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Perhaps SOCOM 4's delay is a good thing; I'm not sure if I wanted to shoot things with the Spin Pop-like PlayStation Move controller.
News Blips:
Zipper Interactive delays SOCOM 4 until 2011. Initially slated for release this fall, the PlayStation Move-compatible third-person shooter was pushed back to next year for undisclosed reasons. Zipper Community Manager Jeremy Dunham stated that the studio didn't want to take "any shortcuts," instead using the extra time to "deliver the best and most immersive SOCOM game we possibly can." That's OK, I can just play the tons of other shooters coming out this year. [1UP]
IBIS Capital analyst Tim Merel forsees online and mobile games surpassing console games in five years. Acknowledging the increasingly prevalent growth of non-console gaming, Merel prophesied that both markets are "high growth and profitable, which is pretty rare. Today, online/mobile games generate around 1/3 of all games software revenues globally. In five years time they are forecast to generate 50% of all games software revenue, or around 1/5 more revenue than pure console games!" Wade through the choking jargon and you'll see that alternative modes of gaming are on the upswing. Awesome! [IndustryGamers]
Increased hardware and software sales for the PlayStation 3 curbs operating losses. Sony's posting of its economic affairs for the first quarter of 2010 revealed that the electronics giant garnered a whopping $753 million in profits, a significant improvement over its nearly $300 million loss during the same quarter last year. The main culprit behind the increased cash flow? A surge of hardware sales (2.4 million units compared to last year's 1.1 million) and software purchases (24.8 million copies over last year's 14.8 million). I suppose this gives more ammo for the endless PS3 vs. Xbox 360 debate. [GamesIndustry]
Rare (Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, Kinect Sports) fan website MundoRare shuts down. Plans for an hour-long documentary on the U.K.-based studio abruptly ended when it decided to not participate. Calling the decision "puzzling," the staff of MundoRare said that "it simply makes no sense. It has changed our perception of Rare forever and leaves us with no other option but to end our support for them." Believe me, the last thing game programmers want to deal with is starry-eyed fans filming their cubicles for later scrutiny.
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