Depressingly, sexual harassment in a development studio is once again the lead news item this week, and from a studio most gamers would never think it could happen. That, and major seismic shifting in the power structure of the digital storefront landscape.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
Nintendo plans to capitalize on the monumental success of Wii Sports by doing what they do best, building a hot game with an accessory backing its success. The new Wii Sports Resort will be a mini-game set like Wii Sports and Wii Play but with a beach setting and games like frisbee.
Frisbee? How can the Wii motion controller handle a Frisbee toss? Wii Motion Plus of course! We believe they’ll be packing the game in with the Wii Motion Plus to add more value to the purchase. Honestly, this adds more value to the accessory as a driving force to make sales and increase margins. Game accessories are a great way for Nintendo to profit, consider the pack in game marketing material.
As Wii Play has shown us, historically, gamers want the accessory and the bundled game is just icing on the proverbial cake. Wii Play, as a game, was lacking in many ways and would be, as a stand alone product, a definite must-not-have title. But, considering the amount of Wii controllers sold, this allows Wii Play to show up high on best games sold month over month.
Wii Sports Resort takes this to a new level by using the term “Wii Sports” in the game, allowing the masses to flock to the store to get anything that can reproduce the fun of the original title. Nobody knows, yet, if it will reproduce the same fun factor but the accessory is neat.
(Thanks, joystiq)
The month, June 2008, Metal Gear Solid 4 takes number one on the NDP figures with 774,600 individual units (over 1-million if you include bundles), in July… they didn’t even make the top ten figure. What the heck?
NCAA Football 09 for the Xbox 360 took number one with 397,600 games sold, nothing close to MGS4’s figures form last month but still took the first position. Wii Fit took number two position, up from its fourth position in June showing lasting appeal or the ability for gamers to purchase the rare to find game set.
Wii Play still sits in the top ten titles along with Mario Kart and Rock Band (for the Wii). As a matter of fact, four out of the top ten titles are Wii games. One for DS (Guitar Hero: On Tour), two for Xbox 360 and two for PlayStation 3.
How is it possible for Wii Play and Wii Fit to hold top positions for so long while a game like MGS4 dies off so rapidly? More than likely this is the impact from having such great console sales that even a low attach rate (games to consoles) is significant enough when millions upon millions of consoles have been sold.
If the PlayStation 3 had more units in the hands of gamers, would their top tier titles like MGS4 hold top spot for more months? Presumably yes, another negative impact from being third in the race it seems.
(Thanks, 1up)
Circuit City seems to have a problem paying their bills or so it seems, as Sony stopped their shipments mid-transit and returned them before hitting the distributors command center. In this unfavorable market climate, with the holidays around the corner, it seems bad for Circuit City to lose the trust of Sony.
Sony is afraid, “Circuit City couldn’t pay for the shipments” so the merchandise was turned around and returned home. Considering Sony, more than likely, wouldn’t have shipped the products to start with unless Circuit City was in good standing suggests things might have been “learned” after the shipment left the docks.
Circuit City’s been in some bad situations before, having a rough time dealing with competition in a very low margin, high volume, world of electronic retail. I’ve witnessed CompUSA disappear after the local Best Buy moved in and now Best Buy sits about 80 yards from Circuit City.
This is unfortunate because Best Buy can use some competition before they take over the bulk of this industry leaving only Wal*Mart and a few smaller stores to keep them in check. Considering I just purchased a 2-year warranty on my Rock Band 2 drum kit at Circuit City I’m fearing I’ll have to break the hardware sooner than later!
(Thanks, Gizmodo)
