Japanese efficiency, I tell you. Nintendo moved 1Million system in one week. Yes, 1 million Nintendos sold from Xmas shopping already. Gawdd…no other consoles have done that. But that’s because Nintendo is significantly cheaper than the PS and XBOX. Oh well…
The 2007 holiday-shopping season is less than one week old, but console makers are already beginning to spin their sales numbers. Yesterday, Sony reported that North American PlayStation 3 sales have tripled since the period beginning November 2–when the new $399 40GB model was introduced–through November 24. Though the company didn’t report exact sales numbers, extrapolation from NPD’s October report puts the figure at somewhere around 322,000 units sold in the US and Canada in three weeks.
Now, Nintendo has revealed its sales figures in the US for the “Black Friday” week of November 18-24. The seven-day period was Nintendo’s best ever in the US, with over 1.03 million systems sold in the 50 states. Of those, 350,000 were $249 Wiis, and 653,000 were $129 DSes. The latter figure eclipsed the record set in 2005, when over 600,000 Game Boy Advances were sold during Thanksgiving Week. On November 23, two new DS colors–rose and gold–were introduced via bundles with Nintendogs and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, respectively.
I am waiting for Mass Effect to arrive on my doorstep. Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360, which was released worldwide in November, 2007. The game takes place in the year 2183, with the player assuming the role of an elite human soldier named Commander Shepard, set out to explore a vast universe on his/her ship, the SSV Normandy.
Check out the trailer, gamers:
Not only are the visuals closest to the human facial feature ever, the game will be a blast. I just know it.
A little delay on Epic Games’s latest, Unreal Tournament III. For those of you waiting for the game, read on:
After yesterday’s delay of Haze, it looked like the only third-party PlayStation 3 exclusive left on the 2007 release schedule was Namco Bandai’s Time Crisis 4. Today, though, owners of Sony’s recently discounted console got a welcome surprise: After being all but officially postponed to 2008 last month, the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament III is now confirmed as shipping this year.
“We got news last night that Unreal Tournament III has been approved by SCEA and has been released to North American manufacturing,” said Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein in an e-mail to game journalists. Earlier this month, the outspoken executive said that, despite Midway’s pessimism, he was “confident” the game would arrive in 2007. Sony also continued to list it as arriving this year in its release schedule.
Rein went on to say that UTIII publisher Midway Games was currently weighing its release strategy for the shooter, which arrived for the PC this week. (Check back later today for a full review.) However, since many in the US have already left for the extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the company doesn’t have an official release date for the game.
“My guess is that Midway will start shipping the title to North American retailers on Monday, December 10th,” said Rein. “It could show up in stores as early as December 11th but more likely toward the middle of that week.” Unfortunately, due to “localization-related tasks,” Rein doesn’t expect the PS3 UTIII to arrive in Europe until early next year.
Industry trackers, NDP, is putting a figure to October’s gaming tally on games and related softwares close to 1.1billion. This is just for October alone? Geezus. It is 73% higher than Oct 2006. I guess it must be 1) the great games XBox has to offer 2) the Great games in general but mostly because of Xbox. :)
The holidays are here again, as the game industry opened the fourth quarter in a big way, according to the industry-tracking NPD Group. The firm today released its US retail sales figures for October, and NPD analyst Anita Frazier put the industry’s yearly growth-to-date in perspective.
“This year sales have already achieved the annual sales number for 2005,” Frazier said, “and the two biggest months are yet to come. I think we’ll see not only record-breaking revenues but record-breaking year-over-year growth when the final numbers are tallied.”
Game sales for October were up 39 percent to $513.9 million, with hardware sales up 127 percent to $469.7 million. Factor in accessory sales, which Frazier said increased sharply alongside the hardware sales, and the industry as a whole for the month took in $1.1 billion, up 73 percent from October 2006.
Okay…how many sites online goes poetic on a game that slashes and kills? Never until now, that is. Assassin’s Creed is such a game because of it’s fluid beauty and old age charm. Set in the 12th century, an assassin with a mysterious past (as they always do) is your character. Your aim is to listen to your person who your work for and your duty is to exterminate. There is no such thing as excess gore because ripping out your nemesis’ guts is against the law in real life, but all glory in virtual.
As I echo one of the reviews, “Assassin’s Creed is a beautiful and exciting experience that you’ll remember for years to come.” I cannot wait to get the game on my XBox 360. The game, btw, is rated 9.0 out of 10. IGN may not be as generous but expect it to be on ‘their’ high side of the scale.
If you like racing games, you’re going to love Burnout Paradise. Check out their trailer:
It is going to hit stores in Jan 22 of 2008 so be prepared. Console of choice is, yet again the XBox 360. Geez, the XBox360 is churning out a lot of good games lately. Sony better pick up their pace - it’s pointless to be all egoistical about their blu-ray if it won’t sell. I know Burnout Paradise is coming out on PS3 too but I am talking about generally. XBox360 beats PS3 in popularity, hands down. Okay, maybe I am bit harsh - but maybe Sony PS3 came out a little too early. I am glad they lowered their price for a start though.
Tomb Raider, the bodacious adventurer who succumbed to a doubtful ending in Tomb Raider 3 has now released Tomb Raider: Anniversary in the XBox 360 console and the Wii.
This week, Eidos is releasing to retail the Xbox 360 version of Tomb Raider: Anniversary. And while it typically doesn’t take much for the buxom heroine to turn heads of her own accord, Eidos is capitalizing on the increased attention anyway by announcing that Wii gamers will have a chance to go hands on with Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Anniversary on November 13.
Similar to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and PC versions already out, Crystal Dynamics’ redux is a fleshed-out version of the original Tomb Raider, which celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year. Bringing Lara into the 21st century, Crystal Dynamics is implementing the same engine used in last year’s Tomb Raider: Legend. The Wii version will also feature fully integrated motion-sensing controls.
As with the Xbox 360 version, Tomb Raider Anniversary is rated T for Teen and will retail for $39.99. For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage and its review of the PS2 edition of the game.
OMG it’s been almost 10 years since I’ve last seen Street Fighter. And now Street Fighter IV is coming out again. Fantastically, Capcom has been teasing us bit by bit with some videos here and there via it’s site. Hot Damn! When is it coming out? I still know how to do Chun Li’s Helicopter Kick and Ryu’s uppet cut! Holy, i sound like a geek now but I don’t care because i used to play Street Fighter everyday after school!
Kane & Lynch is developed for the XBox360, by IO interactive, about two men with very different lives forced to work together to make hell on earth. Kane was the regular guy who turned bad when his son shot himself with Kane’s own gun. Unable to cope with the loss of his son, he turned into a mercenary. Lynch is a guy who schizophrenia who works in warehouses. His illness requires him to be heavily medicated to control his symptoms. One day he came home to find his wife dead in their apartment and because he is susceptible to blackouts during which he commits atrocious acts, he is unsure if he was the one who killed her. So being the prime suspect with ALL the evidence pointing to him, the jury sentenced him to death.
Somehow, fate tied these two unlikely characters together. Now questions avail, will these two men find peace and get their lives back together again?
I love role playing games and Hellgate looks like it’s bent for my wrath! It’s only available on PC - where’s the XBox360’s dudes?? Anyway, it looks like a cool game, with a great story line.
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