Category: GBA
Microsoft, Nintendo Post Profits; Sony Losses
In good news to both Microsoft and Nintendo, the two console-makers have posted profitable quarters. In fact, this is Microsoft Entertainment Division’s first ever profitable three-month segment for the current fiscal year’s first quarter. The division encompasses all of the company’s hardware and software gaming endeavors, recording an operating income of $165 million, compared to last year’s loss of $142 million during the same period.
Nintendo’s profits are even more staggering, though theirs is not quarterly but semi-annual. The Japan-based company has posted an operating profit of up to 188 billion yen, compared to 67.1 billion yen the year before. Sales for this period soared from 299 billion yen to 695 billion yen. The company has raised its annual profit outlook to 275 billion yen, up 30 billion yen from its last forecast.
Meanwhile, the Sony camp is grieving over huge losses of approximately 96.7 billion yen ($847 US million) for the past quarter, down 53.2 billion year-on-year, attributed largely to the price point of the PS3 console. Apparently, the console is selling at a price lower than the production cost, according to a statement put out by the company. Sony aims on breaking even or better in its game business in the second half of the business year to March.
The games division didn’t stop Sony from posting an overall quarterly profit across its fully business. Overall, the company reported a profit of 90.5 billion yen, compared to a loss of 20.8 billion yen during the same period last year. It is attributed largely to strong sales of TVs, cameras and camcorders.
BAFTA 2007 Winners Announced
The BAFTA 2007 Video Games Awards winners have been announced, marking a big win for Nintendo with Wii Sports that bagged six of the ceremony’s 15 awards – it was nominated for seven.
Other winners include Okami and God of War 2, both of which walked away with two awards; Crackdown for best action/adventure game and use of audio; and BioShock for best game of the year. Here is the full list of winners.
- Action and Adventure – Crackdown (Realtime Worlds, Microsoft, X360)
- Artistic Achievement – Okami (Clover Studio, Capcom, PS2)
- Best Game – BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia, 2K Games, PC, X360)
- Casual – Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
- Gameplay – Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
- Innovation – Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
- Multiplayer – Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
- Original Score – Okami (Clover Studio, Capcom, PS2)
- Sports – Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
- Strategy and Simulation – Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
- Story and Character – God of War II (SCE Santa Monica, SCE, PS2)
- Technical Achievement – God of War II (SCE Santa Monica, SCE, PS2)
- Use of Audio – Crackdown (Realtime Worlds, Microsoft, X360)
- BAFTA Ones to Watch Award (Independent Dev) – Ragnarawk (Voodoo Boogy)
- The PC World Gamers Award (Public Voting Online) – Football Manager 2007 (Sports Interactive, Sega, PC)
Best of GC 2007 Nominees
With the Games Convention going on in full swing, the organizers of the event sent out a press release announcing the nominees for the “Best of GC” awards. An eleven-member jury of experts has nominated the following games in a total of ten categories. The award ceremony will take place in the Leipziger Messe press conference room on August 24 at 11am.
In the category PC:
– Sam&Max Season One (JoWood Productions Software AG)
– StarCraft 2 (Vivendi Games Deutschland GmbH)
– Hellgate: London (Electronic Arts GmbH)
– Die Siedler Aufstieg eines Königsreichs (Ubisoft GmbH)
– Crysis (Electronic Arts GmbH)
– Enemy Territory Quake Wars (ACTIVISION Deutschland GmbH)In the category Xbox:
– BioShock (Take 2 Interactive GmbH)
– PES 2008 (Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH)
– Sacred 2: Fallen Angel 360 (Ascaron Entertainment GmbH)
– Eternal Sonata (ATARI Deutschland GmbH)
– Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (EIDOS GmbH)In the category PSP:
– God of War: Chains of Olympus (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)
– PES 2008 (Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH)
– Silent Hill Origins (Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH)In the category PS2:
– PES 2008 (Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH)
– Crash of the Titans (Vivendi Games Deutschland GmbH)
– Singstar – Die Toten Hosen (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)
– BUZZ! – Das Film-Quiz (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)In the category PS3:
– Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH)
– SingStar (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)
– Uncharted: Drakes Schicksal (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)
– The Eye of Judgment (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)
– PES 2008 (Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH)In the category Wii:
– Wii Fitness (NINTENDO of Europe GmbH)
– Super Mario Galaxy (NINTENDO of Europe GmbH)
– Mario & Sonic bei den Olympischen Spielen (SEGA Germany GmbH)In the category NDS:
– Eye Training (NINTENDO of Europe GmbH)
– Undercover: Doppeltes Spiel (dtp Entertainment AG)
– The Simpsons Games (Electronic Arts GmbH)In the category Mobile:
– Skate (Electronic Arts GmbH)
– Medal of Honor Airborne (Electronic Arts GmbH)In the category Online:
– Hellgate: London (Electronic Arts GmbH)
– Enemy Territory Quake Wars (ACTIVISION Deutschland GmbH)
– Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (EIDOS GmbH)In the category Best Hardware Product:
– Wii Balance Board (NINTENDO of Europe GmbH)
– Rockband (Electronic Arts GmbH)
– PlayStation®Eye (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Golden Joystick Awards Nominees Announced
This year’s Golden Joystick Awards nominees have been announced, marking the 25th anniversary of the UK’s oldest and biggest award ceremony. The second round of shortlist voting has already begun, with users now able to logon to the event’s site and choose their favorites from 17 categories.
Shortlisted nominees this year include Guitar Hero II, GTA 4, Crysis, Okami, God of War 2 and many other games. The ceremony will be hosted by David Mitchell, star of Channel 4’s Peep Show and feature film Magicians, at London’s Park Lane, Hilton hotel on October 26.
The full, long list of nominees after the jump.
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Surfs Up!
Ubisoft has announced Surfs Up!, an upcoming surfing game tie-in to the movie of the same name. The game will hit stores July 26, ahead of the movie’s August 10 debut, for the PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, Gamecube, DS, GBA and PC.
Developed by Ubisoft’s award-winning Montreal studio, Surf’s Up™ takes players on a tubular surf adventure with Cody Maverick, an up-and-coming surfer, entering his first pro competition. The game plunges players into the exciting world of surfing, featuring thrilling surf tricks, cool surf locales and all the characters from the Surf’s Up movie. Film clips featuring all the characters from the film – including Chicken Joe (Jon Heder) and surfing icons Kelly Slater and Rob Machado (themselves) – are showcased in the game.
Kingdom Hearts Ships 10m
Undoubtedly its best success after the Final Fantasy franchise, Square Enix has proudly announced that the Kingdom Hearts series has shipped more than 10 million units worldwide, making it one of the top game franchises in the world. Below is the full regional breakdown:
KINGDOM HEARTS (PAL Release: 1st November 2002, PlayStation 2)
Japan: Over 1.5 million – North America: Over 3.0 million – Europe & PAL: Over 1.1 million
KINGDOM HEARTS: Chain of Memories (PAL Release: 6th May 2005, Game Boy Advance)
Japan: Over 0.4 million – North America: Over 0.9 million – Europe & PAL: Over 0.2 million
KINGDOM HEARTS II (PAL Release: 29th September 2006, PlayStation 2)
Japan: Over 1.1 million – North America: Over 1.7 million – Europe & PAL: Over 0.7 million
Capcom Unites on the Web
Capcom has launched Capcom Unity, an online presence dedicated to its many franchises, including Resident Evil, Mega Man, Lost Planet and others. The site will act as a community hub, offering new product announcements, special offers, forums, as well as other content for its games. It will also be host to exclusive content such as blogs from Lost Planet developers, as well as interviews with people related to the games.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Game Announced
Remember the awesome TMNT games of the yesteryears? Well, hopefully those yesteryears will become present, as Ubisoft has announced that they are creating a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game based on the upcoming CGI flick. In development at the publisher’s Montreal and Quebec studios, the game will feature the turtles’ signature acrobatic moves, team combat and intense fighting. Scoop:
The new TMNT video game uses the same dark and dangerous environments and adventurous themes featured in the new TMNT CGI film being developed by Imagi Animation Studios and Mirage Licensing. The TMNT movie takes place in a New York City plagued by secretive villains and strange, otherworldly creatures. Faced with these perils, the Turtles will experience their most trying time as heroes and as a family, as Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo lose their focus and struggle to maintain their unity and ninja discipline. In the movie and in the highly immersive video game adventure, it’s up to Leonardo and the faithful father figure Splinter to reunite the band of brothers and save New York City from a monstrous evil that lurks around every corner. Video game players will engage in over-the-top acrobatic navigation, collaborative combat and powerful fighting moves.
The game will hit stores worldwide March 13, 2007, just ahead of the film’s release on March 23. It will be available on PC, PS2, PSP, GBA, DS, Gamecube, Wii and Xbox 360.
Warner Bros. Buys into SCi; Publisher Goes Game Crazy
Bringing good news to SCi is Warner Bros., who has acquired ten percent of the company in a deal worth 44.5 million GBP. SCi is taking this deal very ambitiously, as the company has announced that it will create games based on Looney Tunes characters for portables; produce up to ten games based on Hanna-Barbera characters; games based on the Batman character as well as the hit TV show OC. Additionally, SCi has acquired the licensed for animated TV shows Loonatics Unleashed and Legion of Super Heroes.
That’s not all: it will also produce up to 20 games in total across current and next-gen platforms, with Warner Bros. providing primary distribution and media buying services to Eidos in the US. Expect to see these titles released from 2008 onwards.
Shipped
A list of games that shipped in the past few days:
- Anarchy Online: Lost Eden
- Air Assault: Task Force
- Elder Scrolls: Knights of the Nine
- Pimp My Ride (X360)
- Rayman Raving Rabbids (PC, PS2, GBA)
- Rainbow Six: Vegas (PC)
- Star Trek
- Vigil: Blood Bitterness
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