This week's update includes two iconic singles from both bands, one of which will be a blast from the past for anyone familiar with Harmonix's back catalogue. Both Edgar Winter Group tracks support keyboards, as one would hope.
This week's update includes two iconic singles from both bands, one of which will be a blast from the past for anyone familiar with Harmonix's back catalogue. Both Edgar Winter Group tracks support keyboards, as one would hope.
We got in touch with the online retailer to find out about its top-selling titles for the year. The company informed us that, naturally, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was its top game in physical sales. This was followed by Just Dance 3, the latest from the runaway hit franchise, and Skyrim.
There was a semi-surprise in Amazon's digital distribution space for PC, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution taking the virtual goods crown. Square Enix's stealth action title was followed, in order, by three of EA's games: Battlefield 3, The Sims 3 and Battlefield Bad Company 2.
Check out the physical and digital top 10 after the break.
In late 2009, Nintendo put five demos for WiiWare games on the Wii Shop Channel. Inexplicably, it was a limited-time deal and they all went away on January 31. Then, in late 2010 (and also inexplicably) the program returned, and WiiWare demos started trickling in at the rate of one a week. These were also intended as limited-time offers, which continued not to make any damn sense.
Now, in the crowning moment of weirdness for the service, all 50 demos that were previously offered in North America are now available on the Wii Shop in a "demo" section found within the selection of WiiWare "genres," with no explanation at all. Of all the bizarre moves related to this service, this is the one we can most wholeheartedly support.
Go try some demos! Lilt Line, And Yet It Moves, Bit.Trip Beat, and more are there to sample. Use your downloads to send Nintendo the incredibly obvious message that people like demos.
Founding member (and occasional NPR correspondent) Harold Goldberg is heading up the proceedings with some assistance from various NYGCC members, while an unannounced, well-known voice man is on tap to MC the event. The first annual awards show will take place on February 2 and we've dropped the entire list of nominees after the break. It'll also be open to the public with limited seating, which we'll have more info on in the coming weeks.
Wondering who voted for said nominees? That list is right here, but rest assured that everyone involved is totally your favorite.
Just Dance 3 shimmies into 7 million households, 25 million franchise sales
by Alexander Sliwinski 
(23 hours ago)
US retail tracking group NPD previously stated dance game sales were up 326 percent in 2011 over the prior year. During Black Friday week, the Just Dance franchise sold over a million units, with Ubisoft stating it held 76 percent market share on dance games.
Just as a reminder, the Just Dance franchise includes: Just Dance 3, Just Dance 2, Just Dance, Just Dance Summer Party, Just Dance Kids 2, Just Dance Kids, Michael Jackson: The Experience, The Black Eyed Peas Experience and ABBA You Can Dance.
Don't be surprised if Just Dance 4 hits the scene in 2012, along with (at least) two other spin-offs.
MCV 2012 UK salary survey shows industry pay up 10 percent year over year
by Jordan Mallory (1 day ago)
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]
It's not the first blatant rip-off to appear on the App Store by any stretch, but it might be one of the most obnoxious. Mole Kart is the quintessential Mario Kart clone, copying key gameplay mechanics, power-ups and even track designs from Nintendo's classic rubber-band racer. To top it off, it has fewer memorable characters and, based on the video above, what looks to be some way janky steering.
The game is currently available for $2.99 on the App Store and is compatible with both the iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad, granted they're running iOS 4.1 or later. Also, you'll need a high tolerance for cartoon moles because this game is totally full of them.
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is the belle of the ball this year, with a total of 12 nominations across several categories. Other notable titles include Portal 2 (10 nominations) L.A. Noire (9 nominations), Bastion (3 nominations), and Battlefield 3 (6 nominations). 2010's top game from the AIAS was Mass Effect 2, which walked away with awards in the RPG and storytelling categories.
Jay Mohr will be hosting again -- here's his monologue from last year -- and the entire show will be streamed online through GameSpot, starting at 7:30pm PT/10:30pm ET. Or you could buy a plane ticket and fly to Vegas, hoping to somehow sneak in. We wouldn't suggest that, though, as your time and money can be better spent petitioning for Rayman Origins.
Hit the jump for the full list of this year's nominees.
NPD 2011: Sales across industry between $16.3 and $16.6 billion, Ubi tops software sales list
by Ben Gilbert (1 day ago)
Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 took top honors (it's kind of a big deal), while Just Dance 3 and Skyrim occupied the second and third spots, respectively. NPD also says that, despite sales growth in the digital sector yet again, physical copies offered at retail outlets still accounted for the majority of sales coming in at $9.3 billion, "an 8 percent decline over the $10.1 billion in 2010."
That decline was "partially" offset by increases in digital, mobile, and used game sales, which NPD expects to be a focus moving into 2012. "Our overall estimate of the market continues to point toward the increased imperative for deeper visibility into digital distribution than is available today, not only in the U.S. but globally," said NPD prez David McQuillan. Our waning shelf space agrees.
"Overall industry results are not entirely surprising given that we are on the back end of the current console lifecycle, combined with the continued digital evolution of gaming," said Anita Frazier, an analyst with The NPD Group. "Core gamers continue to be engaged and spend on established franchises across both the digital and physical format using multiple devices for different gaming occasions."
A smooth $2.04 billion of that $3.99 billion total was caused entirely by new physical software sales, a dash for the cash that continues to be lead by Modern Warfare 3. The pseudo-medieval allure of November's second place podium finisher, Skyrim, was not enough to keep its throne for a second term; the Dovahkiin has been usurped by Ubisoft's compulsory neon-dancing simulator, Just Dance 3.
Comparatively, Skyrim got off easy: Uncharted 3, Saints Row: The Third and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, are all absent from December's Top-10 list, just weeks after their respective releases. Skyward Sword wasn't Nintendo's only horse in this race, however, as Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land closed out December in fourth and ninth place, respectively. Overall, Nintendo, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts claimed more Top-10 real estate than their competitors, each publishing two of the month's best selling titles.
