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BAFTA video game award nominees announced
The BAFTA awards represent a rare opportunity to get the thrill of watching your favorite high-profile games rack up more plaudits long after the end of the year. They also represent the opinions of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, but whatever. The nominations for the 2009 awards have been released, with mostly unsurprising games occupying the "Best Game" category -- Batman, Assassin's Creed II, Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Joystiq.com Game of the Year 2009 Uncharted 2 -- and FIFA 2009. In the "people's choice" GAME Awards, all of the Best Game nominees but Left 4 Dead 2 make repeat appearances, joined by The Beatles: Rock Band, GTA Chinatown Wars, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Street Fighter IV, and Wii Sports Resort. "Everyone's" tastes are much more diverse! See more nominations for specific genres and achievements at the BAFTA site. The winners will be revealed in an award ceremony on March 19.
More racing, kicking comes to Games on Demand
Great news for you zero-patience homebodies out there: A new batch of Xbox 360 games has just come to Games on Demand. Better yet, it's a group of games that lets you perform some of the activities you swore off when you decided to never again leave the confines of your home. Now you can remember the fun of playing soccer with friends with FIFA 09 or relive the visceral thrill of operating a motor vehicle with Burnout Revenge and Need For Speed: Pro Street. Now, if only they'd release The Touch of Another Human, you'd be all set.
UK chart get: Wii Fit still on top, FIFA 09 takes 2nd spot
Wii Fit has been selling extremely well, taking the top spot for the seventh week in a row, Chart-Track data shows. In fact, a record of nine weeks in a row was set by Who Wants to be a Millionaire (no platforms mentioned), and Nintendo's Balance Board bundle is on pace to tie that record should it frequent the top spot for the next two weeks. Unsurprisingly, soccer football game FIFA 09 managed to take the second spot, pushing last week's second place holder, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, down to third. Interesting to note is the inclusion of Battlestations: Pacific on the list. The game only released in the UK last week for Xbox 360 and PC, and managed to win the battle for last place, taking up the tenth spot.
Gitcha SecuROM de-authorization tools! Git'em ova hur!
EA's perpetual joke -- on you -- comes to an ironic end on April Fools' Day with the release of de-authorization tools for each of its 19 PC games with SecuROM copy protection (full list and download links after the break). If you've been working on that class action lawsuit against EA for bundling SecuROM with The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff, you can drop it now -- your flat-pack furniture can finally be moved to a new machine. In the spirit of generosity, EA's giving you two options for managing your authorizations: Option 1: Download and install yet another "tool" in order to scan your computer for EA's SecuROM games and find out how many computer authorizations you have (or don't have) left for each title. Option 2: Cut to the chase and download the game-specific de-authorization tool you need.
Trophies: FIFA 09
1 Platinum 2 Gold 17 Silver 27 Bronze Difficulty: Moderate Online Trophies? Yes Time to Completion: 100 hours DLC Trophies? Yes* *Trophies requiring DLC are highlighted in yellow. View Trophy List Read More About the Game %Gallery-26544%
Halo 3 back on top of Live charts, Halo Wars debuts at #6
Our very personal bestest friend, Major Nelson, has posted Xbox Live activity for the week of March 2nd. Halo continues its never-ending battle with Call of Duty with Halo 3 nudging World at War from the top spot. Call of Duty 4, Gears of War 2 (somehow) and GTAIV round out the top five. The Halo series receives some backup this week, with newcomer Halo Wars debuting at number six. On top of that, the Halo Wars demo inched up the top ten, moving from the ninth most played to the eighth. FIFA 09 moves up a notch to number 9, shoving Street Fighter IV to the tenth spot.Considering the limited edition of Halo Wars including the Mythic Map Pack, it might have had something to do with Halo 3 reclaiming the top spot. The big question now is whether or not Halo Wars can maintain its momentum. As one of the few RTS games to make a big splash on consoles, you can bet Microsoft is watching it closely.
FIFA 09: Full version of 'Ultimate Team' title update priced
EA Sports' Football World community manager, Romily Broad, has revealed the upcoming FIFA 09 DLC, Ultimate Team, will be priced at 800 / $9.99 US (£7.99). For the uninformed, Ultimate Team is a fantasy soccer management mode that will allow gamers to assemble their fantasy teams by collecting virtual cards in various categories. Footy fans should take note, this isn't regular DLC. The content will drop as a mandatory -- and free -- title update on March 19 (clocking in at about 1.3GB). Gamers will receive a five match trial with the option to shell out for the full version. Mandatory 1.3GB title update? Comcast -- and Rogers Cable -- users had better schedule their bandwidth usage accordingly.
Europe loves its FIFA 09, 1.25 million games logged daily
According to EA-supplied FIFA 09 statistics, gamers around the globe (see: Europe) have averaged 1.25 million online games per day since its release this past Fall. Selling 7.8 million copies in 2008 probably factors into that number somewhat. The statistical goods keep coming, with EA revealing that FIFA 09 is EA Sports' most successful online game, boasting a 321% increase over its FIFA predecessor in daily games played, and seeing 141 million games logged on all platforms since launch. That's a lot of gamers taking to the field to bend it like Beckham.
EA's Q3 financial report shows big sales for Rock Band, FIFA 09
EA has released its financial report for Q3 2008. Even though the company is currently restructuring jettisoning employees (the financial report says 11% of its workforce, up from the previous 10%), its sales highlights are full of enormous, impressive numbers. According to the report, EA was "the leading publisher in North America with approximately 20% segment share according to NPD." In Europe, EA had a 16% share, second only to Nintendo.The report claims that Rock Band was "the number one title across all platforms in North America for calendar 2008." The key phrase there is "across all platforms" -- meaning "among games released on all three console platforms." It didn't make NPD's top 10 best-selling games.EA's best-selling title of 2008 overall was FIFA 09, which sold 7.8 million copies in 2008. This estimate puts FIFA above three of the games on the combined Enterbrain/NPD/Chart-Track sales list.
FIFA 09 Live Season DLC gets price cut
Great news for footy fans, EA has slashed the price on the FIFA 09 Live Season service to celebrate the beginning of transfer (also known as trading) season. The Live Season service updates your copy of FIFA 09 on a weekly basis with fresh stats based on real-life matches, keeping your favorite digital clubs as up to date as possible. Individual leagues, English Barclay's Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1, German Bundesliga and Mexican Primera Division have been reduced to 420 (originally 560) and a bundle of all six clubs is available for 1200 (down from 1600).
2D Boy 'honored' by Peter Moore's World of Goo ignorance
Eurogamer posted its "Top 50 Games of 2008" list last week, and was immediately scolded by EA boss Peter Moore for daring to exclude FIFA 09. This story was picked up by numerous sites, but one detail that wasn't so heavily reported were Moore's views on the game that came tenth, World of Goo. Moore said he was "surprised to see [World of Goo] up so high," despite ... not having played it. For their part, 2D Boy (former employees of EA, no less) described the remark as a "compliment," and said they were "honored that World of Goo has crept this far into mainstream awareness." The pair have also confessed to deriving a "sick pleasure" from an "industry bigwig's indignant, self-righteous incredulity," though we suspect tongues were firmly placed in cheeks at this stage. %Gallery-16000%
CoD: World at War gives FIFA 09 the boot, tops UK charts
Just when we'd gotten used to writing a different sort of headline, Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War once again climbs to the top of the UK all-format software sales charts. After being punted (that's another football joke, you see) from the top spot by FIFA 09 last week, the umpteenth shooter set during the second world war now hopes to restart its stint in first position. It previously held the spot for five consecutive weeks.In other chart news, Need For Speed: Undercover moved back up to third position, with Tomb Raider: Underworld clambering from ninth position to sixth. And who managed to leap up ten to ten? Sonic Unleashed. This thing has more plot twists than a Phoenix Wright trial.
Global Online Games Awards honors multiple MMORPGs
The recently held Global Online Games Awards in Seoul, South Korea, just handed out awards to World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, and EVE Online for excellence in their respective genres. World of Warcraft took the top spot in the roleplaying game category, City of Heroes took the award home for the adventure/action game, and EVE Online found an award in the strategic simulation category.The judges were formed from an international panel of game experts, including Simon Carless from Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine. Each game was rated on scenario/planning (content), graphics, music and sound, included technology, and creativity. Other winning titles included Counter-Strike Source in the first-person shooter category, FIFA '09 in the sports category, and Nexon's KartRider for best racing/casual game.Gamasutra has the whole write-up, so head on over there if you want to check out the full article.
CoD: World at War tops UK charts for fifth week
Call of Duty: World at War (CoD:W@W for the more efficient among you) has defended its number one position on the all-format UK game sales charts, extending its reign to a fifth consecutive week despite heavy holiday competition. Mario Kart Wii took the second spot, followed by FIFA '09 and, still quite bizarrely, Need for Speed: Undercover. Oh, but wait until we tell you what's in the fifth spot. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training. Remember that one?Further down the charts, Ubisoft's cel-shaded scurrier, Prince of Persia, climbed to the 20th position while Sonic Unleashed went from 33rd to 12th. We'll let that sink in for a few moments.
Analyst: Mirror's Edge, NFS, RB2 sales to spur more EA layoffs
There could be fewer gifts passed around at Electronic Arts' annual Christmas party as analyst Colin Sebastian anticipates the company may let go more employees in the wake of sluggish sales. While EA eliminated nearly 6% of its workforce last October, the Lazard Capital Markets soothsayer predicts that underperforming titles, including Rock Band 2, Need for Speed Undercover and Mirror's Edge, could likely lead to the company to make even deeper cuts.EA's bottom line was able to keep from being totally dismembered, however, thanks to what the analyst calls "solid sales" of Dead Space, Left 4 Dead and FIFA 09. Even so, Sebastian lowered his third quarter outlook for the publishing powerhouse from $2.14 to $2.07 billion, leaving Scrooge McDuck with plenty to count over the holidays should Disney come knocking.
Call of Duty: World at War tops UK charts
Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War has climbed to the top of the UK all-format game sales charts, blasting its way through countless soldiers, explosive set pieces and Need For Speed: Undercover, which was in second place for some reason. Resistance 2 grabbed the tenth spot in its debut, while Sonic Unleashed, as Eurogamer points out, only managed 23rd ... on the Xbox 360-specific chart. Though FIFA 09's third all-format position makes complete sense and matches our envisioned UK stereotypes perfectly, it's somewhat harder to justify the #39 spot held by Mirror's Edge, not to mention Left 4 Dead's #34. Tomb Raider: Underworld, however, managed to go from a 9 to a 7 in a week. Not the first time that's happened.
Shipping this week: it begins edition
And here ... we ... go. We're halfway through October and it's finally started. The industry imposed holiday game torrent is upon us. We hope you've saved up some cash (or tidied up your GameFly queue) because, starting now, you're going to need it. Just look at all of these games: Dead Space Saints Row 2 Blitz: The League II Golden Axe: Beast Rider Rock Revolution FIFA Soccer 2009 Yeah, this is going to be a tough couple of months.[Via Joystiq]
FIFA is the new Madden, in the UK
Some interesting statistics about Electronic Arts' recently launched FIFA 09 in the U.K. (via Chart Track): It is currently beating the sales rate of FIFA08 -- itself a bestselling UK game last year -- by 37.5%. It debuted at the top of the PlayStation 2, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 charts. Of those sales, 42% were on Xbox 360, making it the 3rd fastest selling game on Microsoft's format (behind GTA IV and Halo 3), while 40% were on PS3 where it is the 2nd fastest selling game (behind GTA IV). 11% go to PS2, 3% to PSP and the rest for PC, Wii and DS. Just goes to show you that no matter the culture or continent, EA owns football. See the full top 10 list of All Formats software sales after the break.
Worldwide PS3 releases for the week of September 28th
Silent Hill is coming home this week. For America and Asia, that is. Europe has about another month to wait, but instead get the latest iteration in the never ending FIFA franchise. That's it for this week, but here's the info in a handy bullet-point list:US Games Silent Hill: Homecoming EU Games FIFA 09 Asian Games Silent Hill: Homecoming Release dates are constantly subject to change. If you're worried, then check with your local retailer. Europeans, feel free to import Silent Hill: Homecoming, if you're desperate. Just be aware that imported games must have downloadable content from their respective regions. Not that we suspect Silent Hill: Homecoming will be getting any DLC.
PS3 becomes home to FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009
Do you have what it takes to be the world's best virtual football player? The FIFA Interactive World Cup begins this October. Players will be able to compete at one of 19 physical FIWC 09 Qualifier Events across the globe, kicking off in New Zealand on October 25 and covering countries all over the world, including Australia, Brazil, Czech Republic, France, Italy, South Africa and the United States. Players will also be able to compete for the 13 places available in the final for the best online players via the PLAYSTATION Network. Not only will players be vying for fame, but the grand prize winner will receive a cash prize of $20,000 USD and a KIA Soul. The second place winner will receive $5,000 and third place will win $1,000. Players will be able to start practicing now with the demo available on the Store -- but to get in the competition, they'll have to buy the full game when it launches later next month. For more information on the Inetractive World Cup, visit www.FIFA.com/FIWC.
