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Call of Duty 4 Beta Ends September 30th

Posted by Paul Hamilton
Categories: Activision, First Person Shooters, PC, PlayStation 3, Release Dates, Xbox 360

Call of Duty 4

Robert “402” Bowling from Infinity Ward has posted about some upcoming changes to the Call of Duty 4 beta on his blog. The most significant announcement is the closing of the beta on September 30th, but he also revealed that two days prior the level cap, which has been at 16 for a couple of weeks after being lifted from the initial cap of 11, will go up to 25. That gives beta testers only two days to jump from 16 to 25 before the beta closes down in anticipation of the game’s release November 5th.

Part of the post hinted that CoD4 had gone gold, but Bowling refused to come right out and say it, saving the announcement for more official channels. He did say that Infinity Ward had received congratulations from the Sony of America and the Xbox 360 certification team, which leaves little room for doubt that the game is in the final stages before shipping.

The beta has been an excellent marketing tool for Infinity Ward since the strength of the game is quite evident from the limited, multiplayer-only test version. Even though the game is likely gold, the beta continues for developers to continue gathering data for the inevitable title upgrades and expansion packs. The raising of the level cap so close to the end of the beta is, speculatively, due to the launch of a certain multiplayer juggernaut a few days prior.

Read More | Fourzerotwo's Blog

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Xbox Live Free For Three Days During Halo Launch

Posted by Paul Hamilton
Categories: Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Xbox LiveIn the midst of all the hype about the Halo 3 launch, one thing that is often overlooked is that not everyone who has a 360 is necessarily equipped to play the game in its entirety. Whether you’re staunchly against paying for an online service like Xbox Live or you just can’t afford it, for a few days at least it won’t matter.

Best Buy is sponsoring a three-day free-for-all granting all Xbox 360 users access to the Gold Service starting on September 25th and ending on the 27th. That means that Silver members get to experience Halo’s online multiplayer without charge for at least a handful of days after they pick up their copy of the game. Even if you’re not into the whole Halo thing, that doesn’t exclude you from taking advantage: Best Buy’s “the first hit is free” style promotion extends to all parts of the service so those without full access to Live could use the time to play some Gears of War online, check out the Call of Duty 4 beta (if it’s still up and running) or just use the time to play some free Uno.

Read More | Bungie.net

Inside Halo 3’s $10 Million Marketing Push

Posted by Paul Hamilton
Categories: Corporate News, First Person Shooters, Release Dates, Xbox 360

Microsoft has known how important Halo 3 will be to their success this generation since before they even announced the Xbox 360. Halo 2 sold $125 million on the first day, but then the original Xbox was just struggling for recognition in the wake of the PS2 juggernaut. Now the 360 holds a tenuous lead in installed base and isn’t selling the way Microsoft may have hoped. If it’s possible Halo 3 may have become even more important to Microsoft’s strategy than they originally hoped. Fortunately, they’ve been planning ahead.

In an article released today on Brand Week, the calculated ten-month marketing efforts behind ’s trilogy finale is dissected starting from the Starry Nights TV spot launched last November through the public beta this spring/early summer. They talk about the Project Iris viral campaign and the efforts they’ve gone to secure strategic branding partners. This has included the Mountain Dew Game Fuel limited edition soft drink that comes plastered with Halo 3 imagery plus a total of $5 million from Pontiac to help push the launch of the game on September 25.

And they aren’t done yet. Microsoft will begin the full blitz with the new Believe campaign that will lead up to the launch taking place at midnight in over 10,000 stores to give Halo fans a chance to grab the game as soon as possible. It’s an interesting read about the science behind building a monster.

Read More | Brand Week via Kotaku


Nearly 800,000 PS3s Sold In Europe

Posted by Christopher Sasaki
Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PlayStation 3

PlayStation 3 According to a report by the Financial Times, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that Sony was nearing 800,000 PlayStation 3 consoles sold in Europe. With 600,000 of those sales reportedly coming in the first two days of launch, this would seem to indicate a healthy 200,000 units being moved in the three weeks following. One assumes that this is the sell through number, since Sony had previously indicated that 1 million consoles would ship for launch. The numbers are interesting from a couple of perspectives – first, that there would seem to be more people than expected willing to pay the hefty exchange rate adjusted price of the PlayStation 3. The second interesting thing is that European sales are quickly closing in on the Japanese sales numbers. While Japan has taken months to reach nearly 900,000 units sold, Europe is nearly at that point only a month after launch.

Read More | Financial Times

Playstation 3 Sells 165K in UK

Posted by Christopher Sasaki
Categories: Culture, PlayStation 3

PlayStation 3 Despite reports of low turnouts at midnight launch events for the PlayStation 3 in Europe, Sony managed to break records for console sales during its opening weekend, moving over 165,000 units in the UK. ChartTrack in the UK believes that this sells through approximately 75% of the initial launch allocation for the UK, and surpasses all other console launches in the territory, including the Wii and the Xbox 360. Gamasutra also reports on UK software sales for the opening weekend, with Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm taking spots one and two in the top ten. Of course, launch weekends are generally for the hard core; generally the first couple of million consoles sold are the easiest. Time will tell how Sony’s console does as its purchasing demographic shifts.

Read More | Gamasutra

Sony UK Sales Head Resigns Ahead Of PS3 Launch

Posted by Christopher Sasaki
Categories: Corporate News, PlayStation 3

PS3 GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that Sony Computer Entertainment UK head of sales Kevin Jowett has left Sony for unannounced reasons. SCE UK stated that Jowett had left the company to “pursue new opportunities outside of the industry.” Jowett’s departure is interesting in that it comes mere weeks before Sony’s European launch of the Playstation 3; the effect of his departure will likely be unknown until after the launch happens. Given that the sales roadmap has likely been set for quite a while now, it is unlikely that any major changes will happen, but it sounds like Jowett worked closely with a number of Sony’s retail partners and a change in that relationship could potentially have a huge impact.

Read More | GamesIndustry

Casino Royale To First 500K European PS3 Registrants

Posted by Christopher Sasaki
Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3

Casino Royale ThumbThe ‘semi-official’ Three Speech blog today confirmed that the first 500,000 gamers that register their Playstation 3 console in Europe will receive the Blu-ray release of Casino Royale. Unfortunately the movie will not be a pack-in for release, and users in non-English territories will have to wait until the localized version of the movie is available. Still, this would seem to beat the Talladega Nights pack-in that the US received; on the other hand, one would expect the incentives for the console release in Europe to be slightly better, if only for the high price that those consumers are paying relative to the United States.

Read More | Three Speech

Sony Announces European PS3 Launch Date, Price

Posted by Christopher Sasaki
Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PlayStation 3

PS3 60GBSony Computer Entertainment Europe announced that the Playstation 3 will be available across Europe on March 23rd. Sony expects to have one million PS3 consoles available for the initial launch. Only 60 GB configurations will be shipped to Europe initially, for Euro 599 or GBP 425. At current exchange rates, this puts the UK price point at approximately 840 US dollars and the Euro price point translates to about $780. The pricing of the Playstation 3 has roughly a 50% price premium over the Xbox 360 Premium configurations in Europe, about the same in the US. The delay in Europe does give Sony the advantage of a fuller launch line-up; assuming that there are no further delays, this means that titles that missed the US launch will be available during the launch window in Europe, including games like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Motorstorm It was also announced that the downloadable HD port of Tekken: Dark Resurrection will be available, a title that has not yet seen a release in the US. Hopefully the delay for Europe will mean that Sony’s launch goes much smoother than it did for other territories. Given the low bar the console set in the US and Japan, though, it seems that Sony has nowhere to go but up.

Sony’s full press release continues after the jump.

Click to continue reading Sony Announces European PS3 Launch Date, Price


Report: Xbox 360 To Launch In China

Posted by Christopher Sasaki
Categories: Xbox 360

Xbox 360 A report from Reuters citing “industry sources” indicates that Microsoft may be set to offer the Xbox 360 in China within the next few months. The sources indicated to Reuters that Microsoft has been in talks with Internet service providers and PC makers, and has apparently started discussing a potential launch with the Chinese government. Apparently, the Chinese government requires content review of all video games sold in the country; with this approval, Microsoft could start selling the console as soon as the lunar new year. Launching in China would give Microsoft access to one of the fastest growing game markets in the world, but one where online gaming is generally more successful than console gaming, largely due to price point.

Read More | Reuters

In Two Days, Wii Sells 350K In Europe

Posted by Christopher Sasaki
Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii

Wii Europe LaunchNintendo of Europe has released their sales numbers for the launch weekend of the Wii in Europe, and to no surprise, the sales trends mirror the US numbers. Nintendo of Europe managed to move 350,000 consoles in the first two days of sale. Along with those consoles, Nintendo sold 240,000 copies of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; ¾ of the people buying the Wii also purchased Zelda. Again, like in other territories, the success of the Wii does not seem to be leeching sales from the DS; Nintendo sold 515,000 handhelds in the same week as the Wii launch.

Read More | Nintendo Europe

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