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.
E3's right around the corner. This should bring loads of industry news, but that likely won't slow down the inevitable:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoCZ07hwoZ4
And now, May's information.
May NPD
360--270K
Wii--236K
PS3--177K
3DS--97K
Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC) Rank Publisher
L.A. Noire (360, PS3) 1 Take 2 Interactive -- 899K
Brink (360, PS3, PC) 2 Bethesda Softworks -- 401K
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC) 3 Disney Interactive Studios
Portal 2 (360, PS3, PC) 4 Electronic Arts
Mortal Kombat 2011 (PS3, 360) 5 Warner Bros. Interactive -- 292K
Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, NDS, PC) 6 Activision Blizzard
Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Wii, 360, PS3) 7 Majesco
NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, PC) 8 Take 2 Interactive
Just Dance 2 (Wii) 9 Ubisoft
Lego Star Ware III: The Clone Wars (Wii, NDS, 360, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC) 10 Lucasarts
Posts
[strike]Wow at interest in the 3DS so low.[/strike]
Wow at my inability to read.
DON'T READ THIS THREAD IF YOU DON'T LIKE ANGRY BIRDS.
Why are they gauging interest in the successor of a console released 2 months ago?
But seriously, as much as I love all the info we get from and around E3, it's such a bittersweet period.
Here's all this awesome shit!
... you might get to buy it in the next 6 to 24 months.
Maybe.
Not surprised at all. The DS was mostly tech demos until its first summer, where Meteos and Kirby generated interest, and Nintendogs/Mario Kart led to its terrible reign the following holiday season.
Expect Kinect, a Wii HD and a bunch of mediocre shovelware.
Is the chart old and just mislabeled?
Or is it the fairly common misconception that the 3DS is just a DS with a 3D screen rearing its head again?
Countless good television shows have been canceled because of them.
Fixed. Geez, I can't even joke about that game without setting people off.
Posting something about Angry Birds on a daily basis, preceeded by something like "OH SHIT EVERYBODY EVACUATE THREAD BECAUSE I'M ABOUT TO START A SHITSTORM" isn't a joke.
Jokes are funny, or meant to be. You're just trying to marginalize anyone that disagrees about it in some way revolutionizing the gaming industry.
Trying to get all the cynicism out of your system in one page?
I know that is the cool and edgy thing to do, but I think there are a lot of genuine reasons to be excited for E3 this year. And if the rumors surrounding Cafe are true, it sounds like its a lot more then simply an HD Wii.
What are the rumors? I've only really read about the potential controller screen and GTAV. Any info on what the online functionality is going to be like?
Um, I didn't say any of that. I posted news about the Tetris Compant because it had sales figures for it, and joked about THEIR bringing up Angry Birds because, well, apparently the topic IS controversial because of the weekend-long argument about it. I'm not marginalizing anyone.
At any rate, I apologize about the attempt at humor, but I promise I only post stuff about that game if it's news. So, we cool?
I actually think its pretty funny that cloudeagle will post something like "sorry to bring up this game" along with news that mentions it and the immediate reaction is people getting all riled up at the mere notion that mentioning it would piss them off. Its the inevitable Angry Birds cycle and watching it unfold that is the joke.
Oh, I only meant to say that the rumors itself suggest it being more then simply an HD Wii. 1UP seems to think that some of the rumors have been confirmed, mainly the 6 inch screen and the ability to play games via the controller itself separate from playing on the big screen.
I'm a MS fanboy so whatever they say will be awesome.
I'm totally excited about the PSVita.
Cafe sounds damned interesting.
So many awesome games are in the pipeline that we know little about, or have been leaked.
Going to be an awesome week for gamers, angry birds or no.
Hell, I'm already happy enough that I'll actually be able to get achievements on an MGS game (thanks Konami for the collection btw :])
Steam
I used to like E3. Then it got a little too mainstream for me. 8-)
I think it will be a fruitful E3.
.. really? I feel like there's been a lot more information coming out ahead of time than usual. I don't know if it's because the publishers want to get their trailers out ahead of the PSV/Cafe reveals so they don't get lost in the shuffle, but I don't remember this many reveals this far ahead of time the last few years.
That could also just be me not remembering previous years as well, though.
It leaked that Nintendo will announce a new console (at least I thought it leaked)
I'd say that's pretty major
Steam
How will Ubisoft top inventing Laser Tag last year?
PSV has blown out in advance, but we've got pretty much no idea of any new games to be revealed at either of the big three conferences.
It didn't leak, they announced it ahead of time. Like they announced the Wii (in a magazine no less) and Microsoft had a big thing on Spike TV to announce the Xbox 360 (plus an proto-ARG which lead people to a video that announced it.)
Thanks Undead, I wasn't sure whether it leaked or not :]
Steam
I'm still trying to wrap my head around that chart from the first page. The "intent to buy stuff" is nearly worthless, speculation on unannounced/unreleased products with unclear competition is a difficult proposition at best and often completely futile; two years ago Android was an also-ran next to iOS now it's the market leader. But if you look at the "expect to be released" it can serve as a decent surrogate for brand awareness and how consumers view current products.
The Apple stuff is pretty interesting: Apple has announced new iPods and iPhones on a near-annual basis since they were launched, and the iPad 2 was launched a year after the first, maintaining that timing, yet under 40% of people surveyed expected a successor within the next two years. Even though they haven't been announced (Apple loves secrecy), past history alone combined with Apple's tremendous brand awareness and ability to get the public to know about those should get that number much higher. I can easily predict with 100% certainty that short of a meteor landing on Cupertino that Apple will release not one but TWO successors to all three of those products over the next 24 months.
From Sony's side I'd be worried that only 32% of people believe that Sony will launch a successor to the PSP within the next 2 years, despite the successor being announced months ago for release in at least some territories this year. More people believe that we'll see a PS4 in the next 2 years than the NGP. That says Sony hasn't gotten the word out enough that the NGP exists (even without Apple's brand and product awareness and the more limited scope of the handheld market the number expecting it to exist should be at LEAST 50%, if not much higher). Also interesting is that the same number (about 1 in 3) believe that Nintendo will release a successor to the 3DS within the next 2 years. I think Nintendo hasn't adequately communicated to the public that the 3DS isn't the latest in the DS->DS Lite->DSi->DSi XL cycle but rather a true successor system, which would also contribute strongly to the [relatively] lackluster early sales. I'd also take the nearly 50% expectance rate for a Wii successor (the highest of any product surveyed) to be a perfect indicator to why we're seeing Café: Nintendo knows that the public feels that the Wii's time has passed and it's time to move on.
Anyway I'd be reluctant to try and glean too much information out of that chart, but there's still some interesting factoids that can be found if you approach it from the right mindset.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
PSV hasn't been blown out that much though. We know about the system and a handful of games but that's really it. There's still plenty they can announce for it. Price, launch date and third party games (*coughLumines*) being the big ones.
As for the Cafe being leaked beforehand (as Chris said, it was leaked before Nintendo even mentioned it), how is that much different to the situation with the 3DS last year? We knew it was coming and had a few details about it but it was still pretty cool when they actually announced it.
Yes it is sad, because releasing this year would put it up against games like MW3, Uncharted 3, AC: Revelations, Gears 3, Battlefield 3 and a lot of other high profile games (let alone the Vita launch), so it'd be completely overshadowed. Early next year (say around February like Heavy Rain) would be a far better time for it to come out. So hope for a release this year if you want Last Guardian to bomb. :P
On the bright side, the Team ICO Collection should be coming out around September/October (September's been confirmed for its Japanese release so I'd expect the US/PAL versions to come out around the same time).