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iPhone Monkey Ball Earns $63k in One Day

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:38:44 -0500

The iPhone 2.0 software update isn't even "officially" out yet, but Super Monkey Ball, the most anticipated iPhone game has already sold over 9,000 units.

The App Store was only available this morning via workarounds (it's now available through iTunes directly), so there's been a less-than-24-hour window where apps can even be purchased.

The Monkey Ball game is currently the #1 download at 9029 downloads as of this writing.

According to Apple, when you sell an application in the App Store, you get to keep 70% of the price. Assuming SEGA gets the same deal, that means for every $9.99 unit purchased, they get $6.99. Multiply that by 9,029 and you get $63,112.71.

Not bad for single-day sales for a downloadable title when the software that supports it isn't even officially available. Imagine how the game will sell after tomorrow when everybody and their brother gets an iPhone 3G with the App Store already installed.

GTA IV Smashes World Records, Nearly Doubles Halo 3 Sales

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:57:25 -0500

Just in time to render the new Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition outdated, the Guinness people have announced that Grand Theft Auto IV has practically destroyed currently held records for fastest-selling game and most-profitable entertainment product.

In the first 24 hours, GTA IV sold 3.6 million copies and earned $310 million dollars.

Prior to GTA IV's record-setting releases, the record-holder for the most-selling game was Halo 3 with $170 million in 24 hours. Compare that to the record-holding movie and book with Spider-Man 3 making $60 million and the latest Harry Potter book making $220 million in 24 hours.

Consider how ubiquitous Halo 3's advertising was compared the the relatively tame promotion for GTA IV. Halo 3 had its own soda and viral videos and ARGs and commercial coverage on practically every network. Then there's GTA IV, with just a few simple commercials and lots of talking heads on the news hallooing about dead hookers and it nearly doubles Halo 3's first-day earnings.

120GB PS3 Is Coming! No It's Not! Yes It Is! Who Cares?

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:13:31 -0600

The current top of the line PS3, the 80GB model, has been disappearing from stores and rumors have been flying, FLYING that a 120GB model is on its way.

Sony denies it.

GameStop confirms it.

The real mystery here, though, is whether anybody should care. With Metal Gear Solid 4 on its way and Blu-Ray becoming the de facto winner in the HD format war, there are finally a few reasons to purchase a PlayStation 3. Should Sony be making a more expensive version now?

Unless the 120GB model, alleged to also come with DualShock 3 at last, alleged not to exist, alleged to exist, alleged to not have a reflection in mirrors, is the same price or cheaper than the 80GB model, what's the point?

Sony Made the Money this Holiday, 1.2M PS3s Sold in NA

Shiva Stella — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:07:15 -0600

In more "I sold more units than you" news, Sony has confirmed that it has sold 1.2 million PlayStation 3 consoles in North America alone during the holidays; the company is quick to remind us that every PlayStation 3 sold also equates to a purchased Blu-ray player that helps consolidate Sony's base in the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD format war.

Summarizes Jack Tretton, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, "The PlayStation brand ended the year in a very strong position and clearly indicates more positive momentum going into 2008. The strong PS3 sales also further establish Blu-ray's dominant position as the high-definition medium of choice for games and movies."

Talking numbers, the PlayStation Portable has reached the 1.4 million mark in North America (receiving a nice sales boost over the holidays, no doubt) while the PlayStation 2 clocked in at 1.3 million units; all totaled, that's 3.9 million Sony machines discovered under trees this Christmas.

Time Crisis 4 Price Drop At Amazon

Tim Grube — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:55:26 -0600

I think Amazon is on a roll here this holiday season by price dropping a bunch of their items. Could I say, "hot" items. Last week, the online company dropped Call of Duty 4 to $40 while the MSRP was still standing at $59.99. Now, this week Time Crisis 4 with the Guncon 3 Controller has been dropped to a whopping $49.99 which also has free shipping for the PlayStation 3. The title released on November 20 and carried an MSRP of $89.99.

The numbers haven't been released yet out of Namco whether or not Time Crisis 4 is selling, but I would totally pick this up being so low. Last minute holiday shoppers? I do believe you are one of them!

Nintendo Missing Out On $1.3 Billion Due to Wii Shortage

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:53:42 -0600

The New York Times has caught on to the fact that the Wii has been out for a year now and they're still impossible to get without waiting in a line or bruising your scruples on eBay.

From the article:

The unsated demand is costing Nintendo more than face. Estimates from industry analysts and retailers indicate that the company, which is based in Kyoto, Japan, is giving up $1 billion or more in sales in the ever-important holiday retail season, not including sales of games for those unbuilt consoles.

Its staggering, said James Lin, senior analyst at the MDB Capital Group in Santa Monica, Calif., who estimates that Nintendo is leaving $1.3 billion on the table. They could easily sell double what theyre selling.

Well gee, maybe they should make some more....

Howard Stringer, head of Sony worldwide and never missing an opportunity to seem like a jackass, says, "Im happy that the Wii seems to be running out of hardware" and again points out that the PlayStation 3 has finally started to outsell the Wii.

Now that there are no Wiis.

That's a cool thing to be proud of. The alternative is impossible to get, so your product is outselling it. Awesome. Kudos. Ten points to you.

Merry... Holiday, Call Of Duty 4 Only $40 at Amazon

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:51:27 -0600

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is one of the year's best games (earning a total of 10 stars on our 5-star scale). Amazon has the game on sale for $40 versus the usual $60 price tag. This applies to the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. I don't know why I should need to say anything else.

If you haven't picked the game up yet, perhaps this sale should be motivation. Hey, there's still time for shipping before Christma...Holiday!

Mass Effect Effects Mass Sales, Over 1m Sold

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:07:34 -0600

You people sure love you your Mass Effect. Although analysts predicted the game's November sales to be in the 300,000-range, Microsoft has confirmed that the BioWare action/RPG/time-suck game has sold over a million (with an 'm') copies worldwide in just over three weeks.

For a game that isn't Halo, that's huge.

The blue alien doin'-it scene probably spurred the massive sales figures.

Video Games Outsell DVDs, World Implodes

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:42:33 -0600

According to an analyst quoted in the linked Ars Technica article, as of October of this year, more video games had been sold than in all of 2006. Considering that November and December are the biggest game-buying months of the year, this is huge news.

DVDs, on the other hand, are starting to slow in sales. Chalk it up to market confusion over High Def formats, or the fact that movies lately have been pretty bad, but DVDs have always been the great redeemer for movies that do poorly in theaters ("Eh, I'll wait for the DVD") so I imagine studio execs are pretty worried, in addition to the worrying they're doing over the fact that they have no writers.

For instance, Halo 3 sold more copies than Shrek 3, even though Halo 3 costs at least 3 times as much at $60. That could, of course, have something to do with the multi-million dollar ad campaign behind Halo 3 that spanned nearly all forms of media versus the fact that I didn't even know Shrek 3 was out on DVD yet (nor did I altogether care).

The story isn't lagging DVD sales, though, it's the increased game sales. Market saturation has at least seeped beneath the layer of hardcore gamers and meathead Madden fans. The Xbox's allure and the Wii and DS's casual gaming push may be the cause. Or it could be Peggle. Everybody's playing Peggle.

Nintendo Sales Figures: That's a lot of DS Units

Shiva Stella — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:40:00 -0600

Not to be outdone, Nintendo has claimed that it has sold more Nintendo products in the first week of the 2007 holiday shopping season (Sunday, Nov. 18, through Saturday, Nov. 24) "than at any other time in [our] history." Here's the shopping list for North America:

653,000 Nintendo DS units (up from 600,000 Game Boy Advance units in 2005)
350,000 Wii units (this number would have been higher if certain people could have found the damn thing for less than $500)

Now a word from Nintendo:

"As shoppers look for ways to maximize their limited holiday spending money, they turn to gifts that can be used by the entire family," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Wii and Nintendo DS offer something for every member of the family. They're the most fun video game experiences at the most affordable price."

With higher gas prices and fuel costs, and the lukewarm expectations for the 2007 holiday shopping season, Wii and Nintendo DS might be just what Santa ordered: Thirty-five percent of consumers said they plan to spend less than they did last year, according to a survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association. Similarly, a USA Today/Gallup Poll showed that 25 percent of Americans expect to spend less on gifts this year than they did in 2006.

PlayStation 3 Sales Up Now that Prices are Down

Shiva Stella — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:20:00 -0600

In more 'I could have figured that out on my own' news, reports are coming in that sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 have "more than tripled" last week due to price cuts and the console's availability for the weekend after Thanksgiving.

While actual figures are lacking, retailers are claiming a 245% increase in PS3 units sold for November 18-24. Overall, the PS3's sales figures have "quadrupled" since the price cut and the introduction of the 40GB model. The fact that big games are finally seeing release on the console might also be boosting sales a bit.

Japanese Are Digging The Slimmer PSP

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:53:34 -0600

Although there are estimates that roughly 700% of the people in Japan own a Nintendo DS, it looks like the new slimmer, lighter, less-expensive-er PSP may be taking a bite out of the handheld market in the land of the rising fun.

If only they could sell a single damn one in this country.

The "new" PSP, which is called PSP-1000 in Japan, has sold a million units in just two months. Not bad for a portable.

I'm not sure what kind of ad campaign they're running over there, but it must be more effective than the, "Dude, get your own" shtick we're having to sit through here. No, I don't want to get my own. Put a game I want to play on the thing and we'll talk.

PlayStation 3 Sales Beat Wii's For Second Time in Japan

Shiva Stella — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:40:01 -0600

Here's a little encouraging news for PlayStation fans, as sources are reporting that Sony has sold more than 53,000 PlayStation 3 units in Japan for the week ending November 18; this marks the second week that Sony's PS3 has outdone the Nintendo Wii, which clocked in at 36,000 units for the same period.

The sales increase is largely due to the introduction of the 40GB model (at just $399) and the price cuts initiated for the other, more expensive models.

As expected, the Nintendo DS is still rocking Japan with 81,000 units sold for the same period, followed by the PSP at 66,000. As far as the Xbox 360 goes, it managed 5,000 sales, trailing after the PlayStation 2 with 8,800.

Exactly what is inspiring all those DS/PSP purchases?

NPD Group Figures for October 2007: Halo 3, DS Reign Supreme

Shiva Stella — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:40:00 -0600

The NPD Group has published its list of top titles for the US region for the month of October 2007. Have a peek. You probably won't be surprised.

Halo 3 (Xbox 360) -- 433,800
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ guitar (Xbox 360) -- 383, 200
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ guitar (Wii) -- 286,300
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ guitar (PlayStation 2) -- 271,100
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS) -- 262,800
Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) -- 239,700
The Orange Box (Xbox 360) -- 238,400
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/o guitar (PlayStation 2) -- 231,700
FIFA Soccer 08 (PlayStation 2) -- 129,700
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (Nintendo DS) -- 116,900

For the curious, here's the October hardware sales as well.

Nintendo DS -- 458,000
Wii -- 519,000
Xbox 360 -- 366,000
PlayStation Portable -- 286,000
PlayStation 3 -- 121,000
PlayStation 2 -- 184,000

Xbox 360 Slightly Surpasses PS3 Sales in Japan, Both Owned by DS

Shiva Stella — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:13:53 -0600

Media Create has posted the latest sales figures for the week ending November 4, and (surprise!) the Xbox 360 has pulled ahead of the PlayStation 3 by a close 200 units, although both consoles and the Wii are still being (pardon the colloquialism) royally spanked by the Nintendo DS - someone explain that one to me.

Here's the chart for hardware sales, Oct. 29-Nov. 4 as courtesy of Media Create and Next Gen.

Nintendo DS - 78,599
PSP - 59,714
Wii - 37,617
Xbox 360 - 17,673
PlayStation 3 - 17,434
PlayStation 2 - 10,209
Game Boy Advance SP - 206
GameCube 155
Game Boy Micro - 113

View further details and software sales at the jump.

Apparently Japanese gamers are currently going crazy for Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, which sold 80,000 units over launch week (also the week ending Nov. 4). Here's a quick rundown of what your friends wayyyy over gaming yonder are picking up:

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 251,000 / New
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (Xbox 360) - 77,000 / New
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS) - 51,000 / 193,000
Super Robot Wars Scramble Commander The 2nd (PS2) - 21,000 / New
DS Bungaku Zenshuu (DS) - 18,000 / 72,000
DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou - Satsui no Wana (DS) - 18,000 / 115,000
Wii Sports (Wii) - 16,000 / 2,182,000
Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS) - 15,000 / 676,000
World Soccer Winning Eleven DS Goal x Goal! (DS) - 15,000 / 44,000
Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS) - 14,000 / 552,000

I definitely get why Super Mario Galaxy grabbed the top spot, but I'm clueless as to why Ace Combat 6, Super Robot Wars Scramble Commander, and Flash Focus are selling so well. Granted I'm biased against air planes...