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Rinse, Wash, Wii-peat – March NPDs

Stephen Woodward — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:30:13 +0000

With the dust cloud of Holiday shopping well in our rear-view mirror and the strains of a recession squeezing our checkbooks, you would think the games industry would slow down a bit. You, my friend, would be wrong. Looking at the results of the March NPDs, it seems we’re actually back to where we started last summer!

Dropping its lead from last month, the PS3 chugged along (okay, well not quite as far behind) with 257K in sales; the Xbox 360 nervously fixed “shortages” with 262K; and the Nintendo powerhouse continues to sail comfortably ahead – the Wii alone beating the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined – with the Waggle machine selling 721K and the DS selling 698K. The PlayStation brand continues to move other hardware as well, selling nearly 300K in PSP’s, respectably. And its big brother the PS2 finally dropped in sales significantly as more people began to realize that this isn’t the year 2001.

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl — Wii — Nintendo — 2.7 million
2. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 — Xbox 360 — Ubisoft — 752.3K*
3. Army of Two — Xbox 360 — EA — 606.1K
4. Wii Play w/ remote — Wii — Nintendo — 409.8K
5. God of War: Chains of Olympus — PSP — Sony — 340.5K
6. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII — PSP — Square Enix — 301.6K
7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock — Wii — Activision — 264.1K
8. Major League Baseball 2K8 — Xbox 360 — Take-Two — 237.1K
9. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — Xbox 360 — Activision — 237K*
10. Army of Two — PS3 — EA — 224.9K

And who said the Wii was just for casual gamers? Super Smash Bros. Brawl sold 2.7 million copies in March. Coming in at second in place, Rainbox Six Vegas 2 for the Xbox 360 sold a far less 752.3K. In third place, using a co-op move to climb the charts, was EA’s Army of Two, reporting in at 606.1K. The PS3 version of this game came in tenth, with less than half the sales. Wii-Play came in at fourth with 409.8K and God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP summoned 340.5K in sales.

In terms of hardware, this just goes to prove that the Wii is most definitely, not in a million years, a fad. For Nintendo to outsell both the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined with either the individual sales figures of the Wii or its handheld machine is incredible. It’s also interesting to note that the PS3 beat the Xbox 360 for the past two months by an ever so slight margin. Microsoft said it was due to shortages in hardware – which is probably true, seeing as how after amping up supply they shot ahead (albeit 5K) of the PS3. Let the fanboys quibble, but the PS3 and Xbox 360 are essentially tied. The PS3 has a lot of great game releases coming out this year, as does the 360, so it’s going to be very interesting to see if either can make a significant pull ahead in sales. One thing’s for sure, the Wii and DS are selling like hotcakes and its sales only continue to amaze the cynics. And with Wii Fit and Mario Kart gearing up for the following months, the Nintendo machine isn’t likely to slow down.

Source: Game Daily

Eight Days in Full Production, The Getaway in Pre-Production

Patrick Steen — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:39:14 +0000

Despite a worrying silence from Sony on a selection of E3 2005-06 games, you’ll be pleased to know that Eight Days and The Getaway are both alive and well.

In a tour of Sony London, British newspaper The Guardian was lucky enough to spy on the development teams’ projects. Arguably Sony’s most important European development team, Sony London have innovated the likes of the Eye Toy and Singstar. Their graphics technology has also impressed, with the PS2′s The Getaway being one of the most graphically impressive open world games of it’s time (though the gameplay couldn’t match Grand Theft Auto.)

This has continued into current PS3 development, with E3 tech demos of Piccadilly Circus promising incredible London visuals in the “next-gen” version of The Getaway. Sony London’s tech wizards have also been offering themselves to other PS3 projects, from LittleBigPlanet to Killzone 2.

Mike Haigh, director of the London Studio, shows The Guardian round, eventually leading to the floor that has Eight Days in full flung production:

“Moving up from floor to floor, we see Eight Days – which is just ramping up to full production. To get an idea of the scale of development required on next-gen consoles, the team, currently numbering 63, will expand to about 80 with a further 40 or so outsourced workers.”

This game will then be followed by The Getaway, in pre-production at the moment:

“A small team is working on pre-production for the next iteration of The Getaway, in preparation for being joined by the bulk of the Eight Days team when the latter is completed.”

It’s definitely a development team run to military precision, and we hope these two games will be the hit Playstation 3 exclusives they wish them to be.

Source: The Guardian

UT3 360 Gets Exclusive Maps, Compared to PC/PS3 Inifinite Mods

Dylan Duarte — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:17:17 +0000

Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 is coming this Summer (June 30th in the States and unannounced in Europe) and it looks like us loyal Microsoft fans will be getting five exclusive maps, two new characters, and split-screen action for two players. Hit the jump to find out why this bonus content doesn’t really mean diddly.

While I definitely appreciate Epic’s effort in trying to make the 360 version up to par, it’s still the inferior version due to the PS3′s and PC’s ability to play mod maps (using mod characters like Master Chief). And I don’t think it will be very long before some crafty PC wielder recreates the exclusive 360 maps and characters for use with the PC and PS3 versions of the game.

So when you break it all down, the 360 fans basically get exclusive split-screen. Which is still something, I guess.

Source: IGN

MGS4 Assistant Producers: Sixaxis Motion Sensing “Severely Overhyped”

Chad Lakkis — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 01:16:28 +0000

In the recent EGM, Metal Gear Solid 4 Assistant Producer, Ryan Payton had the following to say about the Sony Playstation 3′s Sixaxis Motion Sensing feature:

“I think the problem with this feature is it was severely overhyped …” He went on to say “It was talked up as Sony’s answer to the Wii Remote. The trick is to use Sixaxis sparingly and have fun with it. I don’t think anybody wants to play a long game while consistently having to tilt the controller around. Rather, it’s fun for the player when they’re given a chance to use it in short bursts– that’s how we’re approaching Sixaxis in MGS4.”

I personally agree with him, however I do believe that as someone who prefers what is now considered by many the “old school” controller approach over the arm-flaring Wiimote, I believe that I may be the minority on this subject. What do you think?

Via: PS3 Forums

Rumor: 160GB PS3 Replacing 80GB Model – Update

Roly Reyes — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:47:28 +0000

According to the fine folks over at Arstechnica, a very mysterious reputable source has trickled down some inside info that reveals Sony’s plan to continue with the two SKU approach.

However, this will be at the expense of the current 80GB SKU in order to make way for a newer and probably more expensive 160GB SKU.

If you’re crazy about spider-like humanoids, then you may want quickly buy the current 80GB SKU that comes with Spiderman 3. If not there is a very good reason for you to wait it out for the 160GB SKU. A conjunction, and a number – DualShock3. That’s right, say bye-bye to your weightless tilt sensor and say hello to a tilt sensor with ~~unnecessary last-gen~~ all important rumble.

Upon further digging I found the rumored specs for this new 160GB SKU that has a very high likelihood of being on it’s way in.

* Code: CECHG06 (SPECIFICATION)
* Sony PlayStation 3
* 160gb 2.5 SATA 5400rpm HDD
* CELL Broadband Engine (65nm process) @ 3.2ghz
* PPU x1, SPE x8
* RSX GPU (65nm process) @ 550mhz
* Blu-Ray Optical Disc Drive @ 2x
* Memory Card Reader- Memory Stick Duo, Compact Flash, Secure
* Digital
* 6x USB 2.0 ports
* 2x HDMI 1.3 ports
* 3x Gigabit Ethernet ports
* DUALSHOCK 3 controller

Source: Arstechnica

*Update* – Bad news for UK gamers: if there is a SKU with a larger HDD in the works, they’re not going to see it.

Despite SCEE’s previous claims that “Even 60GB may not be enough eventually” a spokesperson for the company has now revealed:”We do not currently have any plans to release a 120GB PlayStation 3 in the UK.”

Sad face.