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).
To bypass this issue and install the game:
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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 »
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 $2. Downloads are available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii.
Dec 4th: The Smashing Pumpkins Pack
1979- The Smashing Pumpkins
GLOW- The Smashing Pumpkins
Everlasting Gaze- The Smashing Pumpkins
Dec 11: Nirvana Track Pack
Negative Creep- Nirvana
Silver- Nirvana
You Know You're Right- Nirvana
Dec 18: The Eagles Track Pack
F... More »
There can be no doubt that sales of the Xbox 360 in the US have remained strong over the last 12 months, surprising many who had claimed that 2008 would be the year of the PlayStation. With the holiday season fast approaching sales can only go one way - up.
Back in late 2007, Microsoft was heading into the festive season having wrapped up Halo 3 and Gears of War - both huge system sellers that helped the Redmond giant put it’s stamp on the year as having the most consumer £/$’s spent on its platform.
But many questioned whether Microsoft could continue its dominance through 2008 - with only a few anticipated titles on it’s schedules for the year ahead such as Fable II and Too Human (lol?).
Tell that to those crazy folks below though - This was spotted during Black Friday sales in the US as bargain hunters stalked Xbox 360 Arcade units. Only in America...
It’s still too early to ca... More »
Here is the trailer for the Far Cry 2 Fortune Pack DLC for PS3 and XBox 360.
The Far Cry 2: The Fortune's Pack DLC will bring new vehicles and new weapons to both the single-player and multiplayer modes of the game.
With these new weapons and vehicles, players can be a silent stalker armed with a crossbow or jump onto their new quad and blast through the dunes of Africa.
The Fortune's Pack DLC for Far Cry 2 is available for download from Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft Points and from PlayStation Store for $9.99.
Video is below, courtesy of Jakis2cool via YouTube.
Kevin Tofel of jkOnTheRun has put together a fairly comprehensive list of what's inside the Vista SP2 update—just as the beta rolls out to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Here is what users can expect:
• Built-in Hyper-V hypervisor
• Event logging support in SPC
• Fixes for DRM issues from WMP upgrades
• Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless
• Functionality to reduce resources required for sidebar gadgets
• Improved power settings for Windows Server 2008
The complete list of features:
Emerging Hardware Support
• SP2 contains Blue tooth 2.1 feature pack supporting the most recent specification for Blue tooth technology
• Ability to record data on Blu-Ray media,
• Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration to Windows Vista SP2,
• exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enable... More »
If we look back on 2008 and start ticking off the top names of 2009, one will want to assume that the PlayStation 3 has the momentum.
Not only does it have the obvious exclusive edge over Microsoft's Xbox 360, but it has several other factors going for it.
It's $200 cheaper than it was upon launch two years ago, the launch of the PlayStation Home open beta is scheduled for this month, Blu-Ray has won the HD movie war (and it's certainly the more preferable software format for games), the PlayStation Network and Store have taken gigantic strides, the machine is far more reliable than the 360, and yes, as we just said, the exclusives have really been impressive.
We saw Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Resistance 2, Wipeout HD, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, Valkyria Chronicles, and LittleBigPlanet this year and we can expect Killzone 2, God of War III, Gran Turismo 5, the recently unveiled Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Heavy Rain... More »
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