Microsoft challenges Sony with powerful new Xbox One X

WASHINGTON - Microsoft on Sunday unveiled Xbox One X -- billing it as the most powerful video console ever made, and escalating a battle with market king PlayStation.

The $499 product was built with the muscle for seamless play on ultra-high definition 4K televisions and will be available worldwide on November 7, according to Xbox team leader Phil Spencer.

He introduced the much anticipated Xbox One X, called Scorpio during development, at a Microsoft event ahead of the official opening of the major Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

Aiming at the hearts of gamers, Microsoft also showed off 42 coming games, with 22 titles being tailored for exclusive play on Xbox One consoles.

Independent publishers tend to make blockbuster titles available for play on Xbox, PlayStation and personal computer hardware in an effort to sell creations to as broad an audience as possible.

Keenly-anticipated new games shown off here include a new installment of "Assassin's Creed" from France-based Ubisoft, intended to reboot the long-running franchise by taking players back to the "origins" of the storyline in ancient Egypt.

Game play on 4K screens, whether they be televisions or personal computer monitors, is expected to be among themes at E3 this week. Enabling ultra-rich visuals also tunes into the budding trend toward virtual reality games.

SWITCH SUPPLIES TIGHT

Sony PlayStation 4 has dominated the latest generation of consoles, outselling Xbox One by 2-to-1, according to industry trackers.

PS4 consoles from the outset could power virtual reality, and Sony sells head gear for those experiences.

PlayStation has also become the prime driver of revenue and profit at Japan-based entertainment giant Sony, according to executives.

“We are selling every single one we can make,” Sony Interactive Entertainment worldwide studios chairman Shawn Layden said of PS4.

Nintendo's recently-launched Switch has been a winner, with fans snapping up the console and a "Legend of Zelda" game that has become a must-play title for fans.

Demand for Switch consoles has been so intense since its launch early this year that the consoles are tough to find in stores and Nintendo has reportedly doubled production.

Switch launched at the start of March and some 2.74 million were sold by the end of that month, according to Nintendo.

Hot Switch sales also boosted shares of the Japanese company, which ran into a tough patch after it failed to build on the popularity of the first generation of Wii consoles.

PS4 and Xbox One are both performing better in the market that their respective predecessors, and Nintendo “is back in a big way” with Switch, according to NPD analyst Mat Piscatella.

Sony has sold close to 60 million PS4 consoles and will reveal its latest innovations and offerings at a press event on Monday, according to executives.
"We are in the 4K world already," Layden told AFP. "That is what the future of gaming is going to look like."

OLD GAMES MADE NEW

Microsoft is also courting players by working to make more popular games from earlier Xbox console versions playable on its latest hardware.

Microsoft also just launched a subscription service for Xbox, letting players pay a monthly fee for access to a videogames library for its console.

Sony makes a library of videogames available as part of a subscription service for PlayStation consoles.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Nintendo reboots with new portable Switch game console

TOKYO - Nintendo will unveil its new portable Switch games console Friday as it looks to offset disappointing Wii U sales and go head to head with rival Sony's hugely popular PlayStation 4.

The hybrid console -- it can be played at home and on the go -- comes as Nintendo dips its toe into the mobile gaming market after scoring a big win for its brand this summer with the success of Pokemon Go.

But Switch got off to an inauspicious start in October when a sneak peak at the console left gamers and analysts underwhelmed and with many unanswered questions.

Nintendo's Tokyo-listed stock dived after it released a three-minute video about the product on its YouTube channel.

But the firm is expected to release more details on Friday, including the price, when it shows off the console to media at an event scheduled to start around 1 p.m. (0400 GMT) in Tokyo.

A briefing in New York will follow later in the day with the unit set to go on sale in March.

The device has a removable screen that lets players dock it at home and also use it on the go like a tablet computer with detachable controllers on both sides. It uses cartridges rather than discs.

Switch will be crucial for Nintendo which needs a hit product to offset the flagging fortunes of the Wii U and its handheld 3DS device, as rival Sony racks up huge sales of the PS4 -- it has sold over 50 million units globally since its debut in late 2013.

In November, Sony started selling the $400 PS4 Pro, which promises even sharper graphics than earlier versions.

After struggling to fix its weak finances, Nintendo abandoned a long-held consoles-only policy and entered the smartphone game market last year.

In March, the Super Mario maker released "Miitomo" -- a free-to-play and interactive game -- as it tries to compete in an industry that has increasingly gone online.

This summer it scored another hit with the Pokemon Go app released in July, but the impact on Nintendo's profits will be limited.

The company is the creator of the Pokemon franchise but does not own the licence for the game, which was developed and distributed by US-based Niantic, a spinoff of Google.

Last month, Nintendo released the Super Mario Run game for iPhones, which topped download charts and drew more than 40 million downloads globally in the first four days after its release, according to the company.

But analysts warned its popularity could be hampered by a relatively high $10 price tag for access to the full game, since many online offerings are free.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Microsoft offers gaming console in China at long last

SHANGHAI - US technology giant Microsoft on Monday launched its Xbox One game console in China, the first foreign company to enter the potentially massive market after the government lifted a 14-year ban.

The launch, which was delayed a week for reasons Microsoft did not reveal, comes as the US company faces a government investigation for alleged "monopoly actions" regarding other products like its flagship Windows operating system, used on the majority of computers in China.

In January China formally authorised the domestic sale of game consoles made in its first free trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai, ending a ban in 2000 originally instituted due to worries over content. The FTZ was established exactly a year ago on Monday.

At a branch of Chinese electronics chain store Suning in downtown Shanghai, a salesman said the outlet sold more than 30 limited-edition consoles priced at 4,299 yuan ($699) after staying open past midnight. A more basic package retails for 3,699 yuan ($602) in China.

Buyers were lured by Kinect, which obeys motion and voice commands, but some expressed disappointment at the lack of available games in China -- only 10 for the launch.

Prices are also far higher than other markets like the United States, where the website price is $400 for the basic console and $500 with Kinect.

"The console price is too high, the first batch of games has no attraction, can we buy something more practical?" said Diu Dasu in a microblog posting.

Of the ten games, half are sport or racing titles. Others are aimed at younger players, like "Zoo Tycoon" and puzzle-solving game "Max: The Curse of Brotherhood".

So far absent are first-person shooter games like the popular "Call of Duty" series, although Microsoft says it has more than 70 titles in the pipeline to bring to China.

Under the rules of the FTZ, games must pass inspection by cultural authorities, who conceivably could censor content they deem to be obscene, violent or politically sensitive.

Microsoft still beats rivals like Japan's Sony, which makes the PlayStation console, and Nintendo's Wii into the Chinese market.

A joint venture of Sony and Chinese tourism and cultural firm Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group is planning to start operations in the FTZ from December.

Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella last week visited China for the first time since taking the post in February, in what Chinese state media portrayed as an attempt to appease regulators over the investigation.

The head of China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which is carrying out the investigation, met Nadella on Thursday and urged Microsoft to "cooperate" in the probe, China Industry and Commerce News reported.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

PS4 tops list as US videogame console sales climb

SAN FRANCISCO - US videogame hardware sales surged in January, with Sony's new-generation PlayStation 4 consoles leading the charge, according to figures released on Thursday.

People spent $241 million on videogame hardware, predominately consoles, in January compared to $205 million in the same month a year earlier, when a fifth "leap week" gave figures a particular boost, according to industry tracker NPD Group.

Sony's PS4 led overall hardware sales, followed by Microsoft new-generation Xbox One consoles, NPD reported.

PS4 sales were nearly double that of Xbox One in the month, Sony said citing the NPD report.

"Demand for PlayStation 4 remains incredibly strong," Sony PlayStation brand marketing senior VP Guy Longworth said in a release.

"It's clear gamers are choosing PlayStation as the best place to play."

Membership in the PlayStation Plus subscription service for games, films, and other digital entertainment has nearly doubled since the PS4 launched in November, according to Sony.

Meanwhile, videogame software sales sank about 40 percent in November to $224 million, down from $373 million in January of 2013.

The decline was due to a big drop in the number of new titles released for play, said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.

Activision's military shooter game "Call of Duty: Ghosts" was the best selling game on a "top 10" list that included "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag" and "Grand Theft Auto V."

Traditional format videogame sales overall for January were $664 million, down 21 percent from the prior January but nearly flat if the extra "leap" week is factored in, according to NPD.

When money spent on mobile games, rentals, digital downloads, subscriptions and social network play are added in, sales for January tallied $1.05 billion, NPD reported.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Mobile games leave Super Mario lagging

TOKYO -- There was a time when wherever Super Mario Brothers went, the gaming world followed, but an industry that has moved on in leaps and bounds since then just shrugged at the latest re-set by Nintendo on Thursday.

A vague plan to reboot a business hammered by disastrous Wii U console sales, including possibly cutting the chains that bind their popular characters to Nintendo's own devices by loosening its licensing policy, left analysts and gamers leery about the Japanese giant's prospects.

The maker of the Donkey Kong and Super Mario franchises has fallen on hard times in recent years, piling up losses as rivals Sony and Microsoft outpaced it in console sales, while all three companies fight off a trend toward cheap -- or sometimes free -- downloadable games for smartphones and other mobile devices.

"Smartphone games are really getting popular and whatever Nintendo does, people are using fewer consoles," said Hidekazu Kurihara, a 31-year-old Nintendo devotee browsing in a retro shop in Tokyo's electronics wonderland of Akihabara.

The shop sells all things Nintendo from years past, from the consoles that flung the company onto the global stage to the games whose characters became household names in the 1980s and 1990s.

"I really don't know what they should do," he said as another customer played Mario Kart on the 1990 Super Nintendo (SNES), under the watchful gaze of an oversized Super Mario, the mustachioed plumber who starred in the franchise.

Nintendo's stock price on Thursday swung wildly as investors reacted to comments by the company's president.

After soaring by about seven percent as the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened, players jumped on the stock after a buyback was announced and it finished the day a bedraggled 4.3 percent below where it started, at 12,325 yen ($120).

Hyper-competitive digital games

Investors were less than impressed with Nintendo's insistence on sticking with its console-centric business despite slumping sales -- and calls to ride the mobile wave.

President Satoru Iwata told a Tokyo analyst conference that the "business integrating hardware and software is our strength", adding that the Kyoto-based firm was too small to make a splash in the hyper-competitive digital games sector.

Nintendo would, however, look at loosening its licensing policy to promote some of its beloved characters on smartphones and other mobile devices, he said.

"In the past we were negative about (the) licensing business. But we'll change this policy and be proactive including looking for a possible business partner," Iwata said.

For gamer Nobuo Kaneko, who was browsing in Akihabara, the problem with Nintendo is a lack of choice.

While a less sophisticated audience of a few decades ago might have put up with narrow choice and stuck with one console, gamers are more eclectic now, and the explosion in opportunities, including online, has made them much less monogamous.

"They don't really have games from other makers, only Nintendo games," said Kaneko, a 35-year-old Tokyo resident.

The firm's vague new strategy comes a day after it announced a share buyback plan and Iwata agreed to cut his salary in half for five months to atone for a dive in earnings.

That came on the heels of a shock announcement this month that Nintendo would slip back into the red.

Poor holiday demand for the Wii U and its high-margin software meant console sales for the current fiscal year to March would come in at 2.8 million units, Nintendo said -- less than one-third of the firm's forecast.

By contrast Sony, which also has an online gaming subscription service, sold more than 4.2 million PlayStation 4 consoles by the start of this year, less than two months after its release. The Wii U has been on sale for over a year.

"The market had expected something new related to the smartphone business, but the results just disappointed," said Kenzaburo Suwa, strategist at Okasan Securities.

No 'magic bullet'

Serkan Toto, a Tokyo-based games consultant, questioned the frequent calls for Nintendo to move away from its console-based business -- as bitter rival Sega did about a decade ago -- and dive into the mobile gaming realm.

"By putting their games on smartphones ... I think that would ultimately kill Nintendo," he told AFP.

After a slow start, the firm has seen better sales of its 3DS -- the world's first 3D videogame system that works without special glasses -- and the original Wii with its motion-sensor controls was an unqualified winner.

"The point about Nintendo, why this company is so strong, apart from their existing intellectual property and brand appeal ... is their ability to innovate," Toto said.

"Nintendo needs something like (the original Wii)..But I don't think there is one magic bullet, one way that Nintendo can miraculously cure itself ... It will be a very difficult path going forward."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

New consoles, online games to keep market soaring

PARIS -- The global video gaming market is set to grow 11.1 percent a year until 2017, boosted by a new generation of consoles and the increasing popularity of online games, according to IDATE digital research and consultancy firm.

The market, estimated at 53.9 billion euros ($73.8 billion) this year, is expected to soar to 82.1 billion euros in 2017, the France-based firm said in a report.

Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, which are jostling for control of the gaming market, have each released the latest versions of their consoles ahead of the Christmas shopping season.

The wave of new devices is expected to keep the market buoyant until 2017, IDATE said.

Home consoles like Sony's PlayStation or Microsoft's Xbox, which make up 31 percent of the market today, are expected to have a 40 percent share of the total market in 2017.

Handheld consoles such as Nintendo's 3DS or Sony's PSVita, which have a share of about 22 percent in 2013, are projected to record declining share to 13 percent in 2017, in the face of increasing strong competition from tablets and mobile phones.

"Smartphones and tablets offer a radically different experience, and... in terms of the budget, the tablet is a significant competitor for the consoles," Laurent Michaud, who is in charge of gaming research at IDATE.

"The choice of purchase between the tablet and the console will determine the success of this generation of machines," he said.

The offline computer game is expected to record an irreversible decline, while this year online games are emerging as the leader.

The increasing popularity of online games stems from the fact that they dominate the gaming industry in China and South Korea, Michaud noted.

"They are games oriented towards 'Free2Play' and it is no surprise that they are gaining colossal success because the games are good," he said, referring to the downloadable games.

One example is the online game Candy Crush which records 700 million sessions a day and racks up daily sales of $850,000.

Online games are expected to record average growth of 11.4 percent while mobile gaming is seen progressing by 12.2 percent annually between 2013 and 2017.

Traditional game developers which are used to selling physical copies of their games on discs, have not been keeping pace with virtual ones.

Many were slow to exploit the phenomenal success of games played on social networks.

In December 2012, only Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Namco Bandai Games, Konami, Take Two Interactive et Disney Interactive Studio were present on Facebook.

They have also been slow to join on the smartphone and tablette bandwagon.

In December 2012, only Electronic Arts and Square Enix were among the top revenue generators on Apple's App Store. And only Electronic Arts and Take Two Interactive had games that ranked in the top 20 by revenues.

On Android Market, none of the traditional gave developers had games on the bestsellers' list.

IDATE sees these key players producing fewer and fewer blockbusters, which are also becoming more and more expensive to make.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Sony says PS4 sales exceed 2.1-M units

TOKYO - Sony said Tuesday it has sold more than 2.1 million PlayStation 4 consoles after less than three weeks on the market, as it battles Microsoft and Nintendo for supremacy in the lucrative gaming sector.

The eagerly-awaited PlayStation sold more than one million units in just one day after its November 15 debut in North America and Sony said Tuesday it was on track to hit a worldwide target of 5.0 million units by March.

The latest PlayStation, which will be released in its home market Japan in February, is now being sold in 32 countries.

"PS4 delivered the best launch in PlayStation history with the North American release and we've continued this incredibly successful start in Europe, Australasia and Latin America," Andrew House, President of Sony Computer Entertainment, said in a statement.

Sony's latest sales figures come after Microsoft said its new Xbox One console also sold over one million units in 24 hours following its November 22 release.

Rival Nintendo launched its new Wii U console late last year.

Sales have lagged the company's expectations, but Nintendo said in October it was keeping its forecast for the new Wii console at 9.0 million units for the year to March 2014.

A forecast by the research firm Gartner shows game console sales of hardware and software are likely to grow to $44 billion worldwide in 2013 from $37 billion last year.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com