Back in 2007, the price of D3Publisher of America's Dead Head Fred was dropped to US$ 19.99. If you didn't pick up the game when this announcement was made, you might want to do so now. Amazon is currently offering the title for US$ 14.99.

If you want to find out more about this, don't hesitate to head on over to the full article.

Analysts had high hopes for October, particularly because of the release of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, so it may have come as disturbing news to hear that a lot of titles didn't perform as well as they had predicted.

As it stands, October showed a solid rise in sales even if it didn't live up to expectations. More in the full article.

After rumors about a "Big Bang" announcement from Sony erupted late last month, the Internet has been abuzz with speculation. Will it be about the rumored core 40GB PlayStation 3 SKU? Will it be about a price drop? Something new for the PSP, maybe?

Right now, it looks like it will be about nothing. According to video game news site Eurogamer, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has categorically denied that they have a press conference scheduled for next week. Eurogamer reports that according to a SCEE spokesperson, Sony "has not announced anything and has nothing of the sort planned".

The "Big Bang" announcement was supposedly going to happen on October 12. There's still plenty of time for late-breaking updates to come about, so keep checking back here for more news.

Everybody likes a good deal. More money saved, more money for upcoming video games, right? This week's GameStop deals hails in new titles, price drops, and various bonuses. And the Halo 3 promo might pique your interest as well.

First off, GameStop is featuring Back to School Nintendo DS titles (some of which are tagged five percent off) like High School Musical: Makin' the Cut, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Brain Age 2: More Training In Minutes A Day, and others. Price drop offers US$ 10 to US$ 20 off the original prices (Fight Night Round 3, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2, among others).

GameStop is also offering extra 20% trade credit for video games traded for Halo 3 reservations. Plus it's giving away free stuff - Naruto PSP skins that come with Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes and Dewy Plushies that come with Dewy's Adventure.

Anyway, check out the via link below for more info.

Here's the latest on sales of hardware and games for the weeks ending on July 7 and 14. July 14, it has to be noted, is just a day after E3.

 

Recent data gives light to Sony's claim of a doubling in their sales since their US$ 100 price drop. For the sales week ending on July 14 at least, sales for the PlayStation 3 rose 131%, more than double, outrunning the sales of the 360. The Wii rose by 10% but the Xbox hardly moved, selling only 1% more than the previous week.

The Nintendo DS is enjoying a ginormous success; although sales slipped by 5%, you can hardly scoff at more than 97k units sold in a week. The PSP sold only 50k on the same week.

It also looks like the top 5 games in Amazon last July 8 seems to be just as popular to non-online shoppers. The most popular games for each console is Wii Play for the Wii, The Darkness for the Xbox 360, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3. Still going strong for the Wii are Mario Party 8 and Resident Evil 4. Slipping into the 360's favor is Transformers, while Gears of War is almost out of the top 10 in 9th place. Transformers also made it to PS3's top 3, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas is still popular in second place.

Of the total of 11,878,996 units of next gen consoles that have been sold in America, 55% of those are Xbox 360 units, 31.3% are Wii, and the PS3 accounts for 13.7%. Also, if the PS3 continues to sell more than the 360, and if the Wii continues its current pace, the 360 will be in for some tough times.

For a detailed list of the sales for the week of July 7 and 14, you may click our Read link below.

Ah, E3. The legendary convention where all the big boys of this industry show their hands and reveal just what they have in store for the video game community and pretty much the entire world in general. The first to do so was Microsoft, with a quick follow-up by Nintendo - and now, it's Sony's turn.

Sony's press conference began with Jack Tretton's Home avatar chatting some virtual ladies up at Home Square, before finally getting onto the stage himself. We're then treated to news bits we've already covered - the big price drop for the 60GB PlayStation 3, 80GB with MotorStorm.

He then promised to show a total of 50 PS3, PS2, and PSN games during the presentation, with some of them being playable after the show.

The big news and the rest of the details after the jump!

(As promised, here's the second serving of our weekly feature, QuickJump QuickPeek! For the uninitiated, this space will be filled with the highlights of the past week in the gaming world. On to the second ish!)

Aside from Michael Bay not totally bastardizing our childhood memories of the Transformers, there are a few other great events that made this week quite memorable. There's Microsoft announcing a 3-year extension to their warranty service as an answer to the reported 33% failure rate of purchased Xbox 360s. There's also the rumbling webtalks of the looming PS3 price cut. And there's the Wii too, reportedly just a little over a million figures behind Xbox 360 in terms of consoles sold. Do bear in mind that we haven't even scratched the tip of the All Spark, err, iceberg yet; there's still a lot more great events that made this week, ahem, "more than meets the eye."

This weeks news', transform and roll out!

The full article article awaits after the jump!

Sony disclosed that Italian PlayStation enthusiasts - by far the most hardcore of Sony enthusiasts - have bought over 650,000 PSP units since its launch in Italy, with 50,000 coming from sales from the month of May alone.

As Sony's most ardent supporter, Italy comes in as the fifth largest European gaming market next to Spain. Some 35% of Italy's gaming population is comprised of females, with the average age of 28 years.

The increase of sales - which is almost double compared to last year's sales volume for the same period - was most likely brought about by the PSP's price drop of only 169 Euros. However not even Sony's staunchest supporters can quell Nintendo Company Ltd.'s success as the DS still stood on top, as noted by François Storelli, EA Italy's General Manager. The numbers, however, are showing that the DS and PSP are racing neck-and-neck and the difference in sales are not that significant.

Aside from the usual "PS3 price cut" consensus of like-minded investment security analysts all over the world, Todd Greenwald also expects that other consoles like Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PS2, and handheld PSP will also see a price cut within the year.

 

Of course, the Nollenberger Capital Partners analyst has stated this while tossing two pennies out the door, but it seems apparent that he did make gradual observations of the popular consoles to date before making his opinion known. A report by Games Industry also pegged that he hasn't made any mention of Nintendo's low-priced, popular console.

But seeing as both the Nintendo Wii and DS still continue to sell like hotcakes even while demand continues to grow, Greenwald doesn't expect Nintendo to even think the concept of price cuts. It appears that Greenwald has his money on Microsoft making the first move, seeing as its console has been out a year early.

He expects the Redmond giant to slash US$ 50 right off the retail price of the Xbox 360 by the end of summer. And he believes it will occur over all SKUs, bringing the basic package right on par with the price of a Nintendo Wii, while offering just a US$ 100 heftier option for a Pro package.

Microsoft might be able to pull it off, seeing as hardware costs have already reduced in the 18 months that the Xbox 360 has been out, says Greenwald. He also expects cash cow Halo 3 from Bungie to cover any possible loss, either in sales of the software or a boost in sales of the hardware because of the impact of the software.

If Microsoft does attempt a price drop, Sony will probably be forced to "give in" to the immense pressure brought on by the competition. He eyes a US$ 100 price drop for the PS3, also expecting Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV as a catalyst to financially aid the price drop expected this fall.

But he noted that publishing giant Electronic Arts will take the most profit out of the PlayStation 3 price drop. He also expects that the PS2 would drop to a US$ 99 price tag by the holiday season, and predicts that the PSP could also follow another slash in retail price, queued by the rumors of a PSP redesign.

"I think this is going to be the year for PSP, I think it's going to be a fantastic year for it. A very, very good year." That's how confident John Koller is on the fate of Sony's handheld for 2007.

And he actually has a well-founded reason for suddenly gushing like a schoolgirl. The recent implementation of the PSP price drop to US$ 169 apparently gave a whole lot of loving to Sony as PSP sales shot up to 300 percent - in just two days, at that. And all that love they'll be taking to the bank with them. Not only that, but the once-comatosed UMD scene suddenly gets a second chance at life as UMD sales also got a nice revival.

Also being held responsible for this rejuvenation of PSP sales is the new marketing scheme taken by Sony through its "Dude, Get Your Own" campaign. According to Koller, since the launch of the new campaign, they immediately saw an increase in sales. But admittedly, they also took a close, hard look at Wal-Mart experience during the last Black Friday.

But apart from all that, "Our greatest successes take place when publishers and developers recognize the value of the PSP owner as a PSP owner not repurposing a title," further explains Koller. "We've actively encouraged third parties in that direction."

To maintain the momentum of the PSP, Koller reveals that they will be having some major announcements coming this year. We expect to hear about them in the coming months, and you can bet we'l' be there to give you the heads up.