RPad.TV

NPD Console Sales Figures Top 10 Games of September 2009

NPD Group has issued its console software sales data for September 2009. Did MTV Games prove that all you need is love and a cool Gretsch peripheral? Or did Activision trounce it with the more varied Guitar Hero 5? Do any of you doubt that Halo 3: ODST did some major damage? Was Batman strong enough to take on the entire Marvel Universe? Let’s take a look!

The Beatles Rock Band

Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360): 1,520,000

Wii Sports Resort (Wii): 442,900

Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360): 289,600

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (Nintendo DS): 258,100

The Beatles: Rock Band (Xbox 360): 254,000

Madden NFL 10 (PlayStation 3): 246,500

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (Xbox 360): 236,000

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PlayStation 3): 212,500

Guitar Hero 5 (Xbox 360): 210,800

The Beatles: Rock Band (Wii): 208,600

I’m relieved that The Beatles: Rock Band did better than Guitar Hero 5. I don’t have anything against GH5, but I needed to know that America had the good taste to support The Beatles. I’m a little bummed that Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 didn’t perform better, but I’m also not surprised. At the end of the day, the chart was dominated by balls (Madden) and guns (Halo). While millions of people are (what I like to call) balls-and-guns gamers, that’s just not my thing. Seriously though, it’s not so much about the genre, but two strongly established brands performing extremely well in September.

What do you think of NPD’s September sales figures? Anything surprise you?

NPD Hardware Sales Figures for September 2009

NPD Group has issued its console hardware sales data for September 2009. How big of a difference did Sony’s PlayStation 3 price cut make? Was Microsoft able to do some damage control? Did the Wii — which still continues to dominate the field — continue its slide? Let’s find out!

Nintendo DS: 524,200
PlayStation 3: 491,800
Wii: 462,800
Xbox 360: 352,600
PSP: 190,400
PlayStation 2: 146,000

Ah, there’s nothing like a price cut to make the console wars more interesting, eh? The $100 price reduction and the introduction of the PS3 Slim helped Sony achieve some nice numbers. It will be interesting to see if it can hang onto the momentum for the rest of 2009. Although the Wii’s pace has cooled off, it’s still selling well and adding to a huge installed base. The Nintendo DS? That portable console has yet to encounter any kryptonite.

What do you guys and dolls make of the September numbers?!? Is this the start of Sony’s big comeback? Or it it just a temporary thing, like some Microsoft executives suggest?

Assassin’s Creed Movies Hitting YouTube on 10/27

Assassins Creed 2

VentureBeat has a great feature on Ubisoft’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed short films that are being used to hype Assassin’s Creed 2 and expand the game’s brand. Taking over the front page of YouTube in eight countries on October 27th, the first of three short films is a huge deal. The site reported:

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, created by acclaimed Hollywood special effects studio Hybride Technologies (which Ubisoft acquired last year) and Ubisoft Montreal’s Ubisoft Digital Arts (UDA), will make its global debut on Oct. 27 on the front page of YouTube in eight countries.

The movies, which total about 38 minutes in length, feature live actors working in front of green screens. The same actors did voice work on Assassin’s Creed II. Their faces were digitzed and used in the game. The films tee up game, which takes place in Florence and Venice during the Italian Renaissance.

While the movies were expensive to make, they can help transform Assassin’s Creed into a mainstream franchise instead of one that’s revered only by gamers. While it remains to be seen if AC will get that kind of crossover appeal, Ubi is doing everything in its power to make it so. With the Prince of Persia movie already in production, it would be remarkable if Ubi could add another mainstream feather to its cap.

Continue reading “Assassin’s Creed Movies Hitting YouTube on 10/27”

EA Sports President Peter More Talks Digital Distribution and Death

EA Sports’ Peter Moore has always been one of my favorite gaming executives. He’s smart, fun, and extremely quotable. In a recent interview with IGN, Moore laid the smack down on physical media and talked up digital distribution. He said:

I’d say the core business model of video games is a burning platform. Absolutely. We all recognize that, and we’ll recognize it 10 years from now when we tell our grandkids. We’ll tell them we used to drive to the store to get shiny discs that have bits and bites on them and we’d place them in this thing called a “disc tray,” and it’d whirl around…and they’ll go “What?”

I love this analogy, simply because I’ve been dreaming about telling my unborn children all about eight-track tapes. Moore’s example of telling grandchildren about physical discs is sort of the same thing. He doesn’t stop there though! Moore gets a bit more macabre by talking about physical media and digital distribution in terms of death:

Continue reading “EA Sports President Peter More Talks Digital Distribution and Death”

Michael Pachter Says Xbox Live Going Up to $100

In today’s Coffee Talk, reader RRODisHere pointed out this interesting tidbit from Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter. On an episode of Gametrailer’s Bonus Round, Pachter said:

Microsoft wants you to never play a game again on your PC and play everything on your 360.

You really want to hook every gamer who has a 360, you want them to buy all their games on 360, play everything multiplayer, pay you 50 bucks a year so that, in a couple years, it’s a 100 bucks a year. That’s going up — we all know that. It’s a profit deal.

While it’s normal for prices to go up, this is one case where it might be a tough sell. There’s no doubt that Microsoft offers the best online console gaming experience with Xbox Live. It’s so good that the company justifies charging its customers $50 a year to use the service. That said, Sony’s PlayStation Network is getting better and better all the time. If both services continue to improve and Sony’s continues to be free, it will be difficult for Microsoft to raise the price of online admission to $100.

Then again, I could be totally wrong. I’ll ask you what RROD asked earlier — would you pay $100 for Xbox Live? I don’t think I would. The service is good, but not $100 good. Hit the break for the full video.

Continue reading “Michael Pachter Says Xbox Live Going Up to $100”

This Week’s Videogame Releases

While it’s not as big as last week — with Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2 leading the way — there are some significant titles shipping this Tuesday. The two biggest games on the list are Borderlands and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 (which will likely go down in history as having the best writing in any videogame made by man). Here are this week’s PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS releases…along with some brief commentary. I’ve taken out most of the garbage and kids games (unless I found them funny).

Are you picking up any of this week’s releases? If so, leave a comment and let me know which ones.

Smackdown vs Raw 2010 a

PlayStation 3
Bakugan
Borderlands — Super looking forward to this one. It looks stylish and smart, but I’m not sure how well it will sell. I’m hoping the best for Gearbox though.
FIFA Soccer 2010
Madagascar Kartz
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 — The Mickie James storyline is one of the most heart-wrenching experience you’ll ever find in a videogame.

Continue reading “This Week’s Videogame Releases”

Coffee Talk #6: What’s Your Dream Game?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the Anaheim Angels forgetting how to play baseball, fun with Google Wave, or how you’re going to utterly conquer this week, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Drizzt 2 Is there a movie, comic book, or novel that you think would make a fantastic game? I’m sure there is. All of us have “dream games” that have yet to be made. Some of our visions are outlandish and unrealistic. Others seem so obvious that it’s dumbfounding as to why they haven’t been made.

One of my dream games has been teased, but never fully delivered. I want to play an action-adventure as Drizzt Do’Urden from R.A. Salvatore’s novels. Drizzt has made cameos in Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, and Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone. You could play as him in the Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance series, but he was merely a bonus character set in an adventure that had nothing to do with his storied exploits.

I want the full-on Drizzt treatment. I want an adventure that takes advantage of his history in Menzoberranzan and his adventures with the Companions of the Hall. I want cameos by Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri. I want dynamic action that’s full of twirling scimitars and impossible acrobatics. Just for the hell of it, I want a “dog button” like the one in Dead to Rights, but instead of some lame-ass canine, Drizzt’s magical panther, Guenhwyvar, appears.

RPad.tv reader Ieyke recently wrote about one of the games he wishes for, saying, “Assassin’s Creed+MGS4-guns-white robes=awesome stealthy ninja.” Let’s use his formula to talk about our dream games. I guess mine would be:

Drizzt Do’Urden + Prince of Persia – Gimmicky Time Shifting = Awesome Drow Ranger Action-Adventure.

Using the Ieyke formula, tell me about your dream game. (Hit the break for some inspirational music that will help you write about your dreams.)

Continue reading “Coffee Talk #6: What’s Your Dream Game?”

Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver Soundtrack Details

Pokemon Heart Gold Soul Silver soundtrack

Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver for Nintendo DS are destined to be enormous hits, but just in case that isn’t enough for Pokefreaks around the world, the games are getting an excellent soundtrack treatment. According to Andrisang:

Announced earlier this week, the Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver Music Super Complete soundtrack contains 3 CDs with 270 tracks totaling around 3 hours of music. Outside of the game’s main music tracks, the soundtrack also includes the Pokemon Gold and Silver music as recreated via the in-game GB Player.

Yeah, I’m definitely going to have to pick this up on my next trip to Japan. It’s too good.

Source

Boy Genius Report Gets Down and Dirty with Verizon’s Motorola Droid

Motorola Droid BGR

The boys (and presumably no girls) at Boy Genius Report have gotten their hands on Verizon’s Motorola Droid…and it looks awfully impressive. I’ve been waiting for a Google Android phone with a better CPU and the Droid deliver that (and more!). It looks like the best Android phone to date. BGR noted:

It’s running Android 2.0. Duh.

It’s thin. Just slightly thicker than an iPhone 3GS and the thinnest QWERTY-slider we’ve ever seen.

It is the fastest Android device we’ve ever used. (It’s running a TI OMAP3430 processor)

Awesome capacitive display. Plus it’s huge. Easily the best screen we’ve ever seen on an Android handset, and an amazing screen overall.

Have we mentioned this phone flies? It’s the Android device to beat, and easily the most impressive. From what we’ve been told, Google had a direct hand in the Motorola Droid. Something to the point of almost dictating every move Motorola made when designing and making the phone. Interesting, huh?

All of this sounds awesome on paper. I can’t wait to get my hands on the Droid so I can see for myself!

Source

Housekeeping Sunday

Ah, it’s Sunday — while most of my pals are watching NFL games, I’m still coming down from last night’s amazing win by the NY Yankees and figuring out ways to increase site traffic. Since Sunday is a fresh start, I wanted to go over some housekeeping items and give you some factoids on RPad.tv’s first week.

– I was genuinely surprised by the traffic and the amount of comments — like really, truly surprised. Big thanks to everyone that visited and supported the site in the last week. It’s not yet something I can make a living with yet, but with your continued support, some steady growth, and a bit of good luck, who knows?!? For now, I wanted to make sure y’all know how grateful I am for your visits.

– Don’t forget to register with Gravatar if you want to use custom icons for the site. Here are more detailed instructions.

– Anyone have any recommendations for an all-in-one printer? My priorities are printing documents and scanning, but I’d like to print photos every now and then too. Right now I’m looking at the Canon MP980 and the Epson NX515, but I haven’t done a ton of research yet.

Continue reading “Housekeeping Sunday”