Posts for 'Gaming' Category

U.S. retail sales of video games, consoles and game accessories hit $1.12 billion in May, a 37 percent rise over the same month last year, driven by the chart-topping Grand Theft Auto video game, market researcher NPD Group reported Thursday.

Nintendo Co.'s Wii console is still the top-selling hardware unit, with 675,100 units sold in May. Nintendo's DS handheld player took second with 452,600 units sold. Those units have captured the top two spot's for four consecutive months.

Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 trailed with 208,700 and 186,600 units sold, respectively.

Hardware sales rose 34 percent to $428.6 million, while software sales rose 41 percent to $536.9 million, compared to the same month last year, NPD reported.

Take-Two Interactive Corp's Grand Theft Auto continues to be the No. 1 selling video game, and its version IV, released in April, sold 871,300 units in May.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier said the success of Grand Theft Auto IV is not translating into big hardware sales for either the PlayStation3 or the Xbox 360 games consoles, "but there may yet be a lift in June due to gift-giving for Father's Day and graduations."

Sales year-to-date come to $6.6 billion and the industry is on pace to bring in revenue between $21 billion and $23 billion for 2008, Frazier said.

More than a decade ago, Andrew S. Grove, then the chief executive of Intel, aptly described the hypercompetitive mentality of Silicon Valley in his book title “Only the Paranoid Survive.”

Google’s chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, has dueled with Microsoft over a long career. He fears a raid on Google markets.

Google and Microsoft Take Up Battle Stations (February 5, 2008)
Microsoft's Yahoo Bid

Full coverage of Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo, who is advising, who else might be in play and where the bid goes from here.

Now, the anxious efforts by Google, led by its chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, to try to scuttle Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo may well seem like a bout of Valley paranoia. After all, many industry analysts view the acquisition plan, announced Friday, as a desperation move by Microsoft to buy a bigger stake in the online advertising and Internet search markets, even as it and Yahoo fade further behind Google.

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GUELPH–It was the cop and the doughnuts that started Karen Finlay putting money into a slot machine in Las Vegas."I'd never been in a casino before," she said. "The bonus round on this machine looked like such fun. If you got into that round, it showed you a cop eating doughnuts and his shirt buttons popping off."Finlay had dropped $10 trying for the bonus before she told herself: "I work too hard for my money..."

But it was a winning insight. Finlay is a University of Guelph marketing and consumer studies professor and chief researcher into problem gambling. Her studies took a leap forward yesterday with the opening of Ontario's first comprehensive gambling research lab, looking at how a casino draws people in and gets them hooked.

It includes eight identical slot machines and a life-sized panoramic virtual tour of several Las Vegas casinos, filmed undercover by videographer Rob Currie. He cruised the gaming rooms in a motorized wheelchair with a hidden camera.The secrecy was not only essential – "If we'd asked permission, we'd have been shown the door," said lab manager Rita Sterne – but also appropriate. There's an element of counter-espionage about what goes on in the basement facility.

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Pokémon Snap, released this week as part of Nintendo's weekly Virtual Console update, lets gamers share photos taken in-game with their online friends via the Wii's new photo-sharing functionality. The online photo-sharing capabilities caused a stir after they were initially revealed, with speculation running rampant as to whether Nintendo would be making a regular habit of adding online functionality to Virtual Console games with features such as leaderboards or the type of multiplayer modes found in select Xbox Live Arcade classics. However, that speculation was squelched today during a phone conference held by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. Although the official cause for the occasion was to address the Wii supply shortages heading into the holiday season, Fils-Aime also offered up a few nuggets of information in relation to Nintendo's future online plans for its hot-commodity console. "In terms of Virtual Console, our approach has been predominately to leave those legacy games alone and to not do any significant upgrading or changing of that core game as we make it available," he said. "One of the small exceptions to that, we did make some small changes with Pokémon Snap, for example. We do not anticipate making online gameplay available for virtual console games." However, it wasn't all ill tidings coming from the House of Mario. Fils-Aime also dropped hints that online voice chat may be in the cards for the Wii, once an appropriate peripheral to accommodate the functionality is settled on. "In terms of online voice chat, as you know, we are constantly making updates and changes available," said the exec. "Certainly our system has the capability for online voice chat; what it comes down to is finalizing the peripheral that would allow you to speak during gameplay, and the fact that we make this available on the DS certainly suggests that it is something we value and something that we are constantly looking at, and I would not be surprised to see that capability come on our system."

Last week a new rumor has spread all around the Web: Sony is working on a PlayStation phone, a device that will combine the power of gaming with that of a mobile phone.The rumors starter was The Economic Times of India which quoted Sony Computer Entertainment co-chief operating officer Jim Ryan as saying that a Playstation Phone is a future possibility. “The PlayStation is a proven success and so is Sony Ericsson. Convergence with the two arms working together is definitely plausible.” he allegedly said for ET.One day later, Sony denied the rumors and a company official has said for the British gaming site CVG that Ryan was misquoted."We do have talks with other arms of the Sony family about various topics but I can confirm we are not currently working together on the creation of a PlayStation Phone." a Sony UK spokesperson said for CVG.But Sony has a long history of denying rumors that eventually proved to be true. For example, at this year Tokyo Game Show, Kazuo Hirai, the President of Sony Computer Entertainment has denied the rumors that Sony will slash the price of its PlayStation 3.Similarly, Sony dismissed claims a 80GB PS3 was in the works as rumors and speculations.True or not, if Sony really considers a PlayStation phone, maybe they should avoid the mistakes made by Nokia with their NGage phone.

Sony will start selling a new configuration of its PlayStation 3 video game console, with less built-in storage capacity, in Europe on October 10, priced at 399 euros (276 pounds) , the company said on Friday.The model, which will also be available in the Middle East, Africa and Australia, has a 40-gigabyte hard drive and includes the ability to access the Internet wirelessly.Sony also said it would cut the price of its 60-gigabyte PS3 by 100 euros to 499 euros "while stocks last."Sony launched the PS3 in the United States last November with a 20-gigabyte model and the bigger 60-gigabyte model, which was expected to cater to gamers who also use the device to watch video and movies. Sony discontinued the lower-capacity PS3 in North America due to strong sales of the higher-capacity model.The new 40-gigabyte configuration is one way Sony hopes to spur demand for the PS3, which has struggled since its launch, compared with the success of rival Nintendo's Wii.Sony, whose PS3 also competes with Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360, previously said it was confident of doubling PS3 shipments to 11 million in the year ending next March.Unlike the 60-gigabyte version, the 40-gigabyte PS3 cannot play games developed for the older PlayStation 2 model.Sony Computer Entertainment of America has declined to comment on when it might launch a 40-gigabyte PS3 in the United States."This thing being 100 euros cheaper implies very strongly that the U.S. version will be $399," Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said.Sony dominated the $30 billion global game industry for about a decade from the mid-1990s with its PlayStation and PlayStation 2, selling more than 100 million units of each. But it was a year behind Microsoft in releasing PS3.

At the end of an alley in Taiwan's most violent city, a black Mercedes-Benz sedan blocks a sliding- glass door that opens only from within. Inside, technophiles can buy iPhone knockoffs for two-thirds the legitimate price.With a touch-screen and Apple Inc.'s logo on the back, the ``iClones'' look just like the real thing. Apple won't offer iPhones -- which combine a phone, music and video player with wireless Internet -- in Asia until 2008. The owner of the shop in Sanchung, near Taipei, says he began selling ``aifungs'' in December, six months before the iPhone went on sale in the U.S.``We can't ignore iPhone because it's so hot,'' says Ben, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name because selling pirated phones is illegal.The clones show how fast Asian counterfeiters move. Ben says his company designed the fakes from pictures posted on the Internet before Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in January. Knockoffs cost the global economy $650 billion annually, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates. Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock wouldn't discuss how much the company loses as a result of phony products.``The longer Apple delays, the more the pirates can rip the company off,'' says Chialin Lu, an analyst at Yuanta Core Pacific Securities Co. in Taipei.Jobs hasn't explained the delay. Kevin Chang, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., says carriers need time to modify their networks for the iPhone's technology.

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 There are seven stages of grief: shock, denial, anger, bargaining depression, testing and acceptance. But with the Xbox 360, which has been giving a significant number of its owners grief, Microsoft last week moved directly from the first stages to the last -- from denying any problems with it to admitting a US$1 billion problem that potentially affects all 11.6 million consoles sold so far.Three weeks ago Todd Holmdahl, vice president of the gaming and Xbox products group, said repeated problems where people had to take back up to 11 consoles came from "a vocal minority" (tinyurl.com/yqtm4w) and dismissed suggestion of endemic problems.Then last week Microsoft abruptly announced that it would set aside between US$1.05 billion and US$1.15 billion, charged against the just-finished 2007 fiscal year, to cover the costs of extending the warranty for every machine from one to three years, and to fix the many which show the "red ring of death" -- three red lights on the front panel control ring, indicating a general hardware failure.How many? Unfortunately, Microsoft still isn't ready to deal with that issue.

PS3 surge

"When you look at the financial implication, obviously it's not a small number," said Robbie Bach, president of its entertainment and devices unit.Sony, which last week had denied it would cut the price of its struggling PlayStation 3, saw an opening and snipped US$100 off the US retail price, prompting a surge in sales there.Microsoft repeatedly declined to talk to me about precisely what problems the failed consoles suffer from. However, Peter Moore, head of the Xbox division, told Gamesindustry.biz: "There are a lot of different issues that eventually could all combine to create the three flashing red rings that appear on the power button on the console; no [one] specific issue."He was repeatedly evasive in interviews, leaving the impression that the problems were either profound -- or embarrassingly simple.The financial problems, though, are stark. The sum being set aside amounts to between US$90 and US$99 for every console sold -- extra loss on machines that are already sold at a loss. On its launch, analysts reckoned that each Xbox contained US$525 worth of components; but the machine sold for, at most, US$499, and more price cuts are rumored to be on the way to keep ahead of Sony. On average, Microsoft took a US$126 loss on each console sold at its starting price -- US$1.4 billion so far.The billion-dollar figure also indicates that Microsoft's repeated insistence that the failure rate was about average for such hardware -- that is, between 3 percent and 5 percent -- cannot have been true. The real failure rate is probably about five times greater than the company has admitted, which would put repair costs at between US$330 and US$660 per console. At that upper limit, it would be cheaper for Microsoft simply to send a cheque for a brand new console. So what are the causes?

overheating

Owners and analysts have made their own investigations. The most obvious suggestion is that parts overheat; the Xbox 360 draws 160 watts, which has to be dissipated via two large heatsinks and two fans. One suggestion is that when the machine gets hot, the motherboard warps and pushes the graphics processing unit (GPU) off its board. Another is that some of the soldering is imperfect and so cracks at high temperature. A Microsoft support document (tinyurl.com/2qnefa) also suggests, improbably, that surge protectors and extension strips contribute to the problem by preventing the current surge needed for the fans to turn on; this seems unlikely, since that surge would be too small to trip them.In desperation, some owners have turned to home-grown cures, including wrapping a towel around the machine, blocking the fan vents. This may -- depending who you believe -- either cause the solder to reflow or the GPU to reseat. (Microsoft has not commented.) The fixes sometimes work, at least temporarily.

We can deduce some of the reasons from the fact that Microsoft is declaring that the problems are sorted out -- just as it is moving from 90-nanometer to 65nm chips, which should reduce its power consumption significantly, and using a two-part heat sink in the new designs.The key question though is whether these flaws will put off future customers, and how badly they have annoyed existing ones. The principal problem for the latter is that any content bought online must be re-enabled for a replacement console.

dream over?

Does the admission mean that Microsoft's dream that the Xbox will form the centerpiece of a strategy to put Microsoft software and hardware into everyone's living room has been permanently sunk?A report this week from Jupiter Research suggests that there is now everything to play for."Jupiter Research anticipates the competitive field will be much closer than in the past; at the end of the current [console] cycle in 2012, the range in market shares is projected to be just under 10 percent compared with the 33 percent range in market shares at the end of the last cycle in 2005. Then, the PS2 dominated, and Nintendo was nowhere. Now, Nintendo's Wii is rocketing towards the Xbox 360 total; sales data suggests it is selling nearly three times faster than the Xbox 360 or PS3," the report said.

The optimistic forecast -- written before the Xbox's problems were admitted -- suggests that the Xbox will continue to sell. Moore repeated his insistence that the Xbox division will move into profit next year; having shovelled the billion-dollar faults back into the last fiscal year, it can look for profits from its online service, peripherals and games. The strategy remains untouched. All that has changed is the time it will take to pay back. But Microsoft is prepared to play the longest of games -- even when it has no chance of winning.
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Last night was Microsoft's night at E3, the big video game convention that takes place in L.A. every year (this time on a more muted basis, sans booth babes). The big news was ... well, was there big news?Perhaps it was that in honor of Halo 3, Microsoft will put out a special-edition Xbox 360 console outfitted in cyborg green and orange. Why anyone would buy a painted-up Xbox is a mystery, but there are a lot of Halo nuts out there who perhaps will never feel at home unless shooting on a pimped-out shooter. Still, are they that nutty? This looks to me like the boxed-set model of sales; sure, it's nice to have a special package in which to house your "Dark Side of the Moon," but all you really care about is the music, yeah?Then there's also a new game-show sort of controller for the upcoming Xbox title "Scene It?" For the uninitiated, this is the popular DVD-based pop-culture trivia board game that's being turned into a Microsoft exclusive. Four of these new controllers will be packed in each "Scene It?" sold, Microsoft announced; the controller is shaped roughly like a fat TV remote control, with one big button and four small ones, and it could be used, one supposes, on a host of laid-back games that are fun for the whole family (what the industry refers to as "casual games").The company didn't say that the new controllers would include any sort of Nintendo Wii-like motion sensors, but speculation is already running this way. Engadget says, "This could be Microsoft's Trojan Horse to battle against Wii's stranglehold on the casual gaming market -- particularly if the remotes include motion sensing within, which hasn't even been hinted at yet -- or could just be a nice freebie to make 'Scene It?' a bit more accessible. We figure we'll know more soon enough."

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Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. on Monday announced a new 80GB model of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) computer entertainment system, as well as a price cut on current models.Beginning in August, the new PS3 model will be available in North America for a suggested retail price of $599/$659 CND and will be sold with the popular online-enabled racing game 'MotorStorm'.In conjunction with this news, the company also announced that effective immediately, the current 60GB PS3 model will be available in North America for $499/$549 CND, or $100 below the original launch price.By featuring an expanded hard disk drive (HDD), the new 80GB PS3 is designed to appeal to the online gaming and entertainment enthusiast, providing ample storage space to download more games and other entertainment content from PlayStation Network.There are currently more than 60 playable games and game-related downloads available through PlayStation Store, with expanded entertainment content coming soon.The new model features the million-selling game 'MotorStorm' in the box, allowing up to 12 players to play online at one time, hitting the dirt in this visually-arresting, fast-paced racing title.

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