Game industry business news

The PSP’s resurgence has continued in Japan, with Sony’s handheld trumping all other hardware opponents in the March sales battle, Reuters reports. PSP sold 415,415 units throughout the month, way ahead of rival DS – though Nintendo’s machine still sold an impressive 255,124 in the period. The PSP was boosted …

SCi’s share price has plunged by over seven per cent at the last count today – suggesting that the furious speculation over buyout talks may have calmed down. The stock price reached a high of 60.5p-per-share on Friday, but that dipped slightly yesterday. However, it is today’s unforeseen drop that …

EA has confirmed the price for Rock Band, after announcing the European release date of the game this morning. The title will be sold in separate SKUs – a different approach than in the US, where the title is avaliable with all instruments bundled together with the game. Instead, Eurogamer …

Rock Band will be released in the Europe on May 23rd, with the Xbox 360 enjoying an exclusive launch window. Electronic Arts has also revealed that Wii, PS2 and PS3 versions of the game will arrive later in the Summer. The music title received much critical acclaim when it was …

An anonymous development source claims to confirmed to MTV a long-running point of industry rumour and speculation: that Microsoft plans to introduce its own Wiimote-styled controller "Microsoft’s response to Nintendo’s Wii will appear before the end of the year," says the report, which adds that the Xbox 360 motion-sensing device …

MTV News says that Rare is working on Mii-like system of digital avatars as well

Sony’s Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has made its debut in the Spanish charts – and, according to sales data released by GfK International, it’s hit the top spot. That makes it a cool trio of number one positions for the title – as it sits atop both the UK and …

Germany’s all formats chart for the week ending Monday, March 31st is in – and Sony’s Gran Turismo: Prologue has taken top spot in its first week. The strong German PC software market is in full show according to the chart, from Gfk International, with EA’s Command & Conquer 3 …

Sony’s Gran Turismo: Prologue has enjoyed its second week at the top of ChartTrack/ELSPA’s All Formats entertainment software chart. The title was responsible for 39 per cent of all PS3 games sales – but, possibly due to its non-premium price, only provided 28 per cent of the format’s software revenue. …

The Independent newspaper has referenced a ‘market source’ who suggests that the speculative bid for SCi/Eidos that saw the publisher’s stock leap by over 10 per cent last week came from a ‘larger American peer’. That would point to Warner Bros., who were mentioned in the original Guardian finance story …