I’m at a loss to really explain what happened in April; if you’re anything other than a Nintendo fan, you’re not going to be pleased with the hardware sales figures. Not a single system other than Nintendo’s duo managed to crack 200,000 units for the month of April in the US, according to the NPD Group.

April 2008 Hardware Sales (March numbers in parentheses):

• Nintendo Wii - 714,200 (721,000)
• Nintendo DS - 414,800 (698,000)
• PlayStation Portable - 192,700 (297,000)
• Xbox 360 - 188,000 (262,000)
• PlayStation 3 - 187,100 (257,000)
• PlayStation 2 - 124,400 (216,000)

Talk about a 50-50 split for the PS3 and 360 here in the US; just 900 units separated the two systems. Oddly enough, the rankings turned out to be exactly the same as in March, which is, in a way, good if you’re in the market for a Wii as Michael Pachter’s prediction that the Wii shortage would be resolving itself seems to have come true. Nearly 1.5 million consoles sold in two months means the system is out there in fairly large quantities.

Unfortunately, my archrival’s other predictions weren’t quite so accurate. The 360 and PS3 sold roughly 90k and 100k less, respectively, than he thought. But really, who would have thought the numbers would be so low this month?

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2K Sports has announced that Rick Nash, captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets, has been chosen as the cover athlete for the upcoming hockey game, NHL 2K9. Naturally, the three-time NHL All-Star is thrilled:

“I’ve been a longtime fan of the hockey games from 2K Sports. My idols have all been on the covers of video games as I was growing up, so to be on the cover of NHL 2K9 myself is truly incredible,” said Nash, who scored an impressive three goals in the 2008 NHL All-Star Game. “The set of new features they’re adding is really going to make this game special for hockey fans - I’m hoping they give me a couple extra points to my player rating this year!”

Developer for the game, Visual Concepts, is apparently building a whole new game from the ground up to provide a fun and addictive hockey experience. The game is set to be released in the fall for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PS2.

Via Press Release

Sony’s financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008 have revealed that Sony sold 9.24 million PlayStation 3 systems worldwide, up from 5.63 million in the previous fiscal year. The PlayStation Portable also had a solid year, selling 13.9 million units, which is 4.36 million more than last year.

The PlayStation 2 was just barely surpassed by the PSP though; the seven year old system managed to sell an amazing 13.73 million consoles. That’s down 980,000 from the previous year, but it doesn’t detract from how incredible it is that the system is selling better than the PS3 despite its age.

Additionally, the PlayStation 2’s install base has reached 154 million units, according to GI.biz.

The ten year plan seems to be in full effect with the PlayStation 2, but we’ll have to see just how much longer this momentum can continue to carry it.

Along with its announcements regarding the financial results for fiscal year 2008, Electronic Arts has also revealed that Sony systems dominated EA’s sales in the fourth quarter.

Surprisingly, the PlayStation 2 led the way with $166 million worth of sales, followed closely by the PlayStation 3 with $152 million. On the other consoles, EA did $128 million worth of sales, and just $75 million on Wii. Combined, the two Sony systems accounted for 61% of EA console games sold, which is a pretty substantial amount.

This news certainly bodes well for the continued move towards making the PlayStation 3 the lead platform on multiplatform games.

via GI.biz

It’s that time of the year, where we get to review financial results for the previous fiscal year. Sony has reported its results for the year ending on March 31, 2008, and it was generally good news as both revenues and profits were up from last year. Net income rose to $3.51 billion, which is almost 300% last year’s $1.2 billion. Much of the success can be attributed to the electronics division; those stupid Bravia ads must be working, because they posted record sales and operating income along with CyberShot cameras, reports GI.biz.

The videogame division also saw significant improvement, with sales increasing 26.3% over last year to $12.2 billion, closing the losses from $2.21 billion down to $1.18 billion. Sony claims this is thanks to lower production costs of the PS3 and a strong performance by the PSP, particularly in Japan.

The PlayStation 2 continuing to sell extremely well at $129 probably ain’t hurtin’, either.

Important Note: The chart you see above has no relevance to this story. But, it is, irrefutably, a chart. And this sort of story deserves a chart of some sort.

Hardware revisions are constantly going on underneath the hood of the Xbox 360 (as well as the competition), and while this August will be bringing about a system comprised of all 65nm parts (known as “Jasper”), next year could see a much more drastic change.

According to TG Daily, the Valhalla chip will be the foundation of the mid-cycle refresh for the system (think Xbox 2.5 or Xbox 540). The chip will contain the CPU, GPU, and eDRAM when it’s produced next year, which could allow Microsoft to redesign the system a la the PS2 slimline.

That’s purely speculation, but it would make sense for Microsoft given the notorious Red Rings of Death that are associated with the current box. A redesign and newer components could help change that perception. Couple that with a price drop(s), and the Xbox’s future looks fairly bright.

image via Xbox 360 Fanboy

Recently, a demo for LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures was released for the PC and it left console owners hoping for a version to hit their systems soon. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it is not going to happen.

According to Eurogamer, an Activision representative told the site that a console demo is not in the works or will there be one at all. So, if you are reading this, that means you have access to a PC, which means that you can still play a demo and that should give you an idea if you want it for your console, so try not to be so glum about it.

You can get the demo by clicking on the badge below.

You just gotta love the NeoGAF forums for their timely information updates, and spoilers too.

Today, they have posted some information that is supposedly in the June issue of “Game Informer” regarding Guitar Hero IV - and since I have not received mine in the mail yet I cannot back them up; plus we have zero info from Activision or Neversoft regarding this information, so please take this with a grain of salt until it can be considered reliable. Of course, NeoGAF is usually spot on, so just continue reading and let the speculation begin.

Here are the goods:

Guitar Hero 4 (PS3, 360, Wii, PS2)

• Create a song. Although these exclude vocals due to storage and possible copyright issues.
• You’ll be able to name your song as well as creating album art. After you’ve done all that you can upload it to GH Tunes where anyone can download it.
• You’ll be limited to 5 songs at first. But depending on the ratings you get you’ll possibly be able to upload 10 or more.
• The song sharing mode will be in the Wii and PS2 versions also, but GI says it’s unlikely that it’ll be as robust as the PS3 and 360 versions.
• Drums, bass, vocals guitar
• Create a rocker
• Create a guitar and drums
• All songs will be master tracks
• They don’t want to discuss specifics on track listing out of fear of being scooped by the competition. However they confirmed 4 bands: Van Halen, The Eagles, Linkin Park and Sublime.
• A new guitar designed by Red Octane that includes a new input mechanic that’ll “impact the way you play GH in the future”.
• GI saw see through notes while playing that Neversoft said was the new input mechanic and that they were trying to patent.

To be honest with you, all of this sounds good to me, especially Van Halen and the Eagles - as long as it is rocking Eagles and NO DESPERADO!!!!

Via: NeoGaf

Finally, LucasArts has released a PC demo for the highly anticipated LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, and I for one am downloading it right now.

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”.

To top it off, 1Up has posted some fun screens for it today, and to view them just hit the thumbnails below. The game is expected to be released on June 3rd for the PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, DS, Xbox-360 and Wii.

Welcome to the latest edition of Pachter Predicts, where Wedbush Morgan analyst and my sworn adversary Michael Pachter makes his predictions for the past month’s console sales here in the United States. For the second straight month, Pachter has predicted that the PlayStation 3 outsold the Xbox 360. (Although last month his prediction turned out wrong, as the 360 had a 5,000 unit edge over the PS3.)

Here are his predictions, with last month’s numbers in parentheses:

Wii: 600,000 (721,000)
PS3: 290,000 (257,000)
Xbox 360: 275,000 (262,000)
PS2: 160,000 (216,000)
DS: 550,000 (698,000)
PSP: 235,000 (297,000)

If Pachter turns out to be right, it looks like the 360 and PS3 won’t have seen a major boost in sales as many have thought they would. He attributes his predicted higher sales of the DS and Wii to their greater availability.

As for Grand Theft Auto IV, he expects it to have sold 3.3 million units in its first six days in the US alone, and also notes that he expects 20 games to have cracked the 100,000 unit mark in April, compared with only nine last year.

Those of you who still find yourself looking for a Wii, Pachter thinks that situation might be soon resolving itself: “We believe that Nintendo has diverted a significant portion of its available supply to Europe since April 2007, as the weakening dollar has made US sales less profitable for the company… We expect the supply situation will begin to improve over the next several months. We expect a surge in supply in the US for Wii Fit’s May 21 launch here, and believe we could see as many as 900,000 Wii units show up at retail this month (May).”

via Next Gen

For the most part, executives from Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo don’t usually have too harsh of words for one another; they’ll talk up their respective consoles quite a bit, but that’s usually the extent of it. But that’s not always the case, as we learned from a new Destructoid interview with Aaron Greenberg, the director of product management for Xbox 360 and Live.

The interview focused on the success of Grand Theft Auto IV, and while Greenberg took a veiled shot at Sony for the problems that have been reported with the online play on PS3, he didn’t say much until he was asked about the PS3’s 2008 prospects. Destructoid asked if Greenberg thought that the 360 had enough to fend off the PS3 and its growing momentum with MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, and Home.

[D]idn’t Sony promise all of this last year including Home as well? We have been fighting Sony’s promises from the day we entered the market and if you remember at that time it was all about PS2 being an online cybercity with partner announcements from the likes of RealNetworks and AOL. Then three years ago at E3 they showed what PS3 games would supposedly look like with the Killzone 2 video, that we are now learning will ship four years later. That means that we will have shipped Gears of War and Gears of War 2 before they can even get Killzone out the door. Think back to GDC 2007 when Sony promised to leap ahead in online with the Sony Home unveil. Here we are two years later and multiple delays for a product that has appears to have little to no buzz. Where are the achievements? The friends list integration across all games? Where is the long-promised video store? Where are all the other products using and networking with their CELL chip? How come Blu-ray did not result in better games? What happened with Sixaxis and rumble? Where is the complete 1080p game library we were promised? If Blu-ray as they said would be such a catalyst to PS3 console sales, then why have PS3 sales over the past couple months not seen any lift since the format victory?

There are indeed inaccuracies in there; it’s only been a little over a year since Home was unveiled, and the PS3 has outsold the 360 most months this year, even in the US. He does raise some good points as well, but I mean, jeeze — do you really peg this as something you’d hear an executive say publicly?

Developer, Rebellion, and publisher, Reef Entertianment, have announced a partnership to bring Rogue Trooper to the Wii. The original game told the story of a genetically-engineered soldier fighting a planetary civil war on “Nu Earth.” His whole squad dies in the first mission, but live on after he applies their “biochips” to his weapons and gear. After that, they provide him with several special abilities and upgrades, plus helpful advice from time to time. The game was surprisingly pretty good, and actually gained some acclaim from critics.  The new Wii version will be titled “Rogue Trooper: The Quartz Zone Massacre” and will include enhanced Wii controls, plus a few tweaks from Rebellion. The game is expected to ship in Q4 of this year.

Okay, Rogue Trooper was a pretty decent game and all, but could we just stop with all the Wii ports of PS2 games? Please? Besides, if you want to try out this game and save yourself some cash, the original Rogue Trooper is available to play on GameTap for free.

Via VideoGamer

Sierra has announced the development of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, a video game based the third installment of the “Mummy” movies from Universal Pictures. The game, which will mirror the events depicted in the film, is being developed by Eurocom Studios for the PS2 and the Wii; and in development for the DS from A2M.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor game was created through a licensing agreement with Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group. In this third-person action-adventure game, players will take on the roles of Rick O’Connell and his son, Alex (played by Brendan Fraser and Luke Ford, respectively, in the film). Gamers will follow the lead characters on their journey - across locations from ancient Chinese catacombs to the Himalayan peaks - to defeat the revived servants of the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li). The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will allow players to switch between gunplay and hand-to-hand melee attacks, and also features an arsenal of weaponry that can be used to vanquish the many enemies players will face during their journey. Players will also be able to utilize combat, puzzle-solving and hieroglyphic decoding gameplay elements to fight their way through the game.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is expected to be available on July 22nd, while the movie is expected to be released in theaters on August 1st.

You know, as horrid as The Scorpion King was combined with the asinine antics and plotline of the The Mummy Returns, I am surprised that they are even making ANOTHER one. I mean, even Rachel Weisz is smart enough not to be a part of this one - her character is being played by Maria Bello this time around - who isn’t even British so how in the world can she still be considered Jonathan’s sister? Plus, with the “son” as a side-kick in the movie, that just guarantees that it will both suck and blow. Plus, with Luke Ford playing Brenden Fraser’s son, his character would have been 13 when Alex was born which is absurd - of course, now I am just nit-picking so I will shut up.

Via: Press Release

Poor Harvey Dent. His campaign against crime ended when crime boss Sal “Boss” Maroni threw sulfuric acid in Dent’s face, horribly scarring and discoloring his left hand and the left half of his face. Tormented by his hideous reflection, he becomes not only a shadow of his former self, but a demented villain and changes his name to Two Face. This crazed former attorney uses the toss of his coin to decide whether he acts for good or evil in any situation. Unfortunately, the coin rarely lands on good.

While this may sound like a dire plotline, we can pretty much guess that it will be more light hearted if not down right comical when portrayed in the new LEGO Batman game where a stampede of notorious criminals have busted out of Arkham Asylum (the place where Gotham City houses only the shadiest of characters).

It’s up to the famed Caped Crusader to sweep Gotham clean of criminal activity using everything at his disposal, including crime-fighting vehicles as well as several baddie-bashing gadgets.

LEGO Batman is expected to be released in September on multiple platforms. You can view more of the new screens featuring Two Face and others by clicking here.

The ongoing PlayStation Day conference in Europe has brought about a number of announcements, including word from SCEE’s David Reeves that PlayStation 3 has officially sold more than the Xbox 360 has in Europe, depsite the tremendous head start Microsoft had.

“I am delighted to be able announce today that we have sold more PlayStation 3s throughout Europe than Xbox 360 - even though they launched sixteen months before PS3,” he said. More than 5 million consoles have been sold, according to Reeves. He expressed his excitement that the PS3 had accomplished this feat in a similar time frame that the PS2 did, even with the PS3’s much higher price.

“We are particularly proud of this as it has been achieved in a similar time frame as PlayStation 2 which retailed, if you remember, at a significantly lower price,” he said.

While Reeves pointed to the PS3 outselling the 360 since October 2007 (a period which includes the 360’s latest price cut), he made no mention of the Wii, which we all know has been putting both Sony and Microsoft to shame. So it’s not particularly surprising for that to be the case. He did, however, reveal some other numbers regarding Sony’s other platforms. In Europe, the PSP has sold 12 million units, and the PS2, 48 million. He said, “These numbers are a testament to the strength of the PlayStation brand throughout our region, the ever-increasing number of titles being launched, the rich content on offer and its appeal to different demographics and cultures.”

Things are certainly looking up for Sony in Europe, but with Japan a complete failure for Microsoft, don’t expect to see Microsoft sit idly by.

via Eurogamer

Jonathan brought word earlier that owners of the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of Rock Band would be able to get their hands on some downloadable content, in a sense. Rock Band Track Pack Volume 1 won’t require you to own a copy of the original Rock Band game – you’ll simply be able to pop in your Track Pack disc and get playing those 20 songs.

Of course, then you won’t have access to all of the good songs that were originally in Rock Band, but maybe this Track Pack has the only songs you’re interested in playing.

via Game|Life

Looks like Harmonix and EA have found a way to bring extra content to people who own the Wii and PS2 versions of Rock Band. Now they’ve announced the upcoming Rock Band Track Pack Volume 1 for release on July 15th. The pack will be sold at retail for $29.99 and will include 20 songs. Luckily the pack mostly includes some favorites from bands like Boston, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Stone Temple Pilots, and such. None of the songs are new to Xbox 360 and PS3 owners who can download them, but it’s still a nice service to those with other consoles. Full list of tracks available after the break.

Read the full article

Sometime today, you will be able to purchase SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 for the PS2 and the PSP, while Wii owners will be able to pick up their copy in October. SNK Arcade Classics: Vol. 1 is jam packed with 16 of the following SNK games all on 1 disc:

• ART OF FIGHTING - The first game in SNK’s second fighting-game franchise, set in the same universe as FATAL FURY.
• BASEBALL STARS 2 - The sequel to SNK’s popular baseball arcade game.
• BURNING FIGHT - New York detectives battle organized crime in this fighter.
• FATAL FURY - First released in 1991, FATAL FURY introduced the two-plane fighting system.
• THE KING OF FIGHTERS ‘94 - The first game in the popular KING OF FIGHTERS series.
• KING OF THE MONSTERS - In KING OF THE MONSTERS, giant monsters fight for power in epic battles.
• LAST RESORT - A challenging futuristic shooter.
• MAGICIAN LORD - Players help the wizard Elta save his homeworld in this platformer.
• METAL SLUG - Known for its humor and fast- moving gameplay, this run-and-gun side-scroller was the first in the popular series.
• NEO TURF MASTERS - A golf game which debuted in the arcades in 1996.
• SAMURAI SHOWDOWN - Set in the 18th century, SAMURAI SHODOWN features bladed-weapon combat and an international cast of characters.
• SENGOKU - In SENGOKU, players face off against undead feudal Japanese armies.
• SHOCK TROOPERS - In this run-and-gun adventure, players save a scientist and his granddaughter from the Bloody Scorpions.
• SUPER SIDEKICKS 3 - A soccer game featuring teams from all over the world.
• TOP HUNTER - Bounty hunters protect colonists from space pirates in this futuristic action game.
• WORLD HEROES - This classic fighter pits players against historical figures in a tournament enabled by time travel.

Via: Press Release

When the new Ghostbusters video game was first announced, I didn’t even consider whether they would include the classic Ray Parker Jr. theme song; I just thought it was a given for the franchise. But developers usually try to explore every option they can think of, so Terminal Reality at one time was very, very briefly considering putting in a remixed theme song in place of the original. Executive producer, Brendan Goss, explains how that idea went over with fans:

“When we were doing the focus group testing, we asked people how they’d feel about a remix done by a current band. We got booed out of the place,” Goss said. “People were really against it, going, ‘You can’t do that, there’s only one song for Ghostbusters!’ It was incredible. So we were like, okay, we won’t mess with the Ray Parker Jr. song then.”

It just goes to show, never mess with a truly memorable theme song (I’m looking in your direction, 21st century Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon). As an added bonus though, Terminal Reality has also revealed that the game’s soundtrack will include over 75 minutes of music that was cut from the original film. So basically, we’re going to get some “new” music that should fit the tone of the game perfectly, as well as the classic tunes. Awesome.

Via EuroGamer

We are all well aware that the giant that is GTA IV will be hitting stores on Tuesday. We also know that Mario Kart Wii will be released tomorrow, which is Sunday, which is a weird day for a game release, which is why I am using the world “which” so much.

Nevertheless, there ARE other games hitting shelves next week, and while they deserve just as much attention as any other highly anticipated title, whoever decided that this would be a great week to launch their game needs either a reality check or to lay off the sauce.

Here are the games slated to hit shelves next week. As always, we are not responsible for any changes to said dates - blame the publisher, not us. Since there are not as many releases as previous weeks, I did not break them down by system this time and listed the date instead:

• April 27: Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
• April 28: Corvette Evolution GT (DS), Requiem: Bloodymare (PC)
• April 29: Brain Voyage (DS), GTA IV & GTA IV Special Edition (PS3, Xbox 360), Let’s Pilates (DS), Let’s Yoga (DS) Polar Games 2 (PC), Riding Star (PS2) SNK Arcade Classics: Volume 1 (PS2, PSP) Toy Shop (DS) Winx Club: Mission Enchantix (DS)

For more information on any of the games listed above, just click through the links.