The Sony press conference for E3 2009 is set to prepare gamers for the return of a juggernaut. Sony’s had a tough year for its PS3 console, but things are looking up. This is Sony’s year to make the most expensive console on the market profitable. With God of War III, Heavy Rain, Batman Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 2 and MAG on the horizon, this year’s E3 press conference promises to give gamers a reason to pick up a PS3. I’ll be blogging live as Sony wows gamers with 364 new PS3, PSP and PS2 titles. Check out the running commentary after the break.

Read the full article

Taking a cue from the Metal Gear Solid folks, Capcom has decided to re-issue the first three Onimusha games together in one package. The “Onimusha Essentials” pack will bundle the three games together for the budget price of $30. All three were great games — though the first couple might be a little dated by today’s standards — but if you want to see essentially the precursor to God of War, then here it is. Now we just need publishers to make this even easier on us and start issuing them for the next-gen consoles, preferably as a download.

Remember back in June when when all those Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots bundles for the PS3 went on sale? Did you miss out on your chance to get one? Well, Walmart has your back because they are selling the Limited Edition Kojima Silver MSG4 40GB PS3 Bundles for $399.99–but you may want to check for availability before you head down to you nearest boxmart.

You can, however order one online and if you want to save $19.94 on shipping, you can have it delivered to your nearest Walmart store for pick-up. Kind of like Circuit City but without all the lies.

Now that we know these bundles are still in demand after all these months, let us hope that those of us out there who still want the 80GB model will be shown some love as well relatively soon.

(Thanks VG247)

As if the hardware numbers didn’t clue you, Metal Gear Solid 4 dominated the software charts for last month here in the United States. The game sold 774,600 units, but if you combine that number with how many Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundles were sold (which include a copy of the game), the NPD estimates that about a million copies of MGS4 were sold last month. I guess people really wanted to know whether or not Snake and Otacon would have that dreamy ending they’ve been wanting since the end of the original Metal Gear Solid.

There are a few other easy-to-predict things in the top ten, such as Guitar Hero On Tour selling quite a few copies, as did Wii Fit and Wii Play. Battlefield: Bad Company (on 360) and Ninja Gaiden 2 both had strong sales, as did Mario Kart Wii.

But the major surprise — aside from GTA IV’s disappearance — is just how well Lego Indiana Jones sold. With the new movie being released, it was assured a good number of sales, but the Wii, PS2 and DS versions of the game combined for 822,600 copies sold, or in other words, straight cash money.

Kris Pigna over at 1UP made a good point regarding On Tour, suggesting that the game’s sales may have been much higher if the DS bundles were included in the figures. It’s worth keeping in mind, but I’m sure Activision is happy with selling 400k copies of a game that will likely have legs.

June 2008 Software Sales

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) — 774,600 (Roughly 1 million including bundles)
2. Guitar Hero On Tour (DS) — 422,300
3. Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) — 372,700
4. Wii Fit (Wii) — 372,700
5. Wii Play (Wii) – 359,100
6. Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360) — 346,800
7. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — 322,400
8. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure (Wii) — 294,500
9. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure (DS) — 267,800
10. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure (PS2) — 260,300

We knew about this ahead of time, but the release of the NPD figures for June make it slightly more tangible for everyone to see: Nintendo has taken the console lead in the United States, with the Wii outselling the Xbox 360 in June 666,700 units to 219,800. Now that it’s done that, I think it can be said that it’s now officially legal to punch anyone in the face that suggests the Wii is just a fad.

Sales for the PlayStation 3 were up almost 100% from May, selling a total of 405,500 units — no doubt thanks to the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. That’s almost twice the 360’s total, which is pretty impressive after only outselling the 360 by about 22,000 units in May.

Portable systems had pretty nice months, too. The PSP rebounded nicely with a solid 337,400 units, and the DS went absolutely crazy, selling 783,000. Graduation presents, perhaps?

June 2008 Hardware Sales (May numbers in parentheses)

• Nintendo DS – 783,000 (452,600)
• Wii – 666,700 (675,100)
• PlayStation 3 – 405,500 (208,700)
• PlayStation Portable – 337,4000 (182,300)
• Xbox 360 – 219,800 (186,600)
• PlayStation 2 – 188,800 (132,700)

Thus far, Sony’s has been the best press conference of E3 2008, hands down. Their turkey melts were delicious, as were the mini-quiches and those fruit drinks they were passing out. The wait staff was prompt and efficient, particularly around the open bar. All I had to do was say “beer,” and there’d be one in my hand within seconds. Oh yeah, and they talked about games or something like that, I think… Read the full article

I’ve been saying it for over a year now: “The day Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out is the day I buy a PS3.” So on Thursday, June 12th, that’s exactly what I did. I even drove an hour to a Wal-Mart in a small town at 6 AM to make sure I could secure the special system bundle. Being a huge fan of the series, I wanted to savor the experience, so I waited until the weekend to start playing, when I could really devote my time to the game. In the meantime, I perused reviews praising the game for its brilliant gameplay and for fixing problems that had plagued the series from the beginning. Naturally, I was even more excited to begin playing. So imagine my dissapointment when I actually popped in the disc and found it to be more movie than game.

Read the full article

In the days leading up to Metal Gear Solid 4’s release, the bundle featuring an 80GB PS3 along with the game was in ridiculously high demand. Websites offering pre-orders for the bundle were sold out within minutes (and in some cases, shut down entirely) and some stores held impromptu lotteries on launch day to decide who would be walking away with one of their very own. Luckily, Sony has noticed the demand and plans to ship more bundles out in early July.

“While we can’t provide specifics on inventory levels, the Metal Gear Solid 4 PlayStation 3 bundle is a limited-edition offering that’s experiencing high demand from Metal Gear and PlayStation enthusiasts,” the SCEA statement read. “We’re pleased with the strong consumer interest in the bundle and are working to ensure that additional shipments are provided to retailers.”

At this time, the 80GB bundle still seems to be one of the best deals for anyone interested in getting a PS3. Hopefully the people that missed out the first time will get a second chance at the bundle in the coming weeks.

Via GameRush

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise when you consider GTA didn’t have much time to sell in April, but it was a much closer contest for the top spots in May than you might have guessed. While the 360 version of GTA IV did take the top spot with 871.3k copies sold, Mario Kart was right on its heels with 784.4k and Wii Fit not too far behind at 687.7k. The PS3 version of GTA IV came in at number four with 442.9k and then there was a significant drop off to number five, Wii Play, which sold 294.6k copies.

Wii Play’s number is actually fairly low given the number of Wii systems that were sold in the month, but it’s quite possible that many of those Wiis were sold alongside a copy of Wii Fit, which isn’t a multiplayer-happy game like so many other games in the system’s library.

The DS and Wii also took four more spots in the top ten with Smash Bros., Guitar Hero III, and the two versions of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon coming in at numbers 6, 8, 9, and 10. Iron Man on the unkillable PlayStation 2 snuck in at number 7, no doubt thanks in large part to the movie’s great success.

May 2008 Software Sales:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (360) – 871,300
2. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel (Wii) – 787,400
3. Wii Fit w/ balance board (Wii) – 687,700
4. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) – 442,900
5. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) – 294,600
6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) – 171,100
7. Iron Man (PS2) – 130,600
8. Guitar Hero III (Wii) – 116,800
9. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS) – 107,000
10. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS) – 102,000

Metal Gear Solid 4 is sure to come in highly with the June NPDs, and it’ll be difficult to overcome both Grand Theft Auto and a continued stream of Wii Fit copies. It’s definitely got a good shot at outselling them, though, and with those hard-to-come-by MGS4 bundles selling like crazy, the PS3 will be sure to see a nice bump in the first month of summer.

Ho…lee…crap. I knew the new 80GB PS3 bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4 was in high demand, but still, wow. At about 10 AM PST, Amazon.com began taking pre-orders again for the upcoming bundle. By 10:07, they were all gone; thousands of them in mere minutes. So many people flooded the site in fact, that it looks like Amazon.com is down for the moment. It makes sense really, considering you’re basically getting a system with a top-notch exclusive thrown in to boot, which is one heck of a deal. I was actually placing a pre-order myself earlier today, but didn’t want to wait the extra few days it would take for the bundle to arrive. I really hope I don’t end up kicking myself for that decision next Thursday.

Via PS3Fanboy