After the last two months of price drop-fueled sales surges, it’s almost comforting to see all these red arrows. Hardware sales are down 17% from last month and down 10% from the year prior, with only the Wii maintaining any upward momentum as we head into the two busiest shopping months of the year. The PS3 lost the highest percentage, but that’s hardly surprising following last month’s meteoric 134% spike in sales.

On the software side of things, the exceptionally well-received PlayStation 3-exclusive Uncharted 2: Among Thieves took top honors, selling 537K units in just the second half of October. Of course, Sony told us earlier today that the title has broken the coveted million mark (worldwide?) with November sales factored in. The multiplatform Borderlands makes a similarly impressive showing, taking third on Xbox 360 with 418K units sold; however, when you factor in the 113K units sold of the not-top-ten PS3 version (data provided graciously by NPD), you find an impressive 531K in cumulative sales, just missing the top spot.

NBA 2K10 had a strong showing with 524K in cumulative sales, “outselling last year’s NBA 2K9 by 60% in its launch month” reports the NPD, while last month’s champ, Halo 3: ODST, dropped to sixth with 271K in sales. With just four days on shelves in October, Forza Motorsport 3 made a strong showing at #8 with 175K. Slightly less strong was Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days’ ninth-place showing despite a full month on the shelf. And in last place is the worldwide phenomenon known as FIFA 10 (or, in North America, FIFA Soccer 10). While FIFA 10 may be the “fastest selling sports game ever” in Europe, selling 1.7m in its first week, over here we bought up just 156K copies in a little over a week.

-Wii: 507K44K (+10%)
-DS: 458K66K (-13%)
-PS3: 321K171K (-35%)
-360: 250K103K (-29%)
-PSP: 175K15K (-8%)
-PS2: 118K28K (-19%)

Check out the software sales chart after the break.

Continue reading October NPD: Uncharted 2 takes top spot while hardware sales slow down

October NPD: Uncharted 2 takes top spot while hardware sales slow down originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might expect Dawn of Heroes, a tactical, turn-based RPG from Wicked Studios and Majesco, to be super serious. It seems games in this genre seldom stray into the territory of slapstick and humorous banter, but here’s Dawn of Heroes, doing just that — and doing it well!

Continue reading Hands-on: Dawn of Heroes (DS)

Hands-on: Dawn of Heroes (DS) originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is based on a fantasy gamebook of the same name — essentially Dungeons & Dragons crossed with Choose Your Own Adventure. In my case, the story I managed to weave for myself is the epic tale of an adventurer who wanders into a cave and is swiftly murdered by dwarves.

Continue reading Hands-on: Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (DS)

Hands-on: Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (DS) originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The blog Sinobi seems to have found some retail listings for two new Nintendo games due in the first quarter of 2010 in Japan. Last Window: Mayonaka no Yakusoku (Last Window: Midnight Promise) is a sequel to CING’s DS adventure game, Hotel Dusk, set in Los Angeles in the 1980s. It will apparently be out in Japan on January 14!

Zangeki no Regenleiv is the Wii action game revealed in October 2008 as “Dynamic Zan” and not heard from again until just now. It’s being developed by Earth Defense Force creator Sandlot, and will include online combat for up to four players when it’s released on February 11.

All of these details are unverified, but the fact that Sinobi had the images above for both games (which may come from a retailer catalog) add some credence to the rumor.

[Via NeoGAF]

Rumor: Hotel Dusk sequel coming to DS in Japan early next year originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While it may initially seem the only game releasing this holiday season is something called Modern Warfare 2, some titles — like Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II and Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros. Wii — actually have the guts to stand up against the most important game of all time ever seriously. Game rental service Gamefly recently gathered data on which titles its users are actually looking forward to this holiday season, offering the info in one convenient list.

For the all platforms list, the three titles mentioned are unsurprisingly present and joined by other popular recent releases like Batman: Arkham Asylum and Halo 3: ODST. On the home console side of things, the Xbox 360 and PS3’s most popular title is obviously Modern Warfare 2, while the Wii’s big hit is, also expectedly, New Super Mario Bros. Wii. For handhelds, gamers are ticking Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story and Dissidia: Final Fantasy for rental on the DS and PSP, respectively.

Overall, the list is fairly unsurprising, though we guess one could argue that it’s surprising all of these people want to rent Modern Warfare 2 and haven’t already purchased it.

Here’s what you’re Gameflying this holiday season originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASEFOSAM, a Spanish labor association has announced (translation) that it plans to make Nintendo’s Mario Mario an honorary member. Mario is to be presented with a silver badge, which is given to members of the association who improve the image of laborers. In celebration, a contest will be held in Madrid over the weekend to determine the best Mario Bros. player (though we’re not sure exactly which of the many, many Mario games is to be played).

So, yeah, it sounds like the Italian labor associations really dropped the ball on this.

[Via GoNintendo]

Spanish labor association honors Mario originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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