via Games Industry


The simExchange, an online prediction market for videogames, has released its latest report estimating September sales of USD 630 million [£310m], up 41 per cent year over year.

Analyst Jesse Divnich believes that Nintendo's Wii will be the top-selling console, moving approximately 485,000 units despite the release of Halo 3. Microsoft's Xbox 360 sales will be close, however, at an estimated 423,000 units sold.

Sony's PlayStation 3 is estimated to have sold 164,000 units in September.

In the portable market, simExchange has the PSP selling 284,000 units compared to sales of 501,000 Nintendo DS handhelds. Divinich believes that the introduction of the PSP "lite" is growing the portables market, but is not cannibalizing DS sales.

Halo 3 is, of course, the best-selling title of September, with an estimated 2,980,000 copies sold. Other Xbox 360 titles with notable sales in September include Bioshock, Madden NFL 08, and Stranglehold.

Nintendo's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is estimated to have sold 267,000 copies in September.

Heavenly Sword was the PS3's top-selling title, with an estimated 182,000 copies sold, compared to 96,000 copies of Lair. In Divnich's analysis, PS3 exclusive titles do not move hardware.

For October, The simExchange is predicting software sales of USD 554 million, which would be a 50 per cent increase from 2006.

People have already made up their mind regarding the console they are going to buy this holiday season, says Divnich, and they will be buying the Wii.


Gamers, developers, and investors trade stock on the simExchange market to predict how well games will sell. Unit sales forecasts are taken from this trading, not from an individual analyst employing conventional means of forecasting. ...

via Eurogamer


Eidos has said that the Xbox 360 version of Tomb Raider: Anniversary will be in European shops next Friday.

But, if you don't want to move, then you can wait until November when you will be able to download it from Xbox Live in two episodic instalments for a total of 2400 points (GBP 20 / EUR 28).

Each of these will have two chapters and the mansion level bundled in, but you will need to be an owner of the Tomb Raider: Legend disc to be able to download them.

Anniversary is a remake of the very first game responsible for rocketing Tomb Raider to worldwide success, which eventually prompted Hollywood to make a film based around it starring big-lips Jolie.

The PlayStation 2 and PC version came out back in May, and bowled us over with its back-to-its-roots approach, restating why most of us fell in love with Lara in the first place.

Those of you with a 360 will likely enjoy slightly polished-up graphics, as well as some picture packs and other Live guffery to go with it. ...

via Games Industry


NCsoft's director of product development believes Home's fortunes are dependent on PlayStation 3's installed base, and not the other way around.

Thomas Bidaux told GamesIndustry.biz that Home is "very interesting", but he believes it will "remain quite limited" unless it offers something significant beyond customisation of avatars.

He is also unconvinced that it will encourage take-up of the console. "One of the limitations is linked to the PlayStation 3 - so the success of Home is 100 per cent tied to the PS3's penetration into the market," he said.


Bidaux also made the point that Sony's history of keeping a console on the market for a significant length of time, and its strength as a hardware company, were critical to

NCsoft's decision to partner with the company on a range of games.


Bidaux also acknowledged that both Sony and Microsoft's hardware strategies are "valid" and "interesting" in their own ways, and agreed that people probably get a bit carried away trying to compare them.

The full exclusive GamesIndustry.biz interview is available now. ...

via Eurogamer


Sony has revealed that it will be treating you to an episodic comedy series of games for PS3 called Rat Race.

It is being developed by Super-Ego Games to be available from the PlayStation Store, and features voices from real life funny people who have appeared in South Park, Flight of the Concords, Sex and the City, My Name is Earl, Ugly Betty, Comedy Central and more.

The story is based around the dysfunctional office of a company called BiggCo, where employees are all larger than life characters: the outrageously hot PR [staff writer - Ed], the jobs-worth who is focused on getting you fired, and a mad research scientist who spends too much time with his monkey.

You simply have to make it through the day, calling on all sorts of on-the-job-acquired talents like stealing, eavesdropping and sneaking to help you along the way.

For Super-Ego co-founder Greg Easley the aim is to make you feel part of your favourite telly sitcom, although that "doesn't do it justice".

The first episode is expected to be available in the US this winter.

We are still waiting for Sony Europe to tell us if and when we can expect it here.


Screenshots ...

via Computer and Video Games


Resistance: Fall of Man 2 is being "tentatively" prepared for launch next November, relocating the World War II-era alien-bashing action to American locations like San Francisco and Chicago as the Chimera invasion hits US shores. Beats Grimsby and Hull...

Sergeant Nathan Hale, star of the original game, will allegedly return - though not necessarily in the leading role. Multiplayer matches are said to feature vehicles, including three brand new aircraft. Even better, there's a cliffhanger ending that sets up a third title in the series.

A sequel's hardly surprising given Insomniac's history-bending battler was one of PS3's better games at launch, though this infoburst certainly ain't official.

No, it comes courtesy of our new favourite industry tipster, the memorably named Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars blog.

You may it remember from such revelations such as LA Noire being too big for Xbox 360... ...

via Kotaku


The PS3 innards? Fantastic. The outer shell? Hrm. As a straight up piece of hardware, the PS3 is impressive. That glossy dust-collecting Victorian waffle iron-shaped shell isn't. Though! Sony was trying to do something different than you typical game console. Just listen to Sony designer Teiyu Goto explain it:


There is a reason, you know, that shape and that material aren't used in conventional appliances. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Film executives are blaming Halo 3 for lower than expected October Box Office numbers, which on the weekend of the 5th were down a whopping 27 percent from the same time last year.

Many film executives, reports Advertising Age, are convinced that punters stayed indoors to play Master Chief's latest, which let's not forget broke all box office records by making $170 million on its first day. It's now gone on to sell well over $300 million.

Ben Stiller's new offering, The Heartbreak Kid (which cost $60 million to make) was expected to clear $20 million in its opening weekend, instead it made only $14 million. Execs blame the Chief.


In its first week of release more than 2.7 million Xbox 360 owners played Halo 3 online - that's more than a third of all Xbox Live subscribers worldwide.

So you can see why a good portion of 18-34s were busy shooting people in the face rather than watching Ben Stiller.

Microsoft is apparently not surprised either: "We marketed it like a film," said Josh Goldberg, a product manager at Microsoft, adding, "and now, we're just as big or bigger than film."

We're starting to think its time to pack this journalist lark in, and sell bootleg Master Chief shirts out the back of a VW. Who's with us? ...

via Computer and Video Games


It's been a while since we've had a bit of (supposed) GTA IV leakage, but now US site GamerNode has piped up with new details apparently originating at a PlayStation event in Toronto.

The PlayStation Holiday Preview Event (as they're calling it) apparently had Rockstar drop a few more GTA details while showcasing Manhunt 2 to Canadian punters.

Supposedly Rockstar is aiming for support for up to 16 players in the fourth instalment's online multiplayer mode, which should excite anyone who's played the excellent wi-fi deathmatch in any of the PSP versions.

Supposedly the developer has also been busy testing various plots and even considered having the entire game world unlocked from the beginning. But that goes against the series' tradition of having you unlock districts through story progression.

Rockstar wasn't able to comment on the info when we picked up the phone, but we reckon it's probably safe to assume there'll be an ample number of players supported in GTA IV anyway. It's out in Q1, if you'd forgotten. ...

via Games Industry


Electronic Arts' FIFA 08 remains at number one in the UK all-formats charts this week, reflecting the success it enjoys elsewhere in Europe.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 racer Project Gotham Racing 4 makes a strong debut at number two, nudging another format exclusive, Halo 3, to three.

THQ's movie tie-in Ratatouille jumps up the charts from eight to four as it piggybacks the building momentum for the well-received Disney/Pixar film

EA's MySims for the Wii and the multiformat Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 are at five and six, respectively, while THQ's Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights drops from number three to seven.

Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man climbs back into the top ten at eight, while Nintendo's Wii Play and Dr Kawashima's Brain Training finish off the top ten at nine and ten, respectively.

The only other new entry in the charts this week is Vivendi's Crash of the Titans at 19.

The new price and SKU for the PlayStation 3 seems to have helped improve software sales for Sony, with Heavenly Sword re-entering the top 40 at 14 and MotorStorm climbing from 23 to 18. ...