NPD Hardware Sales Figures for February 2010

NPD Group released its console sales data for February 2010 while I was at GDC. The numbers are pretty interesting. Check ’em out!

  • Nintendo DS: 613,200
  • Xbox 360: 422,000
  • Wii: 397,900
  • PlayStation 3: 360,100
  • PlayStation Portable: 133,400
  • PlayStation 2: 101,900

The continued onslaught of the Nintendo DS shouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s a great portable console with tons of games and a huge March release (Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver). I was a little surprised to see that the Xbox 360 beat out the Wii; logically there are more interesting games for the 360 in Q1 and the Wii has to slow down some time (right?), but Nintendo’s systems have been defying logic for quite some time. Sony continues to lag behind Microsoft in 2010, which is bad news if the company hopes to close the gap this year. That said, March should be more interesting for the PS3, with a number of excellent first-party games and the real version of Final Fantasy XIII.

Now unleash your Pach Attack and go after the numbers as if you were a very tall gaming analyst. I can’t wait to hear your analysis of NPD Group’s sales figures!

Coffee Talk #104: Is EyePet the Key to Sony’s Future in Motion?

Sony has been getting mixed reactions on its GDC 2010 press conference for PlayStation Move. Some writers and gamers are greatly intrigued by Move’s fidelity and tremendous creative possibilities. Some are dismissing it as “stupid Wii games…in HD”. Developers will determine the immediate future of PlayStation Move, but there’s one product that could shape Sony’s motion-control future for decades — EyePet.

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, tonight’s IGDA awards at GDC 2010, Buddha Bar in San Francisco Chinatown, or Sting’s shoulder injury, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Sony has been getting mixed reactions on its GDC 2010 press conference for PlayStation Move. Some writers and gamers are greatly intrigued by Move’s fidelity and tremendous creative possibilities. Some are dismissing it as “stupid Wii games…in HD”. Developers will determine the immediate future of PlayStation Move, but there’s one product that could shape Sony’s motion-control future for decades — EyePet.

EyePet is already a success in Europe and I think it’ll be huge in North America. During yesterday’s Sony presser I tweeted that EyePet could be Sony’s Pokemon. While I doubt it will have the ridiculous success of Pikachu and friends, I do think it has a chance to be a hugely popular fad in its own right. More importantly, with PlayStation Move integration, there’s a chance that million of kids will use PlayStation Move with EyePet and get used to playing games that way.

Gamers like you and me were brought up on gamepads. Sure, there are more buttons these days, analog sticks have been added, and they rumble to match the onscreen action, but the basic concept has been the same for decades. Most gamers are used to playing with a gamepad and are uncomfortable with anything else. With EyePet, a whole generation of gamers will start their gaming lives with PlayStation Move. As they get older, they’ll adapt to future motion-control products. The same way you’re used to a gamepad, they’ll be used to motion devices.

Of course that’s just my theory. Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you think EyePet will help condition young gamers to motion controls? Or do you think it’ll just be an insignificant drop in the bucket?

GDC 2010 Pictures: Sony PlayStation Move Press Conference

Here are a bunch of photos from Sony’s Game Developers Conference 2010 presser on the PlayStation Move. Check out oodles of shots from the presentation and a few from the open demo area. There’s also a shot of the funky dancer chicks that appeared when the event transitioned into a God of War III launch party. Hmmm…what’s up with GDC 2010 and all the exotic dancers?!?

GDC 2010 Pictures: Pole Dancers at Activision’s True Crime Party

GDC was pretty interesting last night. I thought it was just going to be coffee, friend chatting, and sleep. Instead, this hottie producer from the Bioshock team took me out to a fancy dinner. Chris Taylor and Kellyn Beeck from Gas Powered Games were at the same restaurant and we caught up with them after an excellent meal. I remembered that I promised my friend at Activision that I’d stop by her party, so Sugar Mama and I left the excellent GPG people to check out the True Crime event. I was expecting the flowing libations, but I was surprised that there were pole dancers at the event. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure.

EA Signs 38 Studios’ (Curt Schilling) First Game, Project Mercury

Electronic Arts has announced that it has partnered with Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios to publish Project Mercury for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Here’s a clip from the press release:

Electronic Arts Inc. today announced an agreement with 38 Studios, LLC to publish the company’s first video game, an epic single-player role-playing game codenamed Project Mercury. 38 Studios is the creative enterprise of World Series MVP and avid gamer Curt Schilling. Project Mercury is being developed at Big Huge Games, a wholly-owned subsidiary of 38 Studios, under the leadership of Ken Rolston, former lead designer of the critically acclaimed hits, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The game marks the first entry into the company’s vast universe created by New York Times best-selling fantasy author R. A. Salvatore, with artistic direction by Todd McFarlane, renowned artist and creator of Spawn.

The game has a chance to be huge for the business. Rolston will bring the quality that he’s known for, but it’s the other creators that will get mainstream press for Project Mercury. Obviously Schilling is known for being one of the best pitchers in MLB history, R.A. Salvatore has millions of fans from his fantasy novels (Drizz’t rules!), and McFarlane buys really expensive baseballs (okay, he makes cool comics and toys too). I’m definitely interested in the game, but I’m more interested to see how mainstream outlets cover it.

What do you think of Project Mercury’s dream team?

Final Fantasy XIII Launch Party: The Search for Reona Rewis

As promised, here are some photos from Square Enix’s launch event for Final Fantasy XIII. The company took advantage of the GDC setting by having numerous high-profile developers in attendance. People like Tim Schafer (Double Fine), Corrinne Yu (Microsoft’s Halo Team), Mark Cerny (Cerny Games), Yoshinori Ono (Capcom), and Chris Taylor (Gas Powered Games) were in the house. The venue was super cool, decked out in all sorts of FFXIII decorations. Naturally, my mission was to find Leona Lewis, aka Reona Rewis singer of the FFXIII theme song “My Hands”. Here’s what I saw.

I got to the party late, due to a short flight delay. Reona Rewis was not at the entrance.

Just in case you forgot what company was throwing the party and which game it was for, Square Enix had these handy reminders.

Here’s some cool FFXIII art and a poster autographed by the development team.

I still couldn’t find Reona Rewis, but Shacknews‘ Garnett Lee is always fun to hang with.

Danny Masterson from That ’70s Show was spinning. I had to ask a friend, “Who the hell is Danny Masterson?”

The excellent Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, is always fun to catch up with.

To the window…to the wall, the venue was decked out in cool FFXIII decorations.

I want to play games on a large screen with a DJ spinning and two girls dancing in front of it.

The girl on the left was definitely getting funky. I reviewed her — 8/10.

Still no Reona Rewis, but I found 1Up’s Alice Liang and 343’s David Ellis.

I decided to head to the VIP area. Maybe Reona was hanging out there.

VIPs got to play the game too.

1Up’s Sam Kennedy was hanging out with a woman that might have been Reona Rewis.

The chick had a L’Cie tattoo on her leg…as opposed to “My Hands”. *snicker*


PlayStation Arc to Have Nunchuk Accessory?

NeoGAF poster “ichinisan” claims to have seen Sony’s motion controller, known as the PlayStation Arc, and revealed that the device has a nunchuk-like add-on. Sony is holding a presentation on Wednesday during Game Developers Conference 2010 and all signs point to the company focusing on the PlayStation Arc during the presser. With that in mind, it’s possible that ichinisan has seen a pre-production model. Here’s what he/she had to say:

Nunchuck has an analog stick at the front, below that X and O and below that a D pad. Underneath is L1 and L2. Its actually long, not like the Wii Nunchuk.

As for the Wand it has one very big button on top and then all four facebuttons (X,O,Square and Triangle) and underneath is a big trigger called T.

I’m guess the doubling up of X and O across the two is to keep full compatibility with single Wand set-ups.

The description sounds totally plausible. Assuming that it’s accurate, what do you think of the Arc’s setup? Are you more or less interested in it after hearing about its (rumored) control scheme?

Source via VG247

Final Fantasy XIII Mega-Post!!!

With Final Fantasy XIII being released this week, I thought it would be nice to collect all the videos and stories on the game in one mega-post. For your convenience and entertainment, here they are!

Final Fantasy XIII Announcement Video (the one with the massive tool)

Final Fantasy XIII trailer with English voice actors

Leona Lewis (aka Reona Rewis) plays Final Fantasy XIII

Wired.com’s Chris Kohler Talks Final Fantasy XIII


Blog Posts

FFXIII graphics comparison

Poll: Which version of FFXIII are you buying?

Coffee Talk: What’s your favorite Final Fantasy game?

20 FFXIII screens

FFXIII Xbox 360 limited edition bundle details

FFXIII special edition details

Read FFXIII Zero Promise in English

13 FFXIII screens

FFXIII Japanese television commercial

FFXIII soundtrack sampler

Yoshitaka Amano’s take on FFXIII

Coffee Talk: Create your own videogame beverage

FFXIII Suntory beverage commercial

Mega 64 makes fun of the FFXIII launch date announcement

FFXIII North American box art revealed

How weapons level up in FFXIII

FFXIII Crystallium system explained

FFXIII gestalt mode: Bahamut and Brynhildr

This Week’s Videogame Releases

Final Fantasy XIII is obviously the big deal this week, but there are actually quite a few interesting games that you should keep your eye on. Also coming out for PlayStation and Xbox 360 is Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition. The PS3 returns to the Japanese underworld in Yakuza 3. On the other end of the spectrum is the lighthearted Sam & Max 2: Beyond Time and Space for Wii.

The handheld systems have some cool things going on too. The DS has Foto Showdown (the game with these awesome promo videos) and Spectral Force Genesis. The PSP has BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger.

As always, let your fellow RPadholics and me know if you’re picking up any new games this week!

Will Future Sony Demos Degrade Over Time?

Sony has filed an interesting patent for software that will cause game demos to lose functionality over time. Siliconera reported:

Sony appears to be working on a new kind of video game demo. A patent filed by SCEA details a system that gives users a full or nearly complete game to play with, but slowly removes features until you buy it.

The software has customizable triggers that disable features after a set number of plays or lapsed play time. Let’s see some theoretical examples of how this could work.

The good news is that gamers will get try more of a game before they make a purchasing decision. The bad news is that the practice is a little evil. The first thing that I thought was, “Great! Sony is following the crack-cocaine model. The first time is free!” Seriously though, depending on how it’s used, the software could be fantastic or it could piss of millions of gamers. I can’t wait to see it in practice.

What do you think? It this kind of software smart of evil? Clever or devious?

Source via Gamasutra