|  |  |  | | | | | GameSpot's PC News, Screenshots, Movies, Reviews, Previews, Downloads, and Features | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | [UPDATE] Xbox 360 sells 433,000 units as Pokemon Black & White combine for 2.4 million; 3DS first-weeks sales hit 400,000; Homefront and Dragon Age II also medal in weaker-than-expected retail software market. 
Today, the NPD Group reported its sales results for the March 2011 reporting period, which saw a mild decline versus February's slight uptick. Overall during the month, retail sales of software, non-PC hardware, and non-PC accessories declined 4 percent to $1.53 billion. However, for the first quarter of the year, sales were nearly flat, declining just 1 percent according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier. As one might expect during the month that saw the March 27 launch of the 3DS, hardware sales were up, rising 12 percent to $494.5 million. However, Frazier said that surprisingly, the top hardware platform during the month was the original DS family of systems, not its three-dimensional successor. "The 3DS launch compares quite favorably to that of the best-selling dedicated handheld gaming platform of all time, the Nintendo DS," Frazier said in a statement. "While the 3DS sold about 100,000 units less than the DS did in its launch month, we must consider that the DS launched in November and had holiday seasonality and a price differential of about $100. Because of the price differential, the 3DS generated greater revenues than did the DS in its launch month in November 2004. In addition, the 3DS was launched in an environment where there are more devices that can support the portable gaming experience such as tablets and smartphones." Though NPD no longer releases specific monthly hardware sales figures, Microsoft was more than happy to announce the Xbox 360 was once again the top-selling home console of the month, selling 433,000 units. Sony released a statement saying that the PlayStation family of systems saw "double digit growth across hardware and peripherals," but did not release hard sales figures. As of press time, Nintendo had not commented on its systems' sales performance. However, one reason the DS did so well last month was the fact that Pokemon White and Black launched on March 6. "Pokemon White is the best-selling Pokemon SKU in its debut month at retail of any Pokemon to date, and the Black version is third," said Frazier. "Combined they break previous sales records held by Pokemon Silver and Gold in October 2000." [UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, Nintendo delivered its own response to NPD's retail sales report. According to the publisher, the 3DS sold just shy of 400,000 units during the one-week period party to NPD's March reporting window. As indicated by NPD, that figure was less than the 460,000 units that the DS sold during March. Nintendo also provided word on its chart-topping DS duo, Pokemon Black and Pokemon White. The White version proved to be far more popular than the Black game, selling 1.3 million units to 1.1 million units. Though largely the same, the two different versions of the game feature exclusive Pokemon that can be traded through the DS's wireless functionality. Lastly, Nintendo also detailed the Wii's sales performance, saying the flagging console shifted just 290,000 units during the month. The Wii may receive a sales boost next month, when Nintendo is rumored to be cutting the price of the console by $50. Overall, retail software suffered a worse-than-expected 15 percent decline in March, falling to $790.9 million. Pokemon White finished first, followed by Pokemon Black and THQ's near-future military shooter Homefront. BioWare's latest role-playing game, Dragon Age II, finished in fourth followed by perennial bestseller Call of Duty: Black Ops in fifth place. The number-six slot belonged to LucasArts' blocky entry Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars, followed by Electronic Arts and Crytek's visually slick shooter Crysis 2. Take-Two's NBA 2K11 continued to benefit from a lack of competition, landing in eighth place five months after its October 2010 release. Rounding out the top 10 were Sony's MLB: The Show and EA Sports' Fight Night Champion. MARCH 2011 US GAME SALES
OVERALL RETAIL DOLLAR SALES
Total sales: $1.53 billion (-4%)
Non-PC hardware: $494.5 million (+12%)
Total software: 790.9 million (-15%)
Non-PC software: $735.4 million (-16%)
Accessories: $241.3 million (+13%) TOP 10 GAMES
Title (Platforms) - Publisher
1. Pokemon White Version (DS) - Nintendo
2. Pokemon Black Version (DS) - Nintendo
3. Homefront (360, PS3, PC) - THQ
4. Dragon Age II (360, PS3, PC) - Electronic Arts
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, DS, Wii, PC) - Activision
6. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii, 360, DS, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC) - LucasArts
7. Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC) - Electronic Arts
8. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, PC) - Take-Two Interactive
9. MLB 11: The Show (PS3, PSP, PS2) - Sony
10. Fight Night Champion (360, PS3) - Electronic Arts Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | California company hiring software engineer for all-new game that isn't its next-generation MMOG, Titan. 
Blizzard Entertainment's next-generation massively multiplayer online game--confirmed as being code-named "Titan" and already playable--is not the only mystery title that the developer-publisher has in its pipeline. According to Blizzard's career portal page, the California developer is hiring software engineers for an "Unannounced Game Title." The game in question is listed separately from Blizzard's "Next-Gen MMO," indicating it is a different project from Titan. As for the position itself, the listing states that the company is "on the hunt for a creatively minded and talented individual to serve as tools engineer for its newest game team." (Emphasis added.) No other details about the project were listed. If the project is indeed different from Titan, it will be the fifth confirmed game Blizzard has in the works. Currently the Irvine, California-based company is working on Titan, Diablo III, and the two Starcraft II expansions Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. According to an allegedly leaked schedule, Blizzard is also planning for two Diablo III expansions, two more World of Warcraft expansions, and a Starcraft II project code-named "Phoenix." Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | This trailer shows the total chaos that is being unleashed on Raccoon City as the USS battles against the opposing US Spec Ops squad, zombies and B.O.Ws, adding an unpredictable twist to the gameplay that could only exist in the Resident Evil universe. 
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Welcome to the all-new Start/Select! This week, we take a look at downloadable games Warp, Gatling Gears, and Fancy Pants; get a commentary on Deus Ex: Human Revolution; and talk to the producer of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning! Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We get our hands on the four unique multiplayer modes coming to F.3.A.R.   
Some horror stories cultivate a creeping terror that slips beneath your skin and gnaws at your brain. Others like to slap you across the face with one huge scare--one moment everything seems fine, but the next, you're leaping out of your seat and knocking over something expensive. Both have their merits, but the F.E.A.R. series has always relied on the latter. We recently attended a multiplayer event here in spooky San Francisco to match wits with Alma, the villain of the F.E.A.R. games, and her supernatural hordes in the game's four multiplayer modes. Because we have already covered F***ing Run, the fast-paced mode that pits man against wall (or more to be more specific, The Wall), we decided to start with Soul King. In this mode, you take on the role of a specter that can possess numerous living weapons--cultists, armored troopers, wraiths--that populate the map. Your goal is to rack up souls by killing everything in sight; the player with the most souls when the timer runs out is the soul king. Naturally, you lose a few souls when killed, which the other players may collect and add to their scores. During our session, we chose to think of ourselves as less of a soul king and more of a soul assassin. As the end of each match drew near, the other three competitors got nervous and stopped collecting souls in favor of hunting the current king (who is outlined in white for all to see). We took this opportunity to sneak behind the king as he was being chipped away by the other players, and when the time was right, we shot him in the back. We then snatched up all his lost souls and became the new soul king just as the timer hit zero. After we finished with Soul King, we moved on to Contractions. In this mode, Alma has a bad case of being pregnant. But instead of doing what any normal person would do--starting her own reality TV show--she terrorizes you with hordes of monsters instead. Contractions is highly reminiscent of the numerous horde modes found in other games. Barricaded within our safe house, we had to either survive numerous waves of increasingly difficult enemies or be trampled underfoot. To better our odds of survival, we had two jobs in Contractions: collect weapons and rebuild barricades. The weapons were stored in crates hidden around the map, which had to be hauled back to the safe house before we could use the destructive goodies within them. Rebuilding the barricades covering the windows of the safe house reinforced the fact that--in a supernatural apocalypse--being able to nail boards into walls is a life-or-death skill. When a contraction hit, it was time to stop what we were doing and take cover in the safe house. While it was tempting at first to battle the enemy hordes along the balcony that surrounded the safe house, by the second or third wave, we had retreated (or limped) back inside. Though the interior of the safe house wasn't very big, it was divided up into several rooms and littered with windows. It was crucial for our team to coordinate with each other so that we all knew which room was getting hit and how to divide up our forces. Ultimately, we ended up getting divided into little bits by our foes, so we decided to move onto the final mode of the evening: Soul Survivor. In this mode, at the start of each match, one member of our team was chosen to play the role of the corrupted. Just like in Soul King, the corrupted can fly around and possess enemies to use as weapons. Your goal is to overwhelm the other three players and convert them, one at a time, to your side. The non-corrupted players just have to survive. At first, the survivors had the definite advantage. They would huddle up and easily dispatch everything thrown at them. However, as the fight dragged on, they would invariably run out of ammunition and be forced to move out to scavenge for more. As the corrupted, that was our time to strike. If one fell behind, we would quickly descend upon him and beat him into submission. While his teammates fought to get to their fallen comrade, we would quickly convert him, making it a two-on-two match. F.3.A.R.'s suite of multiplayer modes is shaping up to offer a refreshing break from the usual Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag modes you may have come to expect from other games. Each brought a different flavor of anxiety to the mix and kept us on edge throughout. You can check out all of F.3.A.R.'s multiplayer modes for yourself this May on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | This week on Crosshairs, we spark lightning with the developers of InFamous 2, kick up dirt with a rally champion for DiRT 3 and speak to Doug Lombardi about the history of Valve! PLUS: Nintendo products make great babysitting tools! …OR DO THEY? Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | This week on Crosshairs, we spark lightning with the developers of InFamous 2, kick up dirt with a rally champion for DiRT 3, and speak to Doug Lombardi about the history of Valve! PLUS: Nintendo products make great babysitting tools! …OR DO THEY? 
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | EA's car-mayhem franchise said to be "action arcade style" set in fictitious Crash City. Early last week, the Australian Classification Board offered up tantalizing information that EA would soon be returning with a new, multiplatform installment in its vehicular carnage-heavy Burnout franchise. The listing was light on information, unfortunately, and it was not clear if Criterion Games would be returning to the franchise that it created, or what direction this new game would take. While many of those questions remain, at least a few may have been answered, again courtesy of Australia's game-rating board. Joystiq reports that it has received a summary of the game's rating information that was submitted by EA to the ACB. According to that breakdown, Burnout Crash will be "an action arcade style game set in the fictional world of Crash City. The aim of the game is to cause as much damage as possible to traffic and buildings by crashing a car into them." Given that description, Burnout Crash sounds as if it will be a return to the menu-driven challenges of 2004's Burnout 3 and 2005's Burnout Revenge. Prior to moving on to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Criterion shifted to a more dynamic, open-world format for 2008's highly regarded Burnout Paradise. EA had not responded to a request for comment on the Australian rating summary as of press time. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
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