Video Games

Second Weekly Console Sales Update
2/15/07
Allright, here’s the second weekly console sales update. If you have any other stats you would like to see that are not listed here, feel free to suggest them in the link to the forums at the bottom of the page.

Total Console Sales (Percent of Market Share)
Xbox 360: 10,514,800 (63.7%)
Wii: 4,569,077 (27.7%)
Playstation 3: 1,426,091 (8.6%)

Total Console Sales As of Last Week, Change from Last Week, Change in Market Share
Xbox 360: 10,455,411, 59,389, -0.5%
Wii: 4,452,312, 116,765, +0.4%
Playstation 3: 1,381,801, 44,290, +0.1%
To talk about this post, visit the ZuneMAX Videogames Blog Forum.

Halo 3 Alpha Screenshots Leaked
2/10/07
There have been 7 screenshots leaked from a German website of the Halo 3 Beta. The site that posted them is down because of traffic, but an Xbox 360 Fanboy User posted all of them. Here they are:
Edit: For some reason, these images were not loading, so here’s a link to a slideshow of the images. LINK
These all look pretty good for an alpha build of a game, and I am excited for the Beta come this spring.

First Weekly Console Sales Update
2/8/2007
Allright, I have decided to start a weekly post about the sales position of each console. I am going to use NexGenWars.com, and I have posted about them previously. Here are the current sales numbers, and because these will change, I will write the numbers they were at at the time of this post under it.

Numbers as of Thursday, February 8th:
Xbox 360: 10,455,411
Wii: 4,452,312
Playstation 3: 1,381,801
Market Share
Xbox 360: 64.2%
Wii: 27.3%
Playstation 3: 8.5%
Come back next week, when I will show the change over the week, along with other numbers.
Have you played Crackdown Yet?
2/5/2007

If you have a 360 and haven’t downloaded the demo for the free, open type game, you should definately check it out. In Crackdown, you a genetically enhanced agent that fights crime in a huge city. You have special abilities, and as you conquer gangs, your major abilities (agility, strength, weapons, explosives, and driving) increase, to the point where you can take over the city with ease. The physics in this game are awesome, too. Check out this video of an explosion in the game someone made, piling up cars and explosive barrels.

If you want to see more, the guy who made this has many other videos of crackdown. Although many people thought this game wouldn’t be great because they were packaging a key to the Halo 3 Beta along with, its turning out to be pretty cool.
To discuss this story, visit the ZuneMAX Forums.

Halo 3 Trailer Analysis
12/05/06
The newest trailer for Halo 3 aired during ESPN’s broadcast of Monday Night Football last night. If you haven’t seen it yet, view it here:

This is an amazing ad in my opinion. It is one of the only commercials that I have actually been excited to watch. It starts out with a boy and a girl talking about if there are any things “up there,” in outer space. The boy in this scene may be the Master Chief, because of the transition, and many other hints in the scene. As the boy asks the girl if she thinks they will meet aliens, the camera turns, and the helmet of the Master Chief is shown. The transition to a barren land is made, and Master Chief is on the ground, most likely dazed after being shot off of his Mongoose. At this point, he puts on his helmet and it seems that Cortona says “Chief, leave me” or believe me. Not sure which one of the two, but this could be a big deal. The second main important part in the trailer is the shield. As a wraith mortar flies towards him, the Chief throws a grenade-like object into the ground. Here is an image of the grenade, from TeamXbox:
Shield Grenade

A shield deploys around him, and the wraith mortar is deflected away, sending the Mongoose flying. Here’s an image of the shield:
Shield

Although this trailer was not made by Bungie, they controlled everything that was in it, and this shield could be a hint of what’s to come in Halo 3. Bungie purposely freed up the “x” button from reloading so that they could add in a new special function, but has not said yet what it is. This could possibly be the new x button, being able to deploy a shield that runs for a limited time, to protect yourself when hurt. The shield could add many new gameplay elements to Halo 3. The trailer ends with Master Chief sprinted off a small overhang, at a group of Brutes and Wraiths. All in all, this is a great trailer, and shows some of what Halo 3 might contain.What did you think of the Halo 3 Trailer? Post your opinion here.
Halo 3 Website Up and Running
12/04/06
The website to sign up for the Halo 3 beta, http://halo3.com is now up and running. It does not work on Mozilla FireFox yet, and it just says that you need the newest version of Flash. I have the latest version of Flash, and it still does not work. On Internet Explorer, the site loads, but says to check back 12.04.06. It IS December 4th, so I don’t know whats up, but expect the sign-up to be online tonight. Check back later for more info on this page.

Nintendo Wii Superfan
11/03/06
If any of you haven’t seen this yet, you should definately give it a look. If staying up for five days before launch, saying the PS3 will have to drop to under 200 dollars to buy it, and saying “sleep is for babies, gamers play all night” doesn’t classify you as a Nintento Superfan, I don’t know what does.

Talk about the Wii Superfan in the Forums
Next-Gen Gaming Ads
11/02/06
Today I decided to take a look at some of the ads that Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony have come up with for their next Generation consoles. Of all the ones I found on YouTube, Here were some of the most interesting.

Xbox 360

I really like this one. Although it was banned from television, I think it is a fun ad, one that is actually interesting to watch. The commercial shows how everyone is jumping into the next-generation of video games, and how everyone can enjoy the Xbox 360.

I also like this commercial. It began airing in October of ‘06, and I saw it on the Thanksgiving broadcast of the NFL. It shows how many games the Xbox 360 has to date, and in my opinion, it is a very interesting concept.Playstation 3

This is one of my favorite gaming commercials to date. The PS3 is not a favorite of mine, and some of the commercials dont make sense, but i really like this particular ad.

I also like this ad, although I don’t like the over-exaggeration of a Blu-Ray disc’s capacity. They depict a garden of HD-DVD flowers as being no more than 5 feet wide, representing 30 GB of space. But when they show the Blu-Ray flowers, the garden stretches for miles. At 50 GB, the flowers should stretch less twice the space of the HD-DVD, right? But i guess in commercials, exaggeration is expected.

I HATE this ad. To me, it makes no sense, and is just downright scary. What does a baby have to with the PS3? And what is with the laugh? This commercial creeps me out on so many levels, and makes me want to call the cops on the PS3 for child molestation.Wii

I like these ads. They are fun, engaging, and show the people having fun interacting with the game. Just the point they are trying to get across with the motion-sensing technology of the Wii.Whats your favorite, or least favorite of these commercials? Have any others you would like to share? Post your opinion, and vote on your favorite in the ZuneMAX Forums.What do you want for the holidays?
11/02/06
The holiday season is here, and many children will be sending letters to Santa, asking for the latest and greatest new toy. It might be hot wheels, it might be Barbies, but rest assured, they will be asking the man in red.
Santa Claus

But now I ask, what do you want from the red-coated, bearded man? I know I want some more Microsoft Points, so I can keep getting the great Xbox Live Arcade games that are coming out. What video game things do you want for the holidays? Post what you would like in the new Video Games Blog Discussion part of the forums, and I will make another post in around a week of everyones hopes for the holidays.

Console Wars Tracking Website
11/01/06
Hi guys, I found this website awhile back, and thought I would share it with you, because it’s very interesting. The website details the up to date sales numbers for each nex-gen console, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii. It proved itself accurate when just days before Microsoft announced 6 million Xbox 360’s had been sold, the website numbers passed the 6 million mark. Here are the sales numbers of the three consoles currently:

As you can see, the Xbox 360 has a 7 million console lead on the Nintendo Wii at the moment, grabbing about 88% of the market. This is due to the 360 being put on sale last November, compared to the releases of the PS3 and Wii this November. As time goes on, these numbers will become closer and closer, with Microsoft and Sony racing to take the highest market share. I believe Nintendo will fall behind in sales quickly, but will still be a contendor, unlike their lackluster sales performance with the Gamecube. I believe that the Wii makes up for its shortfall of processing power rather well with its new take on gaming, the motion sensing Wii-Mote Controller. The PS3 has gone the other way though, packing as much processing power into their system as possible. This has brought up the price significantly, and it will be interesting to see whether gamers will opt for the higher priced PS3, or the Xbox 360, with offers much of the power of the PS3, along with a great online system, for 100-200 dollars less. Each console has their strong and weak points, and are all very different. Because of this, I believe the race will be much, much closer and unpredictable this generation, and this site will be interesting to watch as it tracks the sales numbers. Who do you think will take the top spot this generation?

Halo 3 Commercial and Beta Information
10/30/06
For those of you who love the Halo franchise, as I do, some exciting news came from Microsoft today. Although this is not new, the ad will air this monday night, on ESPN’s broadcast of Monday Night Football. The ad will be 60 seconds long, and first the first time in Bungie history, will be computer-generated. Despite this, the ad sounds great, and looks great too, looking at the screenshot taken from the commercial, released by Bungie today:

In the press release talking about the ad, Microsoft mentioned another piece of exciting news about the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta, scheduled for release in Spring 2007:
“In conjunction with the ad, Microsoft today unveiled further details and an official call to entry for the Halo 3 beta program. Beginning Monday, December 4, visit http://www.halo3.com and register for the opportunity to be one of the select members to join the unprecedented Halo 3 public beta program, scheduled to kick off in spring 2007. Be among the first to experience the most anticipated game of 2007!

The Xbox Live multiplayer public beta, which is a pre-release version of the multiplayer experience of Halo 3, is scheduled for availability in spring 2007 exclusively on Xbox 360. This beta also represents an opportunity for you to participate in the development of Halo 3. Through the resulting feedback, Bungie Studios will be able to further refine and hone the end result of Halo 3.”

If you are interested in this, try to sign-up fast, because I am sure come Monday, requests will be flooding in, and not everyone will be accepted. The site listed for sign-up is http://www.halo3.com, but this just redirects you to Bungieâ€™s homepage. I would bet it would show up on Bungieâ€™s homepage, or they will create a new page in the next few days. So get those applications in, and post back here when you become a tester. Good luck getting in!