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At Tuesday’s Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Andy Lees, President of Windows Phone Division, said that Microsoft products might soon have a “single ecosystem.” This would allow their PCs, TVs, Phones, and even gaming consoles to share technologies — which could benefit all of the devices… …
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There are few careers where owning a pair of tendrils is considered an advatange, but for mass murdering super mutants, they’re almost a professional necessity. Watch now as Prototype 2’s lead killer James Heller uses his to get the job done (and the some) in Radical Entertainment’s enjoyably disturbing “The Power of Tendrils” video… …
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Set in a dystopian cyberpunk future, Hard Reset will be a PC-exclusive debut game from Polish developers Flying Wild Hog. You’ll play as Major Fletcher, a veteran soldier with a mean looking eye patch and the job of defending humanity’s last city from robotic hordes… …
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It takes more than bad press and negative reviews to keep the good Duke down. The video game number crunchers at NPD revealed Duke Nukem Forever was the second best-selling game of June, outgunned only by L.A Noire, which celebrated its second month at the top of the sales heap… …
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PSN platformer blasts off next month.
Boisterous PlayStation Network platformer Explodemon! is migrating to PC in August, developer Curve Studios has announced.
The London-based indie also responsible for ace WiiWare effort Hydroventure – hasn’t confirmed a more precise date as of yet, nor a price.
The game originally launch on PSN back in February for £7.99, and won a solid 7/10 in Kristan Reed’s Explodemon! review.
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One-two punch from Take-Two tops best-seller chart as total industry revenues down 10 percent to $1.03 billion.
The gaming industry is enduring a summer swoon, as the industry-tracking NPD Group today announced its June retail sales figures, showing shrinking revenues year-over-year across the board.
Even with grim news for the industry as a whole, there were some individual winners. Take-Two Interactive fared better than the rest for the month, with L.A. Noire (on the publisher’s Rockstar label) and Duke Nukem Forever (on its 2K Games brand) taking the top two spots on the charts. It was the second consecutive month L.A. Noire claimed the title of best-seller, while Duke Nukem settled for second place in its debut.
Other new releases to make a splash on the charts included Sony’s Infamous 2, which came in third place. According to Sony, its PlayStation 3 exclusive was the single best-selling SKU of the month (L.A. Noire and Duke Nukem’s sales were split between versions for multiple platforms).
Microsoft also touted some of its own NPD stats for the month, most notably revealing that the Xbox 360 sold 507,000 systems for the month, “nearly twice as many units as other current-generation platforms.” The Xbox 360 maker went on to note that the total hardware, software, and accessory spend on its system total $350 million, with the Xbox 360 editions of L.A. Noire, Duke Nukem Forever, and Call of Duty: Black Ops all among the 10 best-selling SKUs of the month.
Nintendo’s latest handheld also placed a new game in the top 10, as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D finished in fifth place, just ahead of 2010’s sales endurance champs Call of Duty: Black Ops and NBA 2K11.
Another of last year’s hits, Just Dance 2, grooved its way to the 10th spot on the charts. Shortly after the NPD numbers were released, Ubisoft proclaimed that the rhythm game’s June performance was enough to put it over the top as the best-selling third-party Wii game of all time. The publisher also revealed that its Just Dance games have shipped 14 million units worldwide.
The total take at US retailers for PC, console, and handheld software came out to a little less than $509 million, which was off 10 percent from a June 2010 slate propelled by hits like Red Dead Redemption, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Gaming hardware sales were also down 9 percent, to $366.6 million, unable to keep pace with year-ago sales during the month the slimline Xbox 360 launched.
[UPDATE]: Microsoft sent out an amended announcement of its NPD recap, saying that four of the top 10 best-selling SKUs of the month were Xbox 360 games. NBA 2K11 was the omitted entry from its previous missive.
JUNE 2011 US GAME SALES
OVERALL DOLLAR SALES
Total retail sales: $1.03 billion (-10%)
Total non-PC retail sales: $995 million (-10%)
Non-PC hardware: $366.6 million (-9%)
Total software: $508.9 million (-10%)
Non-PC software: $469.5 million (-12%)
Accessories: $158.9 million (-11%)TOP 10 GAMES FOR JUNE 2011
Title (Platforms) – Publisher
1. L.A. Noire (360, PS3) – Rockstar Games
2. Duke Nukem Forever (360, PS3, PC) – Take-Two Interactive
3. Infamous 2 (PS3) – Sony
4. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (360, PS3, PSP, Wii, 3DS, DS, PC) – Disney Interactive Studios
5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) – Nintendo
6. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, DS, Wii, PC) – Activision
7. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, PC) – Take-Two Interactive
8. Mortal Kombat (360, PS3) – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
9. Cars 2 (DS, Wii, 360, PS3, PC) – Disney Interactive Studios
10. Just Dance 2 (Wii) – UbisoftRead and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“L.A. Noire, Duke Nukem top slumping June sales – NPD” was posted by Brendan Sinclair on Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:59:35 -0700 -
Atlus’ medieval action game arriving on PS3, Xbox 360 this fall at budget price; new trailer inside.
Historically, crusades are costly affairs where the price of war is paid in human life. However, gamers won’t need to go anywhere near that far to pick up Atlus’ Cursed Crusade.
Today, Atlus announced that Kylotonn’s Cursed Crusade will arrive for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 11 at a budget price of $40. Previously, the game was pegged to ship this fall.
A third-person action game, Cursed Crusade focuses on two ill-fated protagonists: The templar knight Denz and the rogue mercenary Esteban. Both men are caught up in the midst of the Fourth Crusade to the Holy Land, but they share a different reason for undertaking the quest–to free themselves of a curse that imperils their very souls.
Cursed Crusade will offer both split-screen and online cooperative play for two players. Its storyline will have five chapters and span 40 missions, many of which are set in medieval Europe’s biggest cities. Combat will have an emphasis on melee attacks, with more than 130 deadly weapons to choose from and 90-plus combos.
For more on Cursed Crusade, check out GameSpot’s latest hands-on preview with the game.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“$40 Cursed Crusade raging October 11” was posted by Eddie Makuch on Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:27:51 -0700 -
Too Human dev grows, looks to self-publish.
Too Human developer Silicon Knights is working on a new next-gen game engine with a view to self-publishing its own titles in the future.
With support from the Ontario government, the Canadian studio run by industry veteran Denis Dyack has taken on 80 new staff to work on “the 3D Game Development Engine”.
According to the announcement, the new tech will include “advanced camera systems, improved audio and video and better computing technology.”
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Publisher’s European COO says multiplayer action game will “probably” come to both handhelds, confirms at least four games in the pipe for Sony’s next-generation portable.
While Capcom’s Monster Hunter series started on the PlayStation 2, no installment of the multiplayer-focused action franchise managed to break the million-unit mark until it went portable on the PSP. The series may soon be branching out in the handheld space even further, as Capcom Europe COO David Reeves implied Monster Hunter would make its way to the PS Vita and 3DS in an interview with the Middle East-focused MEGamers.
“I think down the road, you could probably see a Monster Hunter iteration somewhere. Probably on both of them,” Reeves said in reference to the new generation of portables. While Reeves specified that there were no concrete plans to that effect that he was aware of, the topic was also touched on elsewhere, when discussing Capcom’s initial support for the PS Vita.
“There will be one launch title for Vita,” Reeves told the site. “I am not actually sure if it’s been mentioned, so I am not going to, but there will be a launch title for the platform. And then we will do Street Fighter x Tekken, and at least two others. I am sure you can guess what one of them has to be, considering the success in Japan.”
Between Street Fighter, Biohazard (Resident Evil), Mega Man, and Phoenix Wright, Capcom has a variety of popular franchises in Japan. However, none of those is as known for its phenomenal success specifically in the island nation as Monster Hunter. Each installment of the Monster Hunter series averages more than 1 million copies sold, more than any other Capcom franchise. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd’s 4.5 million copies shipped in Capcom’s last fiscal year made it the publisher’s fourth best-selling title of all time, even though it has yet to see release outside of Japan.
Earlier this year, Capcom demoed the PSP version of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd running on PS Vita to demonstrate the machine’s backwards compatibility. In that presentation, the PS Vita’s right analog stick was mapped to the camera to bring the game’s controls more in line with its console counterparts. The publisher also presented a demo of Lost Planet 2 running on the Vita in order to show the handheld’s ability to handle the MT Framework engine.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Capcom exec hints at Monster Hunter for PS Vita, 3DS” was posted by Brendan Sinclair on Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:37:37 -0700 -
Uplay Passport to launch with Driver: SF.
Ubisoft is the latest publisher to jump on the online pass bandwagon with the Uplay Passport, according to a GamerZines report.
Apparently launching with Driver: San Francisco later this year, the system will ask players to enter a code included with all new retail versions of the game in order to access the title’s multiplayer modes.
If you buy a used copy you’ll need to purchase a Uplay Passport code from Xbox Live Marketplace or PlayStation Store in order to access online play.
