All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

We've known for quite some time that Electronic Arts' Battlefield 1943 "experiment" was successful, selling over a million units on Xbox Live alone, but now CFO Eric Brown has revealed some numbers on the game's development cost and revenue. The EA exec stated at UBS's 39th Annual Media and Communications Conference the the game cost "single-digit millions" to create and netted (after Sony and Microsoft took their cuts) a healthy $16 million for the publisher.

Brown explained that EA expects digitally distributed product to make up 20 percent of the company's revenue this fiscal year. Beyond Battlefield, Brown also noted significant revenue from FIFA's Ultimate Team mode, along with full-game PC downloads.

With BF:1943's success, it'll be interesting to see how the Battlefield:BFBC2 Vietnam expansion experiment works out. Boiled down, Vietnam is essentially the same downloadable game concept as 1943, but called a "multiplayer expansion" that requires a copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to play.

Attn: Midway fans. This Thursday, December 9th we pull back the curtains on the Midway 2 game space. An annex to the Midway complex, Midway 2 introduces ten brand-spankin’ new games and 100 new prizes (plus a grand prize for winning all ten levels of all 20 games in both Midway 1 and 2). Purchase the Golden Ticket (which grants you 50 tokens; one token = one play) and then tackle hilarious new games such as Kitty Cannon, Half Cocked, and Tee’d Off, unlocking prizes at each level until you become a master of the massive carnival known as the Midway – only available in PlayStation Home.

Available this week from the LOOT store in the PlayStation Home Mall, the Ameratsu Yacht personal space is a full-on luxury party vessel that allows you to cruise the high seas while watching select videos with your friends. Take advantage of LOOT’s Entertainment on Demand (EOD) system to watch tons of great new content with your friends. As the Amaterasu glides through the crystal blue tropical waters, catch sight of the sea life that plays in the waves. Sharks are included, but other sea life can be unlocked as well. Watch the video below to learn more and then shoot on over to the LOOT store on Thursday and spoil yourself with the new Ameratsu Yacht.

Head to the delightfully festive Central Plaza this week and kick off your Holiday celebration by approaching the teleporter that leads to the Winter Wonderland event space. A snowy location filled with games and rewards galore, the Winter Wonderland serves as Santa’s home base. Help the elves with their holiday tasks in exchange for presents (duties change often, so be sure to visit the Winter Wonderland every day between now and the 25th). And while you are there, be sure to check out the Winter Market and get your picture taken (the photo elf will even throw in a free picture frame!)

In other news, we will be putting the mega-popular Dragon’s Green on sale in celebration of the winter holidays beginning Thursday, December 9th. Visit the Dragon’s Green space via the Featured Games section on your Navigator and pick up the Golden Ticket at a reduced price of $2.99 (or grab the 30-Day Voucher for the low price of $0.99)!

This Thursday, December 9th, in celebration of the recent release of Tron: Evolution, we are launching a truly awesome Tron personal space – a highly interactive environment full of Tron-themed games that is exclusive to PlayStation Home. In addition to this special space, we will also be releasing a host of Tron clothing and virtual items in the PlayStation Home Mall. So be sure to visit PlayStationHome this Thursday to pick up this exclusive personal space and complete your Tron collection!

We have an epic event scheduled for this Friday, December 10th. Members of the creative team behind the hit Adult Swim show Robot Chicken will be in the Gamer’s Lounge between the hours of 3:00pm and 5:00pm PST (5:00pm and 7:00pm EST) playing games of Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planewalkers with the PlayStation Home community. Come out and meet Doug Goldstein (co-writer and co-executive producer), Mike Fasolo (Writer, Voice Actor, and Creative Director), Hugh Sterbakov (Writer of the Emmy-nominated Star Wars: Robot Chicken special), and the one and only Clare Grant (Voice Actress for Robot Chicken and star of Black Snake Moan and Showtime’s Masters of Horror series). Challenge members of the team to a duel in Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planewalkers and try to be one of the first to earn the limited Spellslinger trophy!

Starting this Thursday, December 9th, you will be able travel around PlayStationHome with a brand new companion – Steve, the lovable pet monkey from Columbia Pictures’ Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Pick up the Steve companion from the LOOT store (just remember to keep him far away from your stash of Gummy Bears…)

Speaking of new items, the PlayStation Home Mall gets an update this week with new furniture items from the LOOT store (including new items for your Ghostbusters personal space), additional Spelunker HD and Dragon’s Lair items, rock star costumes, festive musical stockings for your personal space, and brand new Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 costumes.

Last but certainly not least, the PlayStation Home Community Theater debuts the new HomeCast Rewind series this week. In the premiere episode, host HearItWow tells you how to get the most out of the 1.4 client update – offering a “How To” focused on the new Chat and Storage features – and takes a look at some must-have items. Also playing this week in the Community Theater is episode 6 of the legendary GamerIndepth “Shout Outs” (which includes an interview with our very own GlassWalls). Visit the PlayStation Home Theater this week to watch these fantastic new videos, and while you are there be sure to catch up on the latest episodes of The Tester 2 and Replay with Doc: Cast Offs.

See you in Home!