While Modern Warfare 2 emerged as 2009's biggest-selling game globally, in Europe, it was a close-run thing, Activision's blockbuster shooter only just edging out EA's FIFA 10.

Granted, this information comes from...Electronic Arts, the game's developers, but seeing as they get access to complete, accurate sales figures (something the general public does not when it comes to the European market), in this instance we'll take their word for it.

In an interview with MCV, EA's Jens Uwe Intat - an early front-runner for games industry name of the year - said that not only was FIFA "neck and neck" with Modern Warfare 2 in terms of European sales, but that EA now controls "75% of the football space" on the continent.

If he just means FIFA vs Pro Evo, that's an impressive number. If he means FIFA vs Pro Evo vs Football Manager vs Champ Manager, it's super impressive.

http://kotaku.com/5444151/fifa-10-gi...-for-its-money ...

Here's how it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn't some marketing survey or whatever. It's an emotional investment in you. Yes, we're interested in knowing you, reader person.

You probably know oodles about us - more than you even want to, we're sure. But, hey, we'd like to know about you. That way you won't be some faceless blob - and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban ya. Or not, because really we're incapable of human emotion.

This is a question for the older readers, perhaps. The ones who remember playing games before there were save points. Or even for young players who cannot quite reach that save point.

Question: What is the longest you've left a game on pause?

http://kotaku.com/5444233/what-is-th...-game-on-pause ...

Of the independent games available on Xbox Live, a sports title is currently the No. 1 downloaded title and another is the No. 2-rated game, across all offerings. But sports is far from the service's dominant genre.

The action and adventure, puzzle and trivia, and shooter categories all have more than 100 listings. Sports, just 25. And this is just one measure. On the whole, sports are not a particularly fertile subject for indie developers, especially if one considers racing games a genre outside of sports.

Where do sports stand on the indie landscape? Does this indicate an opportunity for a developer? Or a strict barrier to his participation?

Moreso than other genres, "You're gonna get compared to the big boys," Matt Davis of Houston-based BarkersCrest Studios, says of the biggest drawback. Davis' Avatar Golf is the leading download (and Stick Jockey's independent sports game of the year) on Xbox Live, and he followed it up last month with the one-dollar, one-button controlled Home Run Challenge that's done well since its release.

"These are games that have been accepted really well, but I surf the net, and every once in a while I see people who say [about Avatar Golf] ‘This isn't Tiger Woods; this isn't Hot Shots Golf,'" Davis said. "You will still get compared to the elite developers and their games."

Elite developers not only have tremendous resources and manpower, they also have the means to strike licensing arrangements with leagues and sports personalities to drive a product's realism and appeal. An indie sports developer then is really pursuing niches within a niche of video games, trying to find the aspects of a sports game that can still have appeal without a big budget to deliver them.

Avatar Golf and Home Run Challenge are about getting players Xbox Live avatars' involved in the games themselves - a feature with unique and obvious appeal. Inside Lacrosse College Lacrosse 2010 tapped the passion of a vastly underserved, highly motivated fan base with no major sports game to call its own.

But in the end, they're still dealing with front-loaded player expectations in ways that wholly invented games are not.

"I think doing a sports game is a little harder than a 2D platformer or a shooter," said Jonathan "Fritz" Ackerley of Dundee, Scotland-based Triple B Games, which developed the lacrosse title, plus a soccer game called Fitba. "Doing a really good platformer or shooter is hard as well. But to get a sports game to a level where it's recognizable as a simulation is a lot of effort. Perhaps it is a higher barrier to entry for that reason. People know what to expect from a game of football, they know there's 11 on each side, they want to select their teams, check their formations, they know the rules of the game. Whereas doing a 2D platformer, you can make it up as you go along and introduce the rules that you want to give to player."

On the other hand, that 2D platformer is still a game built out of thin air. However it is constructed, the rules and gameplay of something like basketball have been around for more than a century. It's not just that they're familiar to gamers, a game's established rules and norms also provide a benchmark to a developer for determining if his game is balanced properly.

"Sports has a huge advantage because explaining 80 percent of the game is already done; people already play sports," Davis said. "You don't have to do too much of an elaborate tutorial. One of the limitations of being an indie developer is that you're so small, you can only do so much. So any time you spend on building something so gamers can learn to play the game is time taken from something else. But people understand sports. They know the rules. It's really just a question of what buttons do what."

And that preloaded understanding of a game helps in another way. "The player, the consumer, the purchaser knows what they're getting without looking at the back of the box," Acklerley said. "Football's about football; tennis is about knocking a ball back and forth across the net."

That helps in another way: Rising out of the crowd. As mentioned before, there are more than 100 titles in the more familiar genres of core gaming on Xbox Live. The service features ratings and free demos, but a developer still has a short window in which to explain his game and make a player want to buy it. While some sports are uninteresting to some players, they're very interesting to their devotees.

And further, Davis explains, is getting rated and then cleared for release on the Indie Games channel. Games are evaluated by the development community, so clearing that barrier is the first priority. "The more interesting a game is, the quicker it's going to go through review," Davis said. "Sports games, you don't have to beat one the way you do a platformer. The main thing holding games back in review is not being interesting. A lot of games aren't fun to review. It has to be interesting enough for people to go out of their way to review it for you." ...

Attention iPhone owners that have been praying for a physical keyboard forever: your prayers have been answers... kind of. Ion Audio has debuted its iType iPhone keyboard at CES, and we can confirm that it does indeed work as advertised. Once you pop your iPhone or iPod touch into the dock at the top of the board, you're free to type away to your heart's content -- if you're in the iType app, of course. Unfortunately, because of the closed nature of most of the iPhone platform, you can't just start typing in any iPhone app; you have to type in the iType app and then copy and paste to the app you want. It's surely an annoyance, but if you're sick of the soft keyboard and need some relief, it's your best option for now.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/i...phone-but-the/ ...

Hearing about using an Xbox 360 as set top box for IPTV providers like AT&T's U-Verse is one thing, but seeing it in action is another. As you can see from the video after the jump, the experience is very fluid and isn't what we'd describe as laggy even in the slightest bit. The 360 can act as a full blown client to the Mediaroom DVR which provides a pretty complete multi-room experience. As far as we could tell the entire experience was there as well, but then again we're not exactly experts on Mediaroom. Apparently one thing the 360 can't do is be the only set top box in your house, which is probably a detail lost on many since we'd bet very few people who subscribe to pay TV only have one set top these days.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/09/m...-the-xbox-360/ ...

If there's one problem with Motorola's Droid it's that the battery life is just too long. We can almost make it through an entire day without a recharge and really, who wants that? Thank goodness there's a hack to enable an extra 50MHz boost, bumping the Droid up to a full 600 and, according to at least one user, significantly decreasing stability in the process. We'll go ahead and skip that one, but on the more alluring side there's a new add-on to the (already rooted) Nexus One that enables wired or wireless tethering. It's not a full ROM but does entail a kernel update, and as always these things can go horribly wrong if you don't know what you're doing. Not sure if you know what you're doing? Chances are you have your answer.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/09/d...android-hacke/ ...

Google Nexus One Carries $174.15 Materials Cost, iSuppli Teardown Reveals El Segundo, Calif., January 8, 2010-With its new Nexus One, Google Inc. has taken many of the latest smart-phone innovations and combined them in a single product that manages to be both cutting edge and cost competitive, according to a teardown conducted by iSuppli Corp.
The Nexus One, sold with the Google brand name but manufactured by HTC Corp., carries a Bill Of Materials (BOM) of $174.15, based on a preliminary estimate from iSuppli's Teardown Analysis Team. This total comprises only hardware and component costs for the Nexus One itself and does not take into consideration other expenses such as manufacturing, software, box contents, accessories and royalties.

http://gizmodo.com/5444350/googles-n...ne-costs-17415 ...

It seems Google is going through some growing pains as far as customer service is concerned. Since their new phone, the Nexus One, can be bought unlocked, many people are turning to Google themselves for help, but not getting what they're used to from traditional mobile carriers. T-Mobile and HTC are also getting hammered, with many customers being bounced back and forth between the two companies' service lines."
It seems they're also taking flak from Android developers who are unhappy that no SDK has yet been released for Android 2.1, which runs on the Nexus One.

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/...One-Complaints ...

Nintendo is preparing a nationwide New Super Mario Bros. Wii tournament in search of Japan’s number one Mario master. Contestants will play New Super Mario Bros. Wii in a series of coin battles.

You can enter solo or as a two player team. Either way, each coin battle has rounds with four players competing for coins. Not all of the stages are based on the Coin Battle mode in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. World 5-2 and World 4-5 where a Lakitu throws coins instead of Spinys are also on the course list.

Start practicing, if you live in Japan. Regional tournaments start next month leading up to a final battle in Tokyo in March.

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/01/08...ayer-in-japan/ ...