General gaming news

[Tajin]

I sucked at original Bionic C. >_>

[Semitry]

MS's PR statement, not really worth posting save the note about wii like games coming. (360fit?)

Xbox 360 Drives the Video Game Console Industry in 2007: NPD data released today confirms consumers spent more dollars on Xbox 360 in 2007, with more than $13.7 billion in total consumer spending. Xbox 360 won 2007 with $4.8 billion in total consumer spend compared to Wii with $3.5 billion and PlayStation 3 with $2.2 billion. This wraps up a historic year, with NPD reporting consumers have spent nearly 45 percent of total industry figures on Xbox 360.

Here is a quick snapshot of what is driving revenue for Xbox 360, based on the latest reports from NPD and Microsoft data:

· XBOX 360 WIDENS THE GAP OVER PS3 WITH CONSOLE SALES: According to NPD, Xbox 360 sold 1.3 million consoles in December alone, and has steadily widened the gap between Sony’s PlayStation 3 console sales. In December, NPD stated that Sony sold 798,000 PS3 hardware units. Since PS3’s launch in November 2006, Xbox 360 has outsold PS3 by nearly 2:1 on average, bringing a total U.S. Xbox 360 install base of 9.2 million consoles, compared to and installed base of 7.4 million Wii consoles and 3.3 million PS3 consoles.

GAMES DRIVE INDUSTRY GROWTH: Xbox 360 robust games portfolio spans across the highest-ranked AAA titles to the largest collection of “Everyone” and “Teen” rated games. According to NPD, of the top 20 best-selling titles in 2007 for this generation, 11 were on Xbox 360; while only seven were sold on the Wii and two sold on the PS3.

o NPD reported that this holiday’s leading multiplatform blockbusters continue to sell better on Xbox 360:

§ “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” for Xbox 360 was the leading game last month with 1.5 million copies sold, outselling the PS3 version nearly 3:1.

§ “Assassin’s Creed” for Xbox 360 was the fourth best selling title, having sold 894,000 units. It outsold the PS3 version more than 2:1.

§ “Guitar Hero III” outsold the PS3 nearly 2:1, having sold 625,000 copies.

§ “Rockband” continues to rock the charts, selling 463,000 units for the Xbox 360 platform, compared to 174,000 units for the PS3

o To date, 33 third party games on Xbox 360 hit the top 10 list across all consoles compared to five third party games on PS3, and four on Wii. These results confirm that third party partners create better games and reap more sales on Xbox 360 than any other platform.

o In its fourth month on the market, Halo 3 continued its strong performance and was the sixth best selling title in December, selling another 742,000 units. In 2007, NPD projects that Halo 3 has sold 4.8 million units in the U.S. since its launch in September.

o Xbox 360 continues to lead in number of games sold per console, setting another record with an attach rate of 7.0 games per console.

· XBOX LIVE SETS NEW HEIGHTS: Xbox LIVE’s network is 10 million members strong and growing, achieving membership goals six months ahead of schedule. Only on Xbox LIVE can members experience the largest catalog of on-demand, high-definition content in the U.S., including movies and television shows from our most recent partners: Disney-ABC Television Group and MGM Studios.

We’re not slowing down in 2008. The next versions of powerhouse franchises like “Grand Theft Auto,” “Resident Evil” and sports games like “Madden”, “FIFA”, and “Pro Evolution Soccer” open up a new arena for game play on Xbox 360. This year we will make great strides toward improving our brand appeal to consumers interested in more physical game play. With titles like “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” “Rock Band” and “Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action” we’re creating interactive experiences on Xbox 360 for the entire family.

Nintendo's PR

REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 17, 2008 – Nintendo DS™ and Wii™ finished strong in 2007, commanding sales in the holiday shopping period and finishing the year as the two best-selling video game systems in the United States, according to new data just released by the independent NPD Group. Nintendo DS was the top-selling U.S. system of 2007, with nearly 8.5 million sold, including more than 4 million in November and December alone. Wii placed second, with nearly 6.3 million sold through the year, more than 2.3 million of which sold in the final two months.

“By the end of 2007 we were sold out of virtually all hardware, and much of our stock of software and accessories was sold out as well, thanks to the broad appeal of Wii and Nintendo DS to core gamers, women, families, grandparents – and seemingly everyone in between,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales & marketing. “And that momentum continues here in the early weeks of 2008.”

Some additional facts about Nintendo’s 2007 performance in the United States (note: All figures are from NPD):


* Nintendo accounted for 52 percent of all video game hardware systems sold in 2007 – more than all other manufacturers combined.
* Since their respective launches, Nintendo has sold more than 17.6 million Nintendo DS systems and nearly 7.4 million Wii systems in the United States alone.
* Wii Play™, a collection of nine fun mini-games, finished 2007 with 4.1 million units sold.
* Super Mario Galaxy™ sold through more than 2.5 million copies since it launched on Nov. 12.
* The two games in the Brain Age® series each sold about 1 million copies in 2007.
* Half of the top 30 best-selling games of 2007 were made for Nintendo systems, including Pokemon® Pearl, Pokemon® Diamond, Mario Party® DS, Guitar Hero III™: Legends of Rock and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games™.
* Nintendo continues to dominate the hand-held market: Of the top 30 best-selling portable games sold in 2007, 25 were made for Nintendo DS and another two were made for Game Boy® Advance.
* Sales of Nintendo DS systems grew 60 percent over those from 2006.
* In 2007, the video game industry grew by 43 percent over 2006. Nintendo is responsible for 60 percent of that growth.

Sony's PR

PlayStation® platforms had a great holiday season, based on NPD December 2007 sales data:

Hardware Momentum (PS3, PS2 and PSP) –

December 2007 was the biggest month for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) since launch, with 798K hardware units sold in December; this represents an increase of 60% over December of last year. With upcoming titles like Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Devil May Cry 4, Burnout Paradise, and HAZE as well as current momentum for Blu-ray, there is a great deal of enthusiasm for the PS3 as we enter the new year.

PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) continues to experience strong sales momentum with a new sleek design and the availability of entertainment packs. In December, 1.1 million PSP hardware units were sold; this is an 87% increase in sales over the previous month. Also, with our new partnership with Skype™ and great new games around the corner, such as God of War: Chains of Olympus, Patapon and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, consumer excitement will only continue to grow.

With a current library of nearly 1,500 games, the PlayStation®2 (PS2) also had an excellent month in December with hardware unit sales reaching 1.1 million units. Also, the PS2 sold more software units than any other console on the market.

PlayStation total hardware revenue was $714 million in December; surpassing the total hardware revenue of Microsoft and Nintendo.


Software Momentum (PS3, PS2 and PSP)

PS2 Guitar Hero III was the 3rd best-selling game this holiday season across all platforms with 2.7 million units sold from October through December. Also, the PS2 version of Guitar Hero III is the best-selling version since the launch of the title.

PlayStation total software revenue in December was $822 million, sales nearly doubled compared to last month's sales.

PlayStation platforms had three software titles in the top ten list across all consoles for the month of December: Guitar Hero III for PS2 sold 800K units, Madden NFL 08 for PS2 sold 655K units and Call of Duty 4 on PS3 sold 522K unit

[Mysterio]

I sucked at original Bionic C. >_>

that's great son.

[Tajin]

Thanks Dad, it means a lot to me. :ashira:

[Kaylia]

Thank god for no random encounters.

frankly, I would play any RPG, with any battle system if this was the case. Random encounters make me so angry.

Random encounters have the damning effect of absolutely killing any desire I would normally have to explore an environment, on top of just being flat out annoying when they occur every 5 steps.

Played Xenogears and Star ocean 2 again recently,and god it was awful (especially SO2). Never seen such insane encounter rate.

The first thing I do in most rpg is to look for something that reduce random encounter rate, or stop them completely. I will play as much as I can that way and will stop to do a few level when bosses get too hard.

[Xavier]

It must feel funny to the Sony PR agent when the bulk of his article focuses on their last gen system.

I think the PS3 had strong sales but relative to the competition they weren't very impressive, and I don't know how anyone can spin the PSP in a positive light compared to the unstoppable DS behemoth. Hilarious that of the top 30 handheld games sold in 2007, 27 of them were on a Nintendo system.

[Deejay]

Dang, Sony is in last for just about every category in sales. That's gotta suck.

[Xavier]

Dang, Sony is in last for just about every category in sales. That's gotta suck.

God bless them for praising the software momentum of the PS2 as hope for a strong 2008.

[izembo]

but they're up 2-1 on bluray vs hd-dvd, which seems to be their current agenda.

[Xavier]

I'd say HD-DVD is finished anyway, they've (Sony) won on that front.

The Sony PR statement is also inaccurate, as the one PS3 game they list as having broken the Top 10 in December, Call of Duty 4, didn't actually break the Top 10 list, not to mention that the 360 version sold around a million more copies.

Peter Moore was a prophet back when he said "tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3? People are going to buy two [machines]. They're going to buy an Xbox and they're going to buy a Wii for the price of one PS3. People will always gravitate toward a competitively priced product, like what I believe Wii will be, with innovative new designs and great intellectual property like Mario, Zelda and Metroid."

[Jefe]

(...)I don't know how anyone can spin the PSP in a positive light compared to the unstoppable DS behemoth. Hilarious that of the top 30 handheld games sold in 2007, 27 of them were on a Nintendo system.

Nintendo has always led the portable gaming sector and there has never been a serious contender, until now. Although the PSP might not be the leader for obvious reasons atm, the PSP is standing where the others lay dead. I wouldn't diss it.

Anyways, regarding the PS3, I've always thought Sony's master plan was to introduce more than a gaming console, and they gave us a media centre. Yeah, some gamers can't afford it or didn't want it, etc. etc. but phase one is now complete. Let's see what awaits for phase two.

Blu is the King, All hail Blu.

[Mysterio]

Sony had the most revenue of any system as they stated or "spun" it.

I guess at 400 and 500 a pop their lesser amount equated to higher dollar values as far as sales go or some shit.

I dunno, don't care lol

[Xavier]

Nintendo has always led the portable gaming sector and there has never been a serious contender, until now.

I'd hesitate to call it a serious contender when its consistently outsold by at least 2:1, but at least it hasn't been a complete failure.

Sony had the most revenue of any system as they stated or "spun" it.

Thats not a true statement. Sony said they had the most revenue generated in December. Microsoft claimed that according to the NPD numbers, "consumers have spent nearly 45 percent of total industry figures (for 2007) on Xbox 360." Obviously if 45% of all money spent went to Microsoft, theres no way Sony had the most revenue of any system year long.

[Deejay]

(...)I don't know how anyone can spin the PSP in a positive light compared to the unstoppable DS behemoth. Hilarious that of the top 30 handheld games sold in 2007, 27 of them were on a Nintendo system.

Nintendo has always led the portable gaming sector and there has never been a serious contender, until now. Although the PSP might not be the leader for obvious reasons atm, the PSP is standing where the others lay dead. I wouldn't diss it.

Anyways, regarding the PS3, I've always thought Sony's master plan was to introduce more than a gaming console, and they gave us a media centre. Yeah, some gamers can't afford it or didn't want it, etc. etc. but phase one is now complete. Let's see what awaits for phase two.

Blu is the King, All hail Blu.

I love how everyone assumes that since Microsoft supported HD-DVD, it means they can't put a Blu-Ray addon to th xbox. Lawl.

And what's this talk of a PS3 being the "personal media centre." lol? Does PSN allow you to rent/buy movies and TV shows in 1080p? Can you demo 90% of the games on the system? Will it be getting IPTV (new TiVo) like 360 will? Can it play music from your I-pod while playing games?

I mean, other than it being a cheap Blu-Ray player, what's so special about it?

[izembo]

most of that stuff will be coming.

[Deejay]

So what you're saying is, it's not the "personal media centre" that you PS3 fanboy's keep making it out to be?

See, this is what I don't get. You don't see 360 fans making (bullshit) claims like that.

[izembo]

i didnt say it was, im saying thats how sony tries to portray it.

it can do media server connectivity for music/movies/pictures, and play blurays. currently thats about it.

[Charismatic]

Why the fuck are any of you "fans" of any system?
This isn't some sports bullshit, you should be a fan of the games rather than perpetuating this console faggotry.

and as to what you said there Deejay, you might not see it here in this thread, but on most gaming forums you'll see the same kind of rampant fan-faggotry biased toward and against all systems.

[Deejay]

i didnt say it was, im saying thats how sony tries to portray it.

it can do media server connectivity for music/movies/pictures, and play blurays. currently thats about it.

What's the point if I can't listen to the music while playing games?
And what's the point of playing movies I already have on a PC if I could just connect 1 cable from my laptop to the TV?
And when will I ever need to look at pictures on a PS3?

[izembo]

well then why do you care, the 360 isnt any different. and honestly playing music while in games and losing the game music/sound is retarded anyways. just mute the game and turn on your stereo/computer if you want that.

and its all there for convenience, nothing says you have to use it if you dont like it. honestly i never use the shit either, doesnt mean it isnt there.