Nintendo's Wii Tops December Video Game Sales, Overall 2008 Revenue

Matt Peckham

Jan 16, 2009 9:30 pm





Nintendo’s Wii nabbed the lion’s share of December’s game sales, just as it snapped up the lion’s share of 2008 revenue, according to NPD Group’s end-of-year wrap. Both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 advanced hundreds of thousands of unit sales each, toward a relatively strong 2008 finish.

The pace of growth slowed in the fourth quarter, as many predicted it would. “While industry growth has not continued at the blistering pace we saw during the second and third quarters,” said NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier, “December's 9% increase over last December brings the year in 19% ahead of last year, and sets a new record for total industry sales."

Despite the quarterly drop-off, December was big business for gaming, topping $5B (yep, billion) in a single month for the first time ever, something Frazier compares to 1997 annual revenues of $5.1B. “And now a single month has realized that level of sales,” she said.

Commenting on industry layoffs and major studio closings in spite of record industry sales, Frazier said “This is not a case of the rising tide lifting all boats,” adding that “The increases are not being enjoyed equally by all manufacturers and publishers.”

Hardware (December 08)

3.04m – Nintendo DS
2.15m – Wii
1.44m – Xbox 360
1.02m – PlayStation Portable
726k – PlayStation 3
419k – PlayStation 2

The Nintendo DS took top honors in December, securing the “first time that any hardware system has sold in excess of 3 million units in any single month” gold. Hardware sales topped $1.88B and rose 36% over November’s $1.21B, but were up a nominal 2%, year over year.

If you distinguish between set-top consoles and their handheld brethren (I don’t), then “The record for single-month console system sales still belongs to the PS2,” says Frazier, “which sold 2.7 million units in December 2002.”

Interestingly, “38 months into this generation of hardware, the three new systems have sold a combined 38.2 million units, whereas at the same point last generation, in December 2003, the three systems had sold 36.9 million units,” says Frazier, confirming what everyone expected – this generation is not only a notable advance over the prior, but when you factor in continued PS2 sales, “52 million systems have sold at retail since November '05.”

Software (December 08)

1.46m – Wii Play (Wii)
1.33m – Call of Duty: World at War (360)
999k – Wii Fit (Wii)
979k – Mario Kart (Wii)
850k – Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii)
745k – Gears of War 2 (360)
629k – Left 4 Dead (360)
540k – Mario Kart (DS)
533k – Call of Duty: World at War (PS3)
497k – Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)

Software (Overall 2008)

5.28m – Wii Play (Wii)
5.00m – Mario Kart (Wii)
4.53m – Wii Fit (Wii)
4.17m – Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
3.29m – Grand Theft Auto IV (360)
2.75m – Call of Duty: World at War (360)
2.31m – Gears of War 2 (360)
1.89m – Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
1.87m – Madden NFL 09 (360)
1.65m – Mario Kart (DS)

December software sales were up 47% over November, growing 15% year over year to $2.75B. Overall 2008 software revenue rose to $11B, an increase of 26% over 2007 and “more than total industry revenues were in 2005,” according to Frazier.

Punditry about flagging Guitar Hero and Rock Band popularity was shrugged off by what Frazier describes as both titles’ best month on record, with 16% combined total software dollar sales in December. Order Now Nintendo Wii



Source: PcWorld.com

How to Get Your Mitts on the Windows 7 Beta

Late Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled the public beta for Windows 7, the follow-on and follow-up to Vista, which from all signs the company is trying to forget as fast as possible.

CEO Steve Ballmer, in a surprisingly subdued keynote -- no real shouting -- made the announcement Wednesday night at the International CES. It wasn't much of a surprise, what with leaks to file-sharing sites and hints posted on Microsoft's own site in recent weeks.

Still, it's a new version of Windows, even if some have dubbed it "Vista, a lot better." Oh, wait, that was Ballmer himself, back in October.

And because it's fresh and shiny, there are plenty of people eager to try it out, wanting to decide for themselves whether Microsoft's hit a home run this time or just smacked another Vista. But where can you get it, how do you install it and what do you need to patch after you have it on your PC?

Questions, everyone has questions. We have some of the answers.

When can I download the beta? Starting Friday, Jan. 9. Microsoft hasn't said exactly when during the day, but in the past it has sometimes opened download gates worldwide at the same time and other times a rolling local time to spread out the load.

If you subscribe to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) or TechNet, you can grab it today from here .

Where do I get it? The public download will be posted to the Windows 7 site, here, Microsoft said. The beta will also be posted to Microsoft's IT-oriented Springboard Series board which will add a "Windows 7" tab to the existing Windows XP and Windows Vista tabs already there.

What do I need to install the beta? Microsoft's set the minimum requirements for the beta as a 1GHz processor, 1GB of memory, 16GB of free hard drive space and 128MB of graphics memory on a chipset or card able to support DirectX 9 graphics.

Those hardware requirements, by the way, are virtually identical to what Microsoft now says you have to have to install any version of Vista except for the entry-level Home Basic.

Anything else? Yes, a DVD-ROM drive. In other words, a drive that can burn data to a recordable DVD disc.

You need that because Microsoft's not providing the beta as an executable or installation file, but as a disk image, or .iso file. Once you've downloaded the monster, you must burn the image to a DVD to create the installation disk. That means you need DVD-burning software, such as Nero 9, an US$80 download from Nero AG, or the $100 Roxio Creator 2009 from Sonic Solutions.

There are also plenty of for-free DVD-burning programs out there; Microsoft recommended ImgBurn, which you can download here.

That's it? Nothing else? Last thing, we swear. The Windows 7 beta is actually an upgrade, not a full new install. You need to have a machine running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) to install the beta.

So if you're still running Windows XP -- which a lot of people are, what with Vista's problems, real or imagined -- you're up a creek sans the proverbial paddle.

Is Microsoft limiting the beta? Yes it is. The company said it will close out the beta after 2.5 million downloads.

Really? So if I'm late to the party, I'm out of luck? Not really. The 2.5 million number is how many activation keys Microsoft will hand out to beta testers, not the number of actual downloads. (Yes, Windows 7 retains product activation.)

Microsoft won't pull the download after the 2.5 million, it will just stop handing out keys.

Minus a key, you can still download and install the beta, then run it for 30 days before it quits on you. And by using the same "slmgr -rearm" command that gained notoriety after Windows Vista's debut, you can extend that trial period to 120 days.

Several blogs have posted instructions on how to use this legal method to extend the lifespan of Windows 7 previews, including "My Digital Life."

What edition of Windows 7 is the beta? Microsoft said the beta is "roughly equivalent" to Vista Ultimate, which is a strong hint that the preview is actually Windows 7 Ultimate.

Microsoft's being cagey here because it refuses to say how many different editions of Windows 7 it will eventually sell, what they contain and how much they'll cost. Some have speculated, however, that unlike Windows Vista, which comes in five flavors -- Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate -- Windows 7 will be sold in four versions: Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. How big is the download? Microsoft's not said, but since the beta's build designation of 7000.0.081212-1400 is identical to copies that have leaked to BitTorrent, it's a good bet that the official download will be the same as the pirated files.

On BitTorrent, the downloads are: 2.44GB for the 32-bit version, 3.15Gb for the 64-bit version.

What languages are supported? Microsoft's limited the beta to English, German, Japanese, Arabic and Hindi, with the last available only in 32-bit.

When does the beta expire? Microsoft stayed with the Aug. 1, 2009 expiration date, which it had used in earlier previews of the new OS, for the beta. On that date, the beta will stop working, according to the beta's end-user licensing agreement (EULA), which reads: "This software will stop running on August 1, 2009. You may not receive any other notice. You may not be able to access data used with the software when it stops running."

What's this I've heard about a bug in Windows 7? You've heard right. Microsoft has acknowledged a bug in Windows Media Player 12 -- the version bundled with Windows 7 -- that shaves two-to-three seconds from the beginning of MP3 audio files.

Here's the scoop from a Microsoft support forum: "When MP3 files are added (either manually or automatically) to either the Windows Media Player or the Windows Media Center library, or if the file metadata is edited with Windows Explorer, several seconds of audio data may be permanently removed from the start of the file. This issue occurs when files contain thumbnails or other metadata of significant size before importing or editing them."

Microsoft has produced a patch and posted that to TechNet and MSND, the two destinations where the beta is currently available. Expect that it will do the same for the public beta tomorrow; it's also possible that the patch will be offered via Windows Update once you've installed the beta.

A support document -- designated as "KB961367" -- has been assigned to the bug, but it's not yet available on Microsoft's Web site.

Microsoft also recommended that users back up all MP3 files before installing the beta, and set all of them to "read-only" status by right-clicking each file in Windows Explorer, then clicking the General tab and selecting the "Read-only" box.

Falcon Northwest Mach V, The Best of PC Gaming

If you can afford it, the Mach V packs in the latest technologies--including Intel’s new Core i7 processor--for the pinnacle of powerful PC performance.

Falcon Northwest's Mach V gaming desktop is a firecracker inside a beautiful aluminum chassis. While the Silverstone Temjin TJ03 full tower case itself is nothing new, the Mach V's internal setup represents the fastest PC we have ever tested on nearly every benchmark we could toss at this overclocked monstrosity.

The Mach V sports a spanking-new (Nehalem-based) Intel Core i7 965 Extreme processor that's been overclocked from 3.2 GHz to 3.8 GHz using only air cooling. Added to this is more RAM than we've ever seen in a desktop machine--a whopping 12GB of DDR3-1066 memory--along with an Intel 80GB solid state drive for booting and a 1-terabyte, 7200-rpm Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 hard drive for storage. Although it didn't factor into our rating or system rankings chart (we rated all the gaming PCs in our current roundup on performance alone, excluding bundled monitors or peripherals), Falcon will also throw in a high-quality 22-inch Samsung 2243 LCD for an additional $400 on top of the system's $7395 price (as of November 11, 2008).

Although that premium price places it among the most wallet-crippling systems we've reviewed, you definitely get amazing bang for your buck. The Mach V achieved a score of 163 in our
WorldBench 6 test suite. That's the highest result we've ever seen, but one that's equaled by two other new gaming machines: Hardcore Computer's Reactor and Xi's MTower HAF-SLI. The Xi pushes the limit for overclocking by cranking an older 3.33-GHz Core 2 Duo E8600 to an eyeball-popping 4.5 GHz, while the Reactor completely submerges its components in nonconductive oil (including a 3.2-GHz QX9770 CPU overclocked to 4 GHz); stay tuned for full reviews.

Helped out by dual 2GB ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards in CrossFire mode, the Mach V beat the frame rates of these and other recent gaming PCs for all the games (and resolutions) we threw at it. It even produced a smooth-playing average of 145 frames per second (fps) in Unreal Tournament 3 (under high settings) at 2560 by 1600 resolution. Next best in that taxing test: the Hardcore Computer Reaktor, whose three overclocked nVidia GTX-280 boards (in tri-SLI mode) achieved 113 fps in the same test.

This particular Mach V configuration includes an LG Blu-ray burner/HD-DVD reader, in addition to a Lite-on DVD writer. For expandability, four external 5.25-inch drive bays are open for upgrades, as are four internal 3.5-inch hard-disk bays. Overall, The Mach V's internals are well put together, with all cables neatly grouped and concealed where possible.

The Mach V's Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard holds a good number of ports: eight USB, two Firewire 400, and one eSATA. You also get built-in 5.1-channel audio and two ethernet ports. The front of the case is a touch more anemic, hiding four USB ports and a single Firewire 400 port beneath a locking door. At least there's plenty of room to plug in the Mach V's Logitech G15 keyboard (included). We'd almost rather not plug in its companion mouse, as the Logitech G9's misplaced DPI buttons are hardly satisfying for the kinds of games you'll be playing on this sweet rig.

Though it's loaded to the gills with high-end components, note that key parts of this killer system can't be upgraded without a big purchase, which some may find frustrating. For one thing, it has no available PCI Express x16 slots, which means that adding a new video card will entail replacing the two ATI Radeon HD 4870 cards (top-of-the-line units) that come with the system.

The Mach V is a new King of Speed that crushes every benchmark we threw at it. And for its price, you'd expect nothing less from this ultrapowered gaming machine!

--David Murphy

Zen X-FI MP3 Player

The amazing Zen X-Fi has great sound, features, headphones, and storage options--and for a nice price, too.

The Creative Zen X-Fi is a stellar all around digital music player, boasting many features that stand up nicely to the latest versions of Apple's iPods. The X-Fi has great sound, superb headphones, an amazing feature set, expandable storage via an SD card slot, an easy-to-use interface that will please users who don't want to work with a touch screen, and--here's the kicker--the ability to stream and download music from your PC wirelessly. It looks great, too, and it costs significantly less than Apple's current Wi-Fi enabled iPod Touch player.

Got a Hot Tip?

The 16GB X-Fi sells for $200, and the 32GB model sells for $280, versus $300 for the 16GB iPod Touch and $400 for the 32GB version of Apple's touch-screen media player. And if that sounds like a bargain, consider that you can also expand the X-Fi player's storage capacity by up to 32GB, thanks to its SD Card slot.

A few features differentiate this player from the competition. Not only can you download music, video, and images wirelessly from your home computer to the player, but you can also stream media from your computer, from Creative's servers (which offer podcasts and free music), or from a computer on an open network. Plus, you can fine-tune the already superb sound with the player's five-band EQ settings; save voice recordings; listen to FM radio; and enjoy the listening experience right out of the box without buying new headphones, thanks to the surprisingly good-sounding Creative EP-830 earbuds included with the unit. The earbuds, which Creative also sells separately for $80, fit snugly in the listeners' ears and provide clear low-end audio, with midrange treble that isn't tinny.

Creative's highly touted X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity Audio playback goes far in helping this player sound amazing. Its signal-to-noise ratio of 83 dB is second only to the SanDisk Sansa Connect's 84 dB in our tests. And the X-Fi earned the best rating of any player we've tested in terms of harmonic distortion and noise--at a barely registering 0.01 percent.

What does that mean for your ears? Creative's X-Fi technology, coupled with the great out-of-the-box earbuds, delivered very deep, clean, well-defined audio. The player supports AAC, MP3, WAV, and WMA formats, as well as Audible audiobooks. You get an on-board speaker as well, but it pumps tinny, clock-radio-quality sound out of its single, small speaker.

As much as I found to like about the X-Fi, it does have some limitations when matched head-to-head against the iPod Touch. It doesn't work with Mac OS X (only with XP and Vista); its online chat application doesn't work well; and you won't find the same degree of integration with third-party speaker systems, car stereos, and accessories that you'll find with the near-ubiquitous iPod. Also, the X-Fi unit seems a bit small (3.3 inches by 2.2 inches by 0.5 inches) next to the iPod Touch and its generous screen.

The X-Fi makes it a lot harder to create playlists without the help of a computer, too. I still haven't gotten the hang of Creative's on-player playlist creator, even after years of using it with the Zen VisionM. But creating a playlist with the Creative Centrale desktop software (included with the player) is much easier than doing so in-unit: Just drag and drop music from your library into a new playlist.

The X-Fi connects to your PC via USB 2.0, but loading songs onto the player by this route is slow going. (It took me more than an hour to load 10GB of songs onto the player's flash drive via the USB cable.) Downloading songs wirelessly went much faster. The USB port doubles as the unit's power port; however, it includes only a USB cable, not a wall adapter.

Though the Zen X-Fi supports video playback, watching video on the smallish 2.5-inch-diagonal, 16.7-million color screen falls far short of an IMAX experience. Nevertheless, the vibrant 320-by-240 pixel screen provides a sharp, crisp display, and the player supports DivX, MJPEG, MPEG-4, WMV, and XviD movies, all of which must be encoded by the included Creative Centrale desktop software before being loaded onto the player. Image support includes JPEGs natively, while BMP, GIF, PNG, and TIFF photos must be converted by the Creative Centrale software before they can be viewed on the player.

A quick aside about the Creative Centrale software: it comes as a mini CD, which may cause problems if you have a slot-loading optical drive on your PC. Fortunately, Creative Centrale is also availeble as adownload, as part of the Zen X-Fi Starter Pack.

People who are already familiar with Creative's players should get the hang of the X-Fi's design and interface right away. It does have a few notable changes from earlier Creative models, however. The touch strip present on the Zen VisionM and the directional pad featured on the newer Creative Zen have been supplanted by nine buttons arranged in a three-by-three grid.

These spaced-out buttons simplify navigating the player by feel, even while it's still in your pocket. And they double as a phonelike alphanumeric pad for entering network passwords or chatting online. Flanking the nine buttons are four dedicated navigation buttons that should be familiar to owners of other Creative player: the back button, a contextual menu button, a user-customizable button, and the play/pause button. Despite the X-Fi's small size, all of the buttons are well spaced and easy to use. The power switch is on the back of the player and can be "locked" on; the SD Card slot and the single speaker occupy the sides of the unit.

Mere mention of the X-Fi's wireless connectivity doesn't do the feature justice. Much of the X-Fi's appeal comes from its 802.11b/g networking, downloading, and streaming capabilities. The 'Online' menu setting lets you connect to your own computer--or any computer on a network--provided that it is a PC set up as a media server. This arrangement lets you download and stream tracks from your own computer without having to load them onto the player. In addition, Creative makes its own servers accessible via the Online interface, giving you access to numerous music channels and podcasts, organized by category. Streaming worked without a hitch in my testing, delivering clear and uninterrupted audio that sounded great.

The networking capabilities allow you to chat using your Yahoo Messenger or Windows Live Messenger accounts, but I ran into problems using this feature. The log-in to Yahoo Messenger hung for minutes at the "sign-in" stage, and I had to power the machine off to get it going again. I also found the alphanumeric keypad frustrating to use for extended chatting--in much the same way that using the nine buttons on a cell phone for texting is. Expect to put your patience to the test, with lots of repeated button pushing. Ultimately the chat feature is no reason to buy this player, though it's a nice extra to have (when it works).

Minor issues like the chat malfunctions can't take the shine off of the Creative X-Fi. It's an outstanding digital music player that rises to the top with ease. The masses may continue to think iPod first when they need a new MP3 player--but the X-Fi is an innovative, feature-packed player, and it's an absolute steal for the price.

source : pcworld.com