Neowin.net / Gamers

First L4D2 DLC announced, features original survivors

Joshua Seed — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:14:20 +0000

Stating in a press release, Valve has announced that its zombie-infused cooperative first-person shooter, Left 4 Dead 2, will be receiving its first downloadable content in early 2010. Dubbed "The Passing," the game's first add-on will see the sequel's survivors meeting up with the original game's cast including Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoe. "Targeted for release in early spring, 'The Passing' takes place just after the Dead Center campaign of L4D2. Set in a small town in rural Georgia, players assume the role of the L4D2 Survivors as they meet with the L4D1 characters." The content will also include new arenas for Survival, Versus and Scavenge, and introduce a new co-op challenge mode.

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Microsoft: Halo Reach "biggest game of 2010"

Michael Brown — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:19:16 +0000

With less than 24 hours to go before the world premiere of Halo Reach, Aaron Greenberg has gone on the record declaring already that Halo Reach "will be the biggest game of 2010". Considering the anticipation for some of next year's upcoming titles, with games like Final Fantasy XIII and Gran Turismo 5 finally making their debut, the statement's not one to be taken lightly. Despite the fierce competition though, Greenberg remains confident. "Is [Gran Turismo 5] launching next year? I've seen years and years of minigames, but I haven't seen that the game is done." Considering what little we know about Halo Reach right now, it's hard to agree with what he's saying.

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NPD Group: Nintendo tops November hardware with DS and Wii

Joshua Seed — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:49:30 +0000

The NPD Group, the top game-industry research firm, has released its list of the top selling video game hardware for the month of November. Hardware sales totaled $1.05 billion for the month despite being down year-over-year by around 13 percent. The month's most popular console was the Nintendo DS selling over 1.7 million units and overtaking both the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Sony's PlayStation 3 claimed the 4th spot on the list, selling over 710 thousand units. "All hardware systems realized an increase over October but one would expect that from seasonality alone ," said NPD's Anita Frazier.

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John Riccitiello sees piracy as a "marketplace"

Joshua Seed — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:17:11 +0000

Speaking in an interview with Kotaku, John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Electronic Arts said that he sees game pirates as a way to sell more games to people, reasoning that pirates can "steal the disc, but they can't steal the DLC". "The consumer seems to really like this idea that there is extra stuff," said Riccitiello. "The consumer wants more, and when you give them more or sell them more it seems to be extremely well received. There's a sizable pirate market and a sizable second sale market and we want to try to generate revenue in that marketplace. "I don't think anybody should pirate anything.

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Pachter: GTA IV's "massive" size may put punters off DLC

Joshua Seed — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:09:26 +0000

As reported by GrE, Michael Pachter, Gaming Research Analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities said that Grand Theft Auto IV may be too large of a game to handle downloadable content as the majority of the game's owners never finish the main storyline. "Ben's right that the DLC disappointed, but I suspect that the reason is that GTA games are so massive that a substantial majority of the GTA audience hasn't finished the core game, so they don't feel especially compelled to buy the DLC," Pachter said. "GTA IV was at least a 50 hour game (for me, probably more like 100 hours), in contrast to the typical Call of Duty, which is a 6-10 hour game.

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Aliens vs. Predator "banned" in Australia

Joshua Seed — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:19:43 +0000

As reported by Gamespot, Aliens vs. Predator, Sega's upcoming first-person shooter has been refused classification by the Australian government on the grounds that the game exceeds the maximum rating of MA15+. When a title has been refused classification, it cannot be made commercially available in the country, in an essence banning the game. The publisher has issued the following statement in response to government's decision: "SegaAustralia can today confirm that the initial submission of Aliens vs Predator has been refused classification by the Classification Operations Board of Australia.

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Nintendo: Wii becomes fastest-selling UK console ever

Joshua Seed — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:33:16 +0000

Nintendo has announced that its Wii video game console has sold over 6 million units in the UK in less than three years to become the fastest-selling UK console ever. "Figures released today courtesy of the UK's leading independent music, video and software performance and sales tracking company, Chart Track-GfK, show Nintendo's home console, Wii, has now sold more than six million units in the UK alone since launch." The Nintendo Wii was released in the UK on December 8, 2006 and went on to claim the record in the week ending November 28, 2009.

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Confirmed: New Medal of Honor is modern-day shooter

Joshua Seed — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:03:07 +0000

Electronic Arts has confirmed that next installment in its Medal of Honor series is a modern-day shooter set in Afghanistan, confirming earlier speculation. The game will be released next year for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. The game centers on the Tier 1 Operator, "a relatively unknown entity directly under the National Command Authority who takes on missions no one else can handle." "Medal of Honor returns to the front lines, this time in today's war. For the first time in the franchise's 10-year history, Medal of Honor is leaving the WWII theatre and putting players in war-torn Afghanistan. Electronic Arts Inc.

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Left 4 Dead 2: two million copies sold in two weeks

Joshua Seed — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:18:40 +0000

Speaking in a press release, Valve has announced that their cooperative first-person shooter, Left 4 Dead 2, has sold over 2 million copies in just two weeks at retail. Sales-to-date are more than double those of the first game; the company claims the numbers will put the Xbox 360 and PC title up as "one of" the biggest games on the formats for November. "Released just two weeks ago, over 2 million retails copies of L4D2 have been sold worldwide and the game appears to be on target to become one of the top selling Xbox and PC titles for the month of November.

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PlayStation 3 sells 440,000 in US over Thanksgiving week

Joshua Seed — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:11:22 +0000

SCEA Senior Manager for Public Relations Patrick Seybold, has confirmed the sales of over 440,000 PlayStation 3s in the United States for the week ending November 29. "The 2009 holiday season got off to an amazing start for PlayStation, with all key retailers showing a significant increase for PS3, PSP and key holiday titles over Black Friday and the holiday weekend," said the exec in an emailed statement. "PlayStation 3 demand was at an all time high with the system selling more than 440,000 units for the week ending 11/29/09." Seybold went on to claim that entertainment in the United States this year is to be "defined" by PlayStation products.

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