Activision’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the bestselling game in UK history, according to sales monitor GfK Chart-Track.
The Infinity Ward developed FPS overtook unit sales of previous record holder Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training in just 41 weeks, of which only three were spent outside of the UK's top ten sellers list.
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days debuted atop the UK all formats chart during the week ended August 21.
The IO Interactive developed action sequel knocked Disney’s Toy Story 3 down one place to second and provided publisher Square Enix with its third number one of the year, following Final Fantasy XIII and Just Cause 2.
Red Dead Redemption also fell one place to third, ahead of Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and Just Dance.
Halo: Reach has reportedly been leaked to public filesharing sites nearly a month ahead of its official September 14 launch date.
The game was recently made available on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace store for review purposes, but a group of modders claims to have bypassed security measures to download and play the title, IGN reports.
Adelaide studio on four week notice period, while an undisclosed number of staff are warned their jobs are in danger.
Australian developer Krome Studios has confirmed that it has given notice to an undisclosed number of staff. The developer has also placed its Adelaide studio on a four week notice period, after which it will decide whether or not to retain it.
Freedom Fighters is a classic example of a game that didn’t chime with the so-called ‘massmarket,’ but went on to be cherished as an underground hit. Now it lives on as a cult, often evoked when videogame forums light up with discussions about which games deserved a better reception, which games deserve a sequel. Even from the outset, Freedom Fighters was tarnished with only-time-will-tell preview platitudes and struggled to generate much interest.
PSP was the bestselling system in Japan during the week ended August 15, according to data from Media Create.
Both DS and PSP sales increased in Japan this week, by 13874 and 5337 respectively.
Xbox 360 sales dropped off a little from last week's 5639 to 5065, while the PS3 managed a healthy 33,057. The PSPgo, meanwhile, only accounted for 608 of total PSP sales - less than half the amount of PS2 units sold.
Hardware sales week ended August 15 (previous week):
1. PSP – 35,734 (30,397)
Retailer's second fiscal quarter results fail to meet analyst and investor estimates. Company lowers third quarter estimates as a result.
Despite reporting a rise in sales and earnings, GameStop's share value subsequently fell by 8 per cent. Trading opened significantly lower after the company's second quarter figures were revealed, closing the day on $19.06, an 8.2 per cent drop on the previous day's $20.76.
Working under the name of Increpare, Stephen Lavelle makes games very quickly with absolutely no budget, by the looks of it. Frequently collaborating with other designers and working across a range of software platforms from Flixel to Unity, his offerings tend to turn on an intriguing, troubling idea, swiftly executed.
91 per cent of boys and 93 per cent of girls aged eight to 11 years old play online games, according to US survey. Analyst says kids' market overlooked.
The report also concludes that Sony's PSP has the largest gender discrepancy, with 17 per cent of surveyed teen girls playing games on the device compared to 44 per cent of teen boys. Nintendo's DS, however, dominated the handheld sector for both the teen and 'tween' sector.
Next week is the eighth annual Edinburgh Interactive festival. We take a look at what to look forward to.
Realtime Worlds administrator says 23 of the 60 strong team have been re-employed due to interest in the social gaming property.
Begbies Traynor, the adminstrators for ailing APB developer Realtime Worlds, has announced that 23 members of staff have been re-employed. The staff were part of the 60 strong Dundee team which was working on social game Project MyWorld, and were all made redundant earlier in the month.
Google opens its app store for developer preview and reveals additional transaction and registration fees.
The publisher has unveiled Wii exclusive uDraw Studio and uDraw GameTablet for use with it, to be released next year.
THQ unveiled the uDraw GameTablet, a drawing tablet peripheral for Wii, at Gamescom this year. The device will be bundled with the publisher's new art game uDraw Studio, which is scheduled for launch early 2011.
The bundle will retail at $69.99, while two further games, uDraw Pictionary and Dood's Big Adventure, will be released at the same time priced at $29.99 each.
The publisher joins Activision, The Creative Assembly and Blitz Game Studios in Dundee to interview Realtime Worlds staff.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is the fourth company to announce that it would be holding a recruitment event in Dundee following the announcement that Realtime Worlds had entered administration.
The videogame retailer reports increased earnings and profitability in its second fiscal quarter.
GameStop has reported a rise in sales for the quarter ended June 31, its second fiscal quarter. Sales rose 3.4 per cent to $1.80 billion (£1.15 billion), compared to $1.74 billion (£1.11 billion) for the same quarter last year. Net earnings increased by 4.2 per cent to $40.3 million (£25.8 million) from last year's $38.7 million (£24.8 million) in the same quarter.
Middle-earth MMO introducing new pricing model, online store and VIP memberships. Story also extended.
Turbine's Lord Of The Rings Online will launch its free-to-play service on September 10. A new pricing model will allow players to play for free up to level 50 as well as purchase expansions, quest packs, items and account services via a Lord Of The Rings Online store. Players can also choose to pay a single fee and become a VIP member with unlimited access to all of the game's content.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remains the most popular game this week, while Red Dead Redemption and Madden NFL 11 round out the top three.
Toy Story 3 retains top spot while Madden NFL 11 debuts at number ten on the UK all formats chart during the week ended August 14.
After tussling with StarCraft II over the previous two weeks, Disney’s title keeps the number one position for the second week in a row. StarCraft II drops out of the top ten, however, to 12.
Format: Xbox 360, PC, PS3
Release: Out now
Publisher: Eidos / Square Enix
Developer: IO Interactive
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Sean Murray When I was a student I ate a lot of shit pizza.
I should probably have eaten better and gone out less. I shouldn't have played Metal Gear to see the different ending with Otacon, and I certainly shouldn't have collected every Chocobo in Final Fantasy.
Sony reveals the catch-up TV service will launch in October in the UK, with other countries receiving comparable services.
Speaking at Gamescom 2010, Sony announced that catch-up TV service ITV Player would be coming to the PS3 in the UK and gave more details on film streaming service MUBI.
We never got round to taking those Spanish evening classes. We didn’t do those Maya tutorials like we promised ourselves we would. We haven’t even cleaned out the fish tank. We have, meanwhile, found the time to collect all of the agility orbs in Crackdown 2. The disparity between our willingness to self-improve in the real world and level up in the virtual one is well documented.
Sony rumoured to be showcasing new handheld to publishers which features touch-sensitive controls on the rear of the device.
Three seperate anonymous sources have told Eurogamer that Sony is showcasing an unfinished next-generation PSP to publishers at the moment. According to the sources, the device is comparable in size and design to the PSP-3000 and features touch controls on the back.
Aurora Feint's new cross-platform service will allow iOS and Android device users to send each other game invites.
Aurora Feint, the developer behind social game network OpenFeint, has announced a new viral game distribution system that will connect iOS and Android users. The system will eventually allow players on either platform to send SMS and email game invites to each other.
UNICO National criticises Take-Two for "negatively portraying" Italians in its latest game. Take-Two responds, defending the title.
UNICO National, an organisation that claims to be the largest Italian-American service in the U.S., has criticised Take-Two Interactive's portrayal of Italians in Mafia II. UNICO president Andre DiMino is demanding that Take-Two delays the release of the title, which is due to launch on August 24, calling it a "pile of racist nonsense".