The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) yesterday revealed its latest findings about the state of pre-recorded media. 80 to 90 per cent of paid videogame software acquisitions in 2009 were for disc or cartridge-based products, the outfit's new survey claimed.

'The D2 report: discs & digital - the business of Home entertainment retailing' proved confident in proclaiming the robust health of physical media, despite the rise of digital distribution – both legal and illegal.

"While there has been a great deal of focus recently on the slippage of revenues in the DVD market, the untold story is that consumers' embrace of home entertainment remains very strong and packaged media is the preferred delivery instrument," stated Bo Andersen, EMA boss.

"Digital distribution is clearly an important segment of the home entertainment market and will continue to grow in market share in the coming year. While it is tempting for industry outsiders to say 'disc is dead,' as the saying goes, reports of its demise are grossly exaggerated."

The EMA also estimated that transactions of prerecorded video content (this time including digital delivery) increased some 2.8 per cent last year, amounting to 3.5 billion in total. DVD and Blu-Ray movie purchases brought in $17.9 billion, claimed to be nine times as much as digital distribution.

While the EMA's interests openly lie in supporting entertainment industry retail, the survey compiled data from the likes of Adams Media Research, Digital Entertainment Group, The NPD Group, Parks Associates, and ScreenDigest.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...physical-media ...

THQ has reaffirmed its commitment to the UFC fighting game franchise, despite weaker-than-expected sales of this year's title.

Talking to GamesIndustry.biz at the publisher's UK retail event last month - The Gathering - head of marketing Jon Rooke admitted that the game hadn't sold as many units as the company had expected, and pointed to a variety of reasons for that.

"We've had Red Dead Redemption released one week before us and that sucked, to-date, probably three quarters of a million units from the market," Rooke explained. "The economy is still in decline - we haven't come out of recession yet, with VAT set to go up and the government looking for 40 per cent budget cuts... people are nervous about spending.

"There was that macro-setting, plus we were around the World Cup, which takes out a lot of consumer spending as well. You could even put into there the iPad launch as being on the same weekend - so a lot of things are coming on to it."

But Rooke does believe the product will continue to sell over time, and underlined that the company still has strong plans for the license in in the future.

"We know from 2009 that the brand has massive long legs," he said. "Last Christmas we were still selling a lot of units across Europe per week, a good seven or eight months after the game came out.

"We're seeing the sales for 2010 settle down to a good, steady pace and we're working that stock through the channels with our partners - and we've got a lot of stuff to come from UFC as well.

"We've got great brand awareness among that UFC consumer, and we know they're going to come to the brand - we know they're going to come to purchase. But it was just that a number of factors - predominantly Red Dead Redemption sucked so much cash out of the market.

"When Red Dead had shipped about 5 million we'd shipped about 2.6 million units of UFC globally - so it's still a massively successful game... just that the expectations might have been that little bit more. You have to step back a bit and recognise that.

"We're absolutely not walking away from the brand - we've got a long term commitment to it as we've shown with things like UFC Trainer, and it won't be long before we start talking about UFC 2011, I'm sure..."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...s-here-to-stay ...

Despite all the hype about Apple's latest iPhone, Android has sold more in the last 6 months (27% of all smartphone sales) than Apple (23%). The gains for Android are coming at the expense of RIM (still #1 at 33%, down from 45% a year ago), Windows Mobile (11%, down from 20%) and the iPhone (down from 34% at it's peak 6 months ago). If the current trend continues, Android is expected to be #1 within the year.

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/...-Last-6-Months ...

"In this 7-minute video we explore the mysteries of Apple device charging. Usually, device makers need to sign a confidentially agreement with Apple if they want to say their charger 'works with iPhone / iPod,' and they're not allowed to talk about how the insides work. If you don't put these secret resistors on the data lines too, you get the dreaded Charging is not supported with this accessory. We demonstrate how anyone can make their own chargers that work with iPhone 4, 3Gs, etc.

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/0...harger-Secrets ...

Every so often, video games are accused of causing all sorts of negative behavior in children, teens, and adults. These accusations are typically predicated on statistics that sound much more damning than they actually are. In that vein, gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun did their own tongue-in-cheek statistical analysis, complete with pretty charts and graphs. Quoting:
"As part of my research I thought to compare the sales of each GTA game with what the divorce rate must have been when each came out. As you can see each new GTA game has been directly correlated with an increase in divorces. ... An often ignored statistic (and you have to ask why it’s being ignored by the games media, don’t you?) is the sheer volume of PC games being released. We’ve all noticed the British population is abandoning the church, turning instead toward shopping, DVDs and knife crime. But few have thought to check for a connection between PC sales and the numbers of people attending their local Church Of England church on a Sunday. When you look at the data there’s little doubt left that as the publishers continue to release more and more PC games each year, our nation’s faith is being increasingly eroded. And at what cost? If only a graph could tell us that."

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/0...-Harm-Games-Do ...

The core of how people first learn to do stuff — programming, music, writing, etc. — is to imitate others. It's one of the best ways to learn. Apparently a bunch of students using MIT's educational Scratch programming language understand this. But not everyone else does. NAMCO Bandai sent a takedown notice to MIT because some kids had recreated Pac-man with Scratch. The NAMCO letter is pretty condescending as well, noting that it understands the educational purpose of Scratch, but 'part of their education should include concern for the intellectual property of others.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/0...ac-man-Project ...

Konami is bringing DanceDanceRevolution to the PlayStation 3.

Confirmation comes from a sneaky update on the Japanese publisher's Facebook page.

On it there's an hilarious picture of an old school DDR box art and a fat PS3 with the words: "You really wanted it. So we really listened."

There's no mention of an Xbox 360 or Wii version.

That's all she wrote for now. A launch party is planned for Thursday, 12th August in Los Angeles. We're pushing for more details now.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ddr-coming-to-ps3 ...

Load times in PS3 game ModNation Racers will be reduced by an update set for release tomorrow.

The patch, due for release at 10am Wednesday, is designed to address "issues the community has been concerned about".

It'll also implement a new casual difficulty mode, fix a bug that allowed players to cut the track and post unbeatable times in Hot Lap, and improve server stability to improve disconnects.

"On behalf of UFG [United Front Games], we want to thank everyone for supporting ModNation and being patient as we've worked hard to make it the best experience possible," Sony San Diego community manager Ramone Russell wrote on the US PlayStation Blog.

Eurogamer reviewed ModNation Racers in May, and returned with a solid 7/10.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/mo...ove-load-times ...

I'll admit it: At first, as my clammy hands clutch its radiant wide screen, I'm not blown away by the Nintendo 3DS.

I'm taking in the new Mario Kart. Of course, it looks great - and, lo and behold, is in full 3D without the need for glasses.



But that's what I expect to happen, having chomped my way through a million and one E3 hands-on write ups.

Where's the jaw-dropping, the mystifying... the magic? Is the impressive-if-functional experience before me really enough to justify another £200+ handheld?

Nintendo's been coy on the price, but we know 3DS is going to be in the current range's 'architecture' - so it doesn't take a genius to work out the hit my wallet will have to take come launch day.

Before I know it, however, boulders and baddies started falling towards the screen. As Mario and Luigi screech out of the various obstacles' paths - and the former lobs a pin-perfect banana on his Brother's bonce - I get it. The 3DS's sorcery has claimed another victim.

The 3DS isn't about making old games prettier, I realise; it's about adding a whole new layer of depth to how we play, judge and perceive video game worlds.



In 3D, you can accurately judge the distance of an upcoming checkpoint, ramp or projectile. Timing a corner perfectly in a racing game becomes that much more natural; platforming suddenly feels tangible.

Those lucky (and wealthy) enough to own a 3DTV will know all this already, of course - but in my experience, the 3DS's brand of 3D seems even more fulfilling than the glasses-dependant equivalent.

Of the games and videos I try, the most impressive are Resident Evil - which looks absolutely stunning - and Kid Icarus, whose developers have evidently had longer than anyone else to get to grips with the hardware.

As I play on, many elements of the 3DS hardware itself surprises me. For one, the 3D slider doesn't work like the significant depth-tweaking tool I expect, but rather a 'tuner' to set the 3D effect just right for your eyes.

I can't see bugger all to begin with, but setting the 3D slider to about the halfway point provided a perfect effect, free of the distortion caused by having it up full whack.

The slide pad (that's the 3DS's version of a thumbstick) feels far better than the shallow 'clicky' experience I predicted.

Although there aren't really any games on show at my London demo frantic enough to demand a workout of the kit, the 3DS slide pad is not disorientating to use. Indeed, it feels more precise than the PSP's often cumbersome thumb nub.

On that subject, there sadly isn't much for press to actually play on 3DS yet - it's all mostly interactive 'videos'.

Pilotwings, however, is one impressive hands-on demo available. Flying through hoops in 3D is a whole lot easier than it was on Super Nintendo.

The new game takes place on Wuhu Island, which you may remember from Wii Sports Resort. The demo allowed two short challenges, one involving the aforementioned plane-and-hoop trial, and another involving popping balloons with a jetpack.

The sense of momentum added to this style of game by the 3DS is what first grabs you. Jetting over a building feels more physical. It opens my eyes to the potential for a whole tonne of classics to be reinvigorated by the extra perspective.

The second game I properly 'play' isn't exactly hardcore - Nintendogs + Cats. Despite the name, there's no felines in this demo. It shows off another of the 3DS's features: facial recognition.

Calling over my pup and sticking my mug close to the screen causes him to 'lick' my face. Likewise, tilting my head causes him to do the same (though buggering up the 3D illusion slightly in the process, admittedly). I make a firm decision: I'm NOT going to be playing this on the tube.

As you can probably imagine, lobbing a tennis ball, swinging a Frisbee and hoofing a boomerang become instantly more compelling when enhanced by Nintendo's gorgeous tech.

The question is, will developers explore the potential gameplay enhancements 3D could introduce - such as those seen in Pilotwings - or will they simply put out a bundle of gimmicks?

It's too early to make a final judgement at this stage, with a lack of hands-on demos throwing up a big question mark: After all, it's much easier to make 3D gaming look revolutionary with an on-rails video.

What's for certain is that the 3DS is the most exciting thing to happen to gaming in a long time. And if I was to put my money on anyone getting it right - and offering that all-important value for money - it'd be Nintendo.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...