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Brits blow billions on gaming
Video game sales in the UK went through the crumpetsphere this year with the citizenry spending £1.52 billion ($3.06 billion USD), a 25% increase from last year. BBC reports there are evidently still two weeks to be added to that 25%, including last week's sales of £87.9 million ($177million USD) in games sales. Maybe the British soccer guys actually do have something to complain about.We're not exactly sure if the BBC is still talking strictly UK here, but it goes on to report a 33% increase in console sales over last year with 11 million units sold, it also points out that console games now make up 79% of all software sales. We'll believe gaming has taken over the UK when we see the Queen rocking a jeweled DS and talking about Brain Training during her Christmas speech.
Solar-powered plane breaks unmanned flight record
According to a BBC report today, a UK defense firm called Qinetiq has developed and tested a lightweight, solar-powered plane which has just broken the world record for longest unmanned flight. The plane, known as the Zephyr, spent 54 hours in flight using only self-recharging solar power, thus breaking the 30-plus-hour flight of the previous record holder, the US Air Force's Global Hawk surveillance craft. Although the record has been smashed, the plane won't be eligible for entrance into the "official" record books due to a late announcement of the feat, though another 33-hour flight might make the cut. The plane -- which has a wingspan of 59-feet -- is controlled from the ground after a hand liftoff, and is capable of cruising at 58,000 feet. According to the designers, the Zephyr is, "Going to go a lot higher and a lot further," and added that, "You ain't seen nothing yet." Indeed, ICEMAN, indeed.
Strong Q1 sales point to less cyclical gaming calendar
MCV takes a look at some recent ChartTrack sales data and notes that British game sales for the first few weeks of the new year are up significantly over 2006's already record-breaking first quarter. An interesting little factoid, to be sure, but the true importance comes out in a quote from Eidos UK's Jon Brooke, who told the trade paper that increased Winter sales "prove the industry doesn't need to be so seasonal." Amen to that. We are sick and tired of publishers clogging up store shelves with big name titles around Christmastime only to leave us with months of nothing once the new year comes around. Fortunately, this trend looks like it might be slowing, with quality releases like WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Crackdown, and MotorStorm filling in the quiet Winter months. It's about time publishers realized that good games will sell no matter what time of year they're released. [Via Guardian GamesBlog]
