NEWS

Activision "Not Overly Concerned" By MW2 PC Furore

Alex Wiltshire — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:43:34 +0000

Activision president Mike Griffith claims removing support for dedicated servers will lead to improved "consumer experience".

Digital Distributors Refuse To Stock PC Modern Warfare 2

Alex Wiltshire — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:33:49 +0000

Mandatory installation of Steam for the game's use of Steamworks deemed a "Trojan horse" by Direct2Drive; Impulse and Gamersgate follow.

Direct2Drive has told Gamasutra, "We don’t believe games should force the user to install a Trojan Horse." The PC version of Modern Warfare 2 will use Valve's Steamworks to manage such processes as installation, DRM, patching and save games, but this also means that Steam itself needs to be on players' systems.

Square Enix Sales Up 33 Per Cent

Alex Wiltshire — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:38:12 +0000

Half year financial results show jump in sales on same period 2008, but down 55.7 per cent in net income.

The Japanese publisher, and new owner of Eidos, reported that over the six month period between April 1 and September 30 net income of its entire business decreased 55.7 per cent from 6,054m to 2,683 million yen, while revenue from sales climbed from 67,974m to 90,561m yen.

Activision Blizzard Reports Higher Q3 Revenues Than Expected

Alex Wiltshire — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:14:52 +0000

CEO Bobby Kotick put the results down to the success of Guitar Hero 5 and the franchise in general, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, the Call of Duty franchise and World Of WarCraft.

Australian Game Sales Up Eight Per Cent

Tom Ivan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:28:01 +0000

Australian retail game sales were up 8.3 per cent in the first nine months of 2009 when compared to the same period a year earlier.

Citing data obtained from GfK Retail and Technology Australia, the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA) said that sales are on track to outstrip last year’s record domestic haul of $2 billion.

The iGEA said that sales of console hardware rose ten per cent during the first nine months of the year, while software sales jumped five per cent to $716 million.

Unreal Development Kit Goes Free

Tom Ivan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:38:50 +0000

Epic Games has released a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 for educational and non-commercial use.

The Unreal Development Kit gives users access to the 3D game engine technology, Unreal Editor, Unreal Content Browser, UnrealScript, Unreal Matinee, Unreal Cascade and other tools, which are detailed here.

Previously, non-commercial access to the Unreal Engine 3 toolset had been available only through the PC versions of games such as Unreal Tournament 3 and the Gears Of War series.

Zeebo Ships In Mexico

Tom Ivan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:40:21 +0000

3G wireless console Zeebo, positioned by Zeebo Inc both as an affordable game system and education platform, has shipped to over 2,000 stores in Mexico.

No Doubt Sues Activision Over Band Hero

Tom Ivan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:53 +0000

Rock band No Doubt has filed a lawsuit against Activision over the use of its name and likeness in Band Hero.

The group alleges that it has been transformed “into a virtual karaoke circus act” because players can perform songs using No Doubt avatars that weren’t approved by the band.

EA CEO Sees Digital Future

Tom Ivan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:07:47 +0000

EA CEO John Riccitiello has said that the strength of digital sales is currently offsetting a challenging retail environment, and that he expects the digital sector to dominate the market in years to come.

Dragon Quest IX Tops Japanese, US And UK Sales In Q3

Tom Ivan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:19:53 +0000

Square Enix’s Dragon Quest IX was the bestselling game across Japan, the US and the UK during the third quarter of the year, according to sales trackers the NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track and Enterbrain.

Despite only being released in Japan, Dragon Quest IX outsold its nearest rival by almost one million units between July and September.

The top five sellers for the period were as follows:

Dragon Quest IX (Square Enix) - 3,925,000
Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) - 3,014,000

Japanese Game Sales Up In Q3, US And UK Sales Down

Tom Ivan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:15:23 +0000

The latest Top Global Markets report from sales trackers the NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track and Enterbrain has been released, showing a strong rise in Japanese software sales during the third quarter, but a decline in US and UK sales during the period.

According to the report, combined software unit sales across the world’s three largest game markets experienced a decline of six per cent between July and September.

THQ Reports Reduced Sales And Losses In Q2

Tom Ivan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:49:49 +0000

THQ has announced its financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2009, showing a drop in sales but also reduced losses.

For its second quarter the publisher reported net sales of $101.3 million, compared with $164.8 million in the prior-year period, but its losses were heavily reduced from $115.3 million to $5.6 million.

Ubisoft First Half Sales Down 52 Per Cent

Tom Ivan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:00:57 +0000

Ubisoft has reported its financial results for the six months ended September 30, with sales during the period down 52 per cent year-on-year to €166 million.

Due to the sharp decrease in sales, the company expects to report an operating loss of around €80 million for the first half, compared with an operating income of €33 million during the first six months of 2008-09.

Peter Moore Delighted With FIFA 10 In Japan

Tom Ivan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:35:30 +0000

EA Sports boss Peter Moore has expressed his delight with FIFA 10’s critical and commercial reception in Japan, at the same time noting that foreign titles “have an extremely difficult time breaking through” in the country and that EA still has work to do to understand the market.

Viacom: Economics Of Rock Band Franchise Improving

Tom Ivan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:28:03 +0000

MTV and Harmonix parent company Viacom has said that the economics of its Rock Band franchise “are improving, though not as quickly as we’d like”.

Speaking in a financial results call, CFO Tom Dooley said that the franchise made a negative contribution to margins in the third quarter.

Funcom Awarded Grant For Extreme Sports Game

Tom Ivan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:29:55 +0000

Age Of Conan developer Funcom has been awarded a NOK 1.5 million ($262,000) grant from the Norwegian Film Fund to aid its development of a new extreme sports game.

“Funcom is working on a new project called Board With The World,” Erling Ellingsen, the company’s director of communications told us. “This will be a free-to-play social MMO focusing on the world of extreme sports."

Activision Launches Ratings Awareness Campaign

Tom Ivan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:26:53 +0000

Activision has launched a ratings awareness programme designed to educate parents about the Entertainment Software Rating Board's classification system.

For the initiative, dubbed Ratings Are Not A Game, the publisher has partnered with Dr. Cheryl Olson, co-director for the Centre for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The pair have produced seven videos to help parents make informed decisions about the games their children play.

Gameloft Sales Up 18 Per Cent

Tom Ivan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:06:58 +0000

French publisher Gameloft has reported €90.2 million in sales for the first nine months of 2009, up 18 per cent year-on-year.

Mobile games generated 95 per cent of sales and console games the remainder. Europe was the firm’s biggest market, accounting for 38 per cent of sales. North America and the rest of the world both generated 31 per cent of revenues.

Atlus Acquires Online Publisher Gonzo Rosso

Tom Ivan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:54:36 +0000

Atlus has acquired a majority stake in Japanese online publisher Gonzo Rosso in a bid to expand its business into the wider Asian markets.

Gonzo Rosso focuses on massively multiplayer online games, distributing titles including SONOV's Shaiya: Light And Darkness and Izumi Project's Pandora Saga, reports Gamasutra. Its games are available in numerous Asian territories and there are plans to bring them to North America.

Nintendo To Trial WiiWare Demos

Tom Ivan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:02:15 +0000

Nintendo will offer demos of WiiWare games beginning later this month in a bid to stimulate sales of downloadable titles.

The test programme was confirmed by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata during a financial results briefing, reports IGN. Initially it will cover only a few select titles and it’s currently unclear whether it will run outside of Japan.