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• Good Old Games Deals: More Fallout Than You Can Handle

  I may have been late to the party on Fallout 3, but Bethesda's RPG masterpiece (yeah, I went there) is one of the few games I had to force myself to finish, just because otherwise I knew I'd be playing it forever. Mainly, I wanted to clear my plate of Fallout and go back for a second helping this upcoming summer, where I plan on playing through the game again (and purchase all of the expansion packs) as a right wasteland bastard, instead of the goody-two-shoes of my last apocalyptic adventure. But now that the fine folks over at Good Old Games are offering Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics--along with some super-nice goodies--bundled together for the odd price of $14.37, I suddenly feel the urge to visit the early years of a series I inexplicably missed as a mid-to-late-90s PC gamer. As with anything available at Good Old Games (who is in no way paying me for this post), the real incentive for their digital downloads--aside from the ultra-low price--are the extras bundled with every purchase--and this Fallout three-pack has some good ones. Read More... Posted Apr 21 2009, 02:45 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: bob mackey, sales, deals, recession, depression, economy, good old games

• More Discount Friday Gaming Deals

  Due to the extreme popularity of PopCap's world-conquering Peggle, it will soon be illegal to not own a copy of this addictive little game for at least one of its many supported platforms. Those of you who haven't yet experienced the joy of PopCap's instant gratification funhouse needn't fear a midnight assasination by the Secret Peggle Police, though; this weekend on Steam--the frugal-friendly digital download marketplace--you can pick up both Peggle and its sequel, Peggle Nights, for a mere $9.99. Considering the first Peggle debuted on XBLA for this price alone, you really can't find a much better deal--that is, until next weekend, when Steam will inevitably have some new mind-blowing bargain available. Read More... Posted Apr 10 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: bob mackey, sales, steam, deals, recession, depression, economy, good old games

• Millions of Disappointing Tomb Raider Sales for Eidos

  Tomb Raider: Underworld was one of those games I was a little bummed about missing out on over the busy 2008 holiday season. I'd pretty much abandoned the series after the second installment, but flirting with both Tomb Raider: Legend and Anniversary over the past few years proved to me that the series might once again deserve my full attention. Because I was without some sort of device used to stop time, though, my winter break was filled to the brim with other games, some of which I really shouldn't have been playing. So I couldn't help but feel guilty after hearing multiple reports on podcasts, blogs, and websites about the disappointing sales of Underworld; did my lack of care doom this underdog series to an undeserved death, just when it was getting good again? Well, according to Gamasutra, the rumors of Tomb Raider: Underworld's retail death have been greatly exaggerated: Although Eidos previously admitted disappointment with Tomb Raider: Underworld’s sales, the title racked up 2.6 million unit sales in the period, with a faster rate of sell-through than either Tomb Raider: Legend or Tomb Raider: Anniversary. It's unclear what exactly Eidos would consider "not disappointing," but it's safe to assume at this point that Tomb Raider: Underworld has made a very healthy profit--unless they happen to be supplying their development team with an endless supply of cocaine and high-class prosititutes. Read More... Posted Mar 02 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: tomb raider, eidos, bob mackey, sales, recession, economy, tomb raider underworld

• Deal of the Day: Persona 4 Only $25 on Amazon.com

  Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Longtime 61FPS readers may remember my personal Persona 4 problem I wrote about way back in December when the game was released; as much as I wanted to play the game, the 100-plus hours I spent with Persona 3: FES told me that P4 had the potential to ruin my life. So, I decided to live a normal, Persona-less life, all while ignoring the existence of a certain game with the number 4 at the end of its title. But, as with all ticking time bombs, this one was bound to explode sooner or later. While doing my normal morning routine of browsing the Something Awful Forums, a thread title nearly made my heart stop: "Persona 4: $25 bucks new, today only." And as much as I didn't want to believe it, checking the Amazon.com link for the game proved both the existence of the sale, and what could be the end of my life as we know it. Let's hope I remember to feed and bathe myself in the upcoming months. Thanks to E Honda Civic of the SA Forums for destroying me utterly as human being. Related Links: Whatcha Not Playing: Persona 4 Persona 4: Harrowing, True Pre-Order Tales! With Prizes, Prizes, Priz-izes! Why Do You Keep Doing This to Me, Atlus: Persona Comes to PSP Read More... Posted Feb 23 2009, 01:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: persona 3 fes, persona, bob mackey, sales, persona 4, deals, amazon

• Facts and Figures: Why Do Gamers Care So Much about Sales Charts?

  I got to thinking today about why gamers keep such a close eye on sales figures. In a completely unscientific experiment, I determined that Kotaku dedicated just under 200 posts last month to sales figures. Comments for these posts generally range from 50-100, so obviously some people care about sales figures enough to argue about them in an online forum.  We at 61FPS haven't made much of an effort to keep our readers updated on sales figures, as there are plenty of other places that do. We are men and women of overwhelming spiritual integrity. As John argued in December, there is a time to talk about sales, when astronomical numbers threaten to bring about tectonic shifts in the industry. But for the most part, why are people so hung up on sales figures?  I think part of it is laziness. On a slow news day, NPD numbers allow bloggers to phone in a quick and easy post that requires almost no creative input and is guaranteed to piss a few people off. A quick copy and paste job does the trick. I think this is especially true when bloggers resort to regional sales figures. Why do most readers care about how Gears of War 2 is doing in England? If I were English I don't think this would particularly interest me anyway. Read More... Posted Feb 05 2009, 11:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: kotaku, npd, cole stryker, de blob, sales, gears of war 2, roundtable discussion, fanboys

• Video Games: Bigger, But Still Not Bigger Than Movies

  It seems like every year somebody tries to tell us that this is the year games got bigger than movies. It’s never true. Usually that headline is followed up by some cooked numbers comparing overall game hardware and software sales to just first-run movie tickets. It’s not even apples to oranges. It’s more like apples to entire vegetable aisle. This year’s take on the theme is that boxed videogame sales finally exceeded DVD and Blu-Ray movie sales in 2008. It’s a much more honest presentation than we’re used to getting with this story, but it’s still worth breaking down so we know exactly how the industries compare. Read More... Posted Jan 27 2009, 09:00 AM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: retail, statistics, ps3, sales, joe keiser, winning at any cost, blu-ray

• Ridiculously Cheap Indie Gaming: The Impulse Weekend Sale

  Forget about Steam for a minute. Right now, you need to pay attention to Stardock’s competing online store, Impulse. Impulse has been, to be brutally honest, not particularly effective competition against Steam. The prices are either at parity or higher, the selection smaller. The one thing the service did have going for it was that most everything being sold there was 100% DRM-free: following purchase, you would only ever have to log on to Impulse to download updates. Yeah, that’s a big selling point, but it’s always about price, isn’t it? Steam’s weekend sales have been, let’s say, aggressive—just last week they were offering every single X-Com game for five dollars. So it’s great to see Impulse baring teeth here at last. This weekend marks its first weekend sale, and one of the gems available is indie charmer Gish—normally $20, now just $4. And it’s not even the only good deal. Read More... Posted Jan 16 2009, 04:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: stardock, sales, steam, joe keiser, indie, kudos 2, impulse, gish

• Aquaria Is Cheap. Buy It, You Bums.

  I'll admit that I used to have a few gaming prejudices that now fill me with a deep shame.  For instance, until I bit the bullet and plunked down fifteen bucks for Jonathan Blow's Braid, paying more than ten bones for any game available exclusively as a digital download felt wrong somehow.  This is exactly why I missed out on Bit Blot's underwater adventure, Aquaria, back when it was released late last year; I'd played and loved the demo, but the full game's price of thirty dollars was just a little too rich for my blood.  The sad thing is, I probably would have forgotten about Aquaria forever if the game hadn't just come out on Steam for the low, low price of sixteen dollars.  Now I can make amends for my former transgressions by purchasing my own copy, and getting all of you loyal 61FPS readers to grab one as well.  Here's the game's trailer, if you need some convincing: Unfortunately, the sale on Aquaria only lasts until the end of 2008, so you'd better scrape together some spare change while you can.  Protip: you know those dudes in the Santa suits, ringing bells on street corners?  They're literally rolling in quarters. Related Links: Now At Your Local Dollar Store: Half-Life Google to Buy Valve? GOG is Great Read More... Posted Dec 18 2008, 06:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: indie dev moment, bob mackey, pc games, sales, steam, indie, aquaria

• C'mon Kojima: Port Metal Gear!

  As things currently stand, I'm probably never going to play Metal Gear Solid 4. The reason? I simply don't have the money or real estate for a PS3.  I'm a big Metal Gear Solid fan, so this situation is not entirely wonderful for me; but I've come to accept my fate and stay out of the console wars.  However, a recent post on the Kojima Productions web site may justify any possible whining over the platform-exclusivity of Solid Snake. From Kojima Himself: The creativity of video games is now on the verge of crisis. Massive advertising campaigns are executed for games before their entertainment values are put into consideration all too often, resulting in sell-off tactics happening without hesitation. [Translation via Kotaku] Kojima's complaint has everything to do with the fact that MGS4 just isn't selling as well as he hoped it would in his native country. Sales are by no means terrible, but a game of MGS4's budget and caliber shouldn't be moving less than a million copies.  And a large amount of that budget--as Kojima claims--was spent on an expensive advertising campaign, making it even more difficult to turn a profit.  Porting the game to the 360 probably wouldn't give the game much of a sales bump in Japan, who only really cares about Microsoft's system when some exclusive RPG surfaces in a green DVD case, but I guarantee that this decision would bring in a lot of money from America. Read More... Posted Sep 10 2008, 08:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: hideo kojima, metal gear solid 4, gta iv, final fantasy 13, sales