Here’s the full list of all 104 of the PlayStation (2, 3, Portable) games that Sony have said make up their Christmas 2007 list. Which of these games would you put on your Christmas gifts list?
Take a look and find out if you see anything you like…
PlayStation 3 First-Party:
* The Eye of Judgement
* Heavenly Sword
* NBA 08
* Lair
* Folklore
* Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
* Uncharted: Drakes Fortune
* Warhawk
Third-Party:
* Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Activision
* Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Activision
* Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, Activision
* Jericho, Codemasters
* Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Eidos
* FIFA 08, EA
* Medal of Honor Airborne, EA
* Rock Band, EA
* Orange Box, The, EA
* Simpsons Game, The, EA
* Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War, Koei
* LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Lucas Arts
* BlackSite: AREA 51, Midway
* John Woo Presents Stranglehold Collector’s Edition, Midway
* Unreal Tournament 3, Midway
* Time Crisis 4, Namco Bandai
* SEGA Rally Revo, Sega
* College Hoops 2K8, Take 2 Interactive
* WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, THQ
* Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, THQ
* MX vs. ATV Untamed, THQ
* Assassin’s Creed, UbiSoft
* Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII, UbiSoft
* Haze, UbiSoft
* TimeShift, Vivendi
* Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition, Zenimax
PlayStation Network
* High Velocity Bowling
* PAIN
* Everyday Shooter
* Go! Sports Ski
* Go! Sports Skydiving
* Mesmerize 1
* Trials of Topoq
* MotorStorm Christmas Livery
* Toy Home
* Twisted Metal 2 (PS One)
* MotorStorm Premium Pack 2
* Resistance: Fall of Man: Map Pack 2
* Operation Creature Feature
* Aquatopia
* Snakeball
* flOw Download Pack
* MotorStorm Vehicle and Livery Pack
* PixelJunk Monsters
* Folklore Download Packs 1 and 2 (more…)
In the first week of the 2007 holiday shopping season, Nintendo of America has sold more Nintendo products than at any other time in its history. This includes more than 653,000 Nintendo DS Lite portable systems, 350,000 Wii home systems and millions of games and accessories throughout the United States and the season is just getting started. Nintendo DS set a new all-time sales record for Thanksgiving week, eclipsing the previous mark of 600,000 Game Boy Advance systems sold during the same period in the United States in 2005. Nintendo DS remains on track to be the top-selling video game system of 2007. This is just crazy, they are going to sell millions worldwide this holiday season.
Nintendo’s 350,000 Wii systems represent the highest one-week U.S. sales total outside of its launch week one year ago. Wii has been dubbed the must-have gift of the 2007 holiday season and has been placed at the top of numerous gift lists. Nintendo has repeatedly increased its shipments and its fiscal-year sales forecast for Wii in an attempt to meet soaring demand. Wii reached 5 million sold in the United States faster than any video game system in history, after only 12 months of availability there. Both Wii and Nintendo DS have continued their yearlong momentum into the holidays without altering their prices. And both remain attractive values for shoppers: Wii has an MSRP of $249.99, while Nintendo DS has an MSRP of $129.99.
“As shoppers look for ways to maximize their limited holiday spending money, they turn to gifts that can be used by the entire family,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “Wii and Nintendo DS offer something for every member of the family. They’re the most fun video game experiences at the most affordable price.”
With higher gas prices and fuel costs, and the lukewarm expectations for the 2007 holiday shopping season, Wii and Nintendo DS might be just what Santa ordered: Thirty-five percent of consumers said they plan to spend less than they did last year, according to a survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association. Similarly, a USA Today/Gallup Poll showed that 25 percent of Americans expect to spend less on gifts this year than they did in 2006.
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), has named Honorary Chairman and former President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, Ken Kutaragi, the recipient of the coveted 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award which will be bestowed at the Interactive Achievement Awards (IAA) ceremony on February 7th 2008 at Red Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in conjunction with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit 2008. Congratulations Ken!
Recognized internationally as the “Father of PlayStation,” Kutaragi will be honored for revolutionizing the global in-home entertainment market with the creation and monstrous success of the PlayStation computer entertainment systems. The launch of the original PlayStation which was launched in 1994 and the PlayStation 2 which launched in 2000 went on to become the most popular gaming system of the era, resulting in combined shipments of more than 230 million units worldwide.
“Ken Kutaragi’s passion, innovative thinking and business savvy sparked a monumental movement that was unstoppable,” said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS. “If it wasn’t for Ken and his concept of the original PlayStation, there wouldn’t be the billion dollar industry there is today. His contributions have clearly set new standards for developers, publishers and consumers worldwide.” — Via Dicesummit
The Philip AmBX ambience and environment changing technology will be released for PCs early in 2008. Recent news about the company says the light, wind & rumble technology is expected to also make it to consoles.
What are Philips plans with AmBX and the home console market?
“We started out making this product for pc-gamers because they generally are the most technology-minded. They will be most eager to try this new stuff. When it comes to consoles, we would first opt to develop AmBX for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. People who own those expensive consoles are more willing to invest in new technology to go along with their games.
So, no AmBX for the Wii?
“Wii-players are generally younger and also consist of people who haven’t played games before. This is actually a smart move by Nintendo, who really found an untapped resource of new players. But Wii-players are generally not very technology-minded. They just want to play and have a good time and we don’t think they would immediately embrace our system.”
It’s last year all over again. This time demand for the Nintendo Wii is first outstripping current UK supplies with the console either being sold out everywhere or having long waiting lists. Other European countries are reporting similar shortages and American shortages are sure to follow after the Black Friday game shopping deals. Trevor Bish-Jones, the chief executive of Woolworths, said: “There is a steady flow of Wiis into the country between now and Christmas. It will not be enough to meet all consumer demand but is sufficient for retailers to enjoy good levels of sales in the run-up to Christmas 2007.”
Nintendo this summer started increasing Wii production to 1.8 million units each month in an attempt to cope with the demand. Some British consumers are ordering the consoles from French and German sites, where demand is lower, said a spokesman for Wii-consoles.co.uk, which locates consoles for shoppers. The site has “well over” 100,000 visits a day.
Tom Heaton of StockNetwork.co.uk, a similar site, has a mailing list of 12,000 people looking for Wiis. Bish-Jones said Woolworths’ website received 20,000 hits within an hour of news of a fresh delivery leaking. — Via Telegraph
NPD has announced that they will offer hardware/console sales numbers for good.
This comes on the heels of a firestorm that headed their way last week when the industry-tracking group NPD stated that they would no longer provide hardware sales figures to the masses, they would only be available to subscribers of their service.
But after the big outcry from gamers and fanboys alike (who love to trump out sales numbers of their favorite system) NPD has now changed their tune and has stated that, with the console makers approval, they will now permanently add hardware sales figures to their monthly updated data.
“In retrospect, I guess I took certain things for granted and was surprised at the response,” said NPD representative David Riley.
Initially hardware sales were not tracked, and the NPD only started supplying them in November 2006, when the PS3 and Wii joined the Xbox 360 on retail shelves. But it wasn’t supposed to be permanent. “We began bending the rules because of the incredible media demand but the intent was never to provide these on a regular basis,” Riley said.
It’s definitely good to know that the NPD will continue to provide the media with sales numbers. I really do think it’s an important part of this industry and it’s good to get sales figures from an independent source that’s not the console maker, who like to spin numbers to their advantage. Just let the numbers speak for themselves.
Nintendo consoles have usually enjoyed a five-year life span, Iwata explained during a Japanese conference documenting the Q3 earnings of the company. During this briefing, Iwata spoke of the new gift-giving feature and TV guide Channel, but what was overlooked until now was his comments regarding how long of a life the Wii will have.
"As we continue our research and study for new hardware, when we will be able to launch a new kind of hardware will actually depend on when we can change entertainment completely, and so have a strong impact on people around the world," he said. "Or, there will certainly be a time when we have to say that we have done everything possible with the current machine, that we can never propose anything new."
Iwata further explains that fresh hardware is often the result of the company needing a new weapon in the fight against other consoles. With the Wii, however, he feels that the company won't be needing any new weapons for quite some time, stating "But today's situation is such that we are not desperate for any new weapons at all."
So, could the Wii be the first console to break the tradition of a five-year lifespan, even though its hardware is considered by the mainstream to be weaker than its competition? The way Iwata is talking, and the fact that it could be almost 2 years before the supply meets the demand for the console, makes it sound like it could very well be a reality.
Console versions of the RTS hit Supreme Commander (from the same guy that brought you Dungeon Siege and the classic PC RTS Total Annihilation) are in the works according to an interview with Chris Taylor (the aforementioned “guy”) from Pro-G.
Chris Taylor heads up Gas Powered Games, the developers of Supreme Commander, and during the interview he stated that the Xbox 360 would be the most likely console destination for the game because “it’s the platform of choice for moving stuff from the PC”.
When talking about how the controls would work for the console ports he said, “I use the football analogy. The first RTS game was the kick and then we had to take the ball a few more yards down the field every iteration. We’re getting closer and closer to that touchdown. We may be a few more iterations of the UI and interface before we get there.”
And finally, when they asked whether Gas Powered Games would indeed be that company to score the touchdown, he went ahead and revealed that a console version of the game is in fact already in development!
His exact words? “I hope so. That’s our goal. Especially not to talk too much here because you’ve almost made me confess that we’re working on it . . . no actually you have. That’s good. I like that. This is a secret I want to share.”
Just in time for the festive season, Microsoft today released the new Xbox 360 Arcade console that delivers games and content to everyone in the family for an estimated retail price of €279.99 or £199.99. Available in stores in Europe from Friday 26th October 2007, Xbox 360 ‘Arcade’ is the first Xbox 360 console to include five family-friendly games. Xbox 360 Arcade also includes a wireless controller, an HDMI connection to enable high-definition output if desired and 256MB of memory — useful for storing games and other entertainment content. The Xbox 360 Arcade console will include the full versions of the five best-selling games from the Xbox LIVE Arcade including “PAC-MAN Championship Edition,” (Namco Bandai Games), “Uno,” “Luxor 2,” “Boom Boom Rocket” (Electronic Arts), and “Feeding Frenzy.” This Xbox 360 Arcade model was announced by Microsoft in America for $279 last week.
The news of Xbox 360 Arcade comes as part of a broader initiative by Microsoft to bring the Xbox 360 experience to families everywhere. Microsoft also announced today that “Shrek-N-Roll” (Activision) will be coming exclusively to Xbox LIVE Arcade, the place to download games for Xbox 360 over Xbox LIVE, adding more fun for everyone in the family. After all, who doesn’t love Pac-Man?
Microsoft said they’ll have a library of more than 200 family-friendly games available at retailers in Europe this Christmas, including “Bee Movie Game” (Activision), “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” (Activision), “Naruto: Rise of a Ninja” (UbiSoft) , “Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action” and “Viva Piñata: Party Animals.”
Also announced today was an Xbox 360 pack consisting out of an Xbox 360 Premium console including hard disk with two free games (Viva Piñata and Forza Motorsport 2), which will go on sale in Europe from November 1st at a price of €349.99.
The new 1080p resolution model will feature: a built-in HD-DVD drive, a larger hard disk, and new entertainment software based on the current Media Centre, wireless networking capability, a dual HDTV tuner, EPG capability, a docking port for a HD TV screen over 40-inch, and a docking port for an MP3 music player.
The report reads: “A senior Toshiba executive in Singapore told SmartHouse that ‘An Xbox with a built in HD DVD drive is critical. They and we are working on it. It also has to be more than a gaming machine. Microsoft recognise this. A version of the device may also be sold under the Toshiba brand name.’ The new device is expected to be released late in 2008 or at the 2009 CES show in Las Vegas.” — Via Kotaku
PlayStation 3
NPD has announced that they will offer hardware/console sales numbers for good. 
— Via 
Just in time for the festive season, Microsoft today released the new Xbox 360 Arcade console that delivers games and content to everyone in the family for an estimated retail price of €279.99 or £199.99. Available in stores in Europe from Friday 26th October 2007, Xbox 360 ‘Arcade’ is the first Xbox 360 console to include five family-friendly games. Xbox 360 Arcade also includes a wireless controller, an HDMI connection to enable high-definition output if desired and 256MB of memory — useful for storing games and other entertainment content. The Xbox 360 Arcade console will include the full versions of the five best-selling games from the Xbox LIVE Arcade including “PAC-MAN Championship Edition,” (Namco Bandai Games), “Uno,” “Luxor 2,” “Boom Boom Rocket” (Electronic Arts), and “Feeding Frenzy.” This 