In an official statement released in response to the NPD Group's US industry sales results for August 2009, Microsoft has said that the Xbox 360 remains the only console to show year-to-date growth in North America.
Sony Computer Entertainment America has reported a 300 per cent increase in PlayStation 3 sales following the September 1 launch of the new PS3 Slim.
“Our top retailers have reported a 300 per cent lift in PS3 hardware sales and an increase of 140 per cent in total hardware revenue across the PlayStation portfolio when comparing the first week of September to the week before the $299 price adjustment,” the company said in a statement.
The US console retail business recorded a year-over-year sales decline for the sixth consecutive month during August, the NPD Group has reported.
While month-over-month sales rose from $848.9 million to $908.72 million, sales were down 16 per cent year-on-year from $1.09 billion in August 2008.
Console sales declined 25 per cent to $297.60 million, while software revenues fell 15 per cent to $470.32 million. Accessories bucked the trend with a two per cent sales increase to $140.81 million.
While all consoles bar PS2 recorded a month-over-month sales increase in August, total hardware sales declined 25 per cent year-over-year to $297.60 million, according to the NPD Group.
As expected, Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 10 topped August software sales in the US market, shifting nearly 1.9 million units across five platforms.
The football title took three of the top ten places on the monthly software chart. The Xbox 360 version topped the rankings with 928,000 sales, the PS3 edition placed third with 665,000 sales, and the PS2 SKU sixth with 160,000.
Wii Sports Resort dropped one place to second on the chart, despite recording a month-over-month jump of 250,000 sales.
Sales of music videogames are down 46 per cent year-to-date in the US marketplace, according to the NPD Group.
However, the category remains the third bestselling genre of 2009, and will see a boost in the coming months following the release of The Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5 in September, said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.
The latest Gundam game from Namco Bandai, Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki: Lost War Chronicles for PS3, debuted atop the Japanese software chart during the week ended September 6.
The title sold 178 000 copies in its opening week, having launched on September 3 as a standalone game and as part of a PS3 Slim bundle. Sony’s new console, which released on the same day, is believed to have sold over 150,000 units during the week.
Format: Wii
Release: Out now
Publisher: Konami
Developer: M2
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Following initial confusion over how to market the iPod Touch, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has said that the company is now pushing the handheld as a dedicated games machine.
“Originally, we weren’t exactly sure how to market the Touch. Was it an iPhone without the phone? Was it a pocket computer? What happened was, what customers told us was, they started to see it as a game machine. We started to market it that way, and it just took off,” he said.
Last year Universal revealed plans to internally produce a number of games based on its film and TV properties. The plan represented the company’s second foray into the game production business, the firm having sold its Universal Interactive games division to Vivendi Games in 2000.
Warner Bros. Entertainment has announced the formation of DC Entertainment, a new company created to maximise the potential of DC properties across games, films and other media.
“DC Entertainment will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses,” said the company.
Apple has said that there are currently 21,178 “game and entertainment titles” available for download from the App Store.
At a San Francisco event last night the company revealed the massive gap in the number of games available for iPhone / iPod Touch and rival platforms DS and PSP. There are reportedly 3,680 games for Nintendo’s handheld and just 607 for Sony’s portable.
LA-based publisher and developer Riot Games has secured $8 million in funding ahead of the US release of its free-to-play “premium game” League Of Legends.
Rob Smith has been promoted to the newly created role of chief operating officer at Cambridge, UK-based indie developer and publisher Jagex.
Smith has held a number of senior roles at Jagex – the company behind popular free-to-play MMO RuneScape and the gaming portal FunOrb - since joining in 2003, most recently serving as operations manager. In his new position he’ll be charged with overseeing all operational aspects of the company’s game development.
Manhunt is one of the worst games made during the last generation. It is also one of the best. It divided consumers and critics alike, garnering effusive praise from some and vituperative condemnation from others. While its dark, uncomfortable and morally dubious content was ripe for tabloid hysteria, less understandable was criticism that it was badly designed or intellectually retarded. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Sony’s PS3 has recorded its biggest weekly sales total in Japan since launching in November 2006.
According to figures from Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, the PS3 sold 150,832 units during the week ended September 6. The new PS3 Slim was largely to thank, racking up 150,252 sales, reports Kotaku.
Japanese life-to-date PS3 sales have now reached 3,431,964 units.
Sony has said that existing PS3 titles could be made playable in 3D form through the release of a system firmware update.
The platform holder, which last week announced plans to make new PS3 games, laptops and Blu-ray players compatible with a new range of 3D Bravia TVs, has said that it's "conducting a technological investigation" as to the possibility of making existing PS3 software backwards compatibility with the technology.
Developer Dean Dodrill awarded the $40,000 first prize for visually stunning 2D beat ‘em up Dust: An Elysian Tail during Penny Arcade Expo.
Sony’s PS3 recorded an 11-fold jump in sales during the week ended September 5, GfK Chart-Track has told us.
The sales increase follows the launch of the new PS3 Slim on Tuesday, September 1.
According to a GfK Chart-Track spokesperson, the console outsold Microsoft’s Xbox 360 by three units to one during the week in question. PS3 sales outpaced those of Nintendo’s Wii and DS Lite by the same margin.
Nazis: not the most sympathetic of villains. In some ways they’ve become the perfect videogame bad guys – an impersonal horde, enacting designs of unspeakable evil, ready and waiting to be blown from their polished boots by all-American heroes wielding Thompsons, bazookas and, in Wolfenstein’s case, Tesla guns.
Batman: Arkham Asylum retained the top spot on the UK all formats chart during the week ended September 5.
Wii Sports Resort was also a non-mover at number two, despite an 11 per cent drop in weekly sales.
Sony Computer Entertainment America says it is looking into reported PS3 problems following the release of the latest firmware update for the console.
Last week a number of users reported running into technical problems after installing PS3 firmware 3.00, including the inability to synch up controllers with consoles and game crashes.
