Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter expects Nintendo’s upcoming Wii MotionPlus peripheral to sell over ten million units in Europe and the US this year.
Atari has pulled out of exhibiting at next month’s E3 Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Centre.
The publisher confirmed its decision in a statement issued to Edge after the news was reported by various online media outlets.
“Atari has made the proactive decision to attend but not exhibit at this year’s E3 event,” said the company.
Nintendo’s WiiWare turned one year old in the US today, and the platform holder said that the downloadable games service has delivered on its founding promises.
WiiWare was originally pitched as a service that would remove the barriers that make console game development expensive, and as a place where big and small companies alike could showcase their ideas and connect directly with consumers.
Japan’s general manager for Xbox, Takashi Sensui, says he’s happy with the Xbox 360’s current performance in Japan.
Speaking to Famitsu in a retrospective interview shortly after Microsoft sold its millionth Xbox 360 in the country, Sensui recounted forming plans to penetrate the market.
[Update: Canessa becomes project director for Battle.net]
Greg Canessa, who has served as PopCap VP of game platforms since departing his position as general manager of Xbox Live Arcade two years ago, is set to leave his post for a job at World of Warcraft developer Blizzard.
Nintendo has revealed figures detailing just how far the DS has managed to penetrate the Japanese, North American and European markets.
“In Japan, more than one in five people own a DS. On the other hand, in the US and in Europe, the sales have not yet reached to one in ten people yet,” company president Satoru Iwata said during a recent presentation.
26.1 million DS systems have been purchased in Japan. Had each of those handhelds been bought by a different person, more than one in five Japanese people would own a DS.
Format: 360
Release: Out now (JP), TBA (Eur/US)
Publisher: Cave
Developer: In-house
If there’s a defining feature of Cave’s many shoot ‘em ups – beyond the holy triumvirate of complex scoring system, tiny player craft hitbox and millions of bullets on screen at any one time – it’s colour, blossoming fireworks of lilac and lavender. While the image of the genre may be of spaceships and military/industrial landscapes, Cave’s releases frequently cover more fantastical grounds.
A new study by Harris Interactive has found that almost one in four UK households has a games console.
Having questioned over 2,000 UK residents before Christmas and then again in February as part of its Fast Forward study, Harris found that spending on home entertainment, and specifically console adoption, are on the rise, reports MCV.
Electronic Arts’ Spore franchise will make its console debut later this year with the release of Spore Hero for Wii and Spore Hero Arena for DS.
Developer Maxis says that the titles are being “built from the ground up” for Nintendo platforms and will "build on the franchise's core tenets of creativity, exploration and adventure."
Format: 360
Release: Out now
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Lionhead
Ubisoft says it is preparing to deal with the arrival of new gaming hardware.
The publisher previously expressed its belief that a new generation of consoles would release by 2011/2012, and its stance appears unchanged.
"We need to get ready for the future generation of consoles," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said yesterday as the company reported its full year sales results.
Nintendo UK has signed up to attend the Game On! London consumer event, professional gaming body the UK eSports Association (UKeSA) has confirmed.
More than 20,000 gamers are expected to visit London’s Olympia National hall for the two-day event over the weekend of June 20-21. Attendees will be able to try out the latest pre-release titles, while the UK’s best pro gamers will battle for prizes.
[Update: Added comments from CD Projekt joint CEO Michal Kicinski]
The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf developer WideScreen Games has confirmed that the game has been suspended, citing IP owner CD Projekt’s failure to meet financial obligations as the cause.
Ubisoft has confirmed its product line up due for release in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2010.
New to the company’s line up is Ghost Recon 4, while Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction, Red Steel 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 were also confirmed for release ahead of April 2010.
Here’s the company’s list of “flagship” releases:
Ubisoft has reported its sales results for the fourth fiscal quarter and full financial year ended March 31, 2009.
Fourth quarter sales came to €206 million, down 5.1 percent on the same period of last year, while full-year sales totalled €1.058 billion versus €928 million for fiscal 2007-08, representing an increase of 14 percent.
Mark Essen, who works under the name Messhof, recently graduated with a degree in film and electronic art from New York State-based Bard College and has a foot in two communities – the indie gaming scene and the New York City art world. His game Flywrench was selected for the New Museum’s The Generational: Younger Than Jesus show, which is open only to artists under 33.
Microsoft will host online festival Xtival on Xbox Live this bank holiday weekend, May 1-4.
Open to both Silver and Gold Xbox Live subscribers, Xtival 2009 will offer a host of fresh music content, with performances from acts including Queen, Franz Ferdinand, The Pussycat Dolls, The Saturdays and Placebo.
Users will be able to watch full length music concerts for the first time on the console, Microsoft said, with standard definition versions available for 600 Microsoft points and high definition versions costing 800 Microsoft points.
France-based publisher Gameloft has reported a first quarter sales increase of 22 percent.
First quarter 2009 sales hit €30.8 million, compared to €25.3 million for the same period a year earlier, with mobile titles accounting for 94 percent of total sales.
The North America market generated 37 percent of total sales, Europe 35 percent, and the rest of the world 29 percent.
Capcom has said that the release of download-only PSP game Fate/Unlimited Codes later this year doesn’t mean the company intends to stop supporting the UMD format.
Yesterday the company revealed that it will digitally distribute Fate/Unlimited Codes, a fighting title based on a 2008 Japanese arcade and PlayStation 2 game of the same name, via the PlayStation Store only later this year, meaning it will bypass a physical release on UMD.
Sony will drop the PSP’s UMD drive and introduce a sliding screen when it unveils its new model handheld at E3 this year, according to 1UP.
Citing developers directly involved with the new system, the site says that the portable will be called PSP Go!, adopting the branding already attached to a number of European PSP products.
Tiga has released the findings of its first online business survey, which it says was designed to provide the trade association and the development community with a clear understanding of the state of the industry from an economic perspective.
About a third of Tiga members, the majority of which are independent games developers or in-house publisher owned developers, took part in the survey.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has confirmed that almost 150 exhibitors have already registered for this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, which will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 2-4.
“We are incredibly pleased with the quickly growing list of exhibitors and overwhelming support for the E3 Expo,” said ESA president Michael Gallagher.
The closure of FlatOut publisher Empire Interactive seemingly moved a step closer today.
According to MCV, the CEO of Empire parent company Silverstar Holdings circulated a memo to staff warning that the company was likely to go into administration over the next few days. The message also warned of impending job losses.
Poland-based developer CD Projekt Red has refused to comment on reports that the development of its PS3 and Xbox 360 RPG, The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf, has been cancelled.
Independent US studio Atomic Games has reacted to Konami’s decision to withdraw from publishing its Iraq-based war game Six Days in Fallujah.
“We were informed on Thursday night that Konami had decided to pull out of Six Days in Fallujah,” said Atomic Games president Peter Tamte, in a statement issued to Edge. “This caught us by surprise.”