Game industry business news

Outspoken games analyst Michael Pachter has stated that upcoming releases such as Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid Other M are not potential system sellers for Wii hardware, and that Nintendo must cut the price of its console if it is to stop further sales declines. I still think that …

The PlayStation Portable is celebrating its fifth birthday (in the US at least). Throughout its lifetime it has sold 17m units in the country. The machine currently boasts a UMD games library in excess of 520 games, with an additional 300+ titles available to download on PSN. In its time …

The last Budget of the current Government will provide tax help for the UK games industry, Chancellor Alistair Darling has said. Speaking at today’s Budget report, the UK Chancellor told the House of Commons that the UK game industry needs support. He spoke of a tax credit system similar to …

Victory for the industry as Alistair Darling talks up British sector

The announcement of the 3DS has had a very positive effect on Nintendo’s stock, with the company’s decision to turn to 3D technology – which is one of hottest sectors in modern consumer electronics – seemingly sparking the interest of investors. Nintendo’s share price shot up by nine per cent …

Microsoft has confirmed that it has slashed 50 off the price of the Xbox 360 120GB hard drive as it tries to clear stock ahead of the arrival of the 250GB SKU on April 16th. Microsoft has reduced the price of the Xbox 360 120GB Hard Drive to 79.99 while …

Unreal Engine 3 vendor to break ice with interested Japanese studios

Players with small living rooms hoping to play on Project Natal might not need to re-arrange their furniture after all – Microsoft has dismissed claims that four metres of clear space is required. A spokesperson told Kotaku: The comments recently made about the play space for Project Natal were misinterpreted. …

Ubisoft plans to capture a new audience with Splinter Cell: Conviction by re-revitalising the stealth genre. The publisher says its upcoming action title features gameplay mechanics that are far more accessible than those found in its predecessors. Ubisoft hopes to draw in this wider audience with a marketing campaign aimed …

The Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) says that it doesn’t ignore the views of developers in respect to assigning PEGI age ratings on games. Earlier today Guillaume de Fondaumiere – chairman of the European Games Developer Federation – took issue with how the game rating decision process is debated …