Price Cut?

Patrick Klepek - 1UP Wed Aug 23, 9:19 AM ET

There has been speculation that Microsoft is heavily considering dropping the price of

Xbox 360 this Christmas in order to build a larger gap between its next-generation offering and Sony's PlayStation 3.

Microsoft has denied report after report, but price drops are happening, they just haven't been necessarily spurred by the company -- and we're not talking about the hardware's performance in Japan.

A Microsoft spokesperson speaking to Eurogamer confirmed several European retailers, with the publication pointing out Play.com as an example, have dropped the price of Xbox 360's Core package from 209.99 pounds to 199.99 pounds. No changes appear to have been made to the Premium bundling, so could the drop have been spurred by sales performance? No one's really saying.

"Retail price is set by our retail partners," said a Microsoft spokesperson. "Retailers are already selling Xbox 360 Core System from 199.99 pounds, which we believe is outstanding value to consumers."

Gary's Take: Historically, this precedes one of two things. One is an actual price cut by the hardware company, or two...an act of desperation from the retailers to stop carrying the product.

Signs point more favorably to number 1.

Madden sells like Mad..den.

US console charts: August 14-20

It's a mad, mad, Madden world as EA's exclusive football franchise dominates the Best Buy charts.

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot

Posted Aug 24, 2006 12:20 pm PT

When Electronic Arts scored exclusive rights to make NFL games in late 2004, many football fans lamented the demise of the ESPN NFL 2K franchise. Given that the two series' fierce rivalry had spawned innovations on both sides, some doomsayers predicted EA's monopoly would lead its venerable gridiron property to stagnation.

Judging by the mixed-to-positive reviews of Madden NFL 07, the series' quality seems to have survived mostly intact. Not that it mattered at retail, though. Preorders of the game--which officially shipped on Tuesday--dominated the most recent Best Buy sales rankings.

The PlayStation 2 edition of Madden NFL 07 was the week's top seller, followed by the 360 version (second), and the Xbox version (third). Two Hall of Fame Editions of the game also made it into the top 10--the PS2 version in fourth and the Xbox 360 version in ninth. Right behind was the PlayStation Portable edition of the game, rounding out the top 10.

If you weren't sacking quarterbacks this week, chances are you were smacking zombies. Dead Rising, Capcom's Xbox 360 horror survival game that lets you use everyday objects as weapons, was the fifth-best-selling game of the week. It landed just above a resurgent Xbox 360 edition of Tomb Raider: Legend, which owed its boost to its now-discounted price of $29.99.

The remaining two slots in Best Buy's top 10 both belonged to the Nintendo DS. Though not a new title anymore, New Super Mario Bros. jumped into ninth place, just two slots down from the ever-popular Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day.

What do they know?

Analysts Predict Massive Unit Reduction For PS3 Launch

Japanese analysts are predicting that issues in the manufacturing process could leave Sony far short of the magic six million...

Posted: 11:54 on 24 Aug 2006

By: Jon Wilcox

At E3 2006, Sony announced that around six million PlayStation3 units would be available between launch in November and the company's end of fiscal year, though analysts from Japan are reporting that the actual figure could be far less.

Representing Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, analyst Masahiko Ishino argued that Sony is facing problems obtaining the required quantities of certain parts for the next-gen system - and that only three million PS3s may be ready for the launch period.

As a result of Ishino-san's remarks, shares in Sony fell by over 3%.

Games is good.

by Glenn Chapman Fri Aug 18, 1:04 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Video games are being treated as serious medicine in the battle against health woes ranging from obesity to cancer and dementia.

Several hundred US game developers, medical workers and government policy makers were set to collaborate in Maryland in September at the Games for Health Project devoted to putting video games in the US medicine chest.

"We think there is a huge potential for games to be used for good," said Richard Tate of HopeLab, the company that created Re-Mission game for children being treated for cancer.

"It is just a matter of designing them thoughtfully and targeting what you want to achieve with the design."

Re-Mission combined biological accuracy with animated heroine "Roxxi," billed as "a gutsy, fully armed nanobot that seeks out and destroys cancer cells throughout the human body."

Patients that played the game were more apt to take their medicine, undergo needed therapy and believe they could beat cancer, according to HopeLab, which is based in Palo Alto, California.

HopeLab had filled more than 30,000 orders for the game from 55 countries since launching Re-Mission in April, according to Tate.

HopeLab is working on games to treat autism, depression, sickle cell anemia, and childhood obesity, according to Tate.

"We do think the model can be replicated," Tate said.

HopeLab planned to share what it learned about researching and designing the game at the Health Games gathering at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

The third annual conference was informally referred to as "the exergames" in the spirit of meshing exercise and play.

Among those expected to attend were representatives from the US

National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, according to organizer Ben Sawyer.

What I've been playing:

Dead Rising. This games owns me.

Brain Age

Convention Corner:

"By now I am sure you have heard about the tragic event that took place on June 24th. The murder of Tracy Bennawit, owner of the Kinetix LAN gaming center, sent shockwaves through the gaming community of Central Florida, and in response the community would like to do something to honor her. If you would be interested in supporting an event in Tracy’s honor, in any way, please let me know and I will get you updated information about the direction the event is headed as soon as possible. Any support is welcome, and we are looking for this event to be, at its very least, community wide, so no effort is too big or too small."

So we're heading out to this event on Saturday, August 26th at about 6pm.

Location:

Gigabits LAN

12243 University Blvd.

Orlando, FL 32817

(407) 281 – 0020

Starts at 3pm.

It's for a good cause and is basically a gaming day event to celebrate this woman's life and have some fun.

They are arranging things still, so the particulars of the charity portion aren't as clear as I'd like, but I'll update when I get that info.

If you have some spare time, please come out and hang for a bit.

Also:

MLG Tournament Event

Orlando

August 25-27, 2006

Wyndham Orlando Resort

In the peak Summer months, MLG will head to the beautifully sunny lands of Orlando for its fifth and final Regular Season stop on the 2006 Pro Circuit tour. In addition to the $50,000 in cash prizes, this event will serve as the last chance for players to earn invitations for the Playoffs that will afford them the luxury of skipping the frantic and harrowing Wild Card portion of the New York event. With so much on the line, there is no doubt that the competition will reach ridiculous levels in a massive struggle for Pro Status and Playoff invitations.