It was just a little over a week ago that Microsoft exec Aaron Greenberg randomly lashed out at Sony and what he believed to be their history of over-promising and under-delivering. Speaking with Next Gen about the April NPD numbers and the 360’s competition, Greenberg again had a fairly harsh assessment of the PlayStation 3’s place in the market.

But our direct competitor today continues to be the PS3. …What you’re seeing, though, is two platforms [360 and Wii] are having tremendous success. Xbox 360 has hit 10 million units, the Wii is now getting close to that milestone, whereas the PS3 seems to be a bit stalled, and what you’re finding is that there are two platforms that are performing very well, going after two uniquely different types of consumers, while the PS3 really seems like it’s getting squeezed out.

Earlier in the interview, Greenberg mentioned that of the 18 months PS3 has been on the market, 360 has outsold it in 16 of those months. Let’s forget every region outside of the United States and just look at the claim that the PS3 is being “squeezed out.” In the last two months, the 360 has outsold the PS3 by roughly 5,900 units. In January and February, the PS3 outsold the 360. And in December, the 360 had a fairly good lead. That means that only one of the last five months has seen a dominating performance of the 360 over the PS3.

And, again, we’re only talking about the U.S. here, which is the 360’s strongest market in the world. I think Greenberg makes some good points in the interview (like how May and beyond will be much more telling about the GTA battle between the two consoles, and how Microsoft has, for the most part, been more of a straight shooter with their promises in the past), but to say that the PS3 has stalled is utterly ridiculous.

Oh, and one last piece of food for thought: would Microsoft still be talking about the Wii as being a compliment and not a direct competitor if it wasn’t selling so incredibly well?

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An exciting announcement has been made by YouTube, stating that Sony has decided to integrate the YouTube API with the PlayStation 3, which means that both future games and past games have the ability to allow gamers to upload in-game video directly to YouTube. This functionality has been added to the Japanese game Mainichi Issho, and could quite possibly be added to anything from MotorStorm to LittleBigPlanet. (Nothing’s been announced on either of those fronts, or any other, but hypothetically…)

Imagine building a level in LBP, and then promoting it online via YouTube. Or being able to share an incredible save you made in a co-op session of Resistance 2. Or an incredible game-winning touchdown in a game of Madden. And all of this would be available to watch on YouTube, and not simply tied to the game like in, say, Halo 3. (Sorry, Bungie. You’ve got a wonderful system, but this has the potential to be something much cooler.)

Hopefully developers decide to embrace this, and it ends up being something we see introduced on the Xbox 360, as well. One question I have, though, is if this would be able to capture voice chat, or purely the game itself.

via Joystiq

Okay, with Microsoft out of the way, it’s now Sony’s turn to give their spin on the NPD Group’s data for last month. Of the three current-gen consoles, PlayStation 3 sold the least in April (albeit by an extremely slim margin) and, overall, Sony platforms didn’t have a particularly good month. So what angle would Sony take?

The main talking point focused on year-over-year sales growth. The PS3 sold 127% better than last April, which isn’t huge, but software sales were up 410% to over two million units, thanks in large part to Grand Theft Auto IV.

Sony was also proud that, with 1 million copies of GTA sold, 23.6% of PS3 owners in the U.S. had purchased a copy, which is a 29% higher attach rate than GTA had on Xbox 360. (According to their math, the game had an attach rate of around 16.75% on 360.)

I found it somewhat amusing that the press release claims the PS3 “continues [its] blockbuster year” when, from a hardware standpoint, it really had a poor month. But that’s a minor gripe; what else do you expect from a press release.

Hit the jump for the full press release. Read the full article

I guess to celebrate Rock Band’s launch in Europe this week, fans of the game here in the States will be getting the full-on Eurorock treatment. Other than Blur, Muse, and Oasis have no idea who the rest of these bands are, but I am sure some of it is pretty good.

• “Beetlebum” - Blur (Cover, 160 MS Points / $2)
• “Hier Kommt Alex” - Die Toten Hosen (160 MS Points / $2)
• “Countdown to Insanity” - H-BlockX (160 MS Points / $2)
• “Perfekte Welle” - Juli (160 MS Points / $2)
• “Manu Chao” - Les Wampas (160 MS Points / $2)
• “Hysteria” - Muse (160 MS Points / $2)
• “Rock N Roll Star” - Oasis (160 MS Points / $2)
• “New Wave” - Pleymo (160 MS Points / $2)
• “Monsoon” - Tokio Hotel (160 MS Points / $2)

Those wanting to check these titles out can expect them to hit the Xbox 360 and PS3 on Tuesday and Thursday respectively. The Cars are also expected to hit next week as well so that might make you feel a little less “meh” or maybe even more “meh” depends on your tastes.

As expected, Microsoft continued to tout the fact that the Xbox 360 has surpassed 10 million units sold in the United States. Since they first made the announcement a few days ago, they’ve bumped that figure up to 10.1 million sold.

Surprisingly little from the press release Microsoft sent out had to do with figures that would stem from the 360 having been on the market for a year longer than the competition. That could be because they dedicated an entire portion of it to talking about how wonderful Grand Theft Auto IV has been performing on the 360. They even say it’s “outselling the other platform’s version by nearly 2:1 in the U.S.” — “other platform”? What’s up with that?

Hit the break for the full spinjob.

image via CrunchGear.com

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Okay, you win, Sega. I didn’t care at all about your newest Golden Axe game, but now these screens just make it looks just too awesome. It looks like the developers could be taking a page from God of War in terms of reaching that epic feel. That, and you can apparently ride and fight ginormous monsters like the ones above. I could do without the Chocobo-looking thing though. You can check out a few more screens for the game here.

Obviously, if you’re going to make a new rhythm game, you have to make it stand out a bit from the rest. So how does Konami plan to do this for their upcoming Rock Revolution? Well, for one, they recently revealed the most complicated fake drum set out there. The drum kit for Rock Revolution will feature six plates to bang on, plus a kick pedal, for a grand total of seven different buttons you’ll have to keep track of. Personally, I’m terrible at the drums on Rock Band, which has a now-measly four pads and a kick pedal, so the idea of three extra things to worry about isn’t exactly a selling point for me. Well, that and the fact that I’ve already got two rhythm games in my house, and I really don’t need anymore damn peripherals.

Via MTV Multiplayer

As it turns out, GameStop’s claim that 64% of all copies of GTA IV sold were on Xbox 360 was spot on — 64.9% is the exact number if you do the math with NPD’s numbers for the month of April. Between the 360 and PS3 versions of the game, GTA IV managed to sell 2.85 million even though it was released on April 29 — not too shabby.

Mario Kart Wii, meanwhile, sold more than a million copies. That’s a million plastic wheels out there in the wild, imparing people’s ability to control the game properly. And of course, with the number of Wii systems that sold in April, you know you’re going to see a lot of Wii Play sales, and that we did. Smash Bros. had a big drop off, from 2.7 million in March down to 326k in April. Not that Nintendo should be complaining, with five of their games in the top ten, with six of the top ten on Nintendo platforms.

April 2008 Software Sales

GTA IV (360) - 1.85M
Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel (Wii) - 1.12M
GTA IV (PS3) - 1.00M
Wii Play (Wii) - 360,000
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 326,000
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3) - 224,000
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS) - 202,000
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS) - 202,000
Guitar Hero III (Wii) - 152,000
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) - 141,000

Call of Duty 4 on 360 continues to do its best Mustafa impression, as it just refuses to be kicked out of the top ten. Could next month finally see it kicked out? I’m going to go ahead and predict a bold “no.”

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?

Konami is all over the place this morning, and the best thing I have seen so far are the assets they released for Silent Hill: Homecoming. Maybe I am just prejudiced because I like the whole horror genre better than anything else, or maybe it is just because Rock Revolution (the Wii Version) has left a horrible taste in my mouth.

What ever the case may be, here are some lovely screens for both of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions and two trailers featuring exploration and a cemetery where you encounter an evil demonic dog that looks as if it has been turned inside out.

PS3 Screens

The Xbox 360 screens and the exploration trailer are posted after the break.

Read the full article

Coming to the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 is Konami’s Rock Revolution. Described as an “unprecedented, authentic music-based video game that will re-define the rhythm genre”, the game will come with its own drums. You can also “rock out” with the bass, guitar and vocals. Take THAT Harmonix!

According to Konami, Rock Revolution will be available with the most realistic drum peripheral on the market when it launches for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Featuring a supposedly extensive music selection on the game disc, along with a wide variety of downloadable songs available at launch, the game will also have single player modes as well as the prerequisite multiplayer.

The Wii version will be quite different from its Microsoft and Sony counterparts due to its “interactive use of the controls” where you will have the definitive “air-drum and air-guitar experience”plus the DS version will let you use the stylus for rhythm matching sessions.

Rock Revolution is scheduled to launch this Fall, and to quite honest with you, I cannot see anyone choosing the Wii version over the others if all you get to do is “air drum” and “air guitar” - I mean, “air guitar” and “air drums” what a crock… I am not paying over $40 for something I can see a mullet coiffed redneck in a beat up trans am do at a stop light here in my hometown.

I hope to the gaming gods that I read the press release wrong, I really do. Anyway, check out the trailer for yourself.

Via: Press Release

Read the full article

We may not have any definitive screens for the game, and we may not have all the information on it yet, but Game Informer sure does in the June Issue. Here are some tidbits regarding Prince of Persia: Heir Apparent, which is scheduled to hit this fall:

• Elika, the female, is expected to revolutionize the role of a supporting character
• Vast outdoor spaces as opposed to mainly indoor exploring like in past games
• Graphically, it will be cell-shaded, like a storyboard

If you subscribe to GI, you can look forward to some more information on the new PoP game, and according to Game Informer “the cell-shaded art approach is not the only exciting change the newest iteration has to offer.”

Ubidays is coming up pretty soon, so expect to see loads more information pop up for Heir Apparent in the not so distant future.

Heir Apparent is really confusing me - why did the name Prince of Persia Prodigy get patented? Is this a second game coming or did they just have two different titles ready for the game a the toss of a coin decided which it would be? Or is this the name of the much ballyhooed movie coming out? Hopefully we will find out soon enough.

Via: Game Informer

It looks like G4TV’s X-Play managed to snag an exclusive trailer for the upcoming PS3 MMO, The Agency. We’ve heard a lot about the game and even seen pre-rendered trailers, but this is the first time we can actually see the gameplay in action. Granted, this video gives a very short glimpse, but at least we know what we’re in for a little more. The whole project sounds pretty ambitious, but I’m hoping the developers can pull it off.

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

When a company that is comprised of some of the best video game talents that Japan has to offer announces that they are working on several new games, that tends to be worth a look. When one of those games happens to be helmed by Hideki Kamiya, creator of Devil May Cry, Okami, and Viewtiful Joe, then you can probably expect to see one of the coolest and craziest titles currently in production. In this case, that game is Bayonetta. I have no idea what the game is about, and the trailer may be only forty seconds long; but this is still the coolest piece of game-related footage I’ve seen all week. You dont’ even get a good look at the protagonist, but that’s not as important as the fact that she has a freakin’ gun strapped to her foot. Man, those guys at Platinum Games know how to make an entrance.

A title like that doesn’t write itself very often, so I’m happy to take advantage. The new Rocketmen expansion pack, It Came From Uranus, is now available on the PlayStation Store. You’ll also now find two new Hot Shots Golf characters, each of which cost $.99, and are small enough that I reckon they’re already on the Blu-ray disc you hold in your hands.

Rounding out the DLC scene is this week’s installment of Rock Band tracks and 21 new Karaoke Revolution: American Idol tracks.

You’ll also find demos of both Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit and Overlord Raising Hell, new videos, trailers, themes, and wallpapers.

Hit the break to see all of the today’s new content.
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Codemasters has just released a new demo on the Playstation Network for the upcoming Overlord: Raising Hell, an expansion to the hit RPG. The demo will give PS3 owners a taste of some of the new features for the expansion. As always, you’ll play the Overlord who wreaks havoc throughout the land with the help of your swarms of minions. The expansion will take place after the first game and offer additional game levels, online co-op and versus play, and extra armor upgrades for minions. The full game is set to be released for the PS3 on June 24th.

Via Press Release

While Nintendo might be trying to get the indie developer crowd’s attention, mainstream developers have been taking advantage of WiiWare, too. Next Gen spoke with a few developers to see what they thought of the young platform and how it stacks up with the competition.

Why did you choose to develop the game for WiiWare rather than Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Network?

David Braben, founder of Frontier: It was the way that you control the wind that was important and the control of the Wii was absolutely defined by that. We didn’t immediately think, ‘ah yes, it’s a WiiWare game,’ but we did think ‘oh, it’s a Wii game.’ There are games that use two Wii controls, where you have button combinations across the Wiimote and the Nunchuck, and that’s something that feels quite uncomfortable in my opinion. Then there are games that use the Wiimote purely as a pointer and don’t use the Nunchuck at all, but what we’re doing is subtly different in the sense that you’ve got one character controlled by the Wiimote, which is the wind, and the other where you’re directly controlling the character talking, and so it feels very natural to have the two controllers separated.

From a development point of view WiiWare is great. It means we can take bigger risks, we can experiment with new control mechanisms at less financial and commercial risk and I think that’s a fantastic thing.

Dave Grossman, Telltale Games design director: I do think that the Wii lends itself in particular to the kind of idea based gameplay that we do although ultimately I think we’d like it to be on all of the downloadable channels. The interface is meant to be very, very simple. You don’t need tons and tons of buttons but if you have something you can just point with that’s just great, so it was kind of an easier mindset for us to be on the Wii then perhaps on the other platforms, but obviously our games are meant to be simple and have a broad appeal and would probably be good on any of the downloadable channels.

Bill Swartz, Mastiff: The Wiimote was the killer, period. Does Xbox have a Wiimote? Honestly, we wanted to do a Wii game, we wanted to do a WiiWare game, that was really very much in the front of our minds, and we wanted to do something with a license attached. Tony Hawk was already taken. No seriously, I really didn’t want to go out there and just make up some random sport by myself, you know, let’s do a Marble Madness rip-off because no one’s done one for six months. That was really what we didn’t want to do. We wanted to do something with a license attached but the last thing I wanted to do was try to be a mini EA or a mini Activision or a mini Ubisoft because we’d get creamed. So we were looking for a sort of minor but cool license that had some value that would let us use the controls in a unique way and ideally something that hadn’t been done before. No one has done an eating game - well, at least an eating game like ours, and it has the advantage because it is so hand to mouth and that is a really neat way to use a Wii control.

I wonder what would happen if the 360 really did get its own Wiimote rip off. You can see more about what they had to say over at Next Gen.

A few weeks back, a story circulated that Hideo Kojima had said he was being limited by the hardware of the PlayStation 3. As it turns out, it was merely a poor translation that led to this. Kojima has clarified his comments and tried to better explain what he meant the first time around.

“I am Japanese, so I try to be modest. I’m an especially modest person. I don’t wish to brag about it and say, ‘I am the amazing Metal Gear guy’, or say, ‘This is the best one’, just like how Americans brag [about] stuff like this,” Kojima explained.

“Westerners do not have a tradition of modesty, so the statements are translated correctly but the original meaning is totally different.”

Why, thank you, Mr. Kojima. I like you, too.

He goes on to explain more of what he really meant. You can find the full translation at Kotaku.

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.