5 Games that won't sell this Christmas

This time last year, I wrote a feature predicting what games I thought would get lost in the Christmas crowds. There are games released at this time of year which have success guaranteed: Call of Duty, Halo, Assassin's Creed. But then there are the lesser known games that are either good, but lose out on sales due to not being an established brand, or just plain fail to drum up much pre-release anticipation.

Sonic is just one of the heavy hitters on this year's list!

This year I found it a lot harder to make a list, and so I've chosen only 5 games that I think are destined to fail (as opposed to last year's 13). 

Without further delay, let's jump into this year's picks!

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

The original Epic Mickey was a much hyped Wii-Exclusive that came out in 2010. Pre-release people were excited about this new take on the famous mouse, with some interesting gameplay mechanics and impressive graphics 'for a Wii game.' This anticipation resulted in disappointment for many fans as, while Epic Mickey wasn't a bad game, it ended up getting mixed reviews.

The game also ended up selling less than expected so the fact that a sequel was announced was surprising for me. But here we are just weeks from release.

So why won't it sell? It has a number at the end of the title, surely that means it will be a success, right? Well, in this case, I think no. At the end of the day it is a sequel, but not to a significantly popular game. Plus, I still don't really know who it's trying to appeal to: Kids? Adults? Both? Kids like Mickey Mouse, sure. But I'm not sure if they're a fan of him in this setting. Plus, the kids game of choice right now seems to be (to my surprise) Skylanders.

So that leaves Adults, but I don't know many who have this at the top of their hyped games list. With a lot of quality titles coming out this year I think this one is really going to struggle to compete in the crowd. The only factor to keep this game from failure is the fact that unlike the original it is multi-platform.

UK Chart Prediction: A peak in the mid-20s, before the game leaves the Top 40 completely.

Sales Predictions: Around 500K max.

Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse

This is a weird one. The game based on the popular Fox-animation was announced early this year, before completely fading away. Then BAM! A release date of November 23rd was announced. But strangely, we still have seen hardly any gameplay from this game bar a couple of screenshots. That's never a good sign.

So if it isn't enough that this game seems to be heading to critical disaster, there's also the bigger problem that does anyone really want a Family Guy videogame?

No Trailer for this one...

This game will release and just exist. I'm sure it will shift a few copies if just because it has the Family Guy name on it, but it won't be a big seller for sure.

UK Chart Prediction: A peak in the early-30s, if that.

Sales Predictions: Around 250K

Marvel Avengers: Battle For Earth

Marvel's The Avengers came out this year to huge commercial success ($1.5 billion to be precise) and some great reviews as well. TEN ourselves gave the movie a perfect 10, being everything comic fans had hoped for while also being  a lot of fun by those who haven't followed these characters before.

Now I'm sure had a tie-in game been released at the same time as the movie it would have done fairly well sales-wise at least. But not only is this game being released at a time when the awesomeness of the film may have worn off for some, but also it is being released for Kinect and Wii U only. WTF?

The game is a fighting game (loosely) based on the Secret Invasion storyline that happened in comics a few years ago. A game where superhero's beat each other up - sounds pretty cool, right? Well, the fact that the game is being released on Kinect should be a warning sign straight away. The sensor's list of releases features very few actually good games, as it has been proven time and time again that it just isn't accurate enough to truly make players a part of the game. Now it's hard to say how the Wii U version will fair as that hardware is still very new, but I don't have high hopes.

But the really sad thing is that even if this game gets great reviews, the truth is that nearly no one is still using their Kinect, and the people buying a Wii U at launch aren't going to reach for this game first.

UK Chart Prediction: Perhaps an appearance in the late 30s before dropping out for good.

Sales Predictions: Around 200K

Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed

Now while Sonic is still a force to be reckoned with to be sure, many of the so-called "All-Stars" in this game have been out of use for years and so, while remaining fan-favourites, very few of the current generation are going to know who they are. That may not be a huge problem if you just want a good racing game and don't care about characters. But then why not just play Mario Kart?

Comparisons to Nintendo's hugely popular racing series are unavoidable, but also mean that this game is going to have to be really good in order to justify existing - and while it might be kind of fun, I'm not sure if it's going to manage it. This game will come out and it will probably sell a few copies. After all, 2010s Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing did OK. But ultimately, I think when this game hits shelves, a huge "Meh." will be heard across the land, as people walk by the game and think, "Maybe I'll get it pre-owned one day."

UK Chart Prediction: Will probably peak at about 18/19

Sales Predictions: 600K max.

The Wii U AT LAUNCH

Let me make this really clear. I am not saying that the Wii U will be a complete failure. I am not saying that it will never sell. However, what I am predicting is that the launch isn't going to go very well.

The Wii U wasn't unveiled well. People left E3 2011 not knowing exactly whether it was a new controller for the Wii or a new console. Of course, since then all those issues have been cleared up, right? Well yes, for gamers and people who follow new console releases. But ask a member of the general public, perhaps a "casual" gamer who picked up a Wii to get fit, what a Wii U is and they might struggle to tell you. Nintendo has left it very late to enforce their advertising on those who don't know what a Wii U is, and the people who do know what it is are very much split down the middle.

Many fans are left doubting Nintendo for the first time in a while. Some fans think the console is doomed already. Some are simply waiting out to see how the first few months on sale go.

That being said, some fans had their pre-order booked a long time ago.

But generally, I think I can fairly say that many people are cautious about placing their hard-earned cash down for a Wii U, with a launch line-up failing to impress many with games that were available on other consoles months ago, and other new games that haven't quite got the blood pumping of those still sitting on the fence.

As I said before, I'm not saying the Wii U will fail. Although I have a bad feeling that the launch isn't going to be pretty.

So that's my list for 2012. Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to be kept up to date on more of our features, as well as the latest news, and reviews. Thanks for reading!

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E3 in 6 Minutes: All The Big News

Last week was pretty manic, what with E3 and all. It was very easy to miss the big news this year, and so TEN has made this handy video "E3 in 6 Minutes." All the biggest news of this year's show in one video. Watch it below:

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Our E3 Livefeed! Join the conversation @_thenetwork

This is our E3 Twitter livefeed. We're going to be tweeting live from the show with our thoughts on the announcements and conferences, and those tweets are going to pop up below automatically. This is a great way to keep updated with the E3 news. Also, if you tweet us a question @_thenetwork , we'll answer it right here. It couldn't be easier. So, bookmark this page, and as soon as the conferences start make sure you experience E3 with TEN.

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GAME Bafta Awards 2012: The Winners

The annual GAME Bafta's took place tonight and it was another great show. Dara O' Briain did a great job hosting, with Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, and Battlefield 3 among the winners! Full list inside!

Best Story:

Winner: Portal 2
Other Nominees: Batman: Arkham City, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, LA Noire, Skyrim, and Uncharted 3

Best Original Music:

Winner: L.A Noire
Other Nominees: Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Skyrim, and Uncharted 3

Audio Achievement:

Winner: Battlefield 3
Other Nominees: Batman: Arkham City, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Dead Space 2, The Nightjar, and Uncharted 3

Best Design:

Winner: Portal 2
Other Nominees: Batman: Arkham City, L.A Noire, LittleBigPlanet 2, Super Mario 3D Land, and Skyrim

Game Innovation:

Winner: LittleBigPlanet 2
Other Nominees: Bastion, Child of Eden, From Dust, L.A Noire, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Best Strategy:

Winner: Total War: Shogun 2
Other Nominees: Dark Souls, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Football Manager 2012, From Dust, and Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars

Mobile & Handheld:

Winner: Peggle HD
Other Nominees: Dead Space iOS, Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint, Quarrel, Super Mario 3D Land, and The Nightjar

The GAME Award 2011:

Winner: Battlefield 3

Other Nominees: Batman: Arkham City, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, FIFA 2012, L.A Noire, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Minecraft, Portal 2, Skyrim, and Uncharted 3

Best Action:

Winner: Batman: Arkham City

Other Nominees: Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Portal 2, and Uncharted 3

BAFTA Ones to Watch Award:

Winner: Tick Tock Toys

Other Nominees: Joust, and Dreamweaver

Best Online - Browser:

Winner: Monstermind

Other Nominees: Gardens of Time, I am Playr, Global Resistance, Skylanders: Spyro's Universe and The Sims Social

Artistic Achievement:

Winner: Rayman: Origins

Other Nominees: Batman: Arkham City, L.A Noire, LittleBigPlanet 2, Skyrim, and Uncharted 3

The BAFTA Special Award:

Winner: Notch (Minecraft Creator)

Sports/Fitness:

Winner: Kinect Sports: Season 2

Other Nominees: Dance Central 2, DiRT 3, F1 2011, FIFA 2012, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012

Online Multiplayer:

Winner: Battlefield 3

Other Nominees: Assassin's Creed: Revelation's, Dark Souls, Gears of War 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and LittleBigPlanet 2

Debut Game:

Winner: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Other Nominees: Bastion, Eufloria, L.A Noire, Monstermind, and Rift

Family Game:

Winner: LittleBigPlanet 2

Other Nominees: Dance Central 2, Kinect Sports: Season 2, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, and Mario Kart 7

Best Performer:

Winner: Mark Hamill (The Joker - Batman: Arkham City)

Other Nominees: Aaron Staton (Cole Phelps - L.A Noire), Nolan North (Nathan Drake - Uncharted 3), Stephen Fry (Narrator - LittleBigPlanet 2), Stephen Merchant (Wheatley - Portal 2), and Togo Igawa (Dipolomat, Advisor, Military General - Total War: Shogun 2)  

Best Game:

Winner: Portal 2

Other Nominees: Batman: Arkham City, FIFA 2012, L.A Noire, Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

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Opinion: Activision Aren't Learning From Their Mistakes!

I won't lie - I'm not a big fan of Activision. I think of them as the overlord of the videogame industry. Sure, they come up with good ideas sometimes, but then if that idea is successful they will sit there making sequel after sequel.

Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk, Spyro and other franchises they have simply flogged to death. Now, I know they announced they won't be making Guitar Hero games anymore (at least for a little while anyway), and it was this that made me thought they were changing.

I was still a little annoyed. At the end of the day, when Guitar Hero first came out it got good reviews, sold well and was loved by many people. Things could have stayed that way a lot longer had GH not become an annual thing. Activision failed to realise that people would come to a point where they didn't need anymore songs to play on their plastic guitars.

Arguably, GH would have worn out after a while anyway - but my point is it could have lasted a lot longer if Activision hadn't tried squeezing every last penny out of it, in the space of around half a decade.

But they seem to be making the same mistakes over and over again! At a time when Guitar Hero was starting to lag in the sales side of things, Activision launched the Tony Hawk: RIDE and SHRED games.
These were also games that came with tacky plastic peripherals. They were also games that sold poorly and have potentially killed the (once credible) Tony Hawk franchise.

THAT FAMILY DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A CONSOLE!!

 So that's 2 series that have crashed and burned thanks to the overuse of plastic peripherals. Surely Activision have learnt their lesson now?

Evidently not.
Skylanders was a bit of a surprise hit when it came out this Christmas - and guess what - it comes with a bunch of plastic crap. Now, I'm not saying Skylanders is a bad game - it's fun in its own little way.

What I'm saying is with 2 big name franchises killed due to the deadly combination of annual releases and plastic, why didn't Activision think twice before announcing Skylanders Giants (a sequel to Skylanders) yesterday?

If Skylanders becomes annual I can see it becoming the 3rd franchise to be killed by the deadly combination and I just wish Activision would learn something from the past decade.

Maybe Activision's lax attitude towards this situation is because as long as they have Call of Duty, they have a financial safety net. But with annual sequels of CoD too, surely there will come a time where that series starts to lag as well?

What do you think?

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5 Handhelds That Sold Worse Than The Playstation Vita

We've all heard recently about the Playstation Vita, and how it bombed when it was released in Japan back in December. Now, I'm sure there are a bunch of people out there annoyed as they were looking forward to the Vita - We were too! So, to make everyone feel a bit better - here's 5 handheld consoles that sold worse than the Vita did...

Gizmondo

Oh, Gizmondo. Less of a handheld console, more of an urban legend. The Gizmondo was, to be frank, a complete and utter failure.

For those of you who don't know, the Gizmondo was released back in 2005 when the DS and PSP were being released to excited gamers everywhere. But who needs the likes of Mario Kart DS or Wipeout Pure, when you have Sticky Balls - or at least that was Tiger Telematics' theory.

Problem 1: The Gizmondo was released in the UK at a hefty £229, and in the US at $400 - This was higher than both the DS and PSP and there was just no reason to splash out on it! It was way too expensive.
So, Tiger Telematics came up with an alternative as well! Buy a "Smart Ads" enabled Gizmondo for half the price! Genius. Smart Ads were just adverts that interrupted your gaming experience at random moments - hardly what you want when your in a gripping game of....Toy Golf?

The launch line-up of the Gizmondo made the 3DS launch look mind-blowing. It's best-selling game was the aforementioned Sticky Balls, which wasn't the worst game in the world - but wasn't anything special either. Although it had one of the best opening songs for a game ever - I recommend you watch the video below...

In the end there were only 14 games released for the Gizmondo, and it sold only 25,000 units worldwide....Makes the Vita's 400,000 look quite good....

Virtual Boy


Since release in 1995, the Virtual Boy has been known as Nintendo's biggest flop. For those who don't know, the Virtual Boy was Nintendo's first attempt at 3D gaming. Unfortunately, they got nothing right.

The design of the Virtual boy was poor. It was described as a handheld console, but if you tried to play it on the bus, not only would it be bloody difficult due to the stand and the separate controller - but also people would probably laugh and point.

What made things worse was there was practically nothing worth playing! All the games had an ugly red and black look (they were the only colours the Virtual Boy could handle!), but also playing for too long was proven to cause migraines in most people. Oh dear...

WOW! Look at those graphics!

The Virtual Boy was discontinued in around a year in most regions - In that time it had sold 770,000 units. The Playstation Vita has already sold over half of that number in less than a month - you do the math.


Game.com

The Game.com (pronounced just Game Com) was in many ways ahead of its time. When released back in 1997, it had many features that handhelds nowadays normally have! It had a touch-screen and stylus (way before the DS came along), it was the first handheld to have Internet functions or to include basic PDA functions.

The problem was the technology wasn't ready for things like this back then. The Game.com touch-screen lacked precision and made it hard to see the on-screen controls, meanwhile entering addresses and phone numbers was cumbersome and just not worth the time it took!

Something that probably contributed more to the Game.com failure was the lack of games! Tiger Electronics (no relation to the aforementioned Tiger Telematics) tried to make the Game.com a mature handheld - obtaining licenses to the likes of Duke Nukem, Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat - but still the games just didn't sell.

To try and pick-up the poor sales of the Game.com, Tiger Electronics released an improved system: the Game.com Pocket Pro. The system was smaller, had a front-lit screen and required fewer batteries: but still nobody cared.

The system's slow death finally came to a close in 2000. In the 3 years the Game.com was on the market it had sold only 300,000 units - making the Playstaton Vita's 440,000 look amazing - and had only 20 games released for it.


Gameboy Micro

The Gameboy Micro is probably one of the only consoles on this list worth having! The only problem with the Gameboy Micro was the time it came out.

For those who don't know, the Micro was the final Gameboy console, and was released in September 2005 - a few months after the DS's release. Timing doesn't get worse.
The console itself wasn't that bad - while it couldn't play original Gameboy/Gameboy Colour games like its predecessor it was compatible with nearly the entire library of Gameboy Advance games (except those which used motion sensors - which was only a handful).

It had a superior backlit screen to that of the Advance SP and had adjustable brightness setting. Another neat feature was the Micro's different faceplates. Kind of like what the XBOX 360 had when it was first launched, you could take the front of your Micro off and replace it with a different/more decorative one. On top of all this it was amazingly small and light - as the name suggests.

Now that is Micro.

But as I said before, the thing that doomed the Micro was its release date. Nintendo effectively put its two handhelds against each other. Except, the Micro was handicapped due to the DS being a next-gen console (at the time).

So what did this mean? It meant that when the Micro was released - no matter how good it was - nobody cared. Why pay $99/over £100 on a new Gameboy, when you could be playing Mario Kart DS and Super Mario 64 DS on Nintendo's new console? There was no good answer to that question.

In its first few days in Japan, the Micro sold 170,000 units - compared to the Vita selling over 300,000.
The Micro was discontinued by 2007, with only 2.5 million units sold.


TurboExpress

It's 1990. The original Gameboy has been out for a year, and with its fun games and budget price was taking the world by storm. NEC, makers of the TurboGrafx-16 (a console that was failing behind the likes of the SNES and Mega Drive) bring out the TurboExpress - which was quite simply a portable version of the TurboGrafx-16.

This was all very impressive. The TG-16 itself was a very powerful console, so squeezing it onto a handheld was an awesome must-have, right? Wrong. The TurboExpress was very powerful, but was also very expensive. It launched in the US with a hefty, $249.99 price tag (a price tag that briefly rose to $299.99!).

Due to this price it became known as the Rolls-Royce of handhelds - and even if you did have the cash, what was the point in buying a TurboExpress. No Mario, No Sonic, No Zelda - there didn't seem to be much of an advantage.

That and the fact that adopters of the TurboExpress often had to put up with sound failure, pixel failure and terrible battery life, meant that people pretty much ignored the Express.

Several terrible ad-campaigns and price cuts later, the TurboExpress was discontinued in 1995 - In 5 years it had struggled to around 1.5 million units sold. The Playstation Vita sold nearly 1/3 of that in it's first couple of weeks.


Those 5 are just some of the consoles that sold less than the Vita. I don't mean to sound like a fanboy - I just think that it's way too early to give up on the Vita.

If you want to talk more about these consoles or the Vita, comment on this post or head over to our brand new Forums and start a topic - the Forums are free to use and open to all! Just click the Forums page in the menu bar.

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13 Games That Won't Sell This Christmas: Were We Right?

All the way back in October of 2011 we made a prediction and picked 13 Games that we thought would get lost in the crowd this Christmas - If you missed that post you can read it here! Christmas is over now, and these are the results - were we right?

Did Bond sell his game?

Dark Souls

We thought that the gameplay was too punishing and there just weren't enough hardcore gamers to play it...

"People want fun from their games, not punishment! And this game hands it out in bucketloads.
That, and that only, is the reason I think Dark Souls will miss out - people aren't hardcore enough."

Peak in UK Top 40: No. 3 (Week Ending 8th October)

Total Units Sold: 1.29 Million

This one was surprising. It had a strong debut in the UK and great reviews all round - and for good reason. Dark Souls may be punishing but it is undeniably a good game, and a surprise hit...

Right or Wrong: WRONG - Dark Souls actually sold quite well...and a sequel is on the table, but not yet confirmed.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time


We said:

"Let's face it, there's only one superhero people have got their eye on this winter, and it sure ain't old spidey. While I think EoT looks like it could be fun, it's never going to take the spotlight away from Arkham City."


Peak in UK Top 40: No. 39 (Week Ending 15th October)

Total Units Sold: Around 380,000

Just as we predicted - Spider-Man was never going to steal Arkham City's thunder, was it? But where we were wrong was that Edge of Time wasn't fun at all - it was repetitive and dull. Never Mind. Oh, and if you think 380,000 units doesn't sound that bad, take into account it was released on 5 platforms...yeah.

Right or Wrong: RIGHT - Edge of Time did poorly both commercially and critically.

X-Men: Destiny

We Said:

"X-Men shares Edge of Time's problems really, except X-Men has it worse. Why? Because where Spidey's game may be a bit of fun, X-Men Destiny looks like a repetitive, old-fashioned game that nobody's been too interested in since it was announced. That was harsh I know, but if you ask me - this one will be dead on arrival."

Peak in UK Top 40: No. 18 (Week Ending 1st October)

Total Units Sold: Around 320,000

After a respectable debut in the top 40, X-Men quickly plummeted - hardly surprising due to the games poor reviews. Although we do feel bad for Silicon Knights (Developer) who had a lot of staff laid off shortly after the games release - our thoughts go out to them, and we hope they get back on their feet soon.

Right or Wrong: RIGHT - Now get started on Too Human 2!

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon


We Said:

"While this is a promising new direction for the Ace Combat series, I'm not sure if it'll be enough to divert the customers' attention away from the two big war games this year, Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3."

Peak in UK Top 40: No. 12 (Week Ending 15th October)

Total Units Sold: Around 780,000

After frankly quite a good debut in the UK at No. 12, Ace Combat quickly left the top 40. But it must have made the numbers up elsewhere because 780,000 isn't too bad. I think I'm going to have to say we were wrong on this one. It didn't sell loads, but it did okay.

Right or Wrong: WRONG - But only just!

Dead Rising 2: Off The Record

We Said:

"Cash cow were the first words that came to mind when I heard about this one. After the success of the first two DR games, and the downloadable ones that came out recently - what's the next step? Dead Rising 3 maybe? Nah, let's just release the second one again! Laziness surrounds this game, and so only the hardcore zombie fans are going to bother."

Peak in UK Top 40: No. 14 (Week Ending 15th October)

Total Units Sold: Around 370,000

Another game which had an OK debut, before shooting out the charts! Off The Record was a weird decision for Capcom. I still find it difficult to understand why they did this instead of Dead Rising 3. Still at only 370,000 I think we were right about this one.

Right or Wrong: RIGHT - Get on with Dead Rising 3 and stop messing about!

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure

We Said:

"This game, while having an interesting concept, is bound to fail. Why? Because it's going to have to have some great marketing for the kids to get excited, plus it's going to have to be pulled off well for the idea to work."

Peak in UK Top 40: No. 9 (Week Ending 5th November)

Total Units Sold: 1.82 Million

Another surprisingly successful one. The marketing did work, and the concept worked well enough. I still have doubts whether 1.82 million is good enough for a 5-Platform release, but anything that breaks the 1 million mark I'd consider successful - so I have to say we were wrong on this one...

Right or Wrong: WRONG - I don't think we've seen the last of this one...

Goldeneye 007: Reloaded

We Said:

"Not only is this just an HD remake of a remake of a game that was released in the nineties, but also - when it comes to shooters - Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 are the ones people are interested in."

Peak in UK Top 40: No. 16 (Week Ending 5th November)

Total Units Sold: Around 660,000

While this one didn't sell awfully it still didn't do great. It just didn't stand out as anything very special, and was (as we said before) just an HD version of a Wii remake of a nineties game. It may have been fun in the nineties, but isn't it time to move on?

Right or Wrong: RIGHT - It sold okay, but didn't do too well.

Need For Speed: The Run

We Said:

"I don't think people will bother with this one. The problem is, you have to be a big car fan to choose this over some of the other games coming out this winter. And no doubt a lot of car fans are going to be looking to Forza 4. So, I think this one will get lost in the crowds."

Peak in UK Top 40: No. 7 (Week Ending 24th December)

Total Units Sold: 2.37 Million

Never doubt the power of a well-known brand. Despite average review scores and much more hyped games being released at the same time, Need For Speed pulled through and sold over 2 million copies - not too shabby.

Right or Wrong: WRONG - NFS lives on!

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

We Said:

"While UMVC3 does have a bit of a new look, with a bunch of other new features I'm not sure if it'll be enough."



Peak in UK Top 40: N/A

Total Units Sold: Around 70,000

Ouch! I thought it would be bad....but not this bad! Under 100,000 units sold! That's gotta hurt! Talk about a K.O....still with a Playstation Vita release on the horizon it might not be too late for this one...

Right or Wrong: RIGHT - Disappointing, as this is actually an alright game....never mind.

Kinectimals: Now With Bears

We Said:
"This ones going to go one of two ways - success or failure, there won't be an in-between. Either all the kids will have to have it and parents will rush out on launch night, or everyone's going to realise what a lazy excuse for a game this is."

Peak in UK Top 40: N/A

Total Units Sold: Around 130,000

This one was another bad one - at least in Retail. It was also released via DLC so there could have been more sales that way. But still, with little over 100K we were right about this one...

Right or Wrong: RIGHT - Maybe Kinectmals 2 will do better...

Rayman: Origins

We Said:

"As the first proper Rayman game in a while, and one that looks beautiful - I really hope that this sells. Whether it will is a different story. Rayman isn't as big a name as Mario and Sonic - especially to the new generation. So, this ones definitely in the danger zone."

Peak in UK Top 40: No. 19 (Week Ending 24th December)

Total Units Sold: Around 760,000

Not sure whether we were right or not. Rayman sure hasn't done well, but it hasn't done terrible - and seeming as we were wrong with Ace Combat, I suppose I better give this one to Rayman. I do hope this one sells more as it has beautiful graphics and is genuinely fun - if you haven't got it yet, give it a chance.

Right or Wrong: WRONG - It did OK!

Kirby: Mass Attack

We Said:

"With most of the portable gamers looking at the 3DS, which has games like Mariokart and Mario 3D Land out this Christmas, Kirby: Mass Attack will probably get lost."

Peak in UK Top 40: N/A

Total Units Sold: Around 650,000

I've got to say for a DS-Exclusive, I expected a lot worse. Let's not forget the DS is coming to the end of its life, and Kirby is not as big a brand name as the likes of Mario - So I'd say that 650K is fine, and say we were wrong about this one.

Right or Wrong: WRONG - I'm actually quite impressed!

Kirby's Return to Dreamland

We Said:

"Not many youngsters know who Kirby is, and the ones that do think he's some weird sewing thing."

Peak in UK Top 40: N/A

Total Units Sold: 1.01 Million

It was kind of unfair to have 2 Kirby games in our 13, we know. Plus, we were wrong again! As one of the only Wii-Exclusives of the holiday season, Kirby Wii ended up doing OK!

Right or Wrong: WRONG - Never deny the power of the weird pink blob!

How did we do?

6 Right!

7 Wrong!

Not amazing, we admit, with just under half right! Still, it was our first year - we'll try again next Christmas!

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Grand Theft Auto: From The Beginning - Part 2/2

In Part One of this feature we looked over every GTA game from it's Playstation/PC debut to the underwhelming Grand Theft Auto Advance.
Now, here we are in Part 2 where we'll be going over every game from San Andreas to the upcoming GTA V!

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Year: 2004/2005
Formats: Playstation 2, XBOX, PC

Just days after the very average Grand Theft Auto Advance, San Andreas was released and made everyone forget about the GBA game.
The game was released in October 2004 only on Playstation 2 and got great critical acclaim. It was later ported to XBOX and PC in June 2005.

The game put you in the previously unseen state of San Andreas during the early nineties, and also with three cities to explore. Each city in the game is fictional, but they each had small links with real American cities. Los Santos was linked to Los Angles, San Fierro to San Francisco and Las Venturas to Las Vegas.
The gameplay was largely similar to that of GTA III/GTA: Vice City, only with slight improvements and alterations, e.g. New vehicles, more RPG elements etc.
Following in the footsteps of previous games, in San Andreas there are 11 radio station with a huge amount of songs. If this wasn't impressive enough the XBOX and PC versions supported a 12th station that could be customized with user-imported MP3's.

The game sold by the bucketload, as of 2009 the game had sold 17.5 million copies on PS2 alone making it the best selling PS2 game ever. As if this wasn't enough, across all formats the game has sold a total of 21.5 million copies making it the 3rd best selling game ever!

Controversy was fast becoming a part of this series though, this time in the form of the "Hot Coffee" mod. Sex had been implied in the series before, but this time round you could even play a sex minigame. This was thanks to modder Patrick Wildenborg, also known as PatrickW. He made the Hot Coffee mod and later released it as a patch.
Then came the controversy.
From concerned parents, from American politicians - there was a lot of pressure on Rockstar to do something. Many retailers pulled the game from shelves. The game then lost its MA15+ rating in Australia meaning the game could no longer be sold there.

"Hot Coffee"

In the end Rockstar released a "Cold Coffee" patch, and re-released the game with the Hot Coffee scenes removed.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Year: 2005/2006
Formats: Playstation 2, Playstation Portable (PSP)

Liberty City Stories was GTA's second attempt at going handheld. This time round Rockstar chose a more capable console - Sony's PSP. Due to the added processing power, GTA: LCS was the first portable GTA game to be in 3D. Plus, it was also much better reviewed than GTA Advance, with Liberty City Stories receiving an impressive 88/100 on Metacritic.
Gameplay-wise, LCS was a prequel to GTA III, and so a lot of the city was similar and so was the gameplay - again there were slight tweaks and improvements. Things like motorbikes (that weren't permitted in older games) and a new multiplayer mode allowing up to 6 players to play via WiFi.

As I said before the game was well received, but it also sold quite well - another thing GTA Advance failed to do. By 2007 the PSP version of the game had sold 1.83 million copies!

The game was ported to PS2 the next year (2006), although this version was missing the aforementioned multiplayer and also got less positive reviews, with only a 78/100 on Metacritic - 10 less than the PSP version. But it also still sold well, with 1.32 million copies sold by 2007. And by 2008, Rockstar announced that the game had sold a huge 8 million copies across both formats.

It became clear that when it came to portable GTA, the PSP was the console for the job.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Year: 2006/2007
Formats: PSP, Playstation 2

GTA: Vice City Stories was basically a sequel to LCS. It was first launched on PSP and was another prequel - this time for the original Vice City.
Apart from the different setting the game had very similar gameplay and reception. The single-player in the game had the usual third person action, and this game also had multiplayer for up to 6 people.
The game, like its predecessor got good reviews with a Metascore of 86/100.

Like LCS, the game was ported to PS2 a year later in 2007. Again this version was missing multiplayer and was generally considered not as good as the PSP version with a Metascore of 75/100.
The game sold well on both systems, and by 2008 had sold 4.5 million copies.


Grand Theft Auto IV

Year: 2008
Formats: XBOX 360, PS3, PC

Grand Theft Auto IV left what was known as the GTA III era behind and instead brought GTA into the new generation. It was first released on XBOX 360 and PS3 in April 2008, and then was ported to the PC later in the year. It is also one of the most critically acclaimed GTA games yet, receiving a score of 98/100 on Metacritic!

The core gameplay of GTA IV was largely similar to previous games. Your character (who this time round was Niko Bellic) is viewed in a third-person perspective and left to explore an open-world environment - Liberty City in this case.
Again, there were slight changes made - e.g, a cover system, multiplayer etc, But it was largely the same gameplay.

The music in GTA IV was awesome again, with many popular artists like Kanye West, Ne-Yo and Queen featuring on the games numerous radio stations. There was also the ability to purchase real MP3's to play in game via a deal with amazon.com

GTA IV was also one of the most controversial yet.

Prior to and since the release of the game, it has been subject to a great deal of controversy, as was the case with previous Grand Theft Auto titles. Figures including George Galloway, Jack Thompson and Hillary Clinton have criticised the game, as have organizations including New York City officials and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
MADD requested ESRB to change the rating of the game from "M" for ages seventeen and up to "AO", for "adults only" due to the player's ability to drive under the influence of alcohol.

Much like previous games in the series, GTA IV had trouble when it was released in Australia. Like other games in the franchise it had to have content removed to allow the game to meet the requirements of the Australian classification system.
Meanwhile in New Zealand, the game was resubmitted to the New Zealand OFLC by Stan Calif, a 21-year-old student who was unhappy that New Zealand received an edited version of the game as a result of Australian censorship laws. The unedited version was subsequently given an R18 rating and cleared for sale in New Zealand.

VIDEO BREAK!

Here's 2 videos I found that give you one, not-at-all-one-sided, news report from a delightful man called Glenn Beck:

Wasn't that nice? What Glenn and co. don't seem to understand is something they said themselves - 70 million copies of the series had been sold when they aired that show. That number has now gone up to over 124 million. The fact that there have only been a few crimes committed that people like Glenn can link to GTA shows that these people are wrong. GTA IS A GAME. If there are people out there who get obsessive about it, or who can't bridge the gap between a game and reality then that is sad. But to repeat my point: 124 million copies sold - probably less than 100 GTA-related crimes.

Glenn's back in this "insightful" report. Although this time Cheryl K. Olson joins the conversation, and she seems to actually understand videogames - maybe she actually played GTA!

Videogame bloggers are losers? The only loser here is the middle-aged man who believes the world should share his opinions.

Despite Glenn's best efforts GTA IV sold over 22 million copies and won many awards.
There were two major expansion pack's released first as DLC, these were: The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony. Both were critically acclaimed and were collected in the Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, retail game that was released on X360 in 2009 and then on PS3 and PC in 2010.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Year: 2009/2010
Formats: DS, PSP, iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad

GTA: Chinatown Wars was first released on the Nintendo DS in March 2009 to great critical acclaim, unlike it's distant relative GTA Advance!
The game had a different presentation to previous games in the series. It didn't have a third person view, nor was it top-down. Instead, Chinatown Wars uses a fully rotatable camera angled down at the action.

But while critics loved it controversy came knocking on the door once more. This time it was because of a drug-dealing minigame which made protesters believe GTA was glamorising the use of drugs/drug-dealing. I think that's a slight over-reaction, but whatever...

The game was ported to PSP later in 2009. This version had updated graphics, and minigames more like QTE's due to the lack of a touchscreen. It also featured extra missions and exclusive radio stations not found in the DS version. This version of the game also received good reviews.

Finally, in 2010 the game was ported to iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad). This version had on-screen controls and a custom radio station that uses your iPod library - as well as the largest amount of radio stations of all versions of the game. It also had good reviews, although people criticised the lack of NPC sounds, leaving many people saying Liberty City sounded "silent."

Despite all the good reviews Chinatown Wars didn't sell as well as Rockstar had hoped. Both the DS and PSP versions failed to make much of an impact.
The combined total sales of the PSP and DS versions are just over 2 million copies - not great.

Grand Theft Auto V

Year: TBC (possibly 2012)
Formats:

And here we are. The recent announcement of GTA V left the gaming world excited for what's to come. If you haven't seen the trailer yet then shame on you. Luckily you can watch it below:

It's been a controversial 14 years for GTA. But whether your a lover (the critics), or a hater (Glenn Beck), you can't deny how successful the series has been, or the things it has accomplished.
With the upcoming 14th game in the franchise looking to be just as great as the others, this series is one that's going to be with us for a while - whether you like it or not.

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Well that's it. 14 years of GTA covered. Phew! If you liked/disliked this feature let us know! We enjoy your feedback - but try to be as constructive!

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Grand Theft Auto: From The Beginning - Part 1/2

With the recent announcement and trailer of Grand Theft Auto V, we thought that it would be a good time to reflect on the series' highs and lows. From it's humble beginnings as an average PS1 title, to it's promising future with more than 124 million copies sold worldwide since the series launched.

In part 1 of From the Beginning we'll be talking about every game from Grand Theft Auto 1 to Grand Theft Auto Advance! So read on to prepare for GTA V and Part 2 of this feature!

Grand Theft Auto

Year: 1997/1998/1999
Platforms: MS-DOS, Windows, Playstation, Gameboy Colour

The original Grand Theft Auto didn't get amazing reviews. I just thought I'd open with that because it seems surprising due to the quality of recent games in the series. Don't get me wrong it didn't get bad reviews but generally its review scores were pretty mixed.

Grand Theft Auto 1 was something new though. It gave players a lot of freedom and possibilities, due to the fact that failing missions could cut things off from you and also that with each mission different routes could be taken to the numerous destinations.

These things may not sound like much, but they were the things that ended up setting GTA apart from other games of the time.

It was first released on MS-DOS and Windows in October 1997 for Europe, February 1998 for North America and finally in Japan in April of 1999!
The ports that followed were the Playstation version released in December 97' for Europe, June 98' for North America and August 98' for Japan.
Finally the game was launched on the Game Boy Colour in 1999, but this port was the worst reviewed version.

Ports were also planned for the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn, but both of these versions were cancelled.

The game had a overhead perspective, unlike newer instalments (with the exception of Chinatown Wars) and had what I think is some pretty terrible box art. They hadn't quite got the recognisable GTA logo yet and the picture in the background, (which may not have been too bad at the time), looks pretty bad by today's standards.

In the end the game did pretty well, and later got a sequel...

Grand Theft Auto 2

Year: 1999/2000
Formats: PC, Playstation, Dreamcast, Game Boy Colour

Grand Theft Auto 2 was released worldwide on October 25th 1999 on PC and Playstation. The game retained the originals overhead perspective and had similar, but expanded gameplay.
The game also became famous for its live-action opening made from the 8 minute short film released to advertise the game pre-release. You can watch that intro below:

The game also received better reviews - still not great - but better, with the Playstation version receiving a metascore of 70/100. It was an all-round improvement of the original, but it would take one more game to make the GTA series a classic.
The box art was also improved, although yet again the classic GTA logo had not yet been discovered.

The game was ported to Sega's Dreamcast and Nintendo's Game Boy Colour the year after in 2000. GTA 2 was another success for DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and in 2001 got another sequel...

Grand Theft Auto III

Year: 2001/2002/2003
Formats: Playstation 2, XBOX, PC

Grand Theft Auto III was where everything changed. GTA went from being a fun but flawed PS1 game, to a critically acclaimed 3D classic. You were now part of a living, breathing city thanks to the use of the then revolutionary RenderWare game engine.
There was even a 24 hour cycle which simulated day, night and different weather effects depending on your time of play.

But with GTA now a lot more realistic, controversy arrived to the series. This was due to the more violent and sexual content e.g. killing policemen, having sex with before killing prostitutes. This controversy led to the game being banned in Australia shortly after its release, as well as more thorough age checks for people buying M rated videogames.
There was even a $246 million court case made by the families of two teens who were shot by two brothers who claimed they got the idea from GTA III. The families took Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, Wal-Mart, and Sony Computer Entertainment America to court but ended up losing the case due to their lawyers lack of firearm knowledge.

The title (which was originally released only on PS2) got a port to the PC on May 21st 2002. The port was a little more criticized due to numerous technical issues but generally was well received.

The XBOX version took slightly longer due to an exclusivity deal Sony had with Take-Two, but it eventually came to Microsoft's console in December 2003.
Also, a 10th Anniversary version of the game is coming to iPhone's an iPad's soon!

The game was a smash-hit and as of 2008 had sold 14.5 million copies.
Plus, they had finally gotten the box art right! Yeah...I've got a thing about box art...

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Year: 2002/2003/2004
Formats: Playstation 2, PC, XBOX

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was the second game in the series in full 3D and also the second to be critically adored.
This edition was set in the fictional Vice City during the 80s and built upon the groundwork GTA III laid down.
It was first released on PS2 in 2002 and upon release became the best selling game of the year. It later got a release on the PC (in 2003), and once again the XBOX got it last in 2004.

Controversy came back to say hello though. Many special interest groups insisted that parental supervision is needed when young people play this game due to the M Rating - or just don't buy violent games for your kid? I guess they didn't think of that.

Vice City's other criticism's came from members of the Cuban and Haitian communities who claimed that the game was inviting people to harm immigrants from those countries. This issue garnered a lot of attention and ended up with Rockstar releasing a new version of the game in 2004 with several lines of dialogue removed.

Despite all this Vice City sold in huge numbers! As of 2008 it had sold a whopping 17.5 million copies - thus making it the fourth highest selling PS2 game ever.
It won many game of the year awards including many videogame BAFTA's.

Grand Theft Auto Advance

Year: 2004
Format: Game Boy Advance

Grand Theft Auto Advance let the series down a bit. After two hugely acclaimed games, Advance had to come in and ruin the winning streak. It was by no means awful, but seemed a lot like a step back to the mediocre GTA 1/2 days - with the game receiving a metascore of just 68/100, unlike the last two which had high 90's.

The game was the first not to be developed by Rockstar Games Studios and instead Digital Eclipse took over the reins. It also went back to the overhead perspective of the first two due to the GBA's limited processing power - although it did incorporate things from the later games (e.g weapons, side-missions). It also no longer had animated cutscenes or pedestrian dialogue.

But I'm making it sound like it was terrible. It did still have a fairly solid story and quite a big city to drive around (at least for something on GBA).

The sales were nowhere near as good though. In fact it was a bit of a flop. This was probably due to so many GBA owners being younger than those who owned PS2/XBOX's.

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That's it for Part 1 of this feature!
Come back for part 2 where we'll be going over every game from San Andreas to Chinatown Wars and the GTA V trailer! Worried you might miss Part 2? Then subscribe to this blog via E-Mail or Google. Or like our Facebook page by clicking here, or follow us on Twitter by clicking here!
See you guys/gals at Part 2!

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