PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable continue to dominate Irish games charts
PlayStation Portable alone still frequently
outranks Xbox 360 in percentage sales
A GamesToaster.com / BlurredKeys.com
examination of the Chart-Track Irish Software charts, which tracks retail sales
of computer games in
to massively dominate the Irish multi-format charts, with Microsoft’s Xbox and
Xbox 360 combined rarely amounting to over 25% of multi-format games.
Our study of the charts ranges from the
start of 2006 to the week ending July 15.
When the combined percentages of the Xbox
consoles reach higher percentages the games are usually at the lower end of the
charts. Frequently the percentage of the two combined is lower then or around
10%.
When the high profile Xbox 360 game Elder
Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released in March, Microsoft reported that the game
“has topped the all-formats sales charts in key European countries”.
Take 2 game entered the chart at number three, slowly dropping, then in its
fourth week nose-diving to sixteenth place.
Only three Xbox/360 exclusives made it into
the top 20. This is somewhat but not fully explained by a higher number
released on Xbox and PC combined, without giving away the title of ‘console
exclusive’.
The three exclusive games were Dead or
Alive 4 on Xbox 360, in at number seven, and out after a second week at number
12; the Outfit also on 360 in at 17th, not to be seen again; and Tom Clancy’s
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. GRAW was release on the 360 the first week,
at number three, in its second week also on Xbox at number five (Xb360 96%/Xbox
4%), and the third week at 10 (360 93%/Xbox 7%). After the third week, it lost
the exclusive as it was released on other formats.
There were few other Xbox games to break
between the 50-100% marks, often only when pitted against the PC. On Xbox 360,
Call of Duty 2 ranged from around 60-80%, Oblivion from 35-60%, Fight Night
Round 3 entered the chart at 17th with 53%, recently Pray entered at six with
71%, and LOTR: The Battle for Middle-Earth II got a healthy 81%. Middle-Earth
II however only entered at 15th place after it was on the top 20 as a
PC-exclusive for three weeks early in the year.
As sales are measured at the point and time
of purchase, the charts can be seen as the most reliable measure of how
different games formats are competing. The value of game sales cannot be
underestimated as console manufactures depend on royalties of third party
games, and selling first and second party games. Most game consoles are sold at
a loss, with the makers recouping cost with games and peripheral sales.
In isolation the charts for the week ending
July 15 record Pro Evolution Soccer 5 with 76%/PS2, and 19%/PSP; FIFA World Cup
Germany 2006 with 66%/PS2, and 19%/PSP; Over the Hedge 76%/PS2; Tomb Raider: Legend with 48%/PS2, and 38%/PSP; Hitman: Blood Money with 77%/PS2.
PC and Nintendo formats makeup even smaller
percentages then the Xbox brands, practically leaving the charts a two-brand
race. Few Nintendo titles punch above this trend, the exclusivity of Nintendo games
sometimes makes the brand move visually apparent, games such as New Super Mario
Bros, Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training, Mario Kart Ds, and Animal Crossing: Wild
World. Nintendo, however, are often bypassed when it comes to multi-format
games.
We previously reported that in the
Christmas charts, when it comes to multi-format games, Xbox rarely received
much more then 10% of sales of any one game, and never above 20%. We quoted the
Sony line that after Japan; Ireland has the highest PS and PS2 ownership per head of population. We
added that PlayStation looks to be the game brand burned into the Irish mind
and culture — this still looks to be the case.
The Xbox 360 looks to have so far failed to
gain a substantial head start on the Sony PlayStation 3. Sony maintaining their
market share in
2, in the form of the game releases, well into the life of the PS3.
It’s worth noting that prices for the PlayStation 3 in the Republic and Northern Ireland have still to be officially
announced, the higher rumoured pricing puts the
say we cannot fail”,
told the Irish Times in July, “We have a marketing challenge from now
until launch. This is not a done deal”.
According to Chart-Track.co.uk the data for the Irish games charts comes
from Argos, Currys, Dixons, Game, Golden Discs, Heartbeat City, Heatons, HMV,
PC World, Play.com, Roxy Tower Records, Virgin, Zhivago, a number of
independent retailers, and Tesco, and Xtra-vision were added in July 2005.
There is a notable absence of the Irish branches of GameStop, and the online
retailer CDWow.ie. Chart-Track own and compile the Irish Software Charts, they
also compile the
Chart-Track kindly provides the Top 20 Irish games charts to Games Toaster;
the chart is published weekly on the site’s side panel. An archive and
individual charts are also available on Chart-Track’s website. What percentage
each format sells is not normally published. At a cost Chart-Track also provide
in-depth analysis of game sales.
REVIEW: Popolocrois
Developer: G-Artists | Publisher: Ignition | Format: PSP
Reviewer: Craig Gallagher Popolocrois
is the first European release in a role-playing series that has been
doing the rounds for nearly a decade in Japan. It was so popular enough
that it spawned its own anime series. The PSP version is something of
an amalgam of the first two games in the series, which have been woven
together into a singular, fairly cohesive adventure. The reason the
game works is because is because the developers have wisely decided to
keep everything relatively simple.
The combat system is easy to pick up and is perfect for any
newcomers to the genre, but hardened genre veterans may feel that the
game is a little too simple.
The story follows the exploits of Pietro, the young prince of
Popolocrois. At the beginning of the game Pietro is a mere 10 years
old, but is still able to save his mother who has been put into a deep
sleep since he was a child, as her soul have been confined to the world
of darkness. The second half of the game follows Pietro as a 15 year
old, on his quest to save his fathers soul from the darkness. The story
is simple enough and flows well, meaning that gamers can easily follow
the events whether playing the game over a period of a week or a month.
The gameplay in Popolocrois is as basic as it comes. You talk to a
character who then lays out a mission which you then undertake. You
then walk about in search of some artifact which is usually located in
a dungeon. Much like Pokemon, you will be randomly pulled into battles
on your quest. This happens a lot but is surprisingly well handled and
enjoyable.
The real down point to proceedings are the load times. Every time
you enter battle or step into a new area, the game pauses for a few
seconds to load. Even in battle there is a very noticeable lag as
attack animations load. It also takes a number seconds to bring up the
map. This may not seem like much but it quickly become very irritating.
Popolocrois is the perfect introduction to role-playing games for
novices. Its simplicity works to its advantage as a pick up and play
game. Unfortunately, it’s a simple story that experienced role-playing
fans will get bored rather quickly.
REVIEW: World Tour Soccer 06
Developer: SCE London | Publisher: SCEE | Format: PSP
Reviewer: Craig Gallagher While the worlds
attention is fixed on Germany and the World Cup, SCEE is hoping to
capitalize on a little of that with the release of World Tour Soccer
‘06 on the PSP.
While the game lacks
deep career mode, or the ability to guide a team from qualifying to
Germany, which Fifa offers, it more than makes up for this with its
quick game modes and the variety of challenges on offer.
The game flow is
impressively fluid. The AI is well handled and offers more
challenging AI than Fifa. Like most handheld sports titles the
controls take a little getting used to, but kudos to the developers
for making the game more accessible than previous soccer titles.
World Tour 06 is a fine
arcade type experience that offers far more than gamers may think.
It’s not the type of sports title that avid fans will lap up, however for
those of us with a no real interest in soccer it’s a gratifying
experience.
“Summer Bash” console event this Saturday
World Gamer Live is to host a “Summer Bash” from 9am to 11pm this Saturday, July 29, in the Glen Royal Hotel, Maynooth.
The console multiplayer event is sponsored by Microsoft,
Playstation, Ubisoft, EA, Magnet Entertainment, the Buda Bag Store,
Coca-cola, and Lucozade.
According to the organisers, Xtra-vision will be “sole source of
ticket sales”, with the 120 places available at selected outlets.
Galway games studio release tech video
Galway-based Starcave Studios have released a new tech demo video (101mb) of their game Terra: Formations, expected on the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.
The developer says the game will be a triple-A title, containing
FPS, RTS, and RPG elements, mixed in what Starcave call a massively
multiplayer online adventure. The new video shows a marked improvement
in graphics since the last video released in March.
Set in the year 2157 the with earth plundered of all resources
humans explore a Jupiter moon named Europa, with melting ice they find
an enemy in waiting.
Still in development, Terra: Formations is due sometime in 2007.
XboxIreland.com to re-launch
After sometime with no updates, XboxIreland.com is set to re-launch next Wednesday, July 19.
Jason Powell, the England-based site owner, told us that
“xboxireland.com is coming back bigger and better then ever
before”.
Powell says their forums will reward users “when people post on the
forum they will get points and when they get say for example 1000
points they will win a prize”.
Talking about other content he says “you will also see up to date
news reviews and we are also teaming up with www.worldgamerlive.com
and are hoping to make a cup competition for team of gamers to win this
will include team ireland , team england . team wales . and team
scotland this is a major competition in the making but that is what is
going to make this site big in the coming months”.
Gamecon prize mix up says blog, no says organisers
An attendee of Gamecon 9 says the winner of a one-on-one competition
was “Shafted by the Admins” when a prize of an Xbox 360 was replaced
with a set of surround sound speakers, the event organisers deny the
claim.
“After the multiplayer games event, blogger James Galvin wrote, “It had
been announced that the winner of the UT 1v1 would receive an Xbox 360
as a prize. But when the winner turned out to be kRoNic, one of the
admins gave thumbs down”, explaining that “(because he won an Xbox 360
at GameCon 8, and sold it soon after) and decided to give him some
Logitech® Z-5400 Digital 5.1 speakers instead”.
When Games Toaster put this to the Gamecon organisers,
event manager Jermain Williams (’Jazz’) said “We dont advertise our
prizes, because we only deside what will be given out on the day”. When
we clarified that by ‘advertised’ we actually meant vocally on the day,
he told us that “Sorry: but your information is wrong, im in charge of
the Prizes and I didnt make any announcement”.
After relaying this to Galvin, he said “I was at the event and heard
the announcement, along with 80 other people, but I suppose this is one
of those things that they would just deny flat out”, adding “Maybe
Jazz himself didn’t announce it but whichever GameCon admin that was
standing on the stage with the microphone did”.
Games Toaster has been unable to contact ‘kRoNic’, the winner of the UT 1v1.
Irishgamer.ie “only Irish games website” “updated regularly” says editor
Talking to Games Toaster, Noel Brady editor of Irishgamer.ie
stated that his site is “doing better than we ever could have
imagined. We’ve had great feedback and are getting plenty of regular
visitors”.
“Features like our exclusive interviews, our DS Lite launch
report, and our weekly price check have gone down a treat”, said
Brady. Each week the site monitors prices at Irish retail outlets.
Gamestop, Game, and Smyths send the site the information, leaving them
to retrieve it from other stores.
Brady told us that they are “glad to be filling a niche as the
only Irish games website which is updated regularly”. The site’s news
section largely reports on general games news.
Irishgamer.ie launched with a large offering of competitions, they
have followed this up with a Nintendo DS as a prize for entering their
weekly newsletter, and random giveaways on their forums.
Irishgamer.ie reviewer removed
A reviewer at a new Irish games website, Irishgamer.ie,
has been removed from his position, as well as his reviews removed,
following revelation that some of this writings were ‘lifted’ from
the UK games magazine ‘Games TM‘.
The actions of the reviewer are thought to have been carried out with out the knowledge of the editor.
After ‘zabbo’ a user on Boards.ie posted about
two identical review sentences, the Irishgamer.ie editor swiftly
unpublished the review written by Dave White, and later all of White’s
reviews. The issue is said to be resolved with the editor of GamesTM.
“I was glad to see the whole issue sorted out so quickly. The
problem was fully resolved with GamesTM as the alleged plagarism only
concerned two lines of one review”, Noel Brady, editor Irishgamer.ie
told Games Toaster tonight.
Continuing he stated “That said, the site has only launched and we
don’t want to take any chances with bad publicity. The reviewer will
not be writing any more articles for the site and we hope that people
will continue to enjoy the excellent service we offer. Already people
on the thread on [boards.ie] have commented about how they feel the
site is fulfilling a niche as the one Irish site which is updated on a
day-to-day basis. All the positive feedback we have received is superb”.
Of course, there is the problem that some journalist (paid or
unpaid) may have misguided moral compasses, however, plagiarism on this
level can be an editor’s nightmare. Problems of this kind have occurred
at long established print publications so it is understandably
difficult for small websites to screen their writers.
REVIEW: Daxter
Developer: Ready at Dawn | Publisher: SCEE | Format: PSP
Reviewer: Craig Gallagher The PSP has yet to live up to its
initial hype, UMD’s never caught on and the console is still bereft
of quality games. The release of any Daxter game is always welcomed,
and this is no exception.
Daxter is an old fashioned 3D platform
adventure and let believe me it’s one hell of a game. The controls
are tweaked to perfection. The save system is a doodle meaning that
you never hav to retrace your steps very far.
The gameplay is simple visit each new
area and kill all the bugs you come across. Not exactly taxing on the
brain but the variety of actions and environments make for a
conscientiously entertaining experience.
The only problem is the wonky camera
which makes some parts a nightmare to complete but thankfully these
areas are few and far between.
Daxter is easily on of the top five
games available for the PSP and is well worth playing.