DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
November 8th, 2012
by Published on November 9th, 2012 12:50- Categories:
- DCEmu
The NPD Group has released its October US retail report, showing another major YOY decline in overall sales.
The market saw a 25 per cent drop to $755.5m for the period compared to the $1bn made in October 2011.
The group is quick to point out that the data only makes up around 50 per cent of the total consumer spend, with plans for a full Q4 US Games Market Dynamic report that will include digital and other non-retail figures.
They also believe that despite the overall decline, the month to month numbers indicate momentum as the end of the year approaches.
“While we saw declines in hardware unit sales across all platforms year-over-year, when looking at average sales per week versus September, several consoles realized higher sales: The 360, PS3, NDS and 3DS. This is a sign of increasing momentum as we move into the holiday season,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
Hardware sales accounted for $187.3m during the month, a decrease of 37 per cent from the $295.9m earned in the same period last year.
Xbox 360 came out ahead yet again, selling 270,000 units during the period and claiming over 40 per cent of the market in its division for the 20th consecutive month according to Major Nelson.
Accessories continue to be fueled by Skylanders, showing a five per cent increase over October 2011 with $135.6m this time around versus $129.6m.
Software sales were down by 25 per cent overall, $432.6m compared to $576.8m in October 2011 – though portable software sales specifically showed a 37 per cent growth.
NBA 2K13 finished ahead on the top ten games, as the game according to Callahan: "outsold last year's 2K12 by over 60 per cent in both dollars and units."
Here’s the top ten for the month:
- NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PC)
- Resident Evil 6 (360, PS3)
- Pokémon Black Version 2 (NDS)
- Dishonored (360, PS3, PC)
- Pokémon White Version 2 (NDS)
- Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV)
- FIFA Soccer 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, 3DS, PSP)
- Medal of Honor: Warfighter (360, PS3, PC)
- Borderlands 2 (360, PS3, PC)
- Skylander Giants (Wii, 360, PS3, 3DS)
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/npd-o...-again/0106028 ...by Published on November 9th, 2012 12:46- Categories:
- Retro Consoles/Translation News
For those of you that like to play dance games, but [DDR] for the [PS2] uses too modern hardware for your tastes, [Hardsync] may be for you. Although the chiptune-style music coming out of the [C64] may not appeal to everyone, one would have to imagine that a game like this could have been a huge hit 30 years ago.
As for the hardware itself, it does indeed use one PS2 element, the dance mat. It’s hooked into one of the C64 joystick ports. In this case, the cable was cut, but it would also be possible to make a non-destructive adapter for it so as not to interfere with any future PS2 fun.
The program is made so that fellow retro-dancers can make their own songs. Each song is a discreet file, and can be reconfigured to your own personal mix. Be sure to check out the video after the break of this old-school dance machine in use after the break! Read the rest of this entry »
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/09/hards...d-for-the-c64/ ...by Published on November 9th, 2012 12:42- Categories:
- DCEmu
If you believe the boss of developer Crytek, then games consoles are facing a crisis.
The firm’s CEO Cevat Yerli says that its three upcoming console titles – Homefront 2, Crysis 3 and Ryse – will be its last £50 products. After then it’ll focus all its efforts on creating free-to-play games.
And he is adamant that if Sony and Microsoft don’t adapt to this new business model, then the console market will die.
“This will be the last console generation,” he tells MCV.
“If consoles don’t join free-to-play gaming aggressively from now on, then it will be outpaced by PC and mobile. If they don’t adapt they are not going to survive.”
Companies have tried to engage the platform holders in the past with its free titles. Cambridge-based Jagex has attempted to bring its free MMO RuneScape to consoles, but has met resistance.
“Free-to-play would have been huge on consoles if the console owners had embraced it,” says Jagex chief marketing officer David Solari.
“It’s still likely free-to-play will be a big part of the console offering in the future but they will need to adapt and be willing to allow their users to play with players on other platforms which seems to be a step too far currently – this was certainly the case for us when we were talking to them about RuneScape.”
FREE PLAYS
Sony and Microsoft are not oblivious to free-to-play. Microsoft has developed several freemium PC games, including Age of Empires Online and Microsoft Flight. And Sony’s PlayStation Home virtual world is built on that model. Only Nintendo has resisted the micro-transactions entirely – although the platform holder has developed free software in the past.
Yet this is beginning to change this Christmas. Both Xbox and PlayStation are making more tentative steps into the free-to-play market. Xbox has launched F2P game Happy Wars (although it requires an Xbox Live subscription so partially misses the point).
But the big one comes from Eve Online developer CCP, who are creating a free micro-transaction-based FPS called Dust 514 for PS3.
“Sony working with CCP and making that game is a great step forward, and they should be applauded,” adds Yerli. “If Sony embraces free-to-play as a major way for PlayStation, that could be the key console. I would love to see a generation that supports free-to-play, because we will support it.”
DUST-TO-DUST
David Reid is the chief marketing officer at CCP, and in many ways he is the ideal candidate to discuss freemium on consoles. Not only does he have extensive free-to-play experience from his stints at Trion Worlds and NCsoft, he is also a former marketing executive from Xbox.
“A lot of the big disruptions in our industry start on the PC,” observes Reid.
“It’s where online gaming began. It’s where genres like FPS were born. Clearly, it’s where the MMO was born. But over time some of these things get much bigger on the console and our belief has always been that free-to-play is going to be big on the console. We’re very pleased to be in a position to be first with a big triple-A game out there. We look at 2013 and expect there will be a lot more. It won’t be such a new idea next year.”
Early signs suggest that Reid is correct. Shortly after we spoke to CCP, Sony announced that its SingStar series will be adopting a freemium-style business model.
Reid believes Sony’s aggression in this area will pay dividends for the platform holder.
“It is always natural that the challenger in the console business is going to be more ambitious and take a few more risks than the leader. Last generation I was at Xbox and we were having our arses handed to us three to one. And Xbox was the one that was trying to do these crazy new things, what with Xbox Live and working with developers and their different ways. Five years later, things have changed and now Sony is being more aggressive and thinking more about how things are going forward. It is a very cyclical business and it feels like we are coming around to another big turn again.”
There are still some challenges around free-to-play on console, such as the need to migrate customers from one generation to the next, plus the ability to play with gamers on other platforms.
But these issues are being addressed. Sony and Microsoft may be late to the party, but they’re catching up.
Reid concludes: “I think in the console space it was hard for some of the big publishers to get their brains around it until they saw some of the PC success stories, like League of Legends and World of Tanks.
“So now the console guys are saying that this is a big opportunity. You can argue that if they had a way to monetise Call of Duty differently, then you’d have a lot more people playing and a lot of people willing to pay more than $60.
“It is a bit of a foreign concept, having a game with five or 10 million players, with 80-plus per cent never spending any money. In the console space that has never happened. But we are seeing the change happen. We are living it right now. It happens faster on the PC than on the console, ...by Published on November 8th, 2012 23:07- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
The recording and broadcasting of gameplay footage is getting easier all the time, as we pointed out in our look at two new capture devices from Hauppage and Roxio. Today it’s become even easier for those on PC, with the latest update to EA’s Origin platform allowing players to live stream gameplay footage to Twitch TV. Activision has since confirmed that those on consoles will be able to do the same to YouTube when Call Of Duty: Black Ops II releases next week....
http://www.edge-online.com/news/the-...eal-announced/by Published on November 8th, 2012 23:04- Categories:
- PS3 News
Inspired by the Grand Theft Auto IV DLC expansions The Lost And Damned and The Ballad Of Gay Tony, the game will feature three customisable protagonists (pictured on the magazine cover) between whom players can switch at will. Also revealed are the first details on mission design – confirming that there will be several “multi-tiered” heist missions, building on Three Leaf Clover, arguably GTA IV’s finest hour – as well as the host of side missions and activities players will be able to get up to in Los Santos’ huge, varied sprawl....
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