Microsoft's Xbox 360 appears to be benefiting more than Sony's PlayStation 3 as game-console sales soar along with Grand Theft Auto IV. Microsoft may have an advantage, with a GTA IV exclusive on its Xbox Live Arcade. A Party Mode lets online players take on Liberty City with their gaming friends. Online GTA IV has six game types.
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The mob-themed video game "Grand Theft Auto IV" raced into stores and off the shelves, smashing previous game records with $500 million in worldwide sales its first week, publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. said Wednesday. ¶ That topped the previous high set last year by Microsoft Corp.'s "Halo 3," which took in $300 million in its first week. Take-Two said it sold about 6 million units of "GTA IV" during the first week, and 3.6 million units for $310 million on its first day of sale, April 29. ¶ "We believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date," Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick said. "This signals just how important interactive entertainment has become in entertainment writ large."
Comparisons with other forms of entertainment can be difficult because of the different price points at the retail level.
For example, sales of "GTA IV" approach the sales of the bestselling book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which sold 8.3 million copies in the U.S. within 24 hours of being released last July, according to publisher Scholastic Inc. "Deathly Hallows," however, came with a cover price of $34.99 compared with $60 for "GTA IV."
American film director Steven Spielberg has developed a new videogame puzzle series in a bid to bring families together around their Wii consoles.
Spielberg has teamed up with Electronic Arts to develop Boom Blox, with hopes of getting the family to come together to play.
The moviemaker admitted that he and his kids all have their own choices when it comes to videogames, and he wanted to create one that would interest everyone in taking part.
“I wanted something that would bridge the family together in the same room, standing shoulder to shoulder, Contactmusic quoted him as saying.
“I want to create games that tell you stories and involve you emotionally in the characters,” he added.
Like most board games, the trivia title Wits & Wagers was designed to be played by a group of friends sitting around a coffee table. This week, a new version of the game will let Xbox-owning players challenge one another around the world.
Bethesda's North Star Games is set to make its debut on Microsoft's video game console, with a version of the company's flagship trivia title available as a $10 download from Microsoft's online service for the Xbox.
Dominic Crapuchettes, North Star's founder, said he's not sure what sort of revenue the new release could mean for his company. The online release is part of the company's ongoing efforts to make Wits & Wagers a household name.
"We're trying to build Wits & Wagers into an American blockbuster like Monopoly, Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit," he said. "Part of the way to do that is to get the brand in front of as many people as possible."
Wii owners pounced at Mario Kart Wii last week, giving it enough momentum to leap straight into first place in the overall Australian game charts for the week of April 21-27, according to data trackers GfK Australia. The game was officially on sale for four days during that period and shipped with the Wii Wheel.
The other game to ship with a peripheral last week--Time Crisis 4--comes in just below Mario Kart Wii at number two. EA playground is back in the charts in third spot, pushing Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the PlayStation 2 down to number four. Last week's top dog--Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games on the Wii--has fallen four places to five, while the DS version trails behind in 10th position.
In other charts news, The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff remains at the top of the PC chart, despite falling out of the top overall 10 last week. The Sims 2 also continues to sell strongly, moving up two places, to number four.
All sales stats, including console-by-console breakdowns, can be found below:
High-tech video game players are attracting young people and their parents more than ever as the May 5 Children's Day approaches.
Sony's PlayStation, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii are forming a tight three-way race, with each of them offering discounts or new games.
The most aggressive among the big three makers is Nintendo, which launched its Wii console on April 26. The company aired TV commercials and ran newspaper and magazine ads in massive quantities during the first week of sales, featuring popular actor Won Bin.
Nintendo Korea refused to reveal sales figures due to company policy. But local game magazines estimate that more than 10,000 units were sold in the first four days.
The firm expects that it will sell much more during the Children's Day weekend, when it is customary for parents to give presents to their kids. Some hasty expectations are that Wii will break the record of the Nintendo DS portable game player, which sold more than 1.5 million units in Korea in little more than a year.
Eleven participants in the programs at Station Maine took four hours of a beautiful Saturday afternoon this past weekend to help sand and paint aboard the Schooner Isaac H. Evans. Muriel Curtis and her team are no strangers to hard work and completed many tasks in short order. Participants included Muriel Curtis, Sam Slaymaker, Tristan Slaymaker, Brian Jones, Aaron Jones, Crystal "Gem" Lewis, Lily VanSteenberg, Noah Curtis, Jennifer Simmons, Tasha Kordek, and Elizabeth Kordek. With the guidance of the schooner’s owners, Capt Brenda Walker and Brian Thomas, the volunteers sanded bulwarks, mast hardware, the main boom, cabin tops, deck boxes, quarter bits, and a traveler. Metal flanges for the wood stove smoke stacks, a.k.a Charlie Nobles, were prepped with a grinder and painted with high temperature paint. Bars used for working the windlass to raise the anchor were stripped and painted with special metal primer. Bare wood spots from all the sanding were painted with primer. Mast hoops were scraped of loose paint and grease. And a pile of heavy wood was moved for proper storage.
So why all the hard work? Each year the Schooner Isaac H. Evans starts the sailing season with a day sail with all proceeds donated to a local charity. Previous beneficiaries have included Big Brothers Big Sisters, Friends of the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, New Hope For Women, Meals On Wheels, the Bob Gagnon Cancer Care Fund, the Friends of the Rockland Public Library, the Hospitality House, and Area Interfaith Outreach. This year’s beneficiary is Station Maine and Curtis teaches her program participants that nothing is free so they exchanged a day’s work for donations being raised.
“I hear a lot of negativity these days about youth. Lazy. That comes up a lot. Don't want to work. Don't know how to work”, Curtis says. Work, however, is a language spoken fluently by the young ambassadors of Station Maine. It is a fluency developed by long hours of practical "study" as "Rent-a-Rowers" over the course of the year in which they earned every penny of a trip to France.
“I have a lot of faith in this next generation. I see in these kids the seeds of greatness. Seeds which need to be nurtured.” And nurture them she does….through song, humor, gentle guidance and comraderie.
Two of the biggest games of the year have finally arrived and they could not be more different.
For the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 Grand Theft Auto 4 is the latest in the hugely successful crime series. Nintendo's Wii receives another innovative peripheral in the shape of the balance board for use with its new title, Wii Fit.
"They are targeting very different audiences, GTA 4 is targeting adult audiences probably what you would consider the more traditional gamer where as Wii Fit is aimed at the mass market a family audience, probably somebody who would hope to do something less sedentary than just sitting down all of the time," said Phil Elliott, editor of GamesIndustry.biz.
Developers Rockstar Games' latest third person crime caper, GTA IV, unleashes Niko Bellic on the streets of Liberty City, a barely disguised New York.
Niko must steal cars, rob banks, take out rival criminals and generally cause chaos on the streets of this enormous metropolis.
Liberty City is roughly the size of the real New York and the level of detail and the sheer scope of the game are breathtaking.
Miley Cyrus will be there. So will Jonas Brothers and the Cheetah Girls. The Disney Channel Games start today and run through Friday in Orlando.
The event enlists the channel's young celebrities for elaborate competitions played for charity. The performers will build a chariot to race, act as pieces on a giant foosball table and match fellow stars with their baby pictures.
The games unfold from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today, Tuesday and Thursday in Champion Stadium at Disney's Wide World of Sports, off Interstate 4, southwest of Orlando. Because of production changes, Friday events won't be open to the public. If you can't attend, the highlights will become a TV series later this summer.
"We're inviting people to come and watch, but it's a working production," said Adam Sanderson, senior vice president of brand marketing for Disney ABC Networks Group. "It's not staged as a sporting event."Sanderson said there will be plenty of grandstand seating.
"We can't have regular kids on the field," he said. "The talent will be walking around, playing the games. They'll be able to see the talent."
The celebrities will play for charities: Boys & Girls Club, UNICEF, Make-A-Wish and Starlight Starbright.
Sanderson said the challenges this year will be visually bigger so they come across well on television.
The footage will become five half-hour shows that debut in late July.
Performances from a Saturday concert, whose tickets have been distributed, will be incorporated in the half-hours. The concert will feature Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, the Cheetah Girls, Demi Lovato and Jordan Pruitt.
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Mario hasn't got his hack license, but he will treat unsuspecting New Yorkers to a free cab ride tomorrow. The popular video game character will be hailing cabs for midtown Manhattan commuters in the morning and during lunch to promote the launch of the Mario Kart Wii racing game. The costumed character will appear near the Sheraton Hotel on Seventh Avenue and 52nd Street.
Jason Priestly, best known for Beverly Hills 90210, will then join the promotional efforts on Saturday, appearing at the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Plaza to test drive the new title.
Priestly, who co-owns the Rubicon Race Team, is a former driver and race analyst. He will be on hand to try out the new Wii Wheel accessory used for Mario Kart Wii. The game hits shelves this Sunday.
Nintendo Wii recently concluded another strong month. In March, it finished with the top hardware and top game, per the NDP Group, Port Washington, N.Y.
More than 720,000 Wii systems were sold in March, representing the highest monthly sales total to date (outside of November and December).
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which launched March 9, was the No. 1 title with 2.7 million units sold.
"Nintendo systems represented 58 percent of all video game hardware sold in March in the United States," Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's evp, sales and marketing, said in a statement. "We expect our momentum to continue with big upcoming game launches like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit."
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