NPD September 2013: Ghoulish edition

Before we wrap up October, first things first.  A big and hearty congratulations to Valve and the Steam service for reaching the 65 million mark.

---

Valve announced that its Steam platform now has 65 million users, with the last 12 months alone bringing a 30 percent increase in active accounts.

Steam reached its current milestone as Valve prepares to launch Steam Machines, an initiative that aims to bring PC gaming to the living room with dedicated

hardware, a platform-specific operating system, and a gaming-optimized controller. Currently, Steam hosts over 3,000 downloadable games from a broad spectrum of publishers and independent developers.

"The main goal of Steam has always been to increase the quality of the user's experience by reducing the distance between content creators and their audience," said Valve president Gabe Newell. "As the platform grows, our job is to adapt to the changing needs of both the development and user communities. In the coming year, we plan to make perhaps our most significant collaborations with both communities through the Steam Dev Days and the Steam Machines beta." 

 

---

 

It's rather obvious that the Steam service is doing a lot to attract the end user.  With low-priced sales, collectables, and a more open-ended service, Steam is the number one system for gamers nowadays.

But onto the Console peasants of September.

 

At number 10: Saints Row IV by Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC.  The Real GAT V is in the house.

 

At number 09: Minecraft by Mojang and Microsoft for the 360.  I use to be a great miner, but then I took a Creeper to the face.

 

At number 08: NHL 2014 by Electronic Arts for the 360, and PS3.  Just in time for Hockey season.

 

At number 07: Disney Infinity by Disney Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U and 3DS.  Now when are they gonna put Marvel and Star Wars characters in?  Oh, and some Muppets as well

 

At number 06: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix by SquareEnix for the PS3.   R.I.P. Wayne Allwine, the previous voice of Mickey Mouse

At number 05: FIFA 2014 by Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and Vita.  Now this is real football

At number 04: Diablo III by ActivisionBlizzard for the PC, 360 and PS3.  Stay awhile and listen.

At number 03: NBA 2K12 by Take 2 Interative for the 360, PS3 and PC.  Now if this won't let Michael Jordan return to basketball, I dunno what will?

At number 02: Madden NFL 25 by Electronic Arts for the 360 and PS3.  Pigskin powerhouse.

And finally at number 01, at its highest yet: Grand Theft Auto V by Take 2 Interactive for the 360 and PS3.  Online problems not withstanding.

While GTA is the highest selling game of the franchise and in any September, it is not the highest opening month, right behind the Call of Duty franchises.

Speaking of which, after topping the PS3, Wii and Wii U for along time, the 360 finally gets knocked out of 1st place by the PS3.  The Wii U, despite it's sluggish sales, got a nice jump in sales due to the price, though we are hoping an additional set of games will boost it up.  Regardless, the 3DS is still the number one console to beat.

Speaking of which, what kind of sales will the Pokemon franchise do next month?  Keep your eyes peeled.

 

Works Cited:

Joystiq 

>NeoGAF 

The Good the Bad and the Ugly: Pokemon and Street Fighting

It's been more than a week since Pokemon X and Y debut on the 3DS.  Unlike previous entries in the series, Pokemon X and Y is the first title with a worldwide simultaneous release.  That means the title released across Japan, Europe and the Americas.  But how well did this new chapter in Pokemon history do?  Well according to Destructoid, it actually sold 4 million in just 2 days.



Nintendo's first worldwide Pokemon launch was a success. They report that that Pokemon X and Pokemon Y managed to sell more than 4 million units across Japan, Europe, and The Americas this past weekend, October 12 and 13.

They've never done a worldwide launch before, so this is a first, but even looking at regional launches this would have been the fastest-selling 3DS game of all time. 
And compared to the last Pokemon title launch, Black and White 2, X and Y are beating it by more than 70 percent, says Nintendo. 

The series weighs in at more than 245 million games sold worldwide. Five sets have exceeded 10 million: Diamond/Pearl, Ruby/Sapphire, Black/White, HeartGold/HeartSilver, and FireRed/LeafGreen.



Impressive of Nintendo to sell that much Pokemon.  With familiar faces like Pikachu, Meowth and Mewtwo, along with the return of the Kanto trio(Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle), Pokemon X and Y will bring along fun for the entire family.

Or so we all think.

Recently, a bug that occurs in the outer ring of Lumiose City will prevent you from reloading your game if you save and quit in that ring.  To prevent that, ether save within the inside of the city, or inside a building(Especially a Pokemon Center or the Gym at the center of the city).  And according to Destructoid again, Nintendo is aware of this.



A few days ago, we made light of a potential game-breaking glitch for Pokemon X & Y -- if you save outside in Lumiose City, your game may crash and your save file may become corrupt. While a Reddit user seems to have discovered a potential fix in mashing your home button until it works again, Nintendo has become aware of the issue, and is working on a more long term solution.

Apparently their fix will work on already corrupted files, as well as making sure it doesn't happen again. An ETA hasn't been given, but if you have a massive amount of Pokemon already attached to your save, you may as well wait before restarting entirely. In the meantime, make sure you save inside of buildings in Lumiose.



Scary isn't it?

But what's scary is outside of Pokemon.  For those of you hoping for an X-Box One or Playstation 4 take on Street Fighter IV: Ultra Hyper Epic Combo Edition, well I'm afraid I have some sad news.  Due to the lack of resources, Capcom is unable to do a Next Generation Port of Street Fighter IV, or any new fighter.  This, according to a tweet from Yoshinori Ono to the website "Gamin Realm"


More bad news regarding Capcom. When asked by a fan if the company would be bringing Ultra Street Fighter IV to next gen consoles, Yoshinori Ono responded with a very grave statement:



Earlier this year we reported (through GameIndustry) that Capcom had a very minuscule amount of cash in the bank. The company is currently in financial disarray. Then the news surfaced that Capcom of Europe is planning to cut more than half of its staff members. Combining those two older reports with Ono’s recent remark, it’s clear that Capcom is seriously, undeniably in trouble.

Not to mention that fighting games aren’t necessarily as resource-heavy as say adventure or 3D action games. The fact that the company cannot afford to make a fighting game, or even port a fighter is devastating news.

As I stated in our earlier reports, I personally cannot feel sorry for the company. What goes around comes around. This is what happens when you betray your fans and kill off beloved franchises.



A dire future for Capcom?  What will we do without having a ultra realistic E. Honda lay the smackdown on Guile?  Oh the humanity.  OH THE SADNESS!

Works Cited:
Destructoid article 1
Destructoid article 2
Gaminrealm

NPD August 2013: Sonic returns edition

Before we get down to our late NPD again, first things first.  I wanna give a big congratulations to Sonic the Hedgehog for making his return to the Smash Bros scene almost 7 days ago.



Sonic will join returning characters like Mario, Link, Pikachu, Samus, Donkey Kong and Pit, and will join newcomers like Mega Man in the new Super Smash Bros game.

And now, the dark moment before the storm.  NPD August 2013.  And once again, Madden comes in swinging.

At number 10: Pikmin 3 from Nintendo for the Wii U.  More cuddly than Justin Bieber that's for sure.

At number 09: Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn by SquareEnix for the PS3 and PC.  They finally got it right.

At number 08: Payday 2 by 505 Games for the 360 and PS3.  Who needs a boatload of cash to make a game when you got this?

At number 07: NCAA Football 14 by EA for the 360 and PS3.  Madden's younger brother.

At number 06: Mario and Luigi: Dream Team by Nintendo for the 3DS.  A part of the Luigipalooza going on this year for everybody's favorite green brother

At number 05: Minecraft, originally published by Mojang, for the 360 published by Microsoft.  Building fun, now in console form

At number 04: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC.  Rest in Peace: Tom Clancy: 1947-2013

At number 03: Disney Infinity by Disney Interative for the 360, Wii, PS3, Wii U and 3DS.  Watch out Skylanders.

At number 02: Saints Row IV by Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC.  Remember folks, believe in the GAT

And finally at number 01: Madden NFL 25 by EA for the 360 and PS3.  So, uhh, when is 2K Games gonna get the license?

Game sales have gone up 21% year over year.  That's good news for the market as gamers are buying in drove across the 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS and even the Wii U is starting to get into gamers. 

However, the hardware side of things have taken a turn for the worse.  The 360, the highest ranked console platform, is below 100K this month.  The 3DS has done more than the 360 has, while the Vita is still dead last.

Rumor has it that the new Zelda bundle may have done something to help with the Wii U.  Is it true?  And is the console industry being held back by the upcoming hardware?  Or is it something more sinister?  Stay tuned

Works Cited:
NeoGAF