Hooray

China's Online Gaming Market Up 71%, Hits $1.7 Billion

Just about everything in the Chinese gaming market is on the rise, according to a new report by Niko Partners: with the exception of internet cafés (numbers are down thanks to a ban on issuing new licenses), everything is growing by leaps and bounds. The online market jumped 71% in the past year, which is no great surprise, but the grey market success of consoles may be:

Console game sales were up 75 percent on a per-unit basis to 2.48 million, but Hanson noted that due to a Chinese console ban in place since 2000, the entire segment persists through the gray market ....
"The big boom this year came from the easier availability of the new next-gen consoles ...."

She pointed to PlayStation 2 as being more popular than its successor, on the strength of its affordability, game library, and backwards compatibility, with Wii seeing popularity for similar reasons. Between PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Hanson claimed Xbox 360 is more popular in China for its price point and library.

Other details and explanations can be found in a nice wrap up over at Gamasutra.

Niko's Hanson On Chinese Game Biz Growth [Gamasutra]

10:30 AM on Sat May 3 2008
By Maggie Greene
955 views, 9 comments

hooray

Mass Effect LE Coming to Canada

Two days ago when I unboxed Mass Effect Limited Collector's Edition, I saw this note in the comments:

I really wish this was sold here in Canada and not just in the US. I mean, a Canadian company made the game. Damn, and that box is beautiful; it would definitely compliment my Halo LE box.

I couldn't sleep that night, with thoughts like ~~"I'm proud to be a diesel drinking American"~~ "I feel so bad for our Canadian readership." But according to Bioware's community manager Chris Priestly, Canadians will have plenty of chances to buy this limited edition version: More »

1:40 PM on Wed Nov 14 2007
By Mark Wilson
3,795 views, 31 comments

Latest by Brackynews: @Scazza: Okay, now that I've receive my LCE, my formal theory is Bioware took a while to discover or convince these two vendors it was alright to sell a product ONLINE without a lick of French on the box. No shit. more »

hooray

Ban Monday is Coming

Whew! It's been a rough couple of weeks. And after every big event, a new flood of commenters appear. While we do welcome the new folks, we also want to warn them. We ban here at Kotaku. Ban like crazy. So please do not confuse our comment sections with your run-of-the-mill forum, boards, blah blah. Next Monday (October 1st) is our favorite Kotakaday, Ban Monday. We are always open to ban submissions, but next Monday the ban sensitivity on the Hammer will be turned up max. Here's how it works: Send us the commenter page for anyone that should get the axe. If we agree (even slightly), we'll swing. And swing hard. Though! No ban gloating. Gloating leads to Ban Hammer backfire, which could cause you to get the boot. Tuesday we'll be back better, lighter, strong and faster. Onward!

1:00 AM on Wed Sep 26 2007
By Brian Ashcraft
1,992 views, 72 comments

Latest by Witzbold: @Rebochan: Yes, yes they are! @bnpederson: I wouldnt be one if I told you now would I? ;D more »

wtf

It's National Video Games Day Apparently

Happy National Video Games Day! I know you've all been eagerly awaiting this day, reserving a day off of work or school to spend a lazy afternoon participating in our favorite hobby. I am sure you've got some massive parties planned, so be sure to send us photos of how you celebrate the holiday with your friends and loved ones! Yeah, we had no idea either, but Holiday Insights and American Greetings indicate that September 12th is NVGD. You'd think someone would have mentioned it to us.

Celebrate National Video Games Day by playing video games. If you are off from school (or if you are a big kid off from work), make this a marathon day for video games. Better still, invite a few friends and hold a competition. Just make certain that you have enough controllers.

That's the blurb from Holiday Insights, which goes on to state that they have no record of the origin of the holiday or that indeed it even exists. Whatever. American Greetings needs gamer money too you know. More »

11:20 AM on Wed Sep 12 2007
By Mike Fahey
4,377 views, 61 comments

Latest by DarcSeraphim: This sounds like a great excuse to go play Rune Factory. Bye everyone! more »

hooray for paper

Nerd Magazine Hands On

For someone who works in a digital medium, I still quite like the feel of paper. Sure, it's not practical, it ages and it's expensive. But that's what makes it so great! Finally, I got sent two issues of Otaku USA. I've got articles in both, including one that was a reworking all my Kotaku launch coverage for the Xbox 360, the PS3 and the Wii. How's the rest of the mag? It's actually quite good (like I-would-buy-it good) and filled with exclusive interviews and pics. The mag even comes with a poster and a DVD for you to watch. Nice to see people sticking with the paper. No, really.

9:00 PM on Mon Aug 27 2007
By Brian Ashcraft
2,330 views, 40 comments

Latest by Zonic505: How many issues is in a year? Being $10 an issue, $30 for a year sounds too good....I wanna think 12 issues... more »

clip

Hellgate Trailer of Awesome

You might have seen it before, but it deserves the extra attention. I see a ton of trailers every day, but none of them so far have compared to the sheer awesome exuded by this trailer for Hellgate: London. It has action, a compelling story told by a very competent narrator, and most importantly, it has this line: "Man is the weapon...the constant unyielding fighter fueled by faith. Faith..in himself." Not generally a big fan of mankind myself, but this made me want to go out and give random people the old thumbs up. Go mankind! You rock.

11:20 AM on Fri Jul 27 2007
By Mike Fahey
17,410 views, 88 comments

Latest by Retribution: Anyone who doesn't like this trailer is a world of warcraft addict.. or possibly everquest. Give it up already, more »

hooray for patch day

The Black Temple Opens

It's that time again! Time for WoW players to wake up, start a long download, and then fall back asleep again, perchance to dream of the wonders that await them in patch 2.1.0, The Black Temple. The 256MB patch introduces a slew of new content to the game, much of which we were pretty sure was going to come with the Burning Crusade expansion itself, but oh well. It's here now. More »

9:20 AM on Tue May 22 2007
By Mike Fahey
2,128 views, 39 comments

Kotaku

Manga Coming to Japanese Wii

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