Current-gen titles drive market out of seventh month slump
The latest US videogame sales data from NPD has revealed a 15.5 per cent rise in software sales during April, reaching USD 699 million and ending seven consecutive months of decline.
The positive market performance was largely driven by current generation sales of Square Enix' Disney themed RPG title Kingdom Hearts II, EA's The Godfather, Eidos' Tomb Raider: Legend and Take-Two's Major League Baseball 2K6, which was the strongest selling Xbox title in the region.
Handheld software titles also played their part, with Metroid Prime: Hunters becoming the top-selling Nintendo DS title, backed up by strong sales for Brain Training and MLB 2006: The Show on Sony's PSP.
NPD analyst Anita Frazier told Reuters: "The multi-month doldrums that have been facing the industry due to the console transition and the lack of truly blockbuster titles appears to be over, at least for now. We're on the road to recovery."
April PC software sales were up 12 per cent to USD 67 million, current generation software down by just USD 32 million compared to last year, and next generation software sales were up around USD 85 million.
Industry analysts at Wedbush Morgan noted: "The April sales figures reflected a reversal of a seven month software sales decline, although we expect the negative trend to resume in May and June," although the company admitted that X-Men: The Official Game and Over The Hedge from Activision, as well as Nintendo's New Super Mario Brothers would help maintain a positive performance in the coming months.
Freebies handed out at E3 fetching pretty penny on online auction site; items include 360 faceplates, autographed Diane Mizota E3 badge?
One man's trash is another man's treasure. Indeed, experienced attendees of E3 approach much of the promotional material handed out at the trade expo as deadweight, something that will just take up room in a suitcase. Hardcore gamers, on the other hand, see these limited-edition bits and pieces as collector's items and scour online auction sites for deals.
On eBay, the priciest items from E3 2006 appear to be the Gears of War Xbox 360 faceplates, with bidding approaching the $200 mark as of press time. Sellers of questionable ethics claim the item was only available during a multiplayer demo of the game behind closed doors, and is very rare.
But the bidding doesn't end there. For the right price, any gamer can put up the façade that they were actually at E3 by purchasing some exclusive gear distributed at the show only.
Nintendo fans can show their support with Nintendo lanyards (handed out with every E3 badge on day one of the show) that have pictures of the Wii, the GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Micro, and DS. On the other hand, Sony fans can opt to adopt Sony lanyards that were handed out en masse at the company's booth and simply read PlayStation 3 in the familiar Spider-Man font. However, the frugal lanyard seeker will buy the seemingly useless bits of plastic and fabric in bulk or in variety packs.
Even items that gamers try to avoid have found their way onto eBay. The game digests that run down the layout of the event, list conferences, and filled small kiosks by the thousands are asking as much as $16. A pack of E3 press kits that publishers give to media is also available, for anyone who wanted the latest fact sheets from Logitech. One person is even selling a cut-out from a magazine advertising Gameloft's Paris Hilton mobile phone game.
Of course no trip to E3 would be complete without a wrap-up of the infamous booth babes. One Fresno, California-based auctioneer is selling a collection of over 350 digital photos that show off the spokesmodels of the convention, as well as other random pics from the event. The pictures of the ladies are apparently too hot for eBay, as samples show a red heart over what appear to be the more revealing portions of the images.
Xbox Live Marketplace surpasses 24 million downloads as Xbox Live Brings E3 Home to gamers around the world
Xbox Live becomes the world’s largest platform for high-definition on-demand content
Xbox Live, the first and only unified online games and entertainment network, is now the world’s largest platform for high-definition on-demand content, surpassing 24 million downloads following the launch of Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005.
For the full week of E3 – the biggest video game industry event of the year - Xbox 360 gamers around the world were invited to jump in to Xbox Live through “E3: Bringing It Home,” and receive a full week’s Gold membership for free, courtesy of Verizon in the US and adidas in Europe.
Over 1.5 million gamers connected to Xbox Live last week, downloading exclusive content direct from the show floor, including the latest high-definition game demos and trailers, such as Halo 3, Gears of War and Fable 2; game add-on content, such as Map Packs from Call of Duty ®2 and additional quests from The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™, movie trailers and music videos, such as “Nacho Libre” and “Over My Head” (The Fray) along with celebrity Game with Fame multiplayer sessions with Dave Navarro (Panic Channel), Method Man and Jenny McCarthy.
Xbox Live members downloaded over 5 million pieces of gaming and entertainment content during the 7 days of E3: Bringing It Home, consuming more than 600 Terabytes of data, shattering all previous records for the network. At the same time, traffic on Xbox.com doubled during the week, driving more than 6 million unique users to the site as well.
“Only Xbox Live could bring E3 home in high definition for consumers around the world,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “The sheer volume of downloads during E3 week was simply staggering. To put it in perspective, all the printed material in the U.S. Library of Congress is estimated to be about 20 terabytes, and Xbox Live delivered 30 times that amount in just 7 days. While others talk about online entertainment in the console space, we are delivering it in glorious high-definition to the millions of members we have across 24 countries. “
The eagerly anticipated Halo 3 high-definition trailer proved to be the most popular download of the week:
Come and discuss all the latest xbox 360 info and manage your xbox 360 games list, wishlists and tounraments on our new interactive 360-hq.com website.
We invite all members from around the globe to come and check out what we have on offer..
The latest Xbox 360 Games Info, Screenshots, Reviews, Hint, tips and cheats and so much more.
A few folks are asking about the Microsoft response to Optical Disc Drive (ODD) hack. We sent out some messaging when the news first appeared, but since more information about the hack has been released publicly, we're revisiting. The bottom line hasn't changed: we take attacks on the system seriously, both to protect the security of the system, and to prevent piracy.
Here is the official messaging:
The core security system has not been broken. However, on some Xbox 360 consoles the authentication protocol between the optical disc drive and the console may be attacked via a complex software and hardware modification which could allow people to play illegally copied and modified games. We continue to invest in the security of the platform and will respond appropriately as unauthorized activity is identified.
When a person purchases a genuine Microsoft Xbox360 console and genuine Xbox 360 games, they receive the real product which is complete and suited for the use intended. They know its source and can expect the console and games to function properly and provide a satisfying gaming experience. Genuine and unmodified Microsoft Xbox products provide gamers with the reliability, security, support and dynamic gaming experience that they expect, and genuine and unmodified Microsoft Xbox 360 products are eligible for technical support. If there are any questions regarding the use and enjoyment of the Xbox 360 console, the Xbox Live service, or Xbox 360 games, gamers can be assured that Microsoft will stand by its product and provide the necessary support. Modified consoles will not be eligible for technical support and the user's warranty will be voided.
Lastly, the protection of intellectual property rights is a high priority for Microsoft and our partners, one that significantly and positively impacts economic growth, technological innovation, and most importantly, the confidence of customers who count on the integrity and quality of their products.
We just got a call from one of our customers in the UK. He tells me that all the CORE packs he bought today had the Toshiba DVD Drives and all the Premium packs he bought had the Hitachi DVD Drives. So our recommendation if you are looking to get a Toshiba drive is to get a new core pack.
If you need to identify Xbox 360 DVDROM you have in your new 360 console please see this tutorial here.. It will let you identify your dvdrom drive without opening your console. Just take a look at the images shown.. Its very easy to distinguish what drive you have so go check it out..
Iriez released a tutorial written by LittleJonny of Team Cavern Imports: "How to install a dualboot homebrew mod on a 360 DVD rom - The TightMod360 (v0.43DA)".
Check out the PDF tutorial in on our 360-hq.com website here
It explains how you can piggyback a SST39sf020a flashrom onto the Xbox360 TS-H943 DVD drive, so you have 2 firmwares chips on the drive and you can easily switch (for example) between the original DVD firmware and Commodore4Evas Xtreme firmware for the TS-H943 Xbox 360 DVD drive.
Delta Force: Hawk Ops gets a brand new trailer Delta Force: Hawk Ops (@DeltaForce_Game), the free-to-play first-person shooter (FPS) from TiMi Studio Group and Level Infinite just dropped a brand new cinematic trailer! The game will feature cross-..
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It explains how you can piggyback a SST39sf020a flashrom onto the Xbox360 TS-H943 DVD drive, so you have 2 firmwares chips on the drive and you can easily switch (for example) between the original DVD firmware and Commodore4Evas Xtreme firmware for the TS-H943 Xbox 360 DVD drive.
