Scribblenauts Unmasked – Press release, Screens, “A Battle Most Bizarre” Digital Comic Info

Gamers anticipating the latest installment in the Scribblenauts franchise, Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure, were very pleased to hear about the new companion comic book, “A Battle Most Bizarre”, that is available pre and post launch of the game. The following press release contains info about the comic, as well as the game itself which will launch on September 24th on Wii U, 3DS and PC. Scroll down for more PAX screens, as well as the comic book cover!

A BATTLE MOST BIZARRE DIGITAL COMICAVAILABLE FREE WITH PURCHASE OFSCRIBBLENAUTS UNMASKED: A DC COMICS ADVENTURE______________________________________________________________________________Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment today announced that with the purchase of Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure comes a limited-time, exclusive free gift, an original DC Comics digital comic, Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure – “A Battle Most Bizarre.”Consumers who purchase physical copies of the game for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS can download Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure – “A Battle Most Bizarre” by visiting DC Entertainment’s digital comic online storefront, www.readdcentertainment.com/redeem and entering the redemption code provided with the game.  In the comic, Superman finds himself in a battle with Bizarro and Batman is battling the Joker.  It’s up to Maxwell and his magic notebook to restore order and save the world.Those who pre-order or purchase the PC digital version of the game through Steam will immediately receive Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure – “A Battle Most Bizarre” within the Steam entertainment platform.While consumers who pre-order the PC digital version of the game through Amazon can download the digital comic starting September 1 by visiting DC Entertainment’s digital comic online storefront, www.readdcentertainment.com/redeem and entering a redemption code.  The digital comic will also be available free with purchase post launch.Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure melds the boundless creativity of the award-winning video game franchise with thousands of DC Comics™ characters and objects across DC Comics worlds – all drawn in the classic Scribblenauts art style. Created and developed by 5TH Cell, the game will be available for the Wii U™ system, Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system and PC in North America on September 24.DC Entertainment, home to iconic brands DC Comics (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash), Vertigo (Sandman, Fables) and MAD, is the creative division charged with strategically integrating its content across Warner Bros. Entertainment and Time Warner.  DC Entertainment works in concert with many key Warner Bros. divisions to unleash its stories and characters across all media, including but not limited to film, television, consumer products, home entertainment and interactive games. Publishing thousands of comic books, graphic novels and magazines each year, DC Entertainment is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world. DC Entertainment, in collaboration with Warner Bros. and Time Warner divisions, launched We Can Be Heroes—a giving campaign featuring the iconic Justice League super heroes—to raise awareness and funds to fight the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa.SCRIBBLENAUTS UNMASKED:  A DC Comics Adventure software © 2013 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Developed by 5th Cell Media LLC.  All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.  All rights reserved.DC LOGO, and all characters, their distinctive likenesses, and related elements are trademarks of DC Comics © 2013SCRIBBLENAUTS and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.WB GAMES LOGO, WB SHIELD: ™ & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

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Nintendo tells developers not to share digital sales numbers

by Mike Schramm on Jan 5th 2012 8:15PM

Richard Hill-Whittall is the owner and director of Icon Games Entertainment, and his company has released several games in the last year for various platforms, including WiiWare. He recently shared some sales numbers over on Gamasutra, but was asked by Nintendo to take the numbers for its platforms down. According to Hill-Whittall, Nintendo doesn't allow developers to share digital sales numbers for self-published WiiWare and downloadable DS titles.

That's an interesting tack to take, and Hill-Whittall argues that it hurts smaller developers who might need to make those sales numbers known in order to secure financing or plan out their business. He doesn't see it as surprising, however, because Nintendo doesn't allow developers to change their prices or offer demos or promotions either, which are all tactics that Microsoft, Sony, and other digital publishers have used to pick up lots of digital sales before.

Obviously, not everyone will want to share sales data, and Nintendo itself must see this data as valuable information to be protected. A restriction on sharing the data, says Hill-Whittall, could be fatal for a smaller developer like his, especially if they rely on Nintendo's platform alone.

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Report: Used and digital sales make up 35% of total console spending in the US

by Jordan Mallory on Nov 7th 2011 8:00PM

American gamers buy more used and digitally distributed games than their European doppelgangers, according to a study released by market analysis firm NewZoo. The organization's statistical findings show that 23 percent of console games purchased in the U.S. are used; slightly more than the European market where used games account for 20 percent of total console sales.

Digitally distributed titles rank lower in both regions, taking up 12 percent of the console market in America and 9 percent in Europe. That 12 percent, by the way, represents approximately $960 million, on account of 54 percent of American console owners reportedly spending an average of $49 a year on console downloads.

American PC gaming culture appears to have adopted the idea of digital distribution much faster than the console market, as an estimated 58 percent of all PC gaming dollars are spent on digitally distributed games or DLC. Now, we're no market analysts, but we think the disparity between PC and console download shares has a lot to do with PC gaming's readily available plethora of hats.

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Gamestop Q2 financials anchored by strong used game and digital sales

by David Hinkle on Aug 18th 2011 10:00PM

GameStop's total sales were down 3.1% in the quarter ending July 30, 2011 -- $1.74 billion in sales this quarter compared to $1.8 billion in the same period last year. A boon for the company has been (get this!) used game and digital sales, which both rose 12% and 69% year-over-year, respectively. Digital sales are up 16% compared to Q1 of 2011 and with the recent announcement of downloadable PC games being sold at retail, we wouldn't be surprised to see even greater digital revenue in Q3.

GameStop also cited lower hardware sales and fewer games this quarter compared to last year, both of which the company said contributed to an overall lower quarter for store sales, down 9.1%. The retailer also reported diminished net sales of $30.9 million compared to $40.3 million in 2010.

LA Noire, NCAA Football 12, Infamous 2, Brink and Mortal Kombat were GameStop's top earners in the quarter, spanning the classic genres of shooters, sports games, fighters and whatever you'd call LA Noire. Crime drama genre? The "character actor did it" genre?

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Activision enjoys record revenues in Q2, digital represents 37% of sales

by Alexander Sliwinski on Aug 3rd 2011 5:40PM

Activision Blizzard enjoyed record revenues in the second quarter (ending June 30, 2011) with $1.1 billion in sales and $335 million in profit, compared to $967 million in sales and $219 million in profit during the same period last year. Overall, Activision has seen revenues of $2.6 billion for the first six months of the year, compared to $2.2 billion in 2010.

Digital sales, like those Call of Duty: Black Ops map packs, saw a 27 percent increase year over year. Digital represented 37 percent of the company's total net revenues, or $423 million in the quarter. Don't take that to mean retail is dead to Activision: $660 million (an increase of 13 percent) comes from ye olde shoppe, though part of that 58 percent of the company's revenues still goes into champagne baths and caviar breakfasts.

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NPD report: 'Digital gamers' encroaching on 'Core gamer' turf

by Richard Mitchell on Jun 27th 2011 7:00PM

According to a new report from NPD, digital gaming (i.e. "not retail" gaming) is on the rise, with "digital gamers" gaining headway against "core gamers" in two categories. Specifically, digital gamers spend sixteen hours gaming per week, as compared to the eighteen hours spent by the core. Digital gamers actually purchase more games, pulling in 5.9 games over the last three months, while their core brethren brought home 5.4 in the same period. Meanwhile, both groups are actually hefty acquirers of downloadable games, with downloadable titles accounting for more than a third of overall game purchases.

The question, then, is what exactly separates the two demographics? After all, it looks like they share fairly similar habits, according to the numbers. We turned to NPD's David Riley, who explained that core gamers as defined by NPD are "very engaged across all systems, especially consoles" and have "higher use of Xbox 360 and PS3 than all other segments." When it comes to digital purchases, core gamers are more likely to buy add-on content than full games.

Digital gamers, on the other hand, "are engaged in a variety of gaming, from PC to mobile, console to portable, online and offline." They also have the "highest number of digital games acquired" and particularly enjoy the immediacy of downloadable purchases.

Still, it's clear that there's some crossover between demographics, something that seems to be recognized by NPD itself. Citing the growth of mobile and tablet gaming, NPD's Anita Frazier notes, "what a game is and what it means to be a gamer is evolving, reflecting the rapid nature of change within the industry."
DIGITAL GAMERS CLOSING ON CORE GAMERS
FOR TOP GAMER SEGMENT

Port Washington, NY, June 27, 2011 - According to Gamer Segmentation 2011: The New Faces of Gamers, the latest report from leading market research company The NPD Group, Core Gamers, once considered to be the leading gaming segment within the video game industry, is facing rising competition from Digital Gamers for amount of time spent gaming and number of games acquired.

At 18 hours per week, Core Gamers still spend the most amount of time gaming, but Digital Gamers are heavy gamers as well, spending 16 hours per week. The average number of games acquired by Core Gamers in the past three months is 5.4 games, while Digital Gamers are the heaviest game acquirers, reporting an average of 5.9 games acquired for any system/device over the same time period.

When looking at the number of digital games downloaded among those who acquired at least one game, it is Digital Gamers and Core Gamers who stand out with the highest number of digital games purchased; for both segments, more than one-third of the total games acquired are digital.

According to the report, Core Gamers represent the highest number of gamers (23 percent), followed by Family+Kid Gamers at 22 percent. Avid PC Gamers and Light PC Gamers both represent 15 percent of gamers, with Mobile Gamers and Digital Gamers trailing.

From consoles and portables to smartphones, digital music players to PCs, today's use of systems and electronic devices for gaming is more diverse than ever before. While there are still certain clear-cut system affinities, most of the gamer segments are playing on at least three systems.

The platforms people use to game on have therefore become somewhat less dominant as a segment driver, with other metrics pushed to the forefront such as hours per week spent gaming, likelihood to acquire and purchase games and digital/physical purchasing behavior.

"The name of the game in 2011 seems to be choice. Gamers are increasingly branching out to methods of play other than those that the industry has traditionally expected them to use," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "Fueled by the growth of smartphones and new tablet devices, mobile gaming continues to accelerate, and what a game is and what it means to be a gamer is evolving, reflecting the rapid nature of change within the industry."

Methodology
The data was collected February-March 2011, and is based on a total of 8,214 respondents ages 2+. Responses for kids under age 13, as well as some kids in the 13-15 age range, were captured through surrogate reporting, where the parent answers on behalf of the child. The data is weighted and representative of the US population ages 2 and older.

About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,800 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, contact us, visit http://www.npd.com/, or follow us Twitter at https://twitter.com/npdgroup.

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EA grows digital sales in Q4, stems losses for fiscal year

by Justin McElroy on May 4th 2011 5:50PM

EA enjoyed solid growth in the final quarter of its 2011 fiscal year (ending March 31), thanks in large part to a bump in digital revenue. Digital sales were up $67 million from the same period a year ago to $211 million. Good ol' boxed games weren't slouching though, as packaged goods revenue increased $44 million up to $838 million. In all, EA rebounded from its rough Q3 to record $151 million in profit during the fiscal fourth quarter.

The engine for that growth was a surprisingly impressive quarterly lineup for the company. Seven of its titles from fiscal Q4 have surpassed 1 million units shipped, with Crysis 2, Dead Space 2 and Dragon Age 2 all over the 2-million-shipped mark. DLC for those titles (like Dead Space 2's "Severed" add-on) was the cornerstone of digital profits, as well. Over its entire 2011 fiscal year, EA shipped 12 million units of FIFA 11, 7 million copies of Bad Company 2 (released at the tail end of FY10), and five million each of Medal of Honor, Hot Pursuit and Madden 11.

But it seems that, in the grand scheme, these titles weren't enough to alter EA's fortunes for the fiscal year, which ended in a $267 million loss for the company. We suppose there's still a bit of a silver lining, however -- those losses would seem to sting considerably less than the $677 million lost by EA just one year prior.

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Take Nintendo 3DS AR Cards With You in Digital Form

While there may be some smart phone apps out there for the Nintendo 3DS AR Cards, you may not want to go that direction. Further, you may not have a smart phone with an available app. Because of that, I have taken each of the PDF versions of the AR Cards that Nintendo provides, and I turned them into JPG photos. Now, you can always take the cards with you. Place them in an iPhone photo album, move them to your digital camera, or even put them on a portable digital photo frame.

The images are all included in the .zip file below, and each are approximately 334×520 pixels.

Download the Nintendo 3DS AR Cards

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