NPD June 2013: After Comic-Con edition.

Folks, I'm running late again reporting for the NPD in August instead of July.  Man, why do I keep getting late over this?

Before I get into details, last week Phil Fish rage quits over a tweet and ends up cancelling Fez II.

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Polytron's Phil Fish has quit the games industry, cancelling the development of Fez II in the process.

Fish announced his decision through various channels on Sunday. He gave no specific reason for the move.

A statement published on the official Polytron website read: "Fez II is cancelled. I am done. I take the money and I run. This is as much as I can stomach. This is isn't the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign. You win."


Poor Fish.  He's been fried badly.  And now we'll never know the sequel to Fez.  But what was it that caused the Fish to lose it?

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While Fish claims that his departure is the culmination of a, "long, bloody campaign," it is believed that a recent Game Trailers video may have been the final straw.

In an episode of the GT web series Invisible Walls, Marcus Beer called out Phil Fish and Jonathan Blow for refusing to offer comment to Game Informer on rumours about Microsoft's decision to allow self-publishing on Xbox One. Beer called both Fish and Blow "hispter ***holes" and "tosspots" for their lack of communication with the press, saying, "You should be grateful that these guys still consider what you say to be something of use."

Fish subsequently took to Twitter to provide more context for his decision. "To be clear, I'm not cancelling Fez II because some boorish **** said something stupid," he said. "I'm doing it to get out of games.

"And I'm getting out of games because I choose not to put up with this abuse any more."

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In other words, this is what happens when fish and beer meets.  You end up getting a tasty, breaded dinner, or someone named Marcus Beer should have felt bad for what he did.

Anyway, Lemme count down the Top 10 games of June 2013.

At number 10: Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon by Nintendo for the 3DS.  Who's up for pranking Luigi with a Ghost costume?

At number 09: Battlefield 3 by Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC.  It still ain't like Call of Duty

At number 07: Donkey Kong Country Returns by Nintendo for the 3DS and Wii.  No Kremlings allowed

At number 06: Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3 and Wii U.  Meanwhile, Cyborg got in trouble for eating Raven's Nachos.

At number 05: NBA K13 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii U, PSP and PC.  Good thing Dennis Rodman didn't screw up this Top 10

At number 04: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, PC and Wii U.  I'm surprised this game is still doing well with Ghosts coming around the corner

At number 03: Minecraft by Microsoft for the 360.  Wait a minute, Minecraft?  How did that make it onto the Top 10?

At number 02: Animal Crossing: New Leaf by Nintendo for the 3DS.  Hey wait a minute.  How did that get up there?

And at Number 01: Last of Us by Sony for the PS3.  Nothing more needs to be said.

But what about hardware sales?  Well, it is official.  The 3DS truly overtook the 360.

Nintendo 3DS: 225K
Xbox 360: 140K

Is it a transition, or is something more sinister on the horizon?  Stay tuned for the NPD July 2013 as we bring you more on the NPD fallout.

Works Cited:
Games Industry
NeoGAF