EA: NFL Lockout Or Not, Madden Must Go On

Madden NFL 12 is scheduled to launch this August. And not even the National Football League labor dispute will stop it.

"Fans of Madden NFL will not have their seasons interrupted, regardless of when the labor issues are resolved," Rob Semsey, EA Sports' director of public relations, told CNET in an interview today. "We plan to release Madden NFL 12 in August as always."

Don't worry. Madden will be launching this year.(Credit: Electronic Arts)

Madden NFL 12 will be the 23rd release in the famed franchise. Since its launch in 1989, more than 90 million Madden units have shipped worldwide.

Unlike in previous seasons, Madden fans need reassurance this year.

Earlier this month, the collective-bargaining agreement between the NFL Players Association and the league expired as the sides failed to reach a suitable resolution that would extend their relationship. If the sides don't come to an agreement in the next several months, the 2011-2012 season won't be played. It's a real enough possibility that last month, Sports Business Daily reported that the NFL modified its deal with EA in the event no season is played.

According to that report, the NFL "significantly" reduced EA's "contractual obligation" to help the game developer. Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver said at the time that the move was designed to "give our partner some relief in the short term, but gain something on the back end." That deal also reportedly extended EA's relationship with the NFL past its original 2012 end date.

EA hasn't said how its bottom line would be affected if there isn't an NFL season this year. However, last week, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter told The Hollywood Reporter that Madden sales rely heavily on an NFL season. And if the players decide to not show for work this year, it could "cost Madden around 50 percent of sales."

It's a possibility even EA has hedged its bets on. The company said during an earnings call with investors last month that it's planning for the worst--"no season."

Even if there is no season, this year's Madden gamers won't find generic team names or players. Semsey told CNET that "Madden NFL 12 will include all 32 NFL teams and more than 1,700 NFL players."

As with previous seasons, one of those players will be on the box this year. Starting today and extending through April 27, Madden fans can go to ESPN to vote on who they think should be this year's cover athlete.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was the Madden NFL 11 cover athlete

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20045434-17.html#ixzz1HG4eu6Ld

Amazon Running 99-Cent Kindle Game Special

Amazon is discounting several Kindle games to 99 cents until March 27.

(Credit: Amazon)

Not too long ago, I wrote about the rise of the 99-cent e-book. Now Amazon's pushing 99-cent Kindle games as part of a special sale.

Amazon lists 12 games as part of the sale and they're climbing the Kindle best seller's list fast. As David Cassel, the editor at the Me and My Kindle blog, points out, "Six of the 10 best-selling items in the Kindle store are now games." Mind you, some of these are merely discounted from $1.99 to 99 cents. But oh what a difference a dollar makes.

Here's the full list of specially discounted games. The offer ends March 27.

• Scrabble
• Chess
• Sudoku Unbound
• Solitaire
• Mahjong Solitaire
• Texas Hold 'Em
• New York Times Crossword Puzzles (two sets of "easy" and two sets of "challenging" puzzles)
• Hangman for Kids
• Triple Town

Any of you playing games on your Kindle? Any favorites? Let us know.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20044006-1.html#ixzz1GyP6jLB6

After Guitar Hero Exit, Rocksmith To Take The Stage

Music games might be down, but they aren't out just yet.

Ubisoft's forthcoming game Rocksmith will enable players to use real guitars with the game. (Credit: Elfi Chester)

Game developer Ubisoft is planning to release a new guitar game, called Rocksmith, later this year. In a statement today, Ubisoft's senior vice president of marketing, Tony Key, said that the new title will prove to be "the most authentic and addicting music game ever created."

Ubisoft hopes to achieve that lofty goal by putting a real guitar in the hands of gamers, rather than the plastic guitars with buttons used in Rock Band or Guitar Hero. The title will launch with a "sizable library of music" from major rock bands, including the Rolling Stones and Nirvana. The Hollywood Reporter was first to write about the news earlier today.

Ubisoft's decision to launch a game in a category that has been on the decline recently is a curious one.

As Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter pointed out in a research note to investors in January, the industry is undergoing a "virtual disintegration of interest in the music category." Sales in that market hit an all-time high of $1.7 billion in 2008, according to Pachter, but then fell to $900 million in 2009. Sales in the music category were under $300 million in 2010.

"Over the period from 2005 to 2008, video game software sales grew by 81 percent, with the music genre accounting for one third of the gain," Pachter wrote to investors. "From 2008 through 2010, software sales declined by 14.9 percent, and the music genre accounted for over 80 percent of the decline."

Activision was keen to that decline. Last month, the company announced that it had discontinued the Guitar Hero franchise. It cited "continued declines in the music genre," and explained that its decision was based on its desire to "focus on the greatest opportunities."

But Rocksmith will find at least one competitor in the market. In response to the news of Guitar Hero's death, Harmonix, the developer behind Rock Band, posted on its site forum last month that its music title isn't going away.

"The music genre is one that calls for constant reinvention, and Harmonix is continuing to welcome and embrace that call," Harmonix developer John Drake said. "In short, the beat of Rock Band marches on. We're continuing to invest in the franchise and the brand that we have built and will do our best to serve all loyal band game fans."

Rocksmith will launch on theXbox 360,PlayStation 3, and PC in the second half of this year.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20043339-17.html?tag=mncol;title

10 Million A Magic Number For Microsoft's Kinect

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

Microsoft announced today that it has sold 10 million Kinect sensors since the Xbox 360 accessory launched in November. In addition, Microsoft reported that over 10 million Kinect games have been sold. The global sales figures, according to a company spokeswoman, were tallied through the end of February.

Since its launch, Kinect--which allows gamers to control on-screen action with only the movement of their bodies rather than a controller--has surpassed expectations. Microsoft initially expected to sell 5 million Kinect units through 2010. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, however, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer revealed that the company actually sold 8 million units through the end of the year.

Microsoft's Kinect retails for $149.99. It's also available in two Xbox 360 bundles, which cost $299.99 or $399.99, depending on the game console's storage.

The Kinect's success has easily overshadowed Sony's motion-gaming peripheral, PlayStation Move, which launched in September. Analysts have estimated that Sony sold about 3 million PlayStation Move units through 2010. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said in a research note earlier this week that he believes Move "has not generated significant sales" so far this year.

It's a similar story for the Nintendo's Wii. Although that console still leads the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in overall sales, Pachter said he is seeing "sagging demand" for the Wii that he believes will "continue at least through March."

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20041213-17.html#ixzz1G9HQ5ZwY

Sony: NGP's Graphics Won't Match PS3's

The NGP won't have the same graphical ability as the PS3.

(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment)

All this talk of Sony's Next Generation Portable gaming device having graphical quality on the same level as the PlayStation 3 is overblown, Sony says.

In a talk at the Game Developers Conference yesterday, David Coombes, platform research manager at Sony Computer Entertainment America, made it clear that the company's upcoming NGP will offer much better graphics than those of the current PlayStation Portable, but won't come close to matching the graphics of Sony's home console.

"Some people in the press have said, 'Wow, this thing could be as powerful as a PS3,'" Coombes said, according to a report in Kotaku. "Well, it's not going to run at 2GHz, because the battery would last five minutes...and it would probably set fire to your pants."

The NGP's graphical abilities will be "halfway" between those of Sony's PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation 3, Sony engineers said, according to Kotaku.

Though it might not live up to the high expectations some gamers have had, the NGP looks to be quite appealing on paper. It includes a 5-inch OLED display, which Sony says quadruples the resolution of the current-generation PSPs. In addition, the device comes with dual analog sticks and lets users connect to the Web via Wi-Fi or 3G. The platform will be capable of playing "PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video, and comics from the PlayStation Store," Sony revealed on its blog after the NGP was announced.

The NGP is being looked at by some as a potential savior for Sony's ailing mobile business.

Last week, the company announced that it was dropping the price of its PSP to $129.99, down from $169.99. It was the latest attempt on Sony's part to try to jump-start sales for a platform that, according to Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter's estimates, sold just 80,000 units in the U.S. last month, down 20 percent year-over-year.

In August, the last month NPD reported hardware sales figures, Sony sold just 79,400 PSP units. It was able to tally unit sales of 140,300 in August 2009.

When the NGP launches, it will also need to overcome an entrenched competitor in the Nintendo 3DS. That device, which will launch in the U.S. on March 27 for $249, lets users play 3D titles without the need for special glasses. By the end of March, Nintendo expects to sell 4 million 3DS units--1.5 million in Japan, where it launched this past weekend, and the rest elsewhere around the world.

Sony hasn't offered up any sales targets for the NGP. But it should be providing many more details on the device over the next few months, as the gadget's late 2011 release date inches closer.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20038815-17.html#ixzz1FxH7eHzh

EA Aims To Dominate Shooters Once Again

Activision's Call of Duty franchise rules first-person shooters, but Electronic Arts isn't ready to give up on that market quite yet.

EA's Frank Gibeau (Credit: Electronic Arts)

Frank Gibeau, president of EA Games Label, says his company's upcoming first-person shooter Battlefield 3 will help the studio regain some of its lost appeal and get it closer to matching the Call of Duty juggernaut.

"It's what we've been trying to do in the EA Games Label over the last couple years--get our mojo back in terms of quality and great IPs," Gibeau said, referencing intellectual property in an article posted today by U.K. games site IndustryGamers. "For me, this is a great example of investments we've been making in technology, team culture and getting the talent in place to make world-beating games."

Overcoming Call of Duty's success in the first-person-shooter market won't be easy. In 2009, Activision released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which quickly became the biggest entertainment launch in history. Last year, it followed it up with Call of Duty: Black Ops, which not only beat Modern Warfare 2 sales figures but set a new record for revenue, hitting $650 million worldwide in five days and over $1 billion in just six weeks.

Gibeau shifted his attention to Medal of Honor, the first-person shooter EA released last year that was easily overshadowed by Black Ops. He said that Medal of Honor was once "the dominant brand and created the shooter category, frankly, for consoles." And although last year's release didn't overcome Black Ops, he believes the time has come to regain some of EA's past glory.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick wouldn't necessarily see it that way. Last year, Kotick took some shots at EA in an interview with Edge Magazine, saying that the company "has been struggling for a really long time." Kotick said EA has trouble "getting really talented people," which "translates into less-than-great games."

Competitive opinions aside, EA is ready for a fight--even if Activision and Kotick don't see EA and its upcoming Battlefield 3 title as a true competitor.

"We're here to compete," Gibeau told IndustryGamers. "Everyone loves a heavyweight battle."

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20038194-17.html#ixzz1FTsFDRsh

Sony Dropping PSP Price To $129

Sony has substantially cut the price of its PlayStation Portable.

Starting Sunday, consumers can get their hands on the portable-gaming device for $129.99--the same price as the Nintendo DS Lite. The PSP currently sells for $169.99.

In addition, Sony has added 13 titles, including Assassin's Creed Bloodlines and Dissidia Final Fantasy, to its "Greatest Hits" and "Favorites" lines of games. Titles in the Greatest Hits list will retail for $19.99, while titles in the Favorites line will go for $9.99.

Sony has shipped 23 million PSP units to the U.S. and 67.8 million units worldwide since the device launched in 2005. North American customers have a catalog of 590 games, the company said today.

The decision to drop the price may result from Sony's diminishing sales of the device over the past year. Sales in the U.S. have been easily overshadowed by Nintendo's DS, the leader in the mobile-gaming space.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter reported last week that he believes Sony sold just 80,000 PSP units in the U.S. last month, down 20 percent from January 2010. Last August, the final month in which market researcher NPD publicly reported hardware sales figures, Sony sold just 79,400 PSP units. It had sold 140,300 PSP units in August 2009.

The PSP has also let down video game retailer GameStop. Bob McKenzie, the retailer's senior vice president of merchandising and marketing, said late last year that the number of titles released for the PSP in 2010 was a "disappointment."

In an attempt to change its luck in the mobile market, Sony unveiled the Next Generation Portable in January. The device is a follow-up to the PSP and includes dual thumbsticks, 3G connectivity, a touch screen, and two cameras. It also comes with an improved display over that of the current PSP. Sony said at the time that the platform would feature PlayStation 3-like graphical capability.

The new device is scheduled to launch at year's end.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20036377-17.html#ixzz1FI0pyQ3P