All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Microsoft's magic box does a lot more than you might think.

It's time to find out how the US games industry ended the last decade, and the answer is "Nintendo." Wait, that's not a proper answer -- or is it? Consumers continued The Big N's fortunes in December, even in spite of some disparaging comments from third party partners. DS also sold remarkably well, and post-Thanksgiving sales of PS3 managed to surpass those of Xbox 360 by about 50,000 units. Wii software flew off the shelves, proving that Wii games sell ... as long as they're published by Nintendo. Six of the top 10 titles for December were published by the company. New Super Mario Bros. Wii continues to dominate at retail with nearly three million copies sold in December alone. It's joined in the top three by Wii Fit Plus (2.14M) and Wii Sports Resort (1.79M). Not surprising, given the number of Nintendo consoles sold in the final weeks of the oughts. -Wii: 3.81M2.11M (+202%) -DS: 3.31M2.05M (+95%) -PS3: 1.36M650K (+92%) -360: 1.31M490K (+60%) -PSP: 655K361K (+123%) -PS2: 333K130K (+64%) Check out the software sales chart after the break.

Another way Nintendo will trump the competition.

[Image credit: David Gunter] Today's PSN update reminds us about the vastness of space. Like, space is really, really huge. Certainly in comparison to this week's update, which is so very, very small. Almost microscopic when placed next to each other. It's the smallest update we've seen in a long, long time. We're not going to say that it's been as long as space has existed, but it's been a long time. There's some Vampire Weekend DLC for Guitar Hero and an UNO demo, if you're interested. There's also more PSP comics. Check out the PSN update after the break. Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Nintendo dominates hardware and software sales.

There once was a time when your only option for exercising creativity in Team Fortress 2 was to come up with clever ways to grief your fellow players. Today, Valve announced that players would soon have a less annoying way to stretch their imagination muscles -- by designing their own items and avatars which could possibly show up in-game. Of course, you can't simply break one of the classes by creating a mini-nuke launcher for them -- there's a number of restrictions to what's appropriate for the game. Check out Valve's handy "Tips and Tricks" page to find out how to ensure your homebrewed creations are TF2-acceptable. For instance, a new fedora for the Sniper? Absolutely. A gun shaped like genitalia for the Heavy? Absolutely not.

Our first try at the English-language version, complete with sky robots.

Screens that aren't so giant.

Create your own success story in the hotel service industry from your PC at home with Hotel Giant 2.

A few lovely screens.

Yeah, we went there.

Yeah, we went there.

Yeah, we went there.

Nintendo's Wii-exclusive platformer outsells both the PS3 and 360 versions of Modern Warfare 2 -- combined -- in December.

Find out what went into the creation of the upscaled DSi system.

Xbox.com has listed several new games as Platinum Hits, including Fable II (aka Game of the Year Edition), Halo Wars, Left 4 Dead, The Orange Box, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Ninja Gaiden II, Kung-Fu Panda, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, Sonic The Hedgehog, and Sonic Unleashed. A Microsoft PR agent couldn't confirm the full list of new Platinum Hits (are we missing any above?), but said that if a game is listed as such on Xbox.com, it's a Platinum Hits title. The changes seem to have taken effect on major retailer sites, as GameStop and Amazon now reflect the discounted Platinum prices (if not always the the Platinum Hits branding), which range from $20-30. With Orange Box requiring only one Jackson ($20), it's now literally a crime to not own it. Conversely, if you're dead-set on committing a crime, buy someone Sonic The Hedgehog or Sonic Unleashed at $20 each. [Thanks, Stephen]

NPD sales results for December are in and -- wow. Just... wow.

While nothing has been confirmed by Nintendo of Australia just yet, retailers have Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver set for a March 25th release. It certainly looks to be a plausible date, but hopefully it’ll be confirmed by the Big N in the near future.

In its latest financial results release, Majesco reported satisfying sales for its Cooking Mama franchise. It didn't provide specifics, but CEO Jesse Sutton said that Cooking Mama 3 "performed well," Gardening Mama was "very successful" and Cooking Mama in general was "the most successful third party franchise on the DS" and "an evergreen brand." So, naturally, Majesco is going to retire the series on a high note. Oh, did we say "retire the series on a high note?" We meant "release two more games this year." Sutton said that following the success of the gardening-based spinoff, Majesco is working on two "additional extensions for 2010," as well as looking to "new media channels" for further extensions of the brand.

Bundle up for some fun in the snow.

- total video game console industry sales (down 8% to $19.66 billion) - $20.2 billion made during 2009 - December alone generated $5.53 billion - Software was down 7% to $2.58 billion - hardware was up 16% to $2.19 billion - portable gaming hardware saw a 6% bump in revenue - second best year ever for the U.S. game industry “Clearly, 2009 [...]

If you've been waiting for a good reason to pick up Darksiders on your Xbox 360, we might just have one. Newegg is currently selling the game for a cool $39.99, a full $20 off the standard $59.99 price. The $40 price includes shipping, too, so it's really a pretty significant savings. For what it's worth, we enjoyed the game quite a bit, despite its flaws. A $40 price point could only make it better, right? Says Justin McElroy, who reviewed the game for Joystiq, "You're crazier than Jeff Zucker if you don't buy Darksiders for $40 /topical." So there you go.

The original Evercrack returns.