Gadgets and Video Games

According to gaming news site Strategy Informer , Microsoft finally dismissed the possibility of a PC port for Remedy’s upcoming episodic thriller, Alan Wake . An unnamed Microsoft representative reportedly told Informer, “some games are more suited for the intimacy of the PC, and others are best played from the couch in front of a larger TV screen. We ultimately realized that the most compelling way to experience Alan Wake was on the Xbox 360 platform, so we focused on making it an Xbox 360 exclusive.” We’ve contacted Microsoft to get our own first-hand confirmation of the report. We’ll also try to find out why Alan Wake is so afraid of being “intimate.” It’s like … just let us in , man.

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Report: Microsoft says Alan Wake skipping PC release

You may have assumed this from the climbing PS3 sales Sony reported last week, but a report from Research and Markets provides further confirmation that the system is increasing in popularity around the world. “The PS3 is dominant in Japan and Korea,” the report notes, “and as of June 2008, has begun to outsell the Xbox 360 in Europe. It is also steadily increasing its market share in all other regions across the globe, including in the North American market.” The Xbox 360 is still ahead of the PS3 in North America. It’s worth noting that the increase in sales in Europe predates the price drop and introduction of the PS3 Slim. Research and Markets also provided a bit more information about the distribution of console sales

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Report: Global PS3 market share increasing

The image above could serve as kind of robotic Rorschach test. What do you see? A cute little tripod help-o-bot, whose head is cocked curiously to the side, as though it’s studying its new master to better serve his or her robotic needs? Or is it a three-legged killing machine, who’s observing his new master’s weaknesses, which it plans to exploit with its now-charging eye lasers? Sadly, the answer’s not as provocative as either of those two choices — its actually a photo of a Project Natal prototype, as nabbed by the Seattle Times .

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Natal prototype model revealed (it’s either adorable or terrifying)

Nintendo is one of a few companies to release its earnings report earlier this week, and a supplemental report released today has some surprises and new information for Wii owners. Not only do they finally list a target date for Metroid: Other M (you can expect it as soon as summer of this year if all goes to plan), but there are two brand new names in the list as well: Xenoblade and The Last Story .

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Nintendo report hints at new Wii titles, Other M release

Greenpeace harshed on Nintendo’s eco-coolness last week, and this week the House that Miyamoto Built is firing back. It’s released a statement to Gamasutra saying that it takes environmental responsibilities seriously, and that the company is committed to saving energy, making both of its consoles energy efficient and using carefully picked and clearly-labeled materials in an effort to make post-usage recycling easy. To be fair to Nintendo, most of Greenpeace’s argument against it was that the company didn’t share information about what it did for the environment, and let’s be honest here: Nintendo’s not really one for sharing. While Nintendo did get blamed for increasing its CO2 emissions, most of Greenpeace’s other complaints (as you can see in the PDF ) were not actually about mistakes Nintendo was making, but its failure to share information or release reports about its operations. We can’t really blame Nintendo for that — on at least a few of its points, it seems Greenpeace’s methodology was more responsible for the big N’s bottom-of-the-barrel listing.

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Nintendo to Greenpeace: We do care about the environment

Though the November NPD sales report won’t be released until later this week, gaming industry analyst (and possible soothsayer) Michael Pachter has predicted November’s biggest players in the gaming hardware and software markets. Unsurprisingly, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the highlighted title in his report — not only does the report claim the game sold around 6 million units last month in the U.S. (for about $350 million), it credits the game with pulling the industry out of a downward spiral that it’s followed for seven of the past eight months

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Pachter: Modern Warfare 2 sold 6m units in Nov.; PS3 hardware sales skyrocketed

Capcom’s recently published financial report for the first half of the current fiscal year contains some fairly gutsy estimates for sales expectations of the developer’s upcoming titles — for instance, the report anticipates selling 300,000 copies of Resident Evil 5 Alternative Edition by March 31, 2010. However, the company expects one game to be its biggest blockbuster by a fairly enormous sales margin: Lost Planet 2 , which, according to the report, will sell 3.7 million copies in the second half of FY 2010. That’s a fairly monumental increase compared to the sales statistics for the original Lost Planet , which has sold 2.28 million units life-to-date according to VGChartz . Don’t get us wrong — we’ve enjoyed what we’ve seen from the game thus far

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Capcom expects Lost Planet 2 to sell 3.7 million units in second half of fiscal year

While the closure of GRIN was sad for many reasons, some of you may have been disappointed never to have seen the company’s Final Fantasy project, which we believe is the Fortress game seen in this concept art . Based on word from “sources close to both [GRIN and Square Enix],” GamesIndustry.biz reports that the game is actually still in development — though obviously no longer by GRIN.

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Rumor: GRIN Final Fantasy game in hands of new studio

Well, who didn’t see that coming ? Activision announced in its earnings report today that StarCraft II has been delayed into 2010, while also reiterating the news about Singularity’s delay .

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StarCraft II delayed until 2010

THQ recently unloaded its earnings for its first fiscal quarter ending June 30, and with strong sales of UFC 2009 Undisputed and Red Faction: Guerrilla (it’s all about the ostriches, baby!), the company is, uh, very much not operating like THQ. It reports that net profits climbed a whopping 77% to $243.5 million (from $137.6 million last year) and that net sales (non-GAAP) for the three months ending June 30 was $233.9 million , up 93% from $121.1 million last year .

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THQ earnings show profits up