THQ has released its financial results for the second quarter of its fiscal 2010, which ended September 30, 2009, and things are mostly looking up. The company lost money this quarter compared to the same period last year, posting non-GAAP net sales of $100.38 million, down from $151.62 million during Q2 of its fiscal 2009. However sales are up for the entire year, with THQ posting net sales of $334.28 million for its fiscal 2010 thus far, up from $272.69 million last year, a 22 percent increase.
THQ blamed the second quarter dip on a lack of new titles, though it hopes to have a good holiday season thanks to a “strong mass-market line-up” including WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2010 and MX vs ATV Reflex. The company was also sure to mention its triumph in the JAKKS Pacific lawsuit, which resulted in a much lower payment to the longtime WWE series developer (though the scuffle is still haunting the publisher).
Finally, THQ promised to prevail in its march to profitability by the end of fiscal 2010. Though the company expects its Q3 2010 to be 5-10 percent lower than the same period last year, it predicts Q4 sales will exceed those of last year. A reasonable hope, given that all of THQ’s major releases drop in its fiscal Q4, including Darksiders, Metro 2033 and the Dawn of War 2 expansion, Chaos Rising.
It may be an awful time to be searching for a job, but Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds is apparently doing just fine — and looking to share the wealth. If you’re interested, all you have to do is A) attend GDC, B) be good at some aspect of game development (obviously) and C) be willing to temporarily relocate to Scotland.
In a press release titled “Realtime Worlds Offers Lifeline in Credit Crunch,” the company announced plans to look for “more than 40 additional staff” at next week’s Game Developers Conference. “In contrast to many other companies and sectors at the moment, our biggest challenge is in recruiting staff of the calibre, and in the quantities we need,” John Duffie, Head of PR, said in the release. “Already 25% of our workforce comes from outside the UK because we aren’t able to find everyone we need here.”
Contract employees from outside the UK will receive “free quality accommodation” in Scotland during their tenure, and a free return flight afterward. The new positions are for All Points Bulletin and one other unannounced project.
For some reason, the first evade bug moment I remember happened in Zul’Farrak. We were clearing the basilisk pulls before attempting Antu’sul (why is it that the optional bosses always have a couple of sweet warrior drops?) and the mage in the group wanted to skip the whole thing. Impatient, he decided to start nuking away from atop one of the hills surrounding the area and managed to pull aggro, but the basilisk couldn’t path up to him (and to be honest I’m not sure how he got up there) and promptly went evade. He wouldn’t come down because he rightly knew the mob would hit him, and so it took us a solid ten minutes of arguing before he finally came into the monster’s reach so that I could taunt it.
I’m thinking about this because of the Isle of Quel’Danas dailies, specifically the quest Crush the Dawnblade. For some reason whenever I do this quest I run into Dawnblade Summoners who are evading. This puzzles me because I can’t understand why a ranged mob is evading: it doesn’t have to path to anything to hit it, just get into range. Is there some way a hunter or some other ranged class can shoot them but stay out of their range?
Command & Conquer: Kane’s Wrath for Xbox 360 will hit retail with a vengeance on June 23. ShackNews reports the game, which was an “expansion pack” for the PC version of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, will not require Xbox 360 owners to own the original game.
Kane’s Wrath on Xbox 360 will cost $40 and contains an “exclusive challenge mode.” EA also released a video about the achievements available in the game, which we’ve placed after the break.
Today, After two months of trailing the PS3 in monthly NPD sales - thanks in no small part to the success of the PS3 Slim - the Xbox 360 has taken the lead once again. And Microsoft was quick to offer spokesman Aaron Greenberg for a chat, to explain why they’re calling this November the “best-ever November in Xbox 360 history.”
“In the month of November, consumers spent more money at retail on Xbox 360 than they did on the Wii or the PS3,” Greenberg tells Joystiq. “If you look at total consumer spend across hardware, software, and accessories, it was $838 million. And if you look at software games, specifically third-party software games, we sold more games than the PS3 and the Wii combined.” This emphasis on the entire “ecosystem” - including console sales, and software and accessories - is behind Microsoft’s “best-ever” claim. In fact, though the Xbox 360 did sell over 100K more units than the PlayStation 3, console sales were down 2% year-over-year.
“We’re essentially flat, year over year. It’s down 2%, technically, if you just look at hardware sales,” Greenberg admits. Whether the Wii was on top or whether Microsoft’s November sales are the best in the console’s history, all comes down to a question of focus. “What scoreboard are you using?” Greenberg asks.
Before you blow out the candles on your cake, take a deep breath first. There’s 40 of them, after all. Storied publisher Konami celebrates four decades of whip-cracking this month. The company’s secret behind its youthful good looks? Konami’s European president Kunio Neo tells MCV, “Consistency plays a major part in everything Konami does.” Well there’s that, and eating piping hot plates of wall-turkey at every opportunity.
Neo also notes that Konami already has big plans for the future, with “a wealth of other new titles in development.” Now, after all this excitement, we’re going to go lay down. I feel asleep.
You’ve probably heard of this supposed PS3 price cut just about a bazillion times from people who want it, say it’s coming and even from people who don’t think it’s going to work. So, it shouldn’t be too surprising to hear that there’s even more on this ongoing rumor. The latest involves a “major UK high street retailer” speaking to CVG about the PS3 price drop and — get this — a PSP price slash, too. The unnamed retailer says both cuts are “definitely coming soon” but were unable to give specifics.
Yesterday, we broke the news that a new PS3 SKU will be available by the end of the month; however, there is no price drop included with this new bundle. This means that the British retailer could be referring to a Europe-only drop or their definition of ’soon’ might be much further off. Most analysts expect a price cut to hit sometime aroundJune — E3 time.
You may have already caught a glimpse of Transformers: War for Cybertronon this very site, but now we’re happy to report that Activision has docked on the Space Station Stiq with an extended trailer in tow. After decrypting and uploading to our network — which is fueled by caramel and old E.T. Atari 2600 carts — we’re glad to show you, dear reader, the full debut trailer, with one caveat: it may not be for the faint of heart. Much WD-40 is spilled on the war-torn streets of the Transformers’ home planet, so much that we ask all of our mechanically-inclined readers pour themselves a stiff drink before viewing.
Nintendo issued a celebratory press release following the announcement of the NPD numbers last night, pointing out an impressive statistic: “While the video game industry grew by $150 million (12 percent) year-on-year, Nintendo’s total sales grew by $300 million in January, offsetting declines on other platforms.” Nintendo is basically compensating for the whole industry’s decline at this point, at least in terms of financial growth. No doubt Nintendo is pleased to have a new angle to talk about in its monthly statement of how awesome it is.
The company said that sales of the Wii grew 148 percent in January 2009 over January 2008, and DS sales grew 99 percent. It also pointed out that 20 of the top 30 games last month were produced for Nintendo systems, including five of the top ten — six, we must point out, if you count Guitar Hero: World Tour.
I was just casually wandering about the Internet yesterday, when I stumbled upon one of those random new MMORPG advertisements that you see popping up on a number of the WoW-related websites nowadays. It’s for a game called Shaiya, which (like all the others), I’ll probably never play, but a quick glance through it’s game features revealed an interesting design choice. Without splitting up the playerbase, they’ve nonetheless created different “modes” to the game, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. There’s an “Easy Mode,” which lets you advance more quickly, but also limits you a great deal. There’s also a “Normal Mode,” a “Hard Mode,” and even an “Ultimate Mode” for the most hardcore of players. It got me thinking about how such a system might work if transplanted into WoW:
Easy Mode: This is basically just a tutorial. Not many experience points are needed to advance from level to level, but you can only reach a maximum of level 30. You cannot create or join a guild, and you get no access to any Talent points. You also are limited to Common and Uncommon items — you cannot use any Rare, Epic, or Legendary items.
Normal Mode: This is where most players will start off. You need an average amount of experience points to advance (something like what we have today). You can create and join guilds normally, and you also get Talent points. In addition, you also get access to Rare items.
2009 THQ year-to-date sales up 22 percent over 2008 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
For some reason, the first 
After two months of trailing the PS3 in monthly NPD sales - thanks in no small part to the success of the PS3 Slim - the Xbox 360 has 
