Reports this morning – which it must be said remain totally unsubstantiated – claim that the Next Xbox could incorporate a new technology that blocks the use of pre-owned games on the console.
The gravity of this news, if true, would have industry-wide ramifications. The fallout for retail would be obvious, cutting off a major revenue stream.
But aside from my obvious retail-leaning tendencies, I for one believe that such a development would have disastrous consequences for the games market. Or at least for the Next Xbox.
We all know the arguments against pre-owned. The sale of a pre-owned game sees all profit land with the retailer, cutting publishers and developers out of the loop. For the content creators it is unfair, it is argued. And of course that point has credence.
But what I sometimes struggle to understand is how content makers remain blind to the effect that an end to pre-owned would have on their business.
Let’s look at 2011. Starting with the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution on August 26^th, a run of successive triple-A releases ran all the way through to November 18^th. It went something like this:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Driver: San Francisco, Dead Island, Gears Of War 3, F1 2011, FIFA 12, Batman: Arkham City, Need for Speed: The Run, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Modern Warfare 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Saints Row 3.
For a punter paying an average of £40 per title that represents an outlay of £560 over the course of a little under three months. That’s £187 per pay cheque. And that’s omitting a shed load of other releases that hit in the period.
Now, when mine and Mrs Ben’s wages are combined we represent something like the UK national average earning family. And I can tell you that there’s absolutely no way I could afford that outlay on games were I not able to offset the cost against trading-in my older titles. No way.
So I’m faced with the very real possibility that I could be priced out of my main habit and interest in the next generation.
So what can platform holders do to offset what I would see as the inevitable collapse of the software market whilst still maintaining a freeze on pre-owned? Well, lower game prices would seem the only option. That string of releases would be far more affordable at £25. Or even £30. But the chances of that happening? Zero.
And what of retail, which is struggling to survive in this current pre-owned rich environment? Lower public outlay can only ever mean one thing – higher prices to try and preserve margins. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle that spells very bad news for the industry.
Of course, it could mean even worse news for Microsoft. Should Sony decide to not follow suit with anti pre-owned tech then that affords PS4 one hell of a USP over its rival. Although it would be one shared by Wii U, of course (we can safely say that Nintendo would not have the foresight to include such tech in its machine).
As I sit here I’m simply hoping that the reports aren’t true. I was interested to hear Microsoft’s response, which although “not commenting on rumour and speculation” was anything but a simply “we don’t comment on rumour and speculation”.
"As an innovator we're always thinking about what is next and how we can push the boundaries of technology like we did with Kinect,” a spokesperson told Kotaku.
“We believe the key to extending the lifespan of a console is not just about the console hardware, but about the games and entertainment experiences being delivered to consumers. Beyond that we don't comment on rumours or speculation."
These are dangerous times. The games industry is approaching a new generation of machines and the decision made by platform holders now will dictate how the sector fares in today’s connected, smartphone obsessed and cloud-hungry society. I just hope those decisions prove to be the right ones.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/opini...r-games/090322 ...

Blaze will release its new gaming handheld GameGadget in the UK on March 30th.
Positioned as an iPod-style device for gamers, it allows gamers to download games from a variety of publishers and developers, including a range of legally purchaseable retro games.
GameGadget also allows independent and homebrew developers to create games for its digital platform, along with established developers, thanks to its open source development system.
Meanwhile, publishers will be able to sell games singularly or in bundles, thanks to the iTunes-style interface.
The handheld will be priced at £99.99, and prices for downloadable games will vary.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gameg...release/090325 ...

Modern Warfare 3 emerged triumphant, but it was EA that was last year’s real victor. MCV analyses the full 2011 GfK?Chart-Track charts to unearth the winners and losers in a challenging year for the boxed games market.

It was another year in which Call of Duty and FIFA take the top two places in the GfK Chart-Track Top 100. The two games between them accounted for 10 per cent of the 55m games sold last year.

ACTIVISION’s Modern Warfare 3 sold over 3.1m units, a mighty impressive figure but slightly less than the 3.26m games Black Ops sold the year before.

FIFA 12 meanwhile shifted 2.44m games, 50,000 more copies than its predecessor. ELECTRONIC?ARTS was the only publisher to have two games that sold over 1m units with its FPS Battlefield 3 (No.3) selling 1.3m copies since its October launch. As a result, EA was comfortably the biggest publisher of 2011, and in total had 20 games in the Top 100.

It is worth noting the phenomenal success for small publisher 505 GAMES. The company’s Zumba Fitness (No.4) shifted almost 1.2m games for the year and topped the Wii charts. The title benefited from a lack of new software during the summer and scored 13 weekly No.1s in the process.

In a clear sign of how important Q4 is to the UK games market, eight of the 2011 Top Ten were released during the final three months of the year. And 51 per cent of the UK trade’s annual revenue was generated during this period.

The only two games not to have been released during Q4 and still break the Top Ten is the aforementioned Zumba and ROCKSTAR’s L.A. Noire, which is also the highest charting new IP. The game was released in May.

Otherwise, there isn’t a great deal of new IP in this year’s chart - the notable exceptions being THQ’s Homefront at No.25, DEEP?SILVER’s Dead Island at No.31 and two Bethesda titles (Rage at No.33 and Brink at No.39).

BETHESDA enjoyed a strong year during 2011, breaking into the Top Ten publishers at No.10. Aside from the two new IPs mentioned above, the firm’s biggest hit was Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The acclaimed action RPG sold 1.14m games last year, proving to the industry that you can come out during the same week as Call of Duty and prosper.

LEGO developer TRAVELLER’S?TALES had five games in the Top 100. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean was the top seller at No.14.

Meanwhile, the dance craze continues in the charts. Just Dance 3 from UBISOFT was the biggest selling dance title, and sold over 900,000 units last year.


UK games market in 2011

The tough economy combined with the late stage in the console cycle took its toll on the boxed games market. The combined software, hardware and accessories markets generated £2.52bn, a 13 per cent drop over 2010.

The software market dipped seven per cent year-on-year to £1.42bn (although it was down 12 per cent in units). EA sold the most games, with Xbox 360 the the No.1 console in terms of software market share.

The accessories market was down 17 per cent year-on-year to £453m (or 13 per cent down to 22.4m units). Motion controllers accounted for 11 per cent of the accessories market in 2011 (units) and a huge 27 per cent by revenue.

A clear sign of the industry’s position in the console cycle is the hardware figures, down 19.3 per cent to £646m, and that’s despite the arrival of Nintendo 3DS.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/the-u...-charts/090333 ...

Mario Kart 7 is once again the Japanese all-formats number one, reclaiming top spot from Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Masou Kishin II.
In a slow week for sales - Mario Kart 7's sales actually fell by a third - the highest new entry is Sega's 3DS title Rhythm Thief & The Emperor's Treasure, which isdue in the west next month. D3 Publisher achieves that rarest of feats - a top ten slot for an Xbox 360 game - with Onechanbara Z Kagura at number five.
Other new entries include Namco Bandai's Heroes Phantasia at number 6, and another 3DS game, Konami's Beyond The Labyrinth, at number eight.
On the hardware front, 3DS was once again the week's best-selling system of the week with 80,960 units sold. Sales of PlayStation Vita fell to 15,219, a drop of 17 per cent.
01. Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 3DS)
02. Rhythm Thief (Sega, 3DS)
03. Monster Hunter Tri G (Capcom, 3DS)
04. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 3DS)
05. Onechanbara Z Kagura (D3 Publisher, Xbox 360)
06. Heroes Phantasia (Namco Bandai, PSP)
07. Inazuma Eleven Go (Level-5, 3DS)
08. Beyond The Labyrinth (Konami, 3DS)
09. Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Masou Kishin II (Namco Bandai, PSP)
10. Musou Orochi 2 (Tecmo Koei, PS3)

http://www.edge-online.com/news/mari...n-chart-summit ...

Soars from 30 per cent to 45 per cent per capita between February and October 2011.
New stats from Google and Ipsos reveal a global surge from feature phones to smartphones, but show that it's the Brits that have embraced the switch with the most ardour.
In the period between Jan/Feb 2011 and Sept/Oct 2011 smartphone penetration reached 45 per cent in the UK, 38 per cent in the US and France, 23 per cent in Germany and 17 per cent in Japan.
The study also said more consumers in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan use a mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone) than a computer (desktop or laptop).
Other key findings include:
* Germany saw the biggest increase with the percentage of smartphone owners using their device for daily Internet access jumping from 39 per cent to 49 per cent
* Japan had the highest percentage accessing the Internet daily on their smartphone at 88 per cent
* A little over two-thirds of smartphone users in the US and over half of smartphone users in the UK access the mobile Internet daily.
* Across all five countries approximately 75% of smartphone owners said they continued to use their computer to access the Internet daily.
* Tablet usage increased across all five countries with the highest penetration amongst the total population in the US at 11 per cent
* Smartphone usage among females increased in all five countries
* Smartphone ownership also rose among those aged 45+ in the US, UK and France

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...tphones/016835 ...

Landmark reached ten years after launch of 7210.
Series 40 is the platform powering Nokia's entry-level devices. Nokia says the first Series 40 phone was the Nokia 7110, which was developed in 1999, but we think it's actually the 7210, launched in 2002.
Anyhow, S40 has evolved and is still going strong as a 'Smartphone Lite' platform powering - among others - the new Nokia Asha range targeted at emerging markets.
Series 40 phones add to the confusion around what is and what is not a smartphone. Most people would describe them as feature phones, but the new versions offer Nokia Maps, browser, web apps, Nokia Money and Nokia Life Tools.
The 1.5 billionth device was purchased from a Magazine Luiza store in São Paulo by 21-year-old Mayara Rodrigues.
Mary McDowell, EVP for mobile phones at Nokia, said: "We are incredibly proud to reach this milestone. Having 1.5 billion Series 40 devices sold is a hard-to-reach mark, let alone one attainable in a single line of products.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...-phones/016804 ...

Up from 256.8 million in 2011.
Internet connectivity via TV and other electronics has been growing in recent years, and now analyst NPD In-Stat says the transition from standard household consumer electronics (CE) to become 'connected devices' will continue to grow in the next five years.
Key devices leading the movement include digital TVs, game consoles, satellite set top boxes and Blu-ray players. Connected devices are expected to hit 1.34 billion in 2016, compared to 256.8 million last year, according to the report.
Potentially these devices provide even wider reach for existing apps and the potential for new creative ideas that utilise the unique capabilities of the different form factors.
Norm Bogen, VP of Research, said: "CE is no longer about ‘dumb’ devices that exist at the edge of the network to provide specific functions, but rather about ‘intelligent’ devices at the edge of the network that can connect consumers to new stores of content and engage them in new digital experiences.
"This simple fact is having a profound impact on the development of the digital media and entertainment industry, which clings to the old practices of using networks to control the user viewing experience."

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...by-2016/016819 ...

Amazon has a load of deals on games lined up for today. First up, Dead Island is the deal of the day and will no doubt quickly shamble off the shelves at only $25. Today's Lightning Deals are all game-themed as well, with the current deal being LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean on the DS for $15. As of this writing, the deal has about an hour to go.

Find a list of the remaining deals' start times (and our best guesses as to what the deals actually are) after the break.

• 11:00am ET / 8:00am PT - "A multiplayer Dance-Fitness game for Wii that gives players a great full body workout in a fun dance class environment!" (Zumba Fitness? No, probably ExerBeat.)
• 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT - "Enjoy the biggest game release of all time." (Statistically, this one has to be Modern Warfare 3.)
• 6:00pm ET / 3:00pm PT - "Enjoy this Wii fitness game with your entire family!" (Wii Fit Plus? Jumpstart Get Moving Family Fitness Wii? It does have "family" right there in the title.)
• 9:00pm ET / 6:00pm PT - "Rock out with your own guitar." (Rocksmith.)
• 11:00pm ET / 8:00pm PT - "'I Gotta Feeling' ...this game will make you move." (The Black Eyed Peas Experience.)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref...A1LGO6JZOUVKPJ ...

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