Games Industry Wire

Video game data firm Games Tracker which collects and distributes information on the gaming industry is trying to find the source of a leak that sent data into the wild that was supposed to be kept quiet. The data shows that the Wii is outselling the PS3 by a pretty big margin. Here’s part of a writeup by Kikizo about the data:
“Earlier this week numbers landed online that showed the PlayStation 3 being outsold by the Wii by around 50 per cent. After selling 165,000 units at launch, ensuing weeks have seen weekly PS3 sales drop first to 34,000 and …read more

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Yep, we were let down by the gaming hype yet again as Island of Rhodes turned out to just be a site where developers of God of War II could post videos about the game. So much for an announcement.
The site features videos from the games director Cory Barlog as well as other designers, animators, and artists. And that’s it. Feel free to check it out but it’s a pretty empty site. I am so glad I didn’t stay up to see what it was about.

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The God of War countdown at IslandofRhodes.com will come to an end tonight at midnight eastern. The countdown does not have anything to do with the PSP version of the game but speculation abounds that it may be an announcement on God of War II, already released for the PS2, or an announcement about a PS3 version of the game. That, or something completely different. No matter what the announcement is I’ll cover it here tomorrow.
Tags: playstation, sony, god of war, god of war 2

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This week Sony released a new PSP firmware update, the first in 2 months, that adds some new functionality to the portable console. Here’s the features the update includes:

Thumbnail image support for items and videos
MPEG-4 support for 720X480, 352X480, and 480X272 video sizes
“Use Wireless Hotspot” feature added

Not too many major changes but the added video formats are very much welcome. The wireless hotspot feature was added to coincide with a partnership between  T-Mobile and Sony where PSP users will have free access to T-Mobile hotspots for 6 months.  Some notable places  with T-Mobile hotspots include Starbucks, Borders, and airports.

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Just hours after I posted the potential for an 80gb PS3 model, Sony has released a statement on the filing which I found via Kotaku:
“As mentioned when we made the product announcement for PS3, the system will have different configurations (thus, 60GB HDD with memory card slots and Wi-Fi and 20GB HDD without memory card slots or Wi-Fi both exists). Application to the FCC has been made with various possibilities in mind, however, it does not lead to a new product announcement at this time.”
In my eyes no outright denial is almost always a sign of things to come.

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A recent filing with the FCC indicates that Sony way be toying with the idea of a bigger (and more costly) PlayStation 3 console. Kotaku reports on the news that this could be an upgrade to the existing 60gb or 20gb models or that it may in fact become the new low end model if Sony opts for a larger (250gb?!?!) model. Anyways here’s a screenshot of the filing from Kotaku (the important stuff is towards the bottom):

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Analysts have been going on the record over the past few weeks suggesting that Sony needs to drop their price for the PS3 and it looks by all accounts they’ve listed. Recent reports suggest that Sony will be dropping the PS3’s price by $100 this October just in time for the holiday season.
While I applaud this decision and think it is a step in the right direction I still think it is way over priced for what it has to offer my gaming style and I know I would much rather have a Wii and and Xbox 360 than a …read more

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Japan has very different sales trends often times than North America or Europe which makes them all the more interesting to look at. japan has a marked slant towards both Nintendo products as well as handhelds. Here’s the numbers for Japan from March 12th-18th courtesy of Joystiq:
- DS Lite: 121,471 12,959 (11.94%)
- Wii: 67,070 22,575 (50.74%)
- PSP: 43,769 12,406 (22.08%)
- PS3: 21,635 10,480 (32.63%)
- PS2: 13,321 1,264 (8.67%)
- Xbox 360: 2,910 423 (12.69%)
- Game Boy Micro: 727 85 (10.47%)
- GBA SP: 557 122 (17.97%)
- Gamecube: 367 127 (52.92%)
- DS (Original): 159 …read more

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With God of War yet to make the jump to PS3 some news is coming out on what the future holds for the popular series. Here’s a condensed version of what Joystiq had to say:

Much of the rumors surrounded the series upcoming PSP title. The game will not be a port and will have its own unique storyline from either of the first 2 games, both for PS2.
The PSP game may have PS2 or PS3 connectivity but it hasn’t been announced either way to this point
The speculated but not-yet-announced God of War 3 for PS3 will include vibration, motion, and …read more

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After rumoms about the PSP went from redesign, to no redesign, to redesign again we held off reporting the news until we knew what what was happening. Kotaku is now reporting that a PSP2 will be coming. E3 is being guessed as the location for the announcement of the redesigned console which is said to boast such features as:

An improved screen
Faster load times
Improved buttons
8GB of internal flash memory
Possible touch-screen and camera

I think this redesign will make the PSP more attractive. The DS redesign transformed the DS from the lump of silver plastic I currently own into a hugely popular and …read more

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