Lucid Gaming – December 09
Written by Adam A. Donaldson
Monday, 30 November 2009 13:22
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In the News
‘Black Friday’ not great for gaming
Every Black Friday, millions of Americans pack themselves into big box stores in order to officially commemorate another Christmas shopping season. On this day, retailers happily offer their heftiest discounts in the hopes of unloading big ticket electronics like video games, laptop computers, and plasma TVs. But unfortunately, the video game sector has suffered a severe decline in customer interest since this time last year.
According to market researchers the NPD Group, industry sales have plummeted over $200 million, while most other digital industries have increased their Black Friday profits. “October unfortunately is a good predictor of what's going to happen in November and December," said videogame analyst, Jesse Divnich. On the plus side, he also predicts that decreased market share and increased production value should significantly lower next year’s prices. For the November sales numbers, see this month’s Chart below. BC gamers raise big money playing boring game
British Columbia comedy troupe, LoadingReadyRun, recently raised $132,000 for charity. How did they do it? They played the non-violent videogame Desert Bus for 136 straight hours. Despite the game’s reputation as “the most boring video game ever”, the four-member group attracted over 1,500 participants to their online fundraiser. For the third year in a row, sketch comedians Kathleen De Vere, James Turner, Bill Watt, Morgan van Humbeck, and Jeremy Petter took turns driving their digital bus on a 16-hour roundtrip from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. Surprisingly enough, as each tedious hour wore on, donations continued to pour in from viewers as far away as Norway, Scotland, Japan, and Australia. With all proceeds going to Child's Play, a Seattle organization that buys video games and toys for hospitals in Canada and the United States, LoadingReadyRun continues to prove that videogames can indeed effect change.
Charts
Gamers heard the call, and they answered in droves. The release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was just the metaphorical shot in the arm that
the gaming industry needed going into the all-important holiday shopping season. Between the two versions for the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3, Call of Duty sold nearly six million copies. The Wii also produced a strong showing with its own million-copy seller, Super Mario Bros. Just to put those numbers into perspective November game sales are up 59 per cent, while October’s two most popular games barely sold 1 million copies combined. In other news, although November gaming console sales increased to 2.5 million units, that number still represents half of the totally console sales experienced this time last year. If the gaming companies want this to be another record breaking-year, then sales of both games and consoles must experience a severe increase in the month of December. Currently for 2009, hardware sales are down 38 per cent and total games sales are down 25 per cent.
Top 20 Games – November
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (X360/Activision) - 3,874,774/3,874,774
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3/Activision) - 1,957,139/1,957,139
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii/Nintendo) - 952,279/952,279
4. Wii Sports (Wii/Nintendo) - 763,894/26,402,273
5. Assassin's Creed II (X360/Ubisoft) - 575,150/575,150
6. Left 4 Dead 2 (X360/Electronic Arts) - 550,466/550,466
7. Wii Fit Plus (Wii/Nintendo) - 469,358/998,737
8. Dragon Age: Origins (X360/Electronic Arts) - 408,298/408,298
9. Wii Sports Resort (Wii/Nintendo) - 404,688/2,719,153
10. Assassin's Creed II (PS3/Ubisoft) - 346,745/346,745
11. Forza Motorsport 3 (X360/Microsoft) - 333,870/577,518
12. Mario Kart Wii (Wii/Nintendo) - 264,788/8,032,367
13. Borderlands (X360/2K Games) - 225,955/557,383
14. Dragon Age: Origins (PS3/Electronic Arts) - 200,402/200,402
15. Halo 3: ODST (X360/Microsoft) - 192,655/2,497,742
16. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3/Sony) - 149,695/805,610
17. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City (X360/Rockstar) - 142,441/223,477
18. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS/Nintendo) - 135,635/483,399
19. The Beatles: Rock Band (Wii/MTV Games) - 135,060/663,239
20. Madden NFL 10 (X360/EA Sports) - 132,003/1,369,029
***Courtesy of VGChartz.com
Hardware
Nintendo Wii: 763,894/26,402,273
Nintendo DS: 583,238/39,377,990
Microsoft X-Box 360: 481,541/19,387,601
Sony Playstation 3: 363,746/10,453,630
Sony Playstation Portable: 157,465/17,867,326
Sony Playstation 2: 102,805/51,197,033
Total: 2,452,689
Previews
Avatar (Playstation 3) – IGN.com
The most impressive aspect of Avatar: The Game is its single-player campaign. But it is also the 10 richly detailed maps, each built around five possible gameplay modes, which provides an epic scope to the whole experience. Inside the game, an interesting dichotomy is created as players are immediately forced to take sides – For the remainder of the game they must choose to be either the Na’vi or the RDA. There are no exceptions. The Na'vi, true to their nature-loving ways, prefer to do battle with sticks and arrows. While the RDA, a product of their technologically-savvy environment, favour guns and vehicles. That being said, choosing the Na’vi turns the game into a traditional hand-to-hand fighting format, while choosing the RDA turns the game into more of a first-person shooter.
The big question, of course, is how it handles. The online interface is smooth, and I didn't notice any lag in the gameplay. The controls handle relatively well, and the face-off between the two vastly different factions does make for an interesting setup. Still, I don't see this game stealing many players away from some of the already established or recently released multiplayer games currently on the market. It may have something to do with the slightly awkward way in which the players look in close combat. It might also be due to the fact that many of the weapons felt repetitive and uncreative. Whatever it was, I just couldn’t buy into Avatar's multiplayer game. Still, it's solid enough that it should maintain a decent legion of devotees come release this December.
Avatar will be released on multiple platforms December 1st
Silent Hill: Shattered Memory (Wii) – GameSpot.com
Many of the challenges of Shattered Memories seem to revolve around the deciphering of numbers and codes. But still, there are quite a few missions that simply involve locked doors and the location of a hidden key. Additionally, the games protagonist, Harry comes across a variety of mementos scattered throughout the different parts of town. In the early portions of the game, these mementos don't seem to serve any specific purpose, aside from adding some background to the events transpiring in the game, but that soon changes as the narrative begins to unfold. Interestingly enough, human psychology plays a big role in the final version of Shattered Memories. For instance, near the beginning of the game, Harry finds himself in a psychologist's office where he discusses the unpleasant events that transpired at Silent Hill. In fact, Harry is forced to submit to numerous psych tests throughout the game, in which some very personal and revealing questions are asked. Harry’s answers to these tests inevitably affect the outcome of the game. Needless to say, it adds an extra layer of weirdness to what is shaping up to be a supremely creepy game.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memory will be released exclusively for Wii on December 7th
Reviews
Tony Hawk Ride – X-Box 360
“We can see some faint glimmers of what Tony Hawk: Ride could have been, but the technology inside the board peripheral simply doesn't hold up. From the cumbersome load times to the malfunctioning board it's just clunky. If you set it to casual and bring it out at a party it will draw some interest, but it won't take long before everyone realizes it's work to play, and ultimately, not very fun. At a steep $120, it's a bit of a wipeout.” – GameTrailers.com
“I’m pretty good at Tony Hawk: Ride. I don’t want to brag or anything, but I scored like 53,000 points in the halfpipe on my first try. How did I do this? Not too sure exactly, but it happened. For better or for worse, this seems to be a standard experience in the new skateboarding title from Activision. Just when I thought I was starting to master a certain mechanic, the inconsistent gameplay inevitably turned each session into whirlwind of tears and frustration. While the skateboard-as-game-peripheral idea may have sounded like a hit on paper, the truth of the matter is it doesn’t translate into the real world.” – GameInformer.com
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles – Nintendo Wii
“Darkside Chronicles features two scenarios based on past Resident Evil games: "Memories of a Lost City," a.k.a. Resident Evil 2, and "Game of Oblivion," a.k.a. Resident Evil: Code: Veronica. However, it all opens with a third, brand new story, "Operation Javier," that ties it all together... sort of. In it, longtime RE hero Leon S. Kennedy travels to South America in 2002 along with then-partner Krauser, in order to stop a demented military leader from unleashing the Umbrella Corporation's bio-warfare viruses on the rest of the region. Three episodes of it play before, in-between, and after the main two scenarios, but it doesn't shine much more light on the whole mystery of the RE mythology.” – 1Up.com “A handful of issues drag this "could have been a contender" game down from its potential heights. The camera constantly works against you at every turn, making it difficult to rain down bullets on enemies with any sort of effectiveness. Every boss encounter also devolves into a frustrating treadmill where you shoot the hell out of the bad guy until his life bar is exhausted only to see him disappear and return with full health. To top off the downward spiral, there's a surprisingly low volume of enemies thrown in your path, which makes for less than a challenge, not to mention that the weapon selection definitely leaves something to be desired.” – GamePro.com
New Releases
December 1st
James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (Action/Ubisoft) – Wii, DS, X360, PS3, PC
The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood (Role-Playing/Turbine Inc) - PC
Rogue Warrior (Action/Bethesda Softworks) – X360, PS3, PC
Elven Legacy: Magic (Strategy/Paradox Interactive) - PC
MX vs. ATV Reflex (Driving/THQ) – DS, X360, PS3, PSP
The Seventh Dragon (Role-Playing/Vector) - PC
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes (Role-Playing/Ubisoft) - DS
DiRT 2 (Driving/Codemasters) - PC
th!nk Logic Trainer (Puzzle/Conspiracy Entertainment) - Wii
7 Wonders II (Puzzle/Avanquest Software) - DS
Hair Salon (Puzzle/505 Games) - DS
th!nk Logic Trainer (Puzzle/Conspiracy Entertainment) - DS
Storybook Workshop (Puzzle/Konami) - Wii
The Seventh Dragon (Role-Playing/Vector) - MAC
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Action/Majesco Games) – Wii, DS
Rec Room Games (Sports/Destineer) - Wii
th!nk Logic Trainer: Kids (Simulation/Conspiracy Entertainment) - DS
La-Mulana (Action/Nicalis) - Wii
December 2nd
Dragon Master (Action/Dreamcatcher) - DS
December 3rd
Dreamer: Zoo Keeper (Simulation/Dreamcatcher) - DS
Learn Science (Simulation/Dreamcatcher) - DS
Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure (Adventure/Dreamcatcher) - DS
December 4th
Zombie Driver (Driving/EXOR Studios) - PC
Can You See What I See? Dream Machine (Puzzle/Freeze Tag) - PC
December 7th
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Adventure/Nintendo) - DS
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Action/Konami) - Wii
James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (Action/Ubisoft) - PSP
The Saboteur (Action/Electronic Arts) – X360, PS3, PC
Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 5: Rise of the Pirate God (Adventure/Telltale) – Wii, PC
East India Company: Battle of Trafalgar (Action/Paradox Interactive) - PC
Bookworm (Puzzle/PopCap) - DS
Salon Superstar (Simulation/505 Games) - DS
Puzzler World (Puzzle/Atari) - DS
December 10th
Learn Geography (Puzzle/DreamCatcher Interactive) - DS
Playmobil: Pirates (Action/Dreamcatcher) - DS
Playmobil Circus (Action/Dreamcatcher) - Wii
December 12th
Hello Kitty Online (Role-Playing/Typhoon Games) – PC
December 14th
Twin Sector (Action/Headup Games) - PC
December 15th
Europa Universalis III: Heir to the Throne (Strategy/Paradox Interactive) - PC
Konami Classics Vol. 2. (Puzzle/Konami) – X360
EverQuest Underfoot (Role-Playing/Sony Online Entertainment) - PC
Hall of Fame (Adventure/Zoo Games) - Wii
Learn Chess (Puzzle/Dreamcatcher) - DS
December 22nd
Guitar Hero: Van Halen (Action/Activision) – Wii,X360, PS3, PS2
Supreme Ruler 2020 Global Crisis (Strategy/Paradox Interactive) - PC
December 24th
Herman (Action/Microsoft Game Studios) – X360
December 26th
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Role-Playing/Square Enix) - Wii
