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 »
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.
Bluepoint Games President Andy O'Neil was pleased to reveal today that Blast Factor for PlayStation 3 will offer PS3 trophies as of this Thursday.
To quote: Hey All! We’ve had a lot of email over the last few months asking about Trophies for Blast Factor, so I’m very pleased to announce that a new updated version of Blast Factor with that sweet Trophy goodness will be winging its way to your PS3 this Thursday!
We’ve had a lot of fun putting the Trophy challenges together, and we reckon that we’ve got a good selection for Blast Factor fans of all abilities. Watch out though, there are a couple that are going to be a challenge to even the most hardcore of Blast Factor players!
We’ve added 25 Trophies in total across the original game and the 2 expansion packs, with around 15 Trophies in Blast Factor: Basic Research and its 90+ levels, and 10 Trophies split between the Multiplayer expansion and Advanced Research with its addition of... More »
The Official MovieSet Blog (linked above) has revealed new details about the 'King of Fighters' move which is based on the SNK Playmore fighting series and should be released in 2010.
It also appears as if The King of Fighters movie will introduce a new science fiction spin into the setting established in the games’ universe by following the surviving members of three legendary fighting clans who are continually whisked away to other dimensions by an evil power.
As the fighters enter each new world they battle that universe’s native defenders, while the force that brought them seeks to find a way to invade and infect our world.
To quote: The King of Fighters movie quietly began filming in Vancouver, Canada on November 27 under the eye of director Gordon Chan, the dynamic Hong Kong-born helmer of Fist of Legend, Beast Cop and the 2003 Jackie Chan movie The Medallion. The screenplay is by newcomer Rita Augustine.
Prince of Persia Producer Ben Mattes took the time to answer several interesting questions regarding everything from combat to the game’s new art style on PlayStation 3. Here are some of them as follows:
Charliesdad asked: Wondering how you addressed the balance issues from earlier entries in the series. For example, Sands of Time was amazing, but going back to it recently the combat wore thin after a while (especially in the first big group fight) to be followed by long stretches of almost no combat. Does the new game fall on one side or the other or is there a middle ground that you all shot for and hit? And Demo tomorrow? Maybe?
Mattes: First, one of our main goals in combat was to make every fight grandiose and meaningful, to make every encounter feel more epic. Thus, we decided to make the new combat system a duel mode in which every enemy has special attributes, a unique personality, cool moves, and his strengths and weaknesses. ... More »
At the ATARI LIVE showcase event in London today, Atari and CD Projekt RED announced plans for the global release of The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf on PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft in autumn 2009.
Press Release: LONDON, UK – 2 December 2008 – Based on the story of multi award-winning million-selling PC role-playing game The Witcher and completely rebuilt pixel by pixel for the new generation of consoles, The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf brings the unrivalled RPG experience to Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 with a brand new combat system for thrilling dynamic action, and a new engine delivering matchless state-of-the-art visuals.
The game is underpinned with the evocative and enthralling story which helped secure the original game’s status as PC role-playing game of 2007, based on the mature and compelling universe created ... More »
Recently 1UP has conducted a great interview with Quantic Dream's president and CEO (and Heavy Rain writer and director) David Cage, and have released a couple more screenshots that can be considered breathtaking to say the least.
Of course, screenshots have the ability to speak just fine for themselves. Make sure to visit the source (linked above) to see them all. Below is an excerpt from the interview:
1UP: You warned against reading too much into the taxidermist scene, but does that scene suggest Heavy Rain's themes might be more rooted in reality than Indigo Prophecy's?
DC: Definitely. We tend to believe in our industry that we need to tell simplistic or spectacular stories, where the hero saves the world, destroys evil, or has supernatural powers. This is because the videogame, as a medium, has been too immature to tell complex and subtle stories. I made this mistake myself at the end of [Indigo Prophecy], where I felt my story needed... More »
After being initially announced nearly a week ago, and then mysteriously vanishing three days ago, today PlayStation 3 Firmware Update 2.53 is officially available!
(0) 
