Posted 03/12/10 at 10:03:55 AM by Paul Lilly

In what ranked as a poor month in overall console sales, analyst group NPD reports Microsoft's Xbox 360 outsold Nintendo's Wii console in February. In doing so, the Xbox 360 claimed the top spot in U.S. monthly sales, a feat it hasn't achieved in over two years.

Despite Microsoft's strong showing, it was a pretty bad month for consoles. Combined sales for software, hardware, and peripherals came out to $1.26 billion, with console sales slumping 20 percent to $426 million.

"Honestly, I had expected the industry to perform somewhat better this month," said Anita Frazier, a games analyst at NPD.

Not surprisingly, Nintendo's DS dominated the handheld gaming space, selling 613,200 units compared to Sony selling 133,400 PlayStation Portable units.

As for the games people are playing, Take 2's "Bioshock 2" topped the sales chart with 750,000 copies across all platforms, and 562,900 for the Xbox 360. "New Super Mario Bros." came in second with 555,600 units, and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" slipped into third place with 667,100 units, now the third best selling game of all time with lifetime sales approaching 10 million units.

Read More

Posted 03/12/10 at 09:48:45 AM by Paul Lilly

MTV and Harmonix on Thursday finally committed to a release date for the upcoming "Green Day: Rock Band" standalone music videogame. It will launch worldwide on June 8, 2010 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii game consoles.

"Green Day's music and explosive live performances transcend age barriers," said Tom Whalley, Chairman, Warner Bros. Records. "By partnering the band with Harmonix, Warner Bros./Reprise is thrilled to help create a Rock Band experience devoted exclusively to their impressive catalog."

Harmonix promises players will have access to a setlist of 47 tracks, including "Brain Stew," "Jaded," "Hitchin' a Ride," "American Idio," "Wake Me Up When September Ends," and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." All the tracks will be exportable and playable in previous versions of Rock Band.

In addition to the 47 songs, gamers can also unlock more than 100 collectible images and over 40 minutes of unreleased video from interviews, outtakes, and performances, Harmonix says.

Read More

Posted 03/12/10 at 09:16:15 AM by Paul Lilly

MSI is pretty stoked about the latest entry to its gaming notebook line, the 17-inch GE700. The new notebook couples an Intel Core i5 processor with ATI Radeon HD 5730 graphics (with 1GB GDDR3 memory), along with a few other noteworthy goodies.

Among them are two "cinema-class" speakers and a subwoofer, an HD webcam capable of 720p video up to 30fps, two hard drive bays for up to 1TB of storage, MSI's exclusive GPU Boost technology (switch between the integrated and discrete graphics solutions), HDMI output, eSATA, 4-in-1 memory card reader, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

MSI put a bit of attention into the GE700's styling, including a "super-cool exterior" with a glossy black finish. You'll also find luminescent touch-sensitive hotkeys.

No word yet on price or availability.

Read More

Posted 03/11/10 at 08:26:45 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Paris-based Darkworks is wandering the floor at GDC making some pretty big promises. They say their upcoming TriOvis for Games SDK will allow developers to build in 3D support to 2D games. The real benefit would be that it would not require the purchase of a 3D capable display.

Darkworks is saying that all the 3D-ification happens in the software and the special 3D glasses. Apparently, this means those not wearing glasses would see a regular 2D image without the blurring of a 3D image. The technology will be available for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

If this proves to be a feasible option, we may see DLC for existing games that enable 3D with the TriOvis system. Darkworks has said that the process of adding TriOvis to an existing game is very simple, taking anywhere from a few days to a week. We are really floored by the possibilities here. Let’s hope this is for real.

Read More

Posted 03/11/10 at 07:04:25 PM by Pulkit Chandna

While cloud-enabled gaming has the potential to deliver games like Crysis to smartphone screens in all their glory, owners of Palm webOS phones can do with far less for the time being. Palm is tying up with Epic Games in a bid to bolster the entertainment value of its webOS platform.

Epic has successfully ported its insanely popular Unreal Engine 3 to Palm's webOS just like it managed with the iPhone. It today demoed the game engine on a Palm Pre Plus at the ongoing Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

This means that developers will be able to leverage Epic's popular game engine in combination with Palm's new Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) to develop more powerful games for webOS phones.  Unlike on the iPhone, games running on a webOS phone can be pushed to the background as the user engages with other apps.

Read More

Posted 03/11/10 at 08:02:56 AM by Paul Lilly

What happens if you take Nintendo's Wii remote and nunchuck and paint them black, streamline the controllers, and cut the tail? You get Sony's PlayStation Move motion controller and sub-controller.

Instead of a sensor bar, the PlayStation Move platform relies on the PlayStation Eye camera to help "deliver an innovative and highly immersive experience." The camera purports to detect precise movement, angle, and even how far away the player is from the console.

As for the motion controller itself, it includes a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis accelerometer, and a terrestrial magnetic field sensor, as well as a color-changing field sensor that the camera uses to track movement. According to Sony, this combination allows for both fast and subtle motion.

Kotaku has put together a handy list outlining the differences between the PlayStation Move and Nintendo's Wii remote (see here), including fewer buttons, "a smarter controller," and no wire between the motion- and sub-controller.

Sony says it will launch the new controllers worldwide this fall, but didn't offer up any pricing info.

Read More

Posted 03/10/10 at 09:41:54 PM by Nathan Grayson

Every year, PC gaming “dies.” But every year we just end up feeling silly. We buy a nice black suit and a lavish coffin, only to have PC gaming wreck it all by continuing to live. And so it was with 2009.

According to a report by the PC Gaming Alliance, PC game revenues increased to $13.1 billion in 2009 – a three percent increase from the previous year. Also of interest is a sharp drop in boxed PC game sales, which – at a whopping 20 percent – could very nearly be considered a freefall.

“The most notable trend in recent years has been the movement to digital distribution and payment for subscriptions, and the growing popularity with consumers of online games as a service,” said PCGA president Randy Stude.

“In 2009, we saw North America and Europe experience a rapid uptake in purchasing virtual items. This model is what drove growth in Asia, and we think it is just starting to come to Western markets,” he added.

PC gaming is dead. Long live PC gaming! Now then, on that note, anyone in the market for a slightly used coffin?

Read More

Posted 03/10/10 at 08:47:09 PM by Nathan Grayson

After months of doubt followed by more months of nothing, OnLive’s finally back in the limelight. During this week’s Game Developer’s Conference, the streaming videogame service finally deployed its landing gear with a June 17 release date. Now then, onto the potentially – depending on how long the service lasts – million dollar question: how hard is it gonna hit your pocketbook?

Well, honestly, that part’s got us a bit worried. The on-demand platform carries a $15 subscription fee, which would be fine on its own. Unfortunately, you’ll also have to pay for individual games, which could definitely get pricey in a hurry. So far, actual prices for launch titles – which include Assassin’s Creed II, Metro 2033 and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands – haven’t been announced, but they’ll apparently be “competitive.”

Thankfully, there’ll also be an “a la carte” rental service for use with some games. Which, combined with the subscription fee, sounds a bit like GameTap’s Gold service – only without that crucial little “unlimited access” bit. But let’s be honest here: OnLive’s servers aren’t going to pay for themselves. And you’ll be getting a suite of social networking features for your rapidly dwindling buck, so… yeah, it’s still a whole lot of money.

Meanwhile, when competing service Gaikai launches, it’s going to be free-to-play and ad-based. Unless OnLive’s got some crazy tech-based tricks up its sleeve that put it head-and-shoulders above Gaikai quality-wise, we just don’t see ourselves subscribing. How about you?

Read More