Q4-2012
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Ubisoft dropping 'Hip Hop Dance Experience' like it's hot
The latest celebrity to be featured in a Ubisoft dance "Experience" game is ... nobody in particular. The Hip Hop Dance Experience, rather than focusing on the work of a single artist, is a dancing game built around a collection of hip hop tracks, representing everything from the "Rapper's Delight" to Flo Rida.The Hip Hop Dance Experience will be out on Kinect and Wii in November. It'll debut at this weekend's Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, which is attended by plenty of people who have experienced hip hop dance already.Like last year's Black Eyed Peas Experience, Ubisoft has placed development in the hands of Elite Beat Agents creator iNiS. Unlike last year, however, we know iNiS is also working on an original music game, so this isn't as much of a crisis for iNiS fans.%Gallery-160278%
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale smashing bros on Oct. 23 in NA, Oct. 24 in EU
There's still lots that we don't know about SuperBot's PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, but today we learned when it'll arrive on store shelves: October 23. At least that's the case for North Americans – Europeans get the game on October 24. And yes, that's the same release date for both PlayStation 3 and Vita versions – Sony's not revealing pricing or more info until its EVO 2012 panel later today (6PM PT). Those scoundrels!The various costumes seen in the image above are part of the game's pre-order bonus, though someone should probably tell Sony that those giant yellow question marks are gonna look really weird in a fighting game. Honestly, who wants to play as question marks? Come on, guys.
Barnes & Noble's Q4 and FY 2012: revenue up, losses up, hopes Microsoft hurries up
Barnes & Noble has released its financial results for both the final quarter and full financial year of 2012. It's a picture of a company that's holding steady in the face of continued onslaught from its rivals, albeit with some hope on the horizon. In preparation for its as-yet-unnamed venture with Microsoft, the company has begun the process of spinning off its Nook and College businesses -- while sales from stores and BN.com now come under the umbrella term of "retail." On that front, it sold $1.1 billion worth of books in the quarter and $4.85 billion for the year -- down from $4.92 billion in 2011. Nook-wise, the company had turnover of $933 million, with device sales increasing 1 percent for the quarter and 45 percent of the year -- but had to eat a loss on taking back unsold Simple Touch readers. Content sales on its various devices increased 65 percent in the quarter and 119 percent in the year -- clearly showing where the market is headed.
Doom 3 'BFG Edition' bringing Hellspawn to retail on Oct. 16 in NA, Oct. 19 in EU
Smack in the middle of the busiest game release season of the year, Bethesda is re-launching Doom 3. The publisher announced this morning that Doom 3 "BFG Edition" – which includes "re-mastered versions" of Doom 3 and its "Resurrection of Evil" DLC, as well as the new content dubbed "The Lost Mission" – arrives on October 16 in North America and October 19 in Europe.Should all that Doom 3 content not be enough, both Doom 1 and 2 are included in the repackaging, and the whole schebang runs $39.99 on 360/PS3, while it's $10 cheaper on PC. Of course, if you wanna play it in virtual reality, Lawnmower Man-style, that's gonna require a heck of a lot more money. And being friends with John Carmack would also help.
Epic Mickey 2 paints a launch date of November 18 [Update: Platforms]
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2 is due out on November 18, Disney Interactive Media Group announced today.The above trailer comes straight out of E3, magically transported to computer screens around the globe. It features Oswald, Mickey, a baby, a movie-announcer-voiced narrator and, most importantly of all, friendship.Update: Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2 is hitting all of its platforms -- Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii -- on that November 18 launch date, Disney clarified for us.%Gallery-157404%
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault is Insomniac's next PSN game, arriving this fall
Ratchet & Clank are heading once more into the space breach, this time waging a "Full Frontal Assault" against space crabs with gatling guns, it seems. Insomniac head (and general nice dude) Ted Price took to the US PlayStation Blog this afternoon to announce "Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault" for PlayStation Network, alongside plans to launch the game "this holiday season."Aside from the artwork you see above and the logo we've dropped in the gallery below, Price offered few details on the game. He said it'll be a "fun-sized" R&C title (like Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty before it), and that the game will return to "the series' classic feel, camera, controls, and weapons, while innovating and giving you a whole new way to play." What that means is another question altogether. Price also said that the game will feature online co-op, but kept details similarly slim.%Gallery-156436%
Zone of the Enders sequel 'project' revealed; ZOE HD out in Japan Oct. 25
During a Zone of the Enders event today in Tokyo, Kojima Productions announced an October 25 release date for Zone of the Enders HD Collection – for Japan. International release dates for the PS3/Xbox 360 mech game compilation have yet to be announced beyond "fall".During the event, Hideo Kojima also announced that work has begun on a sequel currently codenamed "Enders Project." Kojipro is prototyping the game in its own Fox Engine, converting physical models into Fox Engine 3D models. The character model shown is more organic than robotic – it's the winsome fellow above, snapped by Famitsu.
Yakuza 5 due in Japan December 2012, has new engine
Yakuza 5, as revealed in a leak from the latest Famitsu magazine, sounds like it's expanding significantly on its predecessors, spreading out into five Japanese cities (Tokyo, Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka) with one protagonist in each – for a total of five, one more than any previous game.Those protagonists include Kazuma Kiryu, who is now a cab driver in Fukuoka (but will certainly get back to solving everyone's problems with violence), Yakuza 4's escaped convict Taiga Saejima, once again in prison, loan shark Shun Akiyama in Osaka, and Kiryu's daughter Haruka, playable for the first time. Why, we remember when she was just an NPC in a PS2 game, cheering for us as we showed off in the batting cages ... they grow up so fast.According to the summary of this Famitsu interview, Yakuza 5 has had double the development time of previous games, and features a new engine, allowing the game to move from battle scenes to adventuring "seamlessly." The game is reportedly set for a Japanese release this December.
Hitman: Absolution sneaking up to retail on November 20
Agent 47 isn't doing a very good job with that whole sneaking around thing, as we found out pretty easily this morning that his next game, Hitman: Absolution, launches November 20.Publisher Square Enix announced the date this morning alongside news that pre-orders will get access to a ... whole other Hitman title. Not too shabby!
Wedbush thinks Grand Theft Auto 5 will launch in October
With this morning's announcement that BioShock Infinite will now launch in February 2013, publisher Take-Two Interactive altered more than a game's launch date. Take-Two is a publicly traded company, and one fewer gigantic product launch during the holiday season – arguably Take-Two's only holiday product launch, unless you count fall launches of Borderlands 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown as "holiday" – means that shareholders will want to know what's up. That worry is reflected in Take-Two's stock price, which took a five percent hit since the market opened this morning.But when Infinite got pushed out of the holiday season, it opened the slot up for another high-profile Take-Two-published title: Grand Theft Auto 5. "In our view, the delay opens the window for Grand Theft Auto V to be released in October 2012," Michael Pachter of Webush Securities wrote in an email this morning, echoing a release window leak from earlier this year.In his eyes, Infinite wasn't just delayed to make it "something even more extraordinary," as Ken Levine put it, but because the folks at Rockstar, "notified Take-Two that GTA V would be ready for October." He believes this resulted in Take-Two offering Irrational Games an extra few months to prepare BioShock Infinite. His logic? "The studio [Rockstar Games] has scheduled every prior GTA release during that month (with GTA IV delayed to April 2008, due to bugs in the PS3 version)."Furthermore, Pachter and co. speculate we could hear more about GTA 5's launch date "as early as May 22" during a scheduled quarterly investor call, or perhaps in a few more weeks at E3 2012. We've yet to hear back from Irrational, Rockstar, or Take-Two on the subject.
EA 2012 financials: Q4 revenue and income up year-over-year, 2012 revenue up, income down
Publishing giant Electronic Arts has issued its financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2012 and fiscal 2012 as a whole and, wouldn't you know it, a year with a new Mass Effect game results in revenue totals that are much higher than years without Mass Effect games.Looking at just the fourth quarter of 2012, EA's total net revenue stacked up at $1.36 billion, a 24 percent increase over the $1.09 billion reported at the end of this same period last year. Net revenue generated from digital sales nearly doubled year-over-year, $419 million in Q4 2012 as opposed to $211 million in Q4 2011 – a 98 percent increase.Packaged goods still made up the majority of the publisher's revenue, however, at $949 million, up from $879 in Q4 2011. Net income for the period was also up year-over-year, $400 million for the period ending on March 31, 2012 as compared with $151 million for the same period in 2011. Naturally, EA contributes its successful fourth quarter to the release of Mass Effect 3 and the continued popularity of FIFA 12.Fiscal 2012 as a whole presents a slightly different story. While net revenue was up 15 percent year-over-year ($4.14 billion in fiscal 2012 vs. $3.58 billion in fiscal 2011), net income fell 263 percent, from $276 million in fiscal 2011 to just $76 million in fiscal 2012.Looking forward to fiscal 2013, EA expects an approximate net revenue of $4.07 billion, $950 million of which it expects to earn during the first fiscal quarter of 2013, which ends on June 30, 2012.
Logitech president celebrates end-of-year earnings with management cull
Logitech's Q4 and full-year report makes for uncomfortable reading. Despite profits increasing by a factor of nine in the last quarter of the year, overall annual profit fell 44 percent from $143 million to $71 million. The company has already parachuted in former Whirlpool exec. Bracken P. Darrel to turn things around and recover the losses made when the company went big on Google TV. His first action has been to kick-start a restructuring operation that will save $80 million in costs, starting by cutting a whole management layer -- demoting current product VP Junien Labrousse and firing sales VP Werner Heid. Mr. Darrell is now working directly with his team on a new lineup of "stronger" products to be unveiled later this quarter, with an emphasis on Windows 8 peripherals and LifeSize video conferencing gear. [Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]
Halo 4 awakens Master Chief on November 6
Microsoft and 343 Industries announced this morning that Halo 4 will launch worldwide on Tuesday, November 6. The news comes one day after teasy tweets from Microsoft's Major Nelson indicated some form of collaboration between Microsoft and everyone's favorite freakishly tall late night host, Conan O'Brien, which sparked rumors of a potential launch date reveal.Microsoft studios corporate VP Phil Spencer offered lofty goals alongside the launch date announce. "With Halo 4 leading the charge, we're confident 2012 will be the most successful year in Xbox history," Spencer said. He also pointed out that Halo 4 is just the beginning of Microsoft's renewed relationship with the Chief. "We are beginning a new saga with Halo 4 and embarking on a journey that will encompass the next decade of Halo games and experiences." Just no more cat helmets, Phil. That's all we ask.Additionally, Halo 4 will appear in some form on tonight's episode of "Conan," which Microsoft described as nothing more than a "special segment."Update: Red vs Blue created the charming short above to announce Halo 4's release date. Enjoy!
Resident Evil 6 gets new October 2 release date in leaked trailer
What happens when you have a big ol' press event in Italy? Apparently, you get Resident Evil 6 trailers with Italian subtitles. This latest trailer pushes up Resident Evil 6's release date from November 20 to October 2.In case you're in a situation that prevents streaming video, you should also know that the third protagonist (aka "the man who's told to save the world") is Albert Wesker's son. The trailer is rife with high-level RE drama, ending on a standoff between the perfectly coiffed Leon S. Kennedy and the significantly gruffer Chris Redfield. And no, there aren't any zombie presidents in this one. Not a single one.%Gallery-152819%
RIM announces Q4 2012 earnings, Jim Balsillie resigns from board, company plans to refocus on enterprise
We've already seen a bit of big news slip out ahead of RIM's earnings announcement, and the company's now dropped another bombshell itself. Former co-CEO Jim Balsillie has resigned from his position on the company's board of directors. In a statement, Balsillie said simply: "As I complete my retirement from RIM, I'm grateful for this remarkable experience and for the opportunity to have worked with outstanding professionals who helped turn a Canadian idea into a global success." RIM also confirmed that CTO David Yach would be retiring as well, and that COO Jim Rowan has "decided to pursue other interests," but it hasn't offered any indication of a broader shakeup beyond those three departures. As for the fourth quarter earnings, RIM is reporting revenue of $4.2 billion, down 19 percent from the third quarter, and a GAAP net loss of $125 million. Total BlackBerry shipments for the quarter dipped 21 percent to 11.1 million units, while PlayBook shipments totaled 500,000, which is actually a new high water mark for the tablet (1.3 million were shipped during the fiscal year). This is also notably the company's first quarterly earnings under the leadership of new CEO Thorsten Heins, who admits that the RIM faces some "significant" business challenges over the "next several quarters," and says that he's "taking the necessary steps to address them." That includes "increased management accountability and process discipline," as well as what he describes as a "comprehensive review of strategic opportunities including partnerships and joint ventures, licensing, and other ways to leverage RIM's assets and maximize value for our stakeholders." On the company's earnings call, Heins further added that he intends to refocus on the company's enterprise business, and not try to be "all things to all people." He went on to offer an even more frank assessment of RIM's current state than he had earlier, stating that these are "difficult times" and that there's "no guarantee of success," while also adding that he's open to exploring "all opportunities." That includes the possibility of licensing BB10 which, incidentally, will apparently address the company's current LTE deficit "later this year." Asked on the call whether he would consider getting out of the hardware business altogether, Heins says that he prefers an "integrated" approach, but left the door open a little to that being done through partnerships instead of completely in-house -- he also repeatedly noted that he wants RIM devices to be high-end, "aspirational" products. In short: the company's focus now is on BB10 and enterprise, but it's seemingly leaving just about everything on the table.
Medal of Honor Warfighter launches October 23, teaser leaks
Medal of Honor Warfighter is apparently EA's big holiday shooter this year, with a leaked European trailer indicating an October 23 launch date. The sequel to 2010's Medal of Honor is also being handled by EA's Danger Close studio, though DICE isn't picking up the multiplayer slack this time around. As October 23 is a Tuesday, it looks like that will also account for a US release date, but we've reached out to EA for clarification all the same.Update: EA released the US trailer as well now, which shows October 23 as the release date too. So there's that!
Pokemon Black and White Version 2 coming this fall to North America
Nintendo of America officially announced plans to release Pokemon Black Version 2 and Pokemon White Version 2, the mysterious sequels revealed over the weekend in Japan. A brief press release from the publisher said that the DS sequels will arrive in North America this fall -- ensuring one more crazy holiday season for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo didn't offer any more details about the content of the games, or what it means to have a "Version 2" of a previously released Pokemon game.Alongside this announcement, Nintendo issued slightly bigger character art of the new Black Kyurem and White Kyurem Pokemon -- but didn't label them! How will we ever figure out which is which?%Gallery-148687%
TiVo releases Q4 results, announces transcoder and IP set-top box on the way
Today TiVo announced its earnings for Q4 2011 and the full year, however the most interesting note was word of a few new boxes on the way. From the sound of things, the company will deliver a four stream transcoder similar to the one we saw demonstrated at CES (pictured above) capable of dishing out video to multiple devices (phones, tablets, etc.) within the home simultaneously. Also on the way is an IP set-top box coming to retail that sounds very much like the TiVo Preview multiroom extender, however it could include access to internet video services as well. As mentioned on Tech of the Hub, CEO Tom Rogers' statements indicate the transcoder will enable both live streaming and DirecTV Nomad-style "high speed" sideloading of recorded content for offline viewing. More concrete are its positive numbers from the partnership with Virgin Media in the UK, and progress on a plan for Pace to develop TiVo-compatible set-top boxes for cable operators here and abroad. The Comcast partnership is also apparently progressing, with VOD access in beta trials and preparing to launch "soon" in the San Francisco area.
Report: Medal of Honor: Warfighter is Danger Close's next game, hits in October [updated]
EA's been teasing the next Medal of Honor for some time now, so it's not a huge surprise to hear more about it on Twitter. Game Informer's Jim Reilly spent the past half hour sharing some info, saying the game is called "Medal of Honor: Warfighter," is arriving this coming October, and runs in DICE's Frostbite 2.0 engine.The info is apparently coming from a copy of OXM, which arrived a bit ahead of EA's intended marketing push, it would seem. Reilly also says the game's multiplayer will be handled in-house by EA Danger Close now, rather than DICE as was the case with 2010's Medal of Honor reboot.Update: The Medal of Honor blog offered a teaser image of the game, confirmed the title, and teased more details in the coming weeks. Boom! See the full image on the other side of the break.
Dell falls short on Q4 earnings: $16 billion in revenue, only $764 million in profit
Q4 of fiscal year 2012 was another rough one for Dell. The company fell short of expectations yet again, collecting roughly three quarters of a billion dollars in net income on revenues of $16 billion. The one bright spot was its enterprise division, which had another record quarter -- accounting for 30 percent of revenues ($4.9 billion). While there was some growth in high end systems, Dell has clearly seen the writing on the wall and plans to refocus primarily on enterprise products and services in 2013. Interestingly, despite the disappointment on Wall Street, Dell still managed to rake in almost a $1 billion more in profit this year than it did last, making 2012 both a record breaker and a let down. Check out the complete PR after the break.
