Japanese hardware sales, Aug. 20 - Aug. 26: Labor of love edition

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

With this edition of the weekly Japanese hardware sales chart, Joystiq would like to encourage all of its American readers to have a blissful Labor Day weekend devoid of emotional trauma, nuclear apocalypse and above all, any sort of productivity. Joystiq also requests that readers forward this sentiment to their illiterate friends and colleagues.

Though incorrectly thought of as a holiday meant to celebrate the birth of life, Labor Day really highlights the complete and utter loss of it. As a working man, woman or abducted child, you may feel that your employment has slowly encroached upon the things that really matter in this existence -- video games. We urge you to spend the next few days ignoring any and all emails, telephones and shrieks from significant others.

Oh, and play something decent, would you?

- DS Lite: 100,430 53,389 (34.71%)
- Wii: 46,283 27,655 (37.40%)
- PSP: 26,089 7,626 (22.62%)
- PS3: 16,393 5,327 (24.53%)
- PS2: 15,139 101 (0.66%)
- Xbox 360: 2,044 401 (16.40%)
- Game Boy Micro: 423 5 (1.20%)
- GBA SP: 163 49 (23.11%)
- Gamecube: 116 29 (20.00%)
- GBA: 65 41 (170.83%)
- DS Phat: 30 15 (100.00%)

[Source: Media Create]

See also: Previous Japanese hardware sales charts

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Red Ring of Death visits Orland for lunch

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360

When our own Kyle Orland isn't writing around this joint, he's either doing something with NPR, scribbling about the media, or keeping up with his own website; where he tries to play a game every weekday during lunch and write about it. Today's piece is a tragic one where he chronicles what happened minute by minute:

0:01 I put BioShock in my disc drive and turn the power on.
0:02 The TV is still black. I look down and notice three red lights surrounding the power button.
0:03 I desperately try to reset the system. No change.
0:04 - 1:00 Soft weeping.

Yes, our dear Kyle got the RRoD. We've actually had quite the little epidemic going on around staff lately of general Xbox 360 failures -- three in two weeks. Our luck on Joystiq may be bad, but our sister-site Xbox 360 Fanboy (X3F) isn't immune. They had two of their three writers have a system die on them (one of them twice). Just remember that you're covered under warranty for the most part and to tell your system you love it every day, because it may be the last time you ever see it alive. Now, please pardon while we go get the lasagna out of the oven and sit shiva at Orland's place for the afternoon.

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Joystiq and PSPFB hands on with PSP-2000: Part 1

Filed under: Features, Sony PSP

This September, Sony will be unleashing the first ever revision of the PlayStation Portable. Codenamed PSP-2000, the system sports a new slimmer design, and the ability to display content on a television. There are a lot of mysteries surrounding the new system -- but tonight, we're going to clear things up. We asked the readers of PSP Fanboy to submit their questions and received about a hundred responses. That's a lot of ground to cover, so we're going to spend the next few days answering as many as we can. Let's begin.

The PSP-1000's volume wasn't that loud. Did they increase the volume?
Submitted by: dapurplebyrd
As you can see, the speakers on the new PSP (right) are not louder than the old PSP (left). With headphones on, the volume output is identical as well.

Continue reading Joystiq and PSPFB hands on with PSP-2000: Part 1

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TimeShift alters past, demo phases into Xbox marketplace

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

We checked with Ziggy, and she says there's an 85% probability that we didn't know about this. We're sending in Al to make sure this isn't a mistake, but a TimeShift demo has phased into Xbox marketplace. The game is available to demo well in advance of its Oct. 30 launch.

The demo for TimeShift seems like your standard FPS fare. The location is a City 17 Half-Life 2 dystopia with propaganda blaring through the city, you have Max Payne meets F.E.A.R. powers -- except you can reverse time a little as well. One utterly obnoxious oversight is that you can't actually alter scripted history in the game. There's a scene very early on where a guy screams, "I don't want to die!" A soldier then caps the guy in the back of the head. If you reverse time, you can't kill the guy about to shoot him -- no matter how many bullets you put in his head. If you stop time, you can't take the gun out of the shooter's hands. If you slow time, you can't put your body in front of the bullet. The poor man will always die. Maybe they should have called the game TimeScript.

[Thanks Gage]

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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars shines gold

Filed under: PC, First Person Shooters

Not to be outdone by another prominent first-person shooter with a new metallic finish, id Software's Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has gone gold. According to the press release, the game will invade Europe and Australia first on September 28, followed by North America four days later (October 2).

Though not mentioned, we're expecting the game to also be released via Steam much like the rest of id's catalog. No word on its impending release for Mac (being handled by Aspyr), Xbox 360 (Nerve Software) or the PlayStation 3 (Activision Foster City).

Gallery: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

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Today in Joystiq: August 30, 2007

Make no mistake, Pete, they're just waiting for you to fall asleep before they steal all your hit points. Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Joystiq and PSPFB hands on with PSP-2000: Part 1
Red Ring of Death visits Orland for lunch
Rock Band: The next great franchise (an interview with Harmonix)
Today's squintiest video: NiGHTS phonecam clip

News
GameTap Thursday: A Thief in the deadly shadows
PS3 60GB are officially all out in the wild
Family Guy coming to 360 Video Marketplace Sept. 2
Watch video of two new stunts from Jackass game
UK has 1 million Wiis to play with
Small Arms getting even smaller on phones
Mass Effect goes into effect Nov. 20
Manhunt 2 heading to Holland
Cyberball, Fatal Fury on XBLA next week, limited price drops this weekend
Worms going to space on Wii
TimeShift alters past, demo phases into Xbox marketplace
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars shines gold

Culture & Community
E for All does damage control regarding EA, Sony and Microsoft
Virginia finds no link between violent games and V-Tech murderer

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Today's trapped-at-the-U.S.-border video: Tingle DS

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Adventure, RPGs, Video, Business

European and Japanese game, Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland has a new trailer showing the too-hot-for-America RPG. While no U.S. release has been mentioned, Tingle importers should at least be able to read the English in the European version, due September 14. That's assuming fans of Tingle can read.

We can't imagine Tingle not getting a U.S. release after the work has been done for the European localization. But maybe our myopic tastes make Nintendo nervous. (See the last sentence of the previous paragraph for an example.)

Watch the new trailer after the break.

Continue reading Today's trapped-at-the-U.S.-border video: Tingle DS

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