A report issued by the ELSPA has revealed that videogame sales in the UK hit an all time high in 2008, with videogames being more popular than ever before.

The ELSPA’s findings were based on annual sales figures from GFK Chart-Track which showed that total sales of all videogame software and hardware amounted to £4.034 billion. Videogame sales increased by 23% in the UK during 2009 while the market has more than doubled in just five years.

Total sales of videogames reached £1.9 billion in comparison to 2007’s £1.6 billion. Hardware sales were described as being “equally spectacular.” The total revenue for the UK’s console hardware sales for 2008 increased by 14%, recording £1.4 billion in comparison to £1.2 billion in 2007.

Software sales peaked in 2008 with 82.8 million units sold in the UK. The value of console gaming peripherals was up by 82%, notching up sales of £549 million in comparison to £301 million in 2007.

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Yesterday we brought you news that gaming website 1UP.com had been sold to UGO Entertainment and parent company Hearst Corporation. Since then it has been confirmed that Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM), published as part of the 1UP Network by Ziff Davis, has been closed and is no longer in publication or circulation.

EGM has been around for 20 years now and so it comes as quite a shock that the January 2009 issue will be the final printed issue. Perhaps even sadder news is that Joystiq have revealed that a substantial number of 1UP and EGM staff have been laid off. An internal email sent to employees by CEO Jason Young, published by Gamasutra, explained the reasoning behind the closure of EGM.

“With this transaction happening, we have also made the decision to discontinue publication of EGM. The January 2009 issue will be the final issue of the publication. With demand for print continuing to decline amongst both advertisers and readers and the content being produced by 1UP no longer available for use in the publication, it simply did not make sense for us to move forward with this business any longer.”

Since then the last EGM editor-in-chief James Mielke has revealed the last unpublished cover of EGM on his blog. According to a post on Mielke’s blog, the “final, secret, unpublished issue of EGM” will be revealed on 1UP soon.

“You will be able to read every hi-res page, ads and all (last time I checked at least) on 1UP, to see the beautiful job that crew did, even with the guillotine hanging over our heads every minute of the day. I’m only posting the cover to it for now, but as you can tell, it’s quite an eye-catching, dynamic cover. I hope you enjoy the full, final issue.”

Check out my awesome Nintendo magnets, a good reason to visit Japan. A friend of mine recently visited from the land of the rising sun and brought some goodies back knowing my infatuation with all things gaming.

I scooped a cool red Koopa Troopa shell as well as a red and golden mushroom. My fridge is now appropriately pimped! Now I just need to work out how to get my hands on the Bullet Bill and POW Block which Pete scored.

Thanks Mike!

Popular gaming site 1UP has been sold to UGO Entertainment. 1UP itself has confirmed the rumours in a post on 1UP.com, announcing that 1UP and its associated sites have been acquired by UGO Entertainment and parent company Hearst Corporation.

According to 1UP staff, “You may have heard the rumors in the past, but today the announcement we’ve all been waiting for has officially come: UGO Entertainment and parent Hearst Corporation have acquired 1UP and its associated sites GameVideos.com, MyCheats.com, and GameTab.com. 1UP and its sites now join UGO’s network of gaming properties that will reach over 40 million monthly unique visitors.”

The post continues “Obviously, there are sure to be many questions as to what this deal means for the day to day of 1UP and its sites. To those, we can only say that we’ll continue to produce the very best gaming content and support the very best gaming community as we always have, only now we’ll have the backing of a fantastic publisher like UGO. Please join with us in celebrating this major news for 1UP.”

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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.

US research firm Nielsen has released numbers for video game console usage in the US. The data, taken from January to October 2008, tracks the percentage of all measured console minutes in what is known as ‘usage minute percentage.’

The PS2 was the most played video game console of 2008, still leading the pack with 31.7% of the time spent console gaming. The Xbox 360 is next with 17.2%, ahead of the Wii with 13.4%. Surprisingly the original Xbox beat the PS3, scoring 9.7% and 7.3% respectively.

If we add these figures up it means that only 37.9% of gaming took place on current-gen systems.

The Nintendo GameCube also made an appearance on the list with 4.6% while the remaining consoles were grouped into the ‘Other’ category (consisting of any other console systems found in the home) and accounted for 16.2%.

Source: The Nielsen Company

If you are a gamer that has kids the chances are that you have helped to pass on some gaming knowledge to the next generation, whether you know it or not.

Compare your child’s knowledge to this young lass…still think your young ‘un is a gaming expert?

Why not try your luck in the New Year by entering our competitions.

We currently have two great competitions up and running - just by answering a simple question you could stand the chance to win one of two cool Thrustmaster DS packs (one for boy gamers and one for girl gamers) or an awesome Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe hamper consisting of a T-shirt, limited edition poster and a copy of the game.

Head over to our competitions page for more details and get your entry in today!

In case you haven’t noticed yet we have a new poll out today. We want to know if you played any games on New Year’s Eve. Let us know by selecting Yes, No, or I’m not telling on the left – it’s as easy as that!

Our previous poll asked you which game you most wanted for Christmas. LittleBigPlanet came out tops with 39% while Gears of War 2, Wii Music and Guitar Hero: World Tour all proved to be popular choices, coming tie with 16.5% each. Call of Duty: World at War was next with 11.5%.

Anybody get the chance to play any of these great games this holiday?

Happy New Year to all of our readers – hope you had an awesome festive season and spent loads of time playing awesome games!

2009 is sure to be crack a lacking so be sure to keep checking back with El33tonline for the latest news, reviews and great competitions too.

Thanks for your support and make sure you keep in touch to let us know what you think about the goings-on in the industry.

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 fifth editorial on the rise and fall of console gaming as we take a closer look at the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Stay tuned as we put the 3DO in the spotlight next week or check out our thoughts on the Atari 2600, NES, Sega Master System and SEGA Mega Drive.

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 fourth editorial on the rise and fall of console gaming as we take a closer look at the SEGA Mega Drive. Stay tuned as we put the SNES in the spotlight next week or check out our thoughts on the Atari 2600, NES and Sega Master System.

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 third editorial on the rise and fall of console gaming as we take a closer look at the SEGA Master System. Stay tuned as we put the SEGA Mega Drive in the spotlight next week or check out our thoughts on the Atari 2600 or NES.

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 second editorial on the rise and fall of console gaming as we take a closer look at the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Stay tuned as we put the Sega Master Drive in the spotlight next week or check out our thoughts on the Atari 2600.

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 first editorial on the rise and fall of console gaming as we take a closer look at the Atari 2600. Stay tuned as we put the Nintendo Entertainment System in the spotlight next week.