1P Start

Music and video games have been awkward bed buddies in the past, with artists not often being happy to have their songs license for use in titles in case they are somehow cheapened. However, this all changed last generation with games such as Grand Theft Auto using official tracks from established artists to add credibility and realism to the game.

Then along came Guitar Hero and Singstar and the friendship fully blossomed in to a symbiotic relationship where both parties began to benefit greatly. In an article on another site, I argued the case for Guitar Hero having helped the music industry more than the RIAA and other such organisations ever could, as the game actively got me in to a few bands that I had never even heard of before.

Rock Band was then shown to have massively increased digital music sales after fans downloaded songs by the featured artists after falling in love with the tracks from the game. And now that trend has been shown to be continuing with rock band Motley Crue having reportedly sold more copies of their new single through Rock Band than they have done so far on iTunes.

(more…)

Nintendo are having a good year. That’s a slight understatement but it’s the main thrust of the latest press release to come from the company’s headquarters, as it reports a massive surge in profits for the last twelve months.

Net profit rose 47.7% to a record high over the last fiscal year, after the phenomenal success of the Wii and DS, both of which have exceeded expectations, and beaten all rivals in their field.

The net profit for the Nintendo group as a whole was ¥257.34 billion, or $2.5 billion. So just a slightly successful year for the Kyoto, Japan based company then.

(more…)

In some crazy ass news to come out on a Sunday, Yahoo has posted a press release in their business section outlining EA’s proposal to buy Take-Two Interactive (Bioshock, Manhunt, All Rockstar Games like GTA/Bully/etc) for $26 per share. The stock is, as of me writing this, at $17.36, however the pre-market value has already shot up in light of this news (at $25.61, however see here for the most current price).

EA CEO John Riccitiello had this to say on the offer, “Our all-cash proposal is a unique opportunity for Take-Two shareholders to realize immediate value at a substantial premium, while creating long-term value for EA shareholders. Take-Two’s game designers would also benefit from EA’s financial resources, stable, game-focused management team, and strong global publishing capabilities.”

Originally the offer was for $25 per share, but has moved up to $26 in a letter that you can read in full below (which I suggest checking out, you can feel how strongly EA wants Take-Two. What does this mean for us? I honestly cannot tell the future on this one. The obvious way of thinking is “NOOOO.. NOT EA!!!!!!!” …and I am trying to find reasons to put a counter argument as to why it would be for the good of mankind to have EA buy up every single great game studio, but I can’t think of one, all I have on my mind is a watering down of great titles like Bioshock, with a sequel coming out once a year. I can’t wait to see how this plays out, for now, check the full press release after the break:

(more…)

The latest NPD results are in for PC gaming during the whole of 2007, and they show two distinct things: PC gaming revenue is down overall, at least in terms of over the counter retail sales; the same old faces are topping the charts for sales, with add-ons, expansion packs and alternate versions of existing franchises taking the top ten places on the chart.

The NPD numbers don’t take in to account anything other than retail sales, so that immediately rules out the effect of digital downloads on outlets like Steam on sales figures.

Bearing that in mind, retail sales have fallen quite substantially from $970 million in 2006 to $910.7 million in 2007. That’s a fall of almost $60 million and bears out thoughts that the PC gaming market is struggling at the moment.

The Top Ten PC Games Sales For 2007 In The US:

1. World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Vivendi) - 2.25 million
2. World Of Warcraft (Vivendi) - 914,000
3. The Sims 2: Seasons Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts) - 433,000
4. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision) - 383,000
5. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Electronic Arts) - 343,000
6. Sim City 4 Deluxe (Electronic Arts) - 284,000
7. The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts) - 281,000
8. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts) - 271,000
9. Age Of Empires III (Microsoft) - 259,000
10. The Sims 2: Pets Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts) - 236,000

It’s no surprise to see World Of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade expansion pack taking the top two positions. Although I was quite surprised to see such a big gap between them and the third placed Sims 2: Seasons.

(more…)

This past week has seen a multitude of rumours spreading from both online forums, and industry insiders, over price drops for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3. But are any of them true, and at the end of the day, does it really matter when the Wii is kicking so much hardware sales ass?

The talks f a price cut for the PS3 have emerged solely from Internet forums, and seem to be insistent that the console is due for a reduction in price to £299. And this will reportedly be announced by Sony on or around January 28th, which is next Monday by my reckoning.

A couple of things point to a possible reduction in price for Sony’s behemoth of a games console. For starters, there is the white PS3 coming to the States, which despite Sony denying is going to happen, I would put good money on. What better way to introduce the new colour of console than by coupling its launch with a well publicised price cut?

(more…)

NPD have revealed the official figures for the top ten best selling games of 2007 in the United States, and surprise surprise, Halo 3 tops the chart by quite a way, selling 4.82 million copies since it’s release.

Again, in another thrilling twist (uh huh) Wii Play comes out as a definite second with huge sales of 4.12 million units.

There is then quite a jump to the next step on the ladder, with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on the Xbox 360 coming a definitive third place with just over 3 million units sold.

The top ten best selling games in the USA for the last year:

01. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) - 4,820,000
02. Wii Play with Remote (Wii) - 4,120,000
03. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) - 3,040,000
04. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) - 2,720,000
05. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 2,520,000
06. Pokemon Diamond (DS) - 2,480,000
07. Madden NFL 08 (PS2) - 1,900,000
08. Guitar Hero II (PS2) - 1,890,000
09. Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) - 1,870,000
10. Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 1,820,000

What’s interesting, at least to me, is the spread of games across the various consoles. It seems that despite being miles behind the Wii in terms of console sales, the Xbox 360 can still shift hefty amounts of games. The Microsoft console has three games in the top ten, and two of them are in the top three.

(more…)

Ladies and Gents it pains me to say my farewells to 1PStart. I’ve been here only a short time, though I’ve been at Xbox 360 Rally (another 451 site) for just under a year. I will miss you guys, though you’re probably throwing a party, chanting “he’s leaving! Huzzah! Huzzah!”. If you do miss me, though, you can find me at my new home BingeGamer.net.

It’s been fun, and I hope to see y’all around.

P.S.: Qbix — E-mail me, dude. I’m still gonna get your GTA IV to ya.

Its stories like this that really drive me up the wall, readers. According to VGChartz, the Nintendo Wii is on the fast track to selling 20 million units. Keep in mind that the Wii was launched just over a year ago on November 19th, 2006. Doing the short on the math, that’s roughly 1.54 million units a month, every month. Of course, doing the math with the 1.8 million Wiis produced figure given by Nintendo’s George “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You” Harrison, there should be somewhere in the range of 23.4 million Wiis on the market. What further makes this an impressive feat is that the Nintendo Wii is on pace to ship 20 million units six months faster than the PlayStation 2 did.

Finding one should not be a near-impossible task.

Some other figures from VGChartz show that Microsoft is actually out-performing the Wii outside of Japan. Outside of Japan, Nintendo trails Microsoft in total sales by just over 1.5 million units. So what gives Nintendo the overall lead? Maybe it lies somewhere in the fact that less than four percent (530,000) of all Xbox 360 sales (15.32 million) come from Japan. Either way, as of right now it’s a two-horse race between Microsoft and Nintendo, leaving Sony to ponder how they can bring their PS3 back into the contest.

[VGChartz]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Nintendo, Wii

In continuing the Nintendo “World Conquest” tour, the Nintendo Wii has surpassed the Xbox 360 as the numero uno console in the UK, according to MCV. In only a year on the market the Wii has been able to surpass the Xbox 360 in total number of sales, selling over 100,000 units last week alone. The Wii-exclusive Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is currently the best selling game in the UK.

This isn’t the only bit of good news from England for Nintendo, however. The Nintendo DS leaped over the PlayStation 2, setting a single-week sales record of 212,584. This actually surpasses its own record of just over 191K, set three weeks ago.

What a mysterious thing, huh? Over 100,000 units sold in a week, and yet you can’t find one.

[Gamesutra]

Nintendo, Wii, Nintendo DS

When it comes to Assassin’s Creed, there are those who swear by it as one of the greatest events in gaming of the past five years, with innovative gameplay and an engrossing story… and then there’s the people who say Assassin’s Creed is a big, buggy mess. Seeing as I have not yet played this game, I fall into the third, elusive category of people who are waiting for Christmas to buy any more games.

Regardless, Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed has sold 2.5 million units since it’s release, making it the fastest selling [new] IP in US history. Assassin’s Creed (or “Ass Creed” to you jerk offs who think this is somehow funny) has done so well, in fact, that Ubisoft has raised it’s quarterly ($478.5 million) and yearly ($1.2 billion) fiscal outlooks.

This is especially good news for Ubisoft when you consider that earlier this week they announced that both Tom Clancy’s End War and Far Cry 2 have been delayed into the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

[GameDaily]

Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed

You know, not too many people liked the Nintendo GameCube. I’m not entirely sure why. I loved the GameCube. I will admit freely that I liked Super Mario Sunshine. I still play the ‘cube from time to time just for Rogue Squadron 2. Either way, I was among the few people on the planet that liked the GameCube.

The GameCube has been on the market in Japan since 2001. In the six-plus years since then, the GameCube has sold a measley 3.9 million units in the land o’ da risin’ sun. The Nintendo Wii was released on November 27th, 2006 and in just over a year the Wii has sold 4 million units.

That’s right, boys and girls: The Wii has sold more units than the GameCube in roughly 1/6th the time. A testiment to the Wii’s awesomeness, or the GameCube’s awfulness? You decide.

[Joshua James Slone]

Nintendo, Wii, GameCube

In a bit of news that will surprise absolutely nobody, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has fallen flat on its face in Japan yet again.

According to figures from Media Create Company released Friday, only about 6,600 Xbox 360s were sold between November 26th and December 2nd. The week before, only about 7,200 units were sold. For those of you who aren’t math majors, that means roughly 13,800 Xbox 360s have found homes in Japan over the past two weeks. This goes to further my theory that everyone in Japan who owns a 360 also owns Halo 3.

For comparison, Nintendo sold 74,000 Wii consoles last week. Again, for those of you who failed pre-algebra, Nintendo not only beat two weeks of Xbox 360 sales in a single week, but they beat them by 60,000+. The PlayStation 3 sold a respectable 37,000 units, which is also a kick in the 360’s ribs.

[Punch Jump]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Sony, PlayStation 3, Nintendo, Wii

Either EA Mobile is booming or EA is really struggling to push PSP and PS3 games because EA made more money last quarter from their mobile games ($37 million) than from either PSP sales ($21 million) or PS3 sales ($17 million), and if you do the math you can see that EA made a combined $38 million between Sony’s platforms.

EA made the most this past year from their work with the Xbox 360, raking in $218 million. Surprisingly, the PlayStation 2 ranked higher than the Wii on EA’s figures, $73 million (PS2) to $59 million (Wii).

Now, I don’t know who you people buying these EA Mobile games are, but I’m thoroughly perplexed by you. Nothing against you folks, but I don’t see the point in playing a top-down mutation of Medal of Honor Airborne (or God of War, or Splinter Cell, or whatever). But hey, it’s your cash I guess.

[Into Mobile]

Electronic Arts

Enterbrain, one of the world’s largest video game magazine publishers, is reporting that for the four week period leading up until November 25th, the PlayStation 3 outsold the Wii in Japan.

That’s right. The PS3 outsold the Wii. In Japan. In fact, the PlayStation 3 (183,217 units) outsold the Wii (159,193) by 24,024 units.

While this is hardly indicitive of a possible trend shift in Sony’s favor, you almost have to look at this as a good sign for the big black box. While I would expect the numbers to fall off for the Christmas season due to a lack of software, this could be a good sign going into 2008.

Either way, congrats to Sony for knocking Nintendo off the top of Mt. Fuji. For the moment, as it is.

[Techtree]

Sony, PlayStation 3, Nintendo, Wii, Japan

GameStop employees better get a nice bonus this holiday. Why do I say that? Because Gamasutra (the end-all, be-all of industry news) reports that GameStop made $1.6 Billion dollars in the third quarter of 2007, a profit increase of 283%.

Strong sales of games like Halo 3, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, BioShock, Wii Play and Madden NFL 08 helped the gaming retail giant to the record third quarter, and expects sales to continue to grow in the fourth quarter as the holidays approach.

[Gamasutra]

GameStop