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MMO tops Japan's sales charts on the Xbox 360

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, News items, Consoles

In the world of console gaming, Japan tends to strongly support their hometown champions -- although whether or not the sprawling multinational corporate behemoths of Nintendo and Sony actually need that suppport is debatable. Microsoft's Xbox 360 has generally faced slow sales in the nation and a lack of popular games on the platform. But it's gotten a boost from the strong sales of Monster Hunter Frontier Online, an MMO exclusive to the platform that's made it to the top of the Japanese sale charts. Not out of all Xbox games -- out of the entire country.

The newest installment of the long-running series is a port of a 2007 PC version, beating out several other strong contenders for the countrywide sales figures. Although the Monster Hunter series has been popular in Japan, there's no word on the MMO being released outside of the country. Still, it seems a good sign that you can sell good numbers for a ported game on an unpopular console -- something Square-Enix may well want to consider for the future.

MMO tops Japan's sales charts on the Xbox 360 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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E3 2009: Sony says Playstation Home holds 6.5 million accounts

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:45:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Business models, MMO industry, Consoles, Virtual worlds, Home

In addition to all of the games Sony has been showing at their press conference today, Sony released some impressive numbers for their Playstation Home service, revealing they now hold 6.5 million accounts and the Home service sports an 85% return rate for users. The 6.5 million accounts is impressive, but the 85% return rate is a vague, empty number that we're not quite sure what it means.

To further expand their plans for Home, Sony will be introducing over 100 new virtual items each month, as over 100,000 items related to Capcom and Resident Evil were sold two months after their introduction. Future game spaces will include areas for inFAMOUS, Buzz! and Socom, with EA, Ubisoft, Activision, Namco, and Eidos jumping on the game space bandwagon with their support.

E3 2009: Sony says Playstation Home holds 6.5 million accounts originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard bumps Nintendo off #1 spot on Develop's top 100 studios list

William Dobson — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO industry, News items

Develop Magazine releases a list every year of the 100 most bankable game studios in the world, known as the Develop 100. The list for 2009 has just gone out, and guess who has moved up in the world? Going from #47 last year all the way to the top this year is Blizzard Entertainment -- you know, those chaps that are responsible for World of Warcraft, among other things. Fellow money-printing outfit Nintendo was relegated to second place due to this mighty ascension.

Our sister-site WoW Insider did a bit of digging to find out why Blizzard jumped so much in a single year. It seems to be due to a few things combined; Blizzard's Activision merger, the release of Wrath of the Lich King, and a change in the way Develop is calculating their figures, particularly in relation to MMOs. Here's a summary of the judging standards found on the Develop 100 page:

Develop 100 ranks the world's most bankable games development studios based on a variety of key criteria including sales data, critical success and industry standing.

Things get a bit wonky when it comes to sales data and MMOs, due to significant revenue coming from subscriptions and online purchases instead of retail sales. WotLK's release and resulting retail sales undoubtedly had a great deal to do with Blizzard's new number one standing, and we wonder how old Blizz' would have fared on the Develop 100 without a new box to put on store shelves. Regardless, they're the champions for 2009. For those interested, the top 5 in order are: Blizzard Entertainment, Nintendo, Rockstar North, EA Canada, and Capcom.

Blizzard bumps Nintendo off #1 spot on Develop's top 100 studios list originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 May 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Digital Continuum: Zombies, zombies, zombies

Kyle Horner — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Opinion, The Digital Continuum, MMOFPS

I firmly believe persistent online games have a lot more to offer, and every so often that fact rises up to the front of my thoughts by games like Resident Evil 5. If a cooperative and ostensibly zombie game can exist, then why not a massively version? Let me present to you, the reader, my vision of a game that could quite feasibly exist in just four or five years time:

The zombie apocalypse MMO.

Continue reading The Digital Continuum: Zombies, zombies, zombies

The Digital Continuum: Zombies, zombies, zombies originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ken and Chun Li coming to Perfect KO MMOG

Michael Zenke — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, PvP, News items

The Insert Credit site has the news that the Korean online fighting game Perfect KO (which enters Beta test this month), will feature the Street Fighter characters Ken and Chun Li as playable avatars. The licensing deal for this unique Asian-aimed title surprised commentator Brandon Sheffield: It's interesting for a few reasons - one is that the characters are customizable, so you'll be able to tailor your SF folks a bit. Another is that the company has stated (according to the second linked article) that they're open to more licenses in the future from other fighting games. And in fact, it's quite interesting that they'll be 3D. Who will provide the models, I wonder?

The news comes originally from the Japanese gaming site 4gamer (babelfish translation). Perfect KO is in development by the company Neowiz, makers of titles like Silk Road, Shot Online, and SEALS Online. The best example of the game's playstyle I could find is a YouTube trailer for the title. (Sound is NSFW, as there is a Linken Park song dubbed over the footage; video should be fine.)

Ken and Chun Li coming to Perfect KO MMOG originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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