I Finished These 23 Video Games in 2012
For the seventh straight year, I'm publishing a list of all the games I started playing in the past year and all the ones I finished.
The Power (And Danger) Of Big Numbers In RPGs
We are obsessed with numbers. We lap them up. We get immense pleasure out of watching digits decrease and multiply as we peer over bank accounts and scales and Vegas roulette tables.
In Defense of Perfect Scores
You will see, occasionally, the complaint that a video game has been given a perfect score. 10/10. 5/5. All five stars.
Some People Will Tell You How Many Copies Minecraft Sold on Xbox 360.…
Microsoft press release today: "Microsoft today announced that Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, the console adaptation of the hugely popular PC game developed by Mojang, has broken all previous digital sales records, selling more than any other title in the first 24 hours on Xbox LIVE Arcade." [That's an excerpt.]
I Finished These 28 Video Games In 2011
For the sixth year in a row, I have tallied the number of video games I played in the last year. For the sixth year in a row, it's an absurd amount.
What Difference Did Going Free-to-Play Make for DC Universe Online?
We know that DC Universe Online's recent switch from subscription-based MMO to free-to-play added one million subscribers
There Are Far Too Many Pokémon To Care About Anymore
Remember back when there were 151 Pokémon and you knew everything about each one? Commenter Daemon_Gildas does, and he wants that feeling back in today's Speak Up on Kotaku.
Just How Popular is League of Legends?
As the first season of competition comes to a close, League of Legends developer Riot Games celebrates by dropping some incredibly impressive player statistics for the free-to-play online action strategy title enjoyed by more than 1.4 million players a day.
Section 8 Gamers Have Fallen 328,924,042,920 Meters (And Other Crazy…
In 11 weeks, players of the PC and Xbox Live Arcade shooter Section 8: Prejudice have air-dropped their super-soldiers and machine-gunned their friends, many, many times. All virtual. All for fun.
World of Warcraft Suffers Post-Cataclysmic Drop in Subscriptions
Six months after buzz for the Cataclysm expansion drove World of Warcraft numbers to an all-time high, Blizzard reports the lowest subscription figures for the massively multiplayer game since December of 2008.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Gets More Play Than Facebook
Just imagine how connected we'd be if everyone spent as much time on Facebook as they did shooting each other. Impressive Call of Duty numbers courtesy of Activision Blizzard's first quarter 2011 financial results.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Shatters All Previous Warcraft Records
The latest expansion pack for World of Warcraft crushed the last 24-hour sales record set by the massively popular, massively online computer game, selling 3.3 million copies in a single day.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Continuing Domination Over Books, Games,…
Call of Duty Black Ops set a five-day record for getting people to part with their money, according to its creators today. $650 million in copies sold around the world in the span of a work week.
Black Ops Opening Day Crushes Avatar, Halo And Everything Else
About 5.6 million people bought copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops in North America and the United Kingdom on Tuesday, when the game went on sale.
More Than Two Million Felt The Need For Speed Demo
A new Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit title is bound to get some attention, but more than two million downloads of the demo in two weeks? That's a huge number, and EA has more where that came from.
30 Million Accounts And Other Impressive Steam Numbers
What's Steam been doing in the nine months since Valve last released detailed statistics? Adding another five million users and more than 200 new games, for starters.
Two Years Later, World Of Warcraft Hits The Twelve Million Mark
In October of 2008, Blizzard proudly counted 11 million World of Warcraft subscribers
Halo: Reach Was Second-Most Popular Xbox Live Game In Its Launch Week…
Xbox Live's Major Nelson released data on Thursday showing that Halo: Reach was the No. 2 game on Xbox Live in its launch week, trailing only Modern Warfare 2. It had four times as many players as Halo 3.
When The Game Comes On, Madden Goes Off
An interesting little graphic EA Sports sent us today illustrates what most would expect: An actual NFL game crashes Madden NFL's participation numbers. But it still holds on to about 34,000 hardcore users from kickoff to final gun.
Madden's Numbers Nudge Higher This August
Early discounts by retailers such as Amazon and Walmart stoked speculation that Madden's sales were coming slow. EA Sports is projecting a modest increase over what the title pulled last August.
Video Game Tracks How Long You Stare At Playboy Centerfolds
There are video games that track the calories you burn while playing them. There are games that count the number of virtual miles you race in them. Mafia II tallies how long you "read" its in-game Playboy centerfolds.
Analysis Shows Madden's Old Model Goes Out With A Bang
Raptr, the gaming social network counting more than a million users, examined their gamers' habits with Madden NFL 10 and found gameplay spikes sharply - beyond Christmas-sales levels - about a month before the newest version releases.
The Number 20 Is God's Number
Why is the number 20 God's Number? New research has proven that every possible position for the Rubik's Cube can be solved in 20 moves or less.
Gaming Surpasses Email In Time Spent Online
Gaming accounts for 10 percent of time spent online in the United States - overtaking email - according to research by Nielsen, which doesn't sound like a lot but it is the second-leading reason, and one that's growing.
Doodle Jump Passes Four-Million Sold
The iPhone and iPod Touch game Doodle Jump may be one of the hottest paid video games on the planet. One month after passing the three million mark worldwide, the game has now sold more than four million ($.99) copies.
Key Bragging Stat: How Your Demo Did
Word just hit from EA that their Battlefield: Bad Company 2 demo is "on pace to become the fastest downloaded demo in EA history." It has been downloaded to Xbox 360s and PS3s more than two million times.
Nielsen Tells Us Who Buys Movie Games
Since no one here will admit to buying video game movies - so few rise above the category's shovelware reputation - Nielsen done some research on the demographics most likely to buy titles like Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.
NPD Says Half of All Americans are Gamers
There's probably a lot of solitaire and online bridge-playing padding that, but a new NPD report says 170 million Americans play video games. The U.S. population is 304 million.
Online Gaming Up 22 Percent as Console Revenue Down 23 Percent
ComScore's data by itself suggests that gamers are seeking cheap, if not free, online games in greater numbers. Compared to other metrics, does it mean movement away from consoles?
Pachter: Used Games Sales At 100 Million Annually In U.S., Not A Threat
Gaming's most-quoted financial analyst shared some unconventional wisdom about used games today.