New York-based market research firm NPD Group released the list of the top ten selling videogames for 2007. Note that Guitar Hero II was released in ‘06, yet still made the list.
10. Mario Party 8 for Wii (Hudson Soft/Nintendo) — 1.82 million Continued…
British character actor Andy Serkis, best known for his portrayal of Sméagol/Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy, announced the founding of Games Eden, a new video game industry network to promote the burgeoning Cambridge videogames development community.
Serkis performed motion capture for Heavenly Sword, as well as the voice of the main villain. He served as Dramatic Director for the game.
Companies based at the East of England game development community hub in Cambridge employ about 600 staff, responsible for titles like Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Kung Fu Chaos, 24: The Game, MediEvil, GhostHunter and GoldenEye 007.
Companies that have pledged to support the network include Cambridge Wireless, TiGA, EMMA, Gameware Development, Zoonami, Geomerics, Sony, Jagex, Nicetech and Ninja Theory.
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The videogames industry grew four times as much as the overall U.S. economy, according to a report by the Entertainment Software Association.
The American video game industry grew 17% from 2003 to 2006, while the general growth of the economy was 4%. Retail sales of games totaled $7.0 billion in 2005, and sales of games for both PCs and consoles grew from 74.1 million units in 1996 to over 250 million units in 2006. Continued…
Surprisingly, videogames rated “Mature” by the ESRB tend to sell better than titles with less restrictive ratings, according to an independent study. It said:
Mature rated titles, comprising 10% of all US retail games examined, have both the highest average Metacritic scores and the highest average gross sales in the United States. This is despite not being offered for sale at some major retailers.
Hopefully, this kind of data will encourage publishers like Rockstar not to edit M-rated games, like their upcoming Manhunt 2. Many large retailers such as Wal-Mart refuse to carry “Mature” games; and several states have attempted unsuccessfully to ban sales of M-rated games to minors. Continued…
Like the five lion mecha coming together to form Voltron, the gaming industry associations of 12 East Asian and Asia-Pacific nations intend to form one colossal mega-association. Continued…
