Sunday Supplement – 22nd January

Comic courtesy of Fat Gamers.

By the numbers…

Lies, damn lies and statistics – whatever category you believe game sales announcements come under, the industry love them, especially when they’re fantastic. Not only do they generate publicity for their product, they serve as a shot across the bows of their competitors. This week has been a week of numbers, and further evidence gaming is rapidly absorbing the hearts and minds of entertainment seekers the world over.

Where have all the cowboys gone?

This week Nintendo announced they have sold over three-and-a-half million DS consoles across Europe since launch on 11 March 2005. Over a million of those are in the UK alone. No clues for top selling game – Nintendogs has shifted 1.6 million copies since October. Mario Kart DS crosses the finish line a distant second, with 800,000 sold since November.

This is obviously fantastic for the Japanese publisher, and amounts to what can only be described as a successful year for the DS in Europe. Strange thing is, I never see anyone using one. It’s true. I get the Tube to work and back every day. Sometimes I even brave the bus. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone playing a DS on the move. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone playing a DS on the move.

Where are all the DS owners? As we now know, there are over a million of you. That’s a sizeable presence in a country of 60 million. Theoretically, one in sixty of us have a DS now, but I’ll be damned if more than one in 1000 whips a DS out while braving the rat race.

This is all anecdotal evidence of course. Maybe I’m just being blind. I wouldn’t dare suggest image conscious gamers are afraid to play their DS in public because of the way it looks. There must be something else afoot. I hereby challenge readers of Pro-G to a bit of DS spotting. If you’re lucky enough to clock someone playing a DS in public, whip out your mobile and take a snap and send it in to us. They won’t mind. Really. Best one wins a prize. We can spot fakes too, so no ridiculous set ups please.

The return of the Craft

I went cold turkey in September last year. It was as horrific as I was told it would be. I got the shivers. I felt cold, then hot, then cold and then hot again. I couldn’t sleep. I had frightening, nightmarish hallucinations of undead ghouls, boars and murlocks. All the terrible things I’ve done in my life came back to haunt me. In short, I nearly died.

But this Christmas, bored by two weeks off and a distinct lack of interest in the charts, I returned to the world of Azeroth. Now I am hooked again. I can’t wrench my mouse hand away from the scroll button, my left hand from the numeric keypad. I am lost in a haze of hedonism and indulgence, and love every minute of it.

And, this week I was reassured that I’m not alone – in fact, it’s getting really busy in here. Blizzard Entertainment announced that over a million Europeans are working together to kill each other or are working together to kill dragons on a regular basis. All this for a territory that, pre-WoW, was thought to be MMO-averse.

Blizzard Entertainment president and co-founder, Mike Morhaime, gushed: “It is extremely rewarding to see so many European players enjoying World of Warcraft. The players have supported our belief in the European MMORPG market, and we thank them for helping us make World of Warcraft one of the most popular games in the world.”

This is great, and I can’t praise Blizzard enough for the job they have done in this territory. But I’ve got one small gripe. Morhaime says “our belief in the European MMORPG market“. That’s not the impression I got at Game Stars Live 2004, where I chatted to a Blizzard rep who was demoing the game to punters and press for a preview I was writing. He admitted to me that they felt Europe was a tiny market for MMOs, and, apart from Germany, no country would really get into Warcraft. He seemed a bit disillusioned – Blizzard’s stall was one of the emptiest at the show.

He wasn’t being overly pessimistic – he was being realistic. Before WoW, the UK MMO was extremely niche – a preserve of PC-playing techno-geeks. Sorry Mr Morhaime, but I think WoW’s success in Europe is one of the biggest shocks in modern gaming history. And long may it continue.

Shall we go down the Market today?

Microsoft has revealed their top ten downloaded games from Xbox Live Marketplace. Most popular is Bizarre Creations’ Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, which this column has trumpeted before. Sales figures haven’t been revealed, but, since the launch of the service in November, a trial of Geometry Wars has been downloaded 200,000 times, with 45,000 people then paying for the fully unlocked version. This is obviously a good thing, as is the Marketplace itself. This column has spoken previously on why.

But I wonder how sustainable these figures are going forward. Are people turning to downloadable content through Xbox Live because they really want to, or because the currently available ‘off the shelf’ games aren’t turning them on? I’m not making a judgement here, just some fresh Marketplace food for thought.

On Xfire

Over three million PC gamers are using Xfire, the California-based company announced this week. For the uninitiated, Xfire saves you the hassle of working out if your friends are playing a game online. It’s great because it organises your social gaming life for you, like the best Filofax ever. Now we know how big the Xfire club has become – over three million strong.

This isn’t a subtle ad for Xfire. I just happen to love it. But my point is that the number of downloads highlights a growing trend. More and more people are getting into playing games online. Gaming, as it expands into the mainstream, is becoming more sociable – like I’ve said before, the virtual world is the new pub.

I often log on to games simply to have a chat with my friends using a voice communicator over a private channel. My character might just sit in a major city, checking a few things, not really doing much. But all the while I’m having a laugh with friends. Often, I have a few beers at the same time, which, to be honest, doesn’t help when we spontaneously raid.

I think single-player games will very much be number one in sales terms, but social gaming is rising fast. In a way, all the items in Sunday Supplement this week support this: The DS, with WiFi, is going strong; World of Warcraft is tearing up the MMO rulebook; Xbox Live is thriving; and Xfire is the world’s fastest growing online gaming community in the world. Next-generation, high definition, virtual reality… things us gamers will experience together.

This week on Pro-G

If you’ve been away this week, we’ve reviewed Ridge Race 6 on the Xbox 360, taken a belated look at Mario Kart DS, spent a weekend with Auto Assault, realised Sega Rally 2006 is inferior to the original game, talked about Age of Empires III and predicted Nintendo’s future. Not bad for a week in slow January.

Reviews

Mario Kart DS (DS)

Ridge Racer 6 (Xbox 360)

Previews

Auto Assault (PC)

Sega Rally 2006 (PS2)

Interview

Age of Empires III Designer interview

Feature

Nintendo in 2006: Hopes and Expectations

This week’s new releases

It’s still January, so you should know what to expect. This week you have two new releases to gorge on, although with one of them being an expansion pack, it’s still rather slim pickings. The big release of the week is undoubtedly Ridge Racer 6, which comes to Europe via Electronic Arts. The Xbox 360 racer isn’t instantly recognisable as a next-gen game, but it plays brilliantly and features online play for the first time in the series’ history.

The Settlers: Heritage of Kings – Legends Expansion Pack isn’t really a release that sparks too much enthusiasm; however, if you’re a fan of Heritage of Kings, the expansion is probably just what you’re looking for.

New releases

• Ridge Racer 6 (Xbox 360)
• The Settlers: Heritage of Kings – Legends Expansion Pack

Next week sees the release of another high profile Xbox 360 title, Dead or Alive 4. 2K Sports will also be releasing NBA 2K6, NHL 2K6 and Torino 2006 Winter Olympics.

Next week on Pro-G

We’re still treading water until the new releases start pouring in, but we’ll have reviews for Battles of Prince of Persia on the DS and Dead or Alive 4 on the Xbox 360, plus we’ll finally take a look at Tycoon City New York on the PC.