NEWS
News in No Particular Order
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Capcom’s Spring Releases, Ubisoft’s New DRM, Just Dance Top in UK Sales, NPD Top 15 Console Games
Capcom’s Spring Release Lineup:
Monster Hunter Tri, Lost Planet 2, a package release of classic sidescrolling action titles Final Fight and Magic Sword, and Super Street Fighter 4 are all right around the corner.
Super Street Fighter 4 will be shipping April 27th in the US.
New selectable supers? Check!
The return of the World Warriors? Check!
New character? Check!
Final Fight characters? Check!
Classic bonus stages? Hell YEAH!!! Break the car!
The list goes on and on.
"She'll do more than break your heart..."
The game has enough to satisfy those who already bought Street Fighter 4, and will appeal to both the new and hardcore fighting game fan. There was a time when people felt the 2D fighting game genre was reduced to a small niche market, lacking releases from the bigger companies. Capcom is pretty good at proving people wrong.
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From Gamespy.com:
“Ubisoft is now launching this proprietary new system to manage its PC gaming community, starting with making its PC games accessible through Ubi.com accounts.
In the past Ubisoft has been derided for its use of the controversial StarForce digital rights management application. Ubisoft's new platform takes an approach that tackles many of the typical criticisms of DRM. You'll be able to run your games without a disc in the drive for authentication, and you can take advantage of unlimited installations."
Your saved games will be saved on Ubisoft’s servers, and will be accessible from any computer after you log in. Old tricks, liked editing save game files for single player games will be a thing of the past. You must have internet access to log in and play future Ubisoft games, and this new system starts with the Settlers 7 beta. Ubisoft is not limiting how many times you can install, just the mandatory registration and login process.
I will note, NCsoft, makers of Guild Wars and Dungeon Runners, has had a process like this in place for a while. The main difference though, is that NCsoft games are online multiplayer, while Ubisoft will be extending this practice to online and offline games.
Ok, all that said? Copy protection never hurts the thief as much as the honest paying customer. I know most people have internet access, and most will feel like this is not a problem. It just irritates me when I buy a game and have to jump through hoops to play it. It’s even worse when there are hacked versions people download for free the same week the game is released--that have these irritating counter measures cracked. See SPORE… Hasn’t Borderlands sold amazingly well with almost NO copy protection? Apparently, if you take the time to make a good game, these measures are not necessary.
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From Gamasutra.com:
“...Just Dance ranked as the top game on (UK) Chart-Track's all-platforms sales list for the week ended January 23, outselling Activision and Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed 2, Electronic Arts' Army of Two: The 40th Day and other high-profile titles that enjoyed heavy marketing. Just Dance launched in the UK on November 27.
Chart-Track said Just Dance is the first Ubisoft game to capture the number one spot for more than a week since November 2007's original Assassin's Creed. The tracking firm also said Just Dance "recorded the highest ever sales for a game in the second week of the year." For week three, the only game to sell better was Blizzard's phenomenally successful World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, which launched in 2007.
The only new release to crack Chart-Track's top 40 was Capcom's Dark Void, which came in at number 33. Two games dropped out of the top ten from the previous week: THQ's Darksiders and Sega's Bayonetta.”
(Current) UK All-Platforms Top 10
1. Just Dance (Ubisoft)
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision)
3. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo)
4. Army of Two: The 40th Day (EA)
5. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)
6. FIFA 10 (EA)
7. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo)
8. James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (Ubisoft)
9. Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft)
10. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
"I'd sing while playing this, making a huge fool of myself."
I love looking at other countries top 10 sales lists. It can really tell you something about their culture. Darksiders and Bayonetta are bumped from the top 10, and a Dance title holds number 1. I think perhaps the British do not have our American fascination with violence to the same degree. Dark Void missed the top 30 games completely, but I can't say this is surprising. I think Dark Void will sell average numbers in America, since there are better options out the for action game enthusiasts.
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NPD reveal the top selling American console games of the last 15 years.
01. Wii Play (Wii)
02. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
03. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox)
04. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
05. Wii Fit (Wii)
06. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
07. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3, Xbox 360, DS)
08. Madden NFL 07 (PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2, PSP, DS, GC, GBA, Wii)
09. Call of Duty: World at War (PS3, Xbox 360, DS, Wii)
10. Namco Museum (DC, GBA, PS2, GC, Xbox, PSP, N64, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PS, Xbox 360)
Ok, lets talk about number 1. It's sad that the best of the list is such an overwhelmingly average game, but so is the power of sending out a title with a free accessory.
Modern Warfare 2 is already at number 4? If they put this list out again in 2 years, it's definitely on its way up.
The New Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo Wii has also been breaking sales records all over the place—I imagine it will knock Namco Museum off the list in no time.
That said, props to Namco Museum for releasing on 13 different consoles. Nice.
See you next week!
Categories: News in No Particular Order
