Source: videogamesblogger.com

October’s American video game sales data from the NPD is in, and like almost any month the past year, it shows an unchanged result: A Nintendo system on top, this time the Wii outsold all other systems.

NPD analyst, Anita Frazier, had this to say: “The video games industry grew an impressive 18% year-over-year in the first month of the critical fourth quarter. With 10-months under its belt, the video games industry is still poised to top $22B in annual sales in 2008. — The sales results are mixed this month, however. The console portion of the market made significant gains at 26% across hardware, software and accessories, while the portable side of the market stalled, declining 14%. Year-to-date the portable segment of the market is still up 7%.”

Video game hardware overview:
1. Nintendo Wii — 803,000
2. Nintendo DS — 491,000
3. Xbox 360 — 371,000
4. PlayStation Portable — 193,000
5. PlayStation 2 — 190,000
6. PlayStation 3 — 136,000

Xbox 360-exclusive Fable II had a strong launch with over 790,000 sales thanks to both the standard and limited editions. The NPD mentions that “The expanding variety of content available for consumers to play is clearly paying off for the industry. Looking at the top 10 games for the month, half are “M” rated games while the other half are “E” rated games and they span disparate genres. There is something for everyone on this list.”

Video game software overview top 10:
1. Fable II (Xbox 360) — 790,000
2. Wii Fit (Wii) — 487,000
3. Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) — 375,000
4. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — 290,000
5. Wii Play (Wii) — 243,000 — 282,000
6. Saints Row 2 (Xbox 360) — 270,000
7. SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Confrontation (PS3) — 231,000
8. Little Big Planet (PS3) — 215,000
9. NBA 2K9 (Xbox 360) — 202,000
10. Dead Space (Xbox 360) — 193,000

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Sony’s earnings report has come in and things aren’t looking too bright. Although in good news, its games division is a bright spot in the darkness as it made some gains.

Here are the details:

* Sony revised its profit projections down to an additional 39% for the fiscal year (April 1, 2008 till March 31, 2009) which totals for a 59% decrease from their financial performance last year

* Profits for July through September slid 72%! They fell from ¥73.7 billion ($755 million) last year to ¥20.8 billion ($213 million) this year. Operating income fell 90% from last year, falling from ¥111.6 billion ($1.14 billion) to ¥11 billion ($113 million)

* The electronics segment of Sony, which accounts for most of the revenues for the company, declined .6% in sales for the reporting period, dipping to ¥1.7 trillion ($17.4 billion). The slip comes despite stronger sales for Bravia LCD TVs and Vaio PC’s. As Sony noted last week, the yen’s strength in the global market as well as tighter profit margins due to increased competition contributed to the company’s lackluster performance in this area.

* As mentioned above, Sony’s gaming division made some gains during the period. For the quarter, Sony’s gaming division generated ¥269 billion ($2.76 billion), a 10 percent increase year over year. Sony attributed this to rising sales of the PS3 and PSP. The PS3 managed to sell 2.43 million units while the PSP sold 3.18 million units.

* While the PS2 has been a powerhouse for what seems like forever, the system has finally started to dwindle, with sales falling to 2.5 million units this quarter.

* Over the same period of time, the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 by 200,000 units. The Xbox 360 had sold 2.2 million units, which was a 20% increase over last year for Microsoft.

* To date, the PS3 has reached global lifetime sales of 16.85 million units.

* Despite Sony’s game division gaining, it still remained in the red. Sony’s gaming division posted an operating loss for the July through September period of ¥39.5 billion ($405 million). Which is an improvement over last year’s deficit of ¥96.7 billion ($991 million). According to Sony, the tightening of losses is due to a cut in production costs for the PS3, an increase in software sales for the PS3 and strong PSP hardware sales.

* Like a lot of companies during this economic downturn, Sony’s financial services segment took a significant hit the quarter, seeing an operating loss of ¥25 billion ($256 million) and falling revenues of ¥100 billion ($1.02 billion). Conversely, the movie business performed quite well–with sales increasing 3.4 percent to ¥196 billion ($2.00 billion)–on the strength of Hancock, Step Brothers, and Pineapple Express.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

The war against the Chimera will rage on after the Resistance 2’s PS3 release early next month, in Spring 2009 on the PSP in fact. Resistance: Retribution is the third-person sequel to Resistance: Fall of Man exclusively on the PSP. Featuring an all new story, levels, weapons and enemies, as well as a proprietary targeting system that takes full advantage of the PSP control system.

Set in the weeks after Resistance: Fall of Man, Resistance: Retribution follows the story of former British Marine James Grayson. (The game bridges the story between Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2.) After a personal tragedy - he is forced to kill his own brother inside a Chimeran conversion center - Grayson goes on a vendetta to destroy every conversion center he can find.

Watch the mystery of the Chimera deepen in this new trailer.

Click on the bottom-right corner arrow to view it fullscreen.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

SCEA and SCEE have announced a worldwide delay for their PS3 platformer/level editor LittleBigPlanet. The new release date in America has been moved from October 21 to 27. While one would assume the European release date will meet with a similar one-week delay from October 24 to 31, UK retailers are moving order shippings to November 14 according to CVG.

Here’s Sony’s official statement: “During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused.”

Basically Sony are recalling all copies of LittleBigPlanet that were already sent out to stores to replace them.

Another newsflash just in! Look up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…

Source: videogamesblogger.com

August’s American video game sales data from the NPD is in, and like almost any month the past year, it shows an unchanged result: A Nintendo system on top, this time the Wii outsold all other systems.

NPD analyst, Anita Frazier, had this to say: “This is the first true monthly decline the industry has experienced since March of 2006. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that this month’s 7% decline is against a month (September 2007) that itself was up 75% from the prior September. Last year, Halo 3 released in September 2007 and that game had a huge impact on hardware and software sales. — Overall, the health of the video games industry remains quite strong despite the rocky economic conditions. Tracking against typical industry seasonality, the U.S. video games industry is positioned to realize $22B or more in revenues for the year (does not include PC Games).”

Video game hardware overview:
1. Nintendo Wii — 687,000
2. Nintendo DS — 536,800
3. Xbox 360 — 347,200
4. PlayStation Portable — 238,100
5. PlayStation 3 — 232,400
6. PlayStation 2 — 173,500

To no one’s surprise Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had a strong launch with over 1.1 million sales. Rock Band 2’s Xbox 360-exclusive debut didn’t do too bad at 363,000 sales, but will no doubt be a strong multiplatform seller when it’s released on the Wii, PS2 & PS3 later this year. Despite the NPD not listing PC titles, they mentioned “Spore realized sales of 406,000 units and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning sold 274,000 which would put them both in the top 10 list of combined console, portable and PC games sales for the month”.

Video game software overview top 10:
1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360) — 610,000
2. Wii Fit (Wii) — 518,000
3. Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360) — 363,000
4. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — 353,000
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3) — 325,000
6. Mercenaries 2: World In Flames (Xbox 360) — 297,000
7. Wii Play (Wii) — 243,000
8. Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360) — 224,000
9. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii) — 223,000
10. Madden NFL 09 (PS2) — 158,000

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Sony creates a virtual doll dress up game called Dress. Dress was announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2008 last week and is coming to PS3 in Japan. Nothing else is known about the game, but you can watch the following off-screen demo of the game’s design functions.

Click on the bottom-right corner arrow to view it fullscreen.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Sony announced the PS3 system software update 2.50 will be released today, October 15th, 2008. This latest firmware finally adds an automatic console and controllers power off feature!

Building upon the foundation set by previous firmware upgrades, the 2.50 system software update will refine existing features while also adding new functionality.

New features delivered through PS3 2.50 include:

* Support for the PS3 Official Bluetooth Headset — The upcoming Bluetooth Headset bundled with SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation in combination with this latest firmware enables High-Quality (HQ) mode, which utilises advanced wireless technologies and the Headset’s dual-microphone design to enable clear and wide-band wireless online voice chat. On top of that, an added on-screen indicator shows battery status, volume level, mute functions, and use of HQ mode. HQ mode greatly improves the voice chat experience in multi-player titles such as Resistance 2, which launches in November.

* Power Save –- PS3 owners will have the option to automatically shut-off their console or controllers after pre-selected periods of inactivity. Go to Settings then Power Save Settings to turn on these features.

* Flash 9 Content — Flash 9 becomes supported on the Internet Browser.

* Video — Video scene search functionality will provide thumbnails to help you find a particular scene in a video more easily. Activating this feature while viewing a video on the PS3 will break the video up into scenes that you can quickly access by pressing the X button. You can break the videos into one, two or five minute intervals. In addition, you can now choose to have all of the videos under the video section of the XMB play in sequence. Go to Settings then Video Settings to turn this option on.

* PlayStation Trophies interface enhancements — This update makes sharing and comparing your trophies with your friends even easier. On 1st part of the profile page you’ll see a symbol under level that represents level and the actual percentage towards the next level along with the existing level meter. The level symbol carries over to the trophy comparison screen where you will now be able to see your level, your friend’s level and the percentage towards the next level for both users along with all of the game by game comparison information you see today. The Trophy system will continue to expand through future firmware updates, catering to the PS3 community and the competitive nature of the more than 12 million registered PlayStation Network users worldwide.

* In-game screenshots capture tool — Laying the groundwork for developers to add capture and sharing options to their games and allowing players to immortalise their favourite gaming moments and share them with friends. This will be supported on a game by game basis. Titles that support the feature will be announced in the future.

* Background Downloading — You now have the option to set the PS3 to turn off automatically after a background download or installation of content has completed. This option is available when you turn off the system from the button under [Users] while content is being downloaded or installed.

* Information Board — The Information Board will be able to include direct links to PlayStation Store, making it easier for PS3 owners to download content that they read about on the Information Board.

* Friend Status — Offline friends on your Friends list will have information below their avatars that will indicate how long it has been since they were last online.

* PlayStation Store — A redeem codes option has been added right on the store to make it easier to redeem your PlayStation Network Cards and promotion codes. In addition, PlayStation Network Sign Up and Account Management have been redesigned.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Sony announced the PSP system software update 5.00 will be released today, October 15th, 2008. This latest firmware adds the integration of the PlayStation Store into the PSP system!

The PSP Firmware 5.00 update will add direct PlayStation Store access to the system, eliminating the need for PSP to be connected to a PC or PS3 to download content. PSP owners will be able to download games, demos, trailers, and other game-related content anytime and anywhere that their PSP is connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi. This functionality delivers on the portable promise of PSP, making the device even more compelling for gaming and entertainment on-the-go.

Additional enhancements delivered through PSP 5.00 will include:
* On-screen keyboard – A full-size, on-screen keyboard will be added to make text entry during Web browsing easier and more convenient.
* Sleep timer – During music playback, a sleep timer will enable users to shut off their PSP after a specified amount of time.
* Video-out – The PSP-2000’s video-out feature will be able to display PlayStation format software (classics titles) at the full-screen size of the TV that the PSP is connected to; the feature will also support interlace displays.

Grace Chen, Sony senior manager of the PlayStation Store, gives a video walkthrough of the PSP Store.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, talked about the future of the PSP at his keynote at the New York Games Conference. He thinks Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games would be a good match for the handheld.

To quote: “I think PSP is something that we’re definitely looking at; 34 million [sold] worldwide really opens your eyes, and they’re all connected. We started to get very interested in [the PSP] when we switched over from Sony Pictures to Sony Computer Entertainment back in April. And as we’ve kind of got our heads up looking around the world within Sony Computer Entertainment, we’re really starting to see a big push for PSP. We think it’s a world-class device… In the future, we see full MMOs that are designed for the PSP.

Maybe one way to do it: In Free Realms [in development for the PC and PS3], you could have a pet-training system that literally connects to our online gaming where you can mess around with your pet. Another way to do it might be to give them mini-games that they can do [on the PSP] when sitting at a bus stop [to level up their character from the main game on-the-go].”

Via MTV

Source: videogamesblogger.com

According to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), since its launch in 2004, SingStar has become one of the world’s most popular game titles, proving that everyone wants a chance to sing along to their favourite tune. In four years and across both PS2 and PS3 platforms, SingStar has sold more than 13 million discs in SCEE territories and has seen more than two million tracks downloaded from online service, SingStore. And things are about to get even bigger with SCEE announcing a new sequel for the ever expanding SingStar world.

Michael Jackson joins the SingStar roster for the very first time in SingStar Volume 3: Party Edition, and takes his place alongside the greatest pop artists old and new. Barry Manilow, Lionel Ritchie and Kate Bush sit alongside recent chart hits from The Ting Tings, Timbaland, Sara Bareilles and Coldplay.

SingStar Volume 3: Party Edition will also include:
* Barry Manilow, Copacabana
* David Bowie, Sapce Oddity
* Stevie Wonder & Paul McCartney, Ebony & Ivory
* Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson, The Way I Are
* Coldplay, Viva La Vida

Watch the SingStar Volume 3 trailer: