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UK's top-selling retail games of 2014 led by FIFA
As was expected, FIFA 15, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Grand Theft Auto 5 dominated the UK sales chart in 2014. MCV has the list of the top 100 titles by sales, supplied by Chart-Track and UKIE. A huge caveat to note is the data only covers physical retail box copies, with no digital distribution data. Ubisoft was the publisher with the most games on the chart, followed by EA, at 12 and nine, respectively. Watch Dogs and Destiny made the top ten, with original intellectual properties making up nine percent of the list. Head over to MCV for all 100.
MCV 2012 UK salary survey shows industry pay up 10 percent year over year
MCV's 2012 UK Games Industry Salary Survey, which polled 975 people (597 of whom worked in United Kingdom), showed an average UK games industry salary of £33,123 ($50,741), more than a 10 percent increase from 2011's average of £30,667 ($46,979). That figure was created using survey results from "all sectors - development, publishing, retail, PR & marketing, services, technology and business development," according to MCV. Ten percent of respondents were women, which is reportedly in-scale with their overall presence in the British gaming industry. The study's average salary figure is a median average rather than a mean average, we should note, and does not include "the group of very senior, and very well paid, execs" that also participated in the survey. Including their data, the average salary is £35,790. If you include the 378 non-British respondents, the average rose to £34,263, indicating that junior-level employees may be earning more outside of the UK. The survey also showed a disparity between the average salaries of men and women, with industry women making £1.35 an hour less than their male counterparts. This is disproportionate to MCV's global findings, which show that women in the games industry earn more than men on average, albeit only by a few hundred pounds. Here is your reward for making it all the way through a facts-oriented article about salaries and averages. [mffoto via Shutterstock]
Hands-on with Dyle Mobile TV, broadcasting live to a handset near you (video)
Dyle couldn't have found a better showcase than CES to exhibit its next gem. It's only been a few days since we first heard that the joint venture between MetroPCS and the Mobile Content Venture would bear fruit in 2012, and, well, we're in Las Vegas and we've seen it take its first steps. Although live TV broadcasting to mobile devices couldn't exactly be considered cutting-edge, judging by our time with the handset, this is one of the greater implementations of the concept. The company tells us that the app is set to hit its beta stage within the next few months at no cost, but that might change depending on partners and networks. Speaking of partners, Samsung alongside the Metro carrier will be the first to have the chipset-embedded smartphones on the market -- yes, that means you won't actually see the circa 1990's antenna. Dyle's also partnered up with Belkin to bring the service past phones and onto tablets, however, unlike the Sammy-branded phone that's expected to use the chip, the tablets will be able to pick up the airwaves by doubling the headphones as a receiver. Jump past the break to see the mobile telecast in action.
Belkin teams with Mobile Content Venture to bring Dyle Mobile TV to your phone, iPad (hands-on)
Hot on the heels of its agreement with MetroPCS, Mobile Content Venture (MCV) is now teaming up with Belkin. The duo will collaborate on new products and application designs for tech that will bring broadcast TV to 120 million existing devices -- and a plethora of new gadgetry, we'd surmise. Live programming will be enabled through MCV's Dyle Mobile TV service which gathers content from 15 major broadcast groups including Fox, NBC and ION Television, just to name a few. Product prototypes are said to be on display this week at CES, and further details on the partnership should be on the way as well. Update: We got some hands-on time with the setup at CES Unveiled, and spotted the digital TV watching software not only running on an unnamed MetroPCS handset, but on a Belkin dongle-equipped iPad as well. Check out our in-person pics in the gallery.
MetroPCS hooks up with the Mobile Content Venture for live TV on the go
The wireless-for-all carrier's been agreeing to all sorts of partnerships of late in an effort to keep its users content, the latest one being the tie-up with Mobile Content Venture that'll bring local broadcast TV live to your MetroPCS handset. The service, which is said to be coming later in the year, will be offered via a Dyle Mobile TV app, and the companies are guaranteeing that you'll be able to watch the content "right out of the box." There's 15 total broadcasters named in the deal, some of which are: FOX, ION Television, NBC, Telemundo and Univision (for all your novela needs). We've seen a plethora of mobile devices come and go since we first heard of the Mobile DTV promise, but they did say 2012 would be the year, and, well, here we are. A peek at the PR below tells us we'll see this in action next week at CES, so we'll let you know if it's as marvelous as it sounds.
Sony: every NGP game will be available to download, some might not even make it to physical release
We're filling the time between now and the NGP's holiday season release the best way we know how: by hunting down yet more information about it. Andrew House, the man in charge of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has delivered the latest tidbit in an interview with MCV, where he states unequivocally that every game on the next PlayStation Portable will be available to buy as a download. Notably, he also expresses Sony's desire to have simultaneous distribution in both digital and physical channels, but that sounds a lot less concrete than his promise that every game will be downloadable. Digital-only games also figure prominently in Andrew's vision of the NGP's future, as he expects them to diversify choice for consumers alongside the big time titles like Uncharted. To learn more about Sony's replacement of UMDs with flash memory and the reasoning behind the PlayStation Suite, follow the source link below for the full interview.
Sony Xperia Play hits the UK on March 31st, thumbsticks coming never
Readers in the British Empire get ready for Sony Ericsson's biggest UK marketing campaign ever. That's in the lead-up to the release of the Xperia Play, a phone that we've been hearing about for so long that we'd need some pretty shocking commercials to get us all excited again. You may feel differently, though, so mark your calendars for March 31st. That's the end of the month and falls in nicely with the "late March" word we'd heard for elsewhere in the world, though that is awfully late. As to where you can buy it, it's said that "all the mobile operators and retailers" will have it, so you shouldn't have to wander too far. And, with six games pre-installed, you should even be reasonably well equipped to kill the rest of that Thursday.
Mobile DTV ready to roll out, upgrading 20 major metros to portable TV by 2012
Slowly but surely, the biggest US cities are catching up to the rest of the world -- just imagine, by this time next year, we might even have broadcast television beamed to our tablets and cell phones. That's because the Mobile Content Venture formed from twelve media giants in April has just promised to start upgrading TV stations to deliver Mobile DTV (aka ATSC-M/H) around the country, with the intent of reaching 20 major markets and a total of 40 percent of the US population by "late 2011." Each of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland, Cincinnati, Greenville, West Palm Beach, Birmingham and Knoxville can expect to have a pair of ad-supported TV channels before long, assuming citizens are willing and able to pick up hardware with a old-school RF antenna sticking out -- and that whole "streaming" thing doesn't take off. PR after the break.
Average salaries of video game industry employees compared
[Flickr: Bradipo] Once again, MCV has surveyed its fellow video game professionals about their annual salaries in order to come up with an average wage for each facet of the industry in 2010. The median average for all European and U.S. respondents is £31,509 (call it $51,331 and change), while the mean is £40,467 (roughly $65,925) -- that's a fraction of a percent lower than last year's results. For a full breakdown of how much each individual profession will average this year in salary, check out the list after the jump. It wouldn't be polite to comment on how our wages compare to the reported average Media salary. Nope. We're not gonna do it. We're just going to sit here on our $6,000 Italian leather massage chair, finish writing this post on our $22,000 diamond-bejeweled supercomputer, and then continue sipping on this $14,500 bottle of Scotch. Mmmmm. So crisp.
EA Euro boss: Bad Company 2 is 'first strong attack' on Call of Duty
Electronic Arts is really pushing to gain ground in the battle for FPS multiplayer popularity. Speaking with MCV, EA Europe senior VP Jens Uwe Intat proclaimed that March's launch of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be the publisher's "first strong attack" launched on Call of Duty. By that stream of logic, we're guessing the Medal of Honor reboot would be the second? Intat believes that if any studio can take on Modern Warfare, it's DICE. He reiterates that the "shooter" genre is important to the publisher and that EA is "certainly working on how [it] can get that crown back." Meanwhile, Bungie sips a mocha and buffs Halo 3 on the mantel. [Via CVG]
Tradewest continues ex-Midway Europe exec hirings
Having worked with Nick Howard in the past at Midway Europe where he acted as head of sales, Tradewest Games head Martin Spiess recently added Howard to the growing roster of ex-Midway Europe employees now employed by his newly formed outfit. "Nick has been a key contributor to our business over the years and we are confident that his appointment will accelerate Tradewest's growth strategy," Spiess told MCV. Howard will act as managing director for the nascent company, specifically looking over UK sales and marketing. We've still yet to hear what Tradewest Games is up to in terms of, well, games, but hopefully this new hire is bringing the company closer to revealing some details.
BBC's 'The Big Questions' tackles Modern Warfare 2
In case you were wondering yet had no intention of finding out for yourself, Modern Warfare 2 was released specifically to offend you. "The Big Questions" takes on this exact subject in this week's episode, hosting a handful of religious leaders as well as a couple of knowledgeable game industry folks. Though we feel that the game's graphic scenes are somewhat on par with action movies like Heat or Ronin (and are nowhere near as offensive as something like, say, Hostel – or even the 30-year-old Texas Chainsaw Massacre), religious leaders guesting on this week's BBC program took approximately forty seconds before enacting Godwin's Law when speaking about the game, according to an MCV report. "Joseph Goebbels said his entertainment did more for the German people, in terms of creating the psyche for war and hostility towards others, than the speeches of Adolf Hitler ... the idea this is entertainment is not justification whatsoever, " Fazan Mohammed of the British Muslim Forum told viewers. Thankfully, Future Publishing's James Binns kept a level head among knee-jerk claims (unlike that other gentleman). "We can make all entertainment for children, or we can take proper steps to try and protect children from adult entertainment." So, whaddya say, folks? Modern Warfare 3 with major battles between adorable stuffed pandas and adorable stuffed kodiaks, and when they get shot (with hearts) they explode candy? Where do we sign up?!
Project Natal launching in November 2010, priced for 'impulse buy'?
A supposed leak from closed-door Microsoft meetings in the UK has made its way to MCV, who has all sorts of new details on Project Natal's launch next year. Rumor is that the device will be released worldwide in November 2010 (we've heard "late next year" before), with 5 million camera units ready for day one, included in solo and console-bundled SKUs. Word varies on the price, with some saying "under £50" (about $84 USD), while others say as low as £30, about $50 USD. Apparently Microsoft is aiming for "impulse buy" territory, and it makes sense to subsidize the unit and make that money back in games sales, like a regular console launch (which Microsoft sort of sees it as, in many ways). There are supposed to be 14 games readied for launch, but no specifics on which developers that've signed up for Natal work will be among those on launch day. It all sounds about right, though we of course won't know for sure until Microsoft goes into tell-all mode, which we expect will be a decent ways down the road if they can't even confirm a silly WiFi adapter for the holidays without months of hand-wringing.
Infinity Ward's fourzerotwo thinks devs should 'take control' of marketing
With the release of the highly anticipated Modern Warfare 2 just over two weeks away, Infinity Ward's Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling has been quite vocal with the press. Speaking with MCV, Bowling unequivocally states his opinion that game developers should retain control of marketing and PR for their own games. "I don't think any developer should not have control of how their game is presented or marketed or communicated," Bowling said. "And they should take control of that a lot, lot more." Using his own Twitter account as an example, he points out that he has a "direct line to our audience and the press," cutting out the "middleman" of a publisher handling marketing/PR duties. "Not only do we know the game but we know the gamer," he continues. Then he must know about the 160,000 or so people and nearly 600 Diggers upset over his studio's decision to not support dedicated servers on the PC, right? Ahh, the double-edged sword of control: while IW may be the one making vital decisions on its own game, the blame falls squarely on its shoulders when things go wrong. %Gallery-50567%
Rumor: No Euro Wii price cut, new bundle to include both Wii Sports games, MotionPlus
Just like we saw earlier this year with the PlayStation 3 Slim, the rumor mill is churning at breakneck pace -- though this time around a possible Nintendo Wii price cut rather than a slimmer console. Aside from multiple retailer listings and today's alleged internal Best Buy memo, MCV reports that a "retail source" told it the UK won't be receiving the same price cut that North America and Japan are expected to receive. Instead, the current model will be given the bundle treatment.GamesIndustry.biz spotted the new bundle on ShopTo.net -- it has since been removed, though an image and a shell of the page still exist -- which includes both Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort as well as a MotionPlus attachment, for the same £199.99 ($326.76) the system is priced at now. If it is true, at least UK Wii buyers will be getting a bit more for their pounds. It's not quite the Duck Hunt/Super Mario Bros. with a Zapper combo of yore, but it'll have to do.Source -- No Wii price cut for UK [GamesIndustry.biz]Source -- New UK Wii bundle leaked [MCV]
PS3 Slim's first-week UK sales around 40,000
Chart-Track reported that PlayStation 3 rose 999 percent (exclamation point!) in the week of the PS3 Slim launch, but without some actual context, that's just a crazy-sounding percentage. MCV provides us some (partial) context, estimating that 40,000 PS3 Slims were sold in that period. This also means that a paltry 4,000 (ish) were sold the previous week. MCV arrived at that number after Sony said that the Slim's launch sales were 20 percent behind those of the PS2 Slim, which sold 50,000 units in its first week in the UK. The estimated percentage of an estimated amount means that the 40,000 number isn't officially official (don't use it as the basis for a chapter in your History of Console Sales book), but it shouldn't be that far off. And that number doesn't include however many PS3 Hefties were purchased.Compare this "drastic" sales boost to the 7,350 percent bump the Slim caused in Japan. The PS3 went from selling fewer units in Japan than in the UK, to almost four times as many. Now that's a new hardware launch.
Vivid Entertainment wants more porn on your PS3
We were just as shocked as you are -- people will pay to watch what now?! Copulation, you say? Apparently it's a booming business! As well as one that could be expanded with streaming access via the PlayStation 3, Vivid Entertainment head honcho Steven Hirsch told MCV recently. He believes companies like Japan's DMM are paving the way for streaming adult content on the PS3.Though his company has yet to formally request its content be available on Sony's console, DMM has already proven such a thing is possible through the console's web browser. Unfortunately, this is one of those awkward moments where we have to inform the idea men behind this that so is ... the rest of the Internet. Let's hope enough people are ready to shell out their dough for the sheer convenience of it all.
Peter Moore asks for transparency in marketing, doesn't mind being called ugly
"We're never not interacting with our community," Peter Moore recently claimed at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, MCV UK reports. Apparently the EA Sports prez was advocating the need for more community engagement and developer transparency in the gaming industry, saying, "We needed to get away from the 'dark science' days of making games, when we'd just lob the consumer a screenshot on the odd afternoon." It's reported that he also argued for early and frequent marketing for games, adding that some publishers still don't understand the necessity for sustained engagement. He posits that community interaction and openness is key, though Moore admits he's had to develop a "thick skin" due to some forumgoers on the EA Sports blogs calling him "ugly." Aww, sorry Peter. We still love ya, buddy!
Rumor: All Points Bulletin to launch in March 2010
Fans of urban crime games like Grand Theft Auto should have something to look forward to in 2010, with the release of All Points Bulletin from Realtime Worlds. It's an MMO-like game where you'll be able to go on rampages through city streets with hundreds of other players, either as criminals or the vigilantes who hunt them. We learned at E3 2009 that All Points Bulletin is slated for an "early 2010" release, in partnership with Electronic Arts, but now rumor has it that APB will release in March. UK gaming site MCV reports, "The hotly-tipped APB by Scottish developer Realtime Worlds will arrive at retail in March, MCV can reveal." EA is still sticking with "early 2010", however, according to our parent site Joystiq. If we get any solid confirmation of the All Points Bulletin release date, we'll definitely give this a mention.
Rumor: APB rolls onto the hard streets of retail in March
MCV reports that Realtime Worlds' MMO, APB, will launch its crime-infested sandbox next March. The game will be distributed on PC and Xbox 360 by EA Partners, the same division of the publishing behemoth handling Rock Band and Left 4 Dead. This would make APB just the second MMO to hit the Xbox console and the first "next-gen" game to do so, following the 2006 re-release of 2003's Final Fantasy XI. We're currently trying to follow up with Realtime Worlds and EA for confirmation. We'll update if we hear anything back.Update 2: Realtime Worlds: "Realtime Worlds have only ever announced a Q1 2010 launch window. Any other dates you may see are either assumptions or speculations based on this."Update: EA reiterated that "early 2010" is its release window, also "there are currently no plans for a 360 version." %Gallery-65497%
