"Microsoft's purpose in disabling Datel's memory cards is to prevent consumers from choosing a Datel product that offers far better value for the price," reads the Datel complaint. "There is no benefit to consumers from Microsoft's decision to target and disable Datel's memory cards. To the contrary, Microsoft's actions will leave approximately 50,000 consumers with useless memory cards and (without the ability to access their data on the cards), forestall innovation, and deprive future consumers of the benefits of competition."

...

A 512MB memory unit from Microsoft goes for $29.99, while a 2GB model from Datel sells for $39.99.

Cost to Develop Gran Turismo 5 Now at 60 Million Dollars
Posted by Dan Hirsch on 11.05.2009

Creator says no big deal.

After numerous delays and half a game, Gran Turismo 5 is coming this spring. Series creator Kazunor Yamauchi spoke to Autoweek that after years of development, the cost of the production for the game is at 60 million dollars.

He also brought up the cost of other AAA titles. "There are other games that cost more. Considering the size and scale of the game, I think it's probably a fairly small amount."

Yamauchi didn't mention the cost of licensing and other factors that would help inflate the productions costs outside just the development end.

Kris Graft over at Gamasutra mentions in an article from this summer the cost of production for an average game can run around $10-$20 million developing a game plus the additional millions on marketing costs. $60 million plus is a ton of money by itself, not to mention the costs associated with marketing the game. Good thing the GT series has big following because Polyphony Digital is banking on its success.

[Source:Gamedaily.com]

First the bad news: Sony's recently released FY Q2 2009 financial report included some pretty upsetting figures for investors to witness -- namely, that the company's "Networked Products and Services" division, which includes video game hardware and software sales, reported a ¥58.8 billion (or $654 million) operating loss during the quarter. The drop off was attributed to "a decrease in PS2 hardware and software unit sales, and the impact of the appreciation of the yen." Indeed, the PS2 took a hit this quarter to the tune of 600,000 units year-over year.

Now, the worse news: The financial report included enough data for various GAFers and Charters to slap a number on the amount of money that the PS3 has lost Sony: $4.695 billion. Sure, that number seems outrageously high -- because, well, it is -- but it's hardly an apocalyptic loss. Actually, it's reminiscent of losses incurred by Microsoft with the release of the original Xbox, which drained the company of $4.202 billion over a similar four-year period.

Finally, the good news: Shortly after the financial report was published, Sony CFO Nobuyuki Oneda claimed the PS3 was getting cheaper to produce, stating, "the difference between sales and materials cost has been reduced to between 10 and 20%. Within the year, it could be in the single digits." He later added, "we'll be able to reach profitability at some point in the next term." Considering PS3 sales jumped 800,000 year-over-year with the launch of the Slim, we've got a bit of advice to aid in this endeavor: Keep making it skinnier.

We reported last week that Halo 3: ODST had sold around 2 million copies in the first 24 hours according to early data. Well now the final data is in and the original figure of 2 million was a little high - day 1 sales were in fact closer to 1.8 million copies but during the rest of the week, ODST managed to sell a futher 400,000 copies to take the total sold as of the 26th to just over 2.2 million units worldwide.

Highlights include over 1.7 million in the Americas, 230,000 in the UK, around 50,000 in France and over 20,000 in Japan. Comparing directly to "week one" sales for other Xbox360 games, ODST finds itself in third place:

It must be noted however, that Gears of War 2 released on a Friday compared to the Tuesday release of ODST so the "week one" totals for the games listed above include two days of sales for Gears 2 and five days for ODST. Comparing over the same timeframes, Gears of War 2 is actually just ahead of ODST at both two days and five days, therefore ODST really sits in fourth place behind Halo 3, GTA IV and Gears of War 2.

We expect a huge drop next week (just as with Halo 3) but expect ODST to continue to do around 55-60% of Halo 3 sales at the same point from launch - so a good indicator for holiday sales will be to look at what Halo 3 did in 2007 and take off 45%. Based on this, ODST looks good for around 6 million in total sales - although the release of Halo: Reach next year will likely eat into any long-term sales potential that ODST may have.

Stick with VGChartz for all the latest updates on ODST sales.

How does a company like Koei, which seemingly releases a new Dynasty Warriors game every few months, stay afloat? Well, it's not with the help of American audiences, that's for sure. Sony Japan Studios' senior VP, Yasuhide Kobayashi, shared some information with DICE Asia attendees. He revealed that many Japanese companies are struggling to have their games appeal beyond the Japanese market. The worst offender? Koei, with 91.8% of its sales coming from the Japanese market.

Tecmo follows at 89.6 percent, while Square Enix receives a startling 86.6 percent of its sales from the motherland. With Kobayashi saying "the Japanese market is really shrinking," these companies must "develop global title." in order to survive. Expect to hear even more about the dwindling importance of the Japanese market, and publishers' efforts to make more "global" titles, at Tokyo Game Show next week.

"They are supposed to be software makers that represent Japan. I wonder if they have any pride. Given the world's strongest console, I was hoping to see some amazing graphics [from other developers], but I saw nothing," said Itagaki. "Some developers may be wondering what in the world that I'm saying, but they should bring something that's better than what I've made. I'm saying this from the kindness of my heart. If this continues, we'll really lose to America." (Itagaki-san)