Xbox 360 Fanboy

Remember last month when Sony claimed that the PS3 had surpassed the Xbox 360 in Europe? The battle of the numbers continues today as European VP of strategic marketing for interactive entertainment at Microsoft EMEA (say that three times fast) David Gosen let it be known that the Xbox 360 has sold more than 5 million units in Europe, "well over" 5 million in fact. He also puts a stop to Sony's shenanigans -- assuming his word is better than Sony's anyway -- by noting that the Xbox 360 is actually "at least, if not more than, three quarters of a million ahead of PS3." Gosen also takes issue with analysts' claims that 360 sales have slowed in Europe saying, "If we look at the momentum in the business in the last few months, the trajectory has changed significantly," adding that analysts should "check their numbers."

Ooh, did you hear that analysts? Burn!

Microsoft today announced that replacing Jeff Bell as vice president of global marketing for the Interactive Entertainment Business will be Michael Delman. Bell recently announced he was leaving the company, though not our hearts. Delman is currently the corporate vice president of the Global Marketing Communications Group at Microsoft and will be assuming his new role (and presumably donning his new Xbox branded boxer shorts) in August. Conversely, we're guessing that Jeff Bell will officially call it quits in August. We're eager (very eager) to see if Delman will be able to fill Jeff Bell's loud, well-spoken shoes.

The news is out. The Playstation 3 managed to best the Xbox 360 in sales during the month of May. Grab your favorite pillow and get ready for a shock, because EEDAR analyst Jesse Divinich expects last month's results to be the beginning of a new trend. On the sales victory, Divinich notes that the trend "will likely continue in June as we expect Metal Gear Solid 4 [to] act as a bigger catalyst in terms of driving PS3 hardware sales than did Grand Theft Auto IV." He adds further that exclusives on the Playstation 3 platform tend to drive console sales more than exclusives on the Xbox 360 (or the Wii).

With his PS3 prediction in tow, Divinich believes that Microsoft will respond by announcing a price cut for the Xbox 360 during next month's E3. Furthermore, Divinich believes Microsoft may also announce a new Xbox 360 model with new features (Blu-Ray, perhaps?). Should the price cut take place, Divinich expects Sony to follow suit within two months of the announcement.

[Via Joystiq]

Alright, now that the shock of Jeff Bell's departure has worked its way out of our system, we can report that other positions in Microsoft's leadership are a' changin'. Specifically, Shane Kim has been promoted from his role as the head of Microsoft Game Studios to corporate vice president of Strategy and Business Development. Under this newly created role, Kim will "explore new growth opportunities with partners across all parts of the global Interactive Entertainment Business." Kim will concentrate on "future external relationships and partnerships" and develop "growth strategies for the entire business." While we're not sure exactly what all that means, it sounds like Kim will be dealing with third parties, possibly trying to secure exclusives (or at least making sure exclusive games on other consoles don't remain exclusive).

Taking Kim's place at the head of Microsoft Game Studios will be Phil Spencer, previously the general manager of Microsoft Game Studios Europe. Spencer will be returning to Redmond from the U.K. and will "oversee the creation of new, unannounced franchises that aim to attract new audiences" as well as well-known franchises like Halo and Gears of War.

Football gamers will remember 2004 as a dark year in video game football history. 2004, you see, was the year that EA acquired the exclusive rights to publish NFL licensed football games. Gamers will also remember that the reason why EA acquired the license is because Sega's ESPN NFL 2K5 released that year for a paltry $19.99, which resulted in a huge sales boost and in EA lowering the price of Madden 2005 to $29.95 in response. Once EA acquired the NFL license and effectively eliminated all football competition, it released Madden 2006 for the price of $49.95 the following year.

It seems some have taken exception to Electronic Arts' actions, as Gamespot reports that a pair of gamers in Washington, DC and California have filed suit against the company for "blatantly anticompetitive conduct." The suit mentions the company's acquisition of the NFL license as well as the price hike of Madden 2006 the year following the acquisition. Furthermore, the suit notes EA's ongoing attempt to acquire of Take Two, which would "remove one of the few companies with the ability and expertise to compete in the market for interactive football software." That's assuming EA ever lost its hold on the NFL license, of course.

The plaintiffs seek "restitution and damages" for anyone that purchased an EA football game since August 2005 and "disgorgement of all profits made as a result of anticompetitive actions, and that the infringing agreements be declared null and void."

Update: The suit also makes note of EA's licensing agreements with NCAA Football and the Arena Football League. Along with the NFL, this gives EA the exclusive rights to "the only viable sports football associations in the United States."

[Via Joystiq]

It looks like the departure of Tomonobu Itagaki from Tecmo is doing more than upsetting fans of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive. It seems as though Itagaki's exit has worried Tecmo stockholders on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as well. According to GameSpot, shares in the company fell sharply on Wednesday upon the news. Upon closing on Tuesday, Tecmo's shares stood at ¥1,102 ($10.40). Shares fell to ¥985 ($9.30) upon opening Wednesday. The stock rose and fell throughout the day today, closing at ¥982 ($9.27). Ouch.

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues without Itagaki at the helm of Team Ninja.

Having already announced that the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV was the week one sales winner in the UK, Chart-Track has now told Eurogamer that the game also heavily boosted sales of the Xbox 360 console. Since Grand Theft Auto IV's launch last month, sales of the Xbox 360 are up 18% over the Playstation 3 in the UK. ChartTrack also notes that sales of the Xbox 360 have increased 47% over the month prior to GTAIV's launch, whereas PS3 sales have seen an increase of only 8%. Furthermore, a full 57% of all copies of GTAIV sold in the UK were sold for the Xbox 360, leaving 43% for the Playstation 3.

It's not all sunshine and roses for the Xbox 360 though, as the Playstation 3 still holds the lead in overall UK sales for 2008 thus far. As it stands, there still remains a 10% gap between the consoles, though it's worth noting that the gap stood at 20% before the launch of GTAIV.

[Via Joystiq]

Update: Ahem, the numbers are for the UK, not all of Europe.

Phil Harrison, recently appointed president of Infogrames (parent company of Atari), has gone on record stating that Atari isn't likely to pursue any more big budget, single-player games after Alone in the Dark. Harrison told Gamasutra, "I don't see that we're going to be making huge-budget, single-player games in the future." Harrison did add that the company will still pursue "really incredible games that have high quality, high execution, and high innovation, but they won't be one-player, narrative-driven, start-middle-end games." Harrison sees online, socially driven games as the future for Atari and places emphasis on episodic content.

So, while a direct sequel to Alone in the Dark sounds unlikely, it's possible we might see similar games released in an episodic manner instead (as was the original plan for Alone in the Dark, which still incorporates an episodic structure). Harrison sees episodic games with integrated community features as a new direction for Atari and the games industry in general, giving video games the kind of "water cooler" effect that television shows enjoy. Sounds interesting to us.

[Via Joystiq]

It is always so much fun to post the thoughts of industry analysts. No matter what the topic, there are guaranteed to be comments regarding A) what an easy job analysts have and B) how nothing analysts say comes true. Honestly, analyst posts are fun for all ages. The latest analytical blatherskite holds that the Playstation 3 will have won the console war by 2012. Specifically, according to CNET, IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon claims that by 2012 the PS3 will have moved a whopping 107 million units. The Xbox 360? By 2012, Pidgeon predicts Microsoft will have sold just over 40 million units. In other words, the PS3 will grow exponentially year over year, whereas the 360 will grow at a much more tepid pace.

The reason: market perception. Analyst extraordinaire Michael Pachter gave his two cents, noting that Microsoft has "an image issue." Essentially, the 360, according to Pachter, is perceived as a console for hardcore gamers only, whereas the PS3 (and more specifically Sony) is perceived as family friendly. Aaron Greenberg, 360 product manager, naturally disagrees, noting that the Xbox 360 has more million-selling titles than either the Wii or PS3 and that the 360 has "the largest game lineup, and the most exclusive titles."

Remember kids, EA's $25.74 per share deadline offer for Take-Two ends tonight at 11:59PM EDT. Originally offering $26 per share and a purchase price of $2 billion, EA had lowered its offer when Take-Two declined to sell in April. Currently trading closer to $27 a share, Take-Two Interactive has been in EA's sights for quite some time--so does anyone think this deadline will stop them from trying again?

EA says they want Take-Two, so are they really going to give up? What else could they do? Well, EA could always lower their offer to Take-Two again, just to scare them. It's like those old sitcoms where two people haggle over money and one gets progressively lower just to scare the other guy into submission. What we're saying is that EA is basically the gaming equivalent of Balki Bartokomous.

Some analysts think this whole thing will be hammered out over the weekend, but we'll have to wait and see.

Microsoft announced today that they have officially sold more than 10 million Xbox 360 consoles in the United States, with over 19 million sold worldwide since the product launched in late 2005. The Xbox 360 is the first console of this generation to reach the 10 million mark in the US, a very significant fact according to Don Mattrick, the VP of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, "History has shown us that the first company to reach ten million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry."

The press release has a few other statistics worth noting as well. First of all, the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV helped push the number of Xbox Live members to 12 million, which Microsoft claims is double what it was a year ago (it was at 7 million last July, so that sounds about right). On the software front, Microsoft boasts more than 16 games that have sold a million copies or more, which the company claims is twice as many as the Wii and more than the PS3 by a margin of 16:2 (so, 8:1 in other words). MS is also trumpeting the critical praise lavished on 360 games, noting that 91 Xbox 360 titles average 80 or higher on Metacritic, whereas the Wii and PS3 have 22 and 50 respectively.

Rosy numbers indeed, though that's to be expected from Microsoft PR. Some of the language is a little strange, like the 16:2 ratio, which sounds bigger than it is. Also, "more than 16" is a rather odd choice of words. Does that mean 17? 20? Enough PR dissection though. Such things are the pursuit of madmen. The point is that MS has sold over 10 million consoles in the US. Whether or not this milestone truly cements Microsoft's victory remains to be seen.

[Via Major Nelson]

While Bizarre Creations may be done with the Project Gotham Racing series, there's nothing stopping them from creating a brand new racer. Lo and behold, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith has revealed that Bizarre is developing a new racing IP scheduled to be released during Activision's 2010 fiscal year, which begins April 1, 2009. The revelation was made during a conference call (at 29:55) with Griffith stating, "Bizarre is deep in development on two multi-platform titles and we are looking forward to the release of our first new racing IP in fiscal 2010, which already looks very strong." Now all we need is a cool new name for the new franchise. It should be something cool like ... um ... Moject Protham Racing. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[Via Joystiq]

Attempting to appeal to a more casual audience, Electronic Arts announced in a press release the introduction of a new sub-brand of EA Sports called Freestyle. Focusing on making sports titles more accessible to a wider range of gamers, the Freestyle brand logo will signify that a game includes simpler control schemes for casual players.

"The launch of EA Sports Freestyle is an exciting milestone in the evolution of the EA Sports brand," said Peter Moore, president of EA Sports. "EA Sports Freestyle will be a perfect complement to our core portfolio of games that our loyal fans are deeply passionate about, and will provide compelling opportunities for new audiences looking for a lighter gaming experience and an easier entry point into EA Sports."

The first title to include the new Freestyle branding will be EA's cartoon-mischief style boxer Facebreaker which releases on the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii later this year.

Hey, remember those ridiculously high Grand Theft Auto IV sales estimates Chart-Track provided for the UK? It looks like they weren't ridiculously high enough, as the final numbers have now been released. Sales for the first week of GTAIV availability in the UK reached a whopping 926,000 copies (approximately) with 631,000 being sold on the first day, handily topping the original day one estimate of 609,000. Of the 926,000 copies sold during the first week, 514,000 were for Xbox 360 with the remaining 413,000 going to the Playstation 3.

The game also managed to drive console sales, raising Xbox 360 sales by 125 percent and PS3 sales by 127 percent from the previous week. Perhaps most impressive of all, in its first week of sales GTAIV has already surpassed all but the top three UK titles of 2007 (FIFA 08, Brain Training, and Call of Duty 4). Just to clarify, that's one week sales versus total sales for 2007. One last statistic: GTAIV is now the record holder for one week sales for a multiplatform game in the UK.

Yow.

[Via Joystiq]

Note: You may have noticed that 413,000 and 514,000 don't add up to 926,000. We're guessing that the numbers are the result of rounding one way or another.