Wii Party Tops Japanese Charts at 235,000 Sold

Wii Party debuted strong in Japan last week. According to sales figures gathered by Media Create ( via Gamesindustry.biz) for the period of July 5 through 11, retailers moved approximately 235,000 copies of the Nintendo-developed multiplayer game following its release overseas exactly one week ago

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Wii Party Tops Japanese Charts at 235,000 Sold

Full List of 108 DJ Hero 2 Artists Revealed

Entertainment Weekly landed an exclusive on DJ Hero 2 yesterday, revealing the full list of artists for the sequel to last year’s turntable game. This year’s pack of 108 musicians includes returning favorites like Daft Punk, Eminem, and Gorillaz, plus newcomers like Metallica, Busta Rhymes, and Puff Daddy

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Full List of 108 DJ Hero 2 Artists Revealed

Double Fine Has Four New, Smaller Games in Development

During his talk at the Develop Conference in Brighton, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer revealed a few more details on the multiple new projects his studio has in development. Specifically, Double Fine currently has four projects in development and signed with publishers, and while none was specifically announced, Schafer did reveal how they came about and who is working on each. “We got a phone call from a publisher saying ‘we’re not going to do a sequel to Brutal Legend.’ My fault was that I had not prepared for that, so we did not have a project ready to go,” Schafer explained (via GamesIndustry.biz ).

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Double Fine Has Four New, Smaller Games in Development

Activision Defends Kotick, Schafer Calls Comments an "Accident"

Yesterday, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer stirred up a little controversy when he made harsh comments about Activision CEO Bobby Kotick in an interview, saying Kotick behaves like “a total prick” and is bad for the industry because he “makes a big deal about not liking games.” A day later, Activision has come to the defense of their embattled CEO, and even Schafer now wishes he chose his words more diplomatically. “Tim Schafer’s comment that Bobby Kotick ‘makes a big deal about not liking games’ just isn’t true,” said Maryanne Lataif, senior vice president of corporate communications at Activision Blizzard, about Schafer’s original tirade (via Eurogamer ). “Bobby has always been passionate about games and loves the videogame industry

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Activision Defends Kotick, Schafer Calls Comments an "Accident"

Atari Revives Haunted House Franchise After 29-Year Absence

Franchise revivals are all the rage these days, but most game developers can’t reach quite this far into their back-catalog. Atari announced a new Haunted House today, a re-imagined update of the game from nearly 30 years ago. The game is set for the Wii, Xbox Live, and PC this Halloween.

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Atari Revives Haunted House Franchise After 29-Year Absence

Zelda: Skyward Sword Aiming for Early 2011 Release

There was a lot of back and forth on the release timeframe for the latest Zelda title leading up to E3, but when Shigeru Miyamoto revealed the game as The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword , he also revealed the disappointing news that it wouldn’t be ready for release until 2011. But speaking to Official Nintendo Magazine , producer Eiji Aonuma now says they’re aiming for an early 2011 release. “The basis we have now is very, very solid,” Aonuma said.

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Zelda: Skyward Sword Aiming for Early 2011 Release

Final Fantasy Creator Considering Retirement

It looks like for the first time, the title to Hironobu Sakaguchi’s latest game might actually be literal. After creating and working on the Final Fantasy series at Square for 15 years before leaving to found Mistwalker in 2001, Sakaguchi now says that his upcoming title The Last Story might actually be his last game.

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Final Fantasy Creator Considering Retirement

Tim Schafer: Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is ‘a Total Prick’

After famously quipping such endearing lines as, “The goal that I had in bringing together a lot of the packaged goods folks in Activision about ten years ago was to take all the fun out of making videogames,” even Activision CEO Bobby Kotick himself is aware he can sometimes (as he put it at DICE earlier this year) “come off as a dick.” It turns out Double Fine founder and Brutal Legend creator Tim Schafer agrees. Speaking with Eurogamer at the Develop Conference, Schafer was asked about his thoughts on the controversial CEO in light of the history between Activision and Double Fine (Activision was originally supposed to publish Brutal Legend, until they merged with Blizzard and dropped the game from their slate only to later sue Schafer for the rights). “His obligation is to his shareholders,” Schafer began…and he held back no punches from there.

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Tim Schafer: Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is ‘a Total Prick’

Japan Sales Figures, First Half of 2010

Nintendo has to be happy with topping the console sales charts over in Japan for the first half of 2010…even if they did so with a game they actually released last year. In fact, if you’re worried that the Japan game marketplace is stagnant and littered with sequels and casual titles, these latest figures — announced in the new issue of Famitsu magazine — won’t make you feel any less uneasy.

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Japan Sales Figures, First Half of 2010

Ubisoft Estimates 93 Percent Q1 Sales Increase

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Ubisoft Estimates 93 Percent Q1 Sales Increase