Tag archive: month

Media analysis firm NPD has released its figures for video game hardware and software sales for the month of July 2009…and thoughts of the video game industry somehow being “recession-proof” are being set aside as the industry marks a 29 percent year-on-year decline in sales to $848.9 million for the month. Taken on their own, hardware sales suffered an even steeper decline: 37 percent compared to July of 2008. Software sales were… Read More

It took two years to lay, stretches 17,500 kilometers, and cost $650. But the fiber optic cable operated by Seacom has brought high speed Internet access to East Africa, connecting South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia, the BBC reports. Due to be launched last month, but delayed by the activity of Somalian pirates, the services were officially unveiled in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. In Tanzania, the… Read More

When the E3 Expo happens next month in Los Angeles, a lot of eyes will be on the Microsoft stand. Why? Because there’s industry speculation that the company is set to release a new controller for the Xbox 360. Two years ago the company filed a patent application for a motion controller device called the Magic Wand, according to the BBC, which would interact with "a collection of sensors." The application also described the… Read More

Maybe the video game industry isn't as recession-proof as everyone thought: market research firm NPD has released its sales figures for 2009, and finds that U.S. sales of video games dropped 17 percent in April 2009 compared to the same month in 2008. Total revenue for the month was $1.03 billion across the industry—$510.7 million of that being games, with the rest being hardware and accessories.—and the numbers mark the… Read More

Virgin Mobile has joined the ranks of mobile opertors offering $50/month unlimited calling plans, ratcheting up competition amongst mobile operators as cash-strapped consumers look to cut back on their mobile bills. Virgin Mobile new Totally Unlimited Calling plan comes in at $49.99 a month, and offer unlimited voice minute throughout the United States with no roaming charges; customers can add unlimited text and messaging for another $10 a… Read More

New video game sales figures from the NPD Group show that sales of video games and gear during October 2008 were 18 percent higher than they were during the same month a year ago, giving game developers and publishers reason to hope the 2008 holiday season might be lucrative for them despite the current dour economic climate. Amongst gaming consoles, Microsoft sold 371,000 Xbox 360 systems during the month, a figure substantially aided by a… Read More

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning may still be a ways from the 10-million subscriber mark World of Warcraft hit back in January, but in less than a month since its release, the game has seen its fanbase mushroom. Publisher Electronic Arts announced on Friday that the game had finally reached 750,000 registered players. “Thanks to our players, the war between the Realms continues to escalate at an incredible pace,” said Mark… Read More

Research firm NPD has released its figures for U.S. video game sales during the month of August, finding that game sales grew by 9 percent compared to August of 2007 to a total of $1.08 billion for the month. That's the good news: the perhaps not-so-good news is that means August of 2008 marked the smallest monthly increase in U.S. video game sales in over two years. The top-selling title for the month with EA's Madden NFL 09,… Read More

While other U.S. industries have been hit by hard times and falling numbers recently, last month’s figures from NPD Group show that the video games industry has largely been immune, continuing to surge ahead. Industry sales jumped 28 percent from June, and 17 percent from July of last year. The position of the respective consoles hasn’t changed much from last month. The Wii reigned supreme by selling 608,400 units, the… Read More

Pandora misses Europe. The online music service has to close off its operations outside the US earlier in 2008 after it couldn’t reach an agreement on royalty rates with two major labels, but it still hopes things can be resolved and it can be heard in the old countries. The company is hoping that a deal with US labels could set a precedent to make that possible, although company head Tim Westergren told Vnunet that he finds the… Read More

AT&T has unveiled its service plan pricing for Apple's upcoming iPhone 3G, due to splash into the consumer marketplace on July 11 at 8 a.m. local time. Two versions of the iPhone 3G are set to go on sale—an 8 GB version for $199 and a 16 GB version for $299—but the details of AT&T's service plans had not been announced. AT&T plans to offer a variety of individual and family plans for the iPhone 3G; as… Read More

According to media metrics firm comScore, the number of visitors to Google Web site edged out the number of visitors to Yahoo sites during April 2008, with Google drawing 141.1 million visitors compared to 140.6 million visitors for Yahoo. Although Google is by far the leader in Internet search, it marks the first time Google sites have drawn more total Web traffic than Yahoo's extensive online offerings. Yahoo sites had taken the… Read More

Best known for offering mobile connectivity solutions for corporations and business travellers, iPass is stepping into the consumer services arena with iPassConnect, a new mobile connectivity service that brings together a sizable network of Wi-Fi hotspots, 3G mobile Internet in the United States (EV-DO), and last-ditch global dial-up Internet access for as little $30 a month. The service is designed to compete with Wi-Fi Internet access… Read More

Research firm NPD has released its game console sales figures for February 2008, and to no one's surprise the Nintendo Wii continued to dominate traditional console sales, moving 432,000 units during the month. Sony's PlayStation 3 managed a second-place finish along the so-called "next generation" consoles with 281,000 units sold, although Sony managed to beat out the PS3 with its aging PS2 platform, selling 352,000… Read More

In the UK each network provider has so many different tariffs available that it can be confusing – very confusing. After research among its customers O2 haverestructured its tariffs, and among the big winners are iPhone owners, although there’s speculation that their fees might have come down because oflower than expected UK sales, possibly 10,000 below expectations, Vnunet reports.   Previously, iPhone customers had to pay… Read More