The most recent tie ratios (number of different games per console) for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii were presented by news site Gamasutra. The figures reveal that the PS3 had recently amassed a 6.5 tie ratio in North America, whereas the Wii’s was at 6.2.

NPD Analyst Anita Frazier offers a reasonable explanation for the recent trends, stating that the Wii enjoyed a striking run of hardware sales during the second half of 2008, yet the PS3 has experienced five straight months of lower year-on-year hardware sales.

The simple equation here being that hardware sales have just as much a significant effect on tie ratios as software does. Tie ratios are, after all, total software numbers divided by total hardware.

As the PS3 failed to get many new customers, its current users had many more games to purchase over the late months of 2008. The Wii, meanwhile, is selling incredibly well despite an inordinarily low turnout of significant titles.

Either way, the Xbox 360 looks best of the three when viewed from a tie-ratio angle.

Both the Wii and PS3 were released in November 2006, so the most recent tie ratio figures show each system’s performance after 29 months at retail. In examining the Xbox 360’s tie ratio after the same 29-month period, Microsoft’s box shows itself to have a significantly more impressive balance, at 7.5.

Interestingly, the console’s tie ratio rate has plateaued somewhat in the last eight months, as the figure in August 2008 was at 8.0 whereas today it has edged up to 8.3.

http://www.gamebizblog.com/gamebizbl...sses-wiis.html ...

500 million online games since June last year, as FIFA and NFL each clock over 2.4 million registered users

EA is flaunting the popularity of its online game services by announcing that its Sports label has clocked 500m online games since June last year.

EA says that an average of 2.2 million online games have been played each day since June, when the publisher first started releasing its 2009 EA Sports product line. This level of online play reflects an increase of more than 175 percent from the same period last year, the publisher said.

“The massive migration to online gaming has transformed the video game landscape, and this week's 500 millionth online EA Sports game highlights the radical shift that we've helped pioneer in the industry,” said Peter Moore, president of the division.

EA also provided a number of different angles to view its online volumes, stating that “4 billion minutes” of EA Sports games have been played since June, and that “35 years” of online play is amassed each day.

Both NFL 09 and FIFA 09 have over 2.4 million registered online users each, the company added.

http://www.developmag.com/news/31728...by-online-play ...

Microsoft’s Xbox Live is well established as one of the most successful digital download networks in the world and now a new release in the Community Games section of site hints at a possible app-related future for the service.
Developed by a user called MatthewM, the 1080p optimised Ping Time download is a clock based on arcade classic Pong.
The press release explains: “Created on a whim while half asleep one night, Ping Time transforms your Xbox 360 and TV into an expensive retro wall clock. Watch in awe as the two AI opponents bounce a ball back and forth endlessly (or until you quit, whichever comes first), carefully maintaining their score to represent the current time.

“Ping time boasts HD Black and White graphics, and the intriguing sound of silence, efficiently packed into less than 200 KB, making it currently the smallest product on Xbox Live Community Games.”
The arrival of the download throws up an interesting prospect for the Community Games portal, and it will be fascinating to see if similar non-game downloads appear over the coming months.
Ping Time costs just 200 Microsoft Points and is available to download now.

http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/284...e-the-Xbox-360 ...

Disney's UK racing studio Black Rock reckons that its 2010 game Split/Second will help spark a turnaround for the driving game genre.

Speaking to Develop as part of a in-depth feature looking at the creation, production, and technology of the title, studio head Tony Beckwith and the game's director Nick Baynes both asserted their view that the racing genre is in an unhealthy state.

“If you look at the sales figures, the racing genre is in many respects dying out – take Mario Kart out of the equation and the category is in a dire way. I think this genre is ripe for something new and inventive to give it a kick start," said Beckwith.

The new 360, PS3 and PC game puts players in the role of a race car driver starring in a TV show who can trigger explosive special effects to eliminate racing competitors.

“We’re all fans of street racing here, but as a genre it is relatively stale – the evolution is only coming from how you customise cars, which can only serve to remove you from the action – I think Split/Second will do the opposite," added Baynes.

This approach stretches throughout the production through to the design - from things like technology to the on-screen design.

So the game features an almost HUD-less display, and asks players to pay attention to the environments they are driving through - rather than just racing lines.

Technical director David Jefferies said the production had been “a huge transfer of ideas, which is a little different from other productions where the different coding, art and design teams can be ghettoised and ordered to just shut up and get on with it.”

Baynes added: “If you look at screenshots of racing games, they all kind of look the same. [The minimal HUD is] another example of how we’re trying something different, and really want to reject a lot of the things that are established or expected of a racing game.”

http://www.gamebizblog.com/gamebizbl...ace-genre.html ...

Disney's UK racing studio Black Rock reckons that its 2010 game Split/Second will help spark a turnaround for the driving game genre.

Speaking to Develop as part of a in-depth feature looking at the creation, production, and technology of the title, studio head Tony Beckwith and the game's director Nick Baynes both asserted their view that the racing genre is in an unhealthy state.

“If you look at the sales figures, the racing genre is in many respects dying out – take Mario Kart out of the equation and the category is in a dire way. I think this genre is ripe for something new and inventive to give it a kick start," said Beckwith.

The new 360, PS3 and PC game puts players in the role of a race car driver starring in a TV show who can trigger explosive special effects to eliminate racing competitors.

“We’re all fans of street racing here, but as a genre it is relatively stale – the evolution is only coming from how you customise cars, which can only serve to remove you from the action – I think Split/Second will do the opposite," added Baynes.

This approach stretches throughout the production through to the design - from things like technology to the on-screen design.

So the game features an almost HUD-less display, and asks players to pay attention to the environments they are driving through - rather than just racing lines.

Technical director David Jefferies said the production had been “a huge transfer of ideas, which is a little different from other productions where the different coding, art and design teams can be ghettoised and ordered to just shut up and get on with it.”

Baynes added: “If you look at screenshots of racing games, they all kind of look the same. [The minimal HUD is] another example of how we’re trying something different, and really want to reject a lot of the things that are established or expected of a racing game.”

http://www.gamebizblog.com/gamebizbl...ace-genre.html ...

US consumers can now purchase WiiWare titles though the online retail giant Amazon, previously only available through the Wii Shop channel on Nintendo's console.

This follows the announcement earlier this month that Amazon would begin selling Xbox Live titles. World of Goo appears to be the first WiiWare game on offer, with the console download code available to consumers for USD 14.99.

No mention has been made as to whether Amazon will being selling Xbox Live or WiiWare titles in other regions.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...wiiware-titles ...

Orange has been named the number one mobile gaming operator in 2008, with a market share of 23 per cent for downloads and 25 per cent for revenues, according to figures released by ELSPA and Chart-Track.

Sonic the Hedgehog and Monopoly were the most popular titles, while over 30 per cent of Orange's gaming revenues came from consumer purchases of pre-installed demos on its phones.

"We're delighted with taking the top spot for mobile gaming in 2008 and are already making great strides to make sure we stay there in 2009," commented Neil Holroyd, head of games and gambling at Orange UK.

"We're making more enhancements to our embedded games, and giving our Orange World gaming channel a new look and feel - customers can look forward to a slicker experience and improved graphics."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...games-operator ...

The Nintendo Wii has sold more than 8 million units in Japan, according to data collected by Japanese magazine publisher Enterbrain.

Launched in the region in December 2006, the Wii hit the milestone as of April 19, as reported by Famitsu, which also listed the top five-selling titles on the console.

Those top five-selling Wii titles in Japan are as follows:

01. Wii Sports - 3,481,469 units
02. Wii Fit - 3,301,373 units
03. Wii Play - 2,672,811 units
04. Mario Kart Wii - 2,218,756 units
05. Super Smash Bros Brawl - 1,789,924 units

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...llion-in-japan ...

Sony Computer Entertainment America's senior VP of marketing, Peter Dille, has admitted that the PlayStation Portable has been hit hard by piracy - with as many as 50 million units in the marketplace potentially having been compromised.

"I'm convinced and we're convinced that piracy has taken out a big chunk of our software sales on PSP," Dille told Gamasutra. "It's been a problem that the industry has to address together; it's one that I think the industry takes very seriously, but we need to do something to address this because it's criminal what's going on, quite frankly.

"It's not good for us, but it's not good for the development community. We can look at data from BitTorrent sites from the day Resistance: Retribution goes on sale and see how many copies are being downloaded illegally, and it's frankly sickening. We are spending a lot of time talking about how we can deal with that problem."

The admission comes at a point when Sony is finally giving the handheld platform a significant boost, with a string of key titles set to hit the shelves this year, including Assassin's Creed and MotorStorm - but Dille agreed that older hardware could pose an ongoing problem for genuine software sales.

"Those numbers are correct," he said, referring to the 50 million units. "There's a lot of hardware out there; toothpaste is out of the tube. We're not going to get that hardware back into the toothpaste container.

"I'm not naive, but I do think that most people are inherently honest," he continued. "We learned a lot from the music business, and it became so easy and so common to download illegal music - everyone was doing it. It's almost like people lost sight with the fact that, well, 'If everyone's doing it, then it can't be that bad.'

"But, it actually is bad; it's bad for the platform. Again, I'm not saying that that's a magic wand; I think that we have to make sure from a technological perspective that it's not as easy as it is to do that."

Dille also admitted that the company faced mass desertion from third parties over the PSP, with developers "just about ready to jump off the cliff and pull support for the platform".

Sony's UK MD Ray Maguire recently told GamesIndustry.biz that the company had under-supported the platform, but was happy to see a groundswell of support for the handheld building over the course of this year.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...piracy-problem ...