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Forums - Microsoft - EVERY GAME is coming to XBLA

sinha on 04 September 2009

Kotaku: The Hidden Sales Success Of Xbox Live Arcade

The sales figures for digital games are rarely disclosed. So we rarely get an idea of just how many of them are selling. A reveal by Microsoft Australia, however, shows they're selling a lot.

At a recent Xbox press event in Sydney, Microsoft Australia told Kotaku AU that the 360's downloadable games aren't just giving retail game sales a run for their money, they're often outselling them.

Case in point 1: Microsoft's Summer of Arcade (or, as it was known down here, the Winter of Arcade). All five games - 'Splosion Man, MvC2, Turtles in Time, Trials HD and Shadow Complex - would have made the Australian retail top 10 charts in the week they were released.

Case in point 2: Two slightly older games - Worms 2 and Battlefield 1943 - wouldn't have just made the charts, they'd have topped them.

Now, there are obviously a few disclaimers to note here. Firstly, it can be a little unfair to compare $10 games to $50 ones. Of course $10 games are going to sell well. Secondly, these are Australian numbers we're talking about here, not global figures. And Australia is a pretty small market.

Then again, it's also a nation with poor (relative to other Western markets) broadband speeds and (relative to other Western markets) higher prices, so who knows, in other regions the numbers could indeed be similar, if not higher.

 

The Hidden Sales Success Of Xbox Live Arcade



We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that they [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine and half years? It's a learning process. - SCEI president Kaz Hirai

It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, "Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it." So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. - Epic Games president Mike Capps

We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. - Activision CEO Bobby Kotick

 

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sinha on 04 September 2009

Twisted Pixel reveals Comic Jumper

Twisted Pixel, the crazy group behind the XBLA hits 'Splosion Man and The Maw, has revealed its next project. Judging by the trailer, this one looks to be inspired by the classic SEGA game, Comix Zone. It goes by the name of Comic Jumper, and it stars a pinheaded hero that has a grumpy star-shaped character stuck on his chest. In traditional super-hero fashion, this hero and his side-kick have a bit of a love-hate relationship.

Sound weird? Well, watch the trailer for yourself and you'll see what we're talking about.

Based on the trailer, Comic Jumper is going to be an action-side scroller that allows players to jump into various comic books to take part in and alter their stories. Different comic books will have different art styles, which will alter the appearance of the main character. Also, there will be jokes.



We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that they [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine and half years? It's a learning process. - SCEI president Kaz Hirai

It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, "Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it." So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. - Epic Games president Mike Capps

We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. - Activision CEO Bobby Kotick

 

JaggedSac on 04 September 2009

Some nice looking finalists in the contest.



MEATER on 04 September 2009

With that many games coming out I think they should start releasing three or more each week...

It's nice to have Puzzle Bobble with Avatars but I'd rather have more original games like FEZ or Shadow Complex than remakes.

And all those remakes block the slots :)



sinha on 04 September 2009

Shank gameplay trailer:

 



We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that they [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine and half years? It's a learning process. - SCEI president Kaz Hirai

It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, "Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it." So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. - Epic Games president Mike Capps

We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. - Activision CEO Bobby Kotick

 

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sinha on 06 September 2009

Dust: An Elysian Tail wins Dream Build Play 2009:

This year’s global Dream.Build.Play competition garnered more than 350 games from over 100 countries, nearly doubling the number of community members who enrolled in and submitted Dream.Build.Play titles from those in last year’s competition. Many of these creators have the opportunity to appear on the Xbox LIVE Indie Games Channel.

Dean Dodrill of the United States earned the grand prize of $40,000 for “Dust: An Elysian Tail” a side-scrolling, action role-playing game in which the player controls Dust, a man searching for himself. Set in the beautiful yet mysterious world of Falana, this game chronicles Dust’s journey to liberate an oppressed village and rediscover his past. Meticulously hand-animated and painted, “Dust: An Elysian Tail” welcomes exploration, action, and above all else, mastery of a fighting system that rewards skilled gamers.


Panya Inversin and his team from the United States took home second place and $20,000 for their stunning 3-D, four-player brawler/space-shooter, “Max Blastronaut”. 

Nivel21 Entertainment, led by Mauricio Garcia from Spain, received third place and $10,000 for the challenging puzzle game “Rotor’scope – The Secret of the Endless Energy”. 

China’s Hu Ling and his team came in fourth place and received $5,000 for the stylish martial arts action game “HurricaneX2 Evolution”.

 



We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that they [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine and half years? It's a learning process. - SCEI president Kaz Hirai

It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, "Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it." So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. - Epic Games president Mike Capps

We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. - Activision CEO Bobby Kotick

 

sinha on 06 September 2009

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom preview

Having been working under secrecy on the XBLA version of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom for more than a year now, the game is finally playable to the public at PAX. ...

The aesthetic of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom has to be noted, the game is almost strictly black and white with a bit of color on P.B. himself and in the pies he desires. The game also has a wonderful old film feel to it thanks to the subtle film grain effect applied. Matt Korba, the lead designer, mentioned Edward Gorey as one of the games’ primary influences and it is easy to see the correlation. The animation and music also lend beautifully to the simple but striking appeal of Winterbottom.

Finding a game like The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is one of the great pleasures of attending a show like PAX. Sure there are tons of great ‘AAA’ software to be played and gawked at, but there is an equal amount of great software that probably exists well under your cone of vision. If you’ve got an Xbox360 and an open mind for a non-traditional puzzle game, or if you just want to try something completely different, keep an eye out for The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom on XBLA sometime next year.

 

Islands of Wakfu preview

Players will have to work together to get around all of the obstacles and complete the environmental puzzles to progress through the game. Since communication is so vital in this game, local co-op will be the only co-op as of right now. ...

Island of Wakfu is still early in it’s production, but they’re expecting a Summer of 2010 release on the Xbox LIVE arcade!



We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that they [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine and half years? It's a learning process. - SCEI president Kaz Hirai

It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, "Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it." So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. - Epic Games president Mike Capps

We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. - Activision CEO Bobby Kotick

 

MEATER on 07 September 2009

Wakfu sounds interesting! I'm all for a coop challenge!



sinha on 07 September 2009

August XBLA Sales Analysis:


* Battlefield now well over a million across XBLA and PSN.
* Trials HD had a whopping 246,000 players on the Leaderboards during August.
* Shadow Complex had 225,000 players - but started a week later.
* Both have beaten Galaga Legions and Bionic Commando Rearmed in Leaderboard Numbers, will beat Geometry Wars 2 next month.
* UNO was pushed out of the Top 10 for the first time since November 2007 – 21 months ago.
* Castle Crashers reached 7th place - the lowest it has ever been - and then made its way back to 5th. You can't stop this game.
* NBA 2K10 Draft Combine has done quite well.

Here's a collection of the Major Nelson Top 10 games per week for the month of August. An incredibly strong month for all.

July:

June:



We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that they [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine and half years? It's a learning process. - SCEI president Kaz Hirai

It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, "Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it." So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. - Epic Games president Mike Capps

We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. - Activision CEO Bobby Kotick

 

sinha on 08 September 2009

Whoa, this thread now has over 10,000 views. Next we catch the Forza thread!



We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that they [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine and half years? It's a learning process. - SCEI president Kaz Hirai

It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, "Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it." So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. - Epic Games president Mike Capps

We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. - Activision CEO Bobby Kotick