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 »
Capcom's John Diamonon answered the following question today via PS Blog: You’re probably thinking, “What the flock is FLOCK!?”
Well, today you’re going to find out because we have a little surprise for you in the free issue of Qore today.
Below are a couple of videos that show some of the quirky and original gameplay you’ll see in the game.
I want to introduce you to one of my co-workers, Robby Zinchak. Don’t let his young looks fool you. He’s an up-and-coming associate producer extraordinaire who’s ready to answer all your questions regarding this truly unique, downloadable game. Just don’t ask him to show you his ID. (Just kidding Robby.)
Hi! This is my first time posting here, so I figure I should introduce myself first My name is Robby, and I’m the Associate Producer on FLOCK! here at Capcom. As mentioned previously on this blog, the new episode of Qore (avail... 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).
To bypass this issue and install the game:
More »
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:
WHA... More »
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.
Tonight, X-Play brought you the release date for Killzone 2, the highly-anticipated FPS from Guerrilla Games and Sony!
That date: February 27, 2009 for the United States. There is no word on other territories yet. There were a lot of rumors about the 17th, but it will be 10 days later. Get your pre-orders in!
X-Play also revealed two new weapons: the Bolt Gun and the Flamethrower, which can both be seen in the following video:
The end of the video also sports the official announcement of the release date if you don't believe me!
Below is another Killzone 2 video interview on the game's robust multiplayer component including details about the games innovative "Warzone" gametype!
The "Warzone" gametype, which can be seen in the video, rotates through all the available gametypes as the match plays out. It could start as a team deathmatch game that transitions t... More »
Per Grace Chen (Senior Manager, PlayStation Store) today:
Hey, everyone. It’s time again for the weekly PlayStation Store update.
Qore
Qore Annual Subscription ($24.99)
Qore: Presented by the PlayStation Network is a monthly interactive video production covering the world of PlayStation. Qore provides its audience with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to developers and their games, from both the SCE Worldwide Studios and the third-party community, where the audience member can freely navigate through the content.
File size: 1.34 GB
Qore Episode 07: December, 2008 (free)
Episode 07 (December 2008) of Qore: Presented by the PlayStation®Network is being offered to all PSN account holders, 18 and older, for free! (*PSN registration required. user responsible for internet fees.) Download now to see what all of the excitement is about!
File size: 1.34 GB
Downloadable Games
Soldne... More »
Various video game publishers have spoke out recently to either condone or criticize second-hand video game sales for eating into their profits.
Atari president Phil Harrison isn't worried though, as he says their future strategy is to make games that people will want to keep hold of stating: "it's no coincidence that the most valuable games, the one's that have the most lifetime as a game experience, are the one's that don't get resold, that don't get traded.
The games that have the embedded community, the embedded commerce, the extended, expandable experiences, are the one's that you would never want to trade, the one's you want to keep hold of. And that's perfectly in line with our future strategy so we're not that concerned about it," he said.
To quote: Speaking at the Atari Live event in London yesterday, the publisher said t... More »
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