In its first day of release, Super Smash Bros Brawl for the Wii sold more than 500,000 copies in Japan, shattering sales figures for all other platforms combined, according to the Japanese source Famitsu.
No other new release came close. The Playstation 3 version of Devil May Cry sold 140,000 copies, followed by the PS2's Haruhi at 105,000 units and Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut with 70,000. It is also the biggest one-day sales number for any Wii game in Japan.
The game's official site is currently rated more popular than Nintendo.com and Wii.com, according to Web tracker Alexa. The game's official website Smashbros.com currently ranks as the 681st most popular site on the Internet.
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technorati tags: nintendo+wii, super smash bros brawl, super smash brothers, japan
Super Smash Bros. Brawl sold more than 500k in Japan
Guitar Hero Franchise Rocks Past 1 Bln Mark
According to market research firm NPD Group, Activision's Guitar Hero franchise has set a video game industry sales record, surpassing $1 billion in North American sales in 26 months. What's more, the latest installment, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, is now that top-selling single-year video game title of all time in terms of units and total dollars earned.
"Guitar Hero is one of the biggest brands and one of the most powerful distribution platforms in all of entertainment today," said Michael Griffith, president and chief executive officer of Activision Publishing Inc. "Guitar Hero's popularity with broad audiences is a confirmation that video games have become a true mass medium."
Since the arrival of Guitar Hero III, gamers have download over 5 million songs.
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technorati tags: guitar+hero, activision
Microsoft Gives Free Games As Apology to Frustrated XBOX Live Users
Microsoft apologized to hundreds of frustrated XBOX Live users who had trouble logging in and accessing their XBOX Live service during the holiday season. As a result, the company promised to give away a free game to all its users.
Microsoft said the problems had been caused by a surge of people signing up and using the gaming service. The growth in new users had been driven by sales of top titles such as Mass Effect and Halo 3.
But despite this action, some users are still not contented. A suit was already filed against Microsoft, claiming that the XBOX Live outages represent a breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation for which the software is liable.
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technorati tags: microsoft, microsoft xbox live, free xbox game
POGS 2008 (Philippine Online Gaming Summit) on January 13
Attention all pinoy gamers! This year's Philippine Online Gaming Summit will be held at the Trinoma Activity Center this coming January 13 (Sunday).
Just like the past POGS, expect some intense gaming tournaments, live musical performances, cos players, and exclusive freebies. You can also get a chance to win a gaming PC or a Nintendo Wii.
For updates regarding POGS 2008, visit www.gamemagazine.ph
It was 2005 when the first Summit was held at the NBC Tent, Fort Bonifacio. Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) in Pasay City hosted the next following years' (2006 & 2007) event.
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technorati tags: POGS, Philippine Online Gaming Summit, gaming events
"w00t!" there it is!
As the year ends, Merriam-Webster once again asked web users to vote for its Word of the Year. And the winner is -- w00t!
Spelled w-zero-zero-t, "w00t" is a word made popular by pc and video gamers which means: "expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word 'yay'." Others say the two zeros were just added to make the word more cooler.
This will probably turn off the wordsmiths and wordanistas out there. But then again we're at a time wherein people are communicating electronically with each other. Welcome to the Wikipedia generation.. "w00t" gained the 2007 honor because Internet users voted for it. Merriam-Webster explained that "w00t" hasn't been added to its print dictionaries, but instead is included in its online Open Dictionary.
Last year's winner is "truthiness" - a word popularized by comedian Stephen Colbert. Now what's next, "pwned?"
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technorati tags: gaming, w00t, merriam-webster, 2007 word of the year
Hey, look! It's the Duke!
Are you an old school pc gamer? If you're like me who grew up with Doom (shareware will do).. you've probably played or at least heard of Duke Nukem, originally a platform game but became popular with it's first person shooter - Duke Nukem 3D (1996). It was a big hit during that time and a controversial one too coz it's one of the early pc games that was alleged of promoting pornography and violent murders, but also notable for its often crude humor.
In 1997, maker 3D Realms announced a sequel called Duke Nukem Forever, but stating it will be released "when it's done." Now 2007, ten years past, and after receiving a couple of vaporware awards.. the game seems to be pretty dead. NOT! Recently news and even videos surfaced on the net showing DNF. here's the teaser video:
Now what do you think about this one? Will Forever really be out soon? or Forever Delayed once again. If it ever comes out, do you think it can still compete with the rest of new shooters out there? It did stand out amongst hundreds of Doom clones a decade ago.. so lets just probably wait until it's already on the store shelves.
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technorati tags: pc games, duke nukem forever, duke nukem, duke nukem teaser trailer