Survey finds video games top holiday wish lists

Video game hardware and software sales decline in Oct.

Video game software and hardware sales in the United States took a sharp dive in October, down 19 percent in October to right around $1.07 billion, according to sales data collected by research group NPD. Console hardware sales fell 23 percent from the same period a year ago, while software sales dropped 18 percent.

Sales of video game accessories were down 2 percent. In Oct. the Wii managed to climb back up on the top of the heap ahead of the PS3 and Xbox 360, despite price cuts for both systems in Sept. The Wii sold 507K units in the U.S., followed by 457.600K units for the DS, 321K units of the PS3 and 250K of the Xbox 360. The PSP and PS2 sold 174.6K and 117.8K, respectively.

Sony’s Uncharted 2 managed to move about half a million copies in October, followed by Wii Fit Plus (441K), the Xbox 360 version of 2K Games’ Borderlands (418K), Wii Sports Resort (314K), NBA 2K10 on Xbox 360 (311K), and Halo 3 ODST (271K).

Video game industry sales decline by 29 percent inJuly

According to retail sales data from NPD Group revenue for the video game industry saw a major decline, finally putting to bed the question of whether or not the sector was in fact recession proof. A certain analyst whose name I won’t mention might have said that once, but you won’t hear such utterances from him about that now. It has been the fifth month that the interactive entertainment has seen a decline, according to NPD. Total sector revenue was $848.9 million, down dramatically from $1.2 billion a year ago.

Analysts expected a 15 percent decline in game, console and accessories spending in July, but what they got was nearly double that - a 29 percent drop overall. Hardware sales were the biggest losers in July, with a major decline in Nintendo Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 sales. The Nintendo Wii saw a 54 percent drop in sales, the PS3 a 45 percent drop and the Xbox 360 was off by 10 percent. Hardware sales amounted to $280.9 million in July (a 37 percent decline), down from $447.7 million a year ago.

Analysts are saying that it is probably necessary for Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to start thinking about cutting the prices of their respective systems, but Nintendo and Sony probably won’t - or at least that is what both have been saying for quite some time. We’ll see.

Raptr: Everyone’s a Gamer

Raptr announced today that it has launched a new multi-network instant messaging service and client, and has added two new publishers to its Raptr Partners Program.

For more details, we spoke with Raptr CEO and Founder Dennis Fong, who walked us through some of the new features in a run-through of the new client earlier this week. His comments are highlighted in blue  throughout.

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GameRanger celebrates ten years of multiplayer matchmaking

Mac and PC multiplayer matchmaking service GamerRanger will be celebrating its 10th birthday this month. GameRanger is inviting everyone to join in, bring their friends, and play online with some of their favorite games this coming Sunday. GameRanger launched in 1999 providing matchmaking support for 11 Mac games, and today supports 542 PC games and 181 Mac games. GameRanger has lasted longer than most if not all other gaming services including DWANGO, TEN, Mplayer, Kali, HEAT.NET, WON.net, Zone.com, etc.

While that fact could probably be disputed, GameRanger at least deserves credit for continuing to support its users by providing multiplayer support for new games over the last ten years.

you can check it out by visiting www.GameRanger.com.

Resident Evil 5 Dominates March Software Sales

Capcom’s Resident Evil 5 outsold every other video game in March, according to software and hardware sales data for the month from NPD Group. Resident Evil 5 on the Xbox 360 managed to move 938,00 units, while its PS3 counterpart did a respectable 585, 000 units. Pokémon Platinum Edition managed to move 805,000 units in March, followed by Halo Wars for Xbox 360 with 639,000 units, Wii fit with 541,000, MLB 09 with 305,000, Killzone 2 with 296,000, and Wii Play with 281,000.

1. Resident Evil 5 - Xbox 360
2. Pokémon Platinum Edition - DS
3. Halo Wars - Xbox 360
4. Resident Evil 5 - Xbox 360
5. Wii Fit - Wii
6. MLB 09: The Show - PS3
7. Killzone 2 - PS3
8. Wii Play - Wii
9. Mario Kart Wii - Wii
10. MLB 2K9 - Xbox 360

NPD group noted that video games sales for March were down by about 17 percent from the same  period last year.

Impulse Surpasses 1 Million User Mark

Stardock announced that its digital download platform, Impulse, has managed to exceed one million customers since its launch last summer. Since its debut nine months ago, Impulse platform has made available games from Stardock’s catalog, indie developers and publishers like THQ, 2KGames, Atari, Capcom, Dreamcatcher, Epic, Paradox and more. The platform also offers non-game software applications, utilities, anti-virus and more. Stardock announced earlier this month that the millionth user would win a custom-built $4,000 PC gaming rig and has awarded James from Bloomington, Illinois who purchased Sacred 2: Fallen Angel last week.

Impulse is set to get a major update on April 7 with the release Impulse Reactor, a development platform that includes in-game community features, multiplayer matchmaking, achievements, cloud multiplayer, and vendor neutral IP protection in the form of Game Object Obfuscation (Goo).
Impulse Reactor does not require publishers to change any code in their software to make use of Goo or include a third-party client with their title. This allows publishers to have a single executable to be sold at retail or digitally that is vendor neutral. The third major update to Impulse also includes features such as Impulse Anywhere (ability to download your title from a web page on one PC and then install on your home PC.)

Finally Gas Powered Games’ new real-time strategy / role-playing game, Demigod will showcase the new Impulse Reactor features, when it is released on April 14.