Posts Tagged ‘playstation 3’

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Free Realms: One year later – 10 Million users and PS3 version details

Friday, April 30th, 2010

SOE took a brave leap one year ago. They saw the writing on the wall, and decided to take their own stab at the free-to-play model. Perhaps not a major leap for upstarts and smaller gaming companies, but for Sony, this was a pretty big deal. Fast forward one year later, and SOE has successfully brought 10 million users into the fold, and for the first time, clarified a previous statement regarding Free Realms for the PS3 console.

Celebrating their one year success, SOE’s Free Realms team partied like it’s 1999, launching 8 individual in-game festivities, starting on the hour, every hour from 9AM – 5PM PST. And while the title certainly deserves to give itself the proverbial pat on the back, Kotaku raised a very valid question: “What happened to the PlayStation 3 version of Free Realms?”

SOE prez. John Smedley first gave out details regarding the PS3 version of Free Realms around the GDC 2009, indicating that Free Realms would be out mid-2010, with EyeToy support “likely”. Since this time, most of the coverage surrounding Free Realms has been about their rapidly growing user base. But other than that, Sony, and the gaming media in general has been rather tight lipped about the status of the project.

However, it appears as though a birthday party is enough to get the SOE folks talking about the PS3 version again, as they gave Kotaku an exclusive surrounding it’s projected release date. According to an SOE rep, “Free Realms for PlayStation3 is very much in development and, you heard it hear first, fans can be prepared to see the first demo in action in June at E3!”

ZOMG! If Sony garnered 10 million users on the PC platform alone (seriously guys? No mac version? Quasi-fail), what-oh-what will they be able to accomplish with a PS3 version? No longer chained to the desk or thigh roasting laptop, hanging on the couch playing a whimsical free-to-play MMO while viewed on the projector? Hell yes! Sign me up. Oh, and a microtransaction here or there? Ones that are already connected to my PS3 store credit card on file? Sold! Free Realms very much as the possibility to take over where Home failed. And moreover, there’s little to no risk involved for Sony, as they’ve already test the system backwards and forwards, and apparently 10+ million players agree: Free Realms is a hit.

The E3 expo kicks off this June 15th, and we’re chomping at the bit to get the skinny on Free Realms for the PS3. In the meantime, how about a recap of Free Realms’ banner first year. Congrats SOE/Free Realms folks – you’ve nailed it!

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Year End Report: Console Games Releases up – but just barely

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich recently disclosed the number of new games for 2009: 1,099 up just slightly from 1,092 in 2008. According to Divnich, this only slight increase doesn’t bode well for the console gaming community.

wii-360-ps3In an interview with GameSpot Divnich comments, “For just the current generation home consoles (PS3/360/Wii), 2009′s release quantities increase the total availability of games to consumers by 55 percent. Unless retail shelf space grows by the same amount, and it won’t, than the retail shelf life for an average game decreases dramatically.”

Divnich also points out that once console titles achieve a certain appeal and/or market presence, they occupy a permanent spot on retailer’s shelves, thereby creating less and less space for new titles. According to Divnich the number of new releases is outpacing the industry’s growth. “It does mean the average new release is producing fewer unit sales than in previous years.” An odd dichotomy in an economic that is seeing game production costs skyrocketing.

However, and this is a big however, Divnich says that digital distribution sales were NOT included in the research data. According to EEDAR’s research, 2009’s largest gainers were Nintendo’s Wii and DS platforms. Both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3 saw flat or slightly decreased releases. But again, this data does not include digital deliver methods, something that both consoles increased over the past year.

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Based on peak release trends from previous generation consoles as well as industry consolidations, Divnich expects the number of new releases to be on the decline in 2010. Adding to the decline of packaged goods on retailer’s shelves will be increased delivery of games via downloads, as well as the continued development of streaming or ‘cloud’ based gaming solutions.

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Turbine to tackle console MMO and microtransactions?

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

What would a hot day in Texas be without a little dust raising? It looks like Turbine’s VP of Product Development, Craig Alexander raised a little dust himself, as well as a few eyebrows when he took the stage on the last day of the GDC Austin 2009 event. In his presentation Alexander stated that the market of MMORPG’s on consoles, specifically Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 could be worth in upwards of $2.3 billion a year. Obviously a number no one is willing to pass on. However, up until now, no one’s taken a fair stab at making this dream a reality. To this end, according to Alexander, Turbine’s about to take a serious run at tapping this multi-billion dollar market.

craigalexanderIn his address, Alexander confirmed that the Westwood, MA based Turbine studios is in fact current at work on a console MMORPG. Citing the technical challenges of the physical operating procedure Sony’s PS3 employs, Alexander said that the team is developing for the PS3, with plans to shortly there after port the title to the Xbox. But if it sounds so easy on paper, why haven’t there been more serious attempts at addressing this market? In the end, it comes down to one simple answer: Money. According to Alexander, any decent attempt at this project is going to cost somewhere in the $20 million range just to develop. Given that Turbine has recently started receiving funding from a proposed $50 million investment round, their popular Lord of the Rings Online shows no signs of dipping in popularity, and their most recent experimentation into the world of hybrid subscriptions/microtransactions supported Dungeons and Dragons is out of the gate with a label of success, it’s fair to say that Turbine has the cheddar to make this a reality.

Alexander says that part of the difficulty in creating an MMORPG for a console is that in order to succeed, it must be radically different from the current state of play. A console MMO would need to have better graphics, less grind, and much more social interaction than is currently employed in the unofficial ‘standard elements your MMORPG must contain’ handbook. Speaking to the fact that many consider MMO’s a purely PC based form of play, Alexander was quick to point out that the same arguments were previously made when applied to sports sims and the FPS genre, but now market leaders Madden and Call of Duty have a massive console audience and following.

When talking monetization, Alexander primarily focused on subscriptions. Notably, he pointed out that reoccurring billing (subscriptions, if you will) options are already available on both platforms, and that the Xbox Live services are a clear indication that set top box players are willing to set up subscriptions and pay for additional enjoyment. If any of this sounds familiar, don’t forget that the rumor mill was rife with speculation back in May when the idea of LotRO microtransactions being utilized in the Xbox 360 item shop circulated. Alexander flatly and specifically denied this rumor of porting LotRO to the Xbox during his presentation.

And while the rumor didn’t pan out, it’s clear that with the implementation of a hybrid model with Dungeons and Dragons Online, and this confirmation that Turbine is seriously committed to a perhaps industry revolutionizing MMO for consoles project, clearly something major is afoot at Turbine. If they can truly hit the nail on the head and show us something that’s never been seen before, the pure subscription based model may have merit, but if they fall anything short of perfect, we may see them revert to something they’ve already seen work, and work well – the microtransaction/subscription hybrid model.

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Sony/Double Fusion ad HD IGA’s to WipEoutHD – gamers cry foul

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

In principle, this concept sounds awesome, groundbreaking, stupendous even in the boardroom. However, it looks like someone overlooked that one important step of ‘unobtrusive’ when programming the 1080p quality in-game advertising.

WipEout HDBundled into the new Fury DLC pack, Sony’s tapped IGA provider Double Fusion to retroactively fit the title with some revenue generating ads. No problems thus far, as it’s a pretty fair statement to make that 99.44% of gamers are used to seeing a billboard ad or two, and of course the blatant Coca-Cola vending machine, etc. For the most part, these in-game ads aren’t getting in anyone’s way of game enjoyment, and arguably ad a further touch of realism to the experience.

Again, Double Fusion gets credit for being the first IGA firm to implement true 1080p quality advertisements into a video game. And fittingly, the firm chose a futuristic title to kick off the HD ads campaigns in. “By introducing high-resolution dynamic video ads into WipEout HD, Double Fusion is responding to advertiser demand and offering an engaging ad format while pushing in-game ad innovation to a new level,” said Jonathan Epstein, CEO of Double Fusion. “The title is one of the most popular and visually stunning available on the PlayStation Network and a perfect vehicle to connect advertisers to a captivated audience. It comes as no surprise that advertisers have already signed up for WipEout HD even before the launch of the new video ad units in the game.”

Ok, again, so far so good. So as the classic Wendy’s advertising campaign questioned, “Where’s the Beef?” The beef comes our way via seconds. Let’s be honest: load times are a bummer. Every game under the sun has them, and it’s just the way things work. However, keeping players engaged in what they’ve paid for, mainly the game, is something that every developer shoots for. Most players would like to be spending their time shucking and jiving, rather than watching a scrolling progress bar. To that end, it looks like Double Fusion and Sony are placing advertising dollars over gamer satisfaction. As demonstrated by Ryaldeco, the standard load time for WipEout HD is around 8 seconds. Compare this load time to what now takes around 19 seconds if an ad plays.  Ouch.

Fair enough, 19 seconds isn’t go to kill anyone, but when one is used to a load time of half the current state (if an ad plays – reports range from 3 to 5 times per hour), you could see why this has caused somewhat of an uproar from a dedicated community. To add insult to injury, WipEout HD is a paid title. Perhaps if the game were free-to-play, and either microtransaction or IGA supported – well, in that case, players get the title free of charge, so a bit of monetization somewhere is to be expected. However, for players that have already laid $20 (or so) down….

Again, in principle, Double Fusion is to be commended for pushing the envelope, and utilizing previously untapped resources to push the format forward. On the other side of the coin, it’s a shame that progress comes at the cost of time, which ultimately leads to engagement.

Update: Eurogamer is reporting that Sony has pulled the offending ad.  “The ad has been removed from WipEout HD and we are investigating the situation to ensure that any in-game advertising does not affect gameplay,” said a Sony spokesperson.

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Battlefield Heroes coming to Xbox and PS3?

Monday, May 18th, 2009

The eagle eyed folks over at GOONL!NE caught what might just be a typo over the weekend, but…it begs the question: OMGZ rlly?  The ‘probably just a typo’ in question concerns a listing in the press release section of EA’s site, listing Battlefield Heroes as having a June 2009 release date for both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360.

Driving suspicion even further, the ‘official’ release date slated for the PC version of BFH is September 2009.  If that is in fact the case, then a June release of both PS3 and Xbox 360 version seems highly unlikely.  Throw a bit of Battlefield Heroes track record of ‘Hold your fire’ in there, and the rumor becoming even more less likely.  But then again…we’ve seen stranger things happen.

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Adding to the mystique, DICE has said in the past that they’re not interested in porting a PC game to a console version, “We could port the engine and do it I just don’t know what we would gain from it. Everyone’s who’s got a 360 or PS3 also will have a PC that can run this game.”  If I can just think out loud for a second, ’ummm, how about millions of gamers around the world that would rather have a seat on the couch instead of behind a desk, something we do all day long?’  The comfort and convenience of a console factor aside, both Xbox and PS3 have been delving further and further into the realm of microtransactions, and is it just me, or would a premier DICE/EA shooter featuring microtransactions not make both the Sony and Microsoft folks’ mouths water with anticipation?

Again, perhaps this is just one big ol’ typographical error on the part of EA, but with E3 just 12 days away now, the timing does seem slightly suspect.  DICE’s comments about no interest in porting the game to a console version were made over a year ago, and as evidenced by this years GDC and the growing interest by developers and publishers worldwide in microtransactions, perhaps the Swedes have changed their minds, and are now interested in opening the floodgates wide open and letting the sofa surfers have a whack at BFH?  No doubt we’ll hear more about this in the coming few weeks, stay tuned….

Update: The head honcho, Ben Cousins of DICE made a statement on the Heroes Dev. Blog:

Contrary to rumours spreading around the internet in the weekend we have no plans to release Battlefield Heroes on either PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

Battlefield Heroes’ mixture of free download (funded by micro-transactions and advertising) and our extensive use of the web for social features means that Heroes is tailor-made for PC.

Ok, fair statement, but are microtransactions and advertising something we’ve not seen on Xbox 360 or PS3?  As far as using the web for social features, I can’t really see how bringing this to a console would kill said features.  With that said, if DICE has no interest, so be it, but wouldn’t it be truly freakin’ awesome to see this one come to consoles?  Rumors (and associated interest) have made the impossible possible in the past.

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Nielsen study finds gaming up, prime time television consumption down

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

As tougher economic times bear down on the global market, and wallets get tighter, consumer spending and consumption habits are bound to change, appropriately reflecting market conditions.  But according to a new Nielsen study, the healthy growth of the video game industry is bucking all the trends and setting out on it’s own path.

The recently published ‘State of the Video Gamer’ report looked at gaming on consoles, PC, and mobile gaming happening in the United States during Q4 of 2008.  The Nielsen study found that gaming, traditionally a realm reserved for younger males, have grown in popularity with females, older players, and diversified groups.  The report also revealed that this new consumers’ play time is cutting into prime time television consumption.

“Gaming, once the domain of kids and a small group of core fans, is now more mainstream than ever.  As the number of platforms continues to expand, we would expect that more people will be drawn to the entertainment video games can offer.  Along with this, the evolution of gaming consoles into multimedia devices has changed consumption habits of traditional media such as TV, movie and Internet content,” said Bradley Raczka, Marketing Manager for Nielsen Games.

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Key findings from the study include:

  • The PlayStation 2, while still leading all other consoles in total minutes of usage, continues to have the highest downward trending rate of usage.  Trending data suggests by the end of 2009, the PlayStation 2 will no longer be the most used console in the United States.
  • Females 25 years and older make up the largest block of PC game players, accounting for 46.2 percent of all players and 54.6 percent of all game play minutes in December 2008.
  • More sophisticated consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 attract the more engaged console users, who are less likely to be watching television in Prime Time than users of other consoles.

The Nielsen data was mined from a sample of more the 17,000 US television households and 185,000 US tracked PC’s.

While the Nielsen study is certainly not all encompassing, it does deliver a hefty blow to an already ailing television industry.  With the rise of console complexity and interactivity, this study clearly indicates more and more households are tuning off the tube, and turning on the titles.

So what does this all mean?

The Nielsen study only confirms and strengthens a similar study currently being conducted by NeoEdge and Frank Magid Associates – that in-game advertising is more effective than television advertising.  Depending on which sources you look at, spending on in-game advertising is expected to balloon to somewhere between $732 million to $1.8 billion by 2010.  Which then raises the question – why is IGA Worldwide in trouble and looking for more money, or a buyer?  With more and more info hitting the streets regarding the potential of in-game advertising, I’d expect in-game advertising specialists like IGA Worldwide, Massive, and Double Fusion to be working at maximum capacity.

Download the Nielsen ‘State of the Video Gamer’ report here (PDF).

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New survey finds outsourcing in game development on the rise

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Think Services Game Group’s Game Developer recently released findings from their most recent survey, asking approximately 200 developers their opinions and usage statistics on outsourcing game development.

thinkservicesThe 2009 Game Development Outsourcing Report found that between 2007 and 2008 outsourced development rose 10 percent, from 76 percent to 86 percent.  The Think Services Game Group conducted a blind survey, and approximately 200 professional game developers were polled anonymously, thereby ensuring a fair, yet comprehensive look at the industry segment.  Questions included studios’ usage of outsourcing, the associated budgets and plans to accompany this outsourcing, and regional factors, amongst a number of others.

This survey reveals key data on the rise and usage of outsourced development work, and how the practice is on track to grow even larger than current levels.  Of those surveyed that do not use outsourcing at one point or another during development work, half of them responded that they plan on doing so in the near future.  Likewise, of those surveyed that do currently use outsourcing, 95 percent of them plan on continuing to do so.

One factor contributing to the outsourcing movement, according to the survey is the increasing cost and bandwidth required to create a high volume of assets for modern console systems.  Respondents reported that the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 are the two platforms in which game development is most often outsourced.  To compliment these findings, the survey also found that overall outsourcing budgets are on the rise, nearly doubling.  The majority of companies planning to spend $2 million or more on outsourcing  rose almost 20 percent in 2008.

“It is the goal of Game Developer Research to provide the professional game community with an understanding of the industry landscape from multiple perspectives,” said Simon Carless, publisher of Game Developer Magazine and director of Game Developer Research. “With game outsourcing an increasingly important part of making large-scale video games, we hope this survey will give both contractors and game studios a good sense of how business practices are evolving.”

The 2009 Game Development Outsourcing Report is available for purchase from gamedevresearch.com and also discusses overall budgets, reasons for outsourcing, the selection process for choosing firms to outsource to, and the regions of the world that the respondents worked with.  The report also includes a directory of established outsourcing studios from across the globe that were mentioned by survey respondents, with a particular emphasis on those mentioned multiple times.

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Holiday 2008 online video game sales top brick and mortar

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Comscore has recently released figures comparing holiday spending 2007 vs. 2008 revealing that both online sales of Sports and Fitness equipment and Video Games increased and outperformed offline sales during the holiday 2008 season.

Data compared data from comScores’s overall (online and offline) consumer e-commerce spending published by MasterCard Avisors’ SpendingPulse Unit from November 1 – December 24 of 2007.

The data doesn’t lie, with comScore showing that the top growing online product category for the holiday season was Sports and Fitness, growing 18 percent yoy, with Video Games, Consoles and Accessories growing a close 14 percent.  Naturally, the top grossing platforms include the big three: Nintendo Wii, Microsoft xbox 360, and Sony’s Playstation 3.  The only other positive growth segment was apparel and accessories, which generated higher sales as a result of retailers’ price slashing and promotions, combined with bad weather across most of the country.

And while certain categories lost significant traction across the board, the silver lining is that the online component of these sales is significantly higher than their offline counterparts

  • Sales of Apparel & Accessories was up four percent online, compared with a 19-21% decline in overall sales of the category.
  • Electronics declined five percent online, while Home, Garden and Furniture declined 14% online. This compares with a 26% decline in overall sales of Electronics/ Appliances.
  • Jewelry & Watches declined 24% online, compared with a 34% decline in overall sales of Luxury Goods (including Jewelry & Watches).

“For an online holiday shopping season that recorded a disappointing three-percent decline in sales, a positive note is that e-commerce trends outperformed overall consumer spending in several product categories, which is to say that e-commerce continued to capture an increasing share of consumers’ wallet,” said Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman.

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NPD reports that industry growth slows: Madden still drives it into the end zone

Friday, September 12th, 2008

According to NPD’s August numbers, the North American video game market only grew 9% year-over-year (August ’07-August ’08), indicating a slowed growth from previous months.  Software sales were however strong with EA’s Madden NFL 09 leading the pack; Nintendo pulling some equally strong numbers.
While 9% isn’t a massive growth rate when talking about widget sales, a 9% growth rate in the video game industry is still a commanding figure: $1.08 billion ’08, and a paultry $994.76 million in August ’07.  Hardware however, only clocked in at a 3% growth rate; $384.59 million ’07 – $394.53 million ’08.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier points out that this is the first time in 27 months the industry has seen only single-digit percentage growth.

Like the July numbers, software sales managed to beat the average improvement, rising 13% year-over-year from $489.06 million to $550.67 million.

The Nintendo DS and Wii took the top two spots respectively in the hardware sales slots, while Xbox 360 leapfrogged over the PS3, the PSP managed to beat both.

The cold hard facts:

August Hardware Per-unit Sales figures

  1. Nintendo DS – 518.3K
  2. Wii – 453.0K
  3. PlayStation Portable – 253.0K
  4. Xbox 360 – 195.2K
  5. PlayStation 3 – 185.4K
  6. Playstation 2 – 144.1K

While August wasn’t a great month for strong hardware growth Frazier comments, “The PSP and PS3 systems achieved the greatest percentage gain of all now-gen systems. The sales acceleration of these systems, combined with the recent Xbox 360 price cuts should fuel future growth of this category.”

I’m quite sure the folks in Richmond are quite happy about this.  Microsoft recently lowered the price of the entry-level Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes without a hard drive, to $199.

August Software Units Sold Figures

  1. Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360, EA Tiburon/EA) – 1.0M
  2. Madden NFL 09 (PS3, EA Tiburon/EA) – 643K
  3. Madden NFL 09 (PS2, EA Tiburon/EA) – 424.5K
  4. Wii Fit (Wii, Nintendo EAD/Nintendo) – 394.9K
  5. Mario Kart Wii (Wii, Nintendo EAD/Nintendo) – 328.7K
  6. Wii Play (Wii, Nintendo EAD/Nintendo) – 200.2K
  7. Soulcalibur IV (Xbox 360, Project Soul/Namco Bandai) – 174K
  8. Too Human (Xbox 360, Silicon Knights/Microsoft) – 168.2K
  9. Madden NFL 09 All-Play (Wii, EA Tiburon/EA) – 115.8K
  10. Guitar Hero: On Tour (NDS, Vicarious Visions/Activision) – 111.2K

With the days growing shorter and cooler, combined with the media blitz concerning all things football, it’s shouldn’t really come as a shock that Madden is dominating the charts.  Regarding the slow growth over the month of August, sure, it IS the first time the sector has seen a single digit for the past 27 months, but I’m not quite sure it’s time to panic.  While there were 453k Wii sales, the DS clocked in at 518.3k, clearly indicating that gamers were on the go during the month.  As retailers begin to gear up for the coming holiday season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a report coming out of Port Jefferson extolling the rise in gaming consoles and software sales in the coming months.

And the PS2…are they really still making games for an outdated platform?

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NextGenBooks titles relaunch as free-to-play – console gamers flock in record numbers

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Since the relaunch of Warrior Quest two weeks ago, publisher NextGenBooks.com has seen a massive influx of console gamers to the already popular RPG.  Not just a random blip on the radar, NextGenBooks reports that the console audience has now outgrown the number of players accessing the title via PS and Mac.  Lead by Playstation 3 gamers, console plays have far surpassed the number of players accessing the game via home gaming consoles in any previous month(s).  Not to be outdone, Wii owners are in a strong 2nd place.  Both platform gamers may access the game via their in console internet browser.

Warrior Quest is a traditional RPG the provides a healthy mixture of card based battles, monster collections, and turn based combat to provide a rich and accessible RG experience.  The game is playable on a variety of platforms including PC, Mac, Wii and PS3 via their respective browsers.  In addition to the traditional RPG gaming experience, Warrior Quest also features online leader boards and scoring that allow players to compete in weekly, monthly, and all time charts, regardless of which platform they choose to play on.  Again, the title is free-to-play, with premium content due out in the coming months.  No official word yet, but we’re banking on premium content, features, and in-game items to come via micro-transactions.

Providing a perhaps needed boost, the sudden upswing in players comes just days after the publisher, NextGenBooks.com announced that it will be changing it’s name and rebranding as mikomi.info.  Mikomi.info is now live, but NextGenBooks.com URL’s will continue to redirect for a some time.

NextGenBooks/Mikomi’s other now free-to-play title, The Half Broken Crown: The Broken Kingdoms has also seen a massive upswing in plays since it’s recent relaunch.  Like it’s sibling, it too has seen a dramatic increase in use via gaming consoles, outnumbering plays on both PC and Mac.

The Half Broken Crown: Broken Kingdoms is a point and click adveture title with cross platform live chat abilities.  This title also has available versions for PSP and Nintendo DS via the browser interface.  Keep your eyes peeled for a special re-release of The Half Broken Crown: The Broken Kingdoms due out later this year.  Another major influx of console gamers?

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