July console sales numbers......

[Arles]

Originally Posted by Deattribution

I think a certain amount of damage is already done with potential customers concerning the RROD - who *really* wants to send off their 360? Nobody. What happens after your 3 year warranty is up? Is your system on it's last legs then? Some people still have working original ataris and NES', a console with the potential for only a 3-4 year shelf life is not all that enticing.

I don't know. Outside of the PS2 and maybe original Nintendo, I don't think I got more than 3-4 years of use out of any other console (PS1, XBox, SNes, Genesis). I'm not thinking that I will still be using my current XBox360 in 2010. Either I will have a new console all together or there will be a reason for me to pay an extra $300 and get the new version of the console.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Arles

I don't know. Outside of the PS2 and maybe original Nintendo, I don't think I got more than 3-4 years of use out of any other console (PS1, XBox, SNes, Genesis). I'm not thinking that I will still be using my current XBox360 in 2010. Either I will have a new console all together or there will be a reason for me to pay an extra $300 and get the new version of the console.

Yeah, I always thought most people knew (particularly if they bought a launch console) that their console would have a limited life. My launch PS2 died after 2 1/2 years. By that point, I enjoyed the console enough that I bought a new one to replace it which lasted for almost 5 years before it died. I'm sure that whenever my 360 dies (still hasn't given me a single problem in almost 2 years), I'll replace it with one of the newer models and either sell or gift my repaired 360 to someone.

[SackAttack]

Microsoft confirmed that "going forward" the 360 Premium will include an HDMI input (but not, presumably, the cable).

Box'll be stickered, so for folks who need to do an exchange, or who are just picking one up in the first place, if HDMI matters to you, look for the sticker.

[stevew]

The Halo 3 "Game Fuel" flavor of Mountain Dew is pretty good.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

More industry info for today. Looks like EA now has 1/4 of the Ubisoft stock.......

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/811/811468p1.html

Famitsu (Japan) sales numbers are in for the week. Only major change in sales volume was that the PS3 fell back some after the Minna No Golf 5 release. Still selling well above the 10-12K that it had earlier in the year, but it's down from the 38K spike last week.

DSL - 140,000
Wii - 63,000
PSP - 30,000
PS3 - 22,000
PS2 - 15,000
360 - 3,300

1. [Wii] Mario Party 8 - 150,000 (~430,000）
2. [PS2] J League WE - 140,000
3. [PS3] Minna no Golf 5 - 43,000（~220,000）
4. [NDS] Its a Wonderful World - 41,000（~120,000）
5. [Wii] Wii Sports - 27,000 (~1,840,000）
6. [PS2] (5 / 1) Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 14
7. [Wii] (12/ 9) Wii Play (Wii, Nintendo)
8. [NDS] (NEW) Face Training DS (DS, Nintendo)
9. [NDS] (10/ 4) Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS, Nintendo)
10. [NDS] (16/13) New Super Mario Bros. (NDS, Nintendo)

Big rumor being spread around the net is that the "major announcement" that Sony is expected to make in Leipzig involves Rockstar. The rumor is that the GTA franchise will be back to a PS3 exclusive for the next iteration. In addition, Sony may be able to hold onto its claim that they "don't pay for exclusives" by an outright purchase of Rockstar. Unconfirmed rumor at this point that will hopefully be cleared up in 11 days.

If we make the HUGE assumption that this rumor is true for the sake of discussion, what impact would it have on the systems? Obviously, the PS3 would be at a much cheaper price point by 2009. Rockstar has already confirmed they are working on a PS3 exclusive title for '09. Is that the next GTA game or another franchise? Perhaps it could be a sequel to Bully as well.

Also, by 2009, many of the 3 year RROD warranties on the old 360's will run out. There's going to be a lot of people looking to replace the old 360 consoles. Do they pay the repair charge to get their console fixed, do they buy a new 360, or do they switch over to a PS3? My guess is that they buy a new console because I don't think many will see repair as an option unless MS is offering refurbished units without the RROD as a replacement option for an old broken RROD 360. I think that the decisions made by the 5-6 million gamers who will have an old 360 without a warranty at that point could have a big effect on how this console war plays out.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Jaffe's studio confirms first of their three exclusive PS3 games will be out in mid-2008.

http://www.n4g.com/ps3/News-57743.aspx

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Lots of good info for those of you looking to get the new version of the 360......

http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2...day-early.html

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Halo 3 started taking pre-orders today. Over 1 million sold already. MS is expecting 2-3 million preorders. I'm guessing they won't sell out.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've read projections of 4-5 million copies of Halo 3 sold in the first week. That seems incredible. Has any game sold that many copies in the first week?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I've read projections of 4-5 million copies of Halo 3 sold in the first week. That seems incredible. Has any game sold that many copies in the first week?

That game is the common #1 reason that many people had the last Xbox and the reason they have the 360 now. An attach rate of over 50-60% on any console for any game is an amazing feat. Definitely a good cash inflow for MS in the coming weeks. They'll see a huge drop-off in sales shortly after the opening 2-3 weeks just because of the ridiculous amount of people that are going to buy the game right around release.

[spleen1015]

I don't know how it started taking pre-orders today. My son has had a pre-order for the Legendary Edition since March or April.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I don't know how it started taking pre-orders today. My son has had a pre-order for the Legendary Edition since March or April.

Ah, the article was about pre-orders for the Halo 3 console package. My bad.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/09/h...rders-go-live/

That makes the fact that they've pre-sold 1 million games a lot easier to understand.

[Pumpy Tudors]

It feels weird to me to see the impact that the Halo games have had on Xbox/Xbox 360 sames. It feels weird because I'm one of the few Xbox/Xbox 360 owners who's never even played a Halo game. Well, hey, whatever builds the console sales is fine with me. I'm sure there are other people who don't understand why people would stand in line to pick up preorders of NCAA Football or Madden (both of which I've done). I'm just feigning surprise that Halo 3 is such a huge deal that it's getting people to buy a Halo-themed Xbox 360 console. I love NCAA Football, but I wouldn't preorder a University of Memphis console if I could just walk into the store and buy a plain Xbox 360 console off the shelf right now.

Yes, yes, I know "to each his own" and all that. I'm just being silly.

[Kodos]

I've never been a big Halo fan. I tried the first one, but just couldn't get into it.

[MikeVic]

I don't like console FPS period... I can't use a controller to aim and move properly, and I hate split-screen. I understand it's fun, but if I get a 360 sometime in the future, and do get Halo 3... it would be for the 4-player online co-op mode.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

It feels weird to me to see the impact that the Halo games have had on Xbox/Xbox 360 sames. It feels weird because I'm one of the few Xbox/Xbox 360 owners who's never even played a Halo game. Well, hey, whatever builds the console sales is fine with me. I'm sure there are other people who don't understand why people would stand in line to pick up preorders of NCAA Football or Madden (both of which I've done). I'm just feigning surprise that Halo 3 is such a huge deal that it's getting people to buy a Halo-themed Xbox 360 console. I love NCAA Football, but I wouldn't preorder a University of Memphis console if I could just walk into the store and buy a plain Xbox 360 console off the shelf right now.

Yes, yes, I know "to each his own" and all that. I'm just being silly.

Part of that is just the forum that we're in. This is a big sports forum for obvious reasons. I'm sure that the percentage of 360 owners who will get Halo 3 is lower here than in other forums with younger or non-sports gamers.

I don't like console FPS period... I can't use a controller to aim and move properly, and I hate split-screen. I understand it's fun, but if I get a 360 sometime in the future, and do get Halo 3... it would be for the 4-player online co-op mode.

Unreal Tournament 3 on the PS3 allows mouse/keyboard controls. It'll be interesting to see if that's successful or if it's just a blip on the radar and the FPS's on the consoles stay with the controllers.

[terpkristin]

I've always considered myself to be more of a Sony girl (and Nintendo in the handheld market), but I have a 360 right now and not a PS3.

I got into Halo via Red vs. Blue, and bought my 360 mostly for Halo (I never owned the original XBox). I will at some point in the forseeable future be buying a PS3, once there are a few more games out for it that I'd actually want to play...

/tk

[Kodos]

The keyboard and mouse crowd is always very vocal. Me, I can't imagine playing with those. I like playing FPS in my chair with a controller.

[spleen1015]

I've never understood the Halo draw either. It is just another FPS. If you really like Halo, there should be no reason you don't like Metroid Prime. Halo is half the game Metroid Prime is.

[Kodos]

I've never understood the whole Metroid thing either.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I've never understood the Halo draw either. It is just another FPS. If you really like Halo, there should be no reason you don't like Metroid Prime. Halo is half the game Metroid Prime is.

Metroid Prime sucked balls because I had to spend half my time scanning objects and reading text instead of doing things that are fun. I've never understood how that game became so revered, for that simple fact.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Metroid Prime sucked balls because I had to spend half my time scanning objects and reading text instead of doing things that are fun. I've never understood how that game became so revered, for that simple fact.

That aspect of the game wasn't that bad. You weren't doing it that much. It was less than 5% of total playing time.

There's never been an FPS with as many character upgrades that Metroid has.

Grapple Beam. Game over.

[stevew]

http://www.fatwallet.com/redirect/bo...6681939&sr=8-1

$329 for the 360 at amazon.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

That aspect of the game wasn't that bad. You weren't doing it that much. It was less than 5% of total playing time.

There's never been an FPS with as many character upgrades that Metroid has.

Grapple Beam. Game over.

I only played the first level or two, and it felt like I had to use that scan thing almost all the time. It was easily >50% of my time spent in the game. Which is why I never made it past the first couple of levels, it was tedious.

[stevew]

I hated prime, primarily cause the scan sucked so hard. I tried to play it several times, and couldn't get into it.

[Eaglesfan27]

I just saw these sales numbers for NCAA 08 which is one of the better selling titles this year. It makes the projections of 4-5 million sales for Halo 3 in the 1st week even more impressive. I wonder what Madden's sales will look like through the 1st 3 weeks and if the PS3 sales will be as hurt by the 30 FPS as it appears to have been with NCAA:

360
08 = 516,823
07 = 434,091
( + 82,732 )

PS3
08 = 107,173
07 = n/a

CG totals thru the first three weeks
08 = 623,996
07 = 434,091
( +189,905 )


ps2
08 = 258,316
07 = 640,758
( -382,442 )

Xbox
08 = 42,153
07 = 204,348
( -162,195 )

LG totals thru the first three weeks
08 = 300,469
07 = 845,106
( -544,637)

[wade moore]

wow - the drop of 1/2 million sales is huge. I saw something awhile ago about how the overall sales of Madden have been trending down since EA bought the exclusive license, but wow.

[IMetTrentGreen]

I only played the first level or two, and it felt like I had to use that scan thing almost all the time. It was easily >50% of my time spent in the game. Which is why I never made it past the first couple of levels, it was tedious.

ditto

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by wade moore

wow - the drop of 1/2 million sales is huge. I saw something awhile ago about how the overall sales of Madden have been trending down since EA bought the exclusive license, but wow.

Madden '07 was pretty mediocre as well. I'd expect an overall sales drop on that franchise. There were a lot of people who weren't too happy with their last effort. I know a lot of people on this board said they'd be slow to buy it this year until they got more feedback. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those people just never get around to buying it at all or they buy it used.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Madden '07 was pretty mediocre as well. I'd expect an overall sales drop on that franchise. There were a lot of people who weren't too happy with their last effort. I know a lot of people on this board said they'd be slow to buy it this year until they got more feedback. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those people just never get around to buying it at all or they buy it used.

Yeah, I definitely understand the reasons considering this may be year #2 of me not buying it - but I didn't realize it was getting that significant... You have to wonder if EA is regretting that $1billion or whatever it was to the NFL...

[Kodos]

I didn't ever buy Madden 2007, but I will have 2008 on day one. Sadly, I'm already kindof in "maybe in 2009" mode with some of the news about franchise mode. Sounds like Madden will be improved, but not truly great again this year. I can get around franchise problems by controlling all of the teams. Hopefully it's good on the field, and QBs can put a little touch on the ball easier than in NCAA.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I didn't ever buy Madden 2007, but I will have 2008 on day one. Sadly, I'm already kindof in "maybe in 2009" mode with some of the news about franchise mode. Sounds like Madden will be improved, but not truly great again this year. I can get around franchise problems by controlling all of the teams. Hopefully it's good on the field, and QBs can put a little touch on the ball easier than in NCAA.

Where have you seen info on franchise mode? I've been scanning around and haven't seen much at all, yet. One good thing from the early impressions is that it is reportedly easier (just like old Madden games) to throw with touch.

[Kodos]

Oh, just that guy who can't spell. Seemed like he was saying franchise mode is somewhat unimpressive in terms of features.

[terpkristin]

Not really having played Madden or any of the US football games, I can't speak to how true it is, but I think a lot of people are getting sick of spending $60 for more of the same. EA has admitted that over the past couple of years, the game hasn't changed except for roster updates, especially for the newer consoles. I think that's also part of the reason that people are getting annoyed that the servers are coming down. The game doesn't change, they don't want to spend money for new names on the backs of shirts, and now, with the online stuff being taken down for the older games, they are forced to. I see this backfiring quite a bit for EA. I only really play the FIFA games from them, and rarely play online (so far I've been too lazy to set up an XBoxLive account for my 360), but even FIFA is mostly roster updates...

/tk

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

EA has secured the Monopoly franchise. Expect yearly property name updates to come out on all consoles.......

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/10/ea...y-on-monopoly/

[Fidatelo]

I think the decrease in sales is because when Madden transitioned from PS2/XBox to XBox360 it DROPPED a tonne of features. Ususally you pay extra money each year for the new stuff (and updated rosters), but buying Madden 07 for the 360 was paying money to go back about 5 years (from a features standpoint). Sure, the graphics looked better, but that wears off really quick.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Europe and North America will both be interesting in the coming weeks. The 360 should get some level of console sales boost with the Halo 3 release and retake the weekly sales lead, which has been in the PS3's favor for the last month or so.

Over the pond, the latest weekly numbers are in and the PS3 continues to expand its sales margin over the Xbox 360 (now 2:1 in favor of the PS3) despite the 360 being much cheaper. With a PS3 price cut likely in the next two weeks at Leipzig, Sony could make major headway in that market during the run-up to the holiday season.

http://vgchartz.com/eweekly.php?date=39299

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Interesting post on a message board concerning the leaked price cuts. Evidentally, MS and Sony are not happy about it. Cheapy D has already hired a lawyer and is refusing to turn over Speedy's info.

CC is going after Speedy by demand of Sony and Microsoft and have subpoena CheapD of Cheapassgamer.com. Best Buy, Target and Wal-mart are also believed to have joined the fight. Ccity is just leading the way.

Im the guy who leaked out the full page ad of the PS3 price cut right after speedy. I sadly have lost my job over it at the request of Sony. I was in a 2 hour interview/talk with Lose Prevention of CCity headquarters and have actually gained alot of interesting info about whats going on behind the scenes in regards to the leakers. Apprently they have been after Speedy for awhile now before even the PS3 leak.

I have already e-mailed CheapyD about all of this earlier.

Sony was so mad by the leak that the guy said "They want someones head on a stick for this" and that Sony was losing a big amount of money over the leak and was forced to drop the price a week early.

Also Sony, microsoft, other companies and retailers will be going after not just the leakers but also sites that post leaked info such as ads or full mention of the sales. This includes sites such as 1up.com, Joystiq.com, Cheapassgamer, Kotoka.com and others. onces not included are sites like IGN, gamespot and offical magazine sites since they do not post the ads or the leaked info, but only a rumored regards in response to talk over the internet. They have also been watching the forums and message boards for such things and will be going after the site owners for allowed leaked items to be posted and also the posters.

Also apprently Sony also threatened to pull all support from Ccity chain if they did not comply with them on their leakers.

Speedy they believe works at a printing plant which of course many already assumed.

One last thing. employees who work at big retailers such as Best Buy, CCity and even printing plants are to sign a confidentiality contract stating not to leak out any information or upcoming sales to the public before the planned release date. Though this contract is sketchy about things because it excludes close friends and family.

I was working at the 3rd top store of Ccity so I had very earily access to sales ads up to 3 weeks in advance because the ads are printed about a month ahead of the actually sales date.

So keep in mind that its not just Circuit City behind all of this, it is many companies and retailers cracking down on this.

Oh and one last thing. Stores do no make anything on video game console sales. On computers they only make about 5% to 15% on sales and at most on tv's, they only make about 25% on sales which is a rare and high number. stores such as Ccity and best buy make their money on accessories, small merch, services and sales.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm sure the lawyers on the board could chime in, but it seems unlikely to me that a suit against a message board for discussing a rumor would have any chance of succeeding.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm sure the lawyers on the board could chime in, but it seems unlikely to me that a suit against a message board for discussing a rumor would have any chance of succeeding.

Me either, unless there is some kind of breach of contract between Sony/Microsoft and the owner(s) of the message board.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Me either, unless there is some kind of breach of contract between Sony/Microsoft and the owner(s) of the message board.

to be clear, CAG, and DVDTalk.com (I believe) have not been sued. They have both been served with a subpoena to give circuit city information on the user who posted the information.

after the CAGCast where CheapyD announced the service, a new user to the forum posted there what Mizzou re-posted here. It's hard to vouch for the accuracy of that statement, though i admit it's believeable. but so far, all that's gone on is that the 2 sites were served, and CheapyD has contacted an attorney.

/tk

[terpkristin]

dola,
Kotaku gives a quick blurb on what's going on: http://kotaku.com/gaming/not-cheap/c...mer-288081.php

The latest CAGcast brings word that electronics retailer Circuit City has served CAG Productions with a subpoena. CAG Productions is responsible for popular video game shopping community CheapAssGamer.com, which has 100,000 registered members. The retail giant wants CAG to turn over all personal information about registered forum member Speedy1961, who has been posting weekly CC ads prior to their release on the site. Speedy has also posted them on DVDtalk.com, and that site appears to have received legal action as well. The subpoena mentions one CheapAssGamer thread in particular, which prior to E3, revealed that the PS3 would get a price drop. That same thread also included pricing for games at Circuit City as well as game prices at Target and Best Buy. From the thread:

* GAMERS / MOVIE AFFICIANADOS: Please note $100 Price Break on Playstation 3 Game System which brings the price down to $499.99 // Remember that you can get 5 free Blu-Ray DVDs with purchase of any Blu-Ray Player / Game system by going here: http://www.bluraysavings.com/

This was wedged in between details about the Wii and other details. As mentioned aboved, information about Best Buy and Target was also noted. CAG Productions CEO David Abrams (AKA "CheapyD") has hired a lawyer. "The CAG community's trust and respect is very important to me, so I've hired legal representation to deal with the situation," Abrams tells Kotaku.

/tk

[sterlingice]

Hm... I'm just not sure what to think about the speedy thing on CAG. Going to take a little time to digest and think about it from all angles.

The fact that Sony wants blood, of course, makes them look like villains like people who try to say that the RIAA tactics make their claims invalid. But, again, 2 wrongs don't make a right so evaluting the first as a "wrong" is the most important step.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Do people really care how many disks a game comes on?

Is Final Fantasy 7 a worse game because it comes on multiple disks? I don't think so...

(no, it's a worse game because despite all of the gameplay and technological advances as well as being the first game to play like a movie, its plot sucked something fierce )

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

I am happy to play the part of Nintendo fan-boy, incidentally.

I, too, relish in this role. We're the happy, naive people of the video game world

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Arles

I don't know. Outside of the PS2 and maybe original Nintendo, I don't think I got more than 3-4 years of use out of any other console (PS1, XBox, SNes, Genesis). I'm not thinking that I will still be using my current XBox360 in 2010. Either I will have a new console all together or there will be a reason for me to pay an extra $300 and get the new version of the console.

Is this in the sense of "did not play after 4 years" or "did not work after 4 years"? If it's the latter, I still have my SNES, N64, and PSX and all work perfectly still. The NES I bought off of ebay is of "iffy" working quality as it flashes a lot and I'm looking for a top loader. I checked my NES at home this past week and it still mostly works- had trouble with a couple of games.

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Is this in the sense of "did not play after 4 years" or "did not work after 4 years"? If it's the latter, I still have my SNES, N64, and PSX and all work perfectly still. The NES I bought off of ebay is of "iffy" working quality as it flashes a lot and I'm looking for a top loader. I checked my NES at home this past week and it still mostly works- had trouble with a couple of games.

SI

I think the old 360's are definitely a case of 'did not work after 4 years'. The new ones should have a better life assuming the changes assist the RROD problem.

On a separate note related to the life of a console, saw this interview of the Square-Enix exec who comments that the 360 and PS3 specs are set too high. I'm getting more vibes that the 360 and PS3 will be with us for quite a bit longer than previous console life cycles. I think there's just a lot of room for growth on these consoles. I think the Wii will slow the life cycle as well because developers aren't in a big hurry to optimize for the 360 and PS3 when they have a money farm with low development costs in the form of the Wii available.

http://square-enix-news.newslib.com/story/5218-3210370/

[Arles]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Is this in the sense of "did not play after 4 years" or "did not work after 4 years"? If it's the latter, I still have my SNES, N64, and PSX and all work perfectly still. The NES I bought off of ebay is of "iffy" working quality as it flashes a lot and I'm looking for a top loader. I checked my NES at home this past week and it still mostly works- had trouble with a couple of games.

SI

I would compare it to older operating systems. I could fire up Windows 98 right now and play all the old apps/games I had 5-6 years ago, but it doesn't make that much sense to do so. So, while it may still work, it doesn't give me any more value than if it broke at the end of 4-5 years. And, like the old OS parallel, if I get a real itch to play Super Punch out, I can just download and play it on the Wii.

[Eaglesfan27]

Rumors are floating around (supposedly backed by images) that a 360 bundle will be released "around the holidays" that includes Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Both are games that I've enjoyed playing. Here is a link to one of the sources:

http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/13-08-2007-6222.html

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Looks like Ubisoft is already making a game similar to Little Big Planet.

http://ps3.qj.net/Ubisoft-working-on...g/49/aid/99830

Ubisoft working on something like LittleBigPlanet
Posted Aug 13, 2007 at 10:58AM by Ryan A.

Listed in: News, Games
Tags: Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot delivered a keynote speech earlier today at the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF) 2007. During the keynote, Guillemot gave a sort of preview for his company's next video game title as he discussed the importance of user-created content.

According to the CEO, Ubisoft is currently working on a new title that will provide gamers with a powerful and easy to understand tool set. Furthermore, gamers will be able to come up with their own adventures using the said tool set.

Other users will then be able to "preview" the work and comment on it - ultimately making it better. Guillemot further explained, "The goal is really to make sure our consumers become creators. We need to put gamers in the spotlight and recognize their creativity and make sure that our consumers are the stars".

No concrete details were given but those who heard the speech couldn't help but think of the PlayStation 3's LittleBigPlanet.

Also, an interesting new game was announced for the 360/PS3.........a new dodgeball game. Screen shots included.

http://www.worthplaying.com/article....thread&order=0