Best selling games of June 2012

The numbers are in and according to Game4U’s sales statistics, this is a  list of some of the hottest selling titles for the month of June, 2012. The list includes games across all platforms and all genres, except for handheld titles. So without further ado, here are some of the most popular titles to fly off the shelves.

Max Payne 3 – PC, PS3 and Xbox 360
No surprises here, even after the long hiatus, Max Payne has managed to win the hearts of gamers, both old and new to the franchise as it takes the number one spot for the month of June. The game has sold well across all platforms which goes to show that Max’s legacy is still going strong with no end in sight. We’ve reviewed the Xbox 360 version as well as the PC version and as you might expect, the PC version is lot better in terms of graphics as well as gameplay since a good ol’ fashioned keyboard and mouse will always beat a controller for this genre of games.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier – PS3
Coming in at number two is Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. This third person tactical shooter first launched on consoles while the PC version launched towards the end of June. The PS3 version seems to have gotten a lot of love over here. This is the fifth instalment in the Ghost Recon series developed by Ubisoft.

Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception – PS3
Uncharted, like God of War, has been a defining game for the PS3 and is the singular reason for you to go and buy the console. The third installment has been received extremely well by fans and critics alike with more epic battles and huge set pieces, we sure loved every bit of it. This is one game we highly recommend to anyone with a PS3.
One of the best games to hit the PS3
Sports Champions – PS Move
This was one of the launch titles for the PlayStation Move, which involves gesture-based controls for  various types of sports like Beach Volleyball, Gladiator Duel, Disc Golf, Archery, etc. The demo version of the game is also bundled along with a Move controller as part of the starter kit.

FIFA 12 – PS2
The PS2 may be outdated but Sony is still very much supporting it and the sales of FIFA 12 for the PS2 speak volumes of how popular this console still is. This is the nineteenth instalment in the series, developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. FIFA 12 sports several new features over its predecessor like the new Impact engine and re-designed menu layout with vertical scrolling. 
Play with friends online

Kinect Sports: Season Two – Xbox 360
This is a sequel to Kinect Sports, one of the launch titles of Microsoft’s Kinect accessory for the Xbox 360. The game adds six new sports and voice control features in the new version and supports both single and multiplayer. The game also supports Xbox Live competition allowing players to challenge each other in multiplayer modes. The voice commands come in really handy so for example, in golf, users can switch clubs by talking, without having to move to a new menu.

Need for Speed: The Run – PS3
The latest iteration from EA Black Box, Need for Speed: The Run seems to be doing well on the PS3 more than any other platform. The game was built on the Frostbite 2 engine and is described as an "illicit, high-stakes race across the country.” The Run had a much longer development cycle as compared to other Need for Speed titles in the past. The game however didn’t really receive glowing reviews from the critic or from us either, but then again if you are a fan of the franchise then you might want to check it out.
High octane car chases

EyeToy: Play3 with Camera – PS2
This game obviously caters to a much younger audience and the third instalment in the popular EyeToy: Play series seems to be a big hit with the kids. It supports up to four players and there are some new mini games as well, like beach volleyball and bowling. The list of games includes Bowling, DJ, Touchdown, Boot Camp and many more.

We would love to know what were your favourite games in the month of June were so do share them in the comments section below.

Best selling games of June 2012

The numbers are in and according to Game4U’s sales statistics, this is a  list of some of the hottest selling titles for the month of June, 2012. The list includes games across all platforms and all genres, except for handheld titles. So without further ado, here are some of the most popular titles to fly off the shelves.

Max Payne 3 – PC, PS3 and Xbox 360
No surprises here, even after the long hiatus, Max Payne has managed to win the hearts of gamers, both old and new to the franchise as it takes the number one spot for the month of June. The game has sold well across all platforms which goes to show that Max’s legacy is still going strong with no end in sight. We’ve reviewed the Xbox 360 version as well as the PC version and as you might expect, the PC version is lot better in terms of graphics as well as gameplay since a good ol’ fashioned keyboard and mouse will always beat a controller for this genre of games.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier – PS3
Coming in at number two is Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. This third person tactical shooter first launched on consoles while the PC version launched towards the end of June. The PS3 version seems to have gotten a lot of love over here. This is the fifth instalment in the Ghost Recon series developed by Ubisoft.

Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception – PS3
Uncharted, like God of War, has been a defining game for the PS3 and is the singular reason for you to go and buy the console. The third installment has been received extremely well by fans and critics alike with more epic battles and huge set pieces, we sure loved every bit of it. This is one game we highly recommend to anyone with a PS3.
One of the best games to hit the PS3
Sports Champions – PS Move
This was one of the launch titles for the PlayStation Move, which involves gesture-based controls for  various types of sports like Beach Volleyball, Gladiator Duel, Disc Golf, Archery, etc. The demo version of the game is also bundled along with a Move controller as part of the starter kit.

FIFA 12 – PS2
The PS2 may be outdated but Sony is still very much supporting it and the sales of FIFA 12 for the PS2 speak volumes of how popular this console still is. This is the nineteenth instalment in the series, developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. FIFA 12 sports several new features over its predecessor like the new Impact engine and re-designed menu layout with vertical scrolling. 
Play with friends online

Kinect Sports: Season Two – Xbox 360
This is a sequel to Kinect Sports, one of the launch titles of Microsoft’s Kinect accessory for the Xbox 360. The game adds six new sports and voice control features in the new version and supports both single and multiplayer. The game also supports Xbox Live competition allowing players to challenge each other in multiplayer modes. The voice commands come in really handy so for example, in golf, users can switch clubs by talking, without having to move to a new menu.

Need for Speed: The Run – PS3
The latest iteration from EA Black Box, Need for Speed: The Run seems to be doing well on the PS3 more than any other platform. The game was built on the Frostbite 2 engine and is described as an "illicit, high-stakes race across the country.” The Run had a much longer development cycle as compared to other Need for Speed titles in the past. The game however didn’t really receive glowing reviews from the critic or from us either, but then again if you are a fan of the franchise then you might want to check it out.
High octane car chases

EyeToy: Play3 with Camera – PS2
This game obviously caters to a much younger audience and the third instalment in the popular EyeToy: Play series seems to be a big hit with the kids. It supports up to four players and there are some new mini games as well, like beach volleyball and bowling. The list of games includes Bowling, DJ, Touchdown, Boot Camp and many more.

We would love to know what were your favourite games in the month of June were so do share them in the comments section below.

EA may go for 100% digital distribution in the future

Electronic Arts is one of the few major video game companies involved in digital distribution of games. Its distribution service Origin, though not so popular, has certainly helped the company get its foot in the door against Valve’s Steam. However, it seems EA might go all out to establish its presence in this new distribution platform. GamesIndustry International recently reported Frank Gibeau, President of EA Labels, as saying  that EA would be a 100 percent digital company in the future. According to the report, The company recently had its first year of digital revenues over $1 billion, and EA is expecting that number to grow closer to $2 billion.

"It's in the near future. It's coming. We have a clear line of sight on it and we're excited about it. Retail is a great channel for us. We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer. If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download, and that's the best way for them to get it, that's what we're going to do. It has a lot of enhancements for our business. It allows us to keep more of what we make. It allows us to do some really interesting things from a service level standpoint; we can be a lot more personalized with what we're doing," the report quoted Gibeau as saying.

He added, "But if customers want to buy a game at retail, they can do that too. We'll continue to deliver games in whatever media formats make sense and as one ebbs and one starts to flow, we'll go in that direction. For us, the fastest growing segment of our business is clearly digital and digital services and ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future - much like your question about streaming and cloud - we're going to be a 100% digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable."

EA may go 100% digital...

The fact that PC gaming is dominated by games sold via digital distribution channels such as Valve's Steam or Paradox’s GamersGate, or EA’s own Origin, opens up new avenues for EA. "For us, we're focused on the fact that the gaming market overall is broad. You have more people playing games now than ever before in the history of the industry. There are more markets available to us - Asia, Brazil, Russia - a bunch of emerging markets that are legitimate and growing fast. We have more devices that we can publish across now. We used to publish across three platforms; now we're publishing across 14 or 15," Gibeau said.

Th report stated that EA would be prepared for the advent of IP televisions and streaming. "That'll be a way we'll generate content and deliver it to customers in a high quality way. The next generation of hardware is going to come out. It's difficult to speculate what generation next would be after that, but there are opportunities in cloud and streaming that are very interesting to us and we have relationships with Gaikai and other companies where we've investigated a lot of that stuff. We clearly see our IP and our capabilities on the digital services front translating over very easily there."

EA debuted its Origin service as the only way to play the much-anticipated Battlefield 3 late last year, and though it’s not quite there yet, EA hopes to catch up to Valve’s Steam service. 

Angst at Zynga over tumbling share price

In April, a small circle of top Zynga executives and early investors scored a $500 million-plus payday via a choreographed private share sale. That deal was well-timed. Since then, the online gaming company's stock has shed almost half of its value as investors questioned Zynga's long-term prospects and Facebook Inc's sputtering IPO sapped confidence in the consumer Internet.

The share sale may have helped nudge Zynga's stock price into a steady decline that has stoked discontent at the company, which, like much of Silicon Valley, relies on generous stock awards to attract talent. The Farmville publisher is now barely holding at $6, down 40 percent from a December IPO price of $10, as employees at the end of April were freed from their "lock-up" agreements to sell their stock holdings. Employees past and present told Reuters that morale is ebbing along with the stock price.

"Zynga's a tough place to work," said Lou Kerner, founder of the Social Internet Fund, who has invested in Zynga. "You go there because there's a lot of upside to the shares, so it's disappointing when the markets are against you."

Chief Executive Mark Pincus parried questions at the All Things Digital conference on Wednesday, where he defended his stock price, Zynga's ability today to attract top-notch engineers, and the acquisition of OMGPOP, developer of mobile hit Draw Something.

"I can't think of any real difference in recruiting that's happened because of being public or because of our stock being up or down," Pincus said. "My job is focusing on building products ..., not really trying to figure out whether the markets are valued right."

Hundreds of former employees and other investors were allowed this week to offload up to 352 million shares -- the majority of outstanding stock -- for the first time since the company debuted on the Nasdaq in December. The company's shares traded at $6.00, down 4.2 percent, on Friday afternoon. 

The dog doesn't look too happy these days...

Facebook shares were down 5.7 percent at $27.92 on Friday, and shares of Groupon, another Internet IPO darling, were off 8.9 percent at $9.70, just cents above their all-time low. Employees at Facebook are allowed to begin cashing in this November, six months after its IPO, when up to 1.2 billion Facebook shares could hit the open market. But the effect of the lock-up expiration on Facebook's stock price is expected to be relatively muted, due to the high percentage of stock that was floated during Facebook's IPO, analysts say.

Zynga, named after Pincus's bulldog, stands out as a notorious pressure cooker even in a gaming industry chock full of hard-driving workplaces. In return for long hours and brutal deadlines - working at "Zynga Speed," employees joke - workers get lavish incentives often tied to company shares.

"It's distracting because people have a lot of wealth tied up and have been doing calculations of how long they're sticking at Zynga," said one of the company's earliest hires, who departed recently. "From the beginning there were expectation-setting signals that you're going to burn red for a while, you're not going to have weekends, and you'll be here until 2 a.m., but the result is that you're going to be a millionaire."

Those who can prove their worth, thrive. For several years, management has called all-hands assemblies every quarter where a handful of Zynga's high performers are each awarded $100,000 worth of vested stock. But a former employee, who left the company in April after two years as a developer said frustration was bubbling among some of the rank and file as the value of their holdings slid and project launches were delayed. In Austin, Texas, where Zynga employs scores of workers, a recent internal survey showed only 20 percent confidence in management, he said. After that, office managers held meetings with staff to discuss the results and air grievances.

"I didn't see anything coming out of the company that could result in the stock price going up," said the developer. "There's a big reason why Zynga is making a big push for external acquisitions."

Zynga's biggest acquisition to date has been OMGPOP, at a cost of $183 million. Analysts have voiced concerns about Zynga's ability to wring revenue out of mobile games, and the purchase of OMGPOP was intended to address that need. But the deal has drawn fire as usage numbers appeared to wane.

"We didn't buy them for the short-term impact," countered Pincus at the D conference, noting that Draw Something's traffic was higher than when Zynga first "engaged" to purchase the company.

Draw Something, he added, "is the game that we think we can support and market for five years and 10 years."

Pincus and other executives sold 43 million shares, at $12 each, in the April deal. Limited to senior management and directors, it was explained as an effort to stagger the timing of when stockholders may cash out, preventing a simultaneous sell-off at the expiration of the lock-up.

Pincus, Chief Financial Officer David Wehner and Chief Operating Officer John Schappert each sold 15 percent of their granted shares. Other sellers included early investors like venture funds Institutional Venture Partners and Union Square Ventures, as well as directors Owen Van Natta, a former Myspace CEO, and Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn.

All told, they raked in about $515.6 million. Those involved agreed to a longer lock-up period for the remainder of their shares, according to SEC filings. And current employees at the time of the offering were released from their lock-up at the end of April, a month earlier than the date originally set. But when top executives with "more information in the company" are selling stock, said Ye Cai, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University, "that's sending a bad signal to the market that the stock is overvalued."

On Wall Street, some still see potential in the business.

"The stock's been a disaster," said Colin Sebastian, an Internet entertainment analyst at Robert W. Baird. "There's been so much negativity in the stock related to insider sales, the lock-up sales, Facebook's IPO and risks from mobile devices that it seemed a little overdone." "But over the intermediate term we see potential growth."

On Thursday, Zynga launched a new mobile title, "Zombie Swipeout." The company is also betting heavily on casino games like Bingo and Poker and hopes to introduce real-cash gambling, which could prove enormously profitable but remains a distant prospect with lots of regulatory hurdles in the United States. And then there's Project Z, the gaming platform Zynga is working on as a way to wean itself from Facebook. In recent months, the company has nabbed partnerships with major game developers like Konami to produce games for the platform.

As Zynga undergoes its transformation, Pincus acknowledged that the road ahead could be bumpy.

"There is for sure an element of the games business that's like a media business," Pincus said. "You see audiences go up and peak and sometimes fall."

Reuters

E3 2012: Pre E3 video roundup

Next week, the Electronic Entertainment Expo better known as E3 kicks off in full swing and developers have already begun flooding the internet with gameplay/announcement videos. We’ve rounded them all up in one article so you don’t have to search high and low for your favourite gameplay videos.

First up, we have the CG debut trailer for developer MercurySteam’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. The game is expected to release sometime in 2013 but expect more details at Konami’s press conference.

Next we have gameplay footage from Crystal Dynamics’ highly awaited Tomb Raider reboot. And it is freaking brutal. I’m really digging the dark direction this franchise is heading in. I only hope it doesn’t feel too much like Uncharted which is kind of ironic since Uncharted was obviously inspired by the Tomb Raider franchise to begin with. Tomb Raider releases by the 5th of March 2013 for the Xbox360, PS3 and PC.

Konami also shows off some lightning fast, over-the-top gameplay for their upcoming hack and slash set in the Metal Gear Solid universe, Metal Gear  Rising: Revengeance. And it’s completely badass. Just don’t come in expecting a very conventional MGS experience.

Bethesda unveils some Dishonored gameplay and it looks like a fine blend of Mirror’s Edge and the thief series amidst a very Half-Life inspired universe. We obviously want more.

Square Enix comes under a bit of controversy for their latest Hitman: Absolution trailed dubbed Attack of the Saints. In it, Agent 47 goes to town on a bunch of feminine assassins dressed as nuns. People find this a tad sexist but in Agent 47’s defense, they were not exactly in a friendly mood so his actions were justified.

Oh and we finally come to what I personally hope is the DLC of the year, Skyrim’s Dawnguard DLC trailer. Unfortunately it is an Xbox360 exclusive for a month so excuse me while I sit in a corner and cry a bit.

Stay tuned to Tech2 for more E3 2012 coverage next week.

E3 2012: Counter Strike: GO coming this August

Counter Strike: Global Offensive, the (kind of) new Counter Strike game will be available by the 21st of August 2012 for the Xbox360 (Via Xbox Live), PS3 (via PlayStation Network), PC and Mac (Steam will be required for both PC and Mac). All three versions will set you back by around $15.
It's GO time

The game is being developed by Valve along with Hidden Path Entertainment and will feature "new maps, characters, and weapons and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, CS: GO will introduce new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leader boards, and more."

"Counter-Strike took the gaming industry by surprise when the unlikely MOD became the most played online PC action game in the world almost immediately after its release in August 1999," says Valve's Doug Lombardi. "For the past 12 years, it has continued to be one of the most-played games in the world, headline competitive gaming tournaments and selling over 25 million units worldwide across the franchise. CS: GO promises to expand on CS' award-winning gameplay and deliver it to gamers on the PC as well as the next gen consoles and the Mac."

Performance gap between the Wii U and next gen consoles to be thinner, Nintendo

Nintendo is the only company so far to have unveiled its next generation console, dubbed the Wii U. With it, Nintendo promises that the Wii U won’t miss out on multiplatform games, because the hardware will be much closer to what Sony and Microsoft will have to offer.

"We have not successfully kept the momentum of the Wii for about the last two years because third-party publishers have released a smaller number of game titles and Nintendo has also decreased new games for the platform in preparation for the launch of the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U," said Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo, at an annual meeting with shareholders.

Dual screens, double the fun?

Back in 2006 and 2007, it looked as if Nintendo had more or less won this generation’s console war in the beginning. Amongst the constant flaming and fighting on online message boards, no one was willing to accept that Nintendo was on to something good. A whole demographic that was left untouched.

The Wii was designed with someone who games only casually, in mind. The motion controls helped people older and younger than ever before get interested in gaming, instead of being intimidated by the 12-button layout of the modern console controller. And Nintendo made a lot of money.

But the Wii’s hardware’s graphical capabilities couldn’t match that of the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. So the Nintendo ended up alienating the core gamer fanbase. As a result, in the last couple of years, Nintendo has failed to bring in expected profits due to the lack of multiplatform games that were only available on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. 

Nintendo acknowledges that it cannot guarantee that the Wii U will not end up like the Wii when it comes to multiplatform games.

Microsoft and Sony had tried to recreate Nintendo’s success by making their own motion control devices. Sony came up with the PlayStation Move, and Microsoft came up with the Kinect. Neither companies have managed to recapture the success of Nintendo.

Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia commented, "Some of the developers we spoke to indicated to us that the console will have 50% more processing power compared to the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. This is yet to be confirmed by Nintendo."

Nintendo did little to prove this point at this year’s E3. They had used footage of Xbox 360 and PS3 titles during their press conference.

Mr. Iwata hopes that the Wii U’s innovative GamePad controller with the screen will help the console to be different from what Microsoft or Sony would be doing, and hopes to change the way people think about a gaming console.

"Video game consoles have long been 'parasites' of TV sets at home. In other words, game consoles have used TV sets in a family instead of being equipped with their own screen. However, the Wii U will be the first console free from TV sets, in which you can play the Wii U while someone else is watching TV or you yourself can watch TV while using the Wii U. As you can experience deeper entertainment with both the Wii U GamePad and the TV screen, we would like to enrich it but, at the same time, we hope to furnish it with games you can enjoy only with the Wii U GamePad. [...] Furthermore, the Wii U can change the way you use the TV set in your living room, although the Wii U is a video game system in its nature and this is just an added component," said Satoru Iwata.