197w ago - If everyone had salaries like Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, then we could afford the astronomical prices Activision charges for games.

However, this is reality, a reality where Bobby Kotick wants to raise game prices. Prices that are already at an expensive price point for video games, and during an economic crisis.

To quote: Attention Bobby Kotick - It's 2009, the global economy has crashed, in large part due to corporate greed. Maybe you haven't noticed the hit to the economy, since in 2008 you made a staggering (said in Dr. Evil voice) $15 million dollars.

Every day it seems as though 'poor' Mr. Kotick is headed toward being the most hated man in the gaming industry. And the more the guy opens his yapper, the more hate he deservedly gets.

218w ago - Not only are CD sales still falling, but a whopping 17 million customers stopped buying CDs altogether in 2008.

The economic downturn is cited as one reason for the sharp decline, but new services offer viable ways for the music industry to survive this rocky transition period.

While overall music sales were up 10 percent in 2008, the year saw a drop not only in CD sales, but in the number of customers actually purchasing music. But according to a new report, the act of music listening is actually on the rise. While digital music purchases remain strong, the numbers show that there is still much more work to be done in the industry's transition to a new, more diverse set of business models.

NPD's annual Digital Music Study found that there were 17 million fewer CD customers in 2008 than in past years. CD sales have been dropping for quite some time, and while 1.5 billion songs were sold digitally last year, the number of Internet users paying for digital music only increased by 8 million in 2008.

NPD saw all demographics pulling back on CD purchases, but the most significant groups were teenagers and those over 50.

The primary reason for cutting down on CD purchases was a simple slashing of entertainment budgets across all demographics. Cheaper prices for digital albums...

225w ago - Sony's PlayStation 3 sold less in the third quarter of 2008 (ie. the Oct-Dec holiday season) than in 2007, but the strength of the console's earlier sales did it proud, shipping 10.77 million in 2008 (up from 2007's 8.85 million).

In contrast, Microsoft's Xbox 360 had a huge holiday season, shipping around 6 million consoles worldwide (a record for the Xbox), but had a weaker sales period earlier in the year: the playing field has been levelled.

The PlayStation 3 shipped around 10.77 million and the Xbox 360 also shipped 10.8 million: a dead heat. As for life-time sales, the Xbox 360 is at 28.45 million and the PlayStation 3 at 21.35 million - a slightly tighter gap than Microsoft's announced 8 million.

On average the PlayStation 3 has sold 2.37 million units per quarter, in comparison to the Xbox 360's 2.18 million. Still without a PS3 price cut, Microsoft's console will surely pull away in 2009.

As for Nintendo's Wii, it's solidified first place by selling an outstanding 4.99 million units per quarter. Find the numbers below:

SHIPPED Q3 2008 (Oct-Dec 2008)

PlayStation 3: 4.46m
Wii: 10.42m
Xbox 360: 6.0m
PlayStation 2: 2.52m
NDS: 11.89m
PSP: 5.08m

SHIPPED 2008

PlayStation 3: 10.77m

226w ago - Last year, retail video games outsold DVD and Blu-ray discs worldwide for the first time, according to a 2008 report and 2009 forecast by Media Control GfK International.

Video game sales were up to 53 percent of the media market in 2008, thanks in no small part to Nintendo's Wii, which drove software sales up by 20 percent from 2007. GfK predicts that video games will take 59 percent of the market by the end of 2009.

In Italy and Spain, video games already reign in the home entertainment war, constituting for 67 percent of the market.

Meanwhile, DVD sales dropped by 4 percent, bringing overall DVD and Blu-ray sales down 6 percent from the previous year. The U.S. market played a major roll, with sales for these movie formats dropping by 8 percent.

All told, video game sales reached $32 billion and movie sales came out to $29 billion for DVD and Blu-ray. It should be noted that rentals are not included in the report.

GfK's findings weren't without precedent. Earlier this year, Verdict research predicted video game sales would be up 42 percent in the UK, and would surpass music, DVD, and Blu Ray disc sales.

Although they were almost correct, Steve Redmond of the Entertainment Retailer's...

227w ago - During 2008 we saw some of the biggest blockbuster titles this gen such as GTA IV, Gears of War 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4.

We have also watched as console exclusives were released and completely flopped. Fortunately, both consoles seemed to have their prized dung. Lets take a look...

Haze, PlayStation 3-Sony

Haze was the PS3's second Exclusive FPS and spouted off to be a "Halo Killer" for the then, still young PlayStation 3. It turned out to be a complete disappointment. The game itself was short and unsatisfying, the voice acting terrible and the controls clunky and awkward.

Haze was developed by Free Radical, the makers of much popular Timesplitters and published by Ubisoft. It was much hyped as the launch date was set for early spring of 2008.

When it was released it was met with poor reviews, and soon ended up with a 55% on Metacritic. This was surely a big embarrassment for Sony, who advertised the game extensively. Amazingly, once it flopped they suddenly seemed to lose interest in the IP.

In the aftermath of Haze, Free Radical is now for sale. Despite claims by Sony that Haze has nothing to do with this, you have to wonder if this poor excuse for a game ruined the Timesplitter creators forever.

Too Human, Xbox...