Amazon CFO Tom Szkutak offered more details this afternoon during an analyst earnings call about the company’s disappointing fourth quarter
When it comes to physical media, Szkutak said the biggest hit to revenue came in the area of video game sales, which includes both console and game sales (but not games sold digitally, say from Amazon’s app store). Even though he didn’t offer specific numbers on that front, he noted that video games sales are seasonal and normally take a big leap in the last quarter of the year — and that did indeed happen this year, but not enough to match 2010 revenue. In part, that’s because more of those sales are going to Amazon’s third-party sellers, rather than Amazon itself. So video games units were up, while revenue was down. → Read More
Japan’s video game industry is the world’s second biggest (after the US), but it’s on a downward streak for the fifth consecutive year. Based on sales, the country’s video game industry has contracted by as much as 8% year-on-year, Japan’s biggest gaming magazine Famitsu is reporting [JP].
Between December 27, 2010 and December 25, 2011, Japanese game companies generated US$5.9 billion in sales. The Famitsu says that sales from hardware makers actually went up 2.4% (thanks to the launch of the 3DS and PlayStation Vita) to reach US$2.3 billion. Software revenues in Japan dropped 13.7% to US$3.6 billion last year. → Read More
It’s the middle of the year, and the Famitsu [JP], Japan’s (and probably the world’s) biggest video game magazine, decided it’s a good time to release the top 10 of the best-selling video games in Japan in the first half of this year, apart from a list of the top selling titles this week. → Read More
The original Dragon Age was a pretty good game — lots of free roaming, but also precise timelines. It wasn’t uncommon to spend 90+ hours in the main story, but at least the story had substance, just a bit long. Today, Dragon Age 2 released, and continuing on the steam from the first, BioWare has released the game for PC, Xbox 360, PS 3 and Mac OS X simultaneously. → Read More
It’s not the best time to be a gamer in Vietnam. The country’s government, by way of the Ministry of Information and Communication, has decreed that ISPs there block access to online games between the hours of 10pm and 8am. No late-night raiding for you, I’m afraid. → Read More
Everybody panic. The video game industry was down 5 percent this past January compared to January 2010, even if Activision still managed to sell an inordinate number of Call of Duty: Black Ops copies. → Read More
Valve has released the details surrounding pre-ordering Portal 2. The game is available for pre-order right now on Steam (and other retailers), and if you pre-order the game they’ll knock $5 off the price, bringing it down to $45. → Read More
It’s not the first time this has happened, and it most certainly won’t be the last time. A reasonably complete build of Crysis 2 (reports suggest people have already beaten the game) leaked at the weekend, prompting Crytek, the game’s developers, to release a statement saying that it, along with EA, the game’s publisher, was “deeply disappointed by the news,” and that it “encourage[s] fans to support the game and the development team by waiting and purchasing the final, polished game on 22nd March.” The download clocks in a just less than 10GB. → Read More
It would appear that Crysis 2 for the PC has leaked in some capacity. A quick look at some of the more popular sites when it comes to this kind of thing suggests that many thousands of people have no problem downloading Crytek’s unfinished game, which is due for release next month. Well, was due for release next month—who knows how this leak will affect development? → Read More
Now here’s a rumor that will stop many people in their tracks. An analyst at Wedbush Securities, “one of the largest securities firms and investment banks in the nation,” says that he’s “certain to [his] core” that Activision is planning a pay-to-play Call of Duty. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the sound of millions of gamers around the country flipping out. Picture an anime character with a giant teardrop running down his cheek. → Read More
Kudos to Activision for doing exactly what so many people had been predicting for years now. The world’s biggest video game publisher said yesterday that it was going to “disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit,” citing a decline in interest in the music game genre. And what could possibly be the reason for that, hmm? Maybe releasing sequel after sequels after sequel in such a quick succession that you don’t give gamers any room to breathe? Gotta maximize short-term profits! The future? That’s someone else’s problem. → Read More
Let it be known that 2011 will be the year that console gamers will be jealous of their PC gaming brethren. (As if that matters, but whatever.) Red Orchestra 2, Crysis 2, and the mighty Battlefield 3 will be best experienced on the PC, and if you’re sitting there on your couch, controller in hand, you’re really not getting the full experience. Sorry. → Read More
What do fans of Call of Duty: Black Ops and Mass Effect 2 have in common? One group of fans spends its time playing a pop-a-mole shooter set in outer space, while the other group of fans spends its time playing a pop-a-mole shooter set on earth. Oh, and both groups of fans have been fighting game-breaking bugs for some time now. One such bug, gone unpatched for more than two weeks now, corrupts save files in the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2, while Call of Duty: Black Ops has had any number of annoying bugs since its release last November. The game’s so buggy that a UK consumer group reported the game to the mighty Office of Fair Trading for being, in essence, a hunk of junk. What does Treyarch, the Black Ops developer, have to say for itself? In essence, “Pobody’s nerfect.” → Read More
At the CrunchGear offices, after all our tireless work, we sit around and talk time; watches, clocks, and 2012 occupy our general water cooler discussions. But, when we aren’t talking time, video games is usually next on the list. So combining 1 and 2 would be like the sweet combination of peanut butter to our chocolate. That combination can now be had in a clock called the Wise Clock: our Reese’s Cup, if you will. → Read More
What exciting times we live in, what with word that Sony has plans to subpoena a boatload of Web sites and individuals in an attempt to track down the members of fail0verflow and other PS3 hackers. Good luck with that. But wait, what’s this? Now LG wants to ban the sale of PS3s here in the US of A because of a patent dispute? In the words of Scott Hall, two sweet! → Read More
Last week saw a full-on Mad Catz arcade stick for the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and this week we have something a little less conspicuous.(Not everyone wants to store a big arcade stick around the house.) It’s the Marvel Edition Versus Fighting Pad, from Performance Designed Products. If nothing else it looks pretty good, not some slapped-together thing designed to make a quick buck. → Read More
One of the better deals during Steam’s holiday sale was the Stalker series for something like $5—pretty much an insane deal. The games are the definition of the PC shooter (as opposed to console shooter like Killzone or Halo): freedom of movement, no silly scripted sequences, mods all day long, etc. Well now it looks like a group of modders, from Russia, have taken it upon themselves to port the game to the engine that powers Crysis. → Read More
Sony is apparently going after more hackers than just George Hotz and fail0verflow. Sony is looking to get DMCA suits against all PS3 jailbreakers who share Sony’s source code on Github. Well-known PS3 hackers Waninkoko, KaKaRoTo, Hermes, Kmeaw and Graf_Chokolo have been named in documents to Github requesting all docs and posts from the users, as well as all contact information. → Read More
It looks like there will be a Halo: Combat Evolved re-make after all. So says mighty Joystiq. It’ll be available on November 15, 2011, 10 years to the day after the game’s original release for the Xbox. Oh, happy day! → Read More
Bad news for people who think they’re great drivers because they play games like Gran Turismo 5: you’re not. New research suggests that while playing games may improve reaction time, it also seems to help churn out aggressive drivers. It’s easy to be an aggressive driver in Gran Turismo where damage is minimal (if existent at all), but not when you’re driving down I-95. → Read More
