John-ShepardAfter two straight months of growth, the video game industry suffered a slide in May.
The NPD Group has released the numbers for last month, and after a 20% spike in April's year-over-year financial results, May fell 14% to $743.1 million. The highlight of the month was Rockstar's L.A. Noire , the excellent crime drama that forces players to think, investigate, and deduce. Ironically, the publisher's Red Dead Redemption claimed top sales honors last May.
In second place came Bethesda's Brink , LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean enjoyed a third-place slot, Valve's Portal 2 had another strong performance at #4, and Mortal Kombat rounded out the top 5. One of the reasons overall sales fell was simply because there were far fewer games released in May 2011 when compared to May 2010, as NPD analyst Anita Frazier noted. As for hardware, the Xbox 360 was once again in the top spot, although PlayStation 3 sales did grow 14%.
Here's the monthly statement from Patrick Seybold, SCEA Sr. Director of Corporate Communications:
"We are pleased to see that according to the May NPD report, PlayStation 3 hardware sales increased 14% year-over-year, marking the fourth consecutive month of double-digit growth. The PS3 platform is stronger than ever, and with the launch of Infamous 2, we continue to show our commitment to delivering the best and freshest content line-up available to our consumers. At E3 last week, we saw first-hand the consumer excitement for 3D, PlayStation Move and our first party franchise titles that will continue to drive the brand."
la noire sucked,i didn't think of it as a game it was more like a movie.There was no difficulty and NO Consequence.Things don't really matter in la noire.
People who have a PS3 go play Heavy Rain people,this game has real consequence,real difficulty at some scenes as figuring out something when at danger and if somebody dies ,they r dead forever and the story still follows and the second time you playthrough it you can control the story.
The Story is a Masterpiece.
Im pretty sure almost everyone who goes to this site have a ps3.
It isn't supposed to be like Heavy Rain, or a movie, and you're supposed to care about how well you do in your investigations. Just because you can get through the game by putting no effort into it doesn't mean it sucks, it means A: They wanted to be able to gain a wider audience because so many people are stupid, and B: You are doing it wrong so of course you won't enjoy it.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 6/13/2011 10:21:17 PM
The investigations r more like process of elimination.Checking for clues in a crime scene ,difficulty is wander around till the controller vibrates until it stops playing music.
Last edited by Kiryu on 6/13/2011 11:13:49 PM
Based on all of your comments, I knew you were a Sony Fanboy. This one validates my theory. Heavy Rain is good, but LA Noire is too. Stop being bias Kiryu. If you didn't enjoy it, you didn't enjoy it, but don't tell others what they should play, but then again you are entitled to your opinion and in my opinion, Heavy Rain story wasn't a masterpiece, but it was very good.
Last edited by FM23 on 6/13/2011 11:20:27 PM
Heavy rain is a game which cannot be done by anybody else.
Heavy rain is different from la noire.
I want something in a game,puzzle solving,challenge or a sense of your actions mattering.
la noire has none of these.
I compared them because they are both story driven and both are film noire type of games and i'm saying that Heavy Rain did it way better.
It's easy to make certain flawed arguments, Kiryu.
I could just as easily say Heavy Rain took no mental ability whatsoever and the entire game relied on reactions and how well you hit buttons and moved the analog sticks. Because in truth, that's really all you actually DO.
But of course, that's not the point of Heavy Rain. Saying what I wrote above would be missing the point. Just like you're missing the point of L.A. Noire. There may not be as much consequence, but doing poorly during an investigation means you missed a lot. It may not impact the overall storyline but the individual cases are always affected.
And as humanity basically relies on faces and interpretation of non-verbal communication, the foundation MotionScan lays for the future can't be ignored.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 6/14/2011 12:25:50 AM
"The investigations r more like process of elimination.Checking for clues in a crime scene ,difficulty is wander around till the controller vibrates until it stops playing music."
You could get rid of the music and vibration in the menu that's, what I did.
It seems to me that both Heavy Rain and LA Noire depends on the player to connect with the story in order to fully shine.
I never connected to the story in Heavy Rain *at all*, so I ended up just sitting there annoyed, provoked even, by the button pressing instructions instead of seeing beyond that and enjoy the story.
Where did they see that excitement? I think the only thing that got a crowd reaction was the diss on Tretton's tie.
I hope inFamous 2 sells even better than the first one, that game deserves it. I'm very close to the end and I don't want it to end. "Just one more mission" is something I keep saying.
If there was a category for best weapon at the VGA's it would have to be the Amp. Love it.
The room (full of jaded anti-Sony game journalists) cheered for "$249.99".
3D and Move, not so much.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 6/13/2011 10:32:39 PM
Dude, I agree. Infamous 1 was good, but Infamous 2 is truly great. Naughty Dog really helped give Cole personality as well as the world. And unlike part 1, melee combos are imo the best part of the game. The Amp is hot stuff man. Definitely my GOTY so far.
But they could have added more story based missions, because there are like 60+ side missions. Even though theres 40 story missions, most aren't even really missions as they are just introduction to new power nor do they even explore the story, but when they do…man its great.
Last edited by FM23 on 6/13/2011 11:24:52 PM
Dude Infamous 2 Both Endings are just Epic!
Playing and making UGC missions.
Last edited by Kiryu on 6/13/2011 11:49:20 PM
I would like more story missions too, but to say they don't explore the story isn't quite right. As you go you get a real idea of what's been going on in New Marais since you show up without any real intel.
Booyah! I just found all the blast shards. Just one more dead drop to go too! I love the dead drops because what you get is heavily predicated on what you did in inFamous 1.
NO no no, my words were interrupted wrong. I loved Infamous 2's story…thats what really drove the game for me. The story missions were good, I just wanted more. I played Good and the ending was nice as well as the beautiful credits. What I was saying was "they could have cut some of the side missions and added more story based missions where they could create cut scenes that showed the characters interact with one another instead of the random missions that don't include these character development type cut scenes". Besides that, this game is a clear cut 9+ for me.
And I completed everything except one dead drops…yet I'm 89%…I got 305 shards, completed all the missions/side missions yet I'm only at 89% missing one dead drop…WTF…lol, best game this year after ME2 in my opinion.
Man just got the platinum on Infamous 2 EARLY this morning. Both stories are amazing. Which side did you play through first? I did Hero on regular difficulty and Evil on Hard. Good stuff. I actually want to play it a third time through to see what the dead drops are like if you didn't play through the first one.
I love how the Amp as well as your clothes change colors depending on your Karma. Once fully evil and for the last few missions I ran with the Kessler skin and used the Gold amp all through the hero side. Figured a hero needed a shiny weapon 😛 (I know it turns silver eventually)
I may wait for that though as I've kicked so much Militia, Icemen, Monsters ass for a week that I may need to do some Zombie killing in Dead Nation before I decide to ease my way through that.
And as a side note, anybody know what worldwide console figures are looking like these days?
I'm doin Hero, and I like the original Cole skin with his old jacket. I'm glad I got the Hero edition. I'll have to play as evil later as I'll be getting 2 games today to enjoy and review.
Awesome. I really enjoyed both endings. Hope you do as well. Now I'm trying to figure out what to play from my backlog…
LA noire deserves those sales. Great game and a sad ending.
LA Noire is a masterpiece and gamers are still buying it because they know it. The real surprise for me though is Brink. How long will THAT last? I might have to give it another look seeing as how well it's selling. Portal 2 as well, good show. If the industry keeps putting out games of this caliber they'll be reaching 1 billion in no time.
Brink got second place?…. really….
I guess about 80% of the people who bought it returned it though. xD
I'm not part of that 80%, but I'm close to getting there.
I wouldn't be too surprised about Brink, it got a ton of press and there was a lot of advertising, that's how you push big initial sales. MS does it all the time. But those ads are a big investment too.
to play and enjoy LA Noire, you have to get "gta" out of your head.
i had gta on my mind when i first started playing LA Noire i first thought the game was boring.
once i got into it and got gta out of my head, i really enjoyed the game.
was shocked and sanded to see DNF topping the UK charts!
further proof that sales does not indicate quality, quite the opposite actually!
its good to see LA Noire selling so well, hopefully this will wake developers up and make them realize A we dont only play games with MP and B we dont only play shooters!
i swear to god if one more shooter gets announced this year im going to freak!
the 360 has got na locked down. i am continually amazed it's able to do this despite a lack of games. i guess exclusives just don't mstter anymore, or they do not matter nearly as much as we think. only a select handful of exclusives are proven console sellers.
speaking of LA Noire just noticed this article today……. yea i know a little late but.
http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/09/19/did-phil-harrison-cause-ps3-to-lose-la-noire-to-xbox-360/
interesting read.
Good to see Mortal Kombat selling well into May. That franchise is finally back and here to stay. Hopefully the sequel won't change too much and just add more good things (not weapons!)
Sad to see ps3 sales in the US, at this point it's sad but like I always say I really don't care as long as we keep getting the better games, which we do.
those na sales do matter. it's really interesting that sony can drop exclusive after exclusive but has no effect on closing the gap with the 360. i am deeply concerned as to why the ps3 has struggled so much here. i often debate the reasons with my friends. that's when i encounter that antisony bias out there in na, there are a lot of misconceptions out there about the ps3, plus there are some vague antisony sentiments i encounter when i talk to gamers here. it's strange…it's almost like people have been brainwashed.
i still don't think sony can ever retake its top spot unless they figure na out.
America like XBOX.there is no denying in that.
Hmmm… I bought Brink last night. I liked it a lot. I understand why it came it in number 2.