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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.
Elemental: Fallen Enchantress Preview Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is a standalone expansion pack and follow-up to developer Stardock's previous game in the series, subtitled War of Magic. That 4X strategy game was highly-anticipated and slated to compete with games such as Sid Meier's Civilization V for your turn-based strategy play-time, but was released in an incredibly broken and unfinished state that it never fully recovered from. Lead designer Brad Wardell apologized profusely to fans and set out with his team to go back to the drawing board and try again.
Almost two years later, the result of that proverbial mulligan is currently undergoing closed beta testing. In today's article, Will reports his thoughts on how Fallen Enchantress is shaping up, and will tell you whether or not you should be keeping an eye on it as it nears release later this year.
The Elder Scrolls Online Details Leak - Should Fans Be Excited? The Elder Scrolls Online, long rumored to be in development, was officially announced yesterday. Still in development at Zenimax Online Studios, this MMO aims to combine traditional genre mechanics with the spirit and sensibilities, not to mention setting and lore, of the immensely popular series of single-player RPGs. Though the game is set for a full unveiling in the next issue of Game Informer magazine, what appears to be the entire cover story article has been leaked to the interwebs already. In today's article, you'll find summary and analysis of all the alleged details, as well as feast your eyes on the very first screenshots and concept art from the game. Of course, the burning question now is, should you be excited?
ANNO 2070 Review
The year is 2070. The majority of life on Earth was devastated when global sea levels surged after the melting of the polar ice caps. Swaths of previously habitable land are now deep underwater, and sovereign nations are a relic of the past. But there is still hope...
This city-building RTS/simulation game from Ubisoft tasks you with re-colonizing what little land areas are left on the planet following a global warming apocalypse. Does it have what it takes to be worthy of your time and money, or should it be cast out to sea with the rest of civilization? Find out in today's review!
Hear that? It's the sound of the largest computer chip manufacturer in the world churning out new processors to power your gaming rig. This week, Intel is launching their next generation of Core CPUs, code-named Ivy Bridge. Like last year's Sandy Bridge chips, they're low-power, quad-core powerhouses that also feature integrated graphics processors. Want to find out more? Maybe check out a whole bunch of performance benchmarks on both the CPU and graphics sides of things? Well you can, in today's review!
Intel Z77 Chipset & DZ77GA-70K Motherboard Overview
Looking forward to those new Ivy Bridge CPUs? In anticipation of their release later this month, Intel has already unveiled the new Series 7 chipsets designed especially to take advantage of what will be the 3rd-generation of Core processors. In today's article, we take a look at the architecture of the enthusiast variant, the Z77, and how it's used in the Intel Desktop Extreme DZ77GA-70K motherboard. Even if you're not particularly interested in the motherboard itself, you'll probably want to see some of the new features that come along with it, so read on!
Mass Effect 3 PC Review
This latest release from EA/BioWare is the final entry in their trilogy of sci-fi action RPGs, putting you in a dire situation: rally the troops to save Earth at all costs. There was a lot of hype surrounding the final act of what has been a vast and highly-customizable story-telling experience, and the reception among many hardcore fans has been less than stellar. Even people that haven't played the game have probably heard about all the nerd rage going on over Mass Effect 3's ending...
If you want to cut through all the crap and find out whether or not the rest of ME3 is worth playing, come check out Will's spoiler-free take on the first blockbuster game release of 2012.
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!
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