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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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 »
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 »
Capcom USA has unveiled their delivery of a real Bionic Arm from Japan. Check it out below, modeled by Capcom's resident babe Marisol.
To quote: Today, we got the Bionic Arm. It came in a crate with some mysterious Japanese writing (probably a warning of the pure awesome inside), and a dead give-a-way in english as it says "Bionic Arm" in big letters.
Marisol was kind enough to strap on this prop for some pics to show off how cool this thing is. It would have been cooler if I could have found the button for the lights. But there's no obvious switch on there that says "lights."
Instead I spent a good five minutes pressing things that looked like they could be buttons while it was sitting on my desk(I was guarding it from the droolers). As I was looking, I realized just how much detail went into this piece of equipment.
Every rivet, bolt, screw, the hosing... It's all hand painted down to the most minute detail. The arm is an e... More »
Atari has made available a new Ghostbusters: The Video Game trailer today.
As recently reported, the game will be released in June 2009 and is slated to hit PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 care of developer Terminal Reality, with Red Fly Studios handling the PS2, Wii and Nintendo DS editions.
Those interested can check out the Ghostbusters - Atari Live Trailer below courtesy of dpadmagazine via DailyMotion.
Who ya gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!
Here is a rough translation from the PS3Clan site linked above:
A very reliable source has reported that with the launch of PlayStation Home or shortly afterwards a very special LittleBigPlanet Game Room will come.
In this room will enable you to promote levels and users can direct you in Home loading level to play. Furthermore, the room also contains a themed LittleBigPlanet Sackboy as a central figure.
I also have some more LittleBigPlanet information:
First, I have done some stats for you.
- Created community levels = 177657
- Data # Reactions at community levels = 1093491
- Number of times the story levels are played online = 36661881
- Number of times that are played online community levels = 22463892
- Total online levels played # = 59125403
Media Molecule congratulated PS3Clan for this achievement, knowing that only a small team this beautiful of a game has made, which clear... More »
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 »