q3-2010
Latest
GameStop enjoyed sales of $1.9B in Q3; Kinect, Move in 'very short supply'
GameStop's money bin kept on filling up in the third quarter of its fiscal year, with the company reporting $1.9 billion in sales, up 3.5 percent from the same period last year. The company saw a profit of $54.7 million, up 4.8 percent from the $52.2 million from Q3 of last year. The top five selling games for the retailer during the period, ending October 30, 2010, were Halo: Reach, Madden NFL 2011, Fallout: New Vegas, NBA 2K11 and Medal of Honor. Gamasutra reports that during an investor call earlier today, company president Tony Bartel noted there is strong demand for both Sony's Move and Microsoft's Kinect. The company is "excited" to see that the peripherals are currently in "very short supply" and that they are bringing in an "expanded audience." Company execs believe the two items are comparable to the Wii in terms of bringing a different set of customers to stores.
Dead Nation debuts on PSN Nov. 30
Dear PlayStation, It has come to my attention that you intend to launch a new downloadable PlayStation 3 game, dubbed "Dead Nation," on Tuesday, November 30 in North America (and December 1 in Europe). Based on what I have read on various video game blogs and e-podiums, the Housemarque-developed game offers the opportunity to annihilate necrotic ne'er-do-wells in a collapsed and imbalanced society. Since this video game has not yet launched, I'm sure there's time yet for you to examine my exciting proposal! Indeed, I hope to correct the imbalance within our own society caused by the cultural overexposure of the living dead, who are now present in television shows, novels, comic books, talk shows and a handful of video games. Isn't it about time you challenged gamers with a worthy foe, and one that doesn't simply covet brains for its nutritional benefits? I'm talking about The B.E.A.N. Replanting Initiative (T.B.R.I.). Why pander to your players with pale, unintelligible humans -- with whom they are intimately familiar with! -- when you could send in the: Bugs! Equipped with monstrous mandibles, thrilling thoraxes and loads of legs! Extraterrestrials! They came to boil our oceans, disintegrate our cities and zap our way of life! Aliens! I guess we covered this one! Nazis! History's most hated villains and most reliable, no-strings-attached targets for unrepentant violence! As you can see, the classic monsters have a lot of life left in them, which is more than you can say for zombies, because they aren't alive at all. With your cooperation, we can put them back in the spotlight. If you'd like, I'd be more than willing to consult on your enemy replacement initiative. Everyone at the B.E.A.N. Replanting Initiative would be more than happy to introduce bugs into your game, or help German-ate your assets. Kind regards, Leonard K. Trubb -- Outreach Manager The B.E.A.N. Replanting Initiative (T.B.R.I.)
Gartner's global phone sales rankings match IDC's, but say the big guys have less of the pie; Android moves to number two overall
At a 30,000-foot level, the global mobile phone sales numbers for the third quarter of 2010 just released by Gartner match up with what IDC posted a few days ago, but you might say the devil's in the details. These guys have all of the top five players -- Nokia, Samsung, LG, Apple, and RIM -- at noticeably lower total market shares than IDC did, suggesting that second-tier players like Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and HTC (if you can really call them "second-tier") are grabbing more hearts and minds. And hey, considering Motorola's prominent role at Verizon and HTC's ever-growing global presence, we could totally believe it. Notably, Nokia is well below 30 percent in Gartner's report at 28.2, a whopping drop of 8.5 percent year-over-year -- way more than the 4.1 percent drop that IDC's got pegged. Of course, there's no way of knowing which of the two reports is more accurate -- and you know how margins of error work with these things. Hey, at least the rankings are the same, right? [Thanks, Tad] Update: As commenters have pointed out, the Gartner report also puts Android at 25.5 percent market share, moving past BlackBerry OS to become the number two smartphone platform behind Symbian (they've got iOS at third, BlackBerry fourth). Considering the platform's trajectory this year and sheer variety of Android phones now being solid worldwide, it's no surprise.
Garmin officially exits the smartphone business, reports mixed Q3 earnings
Based on our experience with relationships, we've learned that it takes two to tango. It also takes two to produce co-branded wares, and with ASUS already withdrawing (respectfully, of course) from the ill-fated Garmin-Asus smartphone partnership, this here is more a formality than anything else. That said, those worried that Garmin would try to loop in another handset maker in order to manufacturer yet another Garminfone that 3.4 people would consider buying can rest easy. In the company's Q3 2010 earnings, it confirmed that it is "winding down" its smartphone efforts, and rather than continuing on a path to doom and destruction, it'll be ramping up marketing efforts in the aviation and maritime sectors. As for quarterly results, the company did see net income rise to $279.5 million (up from $215.1 million a year ago), but shares fell as it issued a depressing outlook for Q4 amid weakening demand for standalone PNDs. Hate to say we told you so...
Samsung notches record profits, aims to sell ten million Galaxy S phones this year
My, how a year changes things. Q3 2009 was a nightmare for mega-corps in terms of earnings, but things have definitely been on the up and up just 12 months later. After Sony pushed out a glowing quarterly report this morning, rival Samsung has done likewise. The company saw record breaking revenues of ₩40.23 trillion ($35.8 billion) as well as profits (₩4.46 trillion; $3.96 billion) in this most recent quarter, with Sammy crediting strong semiconductor performance for the bulk of its newfound fortune. A tip of the hat was also given to its mobile communications business, with the outfit moving a staggering 71.4 million phones during Q3 2010 (a 19 percent boost year-over-year). Reports are noting that between five and seven million of those were of the Galaxy S variety, and it's hoping to sell ten million of 'em before the close of this year. All that said, the firm isn't expecting an equally rosy Q4, noting that a strengthening won and heightened price pressures around LCD panels and DRAM could put a damper on skyrocketing profits. So much for taking a day to celebrate, eh? [Thanks, Rajendra]
Nintendo posts half-year net loss, a first in seven years
After three years of record earnings, the mighty house that Mario built is reporting a net loss of ¥2.01 billion ($25 million) in the fiscal first half ending 30 September versus a profit of ¥69.49 billion a year earlier. In addition to the adverse affects suffered under a strong yen, Nintendo's sales for the first half of its fiscal year were down 35 percent to ¥363.16 billion due to lower demand for its Wii console. According to the Wall Street Journal, this represents Nintendo's first net loss in the fiscal first half in the last seven years. The future outlook is pretty grim too with Nintendo forecasting an annual profit drop to the lowest level in six years as Wii console sales decline for the second year in a row. Ouch.
Sprint fails to impress Wall Street with Q3 2010 earnings, still notches 644k net adds
Sprint certainly isn't out of the woods yet, but at least it's picking up customers from somewhere. The company's Q3 2010 earnings were ushered out today, and while its stock fell around ten percent on the news, a few silver linings were present. The carrier saw postpaid subscriber losses of 107,000, but that's an 87 percent improvement compared to Q3 2009. The CDMA network added approximately 276,000 postpaid customers during the quarter, 471,000 (net) prepaid subscribers and 644,000 total wireless subscribers from a net perspective. It also landed its second best postpaid churn result ever, but the bottom line still looks battered -- the operator announced a net loss of nearly a billion dollars ($911 million, if you're scouting specifics). Of course, phasing out iDEN should probably help things in the long run, but even its 4G advantage could quickly fade if (or more likely, when) Verizon gets its LTE act together next year.
AT&T clocks up 2.6 million net new wireless subscribers, bigger profits in Q3
AT&T's balance sheet just keeps looking happier and happier every quarter. In spite of the company's somewhat questionable hardware choices -- such as picking the ugly option from both Samsung's and LG's Windows Phone 7 platters -- it now proudly boasts a total of 92.8 million active wireless service lines. This comes off the back of a 2.6 million net subscriber gain over the third quarter of 2010, a record for this period of the year. Churn, or the rate at which people left AT&T, was also at its best ever for the quarter, coming in at a lowly 1.32 percent, while postpaid integrated device (read: smartphone on a contract) activations reached above the eight million mark. Total net profit was $12.3 billion, thanks to the sale of Sterling Commerce and a one-off tax adjustment, but in cashflow terms the company made $4.0b in the quarter. That's a lot of dinero, no doubt aided by Q3 being the first full reporting period after the iPhone 4's launch, we just wish some of AT&T's other phones weren't quite so unappealing.
Nokia reports improved earnings for Q3 2010, will still 'streamline' up to 1,800 employees out of a job
Nokia's quarterly results have just been made public and the company's devices plus services sector has actually improved its income relative to last year: €7.2b of revenue was collected over the past three months versus €6.9b in the same period a year ago. Operating profit has also pepped up, going from the previous €785m to €807m. You'd think this would augur well for Stephen Elop's beginning at the helm, but the new man in charge is also presiding over a fundamental restructuring of operations at Nokia, which is expected to result in the redundancy of up to 1,800 employees globally. There are no specifics to tell us who'll be losing out, but the aims are the boilerplate tasks of increasing efficiency, simplifying operations, and reducing time to market. Anyway, we doubt the great people of Finland will be pleased.
AMD sees a tablet chip in its future, and an end to the core-count wars
AMD told us that it wasn't terribly interested in the iPad market, and would wait and see if touchscreen slates took off, but CEO Dirk Meyer changed the company's tone on tablets slightly after reporting a $118 million net loss (on $1.62 billion in revenue) in a Q3 2010 earnings call this afternoon. First revealing his belief that tablets will indeed cannibalize the notebook and netbook markets, he later told investors that he actually expects AMD's netbook parts to start appearing in OEM slates in the next couple of years, and that AMD itself would "show up with a differentiated offering with great graphics and video technology" when the market becomes large enough to justify an R&D investment. Elsewhere, AMD CTO of servers Donald Newell prognosticated that the number of individual CPUs on a chip won't go up forever: "There will come an end to the core-count wars," he told IDG News. Just as the megahertz race was eventually defeated by thermal restrictions, so too will the number of cores on a chip cease to increase. " I won't put an exact date on it, but I don't myself expect to see 128 cores on a full-sized server die by the end of this decade," he said. So much for our Crysis-squashing terascale superchip dreams, we suppose.
It's the iPod touch's time to shine
The iPod touch is like that really hot cheerleader you already wanted to talk with, but were a little too afraid to approach. It shines on its own by simply existing. It's the iPhone without the phone, a competent gaming platform, has the capacity its iPhone sibling dreams of, and it's extremely popular. But, now the iPod touch has come into its own. During September's media event, Steve Jobs revealed that the touch is Apple's top-selling iPod. But, as Fortune magazine points out, the company has never shared the number of iPod touch units sold with investors. Will this change with Monday's quarterly earnings? It's hard to say, but Fortune polled a number of analysts who gave it their best guesstimate of the number of iPods units (classic, shuffle and nano included) sold. The numbers range from a little over 8 million to slightly above 11 million for the third quarter of 2010. Other bloggers estimate that roughly 38 percent of iPods sold are iPod touches. The iPod touch hasn't ever had the glitz or glamor of its older iPhone and iPad brothers, but it's a solid player in Apple's lineup for sure.
Intel reports record $11.1 billion revenue, brings home $3 billion in bacon
Looks like Intel's having its best quarter ever all over again: this time, the company's reporting $3.0 billion in profit on a record $11.1 billion in revenue. Chipzilla attributes the surplus to three percent increases in laptop and server chips sales respectively, but none to Atom-based netbooks -- sales of Atom chips actually decreased by four percent. That may be more than you needed or wanted to know about the booming processor business, but humanitarians will be pleased to know it's not all about the silicon; Intel also hired 1,300 new flesh-and-blood employees last quarter to keep the machines running.
Shank takes a stab at Steam on October 26
Klei Entertainment's stylish murder-em-up, Shank, has been dated for Steam, according to the latest trailer issued by EA. On October 26, anxious arterial-spray aficionados can work their craft via Valve's Steam service -- as seen in the image above, pre-ordering the game also knocks off 10% of its $14.99 asking price, bringing it down to $13.49. Oh, you don't believe us? Really? We thought we got past your trust issues, Reginald? Well, head past the break and check out the trailer for yourself, then feel super guilty for ever doubting us.
HTC grows profits in Q3 to $360 million, revenues rise to $2.45b
It's good to see that HTC's omnipresence in the smartphone market is paying off in nicely growing financial figures as well. Having reported $268 million in profit for Q2, the Taiwanese company is today touting a $360 million tally for the period between July and September 2010. Android is again fingered as the chief catalyst for this growth, which is best illustrated by comparing numbers to last year, when HTC managed to pull in $184 million during Q3, or almost exactly half of this year's haul. Total revenues were also appropriately inflated, up to $2.45 billion, and analysts seem in agreement that HTC's future is looking rosy. So long as the G2 hiccups remain an isolated incident, that should indeed be the case.
Sonic Free Riders on board for Kinect launch day
Sega announced the release date for its Kinect-exclusive animal snowboarding game Sonic Free Riders: November 4, the same day that the Kinect device launches in North America. That's right, you'll be able to use your body as a controller to make Sonic fall down a mountain on day one. "Kinect's unique motion sensor means Sonic Free Riders will see family and friends controlling their favorite Sonic characters and their fully customizable hover boards or bikes," Sega's announcement notes, "by twisting, turning and jumping in an exhilarating race to be the first to cross the finish line!" It will see you, and it will judge you.
Alien Breed 2: Assault launching this Wednesday
This morning, Team17 announced the forthcoming Steam/XBLA release of Alien Breed 2: Assault, the followup to last year's Alien Breed: Impact. Adding to the single-player and co-op campaigns this time around is a new "Survivor Mode," which has players assaulting "endless waves of intense alien horde attacks." The developer also promises a new species to brutally murder en masse: "Webber" aliens. Picking up the game on XBLA nets players some "exclusive" Avatar award items in a "Barnes" helmet and body armor, each of which must be earned through game objectives ("killing a set number of aliens" and finishing the single-player campaign, respectively). The title arrives this Wednesday on both XBLA and Steam.%Gallery-102776%
Ben Heck getting his own show beginning September 13
Notorious modder Ben Heckendorn (aka "Ben Heck") is taking on a new challenge -- turn a show about modding into entertainment. The press release detailing his new show says it'll be starting on September 13 and we're told it'll be hosted on both element14 (its sponsor) as well as internet TV channel Revision3. The show's premiere episode will see Heck mod a game controller "for an avid gamer with a serious disability," with subsequent shows to be released every other week. And though we're not sure if he'd be interested, if Heck could figure out a solution to our colorblind issues with certain games, he'll hold a spot in our hearts forever. Head below the fold to see the show's first trailer.
Have a Bloody Good Time in Ubisoft's Source Engine FPS
Hot on the heels of the "movie poster" teasers, and ... several months after the first mention of the title, Ubisoft has given us the first real look at its downloadable game Bloody Good Time. The multiplayer Source Engine-powered FPS will be released on Steam and XBLA. Up to eight players can compete in various environments within a movie set, fighting to get the starring role in a horror movie by murdering each other with weapons ranging from the expected (guns) to the bizarre ("an exploding remote-controlled rat"). Check out the first screens in the gallery below, featuring the game's cast of playable movie stereotypes. Bloody Good Time will be available this fall.%Gallery-101179%
Battle vs. Chess sets up September 28 release gambit
Southpeak has announced that its chess title, Battle vs Chess (which is totally not Battle Chess) is headed to PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 28. Much like Interplay's classic game of nearly the same name, Battle vs Chess lets players compete in the ancient strategy game using animated pieces. Battle vs Chess also includes several different gameplay modes, including a campaign mode and puzzle mode which house "over 50 puzzles and scenarios." Another mode allows players to manually place pieces, which can only be seen by the opponent after the game begins. The PC version will retail for $20, while the Xbox and PlayStation 3 versions will be available for $40. Meanwhile, the Wii, DS and PSP versions are slated to be released in the first quarter of 2011 with prices still under wraps for now.
GTA: Chinatown Wars HD hotwires iPad Sept. 9
Though Rockstar missed its original June release date for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on iPad, the delay might have been worth it for a cool release date: September 9 (a.k.a. "9/9"), which goes very well with the $9.99 price. That's actually the same price as the iPhone version, and you get updated graphics for that (relatively) enormous iPad screen! Like the iPhone version, Chinatown Wars HD includes a customizable "Independence Radio" station, so you can listen to your own music while fueling gang wars and looking for the most profitable drug deals, and then keep the music going when you play Grand Theft Auto.
