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Bringing you the latest, most pertinent news covering online multiplayer games, consoles, accessories and most popular games.
New Arsenal Of Shooter Videogames Target Older Players
The popularity of shooter games has been proven by Activision Blizzard's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" which has raked in over $1 billion worldwide and counting.
Sony Computer Entertainment America is the latest game publisher to target this genre with "MAG," or Massive Action Game, and throws 256 players - the largest multiplayer experience for a video game - into a global oil crisis.
Gamers can chose to work for one of three competing private military companies and battle alongside and against other player-controlled avatars in real-world locations.
"I think what we have done differently ... is that we've created real cause and effect within the many different objectives and sub-objectives that have to be done to win the war, just like a real battlefield," said Brian Soderberg, president and co-founder of Zipper Interactive, "MAG" developer.
With Sony seeing strong hardware sales in 2009, "MAG" is one of the game maker's key exclusive offerings for 2010 with it's sights are set squarely at the lifeblood of the game industry.
"The core audience of shooter games remains 13 to 34 year old males, who make up more than 60 percent of the total audience, but the genre has broadened its appeal in recent years with popular titles such as "Call of Duty" and "Halo,"" said Michael Cai, vice president of video game research at Interpret.
"Older males and even female gamers have latched on to the genre. A big part of the growing popularity of shooter games can be attributed to online multiplayer functionalities." (More...)
Majesco Entertainment Releases Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Xbox LIVE Arcade
EDISON, N.J., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Start off 2010 with a serious bang as Majesco Entertainment Company (Nasdaq: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today released Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter for Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. For just 1200 Microsoft Points, players and bad-A%#s in training can download the high-definition retelling of the original Serious Sam to blast, battle and obliterate the forces of the evil Mental.
"This game takes my good looks, swarthy charm and timeless cool from the original version and ups it to a level of god-like brilliance," says Sam 'Serious' Stone, everyone's favorite loud mouth protagonist. "Gamers can even play online with up to three friends to wipe out the thorn in my side known as the Sirian Army."
Developed by Croteam, the creators of the Serious Sam franchise, and produced in partnership with Devolver Digital, Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter follows our hero Sam as he frantically battles (More...)
2009 in review: Video Games Get More Players, Fewer Sales
In a record-setting 2008, video games appeared nearly recession-proof. But this year proved the pastime is as vulnerable to the economy as any other.
Among 2009's highs and lows, the game-playing public grew: About two-thirds of Americans now play on traditional game systems, cellphones, websites or social networking sites, according to market trackers at The NPD Group. And six out of 10 U.S. households now own at least one console system, consulting firm Deloitte says.
GAME HUNTERS: Our favorite games of 2009.
To encourage buyers, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony dropped their prices — Xbox 360 starts at $199, but its high-end model now sells for $299 (down from $399), PS3 sells for $299 (from $399), and Wii is $199 (from $249).
The Xbox 360 and PS3 added instant Netflix rentals beyond their growing libraries of on-demand TV episodes and movies. Coupled with DVD playback and the PS3's Blu-ray compatibility, "all of a sudden, there is a new value proposition for a family," Deloitte's Ed Moran says.
Despite the innovation, U.S. sales of systems and games probably will drop below 2008's record $21.3 billion, the first falloff since 2004. Consumers bought 12.2 million console systems in 2009 (through November), compared with 14.2 million for the same period in 2008, NPD says.
Looking back at other trends from 2009 and forward to 2010: (more...)
Video Game Sales Drop Despite Modern Warfare 2
The video game industry last month saw its usual holiday bounty replaced with a lump of coal.
Sales of video games and consoles fell 7.6% in November from the same month in 2008, despite the blockbuster release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which sold a whopping 6 million copies in the U.S. alone, according to figures released Thursday by NPD Group Inc.
The game industry sold $2.7 billion of consoles and games in the U.S. last month, down from $2.9 billion a year earlier, according to NPD estimates. From January through November, sales of $14.1 billion were down 12% from the same period last year.
For the industry sales to equal last year's, December sales would have to rise 36%, a feat experts consider unlikely.
Doing so "seems even more out of reach," said Anita Frazier, NPD's toys and games analyst.
The picture would have looked much worse last month were it not for Modern Warfare 2, which accounted for roughly $360 million in U.S. sales, or more than 25% of all game sales. (More...)
Here Are The Year's Best Video Games For Young Kids
This year has been an innovative one for kids' video games. While most of the really good kids' games are on the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and the PC, this year's list includes a few titles on the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 and the Sony PlayStation Portable.
Most exciting, though, is the growth of family games, where up to four family members can play together around the same console with games that appeal to all ages. Because family games are a great gift for all ages, we'll start with those first, and then make recommendations by age category.
If you are using this list as a resource for buying gifts for kids, remember to ask what system they own so that you pick up games that play on their system.
All the titles on this list are rated "E" for Everyone, or "E10+" for Everyone 10 and older, by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. (More...)
Christmas 2009's Most Wanted Video Games
Amazon has released its lists of the most wished-for video games in the USA, United Kingdom, France and Germany as Christmas shopping begins in earnest. Among them, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Sports Resort, and Modern Warfare 2 featured in all territories' lists.
Top of the pile are Wii Fit Plus and Modern Warfare 2. Wii Fit Plus appears on each list in its "game only" format, and the version bundled with a balance board accessory (available since the release of the first Wii Fit) also charts in each country bar Germany.
The allure of Modern Warfare 2 tells a similar tale, charting at least once in all territories, and being most wanted on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the UK, Germany, and the USA.
Other games doing well are Assassin's Creed II for 360 and PS3, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Professor Layton and Pandora's Box on Nintendo DS, and both Wii Sports Resort and Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games for Nintendo Wii.
In terms of hardware, the Nintendo Wii charted in both its black and white iterations in France and Germany, and with the original white version in the USA, whilst the PlayStation 3 also made a showing in Germany and the USA.
Presumably most people who want an Xbox 360 already have one - it was released a year before the PlayStation 3 and Wii, and has managed to remain lower priced than its two competitors for most of its life cycle, though the PlayStation 3 has enjoyed increased interest since a recent re-design and price cut, whilst Nintendo's Wii has also had hardware and design tweaks in the last few months. (More...)
Call of Duty Blasts Entertainment Records
The video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
After hauling in the biggest-ever first-day sales total last week, the game continues to break records.
Activision Blizzard Inc., which released the game on November 10, said the latest game in its Call of Duty franchise made $US550 million ($591.2 million) in worldwide sales during its first five days.
That would put it over the $US500 million ($537.5 million) record set last year by Grand Theft Auto IV, from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (more...)
Nintendo's Mario Endures Even As Games Come And Go
You might call him the Mickey Mouse of video games. He's reminiscent of a doughnut, round and sweet and comforting. He's also a vessel, devoid of a real personality so you can live vicariously through him.
Mario, the pot-bellied Italian plumber with a penchant for rescuing princesses, collecting golden coins and gobbling magic mushrooms, has been around for nearly three decades. And even though he hasn't changed much, the latest game he stars in, the newly released "The New Super Mario Bros. Wii" ($50), is one of the holiday season's top titles.
Created by Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario is a recognizable character even to people who don't play video games. He pops up in Halloween costumes — blue overalls, red hat, gut and all — as does his brother Luigi. Mario has been in cartoons and movies (though some were best forgotten), and he graces oodles of official and unofficial Mario merchandise. (more...)
A Game That Takes Aim at Bigger Screens
For decades, video game makers have suffered in the inevitable comparison with their Hollywood counterparts. For all the creative and technical wizardry associated with gaming, movies have had the interactive world just plain beat when it comes to sophistication of scope, characterization and visual storytelling.
And we’re not talking about “Citizen Kane” or “The Godfather” here. Even in the action-adventure department — smack in the middle of gaming’s wheelhouse — films have always outclassed games in delivering artery-pumping set pieces, endearing if flawed heroes and the sort of sumptuous, lush visuals that make you want to settle into the couch forever. (More...)
Leaked Video Game Footage Shows Terrorist Attack
Footage leaked from "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" reveals that players of the upcoming video game can shoot innocent civilians in an airport in a realistic rendering of a terrorist attack.
The game, which has an "M" rating for mature audiences, comes out next month in what its publisher hopes may be the most lucrative launch in the history of entertainment, not just for games but counting music and movies too.
In a statement, game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. said Wednesday the footage was taken illegally and is not representative of the game's overall experience. Instead, the scene is designed to evoke the "atrocities of terrorism," Activision said in an e-mailed statement.
The game follows players as they "face off against a terrorist threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse," the Santa Monica, Calif. company said. This includes a plot line in which the player infiltrates a Russian villain's inner circle to defeat him. Presumably the airport attack is one of the scenes in which the player acts as part of the villain's group. (More...)
In Tropico 3, players get to be the president of a banana republic.
Video-game Start-up Picks Up The Pieces
By Mike Musgrove
A modestly sized office tucked in the leafy northern corner of Baltimore might seem an unlikely perch from which to crack into the big-bucks video-game industry, but that's what Kalypso Media USA is setting out to do. Having opened its doors in June, the firm just launched its first title, a strategy game called Tropico 3.
For Deborah Tillett, a local game industry veteran, it's partly a matter of practicing what she preaches. When not running the U.S. branch of Kalypso, she teaches a class in entrepreneurship at Towson University. There's one point that she repeats to her students on a regular basis: During an economic downturn like this, there's no place to go but up. (More...)
Preview: Vancouver 2010 - the official video game of the Olympic Winter Games
Through its 'PlayStation Experience' - a touring 18-wheeler loaded with the latest software - Sony has made great strides in bringing the latest and the greatest video games to Vancouver. It takes something else entirely, however, to bring Vancouver into video games. Something like the 2010 Winter Olympics. The fever leading up to the January kick-off has already begun, with politicians donning patriotic olympic mittens, rural communities beautifying local hot spots for the crowds to follow the symbolic torch and Sega hard at work on another virtual rendition of the world's most historic athletic event. In times past, the publisher's family-friendly Sonic & Mario spin-offs have been the real gems resulting from their long-time license to the games, and this year's Sonic & Mario at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii and DS) was no exception. For PS3 gamers, however, the realistic Vancouver 2010: The Official Videogame of the Winter Olympic Games is a promising development (More...)
Wii 2 To Be Smaller And Cheaper?
If you're expecting bigger and better things from the Wii's successor, you may be let down. Nintendo might be satisfied with what the current Wii is already able to offer. According to TechRadar and Popular Mechanics, the company's creative mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto says, "With both the Wii remote itself and Wii Motion Plus, what we've been able to do is introduce an interface that is both I think appealing and at the right price for a broad audience."
Does the "right price" mean the next Wii will go for a comparable price to what it is now? (More...)
Beatles Win Battle Of The Video-game Bands
The Beatles
While my Guitar Hero gently weeps, the Beatles are number one again -- only this time in a category John, Paul, George and Ringo had never dreamed of: music video games. In this battle of the bands, the Fab Four's new title Beatles Rock Band has been selling eight days a week, but rival music simulator Guitar Hero has been a real nowhere man. (more...)
Monsters Deluxe & Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Here's an abbreviated look at video games for the entire family.
• PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe (from Sony Computer Entertainment America, reviewed for the PlayStation Portable, $19.99) — A fantastic tower defense game has been upgraded from its PlayStation 3 roots to become the ultimate downloadable edition for Sony's handheld system.
The highly addictive challenge includes the two previous PixelJunk games and another map that is broken up within three islands and almost 50 levels (more...)
New Super Mario Bros: Abilities and Items
Photo Courtesy of Nintendo
Mario Mario and Luigi Mario are two of the most reinvented characters in all of video game history where either of the two have been: doctors, sports pros, teachers, fighters, heroes, and of course, plumbers. At the turn of every major remake for the Mario Bros. the basic premise is always a platforming game and has been since its early days. The games always manage to introduce some new elements in order to enhance player experience. The New Super Mario Bros. Wii is (more)
Is Uncharted 2 enough to put the PS3 on top?
Uncharted 2 has received unanimous critical acclaim for its immersive story, fantastic visuals, and cinematic presentation. But is the title enough to put Sony back on top? The answer isn't necessarily cut and dry. There's a lot more Sony needs to accomplish for the PlayStation 3 to finish first in the current-generation console war.
If there's one thing that has mostly been overlooked by the mainstream video game media, it's the fact that the slimming down of the PS3 was more than just a price drop. Symbolically speaking, the PS3 Slim was a complete rebranding for the console, forcing consumers to detach themselves from the negatives that the original bulky and expensive PS3 was associated with. (more...)
Now, Only in Theaters: New PlayStation Games
With dropping attendance, theater owners are looking for “alternative content” to help boost revenues. Opera is
perhaps the most successful of the lot, with broadcasts of live performances drawing enthusiastic crowds during daytime hours when theaters would otherwise be empty.
Now Sony has come up with a new strategy: premiering video games in digital theaters. On Monday, the company offered a “sneak peek” of its upcoming PlayStation3 sequel, Unchartered 2: Among Thieves, to several hundred video-game enthusiasts at theaters in Bellevue, Wash.; Rosemont, Ill.; San Francisco; and Thousand Oaks, Calif. (more)
Sony to sell downloadable games via Amazon.com
Sony’s game division said today it is offering access codes for more than 200 games for sale on Amazon.com’s online video game store. Gamers will be able to buy the codes on Amazon.com and then use them to download games from the PlayStation Network to their PlayStation game consoles or PlayStation Portable and PSP go handhelds. The PSP go has its own online retail site for downloadable games, since the new handheld which went on sale Oct. 1 plays only downloadable games. (more)
Game Console Makers Gear up for the Holidays
The Holidays are just around the corner, and gaming console makers hope to make 2009 a record-setting year. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii have all dropped their prices in recent weeks. There are also new motion-control innovations in the pipeline from Sony and Microsoft, and Nintendo hopes its Wii will hang on with the revival of its most popular video game hero. (more)
Keiko and Lucas Pope created Mightier.
Indiecade, the video game industry's Sundance
Indiecade, the video game industry's SundanceIn January, Stephanie Barish took her son to a birthday party and made the fortuitous choice to wear a T-shirt with the logo for Indiecade, a festival she runs that is dedicated to independently made, artistic video games.
While there, she met a fellow parent, Scott Malsin, who was then the mayor of Culver City. He asked what the T-shirt meant and was immediately intrigued. (more)
Clash of The Super Heroes
Clash of the Superheroes: Which Side Are You On?
Just how much political and social commentary are we prepared to accept in video games? (more)
OnLive To Stream Console-Quality Games Over The Internet
OnLive, a new service that hopes to shake up the video game industry by streaming console-quality games over the Internet, is preparing to launch.
This week, the company closed a new rounding of funding, bringing AT&T on board as a key investor. Earlier this month, it quietly started inviting gamers to test out its service. And over the summer, the Palo Alto-based company opened up the service to outside game developers. (more)
Debate on Violent Video Games May Finally Get Settled
The issue of whether minors should be legally prohibited from buying violent video games may soon be settled—and for all.
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to discuss today whether it will hear arguments on an appeal of a California videogame law that would ban the sale of certain games to anyone under 18 and required game manufacturers to label violent games with a four-inch square marker with “18” printed on it. (More)
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