via ign

Following the release of videogame hardware and software sales data for November by sales tracking agency NPD, Sony's head of PR David Karraker has issued an official statement to Gamasutra. Karraker stated that Sony is "very pleased" with the data, and that the manufacturing problems which plagued the system's launch "have been resolved."

The latest NPD data showed that Sony had shipped only 197,000 units during the month of November, far less than the promised 400,000 units. However, Karraker reasserted Sony's intention to "remain focused on having one million PS3s in the pipeline by December 31, 2006."

Despite the severe lack of PS3s at launch, Sony did express enthusiasm about the performance of its two other systems, the PSP and the PS2. NPD data reported that the PS2 sold strongly through November with 664,000 units sold, while the PSP sold an respectable 412,000 units.

"These figures clearly demonstrate the strength of the PlayStation family of products in the US market," commented Karraker. "PlayStation 3 remains one of the most sought after items this holiday season, selling through almost immediately in all retailers once placed on store shelves. We will continue to utilize airfreight delivery for PlayStation 3 to assure a steady stream of systems for North American consumers through the end of the year. And while initial day-one launch shipment goals weren't achievable due to early manufacturing issues, those problems have been resolved and we do remain focused on having one million PS3's in the pipeline by December 31, 2006."

He added: "The six-year old PlayStation 2 continues to dominate the market, outselling all other computer entertainment systems in November, including much newer systems from the competition. PS2 also topped the software category, out pacing all other system's sales by almost three times. PSP (PlayStation Portable Player) had a very good November as well, seeing a jump in sales of nearly 50% and a strong increase in software sell-through. These sales figures bode very well for SCEA as it offers a computer entertainment system for every taste and budget this holiday season." ...

via ign

The NPD Group has released sales data for November 2006, and while the PlayStation 3 wasn't able to crack the overall top 20, it appears Resistance: Fall of Man had a high attach rate.

Resistance sold twice as much as the next best-selling title, Madden NFL 07. The ever-popular WWII setting allowed Call of Duty 3 to round out the top three.

Here are the top ten best-selling PlayStation 3 games for November 2006, as provided by the NPD Group:




Resistance: Fall of Man

Madden NFL 07

Call of Duty 3

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Ridge Racer 7

Need for Speed: Carbon

Tony Hawk's Project 8

NBA 2K7

NBA 07

Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom ...

Via IGN

According to a new Famitsu Marketing survey, Sony's PlayStation Portable is getting walloped in Japan by Nintendo's DS. In November alone, the PSP sold a mere 86,000 units compared to nearly 550,000 DS Lites. More shocking are numbers for the first 11 months of the year, which show that Nintendo may have all but closed the door on PSP in Japan. The DS and DS Lite have sold more than 7.5 million units so far this year, with PSP selling just 1.6 million units.

Further troubling for Sony's portable system are its software sales in comparison to Nintendo. PSP has sold 2.8 million games to date this year, while Nintendo has sold 27 million games. This is what is referred to in business as a clobbering.

The battle is a bit closer in the U.S., though Nintendo retains a strong lead month-to-month. In November, likely the busiest sales month of the year, twice as many DS Lites were sold as PSPs.

Publicly, Sony has shown nothing but confidence for the future of the PSP. Despite having weaker sales numbers compared to DS, the PSP had a strong year in terms of quality software. Nine of the twelve PSP games to receive a 9.0 or higher from IGN were released in 2006. ...

Via IGN

A recent survey titled "Customer Focus Tech Savvy" reveals the determining factors in where some elusive demographics choose to buy videogames. The demographics in question are Generation Y females, parents, and "adults." The survey considers you part of Generation Y if you were born between 1977 and 1994.

Possibly because it would have been an overwhelming reason for each demographic, price was excluded as a determining factor. Generation Y females listed "special offers like free items or discounts" as the most important factor in determining where to make videogame purchases. Parents said they choose the store that has the newest games in stock. And "total adults" split on stores that had the best selection and the newest games.

Ranking low on each demographic's list were the factors "helpful and knowledgeable sales staff" and "in-store demonstration kiosks." Anyone who has sought buying advice from the helpful and knowledgeable sales staff at Best Buy or tried out a game kiosk where the controller was broken in half and the screen was frozen can probably relate.

Data for the survey was collected during August and September 2006 from 3,000 adults surveyed online and via telephone. ...

Via IGN

Following its ground-breaking debut on Xbox 360 last spring, Red Storm Studios and Ubisoft Paris will bring the sequel to Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, GRAW2, to PC, PSP, PS3, and Xbox 360 in spring 2007 using new military tools, improved enemy AI, and advanced next-gen visuals.

After the Ghost team's successful confrontation with the rebellious faction in Mexico in GRAW, GRAW 2 takes place in 2014 during a new civil war between Mexican loyalists and insurgent rebel forces. Under the control of Captain Scott Mitchell, the ghosts must fend off heavy attacks on US soil. Ubisoft is confident that enhanced physics and particle systems combined with realistic smoke and destructive environments will create a genuinely compelling landscape. Bullets zip through billowing smoke clouds and leave plumes of interactive trails. Day-night cycles and a constantly changing weather system create mood and atmosphere, and entirely new battlegrounds including mountain terrains, barren deserts and heavy fighting in El Paso, Texas.

The innovative cross-com that played such a big part in GRAW returns with new abilities in GRAW 2. Clicking a button enables players full screen cross-com viewing, enabling pin-point data of enemy formations and locations. Expanded technical support provides gamers with jet fighter bombings, land support in difficult terrain using the remote control MULE, and the ability to heal team mates on the battlefield with the introduction of the Medic soldier class. Lastly, enemy AI will flank your position from multiple sides while attaining vertical superiority from higher terrain. Same-side AI will provide more accurate chatter, specifying enemy location and manner of attack, providing addition tactical data.

"Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter set the standard for what we know as the next-generation gaming experience," said Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America. "With Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Ubisoft is taking all the successful elements in the original to an unparalleled level of quality -- the sophisticated technology, weaponry, graphics, story and online gameplay will heighten the intensity and bring gamers an even more amazing experience."

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter was recently recognized by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) with "Best Game of the Year" and "Technical Achievement" honors. We'll have more on GRAW 2 soon. ...

via chubigan who gives a full english breakthrough of sonys firmware update for the PS3:

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via chubigan who gives his impressions of Sonys PS1 emulator playing Crash Bandicoot :

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via chubigan

First up, some e-Di news (that's electronic distribution for short, to the noobs out there. )

Thatgamescompany had some pretty nice things to say in general about making flOw and their dealings with Sony as a publisher. John Edwards (core engineer) had this to say on their forums:

Our one goal when making flOw PS3 has been to take the experience of the Flash game and bring it into the "Next Generation". At times, this has felt like knitting an antimatter scarf with regular needles, because flOw is a minimalist Zen game, and the Next Generation seems to be about who at Sony and Microsoft can shout the loudest about Features of Questionable Value (while the Wii swings from behind to steal the show?).

FlOw PS3 is not the same game as flOw in Flash, but we're doing everything we can to inspire that same calm and wonder so many people feel from playing flOw in their browsers, without embarrassing ourselves in the face of games like Resistance: Fall of Man.

While I'm not sure I understand Sony as a console manufacturer, right now, I have nothing but respect for them as a publisher (of course, I haven't had to deal with their legal department). Time and time again, I, for one, have over-promised and under-delivered (mainly because I'm young and inexperienced and don't know when to hold my big mouth about crazy-ambitious promises). And every time, Sony has done the right thing by nurturing, rather than punishing.

All of us at TGC have worked ridiculously hard over the course of this entire project. I think a lot of teams, when faced with the same kind of pressure and schedule would have strangled each other to death long ago, but, miraculously, we've all stayed friends, and even hang out on the weekends (oh yeah, because we're all at the office). We want flOw to be a great game, but as we've learned, making a great game takes. Sony understands this, too. FlOw PS3 is nearly done, and we'll ship it as soon as we can, but in the mean time:

Thanks Nick, Kellee, Martin and Hao for being such a great team. Thanks Sony (a.k.a. George, Rusty and John) for being such a supportive and understanding publisher. And, finally, thanks to all of you (Amish) for your excitement, encouragement, patience.

I can't remember the last time I had a breath of fresh air like that post John did. Well put!

It seems Sony is starting to realize the value of an indie platform, as they're starting to extend it to the PSP as well. They have started a service called Kit-Start, which gives devs a free dev kit for the PSP along with technical consulting and support straight from Sony. Perhaps the battle of next gen wont be decided by big-budget games...but rather, who has the bigger indie support. It will be an interesting next-gen race for sure!

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So, those Crash Bandicoot impressions...you can read about the install process and controls on the last blog post. But how does it play? Really well, actually...with some problems also unfortunately.

First off, you can choose either original, normal or stretch on the universal PSP menu...however, the normal function still has some black bars on the top and bottom (as shown in the pic above). Even stretched fills the left and right of the screen, but the black bars remain. Not sure if this is an issue with just the one game or not, so I'll have to find out later.

The game itself looks really great...in fact, I was downright impressed once I got to the waterfall/river section. The PS1 could really pump out some splendid visuals back in the day, and the PSP screen makes them sharper than ever.

The controls were interesting. This game came out before analog was available for the PS1, yet I felt much more natural with the analog stick than I did using the digital pad. However, in bonus levels and the 2-d scrolling levels, I switched back to Type 1 and used the digital pad. While it sounds like a hassle, it literally takes two seconds to do this, so its not a big deal at all.

The emulation of the game so far is great, but with a big problem. Bonus games are found midway through a level every now and then, and once you complete it you can save the game. Out of the five times I played a bonus level, the game failed to kick me to the saving menu twice, which leaves me with an empty screen. The game didnt freeze as the music and some effects were still going on, which leaves me to think this is an emulation problem more than the original ISO. And it's quite a big problem...because this game can be notoriously unforgiving sometimes, and losing that progress is just painful.

Thankfully the game also uses a password system, so I was able to look up some old codes on the net and get back to where I left off...but still, this is something that should have been fixed, no exceptions. On the plus side putting the game in sleep mode is instant, and un-sleeping your PSP brings you back to the game in just under two seconds. (I thought perhaps the sleep mode may ...

via gamasutra

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