According to NPD's projection, video game sales in the U.S. will reach a record-breaking $18 billion in 2007, surpassing the $10 billion box office sales projected by The Hollywood Reporter. Halo 3 grossed over $170 million on its release day, far bigger than any Hollywood film ever has, making it the highest-grossing premiere in entertainment history.
Scores from the British gaming magazine GameTM:
After yesterday's announcement of the new copy protection scheme deployed by Nintendo through Mario Galaxy both Team Cyclops (makers of Cyclowiz) and Wiikey have announced solutions, in addition to the already working d2ckey...
During their extensive hands-on time with Super Mario Galaxy, Gameplayer noticed some things which pointed to release of a demo for this Wii blockbuster.
A NeoGAF post has information on the apparent leak of the Mario Galaxy code well before the game's official release. It seems that the demo copies found at local Electronics Boutique stores only have a ten minute time limit when played on EB's proprietary demo machines, and when played in consumer Wiis, the disc actually contains the full version of Galaxy. Taking advantage of this, a scurvy EB employee lifted the disc, copied the data from it, and uploaded it all directly into the cargo hold of his nearest Internet receptacle.
Issue 23 of the Official Nintendo Magazine UK hits shelves tomorrow with the first English-written review of Miyamoto's platform stunner, and the big, fat 97 percent slapped on it means they like it quite a bit.
The New York Times report on October 16, 2007:
In light of Nintendo's announcement that Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been delayed until 2008, IGN's GamerMetrics analyzed the implications that this delay will have on the holiday sales of other upcoming games available for the Nintendo Wii.
US hands will get a chance to play Super Mario Galaxy and Brawl at this year's E for All! in the Nintendo Booth.
Media analyst publication Screen Digest has launched a new service, the Game Bulletin. The service is aimed at the game industry and will feature data, demographics and trend-forecasting, with the first edition focusing on software publishing and platform support in the final quarter of 2007.
The charming Brits over at Kikizo sat down with Insomniac's Ryan Schneider the other day. Asked him a bunch of questions about Ratchet & Clank, and it sounds like Insomniac are rightly proud of their franchise. Also proud of R&C on the PS3, which I must say is looking pretty darn good. They're also proud of their originality as a company, though, and proud that it's influenced...Miyamoto and Super Mario Galaxy.
A review of Super Mario Galaxy that cropped up in Belgian magazine 'Gunk' is far from what it seems and was not done using a final copy of the game, Nintendo has told CVG.
Super Mario Galaxy isn't released in Japan for another month, but a Belgian gaming magazine has published a review of the much-anticipated platformer - an analysis that many gamers are looking on with suspect eyes.