News (Page 3886)

Electronic Arts continues its stranglehold on the top of the UK charts, with the top three still composed entirely of EA franchises in a week which saw the software market shoot past the two million unit level.

Sony has officially announcing that the PlayStation 2 installed base in the UK has now topped five million units in the UK, proving the console's dominance as it continues to outsell its rivals on a week to week basis.

PlayStation-era classic WipEout may be making its next appearance on the PlayStation Portable, if a telling slip of the tongue from a Sony representative this week is to be believed.

Sony's integrated games console, DVD recorder and digital video recorder has arrived in Japan, but analysts now seem unimpressed by the machine following the company's decision to scale back its specifications.

The Japanese software market continues to perform well in the run-up to Christmas, with a number of new launches driving sales well above last year's levels on both PS2 and GameCube.

The closing date for entries in our Christmas Charts competition was last night - so ahead of the official chart arriving next week, we take a look at what you think the biggest games of the season will be.

The media classification office in New Zealand has banned Rockstar's ultra-violent PS2 title Manhunt, stating that the availability of the "gruesome" game was likely to be "injurious to the public good."

A job advertisement which has appeared on Microsoft's careers website suggests that the company may be considering moving to a proprietary disc format for its next console, in an effort to make piracy on the device more difficult.

The first clear indication of Sammy's intentions for Sega following its acquisition of a large shareholding in the company earlier this week has emerged, with the company keen to see Sega focusing more heavily on arcade products.

Publisher Majesco has announced that it has completed its merger with ConnectivCorp, in a deal which effectively sees the company using ConnectivCorp as a vehicle for a stock market flotation.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has lent his support to a new plan from the Entertainment Software Charity which will see the organisation focusing its backing on education through the government's Academies Programme.

Trial runs of the advanced semiconductor manufacturing process which will eventually create the much-vaunted Cell microprocessor are set to start at Toshiba's fabrication plant in March of next year.

Online sources are reporting that as many as 70 employees at Vivendi Universal Games have been laid off in the past week, following the announcement of another poor set of quarterly results for the division.

Capcom has announced the promotion of Hiroshi Tobisawa, currently head of worldwide marketing at the company, to the dual roles of president of Capcom Eurosoft and president of Capcom USA.

Global asset management firm Schroders has acquired a stake of almost 20 per cent in Eidos, a move which is being interpreted as a vote of confidence in the UK-based publisher by market watchers.

Publisher Take Two Interactive has announced that it is to remove several contentious phrases from future copies of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, following an ultimatum from New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

British development group Climax is stealing a march on next-generation console development, announcing this week that work is well underway on a vehicle-based title codenamed Avalon for PS3 and Xbox 2.

New research on the Chinese videogame market suggests that online games are a key growth area - although reports from different analysts show wildly differing figures for the actual worth of the sector.

Bizarre Creations' critically acclaimed Project Gotham Racing 2 has become the latest title to be bundled with the Xbox console, with a new bundle deal seeing the game shipping with a console for £129.99.

Nintendo Europe is today celebrating a major sales milestone for the Game Boy Advance platform, which has just shipped its ten millionth unit in this territory - of which over three million are GBA SP consoles.

Sony comprehensively trounced the opposition in the console hardware market once again last week, with the PlayStation 2 selling at its highest level all year - ahead of its nearest home console rival by almost four to one.

Electronic Arts' dominance of the UK software charts continued unabated this week, with Medal of Honor: Rising Sun still at number one and the giant publisher taking all of the top four spots in the full-price chart.

Celebrated RPG developer Black Isle Studios has reportedly laid off large numbers of staff, effectively closing the studio, following a decision by parent company Interplay not to proceed with a major project.

The Interactive Entertainment Merchant's Association, a US retail trade body which includes the majority of major game retailers in the country, has announced plans designed to prevent the sale of mature-rated games to minors.