10:03 PM
The entertainment division of Microsoft is riding high as their much anticipated and publicized video game Halo 3 set a record for first day sales with a take of 170 million dollars. The previous record was set by Halo 2 in 2004 at 125 million dollars in the first 24 hours. Microsoft was expecting Halo 3 to make 150 million dollars on September 25, 2007 the day it was released. But this ambitious figure was met and surpassed much to the delight of the people at Microsoft and Bungie Studios, their company owned animation studio.
When the first Halo video game Combat Evolved was released on November 9, 2001 it immediately captured the attention of the people who play video games. It then went on to much greater success. Several more video games like Halo 2 and a list of merchandising products like action figures and comic books were created. They were immediately embraced by a legion of loyal fans known as the Halo Nation. A cultural Icon and a very large following were created with this futuristic video game, much like the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. Xbox 360 was the king of video game consoles and the Halo video game franchise was number one for the longest time.
But things have changed for Microsoft since Playstation 3, PSP and Nintendo Wii came out on the market. They offer a variety of great games like Call of Duty, Madden NFL 07, Twilight Princess and Tony Hawks Project 8 to name only a few. The latest video game consoles by Sony and Nintendo also offer great technological advances, and this has caught the attention of the video game customers who love innovation with their video games and electronics. Especially the kind of innovations that make it seem like you are actually in the game.
When Nintendo Wii was released about a year ago it offered an exiting new technology with the Wii remote. It is called the motion sensitive feature and it allows one to be right there in the game interacting with 3D characters and special effects. It revolutionized the way people play video games.
The Wii console also sells for less than the Xbox 360 console at about 250 dollars compared to 500. This fact has made Nintendo Wii video game consoles more attractive than the Xbox 360 to the middle class parents whose Christmas funds for presents this year may be a little low.
Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 by Sony have both been on top of the video game market for the past year. Suddenly Xbox 360 was no longer number 1 in sales of video game consoles and the Halo video game franchise was no longer the best in the world of video games. Prior to September 25, 2007 things were not so merry at the entertainment division of Microsoft.
A few years back Microsoft and Bungie Studios hired a group of talented computer programmers and 3D animation artists that was large enough to fill a high school auditorium. These people were the cream of the crop in the business of making video games. They worked very hard for over 3 years on the production of Halo 3 at an overall cost of about 50 million dollars. The result is a first person shooter video game with sound and graphics that are a feast to the eyes and ears and a storyline that is quite engaging with several twists and turns.
The Halo Nation has shown up in full force at the retail stores to buy Halo 3. There is also a very large following for the online video game version of the Halo franchise. Microsoft has reported that over 1 million online players battled it out in the first 24 hours on Xbox Live playing Halo 3. This version of the game pits online members against each in a fight to the death.
Now they are dancing in their corporate offices back at Microsoft and Bungie studios. Their video game Halo 3 made 170 million dollars in the first day on the market and they are projecting that it will make over 560 million dollars overall. If this turns out to be true for Halo 3, which is well on its way to making it so, it will give Microsoft a 90 percent profit for this project. In an industry where most video games lose money this is quite an astounding statistic.
The recent release of Halo 3 has put Xbox 360 games and Xbox 360 video game consoles back in the spotlight and primed to be back on top of the video game industry. It is a testament to the creativity and marketing skills of Microsoft and its employees who have been known to do a few things right in their remarkable history.
Michael P. Connelly is an Author, Artist and award-winning Filmmaker who writes on a variety of topics that effect people in their every day lives.
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on Oct 10th 2010 10:00PM
As most of our numerologically inclined readers have likely noticed, today is 10/10/10 -- a once-in-a-century phenomenon which some have deemed "binary day." We're not sure how one celebrates "binary day," though we imagine speaking in binary is part of the proceedings. If that's you're cup of tea, here's a special message from us to you: 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100110 01100101 00101100 00100000 01100100 01110101 01100100 01100101 00101110. Us? We'll be spending the day -- and the next 13 months, for that matter -- waiting for 11:11 on 11/11/11, at which point even our most outlandish wishes will almost certainly be granted.
[Image credit: VisualParadox]
- PSP: 37,088 [DOWN] 488 (1.30%)
- DSi: 24,937 [DOWN] 24,474 (49.53%)
- DSi LL: 24,246 [DOWN] 8,531 (26.03%)
- PS3: 20,363 [DOWN] 331 (1.60%)
- Wii: 13,360 [DOWN] 3,548 (20.98%)
- DS Lite: 5,707 [DOWN] 1,304 (18.60%)
- Xbox 360: 2,769 [UP] 170 (6.54%)
- PS2: 1,247 [DOWN] 267 (17.64)
- PSP Go: 754 [DOWN] 146 (16.22%)
Well, as I watched so many different news stories this week pop up about this and that, there are always those few gaming ones that catch my eye. While I am always on the lookout for anything to do with the infamous RROD on the Xbox 360, I myself was stunned to learn that in two different studies of Xbox 360 users, 60% of UK users had major problems with their consoles.
Really Microsoft? 60%? That's a "D" right? Or, if you looked at it the other way around - and only 40% of users said they never had a problem - wow, that way is a complete "F". Hmmm. Not good, not good. But, I'm hoping they can finally refine the RROD problems and get everything worked out, as there are just too many sweet games that will die horrible sad gamer deaths if not.
Also, Assassin's Creed 2 popped out this week as well to the welcome arms of over 1.6 million gamers around the world. While it didn't surpass Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it made it's dent. And so far, it's shaping up to be one awesome video game, no matter which platform you prefer. With major gift-buying in full gear, I wonder how many of you gamers will be getting Assassin's Creed 2 or CoD: Modern Warfare 2 under your tree?
And for those of you Far Cry fans out there, you can finally breathe, as Ubisoft finally came out with it and said that yes, Far Cry 3 is in development.
(You can cheer, no one will see your happy dance there at home.)
While they aren't releasing much yet on the game, it's supposedly looking pretty darn awesome - like we ever thought it wouldn't...
Written by MD Weems (47,761 pts
) in Console Gaming Blog Last Edited on Nov 28 2009, 12:01 AM
Tags: Call of duty modern warfare 2, Far Cry, RROD, Assassin's Creed 2, Far Cry 3
According to the NPD’s data on North American games sales, March 2010 was the third best non-holiday month on record behind March 2008 and June 2008. Leading the way on the software side were God of War III and Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver.
The NPD report had a few little fun facts to impart. Bad Company 2 sold 170% more in its first month than its predecessor. God of War III and Final Fantasy XIII bested their predecessors’ launches by 32 and 48 percent, respectively. Though it didn’t crack the top ten this month, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 became the second best-selling game of all time behind Wii Play.
Software
GOD OF WAR III - PS3 - 1.10MPOKEMON SOULSILVER VERSION - NDS - 1.02MFINAL FANTASY XIII - PS3 - 828.2KBATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 - 360 - 825.5KPOKEMON HEARTGOLD VERSION - NDS - 761.2KFINAL FANTASY XIII - 360 - 493.9KNEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII - WII - 457.4KBATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 - PS3 - 451.2KWII FIT PLUS W/ BALANCE BOARD - WII - 429.6KMLB 10: THE SHOW - PS3 - 349.2KHardware
PlayStation 2 118.3KPlayStation 3 313.9KPSP 119.9KXbox 360 338.4KWii 557.5KNintendo DS 700.8K
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