With more than 4 million units supplied to retailers worldwide, Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade" expansion has sold about 2.4 million units worldwide within the first day alone.
From the press release: "World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™ has broken the day-one sales record to become the fastest-selling PC game ever in North America and Europe, with a worldwide total of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability."
As we are having our fun in gamingland, a bitter war is raging in the realm of reality (I just found out since I only return to reality to collect my mail). Many of us have embraced one of the two competitors, Blu-Ray or HD DVD, while many still have rejected both. And of course there are those that have decided to let the problem fix itself.
Well I'm here to tell that percentage of the population that I don't think the problem will fix itself. Before I continue, let me remind you that a format war DOES have major impact on the gaming industry (Imagine the short-lived cartridge vs. compact disc battle only on a mammoth scale). Each format camp is taking the "Let's throw money at the problem until we win" approach, and that will only drag things out longer. Personally, I feel that things won't be dragged into a situation where one format is victorious. Instead you might find yourself looking at the same movie but in two flavors, just like people had to choose between widescreen and fullscreen for regular dvd's(Warner Bros. Total HD disc could be a big help here). Let's just say then that this turned out to be true and we were really only choosing which player, not which movies. How would this apply to gaming?
Well the true application of this would be the console war. Sony put a large bet on the Blu-ray format with its Playstation 3 in order to take over the living room. Of course many have said that buying an Xbox 360 and its HD DVD add-on is just not as good a deal as a PS3. They also have argued that Blu-ray's slightly better library and use for games could give PS3 an edge. If movies start coming out on both or Total HD becomes widespread, then format could become almost a moot point, thus reducing the console war to a games vs. games brawl which is of course what it should be. The main point of my rant is this: deciding which console you buy based on format may be ok now, but don't count on that in the future. Movie studios and game companies will find ways to reach every market: for example, imagine if games for 360 and PS3 came on one hybrid disc like Total HD). So don't get your panties in a wad if you loved Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and own an HD DVD player. My prediction is that sooner or later if noone wins, then with dual-format, we could all win. As for Microsoft and Sony, Dual-format could either eliminate format from their arsenal, or eliminate their console completely.
P.S. If you guys found this opinion piece a complete waste of time (or you loved it) let us know. We'd love to hear from you people more.
Right before you're done downloading the Crackdown demo from Xbox Live comes word of another juicy demo. A playable demo for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is rumored to be coming to the Xbox Live Marketplace soon.
UPDATE: A banner on this page (Ubisoft Ghost Recon forum) confirms that a single player demo is coming soon. (You will need to view the page with Internet Explorer to see the banner).
Xbox 360 Live Gold Members can now download a demo for Crackdown from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Clear up your hard drive space, as the demo will be 1.24 GB to download. Silver Members will have to wait until next week to download the demo.
From the Xbox Dashboard: "[ESRB: M (MATURE) Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs] It's time to clean up the streets. It's time for a Crackdown. Download the Crackdown demo today - featuring both single player and online cooperative play."
This is pretty awesome. If you don't have the Xbox remote control, you can use a DirecTV Universal Remote to navigate through the Dashboard and to play DVDs and whatnot in 4 easy steps.
1) Switch the DirecTV remote to AV-1. Point the remote away from your receiver. Press and hold the select and mute buttons until the light above the AV-1 switch blinks twice.
2) Press 991, then press 2. Now press Power.
3) Press Ch. Up 35-40 times, pausing between each press. The light above AV-1 should go on every time you press it.
4) When your Xbox 360 turns on, immediately press Select.
Hungry PS3 gamers, fret not. SEGA is bringing some fighting action to the PS3 on February 20, 2007. Today, SEGA announced that "Virtua Fighter 5 for the Sony PS3 has officially gone gold."
From SEGA: "Virtua Fighter 5 brings the 3D fighting game genre to the next level making it the perfect arcade conversion with an all new Quest Mode, character customization options, two new characters, commentary feature and stunning high quality fighting environments. The Quest Mode allows players to compete in various arcades to win prize money to buy items and fully customize each character. Two new characters, Eileen and El Blaze, round out the roster to 17 dynamic and different characters. Eileen uses “Kou-Ken”, a Monkey Kung Fu style while El Blaze is a Mexican wrestling champion that uses the Lucha Lubre technique. Players will also be able to turn on the commentary feature allowing players to hear a play-by-play sports commentary audio while fighting their opponents. "
A prequel to Driver Parallel Lines, Driver 76 will be coming to the Sony Playstation Portable this March 2007.
Features include:
• All-New Content Developed Exclusively for the PSP system – Twenty-seven all-new missions created for the PSP system.
• Prequel Storyline to Driver Parallel Lines – The year is 1976, two years before Driver® Parallel Lines.
• Multiplayer Games and Downloadable Content – Games include Street Racing, Destruction Derby, Pink Slip Racing and Swap Meet. Also download new paintjobs to use on your collected vehicles in the garage.
• Experience Open Environments in Authentic 1970’s New York – All the architecture, music, cars and clothes of the ’70s. Spans New York from Jersey to Coney Island.
• Vehicle Modification System – Collect your favorite vehicles and complete side job missions to get the cash to modify your ride.
• High-Speed Hollywood Racing Action – High-speed car races and crashes. Go even faster by customizing your car with special parts.
• Authentic ’70s Soundtrack – Immerse yourself in the ’70s with classic songs from the decade.
From Ubisoft: "Faithful to the brand spirit, Driver 76 is an action driving game that features Hollywood-style car chases while also letting the player experience the open environment on foot. The game thrusts the player into the heart of the 1970s, through 27 missions divided into six main plots. Players can take side jobs, earning cash that can be used to modify their rides. Driver 76 also offers an extensive multiplayer mode and a host of mini-games ranging from street races to all out carnage in Destruction Derby mode. "
Today, Nintendo released a new Virtual Console title, "The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past" (SNES) via the Wii Shop. The classic Zelda adventure from the Super NES days is available for 800 Points.
"Return to an age of magic and heroes" in this classic top/down Zelda adventure!
Playable with the Gamecube or Classic controller.
Gamers who quickly jumped on the initial online signup for the Halo 3 Beta will be notified this week if they've been selected.
From Halo3.com: "Phase one registration is now closed. If you have been selected to participate, congratulations and stay tuned for an email notification on the week of January 22-26, 2007.
For those of you that didn't make it in - fret not as this phase one was just the first of three ways to secure an invite to participate in the development of Halo 3. The next two paths of entry are the following:
- Qualifying over Xbox Live via the "Rule of Three" program in early February
- Purchasing marked packages of the upcoming game Crackdown™, which hits store shelves in the U.S. on Feb. 20"
If you haven't heard by January 26th, you will have two more shots to try out the Halo 3 Beta. Read more details at halo3.com. Let us know if you received a beta invite confirmation this week!
The man behind much of Nintendo's key game titles will make a public appearance at the 2007 Game Developers Conference (GDC). Shigeru Miyamoto will be conducting a keynote, “A Creative Vision,” on March 8, 2007. This is his first keynote since 1999.
From today's press release: "In this session, he will reveal how a singular creative vision drives his work, not only in terms of his world-renowned software like the Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda series, but also in generating key technologies, including the current global phenomena, Nintendo DS and Wii."
Miyamoto’s keynote, “A Creative Vision,” will take place from 10:30am - 11:30am in the Esplanade Room of the Moscone Center’s South Hall on Thursday, March 8.
