Wii Sports Resort sold 500,000 copies in the US in the nine days following its July 26 launch, according to Nintendo’s internal tracking numbers.
Activision Blizzard has delayed the release of StarCraft II until the first half of 2010 to coincide with the launch of its new Battle.net game service, which it says will be “similar to Xbox Live.”
Activision has reported significant sales and profit increases for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009.
Net income leapt from $28 million to $195 million on revenues of $1.04 billion, which were up from $352 million during the same period a year earlier.
Shortlist released for the Edge Award For Interactive Innovation, to be presented during the Edinburgh Interactive Festival next week.
The list recognises the games commercially released in the last 12 months that have, in the judges' opinions, done most to mark out new directions for videogaming.
Glu Mobile has announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009.
The mobile publisher saw revenue fall 16 per cent, from $23.7 million in the second quarter of 2008 to $19.9 million (£11.7m).
However, net loss was narrowed from $6.6 million to $1.5 million (£883,000), and the company said it had achieved positive cash flow from operations one quarter sooner than expected, generating $1.1 million (£647,363) in cash from operations during the three month period.
Koei is to establish a new game development studio in Vietnam.
Koei Tecmo Vietnam will open in Hanoi with between 20 and 30 employees, and is expected to grow its headcount to 100 within three years.
According to Japanese newspaper Nikkei Sangyou Shimbun (via Andriasang), Koei will invest 50 million yen ($525,000/£309,000) capital in the subsiduary.
You will never play Halo against a man on Mars. Zoe will never have your back in an interplanetary game of Left 4 Dead, and you’ll never recruit a Martian bassist for Rock Band. Online gaming between Earth and Mars is impossible.
Or is it?
On yesterday’s announcement of new DLC for the original Left 4 Dead, we spoke with Valve’s Chet Faliszek to find out more about Valve's plans. He explains how the short scenario, called Crash Course, which supports Versus, co-op Campaign and Survival modes, was the result of learning how players wanted shorter games than the usual hour per Campaign level and two hours per full Versus match, and what Crash Course means for the continuing development of the Left 4 Dead series.
Can you talk us through the DLC?
Namco Bandai is to increase its focus on iPhone development after appointing ex-Apple gaming man Jonathan Kromrey.
As general manager of Namco Networks’ Apple games business, Kromrey will look to expand the company’s offerings for iPhone and iPod touch beyond the firm’s arcade classics to new IPs and other established properties, with an emphasis placed on the platforms’ unique features such as their touch screens, music playing capabilities and accelerometer controls.
Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has said that a proposal by Germany interior ministers seeking to ban the domestic production of violent games could force the developer to leave the country.
In early June, Germany's 16 interior ministers grouped together in a bid to outlaw the production and distribution of games "where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or un-human acts of violence against humans or manlike characters."
[UPDATE: Activision has issued a press release confirming the details in this report, but it offered no further information on the game]
Activision will release a port of Infinity Ward’s Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for Nintendo’s Wii.
Titled Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare and built by fellow franchise developer Treyarch, the title will launch on November 11, the same day as Infinity Ward’s COD: Modern Warfare 2 debuts, according to Kotaku.
Electronic Arts, which dubbed itself the number one publisher in North America and Europe in the quarter ended June 30, generated net revenues of $161 million from Wii software during the three month period, making the platform the most lucrative for the company.
Electronic Arts reported an increase in losses and a drop in revenues for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, 2009, but the publisher still managed to beat expectations.
Net loss totalled $234 million (£138.3m), compared with $95 million the prior year, while net revenue, which was driven by The Sims 3, EA Sports Active and Fight Night Round 4, came in at $644 million (£380.6m), down from $804 million.
Electronic Arts reported an increase in losses and a drop in revenues for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, 2009, but the publisher still managed to beat expectations.
Net loss totalled $234 million (£138.3m), compared with $95 million the prior year, while net revenue, which was driven by The Sims 3, EA Sports Active and Fight Night Round 4, came in at $644 million (£380.6m), down from $804 million.
EA has revealed that sales of The Sims 3 have reached 3.7 million units.
The company said that the title was the bestselling game at retail in Europe and North America combined during its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2009.
Zoo Tycoon and World Of Zoo developer Blue Fang Games has cuts 15 staff members.
"While we are saddened beyond words that we cannot continue to employ these talented individuals, we are also confident and excited about our studio’s future," said president Hank Howie.
Apple is reportedly prepping a new touch-screen tablet computer for launch later this year.
Having allegedly seen the multimedia device first hand, an unnamed analyst told financial publication Barron's that the system will likely feature a ten inch touch-screen and be similar in appearance and feel to a large iPod touch.
Nintendo has sold three million DSi consoles in Japan.
According to new Enterbrain figures, domestic sales stood at 3,062,920 units as of August 2, 2009.
The DSi launched in Japan on November 1 last year, meaning the system hit the sales milestone in nine months, reports Famitsu (via Andriasang).
Former Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler has joined SouthPeak Interactive’s board of directors.
Having taken Take-Two from $250 million in revenues to over $1.3 billion before shareholders ousted him from the CEO position in 2007, Eibeler has been appointed to help drive growth at SouthPeak.
Sony has reportedly placed enough component orders to double quarterly PS3 manufacturing rates.
The company is said to have ordered enough parts to manufacture one million PS3 units during the third quarter of this year, twice as many as in the last three months.
Sony has pulled a new in-game video advert from Wipeout HD after its introduction led to an increase in game loading times.
Speaking to investors after Nintendo reported a 60.6 per cent decline in quarterly operating profit, company president Satoru Iwata cited a lack of major new games as the primary reason for a recent decline in Wii sales.
During the first quarter ended June 30, Wii hardware sales totaled 2.23 million units, down from 5.17 million during the same period last year, while software sales declined by almost ten million units to 31.07 million.
A hoard of barbarians, catapults, and horses bears down on my castle walls. With one finger I fling them high, high into the air so they plummet to their deaths. Awash in the glory of my brutal power, not to mention the graphical splendour of these stick figure nemeses, I sow devastation with a simple, repetitive motion of my hand – stroking up, up, up, up on the right side of the screen, as fast as my burning wrist can manage. Stick figures and horse drawings rain down upon a botchy painting that appears to have been whipped up by a third grader.
Namco Bandai has reported increased losses and falling sales for the first quarter of the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.
The company posted a net loss of 2.85 billion yen ($29.9m/£17.7m), down from a one billion yen profit in the same quarter last year, while sales declined 15.8 per cent to 75.73 billion yen ($796m/£470m).
Over 43,000 people attended the first Games Convention Online event, according to organiser Leipziger Messe.
The three-day Leipzig, Germany-based browser, client and mobile games fair featured 74 exhibitors showcasing 150 games, and much of its content was made available online, attracting 500,000 visits to the event's website.
“90 per cent of the visitors were online gamers, which means that we reached just the target group the sector was expecting,” said Wolfgang Marzin, chairman of the board at the Leipzig Trade Fair.