Japanese Nintendo 3DS Sales Boost 40%
When wind first broke of the Nintendo 3DS consumers far and wide were filled with intrigue. Not only does the portable device feature a 3D display but you don’t even need glasses to view said display thanks to autostereocopic 3D display technology. Now, smartphones such as the HTC EVO 3D come complete with a similar display but at the time the Nintendo 3DS was announced this kind of thing set for the mass market was unprecedented.
Due to such advanced technology stuffed within the Nintendo 3DS originally launched with a price tag of $249.99 which, coupled with a barren launch library, made the device a bit slow out of the gates. Luckily, with new titles getting released all the time and new ones over the horizon (Pokemon 3D, anyone?) along with Nintendo’s slashing of the price tag down to $169.99 things have finally started to pick up.
In fact, in Nintendo’s home land of Japan, the Nintendo 3DS has seen a none-too-shabby sales increase of 40% in the last week going from 64,017 units the week before to 94,011. This news comes after the launch of Kid Icarus: Uprising (which, for those who don’t know, is the first Kid Icarus appearance besides Super Smash Bros. since the original Gameboy) which means it’s definitely possible for hot new titles to push consoles in bulk.
All in all this goes to show you that no matter the industry, gaming or not, it’s very unfair to judge a product right out of the gates as the Nintendo 3DS has been called a failure time and time again. The PS3 is another prime example which hit the markets with a massive $500+ price tag and was met with a slew of criticism only to later go on and flourish. The PSP, however? Well, we’ll save that for another story.
[MCV]
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Angry Birds Space Now Available
While games like Draw Something and Temple Run may be among the most popular games made for mobile platforms, Angry Birds is really the first game that showed us what success on a mobile platform really is. Originally only available for mobile platforms like iOS and the like, Angry Birds has now made its way onto a plethora of platforms including the PC. If you’re one who finds the game quite addicting you’re in luck.
It’s just been made known today that Angry Birds Space is now availalbe to download for iOS, Android, Mac and PC. Quite obviously this game is set in space where players will be met with the normal Angry Birds gameplay we’ve all come to know and low with the addition of “space physics” and even power-ups.
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Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances Enters Open Beta – Available to All For Free
With online piracy running rampant software developers across the board have been scrambling to look for a new business model that will combat the ongoing problem. As we’ve learned, no matter how cheap a game is, if it’s put up for sale chances are it’s going to get pirated and made available for download free of charge not long after.
Luckily, it seems that game developers are beginning to catch on with the idea of “freemium” titles. If you’re not familiar with this term it focuses on video games that are made available for play free of charge. But, in order to further your character either at a faster rate or past a certain point you then have to purchase various in-game items be it weapons, energy or what have you.
If you’re look for a new free to play title perhaps you want to check out EA’s Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances. The company announced today that the game has entered into an open beta meaning anyone who’s willing to provide some feedback can get their hands on the game now. No download is required as the game is entirely browser based which you can check out here.
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Soul Calibur Hitting iPhone, iPad & iPod touch Next Week
As the hardware finesse of the iPhone and its iOS touting brethren increases so do the number of high quality games available for the platform. For example, come next week, Soul Calibur will be makings its debut on iOS. Apparently this particular version is a port of the Dreamcast game with the developers managing to retain all 19 original characters.
Furthermore, modes that will made an appearance in the game are as follows:
- Arcade Battle
- Time Attack
- Survival
- Extra Survival
- Practice
- Museum
We’ve yet to be notified as to how much the price tag will be but once we figure it out we’ll let you know.
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PS Vita Sales Surpass 500,000 Units
There has been a lot of talk circulating regarding the PlayStation Vita. This device features very high end specs including a quad-core processor, front/rear touch panels and dual analog sticks. However, with the emergence of high tech smartphones complete with thousands of low priced games many have wondered if the PS Vita has any chance. Things didn’t look very good qwhen a ton of different reports sufrfaced saying that the PS Vita was posting less than stellar sales.
However, in the grand scheme of the things, the PS Vita isn’t doing too bad. Sony has just come forth during CES to let us know that their brand new portable gaming console has managed to sell 500,000 units. Seeing how the console is still very new and hasn’t yet shipped in North America things are sure to get better from here.
Do you plan on getting a PS Vita? Why or why not.
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Minecraft Pocket Edition Getting Update in February
Mojang’s Minecraft has grown to be one of the most popular indie titles of all time. Not only has the game sold a massive amount of copies with little to no promotion but it’s also made its way onto additional platforms. For example, Minecraft eventually made the jump to Android as Minecraft Pocket Edition.
While the game does allow you to build things to your hearts extent it’s not as full featured as the PC game. Luckily, it’s just been announced that the game will be seeing an update come February that will surely set off a string of massive updates. This new update will bring with it animals and new blocks but the developers assure us that in the future we will be seeing monsters, crafting and much more.
No official date has been set for the update but we’ll keep you posted as it is made known.
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Mario Creator Shigeru Miyamoto Working on New Original Title
When it comes to hard hitting exclusives it’s hard to compare to Nintendo. Coming out of Nintendo’s labs are franchises that went on to become household names such as Mario, Kirby, Zelda, Donkey Kong and much more. However, while the company has continued to expand on these franchises it seems that Shigeru Miyamoto, the mastermind behind franchises like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, wants to stray from the well worn path just a bit.
According to Miyamoto, he’s currently at work at creating a brand new original title. If we were to make an educated guess we would say that Miyamoto is looking to introduce a brand new franchise to live on Nintendo’s consoles alongside the already successful above mentioned franchises.
What exactly will this new franchise be, you ask? At this point that’s anyone’s guess but as always we’ll keep you posted.
[CVG]
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PS Vita Posting Lackluster Sales in Third Week
Sony is no stranger to the portable video game console market as they’ve long had the PSP available for purchase. However, when compared to the massive success of Nintendo Sony’s portable console division hasn’t really been a major competitior. Add that to the fact that mobile phones are quickly becoming gaming platforms of choice and you can see why a ton of stress has been put on Sony.
A ray of hope way thrown into the mix with the announcement of the PS Vita. This quad-core processor touting beast fixes a lot of the gripes consumers had with the original PSP adding in a touch screen, dual analog sticks, a rear touch panel, cameras, 3G connectivity and graphics that are said to be comparable to the PS3.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that these top notch specs are translating into sales. As of now, the PS Vita has been on the market for a full 3 weeks and it seems that nothing exciting has happened thus far. In fact, in its 3rd week Sony’s PS Vita managed to sell just 42,648 units. To put that into comparison, the PS3 sold 67,199 units and the PSP 62,746.
To be fair the PS Vita has yet to launch in major markets including Europe and North America but it remains to be see if consumers in such locales will take to the console better than the Asian market. Considering said market, which has been known to be very fond of such markets, haven’t taken much of a liking to the console things look grim but we’ll retain judgement until global sales numbers are posted.
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Infinity Blade Grosses $30 Million in 1 Year
Do you need more proof that mobile gaming is the way of the future? Already there have been a ton of success stories but today we have yet another to add to the list. Infinity Blade, from Epic Games, was touted as the game that would really showcase the power of iOS device such as the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Well, it did just that and more as not only did it show us that these devices are capable of displaying graphics on par with home consoles but it’s also managed to make its developers boat loads of cash.
Today, reports have surfaced that say the entire Infinity Blade franchise has managed to gross a noteworthy $30 million in a single year. Compared to games like Modern Warfare 3 and the rest of the Call of Duty franchise this may not seem like much but when taking into consideration that Infinity Blade is exclusively for mobile devices you can see why this is a big deal.
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Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots Hitting Android Tomorrow
Smartphone games have grown very popular since Apple originally released the iPhone in 2007 and later the App Store in 2008. However, while iOS has become known to feature an App Store that’s filled to the brim with quality software, Android is quickly catching up. In fact, many games such as Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds have made their way to the Android Market giving gamers running Google’s open source mobile platform some time wasting goodness.
If you’re a fan of Fruit Ninja and are looking for ways to further your fruit slicing skills listen up. It was just made known today that Frujit Ninja: Puss in Boots will be making hitting Android tomorrow.
Quite obviously Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots will serve as a tie in for the movie providing us with the same gameplay we’ve come to know and love but also some Puss in Boots inspired elements thrown in. Best of all? Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots will be offered for free the first day it drops with the price tag later boosting to $0.99 so grab it while you can.
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