What's happened in the business of video games this past week...
QUOTE | "Second best console ever." - id Software's John Carmack is a fan of the current-gen consoles, but in terms of development tools and technology, Sony's PS3 falls short of Xbox 360, which is the "best ever."
QUOTE | "PS3 has been struggling." - EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich talks about Sony's PS3 price cut as a reaction to the console continually being outsold by Xbox 360 in the U.S.
QUOTE | "Immediate lift." - Big box retailer Target talks about the sales boost it's been seeing for PS3 due to the price cut, which makes PS3 a "great option."
TWIST | Duke Nukem Forever was in development for 15 years and was lambasted by critics, and yet it succeeded against all odds, in part because "the anticipation of its release was so large that many gamers didn't want to 'believe' the game critics."
QUOTE | "Never say it's going away completely." Former Microsoft Game Studios VP Shane Kim is a big believer in mobile, but he doesn't see the threat of smartphones and tablets leading to the extinction of consoles.
STAT | 423 minutes per week – The average time spent in World of Warcraft, according to Nielsen, as Blizzard's popular MMO still dominates the top 10 PC games chart.
QUOTE | "It hasn't worked out." - EA's Peter Moore comments on 2K Sports' agreement with MLB and hints at a possible return for the once popular EA Sports franchise MVP Baseball.
QUOTE | "Tablet gamers will come over to Vita." - Sony says it's "convinced" that smartphone and tablet gamers will desire a more robust experience and will migrate to their handheld.
QUOTE | "We're not pulling out." - Microsoft responds to speculation that the company's Xbox business is all but dead in Japan as some retailers have significantly cut back on selling 360 products.
STAT | 35 million users – The latest milestone Microsoft has reached for Xbox Live membership, as the company prepares to launch a new dashboard update later this year.
QUOTE | "Where PC gaming is going." - Gas Powered Games chief executive Chris Taylor, who's working on Age of Empires Online, believes gaming's future on PC very much lies in the realm of free-to-play.
This Week In the Business courtesy of IndustryGamers.com