A statement released yesterday by SCEA vice president, Ian Jackson, reveals an enormous rise in Christmas sales for the PS3:

“Early internal data points to an increase of more than 130 percent of PS3 hardware sales for the holiday season – since Black Friday – and we’re also seeing a growth of nearly 40 percent in total PS3 hardware sales for the calendar year.”

Jackson also touts their belief that Sony provided “the best software line up in the industry” during a pivotal year for the PlayStation brand:

“We’ve had a solid holiday season and have delivered consistent growth throughout this year. Two thousand eight was a pivotal year for PlayStation with the best software line up in the industry, a dramatic expansion of PlayStation Network including the launches of the video delivery service and the beta of the PlayStation Home.“

“We remain confident this momentum will continue into the new year.”

On the Gears of War 2 official forum, Epic’s Vice President, Mark Rein has put up a lengthy post revealing some changes and additions Epic will be introducing to Gears 2 in the near future.

The title update will see bugs and exploits being addressed, as well as additional achievements being added related to downloadable content. As for the exploits, Rein mentions where they’re placing their attention:

“For example we’ve fixed the ability to wield an invisible shield, melee through some walls, gain infinite Lancer ammo and equip a shield and a two-handed weapon simultaneously plus many more.”

Rein then goes on to mention improvements to the online gameplay experience, including “increased penalties for quitting matches early, adding additional spawn protection against planted grenades and chainsaw attacks, and adding the ability to see the Submission flag carrier destination by using Tac/Com.”

Rein also talks about fixes for issues related to the use of the shotgun and online latency, saying; “We fixed the client side hit detection on the shotgun so that in a high-latency (i.e. “laggy”) match, the shotgun will be more reliable. We’ve also fixed another bug whereby shotgun and boomshot rounds could strike the ground when firing from the hip.” Finally, Rein talks about additional achievements and achievement handling:

“…on the achievement side we’re adding achievement progress numbers to the War Journal, increasing the frequency of in-game Achievement progression notifications and adding some new Achievements for DLC.”

Epic hope to get the update out within the month, but that may change.

In an interview that first appeared in gaming magazine, EGM, 1Up have posted a story about the creation and evolution of the upcoming Wolverine game, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which will launch alongside the movie of the same name in May this year. Project Lead at Raven, Dan Vondrak explains the project’s beginnings, which started before the developers knew the movie existed:

“…then there was the possibility of making this Wolverine game, and we were like, ‘Yes, God, please, yes.’ Our first step was…get a room, get 10 guys in it, and make combat so much fun you don’t wanna leave that room.”

Vondrak also mentions some of the game’s influences and how X-Men Origins: Wolverine stacks up to the competition:

“God of War was an influence. Devil May Cry, even Super Smash Bros., to a point. When we play [games like that], we just like the simplicity. Every character has their basic set of moves - that’s simple. People get that, and mass market gets that, so we’re making sure we bring that to Wolverine. People are going to play Wolverine and then be annoyed with how slow other action games are.”

Vondrak contiues by saying; “We’ve gone back and played highly touted action games we all love, and you’re in these attacks forever. And it’s not just the speed - it’s the ease in which you’re able to [break] out of your attacks at any time.”

“I’ve read reviews of Wolverine games, I’ve played previous X-Men games, and you just hate it when you’re like, ‘This isn’t what it’s supposed to be like to fight this guy. I’m Wolverine. How come I can’t ever just grab a guy and rip him in half?’ Yeah, absolutely - let’s do that. Nothing’s holding us back.”

You can read the full X-Men Origins: Wolverine feature over at 1Up.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is coming to Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, NDS, PS2 and PSP in May this year

Capcom have gone and officially announced the release dates for seven pretty highly anticipated titles, heading to the UK and European markets during the first quarter of 2009.

Amongst the list is confirmation that both Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5 will be hitting their previously projected release dates – February 20th and March 13th respectively – while another big release, Bionic Commando has a release window of ‘March.’ Check out the rest of the list below:

• Flock! (XBLA/PSN) - February
• Street Fighter IV (360/PS3) - February 20
• Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop (Wii) - February 27
• Neopets Puzzle Adventure (Wii/DS/PC) - February 27
• Resident Evil 5 (360/PS3) - March 13
• MotoGP (Wii) - March
• Bionic Commando (PS3/360) - March

If you like zombies (and who doesn’t?) wrapped up in Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop and rock music, then the video below is for you!

Someone at Capcom sure has a sense of humour, which is evident by the appearance of zombies not only rocking out on stage, but moshing in front of the stage as well, while a big screen behind them plays scenes from the game. Hilarious and disturbing, all in one.

Watch the Dead Rising Rock Concert below:

Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop releases on February 27th in the UK and Europe, while the US gets it on February 24th, exclusive to Wii.

Hideo Kojima, head honcho behind the Metal Gear Solid series, has announced plans for his team and himself, saying that 2009 will be “a year where we start from zero again.” Speaking to Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu, Kojima said how he will be looking at his Kojima Productions’ inner workings and how the company measures up to the rest of the world:

“We’re currently reviewing everything - from the team structure to tools and our staff - in order to make Kojima Productions a team that can challenge foreign creators and software houses. So, because of that, 2009 is going to be a very important year for us.”

“I’ve come to understand that the way we’ve made games up until now won’t translate globally, and I’ve come to think that I need to make Kojima Productions a team that can compete alongside the rest of the world.”

He went on to relate how his team’s efforts will compare to western developers and how they develop games:

“I’ve thought a lot about how Western games have been winning, looking it from a global perspective, and there are things that I’ve noticed. So 2009 will be a year of change, a year where we start from zero again.”

“With games, you’ve got to use cutting-edge techniques, and doing so costs money - so I don’t think you can make games that just appeal to the Japanese market. So, 2009 will see us continuing to think how to create a team that can take on the world.”

Our gaming hobby might be movie like in this day and age, but it is because of consoles pushing the limits by outclassing each other with each new generation that this industry evolves so quickly. Some of you have been with us since the Atari 2600 days in the 70’s and some might have only joined recently without any knowledge of where it all started. Come back every week, as we will be looking at each console and what exactly it did that made us buy into it and how it helped the industry to become the monster we know and enjoy today.

Continue reading El33tonline’s sixth editorial on the rise and fall of console gaming as we take a closer look at the Panasonic 3DO. Stay tuned as we put the Sega Saturn in the spotlight next week or check out our thoughts on the Atari 2600, NES, Sega Master System, SEGA Mega Drive and SNES.

For the second time now, Fifa 09 has managed to knock Call of Duty: World at War from the No. 1 spot on the UK All Formats software charts, despite a 41% drop in sales for Fifa.

Call of Duty: World at War, at No. 2, sees a sales drop of its own (by 50%), but retains its lead over Need for Speed: Undercover at No. 3 by 5000 copies. Guitar Hero: World Tour moves up from No. 7 to No. 4 this week, while Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games makes a surge up the chart, moving from No. 9 last week to No. 5.

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Any serious boarder will tell you that snowboarding is more about lifestyle than it is about sport. Any gamer will tell you that good snowboarding games are more about fun than about lifestyle…and this is where Shaun White Snowboarding (SWS) misses the slopes.

I would say that SWS has been dealt a terrible hand in that it was guided in a direction by us, the gamers, with another franchise that was given glory by creating new methods within the extreme sports arena: SKATE. Bear with me for a minute. SKATE was released when the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise turned all Jackass on us all and lost its appeal. Along came EA and brought with it a more serious aspect to the sport with your analogue sticks mimicking the movement that your feet would recreate on a real skateboard – upping the realism and throwing out the arcade roots while they were at it. The game is now rated the best skateboarding game out there and Tony Hawk’s franchise has pretty much been dethroned.

Continue reading El33tonline’s review of Shaun White Snowboarding.

Why, exactly, do we play videogames?

It’s a difficult question, and one to which different gamers (and game developers) would provide different answers. Traditionally, though, most of these answers would be focused on the concept of accomplishment. In videogames we face some specific and usually significant challenge in order to accomplish some goal. And once we accomplish said goal, we gain one or more rewards for our efforts. The bigger the challenge faced, and the more impressive the accomplishment, the better the rewards that are gained.

Accomplishment versus Experience

The seemingly simple principle of rewarding accomplishment has formed the basis of game design, specifically in genres such as the Action-Adventure, for as long as we can remember. But as of late there have been developers who have questioned this approach. During the previous console generation, a game designer by the name of Fumito Ueda, working for Sony Japan Studios, released two games that went wholly against the grain. Instead of focusing on providing hefty challenges and rewarding accomplishment, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were focused on the experience of playing the game. The Ueda approach is also quite simple: should the gaming experience be sufficiently rich and immersive and unique, then the player will already be richly rewarded, and it simply becomes no longer necessary to provide some hefty challenge. These two games demonstrated that a game does not always have to be an endurance contest, or a race, or a tournament. Sometimes, a game can be a poem, or a ballet, or an opera. In short, it demonstrated beyond any doubt that videogames can indeed be art, instead of merely entertainment.

Continue reading El33tonline’s review of Prince of Persia.

Wii Sports has become the best-selling game of all time, knocking Super Mario Bros. off the number one spot.

This is according to the latest data released from VGChartz.com which shows that as at the week ending the 27th of December 2008, Wii Sports has passed the sales of Super Mario Bros. (NES) with sales now sitting at 40.52 million units. Wii Sports, bundled with the Wii console in every country except Japan and South Korea, reached this landmark after 110 weeks of sales.

VGChartz data shows that the Wii has sold 45 million units to date, meaning that Wii Sports sales could reach the 50 million units mark.

Bundled with most NES consoles, Super Mario Bros. was released between 1985 and 1987 across the USA, Japan and Europe. It reached sales of 40.24 million units on an install base of 61.91 million NES consoles.

It is interesting to note that Nintendo dominates the Top 10 best-selling games of all time according to VGChartz. Following after Super Mario Bros. in second place is Pokemon Red/Green/Blue, Tetris, Duck Hunt and Pokemon Gold/Silver. Nintendogs, Super Mario World, Wii Play and Super Mario Land occupy numbers 7 through 10.

Top 10 Worldwide Million selling software

• Wii Sports (Nintendo) – Wii - 40.52
• Super Mario Bros (Nintendo) – NES - 40.24
• Pokemon Red/Green/Blue (Nintendo) – Game Boy - 31.38
• Tetris (Nintendo) – Game Boy - 30.26
• Duck Hunt (Nintendo) – NES - 28.31
• Pokemon Gold/Silver (Nintendo) – Game Boy - 23.11
• Nintendogs (Nintendo) – DS - 21.37
• Super Mario World (Nintendo) – SNES - 20.61
• Wii Play (Nintendo) – Wii - 19.68
• Super Mario Land (Nintendo) – GB - 18.14 

Source: VGChartz.com

The latest statistics from Microsoft show that December 2008 was a good period for the publisher. The Xbox 360 broke records and recorded its best European Christmas in its history, with sales of the Xbox 360 almost doubling those of Christmas 2007.

The good sales bring to eight million the total number of Xbox 360 consoles sold across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. According to Microsoft the Xbox 360 has now “widened its lead over the PS3 in the region to more than one million.”

Data from tracking firms GfK and Chart Track shows that the Xbox 360 was the “fastest-growing console of 2008, with sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 over double that of the same period in 2007.” Microsoft attributes this success to “a mix of value, great games and entertainment” as well as the New Xbox Experience.

Chris Lewis, Regional Vice President, Interactive Entertainment Business EMEA, had this to say, “Christmas 2008 was a resounding success for Xbox 360. 2008 saw us grow faster than any of our competitors and we over-achieved in sales during the crucial Christmas selling period. We reduced the entry-level Xbox 360 ERP in September, understanding the need for great value, and European consumers have responded enthusiastically.”

“With eight million consoles sold since we launched, and consistently out-selling PlayStation 3 in EMEA, we’re poised to build on this success in 2009. This success was only possible through our partnerships with retail and with publishers, with whom we’ve worked closely to build a strong ecosystem in the region and to bring value to our shared customer base. As we move into 2009 and an uncertain economic climate, we continue to be committed to offering the right blend of gaming and entertainment experiences at the right price.”

Microsoft also included the views of two analysts for good measure. Their thoughts after the jump.

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Richard Garriott, Ultima’s Lord British and founder of legendary (now defunct) development company, Origin, spoke to BBC News recently (amongst other developer luminaries) and revealed his desire to get back into game development, after he announced his resignation last year from massively multiplayer online game developer, NCsoft. Garriott said:

“After 25 years at Origin, the last thing I wanted to make was yet another medieval fantasy game. Now, after a very interesting break, I’m keen to get back into the fray and work on a new game. Probably medieval fantasy and probably online; there’s something very powerful about getting people together.”

Garriott, you’ll remember, spent almost two weeks in space aboard the International Space Station orbiting Earth. Upon his return, he announced his resignation from the troubled NCsoft. Two weeks later it was announced that the last game Garriott worked on, Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, would be shut down on February 28th of this year.

His continued interest in space and his resignation fuelled speculation that Garriott was to move on to other ventures, but this latest announcement has confirmed his continuing desire to work in the space of game development. Good for him!

Last year it was reported that Free Radical (Time Splitters, Haze) was in a state of administration, a process by which a third party attempts to sort out another company’s financials. While it was widely reported at the time that Free Radical was closing, no such decision had been made at the time.

Over the Christmas break, however, news broke that Free Radical would be reducing its staff by a whopping 140 members, leaving the company with an effective skeleton staff of 40 developers. Not only that, but the company is now officially up for sale with interested parties already showing curiosity over the potential of buying Free Radical. Resolve Partners’ Cameron Gunn said:

“We made around 140 employees redundant yesterday (December 23rd 2008), effective 31 December (the date up to which they had been paid). We’re still trading on with the remaining 40 or so employees, have advertised the business for sale and have received some strong interest.”

Hopefully everybody lands (or has already landed) on their feet.

Uh-oh, here comes the next live-action Street Fighter movie. Anyone who remembers the first attempt at setting the zany Street Fighter world to live-action (Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, Kylie Minogue as Cammy…) will still have a sour taste in their mouths, but now we should all look forward to the next one.

Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li is, as the title would have you believe, the story of Chun Li (played by Smallville’s Kristin Kreuk) and foregoes the ‘all star cast,’ focusing primarily on her rise to prominence and showing off a few antics in the process.

While the trailer doesn’t look bad, per se, it doesn’t look ‘blockbuster thrilling’ either. You can make up your own mind after watching below (the voice-over is in Japanese, but the action speaks for itself):