More GTA IV details revealed

Posted by multippt

After much speculation about GTA IV, some details of GTA IV have been released.

GTA IV marks a new milestone in the GTA family (particularly the changes from GTA III to GTA IV).

Here are the features:
-The main character is Niko Bellic
-Has some familiar features in the actual New York city (of course, some of these locations are renamed)
-A slightly different kind of storyline - one that gives players more freedom
-Though, there are no planes in GTA IV (Rockstar wanted the game to look realistic)
-Initial loading time at start of game. Throughout the game, there are no loading times (e.g. entering into a building).
-GTA IV encompasses some multi-player functions

This game would be available for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

Larger signs of GTA IV - big ads

Posted by multippt

GTA IV (Grand Theft Auto IV) is arguebly one of the most awaited games (other than Halo 3) for the Xbox 360. Sure… I guess by now people may have noticed that GTA IV did appear at some unprecedented times (like a one hour long TV commercial).

Despite the controversal fact that GTA IV would be based on places in America’s New York city, Rockstar decided to go ahead with the works, and decided to introduce a large (about a height of a 4 story building) advertisement, advertising GTA IV (literally having the words “GTA IV”, just like the 1 hour long commercial).

There is no exact promised time (Rockstar gave a rough date - October 2007) when GTA IV would be released, but the word “Coming Soon” sure gave high hopes for everyone.

In case you are wondering… the ads are in New York city.

Via kotaku

February Sales: Microsoft’s Spin

Posted by signup

Here are some of February’s NPD results; I wanted to draw your attention to two interesting points that we’re especially excited about:

First, Xbox 360 leads the pack in delivering great games, with “Crackdown” (MGS) – an Xbox 360 exclusive – ranked as the #1 top-selling game across all gaming consoles in the United States. Other Xbox 360 exclusives in the top 10 were “Gears of War” (MGS) and “Lost Planet” (Capcom). In total, six of the top ten selling console games were for the Xbox 360 platform.

Second, Xbox 360 owners continue to buy more games for their console than any console before in the US, with a software attach rate of 5.4 games per customer, compared to 2.3 for Sony’s PlayStation 3 and 2.8 for the Nintendo Wii. Even more remarkable is how long we’ve sustained this record. Last February, when Xbox 360 had been out for roughly the same amount of time as PS3 and Wii are now, our attach rate was 3.8. This record further demonstrates that Xbox 360 offers the best high-definition games that gamers of all levels want to play.

Looking at these two points together, we’re extremely pleased with the great gaming experience we’re offering our customers. With the winning combination of our great console, games and services, we sold more than 228,000 units in the US in February – an increase of 42% compared to sales of 161,000 units in February 2006. This keeps us on track to hit our stated forecast of about 12 million units sold worldwide through the end of June 2007.

With an expansive portfolio of titles, we’re poised to deliver a great gaming experience throughout the Spring, with a strong line-up of games that appeal to everyone from hard-core enthusiasts to casual players. Blockbusters slated to launch this Spring include “Guitar Hero 2” (Activision), “Forza Motorsport 2” (MGS), “Shadowrun” (MGS), “Def Jam: Icon” (EA), “The Darkness” (2K), and the highly anticipated Halo 3 beta.

Xbox LIVE membership also continues to grow, having exceeded our goal of six million members worldwide a full four months ahead of schedule. Xbox LIVE is the premier online social network connected to the television, offering the best in online gaming, ubiquitous voice, video and text chatting, achievements, demos, trailers and more. This summer, the next step in the evolution of online gaming occurs when we extend the LIVE games and entertainment network to the more than 200 million Windows gamers worldwide.

Nintendo Wii Outsells Xbox 360, PS3 During February

Posted by signup

Consumers continue to snatch up Nintendo’s new console at a torrid pace, keeping the Wii at the top of the sales chart, ahead of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3. Market research firm NPD Group reports that consumers bought 335,000 Wii consoles, while Xbox 360 sold 228,000 units, followed by PlayStation 3 with 127,000.

The surprising success of the Wii is attributed to two main factors: mass-market appeal and affordable pricing. “You’re getting non-traditional gamers who are more than willing to spend $300 to get a system and use it,” said Darrel Ryce, director of technology and entertainment for the NPD Group, to the Canadian Press. “I think that’s the key difference here. The PlayStation 3, with its price point, is really geared towards the traditional gamer who has no problem spending that kind of money to get into a system.”

Sales of the three newest consoles dipped compared to January, when consumers bought 436,000 Wii, 294,000 Xbox 360, and 244,000 PS3.

“We’re gratified that the explosive appeal of Wii, in terms of both new players and new ways to play, has created unprecedented demand, substantially beyond supply,” says Reggie Fils-Aime, president, Nintendo of America. “But we also understand that there are hundreds of thousands of consumers still waiting to get their hands on the system so we continue to both ship more units to retail every week and work non-stop to build capacity.”

The Nintendo DS is the only video game system to experience a sales boost over last month’s figures, selling 485,000 units — up from 239,000 during January — propelling it to be the top system for February.

The PlayStation 2 continues to be a strong seller, likely because of its price point and unbeatable library, with 295,000 units — nearly the same as its previous month’s sales but down from the amazing 1.4 million during the holiday month. PSP also fell to 176,000 from 211,000.

While Microsoft’s console was not at the top for hardware, it lead the software list with five of the top 10 games best sellers. “The 360 is doing very well,” said Ryce. “They have some top titles in the market as well.”

Crackdown was the number one seller for February with 427,000 units. Gears of War, MLB 2K7, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition and NBA Street Homecourt occupied the latter half of the top 10. With an apparent shortage of Wii controllers, Wii Remote-bundled Wii Play was the second best seller with 371,000 sold.

While gaming fanboys will trade flames to no end, Ryce believes that all three consoles are exhibiting healthy numbers. “All three new console systems are doing well, holding their own and definitely selling product,” he said.

Xbox Live reaches six million user milestone

Posted by signup

Redmond (WA) - The Xbox Live service has topped six million users, Microsoft announced today.

The new target has been reached four months sooner than the company originally had predicted. The number includes subscribers to the original Xbox Live service, as well as both the free (silver) and $50/year (gold) versions of the Xbox 360 service.

Microsoft also revealed some other statistics about Xbox Live. In total, 2.3 billion hours have been spent on online gaming, with over 2 million messages now crossing the XBL server every day.

Halo 2 continues to hold its spot as the game with the most total hours spent online. Gears of War and Xbox Live Arcade title Hexic HD are currently in the #2 and #3 spots, respectively. Finally, Microsoft said that over 70% of people who have connected their console online have purchased a game from the Xbox Live Arcade.

Microsoft did not break down statistics like how many of the six million are paying subscribers, are on the  Xbox360, or how many have paid for the wireless adapter.

Halo 3 beta signup hits 140000 registrations in 24 hours

Posted by multippt

Microsoft revealed that 140000 (140 thousand) people signed up for the Halo 3 public beta (which will be available next year, September) within the first day (24 hours). The traffic was so immense that the halo3 website was unable to sevice all the requests. At times, the sign-up page will be unavailable.

Nevertheless, the registration for the beta is still open. However, note that to register for the beta, you need a Xbox 360 (duh…), with a hard drive, a Xbox Live (Gold) account, together with a .net passport (just use your hotmail account), be above 17 years old, and live in North America (or Canada).

Via Halo3 beta registration site

What if you leave a xbox 360 near a dog…

Posted by multippt

Who would have known that animals like gaming too… enough to make them chew on bits and pieces of it! Here’s the story:

Ben Ackerman auctioned off a xbox 360 on ebay. Apparently, after the auction, the buyer sent him an email, stating an incident relating to his xbox 360. It seems that the UPS delivery man (oh dear… bad publicity for UPS) left the package (containing the xbox 360) in the buyer’s back porch, where the seller’s dog suddenly start attacking the contents in that box.

The damage? Well, miraculously the xbox 360 survived the ordeal… without a single scratch! Unfortunately, the rest of the contents are not spared. The power brick sustained damage at the cable, and definitely needs replacing. The wireless controller has a chuck of it ripped off froom the main body (where the left trigger button used to reside). The wired controller only had slight damage to the cable. The dog also have an apetite for nice looking video game boxes (if you’re wondering, the game box which suffered the most damage was “Call of Duty 2″. Wow, the dog have good taste!). Fortunately, the game discs were spared from any damage.

Well, the seller has the UPS insurence, the buyer gets paid for (by the seller during the auction) and managed to improvise ways to substitute for broken parts.

Via Ben Ackerman