Wii Best-Seller in Japan

JULY 19, 2007 • Japanese publisher Enterbrain reports that more than 3 million Wii units have been sold in Japan as of July 15, followed by 1 million PS3s, and 421,000 Xbox 360s. The publisher also said more than 18 million Nintendo DSs had been sold at retail by the same date. Impact: The rea.....

Moore Jumps to EA Sports

JULY 18, 2007 • Five days following the close of E3, Microsoft Games corporate vice president Peter Moore leaves the company to become the label president of EA Sports. Moore explains the change as a family-related return to the San Francisco Bay area, with no linkage to the future prospects of the Xbox 360 platform. Don Mattrick, former president of EA’s worldwide game studios, was named by Microsoft as senior vice president of its interactive entertainment business, and responsible .....

Fathoming Asian Game Markets

JULY 14 , 2007 • In recent years, a great deal of lip service has been paid to the Eastern Asian markets, most notably China and South Korea. Yet it is important to realize that the game market in East Asian countries have as many unique attributes as similarities. This is especially true of comparisons with the market in Japan. This article will present East Asian markets in a larger context, and put each country in perspective by comparing it with other markets to draw parallels and cont.....

SCEE Cuts PS3 Price

JULY 13, 2007 • On the last day of the E3 Business & Media Summit, SCEE president David Reeves throws cold water on the American division’s PS3 price cut – calling it a temporary measure to clear excess inventory in anticipation of the $599 80GB unit. After SCE president Kazuo Hirai confirms in.....

PS3 Reaches 50K In Australia

JULY 5, 2007 • According to the GfK Group, the PlayStation 3 took 13 weeks to attain sales of 50,000 units in Australia since its March 23 launch. The research firm said it took three weeks for the Wii to reach the same mark, and six weeks for the Xbox 360. Impact: Of course, Australia is co.....

Xbox 360 Elite Hits Japan

JULY 5, 2007 • Microsoft Games Studios announces that it will launch its black Xbox 360 Elite in Japan on Oct. 1 for will sell for Â¥47,800 yen ($390). The unit sells for $479 in theU.S.”The decision on the pricing was based on the situation in the Japanese market,” Company spokes.....

Wii Gets Dev Love

JULY 1, 2007 • According to Daily Variety, major Japanese third-party publishers are increasing their Wii development budgets in comparison to the PlayStation 3. Namco Bandai will up its Nintendo titles by 109% to 115; Sega by 96% to 49; and Capcom by 5% to 20. Meanwhile, these three majors .....