicated server support for more console-like matchmaking in the PC version of the upcoming FPS.
The developer said recently that the PC version will not include code for dedicated multiplayer servers, instead relying on a yet to be revealed, peer-to-peer matchmaking service called IWNET.
Sony sold just 1,000 PSPgo units in Australia during the handheld’s first week of availability.
According to GfK sales figures provided to The Age, the portable sold fewer than 1,000 units in the seven days following its October 1 launch.
Presenting highlights from Edge's community-written blogs, which this week ask whether games are antisocial and which comics should be games.
Developer 2D Boy has branded a week-long ‘pay what you want’ promotion for PC and WiiWare title World Of Goo "a huge success” after the game sold 57,000 copies at an average price of $2.03.
The promotion saw sales of the game on Steam up 40 per cent week-on-week, while WiiWare sales rose nine per cent. 2D Boy said that the amount people were willing to pay for the game went up as the days went by before levelling off.
Developer 2D Boy has branded a week-long ‘pay what you want’ promotion for PC and WiiWare title World Of Goo "a huge success” after the game sold 57,000 copies at an average price of $2.03.
The promotion saw sales of the game on Steam up 40 per cent week-on-week, while WiiWare sales rose nine per cent. 2D Boy said that the amount people were willing to pay for the game went up as the days went by before levelling off.
Developer Q-Games has said that it doesn’t expect to port any more PixelJunk titles to Sony’s PSP due to the handheld’s piracy rates.
While studio president Dylan Cuthbert didn’t cite piracy estimates or sales figures for PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe (PJMD), he said that the firm's experience with PSP piracy could deter the company from further development on Sony’s portable.
Two full access passes to the Montreal International Game Summit in November up for grabs from Edge.
MIGS was created in 2004 to support the needs of the Quebec game development industry, which now numbers 7,000 workers in the region, but it has international scope.
Nintendo may cut its profit forecast by about 30 per cent due to falling Wii sales and the stronger yen.
The platform holder’s net income will likely fall 11 per cent to 249.3 billion yen ($2.75b / £1.68b) this fiscal year, representing the first annual drop in six years, reports Bloomberg.
The US console game market recorded its second bestselling September on record last month, according to data provided by the NPD Group.
Earlier analyst predictions of a return to double-digit growth after six months of year-on-year declines proved to be overblown, with the industry managing only a slight increase over September 2008, as total sales between August 30 and October 3 rose one per cent to $1.28 billion.
All three console manufacturers enjoyed the impact of price cuts last month as the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 recorded major jumps in unit sales over August 2009.
"PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 realised an increase over August of 87 per cent, 33 per cent and 31 per cent respectively, on an average sales per week basis,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier, noting that the September reporting period ran for five weeks (August 30 – October 3) compared to four the previous month.
Halo 3: ODST sold 1.52 million copies in the US during September as Xbox 360 games dominated the software chart and The Beatles: Rock Band outsold music rival Guitar Hero 5.
If you don’t know the editors of this magazine, I can tell you that they are a cabal of frightening tyrants*. Do they care that I have visions of Caribbean beaches gleaming behind my eyes? No, they only care that I hand in my column before the magazine goes to print. Do they enjoy my favourite game to play with them, that of cramming as much unprintable profanity and obscure American slang into my writing as possible to see how they’ll choose to replace it?
So, then, which number is it for you? Which Tony Hawk's game should be here instead of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3?
After Oxygen Games went into administration last week, former boss Jim Scott, who now heads up sales and distribution firm OG International, rescued a number of staff members and acquired the general interest and family game publisher’s IP and stock.
iPhone app developers can now sell content, subscriptions and digital services via free apps.
Apple takes a 30 per cent cut from all in-app purchases, which were previously limited to paid applications.
EA Sports boss Peter Moore has predicted that the disc-based games business probably won’t survive another decade.
"Look at the platform we're on, it's a burning platform," Moore said at the 5th Play Digital Media Conference, according to IGN. "As a concept, do you stay on the platform and face certain death, or do you jump into the water and face probable death? Most of you would choose probable death, so you start moving towards a hybrid model of digital distribution.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter expects Xbox Live Gold membership prices to rise significantly over the next couple of years.
Speaking in a video interview with GTTV, Pachter said that Microsoft would raise the cost of access to the Xbox 360 online service in a bid to drive profits.
EA’s FIFA 10 has topped the UK all formats chart for the third week running.
The football title – which EA has labelled “the fastest selling sports game ever” – suffered a 54 per cent drop in weekly sales, but has now “sailed comfortably” past one million UK sales in three weeks, according to GfK Chart-Track.
The Chinese Ministry Of Culture (MOC) has clashed with fellow government agency, the General Administration Of Press and Publication (GAPP), over domestic control of videogame regulations.
Gazillion Entertainment has confirmed a round of layoffs at Slipgate Ironworks, the MMO development studio founded by ex-id Software and Ion Storm designer John Romero.
According to a statement issued to Kotaku, development of the San Francisco Bay Area studio’s unnamed MMO will continue with a "smaller core team”. The site’s tipsters indicate that as many as 50 members of staff have been cut.