SimBin revs up development on new installment in simulation racing series, rubber to hit the road on unspecified platforms in 2011.
Last year, gear-headed racing studio SimBin released its first console game, the Atari-published Race Pro for the Xbox 360. While the effort received a positive critical reception, it didn’t fare quite as well as the company’s previous racing sims on the PC.
That move to consoles may be short-lived, as today the developer promised it will “take gamers back to the roots of SimBin style racing games” with its new GTR game. However, the publisher didn’t actually specify a platform for the project.
The new GTR game will include new online features and a “very comprehensive” array of downloadable content when it launches in 2011. The developer says the game will place an even greater emphasis on realism, specifically when it comes to graphics and player immersion.
Currently there’s no announced publisher for the game. For more on SimBin’s latest effort, check out the GameSpot review of Race Pro.
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HamsterBall (PS3)
A videogame about what you always wanted to do with your sister’s hamster.
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Ubisoft’s critically panned rhythm game is a commercial hit, going double-platinum in four months.
When Just Dance launched on November 17, 2009, it stood the risk of being crushed by higher-profile releases. However, Ubisoft’s rhythm game found a casual-game niche between high-profile hits like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, both released during the same month.
Despite being critically panned, the Ubisoft Paris-developed title went from being the 20th best-selling game in the US during December to cracking NPD’s top 10 in January and February.
Now, Ubisoft is letting the world know just how successful Just Dance has been. The French publisher announced today that the Wii-exclusive game has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. The company touted the fact that the game is “on track to maintain its sales momentum for the month of March 2010,” meaning it will likely grace the next NPD report, expected April 15. It was also the top-selling game for several weeks in the UK.
The premise of Just Dance is simple: Players pick a song to dance to, hold the Wii Remote in their right hand, and copy the moves of a virtual dancer onscreen. The player’s dancing styles and dress change with each song, with the game offering tunes in a variety of genres. Highlights include hits such as MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This,” Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird,” Blur’s “Girls and Boys,” and Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold.” It retails for $40 and is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and over.
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Artech Studios readying arcade action take on WWII submarine warfare for June 15 release exclusively on Microsoft’s console.
The intersection of arcade-style action and submarines is one rarely visited by developers. Underserved fans of the genre can clear off some shelf space next to In the Hunt, Critical Depth, and AquaNox, as 505 Games today announced its own historically themed entry into the market.
On June 15, the publisher plans to launch Naval Assault: The Killing Tide exclusively for the Xbox 360. Set during World War II, Naval Assault casts players as an Allied submarine commander hunting his Axis counterparts throughout the North Atlantic. The game will feature 30 missions and multiplayer modes for up to four gamers.
Naval Assault is being developed by Ottawa, Ontario-based Artech Studios, a developer with a long and varied history. In its 28-year history, Artech has produced more than 100 games, from licensed titles like Nerf: N-Strike Elite on the Wii to interactive DVD board games to the black-humored original Xbox shooter Raze’s Hell. Naval Assault isn’t even the company’s first time under the sea, as it developed the early ’90s PC submarine sim Das Boot.
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Publisher splits business into four units specifically focused on Call of Duty, Blizzard, owned IP, and licensed properties.
Activision has been tinkering with its organizational structure in recent months, dedicating a business unit to Call of Duty and shuffling the executive deck. However, changes at the company have gone beyond the level of tinkering, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The paper reported on its Web site today that Activision has quietly undergone a complete restructuring, partitioning off its business into four separate units. The Call of Duty and Blizzard Entertainment divisions will remain unchanged, but the rest of the company’s business has been segmented into one unit for owned properties like Guitar Hero, and one for licensed games like the Marvel Comics and Transformers titles. Previously, the Guitar Hero franchise was a business unit unto itself. According to the Times, the publisher considers the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater line an owned property, and has placed it in that division.
The publisher’s executive reshuffling has also been more extensive than previously revealed. Former Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith is now the company’s vice chairman and advisor to CEO Bobby Kotick. Tippl is filling Griffith’s old role on an interim basis, the report says, and now oversees Blizzard president Mike Morhaime. As for the newly established business units, the licensed games group will be headed up by Activision Value veteran Dave Oxford, with executive vice president of owned properties Maria Stipp taking over the owned properties line.
According to the Times, Kotick explained the moves to employees in an internal memo, saying, “This is an important change as it will allow me, with Thomas, to become more deeply involved in areas of the business where I believe we can capture great potential and opportunity.”
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Publisher splits business into four units specifically focused on Call of Duty, Blizzard, owned IP, and licensed properties.
Activision has been tinkering with its organizational structure in recent months, dedicating a business unit to Call of Duty and shuffling the executive deck. However, changes at the company have gone beyond the level of tinkering, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The paper reported on its Web site today that Activision has quietly undergone a complete restructuring, partitioning off its business into four separate units. The Call of Duty and Blizzard Entertainment divisions will remain unchanged, but the rest of the company’s business has been segmented into one unit for owned properties like Guitar Hero, and one for licensed games like the Marvel Comics and Transformers titles. Previously, the Guitar Hero franchise was a business unit unto itself. According to the Times, the publisher considers the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater line an owned property, and has placed it in that division.
The publisher’s executive reshuffling has also been more extensive than previously revealed. Former Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith is now the company’s vice chairman and advisor to CEO Bobby Kotick. Tippl is filling Griffith’s old role on an interim basis, the report says, and now oversees Blizzard president Mike Morhaime. As for the newly established business units, the licensed games group will be headed up by Activision Value veteran Dave Oxford, with executive vice president of owned properties Maria Stipp taking over the owned properties line.
According to the Times, Kotick explained the moves to employees in an internal memo, saying, “This is an important change as it will allow me, with Thomas, to become more deeply involved in areas of the business where I believe we can capture great potential and opportunity.”
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Citing NPD figures, megaretailer gives estimate of domestic installed base; 112 million current-generation devices owned; DS & Wii top platforms.
As part of its annual earnings report today, game megaretailer
GameStop revealed that nearly a quarter of its non-used business for the year came from Nintendo. It also revealed its estimates of the installed base of handhelds and consoles in the United States–a number which is over two thirds of the country’s 307 million-person population (as of July 2009).
Citing “reports published by NPD Group,” the industry-tracking firm which is the standard for US game sales, GameStop “believes that” over 220 million gaming handhelds and consoles have been purchased in the US as of December 2009. Of those, some 112 million are of the current generation of handheld and console hardware, which began in 2004 with the launch of the DS and 2005 with the Xbox 360’s debut.
As the country is reminded every month when NPD releases its US sales figures, the DS remains the most popular platform to this day, having sold 38.6 million units domestically by GameStop’s estimate. Coming in second is the handheld’s console sibling, the Wii (released in 2006), with 27.1 million units. In third is the Xbox 360 with 18.6 million units, just ahead of the PSP (released in 2005) with 16.8 million units. Bringing up the rear is the PlayStation 3 with 11.1 million units sold since it launched in 2006, within days of the Wii’s debut.
US CONSOLE & HANDHELD INSTALLED BASES (GameStop estimate)
Total consoles & handhelds: 220 million units
Current-generation consoles & handhelds: 112 million units
DS: 38.6 million units
Wii: 27.1 million units
Xbox 360: 18.6 million units
PSP: 16.8 million units
PlayStation 3: 11.1 million units
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Publisher splits business into four units specifically focused on Call of Duty, Blizzard, owned IP, and licensed properties.
Activision has been tinkering with its organizational structure in recent months, dedicating a business unit to Call of Duty and shuffling the executive deck. However, changes at the company have gone beyond the level of tinkering, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The paper reported on its Web site today that Activision has quietly undergone a complete restructuring, partitioning off its business into four separate units. The Call of Duty and Blizzard Entertainment divisions will remain unchanged, but the rest of the company’s business has been segmented into one unit for owned properties like Guitar Hero, and one for licensed games like the Marvel Comics and Transformers titles. Previously, the Guitar Hero franchise was a business unit unto itself. According to the Times, the publisher considers the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater line an owned property, and has placed it in that division.
The publisher’s executive reshuffling has also been more extensive than previously revealed. Former Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith is now the company’s vice chairman and advisor to CEO Bobby Kotick. Tippl is filling Griffith’s old role on an interim basis, the report says, and now oversees Blizzard president Mike Morhaime. As for the newly established business units, the licensed games group will be headed up by Activision Value veteran Dave Oxford, with executive vice president of owned properties Maria Stipp taking over the owned properties line.
According to the Times, Kotick explained the moves to employees in an internal memo, saying, “This is an important change as it will allow me, with Thomas, to become more deeply involved in areas of the business where I believe we can capture great potential and opportunity.”
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Citing NPD figures, megaretailer gives estimate of domestic installed base; 112 million current-generation devices owned; DS & Wii top platforms.
As part of its annual earnings report today, game megaretailer
GameStop revealed that nearly a quarter of its non-used business for the year came from Nintendo. It also revealed its estimates of the installed base of handhelds and consoles in the United States–a number which is over two thirds of the country’s 307 million-person population (as of July 2009).
Citing “reports published by NPD Group,” the industry-tracking firm which is the standard for US game sales, GameStop “believes that” over 220 million gaming handhelds and consoles have been purchased in the US as of December 2009. Of those, some 112 million are of the current generation of handheld and console hardware, which began in 2004 with the launch of the DS and 2005 with the Xbox 360’s debut.
As the country is reminded every month when NPD releases its US sales figures, the DS remains the most popular platform to this day, having sold 38.6 million units domestically by GameStop’s estimate. Coming in second is the handheld’s console sibling, the Wii (released in 2006), with 27.1 million units. In third is the Xbox 360 with 18.6 million units, just ahead of the PSP (released in 2005) with 16.8 million units. Bringing up the rear is the PlayStation 3 with 11.1 million units sold since it launched in 2006, within days of the Wii’s debut.
US CONSOLE & HANDHELD INSTALLED BASES (GameStop estimate)
Total consoles & handhelds: 220 million units
Current-generation consoles & handhelds: 112 million units
DS: 38.6 million units
Wii: 27.1 million units
Xbox 360: 18.6 million units
PSP: 16.8 million units
PlayStation 3: 11.1 million units
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Citing NPD figures, megaretailer gives estimate of domestic installed base; 112 million current-generation devices owned; DS & Wii top platforms.
As part of its annual earnings report today, game megaretailer
GameStop revealed that nearly a quarter of its non-used business for the year came from Nintendo. It also revealed its estimates of the installed base of handhelds and consoles in the United States–a number which is over two thirds of the country’s 307 million-person population (as of July 2009).
Citing “reports published by NPD Group,” the industry-tracking firm which is the standard for US game sales, GameStop “believes that” over 220 million gaming handhelds and consoles have been purchased in the US as of December 2009. Of those, some 112 million are of the current generation of handheld and console hardware, which began in 2004 with the launch of the DS and 2005 with the Xbox 360’s debut.
As the country is reminded every month when NPD releases its US sales figures, the DS remains the most popular platform to this day, having sold 38.6 million units domestically by GameStop’s estimate. Coming in second is the handheld’s console sibling, the Wii (released in 2006), with 27.1 million units. In third is the Xbox 360 with 18.6 million units, just ahead of the PSP (released in 2005) with 16.8 million units. Bringing up the rear is the PlayStation 3 with 11.1 million units sold since it launched in 2006, within days of the Wii’s debut.
US CONSOLE & HANDHELD INSTALLED BASES (GameStop estimate)
Total consoles & handhelds: 220 million units
Current-generation consoles & handhelds: 112 million units
DS: 38.6 million units
Wii: 27.1 million units
Xbox 360: 18.6 million units
PSP: 16.8 million units
PlayStation 3: 11.1 million units
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