So it’s week 1 of 2010 and I thought I’d start the year with a view to recommend one new game every week. Luckily we have a real gem this week, I wonder whether I’ll be able to keep this up all year though.
So Bayonetta is another game from Platinum Games, published by SEGA, and this time they really seem to have hit the jackpot. 40/40 in Famitsu, 10/10 in EDGE, surely this is going to be fantastic? It certainly is!
In Bayonetta you play as the title character, a witch, with shapeshifting talents, special moves performed by her hair and guns on each of her 4 limbs. Surely it doesn’t get any better than that? Well it does… in a usual role reversal you must do battle with angelic foes in order to progress through the game.
As you might expect from spectacular videogame story lines Bayonetta has lost her memory and through the course of the game this will come back to her and we will learn what brought her to this point as she does. The game is similar in style to previous titles from the Devil May Cry series, and should build on and improve the formula, there’s a reason for those high scores you know!
Of course we don’t want to many details, but suffice to say this should be top of your buy list on friday, it’s the best game in a long while, and already a strong contender for Game of the Year 2010. Enjoy!
Recent speculation would suggest Apple are to release their long awaited Tablet device at some point during 2010, possibly being announced as early as January. But what form will this device take? A souped up iPhone, a larger, less functional iPhone, a netbook type device, a powerful laptop with just a touch screen?
It would seem there are a number of directions this device could move in, depending on the audience Apple wishes to attract as users. In terms of gaming, the direction the device takes will be absolutely critical in dictating the games viable on the system. There is a world of difference in the facebook games playable on netbooks and the HD action fests the hardcore enjoy on their top end PC’s. The power of this device will obviously be critical, as will the (likely) touch only controls available to developers.
Personally I see the device being placed somewhere between the iPhone and bottom end Macbook, with a price tag of somewhere around £500. I think this fills a good gap for apple where most other companies provide netbooks (granted this apple device is going to be a top end, highly unique device in this market). What we will ultimately get from this is a turbocharged iPhone, a touch screen device with a 10 inch or so screen, access to the app store and hopefully a host of great native software and web applications.
One of the best aspects of the iPhone is being able to access web services (Twitter, Facebook etc.) via dedicated apps, bringing the best of these sites to you in the most appropriate way. I have no doubt that these services and many more will find native ways to provide their services on the Apple Tablet. As well as hopefully a host of online and traditional style games. Not only will web games such as those by PlayFish and Zynga benefit from the device but regular games from the likes of Activision and EA should also be able to push the system to great advantage, it sits much more in their comfortable realm than either the iPhone or the web, but should have the advantages of both, as well as a bit of power more akin to console or PC videogames.
I think the device could well be the one to watch next year, more so than either Natal, Sphere or any potential Nintendo updates. The iPhone/iPod Touch before it has taken gaming by storm and I think this device has the potential to repeat this success. Add to this a whole raft of useful features for both business and personal use and it’s a very exciting piece of tech. Add in an upgrade to MobileMe (Apples cloud service) and the far reaching effects could be great.
I will be keeping a close eye on this as we enter the new year, expect many more thoughts on the matter!
Game group shares dropped 20% after the firm announced that sales were down over 10% during 2009 so far.
Despite a number of highly anticipated releases such as FIFA10 and Call of Duty: MW2 this year the firm have failed to capitalise on this, blaming supermarket discounting and the lower than expected sales of some other titles for the drop in sales.
It’s not all bad news though, Game also stated that they have increased market share this year, so while Game may be performing poorly, others are feeling it more. Game put this down to a number of factors, including pre-owned products, loyalty card offers and specialist staff.
Of course Christmas time is when this industry makes most of it’s money, and this year will be no exception. Currently this year looks to be no different, though sales are still down on 2009, so maybe the period won’t be the big saviour Game will be hoping for.
Time will tell for Game, but recent decline for the Wii and the lack of new hardware on the horizon will come as a worry. The company may have to rely on PS3 and 360 software sales (both of which are still strong) for longer than they would be comfortable with.
This week in the UK Wii sales hit 6 million, the fastest home console to reach this point ever! I don’t think 6 million is a particularly important milestone but what is important is that Wii is still the fastest selling home console up to this point.
Of course PS2 is still the mark by which all other home consoles are measured, so just how does the Wii stack up against Sony’s all conquering machine? Well just look below at the cumulative sales chart I’ve made for you. This shows sales of each machine (Wii in Orange, PS2 in blue) by quarter, since their launch.
Sales start fairly equally but Wii sales soon accelerate beyond all expectations to take a very good lead, indeed by just the 2 year mark the Wii is over 1m sales ahead of the previous best.
All good so far…
However, this year Wii sales have really slowed down. For 2009 sales are as good as 50% down on last year, this has meant that for the past 12 months the gap hasn’t really changed that much, still hovering around the 1m mark.
So 2010 sales for Wii will be key, can the Wii recover and move on towards becoming the best selling UK home console or will sales continue to fall and leave the PS2 on the sales throne for a little longer. Personally I think the Wii will have a hard time getting there, sales momentum is down, the casual crowd seem to be disinterested and the other consoles are gaining traction in the Wii’s marketplace.
Take 2 have recently posted their 4th quarter financial estimates, lowering guidance expectations.
The main reason given for this is the poor retail success of Major League Baseball in the US, knocking $25 million off revenue forecasts. Revised revenue expectations are now $950m – $975m, down from $975m – $1,000m. The company now expects to make a loss of $1.10 – $1.15 per share.
Comments from the company include:
“We continue to pursue a strategy of building a select, diverse portfolio of top quality titles and to invest our resources in the most promising products and most compelling market opportunities. The industry is a hits-driven business, and our creative and financial resources are dedicated to making great games. Our focus going forward will be on executing better on this strategy in order to drive improved results. Toward that end, we are continuing to work on maximising the efficiency of our development process and exploring additional ways to reduce costs throughout our organization while maintaining the investment required for future growth.”
- Ben Feder, CEO
I have to say I agree here, Take 2 have always chased the hit. Following the strategy of investing big in a smaller number of titles and hoping for that big game that brings in the profits. Usually this will be in the form of Grand Theft Auto, but other games can bring in a good profit too.
The failure of Major League Baseball will be a blow, but not unsurmountable. Take 2 have 2 of the top titles coming out in early 2010 in Bioshock 2 and Red Dead Redemption both of which should (I’d hope!) be sales successes. Add in the fact that there will be more Grand Theft Auto releases and you’d have to say that things aren’t that bad for the company.
What games will be big next year? I’m not too sure yet but from now on I’ll be keeping this page updated with all the critically acclaimed as well as commercially successful titles. Right now it’s just a list but I’ll make it look a lot better as time goes on. Let me know what you think, if I’ve made any mistakes or should be adding more. Red Dead Redemption (above) is currently my most anticipated for next year… What’s yours?
Before the hotly anticipated launch of Modern Warfare 2 we all gasped as Activision CEO Bobby Kotick announced they would be upping the RRP to £54.99, but just how much did we end up paying?
According to MCV, the game grossed £67.4 million in it’s first week on sale, quite incredible I’m sure you’ll agree. With 1.78 million (again incredible!) unit sales of the title just where does this leave our average user? So based on these figures we can calculate the average price of the title with a very simple equation, Revenue/Units Sold = Av. Price, or £67.4/1.78 which gives us the magic figure of £37.87.
So we’re well below the stated RRP, mostly I would put this down to rampant supermarket discounting, online deals and ultimately retailers not wanting to risk low sales by pricing people out of the market. To have a launch week sales total of 1.7m units first you must put the stock into retail, had the game of failed a lot of people would be sitting on a lot of unsold stock – a total disaster!
Of course with years of build up, huge marketing spend and a decent game to boot, no-one would have bet against instant success. Even so I didn’t quite expect the game to sell this well, i had my initial forecast at 1.2m, still a huge and record breaking number, just no where near the games eventual success.
Of course when week ones are huge the only place to go is down, has Modern Warfare 2 burnt through it’s market already or will sales continue to keep it at number 1 and grow the franchise from it’s previous base? Only time will tell, but it’s a damn good start…
Having thought about doing this for a while today I have taken the plunge and started my gaming blog.
I’ve been playing games since the gameboy, not as long as some that’s for sure – but long enough to know a thing or two about the subject and even more lucky – enough to work in the industry.
I’m not particularly looking for fame and fortune from this, just somewhere to post my random thoughts on games, the industry and probably some random, yet loosely related other things.
I hope you enjoy what I have to say, and comments/criticism will always be welcomed and responded too where possible. Hopefully I can help those of you outside of the industry to understand some of the things going on within it, and hopefully those within can take something away from this too.
So without further ado I’ll start thinking up something proper to write on here…. enjoy!
