q1-2011
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Resident Evil: Revelations bundled with Circle Pad Pro in Europe
The monsters of Resident Evil: Revelations will arrive in Europe on January 27, and they'll bring another monster along with them: the 3DS-enlarging Circle Pad Pro. Nintendo UK announced today that the 3DS attachment will be bundled with a "special limited edition" package of Capcom's horror game. Revelations will also be sold separately. This is the first official announcement of a release date for the peripheral outside of Japan. Capcom USA has shown the game to US press with the attachment, indicating future availability in North America. Capcom USA also said there were no plans for a Circle Pad Pro/Revelations bundle here.
Ridge Racer, Shinobido, and ... 'Touch My Katamari' launching alongside Vita in NA and EU
We suspect publishers were as surprised as everyone else when Sony announced the worldwide PlayStation Vita launch dates at the Web 2.0 Summit. Two days after that unexpected reveal, Namco Bandai is officially putting that February 22 date on its own launch games: Ridge Racer, Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen, and the new Katamari game, which has been given the amusing title of Touch My Katamari for its western release. Of course, all Vita games will be sold digitally, saving you from the nightmare of asking a retail clerk for Touch My Katamari. Namco announced these dates for North America, and Sony has confirmed they're accurate for Europe as well.%Gallery-137143%
Lenovo nearly doubles net profits in Q1 earnings report, not so certain about 'mainstream' Ultrabooks by end of year
Lenovo's enjoying a bright and sunny Thursday in Hong Kong today, where the company has just unveiled a Q1 2011 / 2012 earnings report that's full of rosy news. According to the report, Lenovo's revenues jumped to $5.92 billion during the fiscal quarter, representing a 15 percent increase over last year's figures, while net profits nearly doubled to $108 million (compared to $54.9 million last year). Global PC sales, meanwhile, nudged upward 23 percent -- even at a time when most other manufacturers are seeing relatively sluggish growth. During an earnings conference call this morning, COO Rory Read provided a little insight into his company's approach to the growing Ultrabook sector, while hinting at future price reductions. Speaking to reporters, Reed assured that Lenovo would "invest in innovation to be a leader" in the Ultrabook market, adding that prices for its MacBook Air competitors may reach "mainstream" (sub-$1,000) levels by 2012: "I wouldn't say by the end of the year necessarily but...that's definitely going to happen." Head past the break for Lenovo's financial summary, along with the full PR. [Original photo by Cory Grenier]
1.8 million PS3, 1.8 million PSP units sold from April-June
Sony announced that it sold 1.8 million PS3s worldwide between April 1 and June 30 (Q1 for Sony), a drop of around 600K from Q1 of FY 2010. Though numbers may have slipped, Sony is still predicting an uptick in sales for the whole of FY 2011: 15 million PS3s as compared to 14.3 in the year prior. On the games side, Sony fared a little better with 26.1 million PS3 games sold versus 24.8 in last year's first three months. The real success story for Sony's console business is the PSP, which moved 1.8 million systems in the first quarter. That's compared to 700K during the same time period for the Nintendo 3DS and the 1.2 million PSPs sold in Q1 FY 2010. In closing: Nintendo really needs a Monster Hunter game on 3DS.
NPD estimates $5.9B in game sales in first quarter
Market research firm NPD estimates that consumers spent $5.9 billion on video games in the first quarter of 2011, a 1.5 percent increase from the same period of last year. That doesn't mean everything is unicorns and rainbows, since the comparison is to 2010, the second consecutive year to see declines in consumer spending. The "glass half full" perspective would be that it seems like things aren't immediately worse. NPD analyst Anita Frazier notes that the new physical retail channel (translation: new games that come in a box) still makes up a majority of industry sales, as the market research firm tries to get a good grip on digital sales data. The company estimates the total spent on "used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games" to be $1.85 billion during the first quarter.
Escalation marks GameStop's biggest DLC launch in record first quarter
The recent Call of Duty: Black Ops "Escalation" DLC has taken the crown at GameStop as its largest DLC launch ever, according to the company's latest earnings call. The map pack sold 50,000 copies as pre-orders and 200,000 in store during the first week of availability. Digital sales in general are on the rise at the retailer as well, growing 53 percent year-over-year. The first quarter of 2011 was a good one for GameStop overall, as the company reported record sales of $2.28 billion. HD console games were a big driver, as was the Nintendo 3DS launch, combined with a solid 9.5 percent growth in "pre-owned" (read: used) games and accessories. Pokémon Black and White were the top titles of the quarter, with Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Black Ops and Homefront filling out the top five.
Nearly half a million customers left T-Mobile in Q1 2011
Not even promises of a new Sidekick can keep T-Mobile from hemorrhaging customers, it seems, as the company reported significant losses in its Q1 statement for 2011. According to official Q1 financials, 471,000 contract customers either failed to re-up, or outright canceled their contracts. Stacked against a shortcoming growth of just 372,000 prepaid customers (including MVNO customers for sub-carriers), T-Mobile suffered a net loss of 99,000 users, a 29-percent increase in losses over the same period for the previous year. Ouch. The firm chalked its loss to increased "competitive pressures," which lends credence to AT&T's insistence that Sprint and Verizon are such fierce opponents that it has to acquire T-Mobile for the magenta-tinted carrier to stay in the game. You can judge the profits and pitfalls for yourself -- just hit the source link for the full financials.
IDC: smartphone market grows 80 percent year-on-year, Samsung shipments rise 350 percent
Smartphones are getting kind of popular nowadays, in case you hadn't noticed. The latest figures from IDC show a 79.7 percent expansion of the global smartphone market between this time last year and today, which has resulted in 99.6 million such devices being shipped in Q1 of 2011. That growth has mostly been driven by Samsung, which has more than quadrupled its output to 10.8 million shipments in the quarter, and HTC, whose growth has been almost as impressive. The other big gainer is Apple, with 10 million more iPhones shipped, but the truth is that all the top five vendors are showing double-digit growth. In spite of Nokia losing a big chunk of market share and RIM being demoted from second to third in the ranking, both of those old guard manufacturers improved on their quarterly totals. IDC puts this strength in demand down to the relatively unsaturated smartphone marketplace, and believes there's "ample room for several suppliers to comfortably co-exist," before ominously adding, "at least for the short term." And after the short term, our break-dancing robot overlords take over. Update: IDC has also released data for Western Europe that shows Nokia has lost the top spot both in terms of smartphones, to Apple, and in terms of overall mobile phone shipments, to Samsung.
Sprint reports Q1 2011 results, adds 1.1 million subscribers
It's financials time and the word hasn't always been rosy for Sprint of late, but this time the company has some good news to share. In this, the first quarter of 2011, Sprint added 1.1 million total subscribers, 846,000 of those were prepaid, the other 310,000 postpaid. Churn was down too, 4.36 for prepaid and 1.81 percent for postpaid, lowest in five years for the former and lowest ever for the latter. Operating income was $259 million on $8.3 billion in revenue, which is up three percent from this time last year, but factor in taxes, lunar landing rights, and all the other fun stuff and the company posted a net loss of $439 million. CEO Dan Hesse called this "slow but steady progress," and the addition of subscribers "a tough streak to keep going as the bar keeps getting higher." A tough streak indeed, but the launch of phones like the Nexus S 4G might just help keep it alive for another quarter.
Panasonic will layoff 17,000 workers globally (updated)
No matter how you slice it, 17,000 is a big number, especially when its seventeen thousand humans looking for jobs. The layoffs represent a four-percent reduction of Panasonic's 380,000 global workforce due to restructuring efforts, according to Nikkei. They are expected to begin this year and will mainly impact employees outside of Japan. Update: Post updated to reflect the actual number of job cuts, not the 40,000 originally quoted by Nikkei or the 35,000 quoted by the AFP. The cuts will come over two years. The news comes as Panasonic reported a ¥40.7 billion ($499 million) loss for quarter, largely on account of a ¥61 billion ($748 million) restructuring cost. Panny says that its bottom line was also affected by a strong Yen, stiff competition in television sales, and the recent earthquake and tsunami.
HTC breaks its own sales and profit records, keeps riding the smartphone wave to success
Another quarter, another spectacular set of financial results for HTC. The once-small Taiwanese phone maker reports its net income for the first quarter of 2011 nearly tripled earnings in the same period of 2010, now totaling an impressive $513 million. Overall quarterly revenue was in the vicinity of $3.6 billion and the causes cited were, rather predictably, demand for Android smartphones and higher-speed internet connectivity (as provided by the likes of the EVO 4G and Thunderbolt). Guess now we know why the stock markets are loving HTC so much -- the company just can't stop growing! [Thanks, Karan]
Grasshopper's charity iOS game is Frog Minutes, coming March 30
Grasshopper Manufacture will officially unveil its first, charity-focused iOS app at its Grasstream 2 event on March 30. Though we still don't know exactly what it will be, Grasshopper has revealed in advance what it's called: Frog Minutes. Those two words don't really help us figure the game out that well. Nor does the logo, posted by Famitsu. We won't have to wait too long to find out what it is: Grasshopper announced that in addition to being premiered at the event, the app will be available for download on the App Store on March 30. All proceeds will go to the Japanese Red Cross, to support victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Back to the Future's third episode 'Citizen Brown' available next week
Back to the Future returns to our relatively recent past (the protagonist's present) in "Citizen Brown," the third episode in the series, available next week for PC and Mac. In the latest episode, Marty and Doc Brown get back to 1986 to find they've mucked up the timeline again ... and not in the fun "Biff washing dad's car" kinda way. Now they must deal with a powerful version of Doc Brown, but will he be friend or foe? BttF Episode 2: "Get Tannen!" will also be available next Tuesday on PSN. An email newsletter sent out by Telltale states that information about the European PSN and iPad launch dates for the second episode is "coming soon."
Legend of Mana hits PSOne Classics this week
Somehow, Square Enix seems to have been convinced to actually release its old games on PSOne Classics. Last week's Parasite Eve is being followed with another gem out of the company's back catalog this week: Legend of Mana. The sidequest-heavy, somewhat open-ended Legend, which allows players to use "Artifacts" to create and then explore in-game areas, may not have been as well-received as the SNES's Secret of Mana, but it's certainly not a bad game either. And it's much better suited for PSOne Classics release anyway, since it was a PlayStation game.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 'First Strike' DLC on PC March 25
At this point it's hard to call this Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC "First Strike" with a straight face, since it first struck on Xbox a month ago, and then on PS3 on March 3. Ironic name or not, it's finally coming to PC on March 25, according to a tweeted announcement by Treyarch's Josh Olin. As Olin mentions in the tweet, you can pre-purchase the DLC right now through Steam. Though you don't strictly need to secure your copy of a digital-only product ahead of time, since there's no concern about scarcity, you do save $1.50 by doing so.
Moon Diver strides to PSN March 29
You might remember Moon Diver under its previous title Necromachina, or the title before that, Moon Diver. Or you might just remember it as "that game that looks like a four-player Strider." That's no coincidence, by the way -- it's actually designed by Koichi Yotsui, who was one of the leads on Strider. According to a list of upcoming releases sneaked into Sony's Spring Fever promotion announcement, Moon Diver will plunge onto the PlayStation Network on March 29. No release date has been mentioned for XBLA yet -- not that we're surprised the PlayStation Blog would refrain from volunteering that.
Analyst: Apple sold 1.1 million MacBook Airs in 2010
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities predicts that Apple sold an impressive 1.1 million MacBook Air units in the last few months of 2010. Kuo originally predicted sales of 700,000 units but bumped up his estimate after receiving new information from Asian supply chain sources. The second generation MacBook Air debuted in October 2010 in 11- and 13-inch models and is reportedly selling at a brisk rate. This boom in sales is casually evidenced by the growing number of MacBook Air models spotted in the wild. Its slim and sexy form factor, coupled with favorable reviews have only bolstered the popularity of this model. Apple has not released sales figures for the MacBook Air, but its Q1 2011 financial earnings report confirmed the Cupertino company sold 2.9 million notebooks during the 2010 holiday shopping season. This sales number includes MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. If Kuo's 1.1 million estimate is accurate, then over 40 percent of Apple notebook sales came from the MacBook Air. Kuo is not the only analyst to take note of the MacBook Air. Shortly after launch, Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar suggested the popularity of the MacBook Air may cannibalize iPad sales. We recently took our own look at the question of the MacBook Air versus iPad and came to the conclusion that the two devices target different audiences. The question is not whether the MacBook Air is superior to the iPad, but which device is best suited to your needs.
Prepare to find out you're already prepared for Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP
Even if you haven't seen Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, the collaboration between Capy, musician Jim Guthrie, and artist Craig "Superbrothers" Adams, it's likely you've acquired the method to receive it. The trailer after the break purports that, no matter why you thought you were purchasing that iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad -- "internet?" -- you were actually implicitly preparing to welcome the indie action-adventure game into your life. After actually seeing it, you might even decide to buy it! Consciously -- volitionally! The trailer hints at a release around the vernal equinox, which is March 20 for those of you not as attuned to nature as we are.
AC: Brotherhood murders always-on DRM, stalks PC on March 22
Ubisoft has confirmed with Joystiq that the PC version of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood will be playable in offline single-player mode after an initial login, quelling fears that Brotherhood would employ the same restrictive DRM as Assassin's Creed 2. Additionally, the PC version of Brotherhood will arrive on March 22 (a few days later than the previously suggested date). You may want to use those few extra days to sharpen your cutlery and brush up on your Italiano -- or, like, go to the Olive Garden for dinner or something. Ubisoft has also detailed the technical specifications (posted after the break) required to play Brotherhood on a PC, as well as two retail versions of the PC release: a standard edition for $50, which includes the two multiplayer updates and the Da Vinci Disappearance DLC; and a digital-only "Deluxe Edition" for $60 that adds two extra multiplayer characters, two single-player maps, an extra skin and "additional multimedia content." %Gallery-117334%
Dance on Broadway performs with Move this March
Dance on Broadway, Ubisoft's great white way spin-off of its amazingly popular Just Dance series, will let the sunshine in on PlayStation 3 next month, utilizing the Move. The singular sensation will be available on March 15 in the States, March 17 in Canada. The PS3 version appears to add a few more songs than those found in the Wii game. The game's initial setlist of 25 songs, which includes such famous show tunes as "Fame" (Fame), "Time Warp" (The Rocky Horror Show) and "You Can't Stop the Beat" (Hairspray), will be expandable with tracks downloaded from PSN. Clearly, DLC is a cabaret for Ubisoft, since it knows that money makes the world go 'round, world go 'round.
