DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
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by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:55- Categories:
- DCEmu
3DS sales saw a significant jump in Japan last week thanks largely to the release of a new entry in Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts action RPG series.Nintendo's portable sold 121,921 units, compared to 94,011 last week.It continues to totally dominate the Japanese hardware market - its nearest rival was PlayStation 3 with 23,771 sales. The Vita continues to slum it, but saw a small bump to 12,105, up from 10,302.Here's the full chart, as seen on Andriasang:
- 3DS: 121,921 (Last week: 94,011)
- PlayStation 3: 23,771 (25,750)
- PSP: 18,356 (19,875)
- Vita: 12,105 (10,302)
- Wii: 9292 (9270)
- PlayStation 2: 1374 (1333)
- Xbox 360: 1317 (1084)
- DSi XL: 941 (1058)
- DSi: 771 (778)
The aforementioned Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance was the best-selling game of the week, moving 213,579 copies. Square will no doubt be happy to take the top spot, but first week sales were well down on 2010 PSP title Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, which managed 445,962 in the same timeframe.Elsewhere on the chart, Konami's Pro Baseball Spirits 2012 debuted in second on PS3 and third on PSP. The Vita version entered at 11.Silent Hill HD Collection doesn't seem to have been met with much enthusiasm - it stumbled in at 15, selling just 7971 copies. Maybe it was those missing fog textures?The Vita follow-up to well-reviewed Wii action RTS Little King's Story fared even worse. It debuted at 19, with 7141 sales.The full top 20 lined up as follows:
- Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (Square Enix, 3DS): 213,579 - NEW
- Pro Baseball Spirits 2012 (Konami, PS3): 90,433 - NEW
- Pro Baseball Spirits 2012 (Konami, PSP): 60,141 - NEW
- Kid Icarus Uprising (Nintendo, 3DS): 47,179 (Life to date: 179,705)
- Pokémon + Nobunaga's Ambition (The Pokémon Company, DS): 30,535 (267,608)
- Yakuza: Black Panther 2 (Sega, PSP): 26,655 (131,592)
- Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 3DS): 24,936 (1,464,696)
- Monster Hunter 3G (Capcom, 3DS): 21,288 (1,358,410)
- Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 3DS): 19,653 (1,621,631)
- Idolmaster Anime & G4U! Pack Vol.6 (Namco Bandai, PSP): 17,759 - NEW
- Pro Baseball Spirits 2012 (Konami, Vita): 17,264 - NEW
- Mario & Sonic at the London Olympics (Nintendo, 3DS): 12,947 (112,603)
- Devil May Cry HD Collection (Capcom, PS3): 11,926 (55,717)
- Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai (Sega, 3DS): 8267 (124,618)
- Silent Hill HD Edition (Konami, PS3): 7971 - NEW
- One Piece Pirate Musou (Namco Bandai, PS3): 7851 (804,601)
- Harvest Moon: Land of Origin (Marvelous AQL, 3DS): 7657 (154,764)
- Shining Blade (Sega, PSP): 7535 (148,824)
- New Little King's Story (Konami, Vita): 7141 - NEW
- Wii Sports Resort Wiimote Plus Pack (Nintendo, Wii): 6596 (905,638)
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...kingdom-hearts ...by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:51- Categories:
- Wii U News
Nintendo's Wii U demo reel at E3 last year contained a clip of Aliens: Colonial Marines, but we haven't heard much about the version since then. Speaking with Gearbox President Randy Pitchford, we tried to surgically extract a viable specimen of information out of him, but he refrained from getting too specific.
"Nintendo still has a lot to announce with their platform, and it's not up to us to go ahead of them," he told Joystiq. "I think it's a great platform and I'm really excited about it, particularly with this game, there's a lot of exciting opportunities like, 'Wow, my motion tracker is there, and I can move it like this!'" he said as he moved his arms side to side. "There's just so much cool stuff."
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/04/ge...bridge-to-the/ ...by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:45- Categories:
- Playstation Vita News
Shortly after unleashing (and quickly pulling back) the PS Vita's v1.65 firmware update, Sony's rapidly rolling out a followup release. Version 1.66 brings with it a few UI tweaks, including tidbits such as the addition of a progress bar during app installs, notification alerts now only popping up for three seconds, plus the option to tap Retry / Cancel when running into troubles during location search. Games like Unit 13 and Gravity Daze will also see "functional improvements," while the Near app is getting a direct link to the PlayStation Store, making it easier to grab apps that other folks are toying with. The refresh is up for grabs now, so be sure to hit that System Software on your quad-core beast, or head over to the source below if you're in need of some guidance.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/04/p...rmware-update/ ...by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:43- Categories:
- DCEmu
Piper Jaffray study finds that younger gamers are gravitating more and more towards mobile
A new study from analyst firm Piper Jaffray, looking into high school gaming behaviors, provides some insight into what could possibly be driving the gaming world towards social and mobile enterprise. Polling 5,600 teenagers, the study found that kids simply want to feel connected while playing games, notably with friends. Adding to the rise of the social gaming platform, many teenagers stated that traditional games lacked any sort of social feature to keep them engaged.
In fact, 65.9 percent polled stated that they were losing interest in playing traditional video games, up from 63.5 percent last year. While that might look bad for the console gaming world, these same teenagers said they were open to gaming on mobile devices; a staggering 66.2 percent polled in the affirmative, up from 34.4 percent this time last year.
"While a console refresh in 2013 or 2014 will breathe new life into the industry, the new systems will face unprecedented competition from tablets, smartphones, and connected TVs. We expect growing middle classes and rising Internet penetration rates in emerging markets, particularly Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia-Pacific to partially offset competition from tablets and smartphones," reads the report.
That unprecedented competition is also going to come from social gaming sites, such as Facebook. Polls indicated that 25.3 percent of teenagers are actively playing on such sites. While the total is down from 25.9 percent last year, it is still an increase from fall 2011's recorded number. Surprisingly, 92.8 percent of teens said they would not partake in any purchasing of virtual goods, an increase from 80.5 percent in fall 2011.
Online services and downloading seem to be on the rise, even for traditional consoles. Of those polled, over 53 percent said they would be fine with downloading a full game to their console, while 36.1 percent said they would be interested in a service such as OnLive. Both questions saw a major rise from last year, increasing 27.1 percent and 15.2 percent in 18 months, respectively.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...es-finds-study
...by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:41- Categories:
- PS3 News
Digital Foundry assesses the extraordinary rumours surrounding the next-gen Sony console.
It's shaping up to be one of the most extraordinary tech stories of the year. If the rumours are true, Sony is leaving its Cell architecture behind, instead working closely with AMD on its next-generation PlayStation.
Last week, the story took on a new dimension with Kotaku posting a major scoop: the machine is codenamed Orbis, and furthering the previous rumour, does indeed sport both main processor and graphics core from AMD. Since Kotaku's exclusive, information has started to leak from other sources - according to VG247, the new console is set for a Christmas 2013 release, so directly head-to-head with the debut of the next-gen Xbox.
"The race is on. With PlayStation Orbis, Sony is looking to meet Microsoft head-on with a Q4 2013 release."
Meanwhile, PlayStation Orbis sketches leak, suggesting a touchscreen/camera combination is part of the proposition, while the codename appears to resolve successfully on Sony's developer portal in the same way that Vita codenames also link through to the site - which is IP white-listed by the way in case you're wondering why you can't get any further.
The evidence such as it is all seems to suggest that the next-generation PlayStation will be arriving more quickly than we imagined, and its hardware make-up signifies a radical departure from the spirit of the designs conjured up during the Ken Kuturagi era.
It's the rumoured choice of CPU from AMD that has surprised many. With PlayStation 3, Sony continued its traditions of bespoke architecture by helping to create the Cell - a central processing core surrounded by eight satellite co-processors (one of which is deactivated to improve chip yields, another of which was blocked off from developers and used for security). Processing performance on the SPU remains absolutely out of this world, and many argue that it's the defining characteristic of the hardware in its first-party exclusive titles enjoying technological advantages over their Xbox 360 counterparts. Unfortunately, SPU coding has proved challenging for many third party games developers, despite the best efforts of Sony's engineering teams in providing robust libraries that allow for advanced features to be almost literally dropped into existing code.
There's also the inconvenient truth that a lot of SPU power was spent on tasks that are typically associated with the graphics chip - in effect, the power of the Cell was often being used to make up for a shortfall in the capabilities of the PS3's RSX. The notion of moving GPU tasks onto the main processor worked for PlayStation 3 but it's somewhat at odds with the way technology is developing generally - the rise of DirectCompute and OpenCL is all about offloading tasks uniquely suited to the massively parallel architecture found in GPUs and freeing up more CPU time, a complete reverse on Sony's strategy with PS3.
"The exotic, vision-driven hardware that characterised the Kuturagi era is over. Sony's strategy is to buy in the best tech and to concentrate its resources on superior game creation tools."
There is interesting talk in VG247's story about abandoned work on a next-generation Cell processor running with 24 SPU co-processors - a route that would have potentially made backwards compatibility with PS3 an option for the new hardware. Unfortunately it would also have increased the issues developers have had with SPU programming, particularly when it comes to scheduling/coordinating tasks. Running six SPUs effectively in parallel took time even for first party Sony developers (check out all the unused SPU time in Killzone 2) so the notion of handling 24 simultaneously would be even more problematic for those less au fait with the architecture.
Backing away from Cell may well surprise or even upset some, but it's entirely in keeping with a firm looking to extract maximum performance from its overall silicon budget - and it's exactly the same strategy the firm employed for PlayStation Vita, licensing established technology from the best in the business and concentrating its own efforts on superior development tools. Some may lament that the era of exotic, vision-driven hardware from Sony that characterised the Kuturagi era is over, but it's safe to say that a combination of non-standard, challenging architecture and lacking devtools contributed significantly to the PS3's uncertain early start.
PS4 represents the ability for Sony to hit the ground running from day one: AMD has proven that it can deliver in terms of both CPU and GPU design, plus the company has unrivalled experience in combining both into a single chip. While it's unlikely to happen at launch, the ability to consolidate hardware like this is immensely valuable in reducing costs at a later stage in the console's lifecycle - something that Microsoft has already achieved with its slimline 360S, and a strategy that Sony itself employed in the past with PlayStation 2.
This approach has already yielded dividends with PlayStation Vita, where Sony's focus on creating ...by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:35- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
Microsoft has laid out its cinema, TV and radio campaign for its new kids game – Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure.
The 360 title is being backed by cinema ads that will reach 1.3m people, plus there’ll be postcards in foyers.
Further activity has been booked on TV channels, with competitions placed in kids magazines. That’s on top of radio and online promotions.
“This is a compelling and highly recognisable IP – no other game contains multiple worlds of the Pixar universe,” the game’s product manager Laura Disney told MCV. “Also, there are few competitive titles in the children’s space on Kinect.”
The game lets players become a unique Pixar character and take part in adventures across five different worlds, which include Toy Story, Cars, Ratatouille, The Incredibles and Up.
Kinect Rush is out now.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/kinec...-people/093895 ...by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:33- Categories:
- DCEmu
Specialist retail giant GameStop says the UK has already helped grow its worldwide digital empire.
The company launched GameStop.co.uk in July, which included a games download service. The site quickly won over consumers with aggressive price cuts and temporary deals.
GameStop is keen to build on the success it has seen in the UK market, which helped the retailer generate $70.6m in Europe during its last quarter.
“The UK is a new component of our global digital strategy,” a GameStop spokesperson told MCV.
“Its unique offerings contributed to an increase in online transactions
across our global e-commerce network.”
Last week, GameStop International’s executive VP Mike Mauler stated in an investors’ briefing that the firm is “focused entirely on competing digitally in the UK”, having closed all UK and Ireland stores in the last nine months.
However, reports suggest the firm is still interested in GAME Group.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/games...success/093896 ...by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:30- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
Namco Bandai has announced an interesting launch exclusive with Amazon for upcoming RPG The Witcher 2.
The online retail giant has confirmed that its entire Xbox 360 launch stock of the The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition has been signed by members of the CD Projekt development team.
“Over the last few days, they have found the time to pass thousands of inlays around the office but once the launch allocation is gone, it’s gone,” Amazon said.
“Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity! These are not printed signatures. Orders made after the launch allocation runs out won’t receive a signed copy.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/amazo...box-360/093899
...by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:27
The Grand Theft Auto series has been selected to feature in a new exhibition at the Victoria And Albert Museum in London.
British Design 1948 - 2012: Innovation In The Modern Age showcases numerous high points of post-war British design, spanning the period between the 1948 Olympics in London and this summer's games, which will also be held in the city.
The exhibition, which opened on March 31 and runs until the close of the Olympics on August 12, features a commemorative video chronicling the history of Rockstar's series. Tickets cost £13.50; for more, follow the source link below.
Source: V&A
http://www.edge-online.com/news/see-gta-va ...by Published on April 4th, 2012 22:25- Categories:
- PS3 News
Jennifer Hale, voice of the female Commander Shepherd in theMass Effect series, has spoken for the first time about the furore surrounding the ending to Mass Effect 3.
Since the release last month of the final part of Bioware's sci-fi trilogy, the internet has been awash with ill-feeling over the apparently lacklustre end to the game. A campaign to pressure BioWare into changing the ending drew support from thousands of fans, raising $80,000 for gaming charity Child's Play. In an interview on Tuesday, Hale broke her silence on the matter.
"I was surprised about the level of passion about the ending," she said. "But there's something really great about that, too: It says people are invested and they really care and they don't want to let go, which is awesome because I don't, either."
Hale says she knows nothing of what's coming in the new content that BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka says will address people's complaints over the game's ending. She hasn't been contacted by the team, hasn't had a recording session, or been given any indication that she will be needed for this new content.
However, she would be happy to oblige in the case that changes. Hale admits that regardless of whether she utters another word as FemShep again, she's pretending there's going to be more Mass Effect ahead because "I prefer to live in denial about it because it makes me too sad.
"I have mixed feelings about [the prospect of a new ending]," she admits. "I really respect the team and what they did and how hard they worked. And endings are hard! They're cutting new ground; the players are so involved in this game that to come up with an ending to something everyone's got their hand in is a huge challenge.
"So maybe it's going to take a little work to get everything sorted in a way that's going to make everybody happy."
When asked if she had any idea how developer Bioware might respond if fans don't care for the second stab at the ending, Hale laughed and said: "I don't know. Thank God I'm not a writer!"
http://www.edge-online.com/news/jenn...ffect-3-ending ...- Search DCEmu
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