GameStop opens midnight for Halo 3
Gamestop say they will open 14 of its 46 in the Republic and Northern Ireland at at midnight on Tuesday for the European release of Halo 3.
The retailer are to have midnight openings at Henry St, Stephens Green, and Clare Hall in Dublin, along with their outlets in Belfast, Derry, Limerick, Drogheda, Wexford, Tralee, Letterkenny, Mallow, Midleton, Killarney, and Bangor.
Other retailers, such as HMV, GAME, and Smyths, are also likely to have midnight openings in at least the main cities.
A Microsoft spokesperson told us this evening that, in Ireland, “Michael Finucane from Game stop says that pre-orders are running at twice the rate of Halo 2″, while a statement released this afternoon says the company worldwide is “running off 81 games per second to ensure that they meet global demand for this title”.
“It is fantastic to see the level of interest shown by Irish gamers, all of whom are eager to be one of the first people in the country to get their hands on what is set to be the must have game this Christmas,” said Orla Sheridan, country manager at the entertainment and devices division of Microsoft Ireland.
GAME: Ireland UK sales boosted by PS3
Retailer GAME says that the PS3 pushed sales up; pictured: a customer handing over cash at the PS3 midnight launch at GAME on Dawson Street in Dublin.
3 has accounted for over 40 percent in growth in sales at the games
retail giant GAME according to a statement released today by the firm.
GAME have stores around Ireland but it is hard
to tell what trends are exclusive to the State or the island as the
company treats the UK and Ireland as the one market.
“In the UK and Ireland, total sales were up by
71.1%” the statement says “The Sony Playstation 3 launched on 23 March
2007. If we exclude all sales of the PS3 product category the UK and
Ireland [like-for-like] sales were up by 24.6%”.
The retailer says it has also seen strong Wii sales, but did not expand on detail.
GAME say they are expecting a net profit
before tax between £1m and £3m (
Derry computer games studio launches
Dark Water Studios, a start-up independent games developer, launched this week in Derry.
Dark Water are already working on an unnamed PC multi-player game
which is partly funded by Northern Ireland’s Department of
Enterprise. The company also says it is in the early stages of
prototyping a next generation console and PC title.
The venture is headed by Mike Brown, with technology manager Paul
Houbart and lead animator Rory Fellowes — together they bring over 50
years of experience to Dark Water. Currently employing ten people their
aim is to expand to 25 by the end of the year.
The company is understood to be an unofficial spin-off from Instinct Technology, a Derry-based games middleware firm previously called Torc Interactive.
“Our aim is to bring together the cream of available game-creation
talent; by drawing from Northern Ireland’s existing talent pool by
using the quality of life offered by this unique location to attract
the cream of overseas talent and by making good use of the
opportunities for outsourcing and remote working which modern
technology allows” commented Brown.