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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For the time being this is simply a rumor, however, French site JV247.com (linked above) is reporting that a game publisher told them Sony was planning to add PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility in a recent PlayStation 3 Firmware Update... but pulled it at the last minute.
They continue to mention that it may be added in a future update, and that we may see PlayStation 2 games on the PlayStation Store.
Adding fuel to the rumor is news that the original Medal of Honor and the ESRB-rated PlayStation 2 game "Rayman 2: Revolution" are slated for the PlayStation 3, which usually means they’re going to pop up on the PlayStation Store at some point in the future.
As always, more details to come as they are available!
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 »
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 »
Update: The LBP 1.05 patch adds star ratings to levels - you can now see the current star rating of a level (providing it has enough feedback).
The LittleBigPlanet v1.05 patch for PlayStation 3 is now available. It went live last night and is just 15MB in size. There isn't any word on what is new, but we're sure it brings with it some fixes and minor improvements.
To quote: The Planetoid observatory has just seen that the Little Big Planet 1.05 patch is now live. It went live at around 11pm GMT / UTC and is a teeny tiny 15MB in size.
Like previous patches, there has been no official word on it so right now there is no news on just exactly what this patch contains. We’d put our money on it being some minor stability fixes, much like patches 1.01, 1.02, 1.03 and 1.04 did and they were all around the same size.
Media Molecule did, only a few hours ago, announce their commitment to improving key areas of the game: Searching, Mo... 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 »
Hey guys, this is another European PSN Store Update. GTI Club+ finally appears for 9.99 pounds.
Also check the usual amount of DLC and the newest "Shoot!" episode for all shortcut lovers.
Enjoy!
PS3 Full Games
* GTI Club+ full game (£9.99/€12.99)
* Brain Challenge full game (£3.99/€4.99)
PsOne Classics
* Red Alert Retaliation PS1 game (£3.99/€4.99)
* Jet Rider PS1 game (£3.99/€4.99)
PS3 Demos
* LEGO Batman demo (free)
Add-on Content
* Race Driver GRID "8-ball" pack (£6.29/€7.99)
* LittleBigPlanet "Kabuki Actor" costume (free)
* SoulCalibur IV "Customization Equipment 4" pack (£0.79/€0.99)
* Star Wars: The Force Unleashed "Jedi Temple" mission pack (£7.99/€9.99)
* Star Wars: The Force Unleashed "Character pack 2" (£3.99/€4.99)
* Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm "Storm Pa... More »
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