Atari has reported increased sales and losses for the financial year ended March 31, 2009.
Consolidated revenues were up 51 percent to €136.4 million ($191.3m/£118.9), largely driven by an increase in sales at the company’s US distribution business.
However, fiscal year losses totalled €226.1 million ($317.1/£197.2), compared to €51.1 million ($71.7m/£44.6) the previous year.
Sony Ericsson has showcased its new PS3 compatible Aino mobile phone.
The device will offer Remote Play features that will be recognisable to PSP owners, allowing users to access media stored on their PS3 console via a local network or the internet.
Aino will also be compatible with Sony’s PS3 freeview TV offering, Play TV, in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the UK.
Japanese hardware sales remained sluggish during the week ended May 24.
Sales rose marginally, from 101,697 units to 102,094, having dropped by more than a third the previous week.
Nintendo platforms retained their dominance, with the DS and Wii comfortably outselling the PSP and PS3 respectively.
Sales data courtesy of Media Create:
DSi – 33,833
PSP – 27,536
Wii – 16,233
PS3 – 10,932
DS Lite – 5,631
PS2 – 4,075
Phil Harrison has left his position as president of Atari to take on the role of non-executive director at the firm.
“Because of a shift of business operations to the US, Phil Harrison will move from the role of president to that of non-executive director of the group. As all board members, he will continue to assist, support and guide the company's strategy,” Atari said at a statement.
Microsoft has struck a deal to bring Sky Player, Sky’s online TV service, to Xbox Live this autumn in the UK and Ireland.
The move will allow Xbox 360 owners to access a range of channels and programmes to either view live or on-demand. The quality will be SD and DVD only to begin with and there won’t be an option to record programs.
Microsoft has announced that worldwide Xbox 360 sales have surpassed 30 million units since the console launched on November 22, 2005.
The company said that Xbox 360 has achieved the highest percentage growth in hardware sales of any console so far this year, up 28 percent over 2008.
In addition, the Xbox Live community now has more than 20 million active members spread across 26 countries.
The UK eSports Association (UKeSA) has confirmed that Capcom will be showing off in development titles at next month’s GameOn! consumer event.
The public will be able to get hands-on time with titles including Dark Void, Lost Planet 2, Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles, Tatsunoko Vs Capcom, Spyborgs, Marvel vs Capcom and the remake of the original Resident Evil on Wii.
Nintendo DS has become the fastest console to sell two million units in Australia.
Combined DS, DS Lite and DSi sales hit the milestone in 221 weeks, according to data from market research firm GfK Retail and Technology.
Nintendo of Australia also noted that the DS has been the country's bestselling console for the last three years.
Last fiscal year Nintendo sold 31 million DS units, taking global lifetime sales beyond the 100 million mark.
Presenting E203, starring the first look at FIFA 10 and the story behind how EA finally beat Pro Evo to create the best football game, due in UK shops June 4.
The amount of users downloading The Sims 3 from torrent sites indicates that the title’s long-term piracy rate could top that of Spore, the most pirated title of 2008.
The EA PC title, which isn’t due for release until June 2 in the States, was leaked to torrent sites two weeks ahead of its planned launch. And according to BigChampagne, a company that monitors file sharing, it was downloaded at least 180,000 times between May 18 and May 21.
In an interview now live on Edge, Christofer Sundberg, co-founder and creative director at Avalanche Studios, explains that the 20 staff served notice last week is down to "simple risk management", and depends on the company finding publishing deals over the summer.
Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has disputed the notion that the demand for games has levelled off, instead suggesting that the industry is about to enter a new period of growth having now established itself as an entertainment genre.
Last Tuesday, founder and creative director of Avalanche Studios Christofer Sundberg had to announce that he’d served notice to around 20 employees. Coming only seven months after Avalanche laid off 77 of its 160 staff, the news shows the severe pressures under which such large, independent developers are currently operating.
Sweden-based developer Grin is rumoured to have laid off between 100 and 160 staff.
Kotaku says it has been informed by numerous sources that the company behind Bionic Commando and Terminator: Salvation is in the process of closing its Gothenburg and Barcelona offices and reducing the headcount at its Stockholm headquarters.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has said that he expects set-top boxes to become gaming platforms to rival traditional consoles.
Speaking as Ubisoft reported its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, he also suggested that Apple will release new gaming hardware.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has said that he expects set-top boxes to become gaming platforms to rival traditional consoles.
Speaking as Ubisoft reported its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, he also suggested that Apple will release new gaming hardware.
Format: PS3
Release: TBA
Publisher: SCE
Developer: Japan Studio
Trash Panic represents the first attempt in 25 years to remake Tetris without the abstraction. Here the line-clearing, tidy ‘em up ethos is made literal, blocks transformed into the detritus of contemporary living, broken lightbulbs, dirty dishcloths and empty pens, the receptacle into which they descend now an open-top dustbin.
38 Studios has acquired Rise Of Nations developer Big Huge Games from publisher THQ, including all of the company’s proprietary IP, tools, technology, assets and works-in-progress.
While specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, 38 Studios labelled the acquisition “a critical step” in its strategy to deliver a broad range of entertainment products centred on its original fantasy IP, codenamed Copernicus.
Over two million unique users have registered for Sony Online Entertainment’s free-to-play, family-friendly MMO Free Realms.
The PC game has hit the milestone in just one month, with 75 percent of registrants under the age of 17 and 46 percent under 13, while nearly a third of players are female.
Ubisoft has reported a €31 million decline in net profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, despite enjoying a 14 percent annual sales increase.
Net income dropped from €109.8 million to €68.8 million ($95.8m/£59.6m), while sales rose from €928.3 million to €1.06 billion ($1.5b/£918.7m).
Distributor Tectoy has shipped the download-only Zeebo console to retailers throughout Rio de Janeiro ahead of a wider Brazilian launch in June.
The console, which effectively uses the same Qualcomm chipsets contained in high-end smartphones, together with 1GB of flash memory, three USB slots and a proprietary dual analogue gamepad, will be available this week in more than 200 retail locations for a suggested price of $249 (499 Brazilian Reals).
One in 12 gamers has an addiction to playing, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney.
The study was based on an online poll of 2,000 gamers who answered a series of questions regarding duration of play and their experience of negative side-effects, including declines in work related performance, interrupted sleep patterns, cravings and weight change, reports TVNZ.
Lord Of The Rings Online creator Turbine has announced the appointment of a new vice president of corporate and business development.
Nate Jones will be responsible for overseeing worldwide content and licensing partnerships, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions at the company.
Jones was previously vice president of strategy and corporate development at Glu Mobile, where he oversaw the acquisitions of Mig and Superscape.
THQ has announced that its executive vice president of publishing, Scott Guthrie, has resigned with immediate effect.
Guthrie had been responsible for overseeing North American sales, distribution and marketing at the company.
“THQ has a deep and experienced global sales and marketing team and we continue to execute on our focused product strategy,” said THQ CEO Brian Farrell. “We wish Scott well in his future endeavours.”
