Before we begin another late NPD report, let us bow our heads down in memory of Lucasarts, who put out some good and bad Star Wars titles across consoles and the PC.
Ask any fan of
Star Wars: There’s a new Moff in town.
Although Disney acquired LucasArts on October 30, 2012, Disney has made
some sweeping changes gradually, such as
cancelling the long-running Cartoon Network television show,
The Clone Wars, as well as the upcoming live-action comedy
Detours
in mid March. Now, after over five months, Disney executed Order 66 on
their recently acquired videogames studio, LucasArts, and its 150
employees.
This has been sad news for fans of
Star Wars TV, but it’s even worse for fans of videogames, who had been anticipating the tactical game
Star Wars: First Assault, as well as
Star Wars 1313,
a third-person action adventure that would have been a darker, grittier
look at the universe that gave us Ewoks. But all is not lost.
Disney will be licensing out the
Star Wars property to other companies…much as LucasArts did with
Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 (Bioware and Obsidian),
LEGO Star Wars (Traveller’s Tales), the currently running MMO
The Old Republic (Bioware), and others.
In fact, as many have been quick to point out, the last game of note that LucasArts had published was 2008’s
The Force Unleashed (which I loved), and their last game proper was
Star Wars Kinect (which I laughed at). LucasArts, however, will always be revered for many of its past works, including
Grim Fandango and the
Monkey Island series.
A legacy indeed lost. But in the aftermath of the shutdown of Lucasarts, Activision and Raven Soft have released the source code for Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. You can download both of them
here and
here.
And now for the moment of truth. The February NPD.
At number 10: Madden NFL 2013 by EA for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U and PSVita. And Superbowl already ended
At number 09: Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time by Sony for the PS3 and PSVita. You can't keep a good thief down
At number 08: Far Cry 3 by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3 and PC. Hope you're gearing to explore the island if you missed this title
At number 07: Just Dance by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3, Wii and Wii U. Bet ya can't top Michael Jackson
At number 06: Aliens: Colonial Marines by SEGA for the 360, PS3 and PC. Because even a major screwup by Gearbox still keeps people buying.
At number 05: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance by Konami for the 360, and PS3. This game, is a TOOL OF JUSTICE
At number 04: NBA 2K12 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP and PC. Wait, a PSP title is on the list? That's a rarity
At number 03: Crysis 3 by EA for the 360, PS3 and PC. Seems Electronic Arts is showing a major Domination right now
At number 02: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC. Wait. They're not number 1? Then who is? Well that goes to.....
At number 01: Dead Space 3 by Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC, but at around 605K
Nice numbers, but a slow month since the holidays came to an end. But what about hardware?
360: 302K
PS3: 263K
Wii U: 66K
Nintendo Ecosystem(Wii U, Wii, DS and 3DS): 455K
The 360 continues its dominance despite falling numbers. The PS3 remains steady while the Wii U is slowly playing catch up with its numbers with 70% of em being deluxe consoles. Maybe Nintendo should phase out the Basic consoles and stick with the Deluxe consoles. Overall, Nintendo seems to be doing fine across the board, though it will be awhile before the Wii U shows its true colors.
What does March bring for the gaming industry from the 1st day to Wondercon? We'll find out later on.
Works Cited:
Forbes
