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:
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
PlayStation Network Executive Producer Kevin Furuichi made the following announcement via PS Blog today:
We have good news for you this month. As our way of saying “Happy Holidays,” the PlayStation Network is offering the Single Episode version of Qore Episode 07 (December ’08) for FREE* in the PlayStation Store. So, this month is your chance to check out an entire episode of Qore starting this Thursday, December 4th.
Episode 07 begins with an inside look at EA’s “Skate 2,” the sequel to the game that redefined what it means to ride a virtual board. Then, Audrey Cleo rolls over to Skatefest ‘08 in San Diego for a spin around the boarding scene.
Next, Veronica Belmont makes her way to Capcom to check out two of their latest projects – “Bionic Commando,” the re-imagining of the classic 8-bit franchise, and “Flock,” a really cool PlayStation Network game that definitely does not... 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...
SCEA Marketing Manager Mark Valledor has initiated a weekly PS Blog update on the hot topics and answers to the questions LittleBigPlanet consumers have as follows:
First off, wanted to introduce “Sam_Protagonist” to everyone. He’s our global community manager for LittleBigPlanet and our eyes and ears for all things community. You can find him interacting on the EU and US forums providing updates to the community. Keep a look out for his forum posts and occasional LBP News Site posts for the latest updates.
So for our first installment of ‘SACK IT TO ME’ - we’ve decided to summarize some of the major topics the community wants answered…
Moderation The level moderation process is something we’re continually improving. The small percentage of levels moderated have been done so after the community has reported them using the Good Grief tool. We never moderat... More »
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