Black Friday sales for the video game industry were excellent. Nintendo sold 1.8m systems for the week ending November 29 while machines from rivals Microsoft and Sony combined to sell about 1.1m units.
Software sales were quite strong as well, but the vast majority of the spike this week is simply from the fact that Americans spent $10 billion ($30/per American if every American shopped) on Black Friday according to various reports, and a lot of that went to video games.
Last year, Black Friday week sales were strong as well, but Wii, DS, and Xbox 360 saw significantly better sales this year. PS3 had the weakest Black Friday to Black Friday growth, at 13%, and PS2 declined.
Sony's machines accounted for about 1 out of 3 video game machines sold (31%) during Black Friday week in 2007, this year that ratio is down to about 2 out of 9 (22%) as the shares for Microsoft and Nintendo increase.
Although Wii had a smaller percentage incr... More »
Rockstar compiled a list of possible solutions to user-reported Grand Theft Auto IV PC bugs:
Installation
You must have Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows XP Service Pack 3 installed PRIOR to installing and running Grand Theft Auto IV PC.
Right-click 'My Computer –> Properties' to see if you have the latest Service Packs installed, and if not check Windows Update and download before trying to install the game.
Installing on a non–English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, or Russian Operating System
There is a known issue with non–English, French, Italian, German, Spanish or Russian operating systems, where unsupported characters will appear on the initial installation screen (this screen then remains present in the background throughout the installation process).
Sr. Producer Rusty Buchert of Sony Santa Monica Studios shared the following today via PS Blog:
Hi all, it’s Rusty again from the Santa Monica Studio. We are getting ready to launch Everyday Shooter PSP on the PSN store today, and we are really thrilled about how it has turned out. Between Jon Mak, Backbone Entertainment and us, we have Jon’s thoughts about how everything went on getting this made. Hope you all like what we’ve done.
First things first: the seaweed is gone, but the hashbrowns are still in the freezer.
So Rusty wanted me to write a little blog post about Everyday Shooter for PSP. I don’t really know what to talk about so I guess I’ll start chronological and see where that goes.
I actually tried porting Everyday Shooter to PSP way back around December 20th, 2007, and stopped around December 27th, 2007. Here’s an old video I found from back then:
Sony's Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein passed along some news he received from EA today as follows:
Mirror’s Edge developer DICE is planning a special treat for PLAYSTATION 3 owners. When downloadable content for the game is released in late January, they’ll make an exclusive Time Trial map available free, only for PS3.
More info on the DLC from EA:
Players will be challenged to achieve the fastest times possible on nine races across seven all-new and totally redesigned Time Trial maps. No guns, no cops, and no city: this is true aesthetics, agility and flow that will challenge any runner.
I think the video says it best:
This special DLC pack will be available for $10. Look for an update on the PlayStation.Blog right before it hits the PlayStation Store.
Designed exclusively for the Wii, NASCAR Kart Racing enables players to grab the steering wheel as a famed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and speed through treacherous landscapes, wind around rocky cliffs, jump rivers and dodge falling boulders.
Up to four players can go head-to-head, via split screen, in a mad dash to the checkered flag, making NASCAR Kart Racing an ideal game to play with family and friends.
Press Release: EA ANNOUNCES NASCAR KART RACING – THE FIRST AND ONLY NASCAR TITLE AVAILABLE FOR THE WII
Experience the Thrill of Team Racing on and off the Track
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – December 4, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that NASCAR® Kart Racing, the first and only NASCAR racing title available for the Wii™, will ship to retailers in North America on February 10, 2009, just in time for the Daytona 500 and the Official start of the 2009 NASCAR season.
Sony has moved to dispel Microsoft claims that Xbox is outselling the PS3 in Europe, revealing internal figures that say its console has sold 300,000 more units than Xbox 360 in PAL territories.
And the company doesn’t feel it has to follow Microsoft and further ignite consumer interest with a price cut of its own anytime soon.
SCEE president David Reeves told MCV that Sony will remain focused on the value offered by the PS3 and its extra functions and services – at its current £299 SRP.
“No we are not going to go down in price; neither are we going to go down in price on PS3 in spring time either. Absolutely not, whatever you might have heard to the contrary,” he said – referring to purported ‘leaks’ from a Sony meeting two weeks ago that claimed Sony had a price cut planned for March ‘09.
According to NewMediaAge magazine, Nintendo has become the first ever consumer brand to disable user communication and feedback on the popular social networking site Bebo.
Nintendo has launched a major campaign for a game on Bebo, but has disabled the wall feature that allows fans to comment across the campaign pages.
EA admitted they were surprised by this move, as talking is what people do one these sites.
To quote: The move to silence users has been met with surprise by brands and agencies, which said it contradicts the very nature of social media as a communications medium.
Nintendo global policy bans all comments, blogs and forums on Official Nintendo online material.
Nintendo said it selected Bebo as it reflected the social aspect of the Animal Crossing game, but it's the first consumer brand to block communication features on the social network.
The campaign, which also includes display advertising ... More »
IGN has gone through Famitsu's 11-page feature on Final Fantasy: Dissidia and translated several new details recently.
Square Enix apparently considered putting a FFXII character in the game, but were concerned it would solidify "the character's image and skills in players' minds and thus affecting the main FFXIII".
Famitsu also revealed that gamers will be able to choose a Memory Stick installation of 245, 373, or 528 megabytes. Finally, Ikeda, the main programmer for the game, says that the 245MB install will allow "smooth battles."
To quote: If all that isn't enough to make you wonder how Square Enix is fitting Dissidia on one UMD, here's something that should do the trick. Famitsu also reveals that Dissidia has a "Command Battle" mode of play.
Here, the normal action-based battle system is replaced with a menu system, allowing players who aren't so hot on action games to still engage in combat.
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