News from Play Asia

Welcome to this week's Movie/Music news roundup, containing all new Japanese and Hong Kong Video and Music releases from this week listed at Play-Asia.com. Around 150 new items are covered in this week, including new J-Pop, Anime as well as Japanese, Hong Kong and Western movie releases and much more.

Here's a summary of all new releases that were published between Saturday, May 12th and Friday, May 18th. If some specific item that you are looking for is missing, please don't hesitate to contact our customer service with your request.

J-Pop Music releases (81)
Anime Soundtracks & Drama CDs (9)
Video Game Soundtracks (1)
Hong Kong Version Music releases (5)
Blu-Ray Disc Movies (6)
HD DVD Movies (1)
Hong Kong Version Movie releases (18)
Japanese Movies (5)
Non-Japanese Movies / Japanese Version (23)
Anime DVD releases (5)
J-Pop DVD releases (2)
Idol DVD (10) ...

Electronic Arts' international publishing boss, Gerhard Florin, has declared that Europe is key to determining who will win the battle of the next-generation consoles.

Speaking at the Reuters Technology, Media and Telecoms summit, as reported by News.com, Florin said, "I believe the biggest fight will be in Europe. Whoever wins the hardware war in Europe, most likely will be the overall winner."

According to Florin, there will be an increased emphasis on narrative and the emotional experience of playing games once the focus has shifted away from hardware horsepower.

"Everybody gets carried away with the technology. When the technology gets more usable... Then the story tellers get more to the forefront," he said.

"My hope is, but I can't tell you when it will be, that we reach the peak in perfection so that the consumer doesn't see the difference in technology anymore - then it is a pure race for entertainment."

However, Florin said, when it comes to mobile phone gaming there are still technical challenges to overcome - and the amount of money to be made will depend on the audience demographic.

"If new consumers come in, they might not react to new hardware in the same way as the core gamers who go for bits and bytes and have to have the latest processor power," he observed

via gibiz ...

Microsoft's Peter Moore has paid tribute to Rare's recent product history, defending the developer against claims that its output has struggled to keep touch with the critical and commercial successes of its work prior to its acquisition by the Xbox platform holder.

Xbox 360 launch titles Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power had a "platform-driving presence", Moore, who is Microsoft's corporate vice president of entertainment and devices, told Newsweek.

"It signalled that this wasn't going to be the same as Xbox 1, which was dominated by Mature-rated games, if you will, and for many people will go down in history as the Halo box or the shooter box.

“Kameo was very important. Kameo has done well; Perfect Dark Zero hit our expectations from a sales point of view; but these were two launch titles - and in Kameo's case, brand new intellectual property - that allowed us to get where we needed to go very, very quickly," detailed Moore.

Moore went on to say that while he felt Rare's strength was in titles for broad audiences, he wouldn't rule out more mature titles from the developer just because Bungie and Epic Games seem to give Microsoft the edge in that area already.

"We always allow them the reins to sit down with us when we do concept reviews and allow their creativity to say, 'Here's something three of us have been working on. We've got an idea, and we'd like to prototype this out.'"

via gibiz ...

SCEA boss Jack Tretton has questioned whether Xbox 360 has enough power to take part in a Folding@Home-style initiative - saying he'd be "very disappointed" if the company is just seeking out good PR.

Folding@Home enables multiple, connected PlayStation 3s to calculate data which is used in medical research at Stanford University. As reported earlier this month, Xbox boss Peter Moore suggested Microsoft may be interested in launching a similar initiative, stating, "If we truly believe that we can in some way marshal the resources of a much larger installed base of Xbox 360 owners, with a processor that's of equal power to the PS3, then you have my commitment that we'll look at that."

Speaking to GamePro, Tretton questioned Microsoft's intentions: "Let's face it, if your motivation is for PR, to me, that's a little shallow. We go out of our way, correctly so, to make sure that we don't try to sell PS3s on Folding@Home.

"I think to look at it as a marketing platform is something that a company certainly wouldn't want to do. I'm certainly not insinuating that's Microsoft's motivation, but I'm not even sure how relevant it is to what we're doing. Would they be even having this conversation if we weren't doing it? I don't know."

Tretton went on to query whether Xbox 360 is even powerful enough to take part in such a project, stating, "I would guess that the medical community would take help from anywhere they could get it, but the commentary that I heard is that Stanford isn't sure that [the Xbox 360's processing abilities] would help them very much. Which is odd to me because if it helped at all, it seems like they would welcome it with open arms.

"It's really ugly territory to get into, but let's take fighting a disease and see if we can get some credit for that," he continued.

"It's not a cool game to play one way or the other so I don't want to even give the impression that that's our motivation, and I'd be very disappointed if they're looking for PR value or to try to suck off some of the goodwill that we're doing."

via gibiz ...

Japanese hardware data for the week ended May 13 reveals that sales are down across the board, as the region recovers from the traditionally busy Golden Week holidays.

However, as in other regions, the Nintendo DS is still the best-selling console, managing 163,824 units, with the Wii picking up 52,544 units, according to data from Media Create.

Sales of Sony's PSP amounted to a further 34,433 units, the PlayStation 2 registered 10,414 units and the PlayStation 3 sold 8,839 units.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 only managed 2105 units while the GameCube sold 315 units.

via gibiz ...

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has warned that Sony will have to make difficult decisions regarding the PS3's price point if sales of the console are to improve.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz Pachter said, "I think Sony's strategy of including a Blu-ray drive and a microprocessor that will stand up to ten more years of technological advances may have been overly ambitious - given that they have so far asked consumers to pay for the high definition movie option and to help finance development of the Cell."

Pachter's comments came after NPD released US sales figures for April, revealing that although PS2 and PSP are selling well the Game Boy Advance is proving more popular than PlayStation 3.

"It's not good news for Sony that most consumers are balking at paying the prices asked for PS3s," Pachter said.

"Sony has to make a choice between subsidising the Blu-ray and cell costs, or waiting until their production costs drop. It's more likely than not that they will break with tradition and cut prices below manufacturing costs."

So far Sony has offered no hint as to when a price cut for PlayStation 3 might be announced. Pachter offered, "My guess is that this will happen at E3 in July, but one never knows with Sony."

via gibiz ...

The latest NPD sales figures show continuing dominance for Nintendo as the GBA outsells Sony's PS3 - but its predecessor, PlayStation 2, is still doing better than Xbox 360.

NPD data for April reveals that at the Nintendo DS is at the top of the pile with 471,000 units sold. The supply-constrained Wii shifted 360,000 units.

Nearer the bottom of the hardware market is Sony's recently released PlayStation 3 which has sold 82,000 units in the past month, while the ageing Game Boy Advance outsold the next-gen console by 2000 units.

However, Sony's PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable continue to perform well in the market, with sales of 194,000 units and 183,000 respectively.

Which means they're both outselling Microsoft's next-gen console - Xbox 360 recorded 174,000 sales in April, while the GameCube also scored 13,000 sales.

Thanks to the impressive performance of the Wii and DS, overall hardware and software sales were up 20 per cent to USD 839 million (EUR 621m), although overall game sales were down 1 per cent to USD 399 million (EUR 295m).

Nintendo also scored the top four best-selling games for April, with Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl for the DS at the top of the charts, selling 1.045 million and 712,000 units respectively.

Super Paper Mario sold 352,000 copies while Wii Play recorded 249,000 sales in April.

Activision's phenomenon Guitar Hero II enjoyed lead sales on the Xbox 360 in April, with 197,000 units sold, while the PlayStation 2 version racked up 142,000 copies, an impressive number considering the game was released on the format in November last year.

Again, Activision's version of Spider-Man 3 lead on Xbox 360, recording 117,000 sales, with the PS2 version shifting 105,000 units.

PlayStation 2 hit God of War II scored 101,000 sales while Sony's MLB '07: The Show sold 79,000 units.

Portable hardware and software sales for the month of April were both up on the previous year, with hardware rising 43 per cent to USD 99 million (EUR 73m) and software up 61 per cent to USD 141.5 million (EUR 104m).

Console hardware was also up due to higher prices to USD 239.4 million (EUR 177m) or 56 per cent, although software sales were down 19 per cent to USD 248.3 million (EUR 183m).

According to the NPD data, hardware sales to date have reached 38.2 million units in the US, with the GameBoy Advance reaching 35.7 million sales.

Sales of the Nintendo DS have reached 10.9 million while the PlayStation Portable has reached 7.4 million units sold to date.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 has so far sold 5.4 million units, with the Nintendo Wii at 2.5 million and Sony's PlayStation 3 with 1.3 million sales.

Meanwhile, Canadian NPD figures reveal that similar market tastes also centre around Nintendo with the Wii and DS the most popular hardware, recording sales of 42,100 and 34,900 systems sold, respectively.

Again, Canadian software sales were dominated by Nintendo, with Pokemon Diamond, Pokemon Pearl, Wii Play and Super Paper Mario at the top of the charts.

Overall, the Canadian game industry recorded a leap in sales of 64 per cent to CAD 80.7 million (EUR 54m) in April.

via gibiz ...

press release:

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., (SCEA) previewed an extensive software line up for its PlayStation® platforms for the second half of 2007 and early 2008 at a media event in San Diego today. More than 30 games for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system, including a strong first-party lineup of over ten announced titles, were shown during the event, along with a full library of games and services for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PLAYSTATION®Network, demonstrating the depth and breadth of content heading to PlayStation® fans.

“As you would expect from the market leader, we are seeing a huge influx of games coming to all our PlayStation platforms in the remainder of our fiscal year,” said Jack Tretton, president and chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment America. “More than half of the games we showed during our media event are available only on our systems. This fiscal, from SCEA alone, users can expect more than 15 exclusive games and services for PS3, and another nine for PSP. This doesn’t even take into account the wide variety of titles and game packs we have coming through the PLAYSTATION Network. Given this raft of titles, I think we are very well positioned to meet the needs and wants of every PlayStation user as they build out their game libraries in the coming months.”

Taking center stage on the first day of the event were over 30 new games for PS3, demonstrating the advanced technological capabilities of the system, including the CellBroadband Engine™ (Cell/B.E.), Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) player, built-in hard disc drive
(HDD), 1080p high-definition output, Wi-Fi connectivity and the SIXAXIS™ wireless controller.

Key first-party PS3 titles unveiled and demonstrated included: Warhawk™, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, SOCOM: Confrontation, Heavenly Sword™, Ratchet & Clank® Future: Tools of Destruction™, Folklore™, THE EYE OF JUDGMENT™ and SingStar™. Several of these titles were recently highlighted in Electronic Gaming Monthly’s June issue as “difference makers” for PS3 in 2007, denoting must-have titles for gamers. In addition, the buzz of March’s Game Developers Conference, LittleBigPlanet™, was also on hand, giving attendees a chance to explore this unique game, where players actually create and share their own 3D gameplay levels.

Enjoying onsite support from more than 15 leading publishers, SCEA was pleased to also give event attendees access to key third-party titles including John Woo Presents Strangehold™ from Midway, a game that will take full advantage of the massive storage capacity of the Blu-ray disc format by offering a game and a movie, John Woo’s “Hard Boiled,” on the same disc. Other gameplay stations featured titles from 2KGames, Capcom, Tecmo, Sierra Entertainment SEGA and Konami.

Additional games and services will be available for PS3 system owners through the PLAYSTATION Network. Attendees got their first hands-on experience with the highly anticipated PLAYSTATION Network service Home, a 3D avatar-based community that serves as a meeting place for PS3 users around the world. PLAYSTATION Network games highlighted at the event included PAIN and Calling All Cars™.

Sixteen exclusive titles for PSP from first and third parties were also unveiled at the event, ranging from Syphon Filter®: Logan’s Shadow to God of War®: Chains of Olympus and SOCOM:U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike.

“We still have a few surprises up our sleeve for this fiscal,” continued Tretton. “But I think the games and services we did show at this event really demonstrated the gameplay, community and entertainment possibilities you can only have on PlayStation products.”

Recent industry analyst reports point to an up-cycle for SCEA as the company brings more next-generation content to the marketplace, particularly for PS3. According to an April IDC report:

“IDC stresses that the PS3 is ahead of the market, like its predecessors. Must-have exclusive content, which in this generation will come from first party studios (Heavenly Sword, Lair) and network services (Home), will turn around the PS3’s position. Later this year new PS3 games will begin to demonstrate the advantages of the console’s specifications and the network will show us some new tricks.” (1)

Games and services shown during the event included:

PS3
Ratchet & ClankFuture: Tools of Destruction™, SCEA
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune™, SCEA
Heavenly Sword™, SCEA
SingStar™, SCEA
SOCOM: Confrontation, SCEA
LAIR, SCEA
Folklore™, SCEA
NBA ‘08, SCEA
MLB 07 The Show™, SCEA
THE EYE OF JUDGMENT™, SCEA
Home, SCEA
LittleBigPlanet™, SCEA
Elder Scrolls4: Oblivion, Bethesda Softworks
The BIGS, 2K Sports
Hellboy, Konami
Devil May CryIV, Capcom
Stranglehold™, Midway
Spider-Man 3, Activision, Inc.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Tecmo
TimeShift™, Sierra Entertainment
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas, Ubisoft Entertainment
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ 2, Ubisoft Entertainment
Surf's Up™, Ubisoft Entertainment
Harry ...

press release:

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., (SCEA) previewed an extensive software line up for its PlayStation® platforms for the second half of 2007 and early 2008 at a media event in San Diego today. More than 30 games for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system, including a strong first-party lineup of over ten announced titles, were shown during the event, along with a full library of games and services for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PLAYSTATION®Network, demonstrating the depth and breadth of content heading to PlayStation® fans.

“As you would expect from the market leader, we are seeing a huge influx of games coming to all our PlayStation platforms in the remainder of our fiscal year,” said Jack Tretton, president and chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment America. “More than half of the games we showed during our media event are available only on our systems. This fiscal, from SCEA alone, users can expect more than 15 exclusive games and services for PS3, and another nine for PSP. This doesn’t even take into account the wide variety of titles and game packs we have coming through the PLAYSTATION Network. Given this raft of titles, I think we are very well positioned to meet the needs and wants of every PlayStation user as they build out their game libraries in the coming months.”

Taking center stage on the first day of the event were over 30 new games for PS3, demonstrating the advanced technological capabilities of the system, including the CellBroadband Engine™ (Cell/B.E.), Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) player, built-in hard disc drive
(HDD), 1080p high-definition output, Wi-Fi connectivity and the SIXAXIS™ wireless controller.

Key first-party PS3 titles unveiled and demonstrated included: Warhawk™, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, SOCOM: Confrontation, Heavenly Sword™, Ratchet & Clank® Future: Tools of Destruction™, Folklore™, THE EYE OF JUDGMENT™ and SingStar™. Several of these titles were recently highlighted in Electronic Gaming Monthly’s June issue as “difference makers” for PS3 in 2007, denoting must-have titles for gamers. In addition, the buzz of March’s Game Developers Conference, LittleBigPlanet™, was also on hand, giving attendees a chance to explore this unique game, where players actually create and share their own 3D gameplay levels.

Enjoying onsite support from more than 15 leading publishers, SCEA was pleased to also give event attendees access to key third-party titles including John Woo Presents Strangehold™ from Midway, a game that will take full advantage of the massive storage capacity of the Blu-ray disc format by offering a game and a movie, John Woo’s “Hard Boiled,” on the same disc. Other gameplay stations featured titles from 2KGames, Capcom, Tecmo, Sierra Entertainment SEGA and Konami.

Additional games and services will be available for PS3 system owners through the PLAYSTATION Network. Attendees got their first hands-on experience with the highly anticipated PLAYSTATION Network service Home, a 3D avatar-based community that serves as a meeting place for PS3 users around the world. PLAYSTATION Network games highlighted at the event included PAIN and Calling All Cars™.

Sixteen exclusive titles for PSP from first and third parties were also unveiled at the event, ranging from Syphon Filter®: Logan’s Shadow to God of War®: Chains of Olympus and SOCOM:U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike.

“We still have a few surprises up our sleeve for this fiscal,” continued Tretton. “But I think the games and services we did show at this event really demonstrated the gameplay, community and entertainment possibilities you can only have on PlayStation products.”

Recent industry analyst reports point to an up-cycle for SCEA as the company brings more next-generation content to the marketplace, particularly for PS3. According to an April IDC report:

“IDC stresses that the PS3 is ahead of the market, like its predecessors. Must-have exclusive content, which in this generation will come from first party studios (Heavenly Sword, Lair) and network services (Home), will turn around the PS3’s position. Later this year new PS3 games will begin to demonstrate the advantages of the console’s specifications and the network will show us some new tricks.” (1)

Games and services shown during the event included:

PS3
Ratchet & ClankFuture: Tools of Destruction™, SCEA
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune™, SCEA
Heavenly Sword™, SCEA
SingStar™, SCEA
SOCOM: Confrontation, SCEA
LAIR, SCEA
Folklore™, SCEA
NBA ‘08, SCEA
MLB 07 The Show™, SCEA
THE EYE OF JUDGMENT™, SCEA
Home, SCEA
LittleBigPlanet™, SCEA
Elder Scrolls4: Oblivion, Bethesda Softworks
The BIGS, 2K Sports
Hellboy, Konami
Devil May CryIV, Capcom
Stranglehold™, Midway
Spider-Man 3, Activision, Inc.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Tecmo
TimeShift™, Sierra Entertainment
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas, Ubisoft Entertainment
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ 2, Ubisoft Entertainment
Surf's Up™, Ubisoft Entertainment
Harry ...