Hi! Welcome to the video game industry thread. Here we discuss things like sales figures, game development, studio closures, executive quotes, marketing and general business stuff. Also poop jokes. But not jokes about Angry Birds, since their effects on conversations is invariably this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoCZ07hwoZ4
And now, July's information.
1. NCAA Football 12 - Electronic Arts (360, PS3) = ~796K (15% YoY Increase)
2. Cars 2 - Disney Interactive Studios (NDS, Wii, 360, PS3, PC)
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops - Activision Blizzard (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC)
4. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game - Disney Interactive Studios (Wii, NDS, 360, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC)
5. Just Dance 2 - Ubisoft (Wii)
6. Major League Baseball 2K11 - Take-Two Interactive (360, Wii NDS, PS3, PS2, PSP, PC)
7. Zumba Fitness: Join The Party - Majesco (Wii, 360, Ps3)
8. Fallout: New Vegas - Bethesda Softworks/ZeniMax (360, PS3, PC)
9. New Super Mario Bros DS - Nintendo (NDS)
10. Mortal Kombat 2011 - Warner Brothers Interactive (360, PS3)
360 sold 277k (down a lot but that is simply because of that sale last month, I think?), 45 percent of Wii/PS3/360 sales, only eight games sold more than 100k, basically your usual shit July except shittier.
“There is no getting around the fact that video game sales in the new physical retail channel suffered its lowest month since October 2006,” said Anita Frazier, an analyst for NPD.
...
Frazier said that a year ago, 19 games sold more than 100,000 units. This year, only eight games sold more than 100,000 units. That was because there were so few new releases. Last year, 29 games were released in July, while this year there were only 17 releases. August could also be a slow month because EA’s Madden NFL 12 won’t release until Aug. 30 this year.
Frazier also pointed out that digital is indeed helping to make up for lost physical sales. “New physical retail sales of hardware, software and accessories accounted for 69% of the total consumer spend on the industry in Q1. We have measured some remarkable growth in other ways that consumers are acquiring content, including digital sales of full games and add-on content, mobile games, and social network gaming. Growth in these areas, combined with a flat to modest decline in new physical sales should result in 2011 showing growth over 2010," she said.
Posts
Yet I'm pretty darn underwhelmed with PlayStation Suite, mainly because there's only one actual Sony game for it (Crash Bandicoot) and the phone's been out for a while. Europe has a few more games, but they all came out at launch three months ago. In fact, on the phone itself there is no icon for PlayStation Suite or, hell, PlayStation anything. Instead, the "Xperia Play" button leads you to all the Android apps that have been retrofitted with the Xperia Play's controls.
I'm starting to think the whole PlayStation Suite thing got quietly dumped.
Let's not be silly now. There is a difference between being color blind / having problems seeing 3D and not being able to tell the difference between SD and HD, or even varying degrees of HD.
I get that, myself having played games since we had Atari's that my eyes have seen all the transitions and has no trouble spotting the quality change. It's just seems odd that others can't. I'm not trying to claim they are wrong or broken, it just seems odd.
I can no longer hear the high tone at the end of Sgt. Pepper. Either because of age or hearing damage. But it's still basically the same thing. I can no longer process the same information that has always been there but others can.
This should not be that surprising, either.
Do not engage the Watermelons.
Also hearing is extraordinarily delicate. Many of you are probably permanently damaging your hearing in ways you wont notice until years later. I can't get over how incredibly fragile your auditory equipment is. You know how you get over a loud noise? That's your brain rewiring to adjust for damaged equipment. The hairs in your ears, once damaged, do not heal.
Eventually your brain can't compensate enough for the busted junk you've made of it, and only then do you start noticing hearing loss.
Sight isn't quite so bad.
I think this was a good post that said what I was thinking better than I said it
Joke's on him... Just look at my post history...
cloud then made the point that the 'competition' amongst consoles isn't really 'weak', but the argument is really about how if everybody else is just chugging along, too, then you can either make a splash and take the lead or follow along and react after everybody else has already improved. ('Improved' doesn't necessarily have to mean more HaitchDeez or Motion Control. Just 'better than before'.)
Do not engage the Watermelons.
^ < v <
Not the actual wins, which you could probably equate, with hesitation and full acknowledgement that its an analogy don't freak out guys, to metacritic.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Do not engage the Watermelons.
They need to create a giant invincible NPC named "Bioware" that permakills everyone.
Considering what I'm currently playing, this post is full of awesome.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Doesn't seem like such a dumb idea now, does it?
Nintendo. Once again lightyears ahead of the pack. :P
I haven't heard anyone say anything positive about Star Wars Galaxies since 2003.
I haven't heard anyone actually mention the game since 2005.
I had an economics professor though who created baseball analogies out of almost everything. Mr "Bobby Bonds" was one of the tools he used to get his points across, so that post barely phased me.
I know very little about hardware though, so I could just be totally wrong.
The super fast RAM they use in consoles is among the most expensive components in the box, after the CPU and the graphics card. Back when the 360 was released, the 512 MB of RAM cost Microsoft about $65, about 15% of the cost of the unit.
Adding additional RAM would have required Microsoft to launch at $449 instead of $399.
Look at it this way, if it costs you an extra $10 per system to include twice as much ram, that's an extra $500 million if you sell 50 million consoles (and console RAM is more expensive than standard RAM as well as consoles don't use RAM like computers do). MS raising their shared general/video RAM from 256 to 512 was estimated to cost them an extra billion dollars (although this was a pre launch general conversation statement rather than hard data, but you get the general idea). It's a trade-off between what it costs you and how much impact is has on games. Reducing load screens is nice, but is it worth the extra billions in investment? Obviously as time goes by, RAM gets cheaper per megabyte, but you can't just add more 7 years after your system is put on the market. Usually you look to a new system by then.
Or do some crazy thing where there is 1gig of fast ram and an extra 4 of the slower stuff?
hmmm
Only nintendo console I have ever owned is a ds.
So what the hell is that?
but like I said, I know very little about it.
You know I don't see why they can't make modular ram upgrades possible.
Other than you know all the good reasons why not in a business sense.
I mean in a technical sense.
Kinda like how early 360 dealt with the harddrive situation.
In a technical sense, hardware upgrades were made available and the option for installation was standardised.
The functionality of the 360 changed over its lifetime.
^^^ (See N64 Expansion for DK64, PerfectDark and Conker?)
There is none, except games would have to be programmed to make use of the extra ram.
Given the rapid iteration model of iPhones and soon to be iPads, I wonder what would happen if handhelds or consoles started doing that model.
All future systems would be backwards compatible but future titles would work with whatever select models they choose.
It would make retail a bit confusing (Having to list what model it is compatible with) but interesting from a dev standpoint
The PS3 RAM looks the same. Upgrading those wouldn't be possible. And to create a slot like the N64 had, would mean using something that's much, much slower. I haven't looked at the most recent motherboards, but interestingly enough, MS cut the number of RAM chips from 8 to 4 while doubling the capacity after a few years. So it would seem it was cheaper to produce 8 64MB chips than to produce 4 128MB chips when they launched and at some point that changed. (Unless there was another reason for using 8 chips, but I don't know).
Edit: Actually, I wonder if heat is an issue. That is, higher capacity RAM needs more cooling, and without the reduction in the fabrication process that technology progress provides, it might just be too much for systems to handle. The 360 already had massive heat issues, and the launch PS3 burns like a space heater. This might be another concern when deciding how much memory to put in.
Steam: YOU FACE JARAXXUS| Twitch.tv: CainLoveless
- NoA's facebook page is being blasted with comments to localize Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower. 800+ and counting in hours.
- Monado (Xenoblade's old title) keeps dramatically rising on Amazon's best selling video games list. Going from the 12,000's in the overall numbers to 600's in overall and 70's in wii and counting.
- IGN started a (physical) mailing campaign.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Going over to Facebook and seeing this makes me happier than it probably should.
EDIT: That's weird. I see people constantly posting but I can't seem to.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Slim, I would imagine.
At least we can import them without modding.
Although there is an issue I encounter with Donkey Kong Country Returns. It freezes when entering and purchasing from the shop. Luckily you go to the Wii's home screen and back and it jogs it out again. But you have to do it after every purchase. Weird.
Very good. It's already been rated with Aussie board.
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