2009
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Western Digital unveils new My Passport portable hard drives, upgrades visa to 2TB
Sure, six terabytes of storage might seem like hot stuff, but Western Digital's stackable MyBook Thunderbolt Duo drives aren't exactly portable. Lucky for you and your massive photo, music and film collections, WD's My Passport drive just crossed the 2TB border. At $250, this USB 3.0 storage sanctum claims to be the first -- and so far, only -- portable hard drive to break the two terabyte mark. "It's the perfect blend of monstrous capacity, reliability and user-friendly technology in a sleek form factor," said WD executive vice president and general manager Jim Welsh, "now in five colors." Count 'em, five. You didn't think the lizards were after your data, did you? Read on for WD's official press release.
MMO subscription dollars in decline for the first time since 2002
With all of the free-to-play MMOs coming onto the market and the F2P conversion of formerly subscription-only titles, it should come as no surprise that the subscription model is losing its grip on the industry. Eurogamer reports that starting in 2010, the money brought in from MMO subscriptions has actually gone into decline for the first time ever since analysts began tracking it in 2002. 2010's subscription revenue added up to $1.58 billion, a respectable amount but still 5% less than 2009. 2009 saw a 10% bump in subscriptions, and 2008 witnessed 21.6% growth. Connect the dots, and subscription revenue has most likely peaked and begun a downhill slide. Analysts predict that by 2015, revenue from subs will be as low as $1.33 billion. However, with the popularity of RIFT this year and the coming storm of Star Wars: The Old Republic, the subscription model may see a resurgence. On the flip side, microtransactions from F2P models are rising exponentially, jumping 24% from 2009 to 2010 to account for $1.13 billion. With the two models combined, the industry saw a very modest 5% increase last year in revenue. Screen Digest analyst Piers Harding-Rolls sees the writing on the wall: "The focus of many PC game operators has clearly shifted to micro-transaction‐based models -- in part due to competition in the subscription market especially in the high‐end MMOG segment, but also because of the flexibility micro-transactions offer operators in monetising gamers."
Physical and digital distribution sales for games nearly equal, GameStop CEO thinks people like boxes
There are two ways to look at physical media. Some see it as needless clutter; useless relics taking up shelf space and collecting the airborne remnants of your dearly departed skin cells. Others, however, see rows and rows of boxes and books with a sense of pride -- proof that they have incredibly good taste when it comes to spending free time. According to the NPD, those two parties are rapidly becoming equal when it comes to gaming, with 21.3 million "full-game" PC titles downloaded (legally) in 2009 and 23.5 million boxed copies sold. That's awfully close, and ignores all the PSN and XBLA titles that are currently making our console hard drives cry for mercy. Should brick and mortar software stores be nervous? Not according to GameStop CEO J. Paul Raines, whose franchises are decidedly ceramic and paste-based: "The world won't be all digital tomorrow... In this business, users still want physical content." And he's right, you know. We'd say it'll be more like 18 - 24 months.
PC gaming revenue grew in 2009 as retail PC game sales shrank
[Logitech PC accessories] Despite fears about the languishing PC game industry, revenue seems to have grown a bit in 2009. According to PC Gaming Alliance's Horizons Report, revenue hit $13.1 billion in 2009, versus $11 billion in 2008. Don't expect that growth to translate to increased shelf space for PC games, however. The report notes that digital distribution sales are way up, as are the sales of virtual items. "In 2009 we saw North America and Europe experience a rapid uptake in purchasing virtual items," PCGA president Randy Stude said. "This model is what drove growth in Asia and we think it is just starting to come to Western markets." As expected, given the rise in digital distribution, packaged game sales have dropped for a second year, now accounting for just 20 percent of PC game revenue. It appears that PC games are going to go all digital unless we start seeing some really awesome cloth maps.
Panasonic's response on shifting black levels in plasma HDTVs: 'There's nothing to fix'
Owners of Panasonic's recent plasma HDTVs have continued to push for more details on the "automatic control" the company cited as the cause of suddenly elevated black levels and it has revealed a few more details in an email exchange with CNET. Those hoping for some kind of patch or action in response to the changes will likely be disappointed however, as Senior VP Bob Perry put it, "there's nothing to fix." Citing trade secrets and a lack of a standard measure for black level performance, he also was unable to give any specifics about when the changes are designed to happen or by exactly how much. The company is promising technology in its 2010 models will offer a more gradual adjustment thanks to design adjustments, but that doesn't help current model owners left wondering if their set has, or will have in the future, degraded picture quality either by design or some software glitch. He did close by offering the olive branch of the VIERA Concierge Program for dissatisfied customers -- we'll see if a happy resolution for all is still within reach. [Thanks, Chris]
RedLynx digital strategy pays off, 1.5 million games sold in '09
While the big fellas struggle to figure out how to make digitally distributed content profitable, smaller dev houses like RedLynx are handily succeeding. The Trials HD developer claims to have moved 1.5 million digital units worldwide (of all of its games) in 2009, though, as RedLynx itself points out, "most RedLynx games have also free promotional web versions available, bringing the company's key titles to an even wider audience." Aside from putting out the Summer of Arcade XBLA release Trials HD last year, the Finnish company also made Monster Trucks Nitro on PC and a couple of iPhone games, assuredly assisting that 1.5 million statistic. CEO Tero Virtala looks forward to the coming year, saying things look "even better," and adding that RedLynx is "bringing 8-10 new games to market." We really, really hope the company brings more copies than that if it wants to move past 2009's sales. Come on, guys -- simple math!
EA: Sims 3 is top selling PC game in 2009 worldwide
It seems virtual voyeurism never goes out of style. A recent Electronic Arts press release has informed us that The Sims 3 was last year's best-selling PC game across the globe, according to Chart-track UK, NPD Group, GfK and the publisher's own internal estimates. We imagine a bit of number crunching went into the aforementioned estimates -- we don't think they'd leave that kind of thing to water cooler talk. "So, what do you think, Mark? Best game ever? Yes, great. It's official." The EA presser also boasts the company's optimistic outlook on 2010, as the Sims 3 community continues to tinker around with the Create A World tools. Check out this neat, Robinson Crusoe-esque Machinima to see what these tools are capable of!
Intel profits recover to $2.3 billion in Q4 2009, company describes it as 875 percent jump
Yo Intel, when your 2008 fourth quarter was one of the worst you ever recorded, it's slightly, just slightly, facetious to go trumpeting an 875 percent improvement in your 2009 fortunes. The self-appointed chipmaking rock star has clocked up $10.6 billion in revenues for the last quarter, which filters down to $2.3 billion in pure, unadulterated, mother-loving profit. That's good and indeed technically nearly nine times what the company achieved in the same period the previous year -- we'd just appreciate this to be represented as the recovery it is, rather than some major leap forward in the face of a global financial meltdown. Either way, the Santa Clara checkbook is now well and truly balanced, even if it would've looked fatter still but for the small matter of a $1.25 billion settlement reflected in last quarter's results.
WoW, Casually: Looking backward and forward
Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Of course, you people with lots of playtime can read this too, but you may get annoyed by the fact that we are unashamed, even proud, of the fact that beating WoW isn't our highest priority. Take solace in the fact that your gear is better than ours, but if that doesn't work, remember that we outnumber you. Not that that's a threat, after all, we don't have time to do anything about it. But if WoW were a democracy, we'd win. The problem with writing these year end posts for WoW is the tendency for Blizzard to make huge changes at the end of the year, altering everything. Whether it's a new expansion like Wrath of the Lich King or Patch 3.3, it's hard to remember what the game was like the previous 3/4 of the year. It's not that we didn't have a good time before the big year end events, but the game becomes so different, what we did before is irrelevant. This year, hopefully by or during the summer, we'll be getting another expansion -- only this will literally change everything. It's like we'll be getting WoW II, only without having to give up our stuff/contacts/accounts and start fresh in a new game. So let's take a look backward and forward at some of the main aspects of the game as it affects those of us with limited playtime, like we were the two-faced god this month is named after.
Estimates emerge of Apple's Q1 iPhone, Mac sales
Apple typically reports their 1st quarter financial results in late January, so we'll have to wait a few more weeks for the official word. However, the analysts have begun to share their estimates and the numbers are very impressive. Brian Marshall at Broadpoint.AmTech has estimated that Apple sold 3.3 million Macs during the last quarter, according to MacNN. Here's a little perspective: Apple's all-time sales record for Macs, set during the previous quarter, is 3.05 million. That record was a 17 percent jump from the 2.6 million it sold in the same quarter a year ago. Marshall also suggests that laptop sales could be up as much as 19 percent year-over-year at 865,000 units. Meanwhile, Philip Elmer-DeWitt has begun gathering estimates of iPhone sales and posting them at Brainstorm Tech. They range from 11.30 units sold (Brian Marshall at Broadpoint AmTech) to 8.17 units (Mark Moskowitz, J.P. Morgan). The interesting thing is that the low estimate, 8.17 million iPhones sold, would represent a 10.8% increase from the last September's record of 7.37 million if true. Despite would could have been a rocky year for Apple -- Steve Jobs was out for serious health reasons and a lousy US economy -- they did very well. Are you optimistic for 2010 or waiting for the other shoe to drop?
The Art of War(craft): 2009 was a banner year for the Battlegrounds
Zach is a Battlegrounds junkie. Even when he's hocking up asthma-generated globules of radioactive phlegm, he still manages to squeeze in a little slaughtering time. Happy New Year, folks. I hope all of you had a good 2009 and are reading this without a lingering hangover or, like me, some form of bronchial complication stemming from the smog generated by all the festivities' firecrackers. We're kicking off 2010 with a quick look at the year that just passed, and boy, was it ever a good one. More than any other year in the World of Warcraft, 2009 was a fantastic year for the Battlegrounds. Some very significant changes implemented that year renewed their relevance; furthermore, Battleground enthusiasts also received a verbal commitment from Blizzard developers that that aspect of the game would receive more focus and attention. The year began with the effects of Wrath spilling over from 2008, with the new and exciting Wintergrasp giving new life (and lag) to the world PvP experience. The first important change, however, was to come later with patch 3.1 in April 2009.
Massively Reader's and Staff Choice Awards results for 2009
Not only are the results in for our 2009 Reader's Choice Awards, but we've also compiled our own list of winners according to what we at Massively think should win in each category. This year's vote turned into something quite interesting, we must admit. Instead of being a direct "reader's choice", it seems to be much more of a popularity contest among the fans of the largest games. This made many of you quite angry when Runes of Magic dominated every category literally overnight. Some studios created contests to get their players to vote in the poll, most added a link to the awards on Twitter or Facebook, but the Runes of Magic team did everything from front page placement of the awards link to regular in-game announcements prompting fans to vote. Now that's how you win a vote. Especially when you have millions of players. Hand-in-hand with this, there have been reports of exploits on the polls involving a simple cookie clearing (although the site designers promise that an exploit through clearing cookies alone is not possible). Even if we assume that the exploit is true, this whole thing shows who has the fans that are most dedicated to supporting their favorite game. There's nothing wrong with that. So we're still going to show you the results as voted by the fans, and the results of our own staff poll. Follow along after the jump for the complete run-down.
Engadget's top posts, 2009
Wow. Can you believe it? We made it all the way through 2009! We truly had some of the most amazing and exciting coverage ever on Engadget this past 12 months -- and we figured it's time to take a look back at the heaviest hitters from the last 365. This was a big year for us, we got a whole new look, an iPhone app (with more on the way), hired some new staff, got ourselves a show, went on late night TV, and managed to snap up some killer scoops and keep the news rolling (better than ever before, actually -- this was by far our heaviest year for traffic). So let's take a moment to reflect on what caused all the fuss in 2009, and yes, we know this list is Apple heavy. We blame you guys. Top 20 most trafficked posts of 2009 (in order) Phil Schiller keynote live from WWDC 2009 Live from Apple's 'It's only rock and roll' event Live from Apple's iPhone OS 3.0 preview event Live from the Macworld 2009 keynote iPhone 3GS review Motorola Droid review Palm Pre: everything you ever wanted to know Exclusive: first Google Phone / Nexus One photos, Android 2.1 on-board HTC Hero review Windows 7 review Palm Pre review Microsoft sucks at Photoshop Microsoft announces availability of Windows 7 Beta and Windows Live Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence from Apple due to health reasons Video: Sony's PSP Go leaks out before E3, is obviously a go Motorola Droid first hands-on Windows 7 Beta goes public Modern Warfare 2's Prestige Edition includes fully functioning night vision goggles Snow Leopard review Live from Palm's CES press conference And a few other statistics for 2009 (all related to Engadget Classic): $38,204.57 - Retail value of stuff we gave away to readers 12,681 - total number of posts for 2009 1,821 - Number of galleries on Engadget for 2009 454 - Number of hands-on posts 99 - Number of Engadget reviews 66 - number of podcasts 4 - number of Engadget shows
Wii dominates Amazon's video game best sellers of 2009
Online retailer Amazon has tallied up sales in its Video Games category for the year 2009, and the results are overwhelmingly in favor of the Nintendo Wii, with nine out of the top ten spots going to Nintendo's console, various official accessories, and games. The best-selling game on the list is New Super Mario Bros. Wii at spot number 5, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that the game came out in November -- selling more copies in under two months than most games sold all year. But above that it's all Wii gear, from the Nunchuk and the MotionPlus addon to the console itself at the top. Modern Warfare 2 is the only non-Nintendo title in the top ten, and it's specifically the Xbox 360 version, while the PS3 version comes in at number 13. There are only two titles exclusive to another console on the list: Halo 3: ODST for Microsoft at 16, and Uncharted 2 for Sony at 18. But that's not much to cheer about: even the Wii Wheel beat them both. It's fair to say Nintendo can declare Wii-ctory on Amazon in 2009. See the full list below. [Via Kotaku]
Joystiq highlights a game of the year 2009
Here it is, folks: The moment you've all been waiting for. Team Joystiq has been scouring the list of games that came out in 2009, attempting to pick the best of the best, then present them to our readership in an enumerated fashion. Unfortunately, we got bored with that, and instead started playing 2009: The Game, which is, in fact, a game of the year 2009. We apologize for the misleading headline. It's more or less an "avoid-these-things-lest-you-die" game flash game which takes quick, topical jabs at the year's low points. However, it's a great reminder of some of the ridiculous shenanigans we had to put up with this year. Like, remember Swine Flu? Hoo boy.
Lichborne: 2009 in review for death knights
Welcome to Lichborne, where Daniel Whitcomb has decided that Boom Boom Pow is our class anthem for the new year, if only because those chickens are totally jackin' our style. So here we are, at the end of 2009. This marks the first full year of the Death Knight class, and it's definitely been an eventful year as Blizzard's balanced and rebalanced our class to help us fit into the ranks of the more established classes. We've been called flavor of the month and overpowered. I dislike the former label on philosophical grounds but grudgingly admit that the latter label has probably been correctly applied at certain points in time. Still, overall we've definitely had the ride of our lives over the last year as the devs have worked on a patch by patch basis to get us all figured out and settled in. Lets look at each tree and look back at the highlights and lowlights.
More games and players in 2009, but fewer sales
The gaming industry wasn't immune to the economic turmoil around the globe in 2009, but it appears that more people are playing games -- even if they aren't necessarily buying "core" games. USA Today has a year-end piece noting that 2008's record $21.3 billion in US sales isn't in the cards this year, with NPD data revealing that, as of November, consumers bought 12.2 million consoles, compared to 14.2 million the year prior. An optimist could argue that'll be made up for in software sales, but we'll need to wait until January for that data. EEDAR's Jesse Divnich reiterated that "the big games are getting bigger," indicating that blockbuster, marketed games are siphoning more sales from everyone else. Then again, casual games like Farmville on Facebook had 65 million players. A complication here is that retail sales may be declining (which is tracked by organizations like NPD), but we don't really know what goes on in closed digital distribution systems. The actual industry sales figures may be debatable, but we'll take the rise of casual games as a sign of demographic diversity within the industry.
Spiritual Guidance: The Priest of 2009
Every week (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW. I'm going to cheat. I'm going to dip back slightly into 2008 to the point where Wrath of the Lich King came out. Priests everywhere had high hopes for their class. We were coming off an expansion where Circle of Healing Priests and Resto Shamans were the king. Since then, the other healing classes have been improved where they could hold their own in raids and compete.
The Light and How to Swing It: The Paladin of 2009
With the Light as his strength, Gregg Reece of The Light and How to Swing It faces down the demons of the Burning Legion, the undead of the Scourge, and helps with the puppet shows at the Argent Ren Faire up in Icecrown. This week we're taking a look back at 2009 and the ups and downs we've felt as paladins. Well, it's after Christmas and another year is almost behind us. Two-double-zero-nine was a particularly frustrating year for paladins, because we felt we were either at the top of the pile or the bottom and it changed from day to day. The development team has even been quoted as saying that paladins have been the hardest class in Wrath to balance even when taking death knights into consideration. Let's walk down memory lane and see where we were and where we're going.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: The Warrior of 2009
The Care and Feeding of Warriors is WoW.com's column about aromatic essential oils for use in baths and to spruce up the house. Unfortunately I don't know anything about those so I'm going to have to talk about playing a warrior in World of Warcraft instead. My hands are tied, I'm afraid. Wow, that was a year, huh? From the dizzying highs of fury spec in Naxxramas to the somewhat less dizzying highs of Ulduar, arms' constant evolution and protection spec's astonishing makeover as the expansion launched, 2009 was a year that saw warriors sway from top DPS and solid tanks as if in some kind of gale force wind. Armor Penetration went from a stat we'd take if we had to and is now one of our top DPS stats, Block got a makeover that led to changes in how abilities like Shield Block and Shield Slam calculate, and in general we saw the effects of stat inflation on gear really have an effect on us and how we stack up to other classes as tanks and DPS. If you were a tanking warrior in Naxx on January 1st. 2009, for example, you may have had upwards of 35k health. (To be honest, it's hard for me to remember, it may have gotten up to 38k if you stacked stamina.) Now, a geared TotGC tank walking into ICC can pretty easily hit 54 to 55k health fully raid buffed. And it's only going up from here. Icecrown Citadel promises much improved itemization as well as crazy old school procs that should have warriors, be they DPS or tanks, salivating. Warriors have definitely had their ups and downs this year, but I think we can say we're ending the year on a fairly high note. Fury DPS has managed to get back to a competitive place with the new weapons, arms still lags behind but has solid PvP and PvE uses, and protection is quite possibly the single strongest tanking class by virtue of sheer flexibility: other tanks may have more health, more armor, or more AoE threat, but protection's suite of abilities includes standouts like Shockwave, Vigilance, Spell Reflection and Warbringer, making it possibly #2 in every single tanking category when no class can claim to be #1 in them all. Let's look at some changes and how they shook out for warriors.
