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1. Nintendo Wii and DS Sales
Without a doubt the biggest news development in the games industry in 2007 is the massive success of Nintendo's two hardware consoles; the set-top box Wii and the portable DS. Indeed, sales of the Wii, which reached nearly 1 million units in the US in November, could have been even higher had Nintendo made more consoles available to meet the seemingly higher demand. Over a year after the Wii launch, the console remains a hard-to-find device. The DS console is even more successful in terms of unit sales; the twin screen device with WiFi support had well over 1 million units sold in November in the US.
So what has Nintendo tapped into that the Xbox 360 and especially the PS3 haven't been able to do? One is low cost; the Wii and the DS are the lowest priced consoles in their categories. Another aspect is appealing to the masses with easy to play games via the motion sensing capabilities of the WiiMote controller. The DS has a niche for puzzle games and of course the still popular Pokemon turn-based action game franchise.
While both the Wii and the DS each have their faults, the truth is that their issues are overcome by the ease of use of the hardware and a line-up of games that, with only a few exceptions, are tailored to a more family-oriented theme. In 2008 you can expect Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Brawl to be a major best seller and the Wii and DS will continue to fly off the shelves.
Honorable mentions
Several news events caught our eye as being important in 2007 but didn't make our top 10 list:
Halo 3 Launch: With nearly 3 million copies sold in just the first 24 hours, Halo 3's sales success was actually cited as a reason behind bad movie box office numbers that same week.
New publishers formed: With lots of financial backing behind them, Brash Entertainment (licensed properties) and Gamecock Media (original games) entered the game publishing ring in 2007 but look for 2008 to see if either one or both will be able to sustain itself.
Rock Band Announced: After breaking away from RedOctane and Activision, developer Harmonix announced in March their plans for Rock Band, an ambitious multi-controller music game for publisher EA. Despite its large $170 price tag, the game still managed to sell over 300,000 copies on its November launch date.
Gamespot Editor Firing: The Internet went through a frenzy when gaming web site Gamespot fired its executive editor Jeff Gerstmann late this year. Claims that Gerstmann was fired due to a low review score he gave for Kane and Lynch Dead Men have been denied by Gamespot.
Rage Announced: After over a decade of working on sequels to previous game franchises, id Software finally announced at QuakeCon an all new game called Rage. The action game with some driving elements is powered by the latest engine tech from id co-founder John Carmack but the release date is still "when it's done"
PS3 sales: After the launch excitement died down 2007 was a slow year for the high priced Sony game console; a price cut in November helped sales some, but it's still well behind the Wii and Xbox 360 in sales.
Duke Nukem Forever trailer: Can the wait for this 10 plus years-in-development game finally be ending? This week 3D Realms released a brief in-game engine teaser trailer for Duke Nukem Forever; hell hasn't frozen over but it did get a bit chilly.
Mass Effect 3 PC Demo Impressions Mass Effect 3, EA/BioWare's third iteration in their series of sci-fi action RPGs and one of the most anticipated titles of the year, is fast approaching its March 6th release. This week, though, they released a playable demo on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 that offers a glimpse into both the single-player and multi-player portions of the full game.
Whether you're waiting impatiently for your download to finish or don't have the time to check it out yourself, go ahead and read some impressions of the demo from resident FSers Synch and Vandy in today's article!
Batman: Arkham City PC Review Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
Saints Row: The Third PC Review Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E Performance Review
Today marks the launch date for Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E line of processors, a new family of high-end Core i7 products based on the LGA 2011 platform. This new socket is poised to replace the existing LGA 1366 specification used by the more powerful Nehalem and Westmere parts from the past couple years, specifically Bloomfield and Gulftown, the Core i7-9xx+ line of CPUs.
With 6 cores, 15MB of cache, and support for quad-channel DDR3-1600 memory, the Core i7-3960X sounds like quite a catch. Want to know more about it and how it performs? Read on!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
The self-appointed "most anticipated game in history" launched worldwide this past Tuesday. Why, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, of course (of course), what else? Unsurprisingly, the military FPS debate between this and Battlefield 3 rages on, but now that both have been released, surely we can take a look and objectively evaluate them both? Luke's taken the Xbox version of MW3 for a spin this week, so to find out what he thinks of it in today's review!
Stronghold 3 Review
The latest sequel in the long-running real-time strategy franchise from FireFly Studios, Stronghold 3 is all about building your dream castle and defending it against sieging enemies. Almost exactly one decade after the first game was released, this new title promises a return to the classic and well-received gameplay that has been strayed so far from in more recent iterations. Does it live up to those expectations? Will (AKA Synchronous Failure) tells us all about it in his first official FiringSquad review, so read on!
Battlefield 3 PC Review - Single-player Impressions
One of the most highly-anticipated PC games of the year is upon us; Battlefield 3 is now available in North America! EA/DICE have finally delivered a sequel to the core Battlefield franchise, a proper follow-up to BF2. Having played through the game's single-player campaign already, ahead of the multiplayer festivities kicking off around midnight, I figured I'd share my impressions ASAP. Is it really a worthy addition to the core Battlefield series, or just another bullet point on the back of the box? Read on and find out!
Wrecked: Revenge Revisited Supersonic Software Interview
Following up on our hands-on preview from earlier this month, here's an interview with Supersonic Software, creators of Wrecked: Revenge Revisited. The game's coming out on XBLA and PSN in a matter of weeks, but for now, Luke chats with the developer about its predecessors Mashed and Micro Machines, how difficult it can be to get an indie game published, the closure of Codemasters' Guildford branch, and more!
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