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:
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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 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.
“Our strategy is very mu... More »
Atari president Phil Harrison has revealed that there is a generation of kids being born today that will most likely never buy a physical media product. Therefore, they will not buy a DVD, CD, and never buy a game in a box.
To quote: Phil Harrison is convinced that the game industry’s future audience will not be reliant on physical forms of media.
Speaking to Edge, the Atari company president said that “there’s a generation of kids being born today and probably already alive who I’m pretty confident will never buy a physical media product. They will never buy a DVD, they will never buy a CD, and they will never buy a game in a box.”
Harrison and Atari CEO David Gardner are already gearing the company towards this perceived trend. Back in September Gardner explained that the future of Atari lies in online play and distribution, with the former EA executive declaring that “within five years 90 per cent of our products will be onl... More »
Three of the greatest rock bands ever are bringing some of their best songs to Guitar Hero this month!
Activision announced the holiday lineup of downloadable tracks for its latest music title today. The company is bringing some sweet gifts to music fans with three track packs for the biggest bands of the 70s and 90s- The Eagles, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana.
In addition, a free trio of reggae songs will be released on Christmas week. That's a merry jam, mon. Here's the list of tracks due each week. The track packs are $5.50, and individual tracks are $2. Downloads are available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii.
Dec 4th: The Smashing Pumpkins Pack
1979- The Smashing Pumpkins
GLOW- The Smashing Pumpkins
Everlasting Gaze- The Smashing Pumpkins
Dec 11: Nirvana Track Pack
Negative Creep- Nirvana
Silver- Nirvana
You Know You're Right- Nirvana
Dec 18: The Eagles Track Pack
F... More »
In the gaming world exclusivities have become all but obsolete. So it should come as little surprise that analysts are stating the future of Epic’s gaming giant, Gears of War, will be bright on all fronts of the console war.
Analyst Michael Pachter, who is well known throughout the gaming industry for his insight to the future of gaming, has stated “we pretty much know that Gears of War 3 is probably gonna come out on PS3.”
Pachter is going off the idea that things today aren’t exactly exclusive, they’re only set aside for a set amount of time. If this holds true, PS3 gamers will get a chance to see just how much they’ve been missing.
As gamers of all three major systems, we welcome multiplatform any day. The console war is getting down to the point of ‘who’s system has the better technology’, and steering clear of ‘who has the better games’.
Either way this one ends up, Gears of War has cemented it’s p... More »
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