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Big in 2010: Tablet Gaming

December 31st, 2009

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!

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What was the price of MW2?

December 1st, 2009

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…

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