The full PlayStation downloads list for April – as opposed to the sneak peek we got thanks to Pulse earlier this month, where the list is not segregated by platform – has been released and Ubisoft's I Am Alive was indeed the top download. On the PS3 and PSN list, thatgamecompany's Journey followed Ubisoft's long-awaited title. Reverge Labs' debut Skullgirls managed to snag the third spot.

On the PS Vita side, Escape Plan continued to dominate – no surprise since there's not much else for the PS Vita right now, though that changes today. Modern Warfare 3's Content Collection #1 drop on PSN also did well, topping out the PS3 add-on category. Finally, Final Fantasy VII was the top PSOne Classic, but then again you already knew that because it's always Final Fantasy VII.

Grandma sure did like playing Rainbow Six: Vegas on that old PSP when you'd make your weekly homage for family dinner, didn't she? "Blap! Blap! Blap!" she'd shout. And things really haven't been the same since you traded up to a Vita, what with its lack of support for many PSP titles. We understand.

Thankfully, so does Sony. This morning, the US PlayStation blog announced today's launch of several PSP games on the Vita (including Grandma's fave), as well as a variety of PSP Minis (full list after the break). As usual, if you already own the games digitally for your PSP, all you'll have to do is re-download the files to your PSN-tied Vita. If not, well, you'll have to pony up some virtual cash.

Interestingly, Sony also mentioned "improved playability" for some titles beyond the up-res'd graphics – we're checking to see what exactly that means. The line has since been removed from Sony's blog post.

Continue Reading

Capcom is revising its DLC strategy to include less content on-disc at launch, senior vice president Christian Svensson writes in a post in the Capcom forums. "We would like to assure you that we have been listening to your comments and as such have begun the process of re-evaluating how such additional game content is delivered in the future," Svensson says.

This introspection follows vicious complaints about Street Fighter X Tekken's on-disc DLC, to which Capcom responded that it sees no distinction between on- and off-disc DLC. A few titles currently in production will ship with on-disc DLC, including Dragon's Dogma, Svensson writes.

Capcom decided to add DLC on Dragon's Dogma discs "at the beginning of the game's development cycle as at the time this was determined to be the most efficient way of ensuring certain content was made available," according to Svensson. "You are being heard," Svensson concludes.

Continue Reading

WayForward's strange top-down multiplayer Vita game Silent Hill: Book of Memories appears to have been delayed again, with Amazon changing the release date from May 31 to the distant (but thematically appropriate) October 31. Other retailers don't yet agree: GameStop says May 22, and GameFly has a terrifying "TBD" date.

At least Amazon's $5 credit offer is active, if you pre-order the game in advance of its eventual release. And in other sort of good news, the soundtrack was released last month, so you can listen to that while you wait. We're checking with Konami for an accurate release window.

Sega's earnings are down in the year ended March 31, 2012, which shouldn't come as a surprise given the company's recent extreme restructuring measures. Sega reported net sales of 395.5 billion yen ($5 billion), down 0.3 percent from 2011; net income dropped 47.4 percent to 21 billion yen.

In the "consumer business" division (the one that deals with home video games), Sega reported a year-over-year drop in unit sales. Its best-performing game was Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, of course, at 3.28 million copies. Sonic Generations followed at 1.85 million; Virtua Tennis 4 sold 1.04 million across five platforms. Sega listed sales for Football Manager 2012 (710,000) and Yakuza: Dead Souls (550,000), but nothing else -- so we don't know how well Binary Domain did, except to guess that it probably didn't do very well.

Shares of Sony stock have dipped to their lowest number in 31 years in Japan and to a 19-year low in the US, following a dismal earnings report for the previous fiscal year. Sony shares dropped 7 percent in Japan, to 1,135 Yen ($14), and 2 percent in the US, closing at $15.37.

Sony CEO Kaz Hirai plans to lose 10,000 employees in a company-wide reorganization effort. Sony reported a net revenue loss of 9.6 percent for fiscal year 2012, dropping from $89 billion to $79.1 billion year-over-year.

Sony's financial results for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2012 are in, with the Japanese giant reporting year-over-year losses in revenue and operating losses that it attributes to "the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange rates, the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the floods in Thailand, and deterioration in market conditions in developed countries."

Sony's fiscal 2012 ran from April 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012, with the company reporting net revenue of ¥6.49 trillion ($79.1 billion), down 9.6 percent year-over-year from the ¥7.18 trillion (approx. $89 billion) reported at the end of fiscal 2010. After expenses, Sony reports an operating loss of ¥67.3 billion ($820 million), which is actually a smaller loss than that reported at the end of fiscal 2011 (¥199.8 billion/approx $2 billion).

Year-over-year sales decreases were primarily due to Sony's Consumer Products & Services (CPS) and Professional, Device & Solutions (PDS) divisions, with CPS sales down 18.5 percent at ¥3.13 trillion ($38.2 billion) in 2012 vs. ¥3.84 trillion (approx. $48 billion) in 2011, resulting in an operating loss of ¥229.8 billion ($2.8 billion) – more than a 2,000 percent decrease from 2011's operating income of ¥10.8 billion (approx. $135 million). CPS encompasses Sony's consumer electronics sectors, including LCD TVs, PCs, photography solutions and, of course, gaming.

Sony partially attributes CPS' decline in sales to "lower sales of PlayStation®3 hardware due to a strategic price reduction and lower sales of PlayStation®2 due to platform migration," among other reasons like deteriorating conditions in North American and European TV markets.

The results for April are in, and things are looking a little rough out there in consumer video-game electronics land. As a whole, the gaming industry (which for our purposes includes all hardware, software and accessories sales between April 1 and April 28, 2012) brought in $630.4 million, a 32 percent decrease over the same period last year, where its various machinations resulted in collective sales of $930.9 million.

Breaking the industry down into its three major components, hardware sales accounted for $189.7 million (down 32 percent year over year), while software sales contributed $292.1 million to the cause – a 42 percent decrease year over year. Accessories, on the other hand, posted a 1 percent increase year-over-year at $148.6 million in 2012, as compared with $147.8 million in 2011.

The average amount of money spent on hardware increased year-over-year, however, due in part to the 360 Star Wars Kinect Bundle, according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier. Generally though, the period's lackluster performance is due to the month's release schedule: "Last April, the top seven titles outsold the top-selling title this year, and, simply stated, there were notably fewer new market introductions. I think it's a simple as that because when we see compelling content come into the market, the games are still selling as well as ever – we just saw a lot less this April as compared to last."

The list of April's top 10 best-selling titles can be found after the break as per usual, with newcomers Prototype 2 and Kinect Star Wars leading the charge ahead of Modern Warfare 3, Mario Party 9 and Mass Effect 3.

Update: According to Microsoft's Major Nelson, the Xbox 360 sold 236K units during April.

Continue Reading

Sony has sold 1.8 million PlayStation Vitas, according to CEO Kaz Hirai. The executive announced the latest tally during the company's fiscal earnings call. Gamasutra reports Hirai thinks this is a "good start," but he did say, "We have to reinforce the software area in order to improve the business, that is the basic line."

Hirai added, "This is a very important product indeed for us, and therefore we still have a very high motivation to develop this further. There is no change."

The latest update we had on Vita sales came in late February, where the company stated the portable gaming device had sold 1.2 million units.

The beta for LittleBigPlanet on Vita is gearing up, and Sony is inviting interested players to enroll in the test run right here. Sony promises "many of you" will have the opportunity to participate in the beta. The enrollment form consists of simple questions, such as "Which LittleBigPlanet games have you played before?" and asks if you've created levels in any of the LittleBigPlanet titles.

It also asks, "Do you own a PS Vita?" For those looking to get in the Vita beta, we think that may be the only question with a wrong answer.

Ubisoft's post-apocalypse third-person-survivor I Am Alive apparently struck a chord with PlayStation 3 owners last month, topping the PlayStation Network's download charts for April 2012, even edging out March's big PSN release, Journey.

The Walking Dead's game adaptation from Telltale managed more than a shambling start as well, taking up two spots on the top 10 with the season pass and first episode in third and fifth place, respectively. Just one Vita title landed on the list, Escape Plan, in the number 10 spot. All of this information – and more! – can be found in the latest PlayStation "Pulse" video, which we've dropped just below the break.

Continue Reading

While Sony's Japan Studio is the only listed name on the teaser video for Soul Sacrifice, a new Famitsu story adds some other names to the roster. Former Capcom exec, current Comcept/Intercept head, and Neptunia mk2 weapon Keiji Inafune is in charge of planning on the Vita game for his company Comcept.

That would mean Soul Sacrifice is the Vita game he semi-accidentally announced, and then attempted to unannounce, earlier this year. Inafune is working with developer Marvelous AQL, with composers Yasunori Mitsuda and Wataru Hokoyama providing music.

The game allows players to cast powerful magic spells, but requires a payment ("Sacrifice") for each. You can sacrifice objects, but the most powerful spells require you to give up parts of your character's body – in an example given, you give up an eye to summon a Gorgon. The player has been enslaved by a sorcerer, and captured in a small cell, when a demonic book appears that allows the player to experience past magical battles – which you can do with up to four players.

Head to Famitsu now to see many, many screenshots and pieces of Comcept concept art.

Sony will stream its E3 2012 press conference through the internets in a little under a month, having already established the obligatory site with a large countdown clock. Be sure to have a Big Gulp and popcorn ready on Monday, June 4, for all the highs and spectacularly awkward lows.

Nintendo has yet to announce its streaming plans for the show, but Microsoft will have its press conference broadcast on the Spike TV network in the States and distributed through Xbox Live streaming. So, watch along at home, and join us on here as we deliver the sights, sounds and smells not fit for screens.

Update: US network G4 informs us it will broadcast Sony's 2012 E3 press conference "live and commercial free."

Despite their occasional protests to the contrary, both Nintendo and Sony have seen the pervasive mobile market take chunks of the portable gaming industry. The mobile app space burgeoned as game developers undercut each other constantly, in a race toward 99 cents that set a buck as the de facto price point for the new marketplace. This, in turn, made a massive price disparity between mobile games and their handheld competition, which tends to retail for much more. Why buy a $30 DS game, when you can buy 30 games for the same price?

However, we're now seeing yet another race all the way to the bottom: free. Even as the PC space is largely adopting a free-to-play, microtransaction-driven business model, the shift is similarly occurring in the mobile market. Recent F2P hits have started a run of similar titles, with some paid apps adopting a free-to-play option.

The change began subtly. Rovio's breakout hit Angry Birds may have stuck near the top of the Top Paid Apps charts, but the Top Grossing arena was ruled by little blue men early last year. Smurfs Village spent months as the Top Grossing app, no doubt bolstered by co-marketing for the then-upcoming film. Still, the free app had an inviting price point, and even a few 99 cent purchases per user would easily push it above the revenue for a one-time dollar fee. Then, Tiny Tower became the talk of the iOS App Store blogosphere, using a similar model inspired by social gaming on Facebook, even garnering recognition as Apple's official Game of the Year.

Continue Reading

If you like atmospheric adventure games starring a disembodied hand, you'd best swing by the PlayStation Store to see Datura. It leads Sony's weekly content dump today, and is joined by the PixelJunk series sale and full PS3 game trials for Saints Row: The Third and Need for Speed The Run.

And if you're a PS Plus member, don't forget to snag all of your May freebies. The full list of this week's content can be found over on the PlayStation Blog.

The official "reveal" of Sony's Vita "true fantasy" Soul Sacrifice is still scheduled for May 10, but you can catch a few snippets of gameplay footage in this teaser vita, if you can sacrifice the seconds to watch it.

The game appears to be a medieval action game in which the player faces off against large, grim-looking monsters – a look superficially similar to Demon's or Dark Souls. However, don't take the look and the name as evidence that this is a sequel: the trailer identifies this as a Japan Studio game, and not a From Software game. Besides, if all we see is a knight-type person hacking away at huge monsters, we can't exactly extrapolate the whole game design style.

The first, and second, Vita color variants are on their way to Japan. This morning, Sony Computer Entertainment revealed the Crystal White PlayStation Vita (in an uncontroversial manner), shipping June 28 in both wi-fi and 3G models. It's like the normal "Crystal Black" Vita, but white.

Sony also revealed the Hatsune Miku Limited Edition, a Crystal White Vita with an exclusive rear touchpad design depicting the virtual idol and singer. This version will ship in Japan August 30 as part of a bundle with the still-unnamed next Hatsune Miku Project DIVA rhythm game. Don't look for that one anywhere outside of Japan; none of the previous Hatsune Miku games on PSP and 3DS have been localized.

Continue Reading

For those of you who want to test your might at any moment, no matter where you are, Amazon has a deal to help you out. Right now, if you purchase the Wi-Fi model of the PS Vita, you'll get a free copy of Mortal Kombat, along with a 4GB memory card – which will hold you over just fine until you order a more reasonably-sized card.

Mortal Kombat seems like an odd choice for a console pack-in, given its status as both a port and a super-gross violent game, but it is at least a good game! Prospective Vita owners have not always been so fortunate.