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by Published on April 13th, 2011 21:40- Categories:
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Black Ops beats Avatar and Take That, nine video games in the Entertainment Top 40
3.3 million copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops were sold in 2010, making it the most successful entertainment property of the year, according to ERA.
The game beat the DVD/Blu-ray of Avatar, which sold 3m units since launch. The highest charted music CD was Take That’s Progress in fifth place, which shifted over 1.9m units.
Other big video game hits include EA’s FIFA 11 in third place, which sold 2.4m units last year, while both Just Dance and Just Dance 2 are in the Top 40. Together both games sold through 2.2m units at retail.
The Top Three products in the Top 40 impressively outsold their 2009 counterparts. Black Ops sold 340,000 more copies in its first few months than Modern Warfare 2 managed during the same period, while FIFA 11 sold 235,000 more units in Q4 2010 than FIFA 10 did during Q4 2009.
Meanwhile, Avatar sold 800,000 more discs than 2009’s biggest movie, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince.
Overall the chart features 18 DVDs, 13 albums and nine video games. Total sales of all 40 products reached 47.47m units, which is in-line with the sales achieved in 2009.
Here is a full list of the Top 40 best-selling entertainment products in 2010:
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops [Activision Blizzard] – 3,266,298
2. Avatar [20th Century Fox] – 3,001,769
3. FIFA 11 [Electronic Arts] – 2,390,231
4. Toy Story 3 [Walt Disney Studios] – 2,082,461
5. Progress (Take That) [Universal Music] – 1,933,205
6. The Twilight Saga: New Moon [Entertainment One] – 1,889,187
7. The Twlight Saga: Eclipse [Entertainment One] – 1,334,490
8. Inception [Warner Home Video] – 1,328,290
9. Just Dance [Ubisoft] – 1,305,338
10. 2012 [Sony Pictures] – 1,298,705
11. Crazy Love (Michael Buble) [Warner Music] – 1,289,304
12. Now That’s What I Call Music 77 [EMI Music/UniversalMusic] – 1,255,006
13. The Hurt Locker [Elevation Sales] – 1,247,604
14. Up [Walt Disney Studios] – 1,236,066
15. Sherlock Holmes [Warner Home Video] – 1,217,637
16. Red Dead Redemption [Take-Two] – 1,135,559
17. The Fame (Lady Gaga) [Universal Music] – 1,104,504
18. The Hangover [Warner Home Video] – 1,024,546
19. Alice In Wonderland [Walt Disney Studios] – 943,220
20. Shrek Forever After - The Final Chapter [Paramount] – 928,726
21. Wii Fit Plus [Nintendo] – 920,811
22. Just Dance 2 [Ubisoft ] – 903,866
23. Loud (Rihanna) [Universal Music] – 881,588
24. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood [Ubisoft] – 880,755
25. The Defamation of Strickland Banks (Plan B) [Warner Music] – 867,698
26. Nanny McPhee & The Big Bang [Universal Pictures] – 831,572
27. Iron Man 2 [Paramount] – 826,595
28. Wii Sports Resort [Nintendo] – 818,554
29. Now That’s What I Call Music 76 [EMI Music/UniversalMusic] – 807,764
30. Sunny Side Up (Paolo Nutini) [Warner Music] – 807,751
31. The Element of Freedom (Alicia Keys) [Sony Music] – 806,340
32. Lungs (Florence & The Machine) [Universal Music] – 789,847
33. District 9 [Sony Pictures] – 781,336
34. Halo: Reach [Microsoft] – 781,331
35. Alvin & The Chipmunks – The Squeakquel [20th Century Fox] – 781,327
36. Clash Of The Titans [Warner Home Video] – 766,681
37. Sex And The City 2 [Warner Home Video] – 765,961
38. Recovery (Eminem) [Universal Music] – 764,875
39. Sign No More (Mumford & Sons) [Universal Music] – 746,461
40. Come Around Sundown (Kings of Leon) [Sony Music] – 729,001
Total: 47,472,262 units
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43951/COD-...roduct-of-2010
...by Published on April 12th, 2011 22:57- Categories:
- DCEmu
An opinion piece at Rock, Paper, Shotgun questions whether the way we classify video games limits creativity and innovation in game development. "If the next Modern Warfare introduced dramatically different themes, there would be uproar. Sure, set it on the moon, but make sure I’m a grunt following the NPCs who get to play the game, or I’ll swear at you on the internet." The author suggests that the rise of casual games may in part be attributable to their creators' willingness to break with established themes and blend together different types of play. "There's huge risk to blurring. It makes the game more difficult to market, it defies customers’ expectations, and it requires educating the public. It’s safe to make yet another COD clone, because we all know them and what they do. And they're what we want! But like the child who's never tried a new food, refusing to eat it because it's different leads to a very limited and dull palate."
http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/0...Or-Restrictive ...by Published on April 12th, 2011 22:49- Categories:
- DCEmu
Minister claims changes to games classification would create new opportunities
The Australian minister for home affair Brendan O’Connor believes that the adoption of an R18+ rating would create new jobs for the country’s games industry.
He was speaking to students at the University of Ballarat, where he claimed that future generations would benefit from the new opportunities that would appear across development, distribution and retail, according to GameSpot.
“An adult classification for video games will provide better guidance for parents and remove unsuitable material from children and teenagers,” he said.
“It will also create further opportunities for Australian computer game developers, distributors and retailers. We want to create opportunities for our young people in diverse parts of the economy.”
A consultation on whether or not the country will introduce an R18+ rating was due to take place last month. It has been delayed until July.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43936/AUST...ll-create-jobs
...by Published on April 11th, 2011 19:14- Categories:
- DCEmu
Fate of the World developer Red Redemption believes that serious games - those that tackle real-world issues and aim to educate as well as entertain - can be done on a commercial scale, making them a viable business for publishers that are becoming increasingly risk averse.
However, as with all game development it's a struggle to realise the final product. Red Redemption spent as much as £200,000 raising £1 million from investors, faced death threats over the subject matter and had to work the system in order to score more finance through the R&D tax credits offered by the UK government, according to CEO Klaude Thomas.
You'd have a really hard time getting funding this way from a fantasy game or sci-fi game.
Klaude Thomas, Red Redemption
"I just felt that there was there was a market here, and it was actually feasible to develop serious games commercially," said Thomas, of his decision to leave big budget games development and enter the serious games market.
"We're still a way from quite proving that, but I think it's a high concept that I'd like to prove. We'd also like to get into a position where we can ourselves sponsor other projects in this area - that would be incredible."
As big publishers aren't yet convinced enough to invest in serious games, the easiest route to finance is through venture capitalists, according to Thomas, who warned of the high costs involved in raising money.
"Altogether, we raised about £1 million, but we didn't spend all of that on the game. I would guess that we spent at least £100,000 or £200,000 just on raising the money and administrating that," he said in an interview published today.
"This is a really important thing if anyone else is thinking of raising money this way. It takes a lot of work and time and money to do the administration. We spent quite a lot of legal and setting up our licenses and distributor. We spent something - not enough, probably! - on promotion. All told, we probably spent £500,000 or £600,000 on developing the game itself, probably about £400,000 on other things."
Red Redemption took advantage of R&D tax credits offered by the government in an environment otherwise deemed "terrible" for game development.
"That's quite an important component - that's usually enough money to run the studio for a few months. It's very important to do, and to be very assiduous about, and that will be more so in future.
"The UK is basically a terrible place to do games development work in terms of any advantages from tax and so on, but our experience has been that HMRC has been basically very cool to deal with on the R&D at least."
Thomas also believes that an interest in Fate of the World's climate change subject matter helped score the VC investment.
"No-one ever came by and put money in without looking at the business plan and what they might receive and return, but equally I don't think anyone came to us looking solely at making a straight game investment.
"It's definitely because of the hook, because it was of interest to the wider society. It wouldn't even necessarily need to be climate change, but I bet you'd have a really hard time getting funding this way from a fantasy game or sci-fi game."
Red Redemption has encountered some resistance from those that consider serious subjects inappropriate for videogames, but they are in the minority, according to Thomas.
"We had one person saying that we should either be locked up or executed. And we've had some people quite against the whole idea, but that's really the minority. I would say less than 5 per cent of respondents. Most people have been really positive about it."
As Red Redemption now looks to take Fate of the World to other formats - Mac, Android and iPad - Thomas highlighted the opportunity for game developers to make serious games where currently there is enthusiasm from academics who don't necessarily have the right background.
"I looked at a lot of serious games at the time, and essentially most of them were taking a subject and pushing it onto a game. That's not really the right way to do it. The gameplay has to emerge out of the subject, ideally, or map very tightly to it.
"I think that's because a lot of the serious games community are not people who are out the outset game-makers, but they might have been teachers, or someone with a particular interest in a subject. So what they're doing is often not really doing the job of fabricating a game, but taking a dressing of a topic or political point and then lying that onto an existing game - that might not produce a very good mapping.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...red-redemption
...by Published on April 11th, 2011 15:13- Categories:
- DCEmu
The newly streamlined Grammys are to consider video games as a medium on par with television and cinema in four major award categories.
"I think this could be viewed as a first step in the direction of video games getting their own category," said Bill Freimuth of The Recording Academy to IndustryGamers.
"Many people from the game community have been asking us to create a special category for games over the years, but the main reason we haven't is because we have received very few entries from game publishers."
Previously video game soundtracks were eligible for consideration in certain categories at the Grammys, but only as "other visual media". Now the award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media names the following applicable media: "Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media".
The Music for Visual Media, Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, and Best Song Written for Visual Media are also described in the same way.
"This acknowledges that film, TV and games can stand side by side and be independently recognised," said Steve Schnur, worldwide executive for music at Electronic Arts. "Hopefully, this will create an even playing field when people vote next year. I expect there to be a tidal wave of submissions from the game industry."
Crysis and Fallout: New Vegas composer Inon Zur has led a movement within the games industry to encourage The Recording Academy to recognise games as an equal with cinema and television.
"Games today are a huge part of the entertainment industry and the music scores being created for them are very unique sounding in many cases compared to film," said Zur.
"I believe that music for games has to take its own place from other genres to gain respect by the mainstream audience and the Grammy category will help achieve this."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...sed-at-grammys
...by Published on April 10th, 2011 19:32- Categories:
- DCEmu
A secret memo released online by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in its 'Vault' has emerged as proof for the famed landing -- or crash or capture -- of a flying saucer with three dead aliens in Roswell in New Mexico in June 1947.
The memo, titled 'Flying Saucers', was written by FBIagent Guy Hottel. The decades-old memo, which was published by the FBI in its 'Vault,' says "three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico', citing an Air Force investigator.
The memo also says the investigator passed on the information to a special agent. Hottel says this about the flying saucer: "They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter." "Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall."
Newspapers were awash with news of the alien sighting, and headlines said a flying saucer has been captured with three dead aliens. Subsequently, photographs of three aliens, who were much like human beings in shape but shorter in frame, emerged along with reports that the dead foreigners' bodies had been autopsied.
The newly emerged Hottel memo also describes the alien bodies found in the flying disc. It says the bodies were "dressed in a metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed flyers and test pilots."
Initially the military released a statement saying the rumors concerning alien sightings in New Mexico has turned out real with the crash of the flying disc.
"The many rumours regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence officer of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc," the military statement said.
Rumors flew thick and fast that the U.S. military had captured aliens who frequently visited the area, fuelling fears of aliens and theories about alien invasion.
But the military immediately backtracked, saying what it had reported as a flying disc with aliens just hours earlier was indeed a weather balloon that crashed in the area. Although the issue died down immediately, theories of a government cover-up of the alien landing resurfaced strongly in the 1970s. Many people believed that the U.S. government covered up the alien issue in order to prevent public panic and since it did not have clear clues as to how to deal with this new, strange problem.
Emboldening the conspiracy theory of the government cover-up, the Hottel memo says there were no further investigations into the incident though the air force investigator passed on the information to a secret agent.
Hottel's explanation that possibly the flying saucer was brought down, or crash-landed, also gives credence to some of the conspiracy theories. He states that, according the informant, the "very high-powered radar set-up in that area" set up by the government may have interfered with the "controlling mechanism of the saucers."
The Roswell incident was forgotten by contemporary people but it resurfaced strongly in the 1970s when serious UFO researchers scanned the issue once again.
Here's some history from Wikipedia: "...in 1978, physicist and ufologist Stanton T. Friedman interviewed Major Jesse Marcel who was involved with the original recovery of the debris in 1947. Marcel expressed his belief that the military had covered up the recovery of an alien spacecraft. His story spread through UFO circles, being featured in some UFO documentaries at the time."
Again, in February 1980, The National Enquirer ran its own interview with Marcel, garnering national and worldwide attention for the Roswell incident.
The release of secret documents from FBI's records will certainly enliven the UFO debate once again. While releasing the document the FBI has said the contents of the memos may not reflect the agency's current beliefs and positions.
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/13252...dies-crash.htm
...by Published on April 9th, 2011 20:50- Categories:
- DCEmu
In last week's mailbox feature Dan Marshasked when Microsoft planned to release a real game made specifically for the core Xbox 360 crowd as well as providing his thoughts on the Kinect hardware and launch line-up.
This week Pete e-mailed Games Master and let them know exactly what he thinks of hackers. Do you agree? Let us know in the comments below.
To have your letter featured on CVG's Mailbox, drop us a line.
I read an article about some guy hacking the PS3. Who the hell does he think he is? What right does he have?
These hackers and pirates are a parasite on everything. Don't these people realise that it will only make the prices worse for everybody as Sony try to block them out?
It's stealing whichever way you cut it - they're taking money from the people that earned it. The sad reality is that they will always be around.<./i>
GM says: Piracy (like violence in games) is such a massive debate for the small space we have here. But we don't condone it, so we agree.
And arguments like 'it gets gamers playing things they wouldn't normally' or that 'pirates buy more games per year than other gamers so compensate for the impact stealing games has on the industry' just don't wash with us.
CVG says: This is a touchy subject. Piracy is bad, regardless of how you spin it, putting it simply it allows people to use and enjoy products without giving their creators their fair do's. And we can all agree that's not on.
The problem is that the overall issue is far more complex than most of us would care to think about. Hackers argue they aren't doing it to make piracy easy, they're doing it to understand the system, provide additional features that could benefit the users and often invoke freedom of information as their driving purpose.
On the flip side platform holders, developers and publishers retort by saying regardless of the intentions it makes piracy possible and accessible, which not only prevents creators from benefiting from their work but breaches terms of use agreements and damages the health of the industry.
We don't see this Harvey Dent/Two-Face conundrum resolving itself any time soon.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...by Published on April 9th, 2011 09:23- Categories:
- DCEmu
The Nintendo DS is nothing more than a kids-only "babysitting tool", reckons Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton....
"Our view of the 'Game Boy experience' is that it's a great babysitting tool," Tretton said in a bruising chat with CNN, "something young kids do on airplanes, but no self-respecting 20-something is going to be sitting on an airplane with one of those. He's too old for that."
Elsewhere in the interview, Tretton also leveled his sights at the Wii and Xbox 360.
"They're starting to run out of steam now in terms of continuing to be relevant in 2011 and beyond," he insisted.
"I mean, you've gotta be kidding me. Why would I buy a gaming system without a hard drive in it? How does this thing scale? Motion gaming is cute, but if I can only wave my arms six inches, how does this really feel like I'm doing true accurate motion gaming?"
Sony, on the other hand, is all set, he claimed.
"If you're really going to sustain technology for a decade, you have to be cutting edge when you launch a platform.
"Here we are four years into the Playstation 3, and it's just hitting its stride. We'll enjoy a long downhill roll behind it because the technology that was so cutting edge in 2006 is extremely relevant today and is conspicuously absent in our competition."
According to a recent sales report, the global Wii install base currently sits at 75.5 million, with PlayStation 3 at 43.4 million and the Xbox 360 on 42.9 million.
As for Nintendo's babysitting tool, that's now sold around 145 million units, while Sony's PSP sits at 67 million.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...bysitting-toolby Published on April 8th, 2011 00:03- Categories:
- DCEmu
Developers' general reluctance to include sex scenes in their games is probably for the best, BioShock mastermind Ken Levine has claimed....
Only a small handful of studios have dared try, and for good reason, the Irrational Games boss explained in a VG247 interview.
"I think it's not about being interactive. I think it's more about people not understanding what it is," he said.
"If you think about the amount of, for example, nudity in a videogame... it's not even nudity. It's a puppet with its clothes off. There are other problems as well. It's kind of silly in videogames right now, because – again – puppets with their clothes off.
"It's more like Team America. The sex scene in Team America as opposed to, you know, the sex scene in Black Swan," he added.
Levine did however go on to argue that the fact that there is even a discussion on the topic shows that that the games industry is still suffering from an image problem.
"The fact that's even controversial says that the perception of the industry is that we're making toys or something, as opposed to making creative expressions for a range of audiences – including adults. I think there's still some prudishness.
"There's even some prudishness in the industry itself. I did an interview recently and someone pointed out, 'Ken, you use a lot of foul language.' And I was like, 'Jesus, come on. We're all big boys and girls here.' If I'm going to drop an F-bomb, I'm going to drop an F-bomb. I'm a big boy and I get to do that. It's one of the privileges of being an adult."
Levine's next game, the presumably copulation-free BioShock Infinite, is due on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 some time next year.by Published on April 4th, 2011 17:32- Categories:
- DCEmu
West and Zampella could co-own the franchise if they win lawsuit, lawyer claims
Activision would lose partial ownership of the Modern Warfare IP if it fails in its legal battle with former employees, reports suggest.
The California publisher is deep in a bitter lawsuit involving a group of former Infinity Ward employees, led by ousted studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West, as well as Rival publisher EA.
Now a lawyer representing West and Zampella has claimed Activision would co-own the Modern Warfare IP if it lost the upcoming court case.
The legal representative, who wasn’t named, told Gamespot that West and Zampella are seeking to invalidate a contract the pair had made with Activision.
“If granted, Activision would co-own the Modern Warfare brand with Vince and Zampella, which would give the two the right to release their own copies of the game,” the Gamespot report read.
[TIMELINE: The Infinity Ward / Activision / EA lawsuit]
The lawyer was also paraphrased as claiming a voided contract “would also give West and Zampella the right to create new games in the Modern Warfare franchise”.
West and Zampella have demanded “in excess of $36 million” from Activision in punitive damages, having been dismissed from the Infinity Ward studio in March 2010. They have been accused of “insubordination”.
Activision recently succeeded in throwing rival publisher Electronic Arts into own counter suit against West and Zampella.
The publisher is suing EA for an extraordinary $400 million, following accusations that the accused had deceitfully tried to hire Zampella and West while they were working for Activision.
Last week West and Zampella added two counts of fraud to their original complaint. The pair claim to have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Activision, but do not believe Activision intended to keep them working at the company.
The pair say they signed a Memorandum of Understanding “under the assumption that they would operate as an independent studio” – something which they believe had not been honoured.
A trial is due to take place later in the year.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...rom-Activision
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