Industry sales were slightly down during April, despite the presence of three million selling titles on the console software charts

The NPD Group's official console gaming industry sales figures for the month of April are out and despite the lower sales total compared to March, last month saw the release of what will be the first of 2008's gaming blockbusters.  Grand Theft Auto IV barely launched before the end of last month, but it's has already shattered interactive entertainment industry records, and NPD has its official tally of the carnage it caused duuring the last five days of April alone.

First off, April's console hardware sales as a whole were down compared to March.  Only Nintendo's Wii managed to maintain momentum, selling over 700,000 units during both months.  The rest of the console platforms took a dive in sales, including the DS which took the biggest hit; sales for the handheld dropped by over 280,000 units.  However, the DS managed to stay in second place.  In fact, despite the overall drop in sales, the rankings for all the consoles otherwise stayed the same as they did during March.  The PlayStation Portable in particular continued to beat the Xbox 360, as well as Sony's other home console platforms including the PS3.

April's software top ten chart on the other hand sees not one, but three million sellers.  Technically two are Grand Theft Auto IV on its different platforms, but each form a one-two punch that's hard to ignore.  Particularly noteworthy is the popularity of the Xbox 360 version versus its PS3 brother; GTA IV sold approximately 850,000 units more on the 360.  Perhaps the prospect of exclusive downloadable content (DLC) proved over Xbox Live proved to be a bigger draw for GTA fans than expected!

Analysts and fanboys alike meanwhile expected the only game released during April which would provide anything even close to competition for GTA IV was Mario Kart Wii.  The Mario Kart series enjoys great tenure, and to its credit Mario Kart's first Wii entry fared quite well against Rockstar's latest and greatest.  It couldn't beat GTA IV of course, but it was the only other software title which sold over a million copies last month.  The rest of the software top ten didn't come close to selling even half a million units each.  Unfortunately that includes Super Smash Bros. Brawl, despite moving an estimated 2.7 million copies during March; as skeptical gamers may have speculated, sales for the Wii brawler fell sharply only after a month.

April 2008 US Games Industry Summary

Total sales - $1.23 billion USD
Console software - $654.7 million USD
Console hardware - $426.2 million USD
Console accessories - $154 million USD

April 2008 US Hardware Sales

1. Nintendo Wii - 714,000 units
2. Nintendo DS - 415,000 units
3. Sony PlayStation Portable - 193,000 units
4. Microsoft Xbox 360 - 168,000 units
5. Sony PlayStation 3 - 187,000 units
6. Sony PlayStation 2 - 124,000 units

April 2008 US Game Software Sales

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) - 1.85 million units
2. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 1.12 million units
3. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) - 1 million units
4. Wii Play Remote bundle (Wii) - 360,000 units
5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 326,000 units
6. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3) - 224,000 units
7. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness - 202,000 units
8. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time - 202,000 units
9. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) - 152,000 units
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) - 141,000 units

Reduced production costs and healthy PSP console sales help trim losses, however

Sony Corp. posts financial results for its fiscal year ending March 31st 2008, and enjoys a 6.9 percent increase in sales to ¥8.87 trillion ($84.4 billion USD) compared to the previous year.  Profitability also got a much appreciated boost as the company's net income tripled to ¥369.4 billion ($3.51 billion USD).  Strong consumer electronics sales, particularly from the Bravia LCD television, VAIO PC and Cyber-shot digital camera product lines, provided the backbone for Sony Corp.'s profits.  Sales from its motion picture division decreased 11.2 percent due to a lower number of films released this past financial year.  Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) meawhile painted a rosier portrait thanks to shrinking losses stemming from PlayStation 3 production as well as booming PlayStation Portable sales in Japan.

SCE itself saw an increase in sales of 26.3 percent to ¥1.28 trillion ($12.2 billion USD), though profitability still proved elusive thanks to an ¥124.5 billion ($1.18 billion USD) operating loss.  This is nevertheless a marked improvement from the ¥232.3 billion ($2.21 billion USD) hit taken by the division last financial year.

The PlayStation Portable proved to be the biggest winner for SCE with sales of 13.9 million units during fiscal year 2008, up 4.36 million from the previous year.  PSP software sales also grew to 55.5 million units.

Sony's ever-stalwart PlayStation 2 didn't let up one bit even given its age, selling 13.73 million units across twelve months.  This is actually a 980,000 unit decrease from the previous fiscal year, but the tally is certainly impressive enough to earn it second place over its PS3 big brother.  The PS2 remained king in terms of software despite suffering a slight drop, garnering a whopping 154 million units in sales.

The PlayStation 3 console was at the tail end of SCE's console trio, with sales of 9.24 million consoles.  However, this is still an increase from fiscal year 2007 by 5.63 million units.  PS3 software sales similiarly jumped to 57.9 million units from 44.6 million.  SCE head Kaz Hirai himself recently lamented the PS3's growing pains during its first year in the market thanks to confusion amidst third party developers over what Sony itself wanted the machine to be.  The outlook apparently began changing for the better when SCE better positioned the PS3 as a *gasp!* games console, as opposed to HAL 9000's kid brother.  This continued emphasis on gamers can also be seen in the recent delay of Home, the anticipated social networking platform for the PlayStation Network.  Sony pushed back Home's launch in order to better accomodate a focus for gamers over corporate sponsors.

Forecasting the upcoming 2009 financial year, SCE expects another decrease in sales thanks to a gradual decline of the PS2's presence from the market.  However, profitability can only get better as the PS3 continues to benefit from hardware cost reductions and an improving library of games.

Rockstar's latest is now the "Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours" and the "Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours"

Take-Two and Rockstar proudly boasted that Grand Theft Auto IV was the biggest launch event yet in the history of modern interactive entertainment, thanks to blockbuster sales of 6 million units (ringing up $500 million USD at cashiers) across multiple launch territories in just one week.  Immortalizing of such details was initially limited to the publisher's press releases (and of course news outlets), but now GTA IV's first day sales performance officially makes the Guiness World Records history books.

For selling 3.6 million units and earning $310 million USD on day one, GTA IV will be honored with both the "Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours" and the "Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours" honors in one fell swoop.  Those are some serious achievements right there, handily beating the previous title holder, Halo 3, which earned $170 million USD on launch day.

While GTA IV is selling like hotcakes, analysts still caution that its lifetime sales will potentially be lower than those for its predecessor, GTA: San Andreas.  Lifetime-to-date sales of the PS2 entry currently stand at around 21.5 million units.  A key reason for this scenario would be the natural decline in sales following a title's first week on the charts; indeed, Chart-Track today confirms that despite remaining top dog in the United Kingdom, second week sales for GTA IV in the PAL region were already 77 percent lower than they were during launch week.  Of course, we don't expect to GTA IV to be limping past pole position, and thus far it's the Xbox 360 version of the game pulling the cart.  Will the PS3 version catch up anytime soon?  Either way, GTA IV remains a winner.

Sony Online Entertainment prez interviewed

Being interviewed by the Seattle Times, president of Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley touched on numerous topics, including the PlayStation 3's MMO library:

"I think MMOs are going to be a real strong selling point for the PS3 long term — there's going to be some great ones on the PS3. You're not going to find "The Agency" on the [Xbox] 360."

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Here the interviewer poses the question "Have MMOs reached the mainstream yet?", to which Smedley replies:

"I would say they're getting more mainstream. If I were characterizing it, I would say think of the video-gaming industry five years ago. That's kind of where I think we're at. ... Five years ago, do you think "Grand Theft Auto IV" would have done $500 million [in opening-week sales]? To me, video games are just reaching the real mass-market now. That is going to translate to the MMO side of the business."

Well, the virtual world thing has skyrocketed in terms of popularity in recent years, not to mention social networking sites (heh heh), so it certainly wouldn't be unexpected to see that aspect of things soar, assuming there's time to actually build a community before the next generation is ushered in. For all the Playstation 3 owners, would you be into it?

Producer is Kojima, director is..Paul Thomas Anderson?

More strange but intriguing video game-turned-movie news: longtime creator and director of the Metal Gear Solid series, as well as head of Kojima Productions, Hideo Kojima is set to produce the Metal Gear film. It gets a little unexpected when you find out Aki Saito, translator for Konami and Mr. Kojima, who is handling the film negotations, says "Paul Thomas Anderson is interested."

Anderson is a great director, to be sure (Magnolia is one of the most affecting films I've ever seen and, in spite of popular opinion, I thought Punch Drunk Love was great), but is he right for a Metal Gear film? Well, There Will Be Blood has certainly shown another side of him (he co-wrote and directed the movie) that might make you think so. While I haven't seen the film, it looked promising. IMDb describes it as "a story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business."

Certainly sounds like MGS-style stuff, dontcha think?

Also, it's great to know the video game industry commands some clout in Hallywuud. Says Saito:

"Hollywood has great respect for Mr. Kojima. They want to meet with him. Kojima will be acting as a producer, but we don't know how involved he'll be as a producer. Often Hollywood adaptations have the original game creator involved at the beginning, but somewhere along the line they fall out of view. This is why it's very important for us to carefully pick the studio for this project."

Analyst predictions for the eighth-gen

Analyst Evan Wilson at Pacific Crest Securities - a company which specalizes in technology research, among other things - says we'll see the eigth generation of video game consoles come 2010.

This is about right, since the Playstation 2, for example, was released in 2000, and its successor in 2006 (the Xbox was ahead of the game, with a four year gap, Nintendo is at five with its consoles). However, I don't put too much stock in this guy's view, as he did once claim (late last year) a second redesign of the DS was complete, with no comment from Nintendo (and a year later, they've flat-out denied it).

Would you be ready for a new set of consoles in two years? Myself, I'm still playing original Playstation and Sega CD games, and drooling over a few modern titles like BioShock. My list of games to play/buy is far too extensive. Please, game companies, no more!

Potential acquisition has Rockstar VP considering

As you might know, EA Games has been attempting to take over Take Two Interactive, who in turn own Rockstar Games, producers of the famed Grand Theft Auto series, among other titles (yes, there are others). Naturally, this has vice president of Rockstar and GTA creator Dan Houser thinking over the potential outcome.

The attempt to acquire Take Two hasn't been pretty, going from a friendly "hey, how about this much?" to a somewhat gruesome "we're paying this much now and there ain't much you can do about it." But what a lot of us may not be aware of is Rockstar is home to its own share of volatility.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Houser reveals quite a bit about the Rockstar working environment, and sometimes it ain't too pretty (former online producer for the company Jeff Williams wrote in a now deleted blog post awhile ago the arguments in the office meant 'screaming at the top of your lungs and throwing objects around the office' [types of arguments].' The question, I suppose then, is if EA (a decidedly more corporate and structured space, as it seems) would be right for this kind of envrionment (and don't get me wrong, it isn't always screaming matches).

But Houser actually seems pretty cool about the whole thing, calling EA CEO John Riccitiello "the real deal" and saying the acquisition would make his company a "much smaller fish in a much bigger pond," also noting, "I'm not someone who has any kind of problem with that." I guess you could take that a few ways, one implying more freedom to do what they like, being one division in a field of many, while also having more resources available. Houser also stated he probably wouldn't be looking to EA for approval on game content. The really ironic and amusing part of all this is EA turned down Houser for a job in the late 1990s (just a few short years before the release of Grand Theft Auto III).

Take Two: "[it's] extremely well-suited to film"

Evidently the success of 2K Games' sci-fi shooter-ish masterpiece thing has been such that it warrants a film production. And not just any film production, a Hollywood film production. Dun dun dun. The film is set to be directed by Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski under Universal Pictures. Honestly, I'm not sure what to think about that. Either he's got a whole demented side to him just waiting to be unleashed with the right project, or BioShock is gonna get butchered good. (Update: He also directed The Ring.) Apparently Verbinski is a big BioShock fan though (thank God):

"BioShock fans appreciate the depth and complexity of the game," Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K Games, noted. "And our partnership with Gore Verbinski will introduce the world of Rapture to an even wider audience. In addition to his impressive body of work, Gore is an avid video gamer and true fan of BioShock. That was extremely important to us in deciding to move forward with this project."

John Logan, writer of Gladiator, The Aviator and Sweeney Todd, is being considered for the screenplay.

Take-Two Interactive, owners of 2K are pumped. Check out this quote from its chairman Strauss Zelnick:

"BioShock has been hailed as one of the most highly cinematic and richly plotted titles in interactive entertainment, making it extremely well-suited to film... Our ability to attract a major studio and unparalleled creative team speaks volumes about the strength of our BioShock franchise."

I'm imagining they'd be pretty protective of something like this, so here's hoping it is in the right hands.

As for how this will fit in with the BioShock storyline, that's hard to say. The sequel is planned for next year, so the film could be released before or after, really. It would be interesting if and how the sequel's storyline would be changed to complement the film.

Major increase in the first quarter

Looks like that format war victory is starting to show real results. Home Media Magazine reports sales of Blu-Ray discs have shot up 351 percent from January to March of this year.

This in turn saw consumer spending on home entertainment increase by one percent since the same time last year. Seems small? Not really, that one percent is worth $5.5 billion. This is also the first real rise in two years.

Video sales rose 2.3 percent while rentals decreased by 1.6.

Bernstein Research predicts one quarter of US households will own a Blu-Ray player inside three years, and it notes the process is going slower than for that of DVD.

Sony's new device turns PS3 into DVR

Sony has released something called PlayTV, a new device that will allow PlayStation 3 users to watch and record digital TV or radio via the console. The device will run you about $155 USD. No worries about compatibility either, it works with all versions.

PlayTV utilises a USB tuner and some included software to play, record or stream free-to-air digital programming (up to two channels at once are available), and doesn't require an external power source. Also, there's no copy protection for what you record. Streams are recorded in their original MPEG-2 format, so there's no quality degradation, and audio streams are recorded in MP3 format.

You'll be able to pause at any time, but buffering will only occur during pausing so as to downplay the strain on the hard drive, unless the user chooses to change this in the settings. Also, while you can't set it up to record your favourite shows automatically as with many other devices, PlayTV does have the advantage of a search by keyword function. It can, however, record specific timeslots.

It's a little bigger than its PC counterparts, about the size as an original Nintendo DS.

For those who happen to have a PSP as well as a PS3, you can enable remote play on your PS3, and watch programming on your portable system via wireless or from anywhere that emits a Wi-Fi signal.

"It's fair to say that the first year of PlayStation 3 was somewhat of a difficult one.."

I like Sony, as a game company at least (uh oh). Know why? They're a company that doesn't binge itself so much on marketing and PR that they won't admit their weaknesses. Too many interviews feature journalists asking the same tired questions and the company president or developer or whatever answering with the same tired answers. If we're lucky, we see the journalist asking actually honest questions, like, 'why is your system sucking so bad? How will you make it not suck so bad?' (I'm paraphrasing). But typically at this point we just get tired answers anyway, marketing psychobabble the company owner or whoever was told to say if any 'tough questions' came up. So that's why I like Sony. This isn't to say they're completely devoid of marketing psychobabble, cause I've seen it, but the fact they can admit where they've gone wrong and where they can improve speaks volumes. Marketing people and CEO's don't want anyone from the company saying stuff like that. That means potentially lower stocks, less sales, etc. What they don't realize, (some of them anyway), is at the end of the day, people who support these companies really just want them to be honest. Am I right? We need transparency if we're ever going to really know what to buy, when to buy it, and how to get the most satisfaction out of what we buy.

So yeah, at Sony's own Playstation Day, president Kaz Hirai admitted the Playstation 3 has had 'a rough year':

"It's fair to say that the first year of PlayStation 3 was somewhat a difficult one. There were some teething problems, success from our competitors, and our customers were a little underwhelmed by the range of titles that were available. This was something that we were very much aware of, and something that we were confident we could over come."

Certainly seems to be heading that way too, even though just two killer apps have hit shelves - Gran Turismo 5: Prologue and Grand Theft Auto IV.

"Things have improved since the Christmas season and 2008 has gotten off to a fantastic start," [commented Hirai]. "What fills me with even greater pleasure is that our year so far has only seen the launch of two of our key titles."

Regarding all the Home delays, Hirai apologized, and again, I respect his position. That is, to not release it until he is completely happy with it, as I had suspected:

"I realise this announcement was disappointing to many people, from TGS where we were aiming for a spring launch, so please accept my apologies for this delay. But as I said at Tokyo Game Show, I would not open up Home until I was completely happy with it, and I still stand by that statement."

He says the company believes it can provide the best possible experience with it in the autumn, hence the wait.

Honesty and transparency like this is what could eventually eliminate that hardened tyrant image Sony kind of has now. Again, customers need that with a company, and while it's possible it could hurt them in the short-term, long-term, it's very necessary and could put them ahead of the competition.

Dan Houser: "I’ve unfortunately been exposed to [violence] my entire life"

I think most of us could agree way too much attention is paid to Grand Theft Auto IV. This is not to say it's a game unworthy of a significant amount of attention, because it is. But there's a difference between significant, and 'Oh God I'm drowning in GTA IV news, somebody please saaaave meee.' So, with that in mind, I've chosen to write this little piece in spite of the already enormous amount of attention the game is receiving because I feel this particularly topic is worth paying attention to, overhyped or not.

One of the things I do love about the Grand Theft Auto games (their 3D selves anyway), is the things they force society to face and analyze. No matter your take on violence, for example, it's pretty hard to be playing one of these games and not at some point think 'wow, so this is my culture.' This, of course, presuming you're not some braindead teenager (damn dirty kids!) playing the game because it's 'teh koolest' and/or you're not supposed to.

Anyway, Rockstar VP and co-writer Dan Houser sat down with New York Magazine (the city which the game is based on, if you don't know by now) to discuss many of the perspectives surrounding the game, the most interesting of which I found regarded the violence (sidenote: the first thing he says in the interview is "fuck all this stuff about casual gaming." At this, I can't help but laugh). This is what Houser had to say on the issue (if you think of it as one):

"If you don’t like any violent content in your entertainment, then I apologize because I do. And I’ve unfortunately been exposed to it my entire life. I agree that the world would be a greater place if all of the guns and all of the bombs disappeared, but that certainly is not in the agenda. If we equally got rid of a lot of books that talk about violence, okay. But if we don’t like these games because they've got content that we’re happy to see in movies and TV shows, then what you’re saying is you don’t like the medium because we don’t have a George Clooney type sticking his face in front of the camera. There is nothing in the game you would not see in a TV show, or a movie a hundred times over, so I don’t understand what the conversation is about. We set out to make games that felt like they could culturally exist alongside the movies we were watching and the books we were reading, and hopefully we’re getting close to those goals."

I really do admire his passion on the subject and for his games - from the rest of the interview, you can tell how much he cares about GTA IV. But yeah, it seems what he's saying is the game, and in a way, himself are both just products of their environment. Though another perspective to take (and maybe both apply) is that simulating real life provides the ideal set of circumstances within which to criticize it, or at least provoke thoughts on it, any thoughts. We all know most people hate it when others preach, and I think this is why films like The Godfather are so successful, because rather than shoving a view down your throat, they simply present what actually happens and let you do what you want with it. I wouldn't say The Godfather glorifies violence (though some less tasteful movies certainly do), and I wouldn't say GTA IV does either. In fact, just by giving the player to opportunity to exploit violent potential in the game, doesn't that reflect society in the most ultimate sense? In these respects, the game succeeds as well as great mob movies in its own way, and in some other ways, surpasses them.

PS3's functionality as a Blu-ray player may be catching on with the public, but will the buzz last?

While Blu-ray video sales are supposedly not yet at the level required to make up for a lagging North American home video market in general, a survey commissioned by Warner Home Video nevertheless suggests that Blu-ray media still stands to pick up steam... from PlayStation 3 owners. Backed by this survey, Warner Home Video president Ron Sanders explains at Screen Digest's PEVE Digital Entertainment conference that the percentage of total console usage by PS3 owners spent watching Blu-ray video content increased to 23 percent during the first two months of 2008, up from 15 percent back in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Sanders cited Sony's marketing of the PS3's Blu-ray features as a factor behind the increase in Blu-ray movie viewership. Indeed, Sanders believes the number of PS3 owners actually using the PS3 as a Blu-ray media player on the side increased from 53 percent last September to 80 percent in early 2008. Such figures could help play down concerns that the PS3 itself is holding back Blu-ray growth, due to the public's ignorance/apathy over the hardware's built-in Blu-ray functionality.

Screen Digest meanwhile looks to temper what it fears is premature enthusiasm, especially considering how the timeframe covered in the survey just so happens to be the typically busy Holiday season. How will things look down the road for Blu-ray movies on PS3? Good thing the PS3 can still rely on retail Blu-ray games!

The timing of the Warner research, which was carried out in late 2007 and early 2008, means it is impossible to quantify how much the usual Christmas gift-giving season (and subsequent increase in new BD homes) would have increased consumer spending on BDs without the promotions - or, indeed, whether the uplift is sustainable. Furthermore, the relative lack of strong games titles for the PS3 over this period is also likely to have contributed to the console's use as a BD player. Nonetheless, the sheer size of the PS3 installed base means that even a minimal increase in average per household BD buy rates could have a substantial impact on total hi-def software sales, a fact which played a major role in Warner's decision to abandon Toshiba's HD DVD format in favour of Blu-ray earlier this year

Well, it's certainly going to sell like crazy during its first month

The hype around Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is not diminishing even with the official launch of the game earlier today at midnight.  It doesn't take a market analyst to know that the game will leave its mark in the annals of 2008's gaming history, but said analysts might be able to provide a better estimate over just how big that mark could get.

For example, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter explains to GameSpot that Take-Two stands to sell at least 4 million copies of the game (for both console platforms) during its first week alone, growing to 6 million by its fourth week in the market.  While Pachter believes the Xbox 360 edition of GTA IV will outsell the PS3 release by a "three-to-two" ratio, sales between the two versions should be more evenly split come December.

By the end of December 2008, Pachter predicts sales for GTA IV could well hit 11 to 13 million units.  After its first year, sales should slow somewhat, making for an overall "lifetime" sales number of 16 to 19 million units.  This will actually be a little lower than the 21.5 million unit lifetime-to-date sales garnered by GTA: San Andreas.  Time will tell, naturally!

Take-Two itself is confident GTA IV sales will beat all these expectations, and then some.  The publisher appears to be betting on first week sales figures of $400 million USD, or about 6 million copies of GTA IV sold.  This is already being compared to Halo 3's stellar launch week revenue of around $300 million USD through selling 5 million units.

What records will Rockstar's latest break?

The gaming industry will not be the only eyes watching tommorow's hotly anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Guinness World Records, already records is sharp enough to realize that the latest addition to Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive's action-adventure game series is bound to shatter at least sales records. What new milestones will GTA IV hit?

The official website for the Gamer's Edition of Guinness World Records provides a handy summary of the accolades the organization has already bestowed upon the franchise:

• First Full "Sandbox" Action-Adventure - GTA III
• Biggest Selling Game of 2001 - GTA III
• Biggest Selling Game of 2002 - GTA: Vice City
• Best-selling Playstation 2 game of all time - GTA: Vice City
• Best-selling PSP game of all time - GTA: Liberty City Stories
• Largest in-game soundtrack - GTA: San Andreas
• Largest Voice Cast in a video game - GTA: San Andreas
• Most Guest Stars In A Video Game Series - Grand Theft Auto Franchise

Should exclusives be troubling to readers?

Speaking of suspected illegitimate game coverage, Variety's Ben Fritz had something to say about IGN's recent exclusive first review of Grand Theft Auto IV. While quite distinctly giving the benefit of the doubt, he asks this:

"I'm not saying that "GTA IV" doesn't deserve a 10, or "Mass Effect" its 9.75. But how can we trust a videogame review when the outlet running it has been given a major commercial favor -- one that's worth money -- from the publisher of the game? You never see a paper or TV station getting special access from a movie studio or TV network or book publisher to run an "exclusive review." Imagine the L.A. Times or Roger Ebert touting their "exclusive review of 'Iron Man.'" Absurd, right? So why do we tolerate it for a videogame?"

It's an entirely legitimate point, and for the sake of fairness in the industry, there's really no reason one publication should be granted access to a game earlier than any other. Though an even earlier review was removed courtesy of Rockstar, it's still somewhat suspicious.

Fritz says in the name of striving for this fairness, "any self-respecting publication with a "Grand Theft Auto IV" review ready should be running it now" (so as to defy the agreement between company and publication).

In all honesty, I find it more than just a little disheartening something as seemingly innocent as gaming can't even remain uncorrupted. It's games, people. Games. You know, those things you'd pop in the plastic box thing hooked up to your TV as a child and play for hours on a Saturday morning? Those were the good days. Now we have multi-million dollar budgets, retailers and developers dying left and right, companies buying out coverage and media outlets gladly happy to accept. Oh video game industry, where did you go wrong?

All I have to say is, thank gosh for Metacritic, where probably only 50% of the reviews are tainted.

Not quite a PS3 slim, but getting there

For those who haven't bought a Playstation 3 yet but are planning to, there's some good news for you: this new third generation of models will be lighter, smaller, more efficient  and hopefully priced lower thanks to some work by Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd.

In the first to second generation switch, Furukawa replaced the Cell produced in 90nm process technology with one produced in 65nm; this effectively reduced the cost and power consumption of the machine. This sort of trend will continue with the third generation - replacing and rehauling until the PS3 is as good as it can be. Of course, it kind of makes you wonder why they didn't make it this efficient in the first place, but what can ya do.

The company showed off the new model at Techno-Frontier 2008, which features an additional heatsink (one for the "Cell" microprocessor, one for the graphics LSI "RSX") and the elimination of some (evidently) unneccessary wiring. Copper heat pipes were used in the first two generations (five in the first, two in the second), but this time they'll be gutted altogether. Apparently they just don't need 'em, as the heat-radiation performance is entirely adequate without the pipes.

More than 20 components were used for the sinks in the first gen and half that in the second, this resulted in a 700 and 500g weight for the components in each case, respectively. This time we'll see a mere three, a fin and pin made by aluminum and a thick aluminum plate used as a substrate, so they'll amount to 350g total.

..called Haze

Didn't think video games could inspire songs? Me either, really. Korn feel different, as they've recorded a new song in light of the upcoming PS3 FPS release, courtesy of publisher Ubisoft. The title? Haze.

The video, a live performance spliced with some in-game footage can be seen here:

While I'm thinking it's maybe more likely the money offered by Ubisoft inspired the song, whatever, it's pretty cool to see music and games together, right? I know for sure singer Jonathan Davis is a big gamer himself, and it's always nice to see musicians, comedians and whoever else proudly stating their love for the hobby.

The mix of the song and game here seems decent at worst. Personally I think Nine Inch Nails did it much better with the Quake theme back in the day (listen here), and that commercial for..F.E.A.R. I think it was featured "The Hand That Feeds." Also very exciting. Generally I'm pretty against artists corroborating their music with advertising - Korn promoted the Adidas clothing line back when by wearing the brand and also playing on it as an acronym with the single 'A.D.I.D.A.S.' - but for some reason music goes with movies and games like wine and cheese (maybe milk and chocolate is a better example). I guess it's pretty cool to see music getting more exposure through games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero too; while my cynical side says it cheapens the tunes, the rest of me says 'who cares how the music gets out there?' And it does add another dimension of fun to it, and I can't complain about fun.

The plot of Haze has a 'serious' tone, addressing issues such as oppression and drugs (not always an issue, now). The plot moves over three days in which players take the role of Shane Carpenter, a 25 year old Mantel soldier, a group which takes on a guerilla force known as 'The Promised Hand.' On the drug front, 'Nectar'  is a substance administered to soldiers which provides a painless but hallucenogenic state. Carpenter witnesses the effect the drug has on his soldiers and ends up teaming with the rebels. With that in mind, here's an excerpt from the lyrics:

"Walking alone inside my world
Thinking I'm doing the right thing
Destroying all that appears before me
It was all done...in vain"

The tune is now available for purchase online, and on the enhanced CD versions of the latest untitled Korn album, just released a few days ago.

Humans in Burnout? Preposterous!

I'm not as crazy about the Burnout franchise as some other games, but I do know it's a whole lot of asphalt-burning, metal-crunching fun.

Criterion has taken the next step by announcing the addition of motorcycles to the game, via an update this August.  The update has been codenamed "Davis" (don't ask, I have no idea why).

Motorcycles will get their own modes and challenges, along with maps to better suit the smaller, two-wheeled vehicles.  No telling how these bike crashes will look in slow motion Showtime mode, though the good people at Joystiq are hoping to see some flailing rag dolls.

Then again, who doesn't love rag doll physics?  Hilarity ensues!

On top of motorcycle racing (crashing, and burning), the August update will also be introducing night time driving.  I can only imagine the visibility issues with this one, but it'd be great if they let you use high beams to blind the hell out of an opponent.

Next-gen home video can't rest on its laurels just yet, even with the fading of HD-DVD as competitor

Sony's Blu-ray is already gaining serious traction since Toshiba exited the next-gen optical disc format battleground through abandoning HD-DVD development. According to analyst groups cited by Reuters, 3.8 million of the 4.9 million high-def ("next-gen") DVDs sold during the first quarter of 2008 were Blu-ray format. While this further cements Blu-ray as the next-gen media of choice for movies, such figures are still not enough to make up lagging sales of "standard" DVD movies, sales of which may have peaked two years ago.

In other words, declining DVD revenue is keeping the North American home video market down, and Blu-ray sales haven't yet reached the level needed to turn the tide. Analysts feel consumers are still holding out on making the big jump to Blu-ray in general, being plenty comfortable with the current DVD format as it is. Another part of the issue is the prevalence of the PlayStation 3 as the Blu-ray player of choice. This means studios distributing movies on Blu-ray will be largely looking at the PS3 install base for sales and it's still a relatively small one, despite the lower pricing of the console compared to standalone Blu-ray players.

In fact, said analysts believe Blu-ray as a medium will only really start picking up once the standalone Blu-ray players themselves start getting some serious price cuts. It's interesting to see that for all the benefits the PS3 has with built-in Blu-ray capabilities (complete with upgradable firmware via PSN!), analysts feel the general public still regards the console as a "games" machine. Well, that certainly isn't going to make anyone who got a PS3 primarily for Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV flinch!

...since the vast majority of Blu-ray players are in homes because Sony has embedded them into the PlayStation 3 video game consoles, many consumers don't seem to care that they even have a Blu-ray player.

Until stand-alone Blu-ray players -- the cheapest is about $370 -- fall to below $200, Americans en masse won't adopt the new technology, experts predict. [Bernstein Research analyst Michael Nathanson] predicts in a recent 27-page report that that won't happen until the end of 2009.

Sony releases promo video on what game testing is all about

So you're sick of flipping burgers, eh? You'd rather play video games all day, you say? Well, you know, most of us have to get jobs and live and stuff, so maybe game testing could be a nice happy middleground for you. Sony recently released a promotional video on the business of testing games. From some fairly extensive research, it's not the job for everyone, but perhaps it's the job for you (yeesh, I sound like a recruitment officer).

For the particularly cynical, the video isn't exactly corporate dribble: one of the testers outright says "I don't think a sane person would do this." So, now you know what to say in the interview!

The job essentially involves triggering every possible bit of programming contained within a game in its development cycle at that particular point in time and reporting all found bugs. So, Sony drops a game in the works in your lap, you play through every level, hitting all kinds of button combinations, doing every possible attack or move there is, getting every item, etc. and you report what doesn't work as it should. Maybe it doesn't sound too bad, but I've heard some real stories about the ardorous nature of the job; some find it to be not at all what they expected. In either case, the good news is a fairly high percentage of people in other parts of the industry (development and design, for example) start off as testers. So, if you're willing to stick it out awhile, you can make your way out of the trench of game testing and into something like tip writing (which involves actually game playing) or game design and/or production. Most of the testers in the video (who really come in all varities) say they love their job, though some note the level of challenge, but also the reward.

So, who's up for working for Sony? Nintendo? Microsoft? The second and third-party companies need people too, of course. Get crackin'!

Sony has good intentions

Delays are something gamers are pretty much used to in the industry, so it's probably not exactly heartwrenching to find out PlayStation Home will be delayed a third time.

Home is intended to function as Sony's own "virtual world", a place where users can hang out, interact, play arcade games, find DLC. Stuff like that. Users get their own virtual apartments, accessories, electronics, etc., so basically it's a virtual representation of a user's life.

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Regarding the delay, Kazuo Hirai, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said in a statement they need more time:

“We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer [for PlayStation Home], but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today."

"Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on PlayStation Home. Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition."

This autumn, the beta will become open. Not too many details revealed, but the company says it will be “built around providing new and fun community gaming experiences, such as connecting PlayStation games with Home and providing places and items from the games.”

Will it be worth the wait? The system has been on the market for a significant amount of time, and it seems reasonable to wonder if this sort of thing is still worthwhile to put out (about two years after the launch). Financially, it will probably be successful and open up a lot of doors in a lot of different ways, now and for the future, in any case, and that can only be good, right? The other thing is that the console marketplace has changed this generation; no longer do we get pretty much a final product right out of the box, now there are downloadable developments, upgrades and content. Will this extend the life of consoles, due in part to this and rising development costs?

New game gets a new name

Unintentional rhymes aside, Silent Hill V will no longer be known as such.  Instead, it has been dubbed Silent Hill: Homecoming.

It's somewhat appropriate, considering the franchise is getting a fresh start with a new developer, The Collective.  The American game development company has brought us"classic" titles such as Buffy the Slayer (2002), Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), and Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (2006).  Apparently, they cancelled Dirty Harry to make Silent Hill V-er.. I mean Homecoming.

The game features a new protagonist as well.  The story follows Alex Shepherd, who is returning to his hometown in search of his brother.  An investigation of his brother's mysterious disappearance inevitably takes him to Silent Hill, also known as the happiest place on Earth.

Does anyone else feel really uncomfortable about all of this?  Anyone who really knows me can tell you I'm an SH fanatic, I mean, Pyramid Head and Henry Townshend?  What a couple of lookers.  Can The Collective really live up to Team Silent's legacy?  I am praying that they do.

On a more relevant note, Silent Hill: Homecoming will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 in Europe toward the end of September.  Most are assuming that North America will be seeing its release around the same time.

"That's a low blow, Snake."

Been looking forward to the Metal Gear Online beta? 

Yes?

Too bad.

Konami announced that the US public beta will be delayed due to service problems caused by "extraordinary levels of traffic from all around the globe."

Technically good news for Konami as an indicator of Metal Gear's popularity, but you'd think that they would've anticipated and prepared for this event a little better.  Am I the only one having flashbacks of Xbox LIVE and its holiday failures?

The beta became available for download on April 16 and was scheduled to open today; at least the end date has been pushed back from May 6 to May 11. In Japan, it was open to only 3,000 players between August and September of 2007.

For those who have absolutely no idea, Metal Gear Online is an upcoming spin-off of Konami's Metal Gear series.  While it was originally announced as a stand-alone product, MGO will be released as a part of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.  An online manual is available on Konami's website.

By the way, those of you who immediately remembered which game that quote was from, who said it, and when it was uttered have my everlasting approval.

UPDATE: GameSpot reported that Konami will be releasing more details later today, April 22, at 11:00pm PST regarding this set back.

Built from the ground up, Sonic Team has some interesting features in store

Official Nintendo Magazine detailed the latest facts about the upcoming multiplatform Sonic Unleashed in their latest issue, thanks to an interview from lead designer Yoshihisa Hashimoto.

First off, it was originally going to be the third title in the Sonic Adventure sub-series, but was since canned in favour of an all-new title built from scratch. This was done with the goal in mind of offering a completely new take on Sonic (there's still hope yet!).

According to Cubed3, the storyline is such that the seven Chaos Emeralds are misused by Dr. Robotnik (Eggman, if you prefer) and "something changes inside Sonic's body" (can't say I'm looking forward to the story). The plot will also see our hero travelling around the world. Sonic in Tokyo? Let's hope so. The environments will feature dynamic changes from day to night and apparently at night gamers will be able to slow down and manipulate objects. Sounds kind of vague, but possibly awesome.

The moves will feature some old, some new. The old includes the beloved "Spin Dash" and homing attacks. The new features something called "quick step" which will allow Sonic to quickly move left or right, and "Sonic Boost", which provides a quick speed boost. "Sonic Dash" is another, but no details have been given. Finally, for the Wii version, the Nunchuk will be used, though we don't know for what as of yet.

Regarding previous reports, looks like Sonic Team has nailed just about everything on Destructoid's checklist for how not to screw up this next title, aside from the new character thing, who is apparently a werewolf, but that can be forgiven, can't it?

Sonic will be unleashed late this year (I just had to go there). For those who haven't seen yet, here's the trailer for the in-game footage: