Gadgets and Video Games

Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia says that Sony is in for a good 2010 — he expects the PlayStation 3 to experience its largest year-over-year growth from last month’s sales among all consoles, and for Sony to beat its own record from the month before for the console’s best sales ever. The PS3 appears to be on a roll , and January sales are expected to continue the trend. Bhatia also says that the Wii’s sales are being hurt by “meaningful shortages,” and points out that just 28% of the stores NPD checked in January had Nintendo’s console in stock. Bhatia also suggests that Xbox 360 sales would be up slightly, due to a big GameStop promotion, and that software sales would be down in general . Not unexpected, given that January almost never matches up to the frenzy of the holiday season, but 2010 has already started off with a bang in terms of quality releases .

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Analyst: PS3 continues to set records, Wii and software sales down

We can’t be gaming all the time, despite our best efforts, and from time to time we’ll actually take advantage of the movie-playing abilities on our gaming systems. JBO features our top picks for XBL, PSN, Netflix’s Watch Instantly and Blu-ray each week. Happy New Year, and welcome to the Future ! This is the last Joystiq Box Office (for now) where we’re going to be giving away … wait for it …

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JBO: Joystiq Box Office New Year’s Edition, plus Joyswag!

During the question and answer portion of an investor conference call this afternoon, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot clarified his company’s commitment to developing games for both the Xbox 360’s still-codenamed Project Natal and the PlayStation 3’s hopefully-still-codenamed PlayStation Motion Controller . “We have about ten games that will come for Natal during the first six months of the launch of Natal, and we expect between four to five games for the new controller from Sony,” Guillemot explained. “That’s the picture at the moment, it can change in the next twelve months.” (That “twelve months” reference doesn’t bode well for Sony’s purported “Spring 2010″ third-party launch lineup for the motion controller.) When asked if those games were all new properties, or motion-enhanced updates of existing franchises (like Prince of Persia ), Guillemot responded, “I didn’t count the games that in fact are supporting the new functions that those accessories will bring. I was more speaking about casual games that we are doing on those two machines; we can consider that on those games it’s 70 percent new property.” Or – if you consider Guillemot’s suggestion of ten games for Natal and “four to five” for PlayStation Motion Controller – that’s roughly ten new casual properties coming from Ubisoft. Ubisoft planning 10 games for Natal, ‘4 to 5′ for PlayStation Motion Controller originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:25:00 EST

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Ubisoft planning 10 games for Natal, ‘4 to 5′ for PlayStation Motion Controller

On the conference call covering Ubisoft’s Q2 earnings , management had a chance to discuss its strategies for the company, including support for both Microsoft and Sony’s motion control accessories. “We will also be ready with some very nice innovations when Natal and Motion Controller are launched on the Xbox 360 and PS3 next year,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, reminding us that a 2010 release for Project Natal is all but confirmed at this point. He later explained that Ubisoft will “also have some games that will come on the new machines that are going to come in the future” and “are working to be ready for the new accessories or new machines that will come soon.” Whether Guillemot is talking about the aforementioned motion control accessories or new consoles altogether (or both!) wasn’t clear. Continue reading Ubisoft talks dancing, fitness and party games on Natal, PS3 Motion Controller Ubisoft talks dancing, fitness and party games on Natal, PS3 Motion Controller originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:40:00 EST.

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Ubisoft talks dancing, fitness and party games on Natal, PS3 Motion Controller

GameStop doesn’t really have to worry about digital distribution devices like the PSP Go right now — in the Go’s case, it’s because there’s pretty much nothing on it — but, in the future, the company may need to consider adapting to a less physical media-dependent market. Though some say that day won’t come until 2017 (others say digital distribution will endanger the company ), Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian recently attended an analyst-only GameStop meeting at the NYSE (via IndustryGamers ) where the company actually detailed its plans to prepare for the rise of the machines digital distribution. GameStop’s three main goals to adapt included increasing in-store sales of point cards for online purchases, expanding its digital distribution of PC and casual titles via its website and making a strategic investment in the space or acquiring an online entity specializing in digital distribution.

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GameStop details three-point plan for digital distro future

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start. It’s a powerful string of commands capable of garnering its invoker thirty lives, a gaggle of power-ups or other potent in-game bonuses. However, a technomancer from ProtoDojo.com has figured out a way to give the Konami Code practical applications in real life — it can now be used to unlock one gigabyte of LOLCat JPEGs, German techno covers of Billy Ocean songs or, well, smut . This little slice of realized magic is possible due to a 1GB flash drive embedded into a hollowed-out NES controller.

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NES controller flash drive is Konami Code-protected

ELSPA is assuring the UK public that the plan to make the new PEGI ratings legally enforceable won’t be affected by the fact that there is currently no law with which to enforce them. ELSPA director general Mike Rawlinson told MCV that the government told the organization “that the timetable for the introduction of PEGI as the legal system of video games classification will not be adversely affected by this error.” ELSPA expects legislation to be passed in the general election following the Queen’ speech this November, in order to fix the loophole that renders the Video Recordings Act unenforceable. In the meantime, “ELSPA will therefore advise our members to continue to forward games to be rated as per the current agreement while the legal issues are being resolved.” Until then, nothing keeps retailers from selling anything to kids but common sense. ELSPA: Legal loophole won’t delay rollout of PEGI ratings originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

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ELSPA: Legal loophole won’t delay rollout of PEGI ratings

The easiest way to think about Halo 3 ODST ’s multiplayer disc is that it’s Halo 3 Multiplayer Complete . That was our takeaway from a meeting with Bungie at GamesCom today. Discussing “the other game” in the ODST box, the Bungie rep reiterated , “It’s all the multiplayer maps we released with Halo 3 , then all of the DLC we’ve released since then, along with three new maps.” The standalone disc pretty much means that precious Xbox 360 hard drive space can be cleansed of Halo 3 maps … of course, there’s always the option of putting the whole disc on the HDD as well

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Halo 3 ODST’s multiplayer disc: all frag, no Chief filler

Content: Shadow Complex Price: 1200 Microsoft Points Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions Dash Text: (Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) You’ve entered the mysterious world of Shadow Complex. Now you must save Claire and stop the Restoration! Discover game-altering power-ups and weapons, plus more than 100 other items. Use new abilities to infiltrate the secret underground base

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Arcade: Shadow Complex

After EA announced a trio of British gents gracing the cover of FIFA 10 in Europe last week, the company today revealed the box art for the North American iteration. Cuauht