January 2009

MTV Games and Harmonix announced today the availibility of a Thin Lizzy three-pack featuring live versions of the tracks from their new live album as well as new tracks from The Pretenders, Pat Benetar, and Nikko.  The new tracks will make their way into the Rock Band Music Store starting February 3, 2009 on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and on February 5, 2009 on the PlayStation Network. READ MORE

Electronic Arts will give Wii players another chance to throw balls and knock down blocks in a sequel to last year’s Boom Blox, a press release announced today.

Boom Blox Bash Party will be released this spring. The game will focus more on multiplayer options and offer more than 400 new levels, including some that take place in space and underwater. Bash Party will bring new block types and shapes like cylinders and wedges, new tools like a paintball gun and slingshot and will allow players to interact directly with the Boom Blox characters by stacking or throwing them.
READ MORE

F.E.A.R. 2 goes gold

January 27, 2009

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin has gone gold for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. If you’ve played the demo which is currently available, you know you are in for more scares, brutal new weapons, and a continuation on the original F.E.A.R. storyline.

The title will ship February 10.

Today, Bethesda has released the first downloadable expansion for Fallout 3.  Titled Operation: Anchorage, the pack is now available for download via Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 points ($10).

The expansion lets players liberate Anchorage, Alaska from the invading Chinese, and includes new weapons and armor.

Nintendo games made up almost half of U.S. console software sales in 2008.

Gamasutra reports Wii and DS games accounted for 49 percent of the console software sold in the U.S.

Using analysis of figures provided by market research firm NPD Group, Nintendo sold approximately 268 million games in 2008, which equals about 8.5 games per second.

Games for the PlayStation 3 and PSP accounted for 32 percent of console software sold with Xbox 360 software at 19 percent, according to Gamasutra.

For more NPD analysis, check out The Farmer Report.