The Wii went on sale in the UK at the stroke of midnight on Friday, drawing huge crowds on London's premiere shopping street in two massive lines.
At Nintendo's official event in HMV on Oxford Street, celebrities Ian Wright, Nell McAndrew, Pat Cash, and Ricky Hatton turned up to play Wii Sports. Cash and McAndrew played Wii Tennis, with Cash winning two games to zero. Wright and Hatton sparred at Wii Boxing, with the ex-footballer winning the virtual game against the boxer.
Marwan Elgamal, who had been camping outside the store in an alley for two days, was first in line for a console at the HMV store, and it was presented to him by Ian Wright. Elgamal bought The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess with his purchase, and Wright asked him if Zelda was a fighting game--which didn't go down well with the crowd.
A few shops down the street at Game, Vic Ainsworth was first in line and held his Wii box above his head in victory as photographers snapped his photo. He admitted that he'd never had so many pictures taken of himself. He laughed, "I always look grumpy in photos, but I'm not! I'm really excited!" He revealed that he was surprised when he got to the store and found he was first in line. "I thought there would be people here already because I read on the news that people were camped out for like two days outside HMV. People were asking where was the queue, so I jumped in and started it."
At Game, glasses of champagne were given out to the first customers through the doors as well as baseball caps, scarves, blankets, and pizza while people were standing in line.
Game's marketing director Anna Macario said, "We're so pleased with the turnout. I've never seen a queue go round the block here before. I know so many people personally who have never bought a console before but who are now after playing it. It's universally appealing." She added that the company would be getting more stock in from Nintendo before Christmas but that she didn't know as yet when or how much.
Nintendo UK's product manager for home consoles, Rob Lowe, told GameSpot that he believed that the launch events had been a huge success. He said, "I think this is the biggest launch we've ever had. It's also great to see so many girl gamers in the queue. I think one in 10 was a girl gamer." Asked whether he believed that Nintendo's approach to make a console that tried to appeal to everyone had paid off, he raised his arms to gesture to the crowd behind him and said, "Yes, definitely."
Thursday, December 7, 2006
NPD: November game sales up 15 percent
After months of year-over-year growth, October's sales figures surprised some analysts and industry watchers. With the market-depressing effects of a console transition largely behind them, US retailers started off the key fourth quarter of the year with sales more or less in line with what they had taken in for October 2005.
Despite that month's unspectacular showing, analysts were upbeat this week in anticipation of significant sales growth for November. And according to the industry tracking NPD Group, their optimism was justified. For the month of November, US retail game sales amounted to roughly $804 million, a 15 percent increase over the prior year's $702 million.
Sales were led by the Xbox 360 release Gears of War (which broke the million-unit mark), followed by Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii. Twilight Princess was the only game for either of the month's newly released systems--the Wii and the PlayStation 3--to crack the top-10 best-selling games (by units sold).
Despite the performance of Gears of War and the release of Sony's and Nintendo's next-gen consoles, it was portable systems that experienced the more pronounced growth. Portable game sales were up 28 percent to $185 million, compared with home console game sales' 11 percent bump to $618 million.
Sales for PS3 and Wii games would no doubt have been higher if more of the consoles had made their way into gamers' hands. NPD shows 197,000 PS3 systems sold for the month, while the Wii managed to move 476,000 units. The Xbox 360 bested them both, though not by much, sporting sales of 511,000 for the month.
None of the next-gen systems could measure up to the DS, however. Nintendo's newest portable sold 918,000 systems, according to NPD. All tallied up, US retailers sold $771 million worth of gaming hardware last month, 69 percent more than the $456 million moved in November 2005, when the Xbox 360 launched.
Despite that month's unspectacular showing, analysts were upbeat this week in anticipation of significant sales growth for November. And according to the industry tracking NPD Group, their optimism was justified. For the month of November, US retail game sales amounted to roughly $804 million, a 15 percent increase over the prior year's $702 million.
Sales were led by the Xbox 360 release Gears of War (which broke the million-unit mark), followed by Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii. Twilight Princess was the only game for either of the month's newly released systems--the Wii and the PlayStation 3--to crack the top-10 best-selling games (by units sold).
Despite the performance of Gears of War and the release of Sony's and Nintendo's next-gen consoles, it was portable systems that experienced the more pronounced growth. Portable game sales were up 28 percent to $185 million, compared with home console game sales' 11 percent bump to $618 million.
Sales for PS3 and Wii games would no doubt have been higher if more of the consoles had made their way into gamers' hands. NPD shows 197,000 PS3 systems sold for the month, while the Wii managed to move 476,000 units. The Xbox 360 bested them both, though not by much, sporting sales of 511,000 for the month.
None of the next-gen systems could measure up to the DS, however. Nintendo's newest portable sold 918,000 systems, according to NPD. All tallied up, US retailers sold $771 million worth of gaming hardware last month, 69 percent more than the $456 million moved in November 2005, when the Xbox 360 launched.
Clinton, Lieberman help launch ESRB ads
Today the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) joined Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) in announcing a cooperative effort to get the word out about the gaming industry's rating system. Last year, the two senators introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act, a piece of federal legislation that seeks to limit minors' access to objectionable games based upon their ESRB ratings.
The new initiative is focused on a nationwide advertising campaign that consists of public service announcements. Clinton and Lieberman don't appear in any of the campaign's four 30-second TV spots. Instead, Best Buy president Brian Dunn and GameStop president Steve Morgan affirm their companies' support of the ESRB and their policies not to sell games rated M for Mature to minors without parental permission.
While Clinton and Lieberman don't appear on camera, both legislators offered their support for the initiative in a statement.
"We all share in the responsibility of making sure our children play age-appropriate video games," Clinton said, "and I'm pleased that the ESRB and retailers are working together to educate parents about the video game ratings and make sure they are enforced."
"I have long said that the ESRB ratings are the most comprehensive in the media industry," Lieberman noted. "There are many age-appropriate games that are clever and entertaining. Parents should understand and use the ratings to help them decide which video games to buy for their families."
Both senators have been vocal critics of the game industry in the past. Lieberman pushed the game industry to adopt a rating system in the early 1990s and has remained vocal on the subject of violent games ever since. Clinton came to the forefront of the industry's critics with the Grand Theft Auto Hot Coffee scandal, when she called for an FTC inquiry into the matter. Earlier this year, both senators called for the Centers for Disease Control to study the impact of electronic media use on children.
The new initiative is focused on a nationwide advertising campaign that consists of public service announcements. Clinton and Lieberman don't appear in any of the campaign's four 30-second TV spots. Instead, Best Buy president Brian Dunn and GameStop president Steve Morgan affirm their companies' support of the ESRB and their policies not to sell games rated M for Mature to minors without parental permission.
While Clinton and Lieberman don't appear on camera, both legislators offered their support for the initiative in a statement.
"We all share in the responsibility of making sure our children play age-appropriate video games," Clinton said, "and I'm pleased that the ESRB and retailers are working together to educate parents about the video game ratings and make sure they are enforced."
"I have long said that the ESRB ratings are the most comprehensive in the media industry," Lieberman noted. "There are many age-appropriate games that are clever and entertaining. Parents should understand and use the ratings to help them decide which video games to buy for their families."
Both senators have been vocal critics of the game industry in the past. Lieberman pushed the game industry to adopt a rating system in the early 1990s and has remained vocal on the subject of violent games ever since. Clinton came to the forefront of the industry's critics with the Grand Theft Auto Hot Coffee scandal, when she called for an FTC inquiry into the matter. Earlier this year, both senators called for the Centers for Disease Control to study the impact of electronic media use on children.
Cops accused of cutting PS3 line
Gamers were willing to do almost anything to get a PlayStation 3 on November 17, the day the system debuted in North America. Some camped outside of stores for days, some resorted to crime, and some may have tried to use their stance as officers of the law to get their hands on a PS3.
The Associated Press is reporting that two Rhode Island police officers are currently under investigation for cutting into a line of gamers waiting to purchase the PS3 on launch day.
The two unnamed police officers were part of a group of seven who were permitted to jump ahead to the front of the line by two security guards. One of the officers claims to have done nothing wrong.
His police chief disagrees. "We think he did something very wrong," Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman told the AP. "He's been identified and he's going to be disciplined."
Both officers are currently under investigation by their departments for their actions, but no
specifics into disciplinary action have yet been discussed.
The two security guards who let the group cut the line have been fired.
The Associated Press is reporting that two Rhode Island police officers are currently under investigation for cutting into a line of gamers waiting to purchase the PS3 on launch day.
The two unnamed police officers were part of a group of seven who were permitted to jump ahead to the front of the line by two security guards. One of the officers claims to have done nothing wrong.
His police chief disagrees. "We think he did something very wrong," Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman told the AP. "He's been identified and he's going to be disciplined."
Both officers are currently under investigation by their departments for their actions, but no
specifics into disciplinary action have yet been discussed.
The two security guards who let the group cut the line have been fired.
Microsoft sued for 360 update issues
Source: A post on the Xbox.com forums, regurgitated with skepticism (but not fact-checking) by Team Xbox, Computer and Video Games, and Joystiq.
What we heard: When Microsoft released the Fall Update for the Xbox 360 on October 31, reports that it was "bricking" some systems--rendering them unable to play games or even boot up properly--quickly flared up online. Web sites specializing in the Xbox modding scene speculated that the bricked systems were an intentional byproduct of the update. According to them, Microsoft wanted to break consoles that had been tampered with to do things for which it wasn't intended, like play pirated copies of games. Microsoft required that anyone wishing to take their Xbox 360 console onto the Xbox Live service download the update.
While initially quiet on the subject, Microsoft the next day acknowledged problems that affected "less than 1 percent" of Xbox 360 owners who installed the update onto their consoles. The company said it was working with those affected to resolve the issue, and released an updated version of the Fall Update.
That apparently didn't satisfy everyone, as earlier this week, a poster on the official Xbox.com message boards waded into the middle of a 60+-page thread about the Fall Update problems and claimed that he had filed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft in the matter.
A handful of gaming Web sites picked up on the news and passed it along, each of them noting that it was an unconfirmed report from a message board poster.
As it turns out, the poster was telling the truth. GameSpot obtained a copy of the original complaint, which was filed in a Washington district court. The suit accuses Microsoft of breach of contract, negligence, and violation of the state of Washington's Consumer Protection Act (CPA). Stating that the affected consumers number in "at least the thousands," the suit contends that Microsoft is refusing to repair or replace the broken systems unless the users pay "up to $140" to ship it back to the company.
The plaintiff is demanding that Microsoft pay at least $5 million in damages for breach of contract to those affected by the Fall Update problems, and an additional amount of at least $5 million in damages for an unfair or deceptive act under the CPA. Should Microsoft argue that it had no agreement to breach with the affected users, then the plaintiff contends Microsoft was negligent, and should be made to pay at least $5 million in damages.
[UPDATE] The official story: A Microsoft representative issued the following response to the matter:
"A small percentage of consoles (less than 1 percent) were affected by the Fall Update. An updated version of the Fall Update was made available on Xbox Live on November 1 which eliminated issues relating to new or refurbished consoles malfunctioning after applying the Fall Update.
"Users affected by the initial Fall Update would have seen an error message and should call Xbox Support (1-800-4-MY-XBOX in the US and Canada). Microsoft is making every effort to resolve this issue for its customers as fast and easy as possible. It's also important to note that Xbox Support is paying for the shipping and repair/replacement of all Xbox 360 consoles that malfunctioned as a result of the Fall Update on October 31, before it could be fixed on November 1. They just need to phone Xbox Support and give them the proper error message indicating it was the Fall Update that affected their console."
Bogus or not bogus?: Fortunately for those reporting without a net, not bogus
What we heard: When Microsoft released the Fall Update for the Xbox 360 on October 31, reports that it was "bricking" some systems--rendering them unable to play games or even boot up properly--quickly flared up online. Web sites specializing in the Xbox modding scene speculated that the bricked systems were an intentional byproduct of the update. According to them, Microsoft wanted to break consoles that had been tampered with to do things for which it wasn't intended, like play pirated copies of games. Microsoft required that anyone wishing to take their Xbox 360 console onto the Xbox Live service download the update.
While initially quiet on the subject, Microsoft the next day acknowledged problems that affected "less than 1 percent" of Xbox 360 owners who installed the update onto their consoles. The company said it was working with those affected to resolve the issue, and released an updated version of the Fall Update.
That apparently didn't satisfy everyone, as earlier this week, a poster on the official Xbox.com message boards waded into the middle of a 60+-page thread about the Fall Update problems and claimed that he had filed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft in the matter.
A handful of gaming Web sites picked up on the news and passed it along, each of them noting that it was an unconfirmed report from a message board poster.
As it turns out, the poster was telling the truth. GameSpot obtained a copy of the original complaint, which was filed in a Washington district court. The suit accuses Microsoft of breach of contract, negligence, and violation of the state of Washington's Consumer Protection Act (CPA). Stating that the affected consumers number in "at least the thousands," the suit contends that Microsoft is refusing to repair or replace the broken systems unless the users pay "up to $140" to ship it back to the company.
The plaintiff is demanding that Microsoft pay at least $5 million in damages for breach of contract to those affected by the Fall Update problems, and an additional amount of at least $5 million in damages for an unfair or deceptive act under the CPA. Should Microsoft argue that it had no agreement to breach with the affected users, then the plaintiff contends Microsoft was negligent, and should be made to pay at least $5 million in damages.
[UPDATE] The official story: A Microsoft representative issued the following response to the matter:
"A small percentage of consoles (less than 1 percent) were affected by the Fall Update. An updated version of the Fall Update was made available on Xbox Live on November 1 which eliminated issues relating to new or refurbished consoles malfunctioning after applying the Fall Update.
"Users affected by the initial Fall Update would have seen an error message and should call Xbox Support (1-800-4-MY-XBOX in the US and Canada). Microsoft is making every effort to resolve this issue for its customers as fast and easy as possible. It's also important to note that Xbox Support is paying for the shipping and repair/replacement of all Xbox 360 consoles that malfunctioned as a result of the Fall Update on October 31, before it could be fixed on November 1. They just need to phone Xbox Support and give them the proper error message indicating it was the Fall Update that affected their console."
Bogus or not bogus?: Fortunately for those reporting without a net, not bogus
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