Category: Industry News

Halo 3 Still Truckin’ on XBL

halo3xblSeriously? I mean, I get it, the Halo franchise is big and all. I understand that people like it, love it even. I fathom the power with which the game can hold you, transfixed upon its HUD. But what I don’t follow is how, with all these great games out, Halo 3 still tops the charts for XBox Live. Here is the list for the past week:

1. Halo 3
2. CoD: World at War
3. Call of Duty 4
4. Gears of War 2
5. GTA IV
6. Left 4 Dead
7. Madden NFL 09
8. Fallout 3
9. FIFA 09
10. Fable II

If you own numbers 2-4, and are generally playing Halo 3 more than those, you may have a mental deficiency. Just saying, is all. What games have you guys been playing online the most these days?

Source- Major Nelson

Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge Sales Lackluster

eachart

Looks like Gamecop was right: publishers need to start spreading the Triple A titles throughout the year instead of bombarding gamers with a barrage of bad ass games during the holiday season.

But it appears they need to do so for their own sake and not for us poor, cash-strapped gamers. According to NPD, courtesy of Gamasutra, sales for Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge are very weak, compared with those of Gears of War 2, Fallout 3 and others. These are strong games, with very positive reviews and it appears they simply got lost in the shuffle of the hectic holidays.

What say you? Did anyone buy these games? Why or why not? And don’t you think it would behoove publishers to sprinkle these games out all year long instead of hoping they can get past the big boys of winter?

Source: Gamasutra

Square Enix Hearts Them Some XBox 360

Uh, get out your fanboy flame bats once again. We all know that the console wars get a little heated at times, and quotes like this just add fuel to the fire. Apparently, the director of Last Remnant had some pretty interesting things to say about Microsoft’s console:

In fact, as we’ve only just finished work on Last Remnant I don’t even know what my next project is going to be at Square Enix. However, I’m very much hoping it’ll be for Xbox 360 as it’s been a lot easier to work with than PlayStation 3.

O noz! This isn’t the first time a developer has talked about this. In fact, Valve’s Gabe Newell said something about it some years ago. However, one always has to take these things with a grain of salt, especially considering Last Remnant supposedly sucked donkey balls.

Flame on!

Source- CVG

LBP Sales are Not so Hot

Little Big Planet, we hardly knew ye. I always wondered if it was such a good idea for Sony to hitch its wagon onto Little Big Planet for the second half of this year. I mean, it was such a unique, different kind of game that it didn’t seem to me that all that many people would really be into it. They kept touting the thing as a console pusher, but I never saw it that way.

I guess other people agreed. Unfortunately, November NPD reports show that LBP has only sold around 400,000 copies since it came out in October. Compare that to Gears of War 2’s 3 million copies sold, and you’ll start to see what the big deal is. Considering that this game was THE game for PS3 for the holidays, those numbers are pretty dismal.

So what do you guys think? Just another sign of Sony dropping the ball this gen, or are they going to bounce back and be ok?

Source- Kotaku

Wired’s 10 Most Disappointing Games Are Befuddling

Confused, befuddled, curious… any of these would describe my feelings after reading through a recent top 10 list. And know, it’s not another one of those infuriating top 10 best games of the year lists. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Wired recently listed its 10 Most Disappointing Games of 2008 and I have to say, some of them are head scratchers. Take a look:

10. Age of Conan
9. Tom Clancy’s EndWar
8. Too Human
7. Stalker: Clear Sky
6. Mirror’s Edge
5. Dead Space
4. Prince of Persia
3. Mario Kart Wii
2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
1. Spore

While I agree with the top few, having numbers 4-6 on the list at all are kind of puzzling, to say the least. What do you guys think?

Source- Wired

Spike Video Game Awards!

Just putting up a friendly reminder that the Spike Video Game Awards are going to be tonight on none other than Spike TV. Frankly, I’m a little skeptical but actually looking forward to giving this year’s a watch. It’s being put on by Geoff Keighley and GameTrailers from what I understand, and their GameTrailers TV show I find to be very professional and absent of a lot of the things that makes gaming look so lame on TV (X Play, anyone?).

It’ll be on tonight at 8pm Central time, so I’ve got it set to record. There should be a number of exclusive previews like the trailer for Uncharted 2, Grand Theft Auto DLC, and lots more.

Hopefully we can come up with some good talking points for you guys based on what happens at the show. Is anyone planning on watching?

Nintendo Bitch Slaps the Competition in November Sales

Ouch. I mean, so far this generation we know that Nintendo is first, Microsoft is second and Sony is third. That just seems to be the way of things, even though I think that order should be completely swapped up, with the Wii at a dead last place because of its atrocious games.

So while it’s not shocking that Nintendo came in first yet again in November, the truly shocking thing is the margin of consoles. Nintendo sold 2 million Wiis last month. That’s right. 2 freaking mil. I can’t even fathom how these things are still flying off the shelves that quickly.

Official numbers after the jump!
Continue reading Nintendo Bitch Slaps the Competition in November Sales

Fanboy Battle: Most Overrated Games in 2008

Get the boxing gloves out, dudes. We’ve said time and time again that we love lists. We flock to them like they are the life-bread from heaven, glorious nectar from the gods. I’m not sure what invisible quality it is that makes them so addictive, but gamers love them and so does GamerSushi.

Anywho, Fidgit just posted its list of the 10 Most Overrated Games of 2008, and I bet there will be a few surprises on there (eliciting an “oh snap” or two) as well as a few that you would expect. Get ready to rant a little bit…

List after the jump!

Continue reading Fanboy Battle: Most Overrated Games in 2008

Playstation Home Launches Tomorrow

So Playstation Home launches on December 11th, 2008 and… wait. That’s tomorrow. Home is only a day away. That’s right, in just about 24 hours, you can be browsing your own version of Second Life for the Playstation 3, complete with avatars, emoticons, and all the advertising your heart is wet for.

While Sony claims that this is totally groundbreaking and unique, I just don’t know if I can see this thing through rose tinted glasses the way they can. I’m not sure if users will really spend a whole lot of time in it when they could be, you know, playing games.

What about you guys? Any of you excited for Playstation Home?

Source- VG247

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is Coming!

Color me shocked! Well, not really. But it’s still awesome to hear Activision announce Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be released in Fall 2009, just in time for yet another mad holiday rush. While I hear that Call of Duty: World at War is a great game in its own rite, CoD 4 was just an all around incredible experience that gamers have been dying to relive all over again.

While there aren’t many details announced for the game just yet, it sounds like it might be a direct sequel to what we already saw in CoD 4. You won’t see me complaining about that as I really enjoyed both the characters and the story, which just built and built until it exploded.

So- who’s excited about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2?

Source- Big Download

Valve Reveals Sales, Most Impressive

Curious about how many copies of CS:S that Valve has sold? I’ll bet you go to sleep thinking about it. Well, today’s your lucky day, since Valve has just released a list of their lifetime retail sales worldwide for popular titles like Half-Life, Counter Strike, The Orange Box, etc.

While this doesn’t show exactly how much money and mad cash they’ve made from all of these awesome games that they keep providing, it does display that they sell quite a large number of them. About 32.8 million games, actually. That number is rather impressive. You know that’s more impressive, though? That number doesn’t include games bought on Steam. It also doesn’t include Left 4 Dead. So, uh. Add a lot more to it.

Check out a list of totally interesting numbers after the jump.

Continue reading Valve Reveals Sales, Most Impressive

God of War III Trailer Coming Soon

Well, I guess Spike TV managed to nab a bunch of rad exclusives for the Video Game Awards this year. First, they’ve teased a world premiere of Uncharted 2, and now there are even rumblings about God of War III for the PS3 debuting as well. The Awards will be shown on December 14th.

Apparently, David Jaffe, the creator of God of War III, has been talking up the graphics, saying that Gears of War 2 would be put to shame, etc. That’s mighty big talk from a mighty big mouth, so let’s see what the game actually looks like.

Anybody else excited about this announcement?

Source- VG247

Eidos Wants Negative Tomb Raider Reviews Delayed

In today’s gaming culture and in the age of Metacritic, this isn’t all that surprising, but it seems that Eidos is asking that anyone who gives the new Tomb Raider a score under an 8 has to delay their reviews. Basically, they’re trying to boost the game’s Metacritic score in order to persuade buyers.

While I understand it in the business sense, it’s kind of shady seeing as how Eidos was part of the whole Gerstmann-gate/Gamespot scandal all those many months ago. It’s not entirely too shocking that video game companies have this kind of hold over the reviewers that they advertise with, but it really is just another sign that gaming editorials these days are jacked.

It especially makes me miss Dan Hsu, former editor-in-chief at EGM, who always took the ballsiest stance possible against these kinds of shenanigans. What do you guys think of Eidos’ policy on game reviews- fair or foul?

Source- Shacknews

GTA IV DLC: THE LOST AND THE DAMNED ON FEB. 17

USA Today scooped us all and has an article detailing GTA IV’s DLC, due out on Feb. 17th, 2009. It’s called “The Lost and the Damned” and will star Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost.

Dan Houser of Rockstar is quoted saying:

Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background. I can’t go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City

No pricing details have been released yet.

So I don’t have a 360, but I am sure this will make its way to PS3…anyone set for another visit to Liberty City?

Source: USA Today

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix…whew…Next Week!

PS3Fanboy is confirming what many have suspected: the Cloverfield monster-sized titled Super Street Fighter II HD Remix…sorry, exhausted from typing…will be released on the PSN on Tuesday the 25th of November with the Xbox Live versions coming the next day.

  Continue reading Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix…whew…Next Week!

Valve Proves its BadAss-ness with Complete Pack

If you needed any further convincing, Valve has just confirmed that they are, in fact, complete and utter badasses. How did they do this? Well, first of all, by making some truly classic games, with a great track record. Second, for being the only gaming company that understands how its gamers want to use the Internet to buy things.

And lastly, the new Valve Complete Pack, which includes essentially every Valve game ever made, including Left 4 Dead and the Orange box, HL2, HL, CS, CSS, and all kinds of other things. How much does this cost you? $99. Seriously. It’s almost $140 in savings.

This is perfect for me because I actually don’t own the Orange Box and I was thinking about getting Left 4 Dead on the PC anyway. Anybody else going to hit Valve up on this?

Source- Steam

Consoles Going Extinct?

While I’ve sometimes engaged in the discussion that this console generation just isn’t quite cutting the mustard in terms of offering a true next generation experience, I often find myself alone in that opinion. This becomes especially apparenty after browsing through other gaming blogs, where nobody seems to be raising or caring about this issue, or demanding more from the current generation.

That’s why it was really refreshing to read a new editorial over at ClickZ, where Kevin Carney wonders if consoles are becoming extinct because of “casual gaming” as well as the Internet. He argues that this generation lacks any true sense of innovation that others generations have had, and is retreading the same material.

Continue reading Consoles Going Extinct?

Sega to Sell Retro and Happiness

In news that is totally awesome, it seems that Sega is going to be packaging Sega games, Master games and 80’s arcade games in a hugely ridiculous bundle for sale on the XBox 360 and Playstation 3 in early 2009.

I know, this might sound like one of those “big effing deal” kind of things, but wait until you hear just how many games are going to be included. Forty. That’s right, the big four zero. It will include the three big Sonic games as well as Streets of Rage, Ecco the Dolphin, and more.

The Sega Genesis was one of my favorite systems ever, so it’s really great to hear this news. Basically, they will be selling me my childhood on a disc, and I will give them money hand over fist to remember those blissful halcyon days. Anyone else excited about this?

Source- Shacknews

EDIT: In a very “dude” worthy move, Sega has posted the official list of games for the Ultimate Collection. It has games like Comix Zone, Shinobi III, Vectorman (I and II), Shining Force II, Phantasy Star, Sonic, and way more. Check it out.

The Gaming Fortune Teller

Welcome to a new GamerSushi feature wherein Anthony and I interview The Gaming Fortune Teller, the world’s most famous gaming prophet. He is blessed with the uncanny ability to predict gaming events before they happen. He even called the fall of the Virtual Boy, and we all know that came out of left field.

So without further ado, I present to you our recent sit-down with the Fortune Teller, who only appears once in a lunar cycle, coincidentally. Something about vaccinations. We asked him some of our more pressing questions concerning our favorite pasttime, video games.

Continue reading The Gaming Fortune Teller

The Big Nintendo Release List

So Nintendo has taken the time to put together a big mega list of every Nintendo game being released in 2009. This list includes both Wii and DS titles from first, second, third and every party in between. There are a surprising amount of games on there, so it’s definitely worth a look.

Now, how many of these games will be good and how many am I looking forward to? Umm… that part is a little harder to quantify. In a season where we’ve seen so many great releases and Nintendo has offered nothing, it’s hard to get excited about an Animal Crossing title in 2009 or a Dead Rising port.

But then again, I’m cynical. I do want Sin and Punishment and Super Punch Out, though.

What about you guys? Anything on the list you’d like to get your hands on for next year?

Source- Kotaku