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Interview: 343 Industries' Frank O'Connor

Dragon Quest IX is Q3's top-selling game

Following Wii Sports Resort in the top five: Madden NFL 2010 at 2,612,000, Pokemon HeartGold And SoulSilver at 2,068,000, and Halo 3: ODST, which was only out for a week in Q3, at 1,847,000 copies. All these games have plenty more sales ahead of them as the holidays approach!
G4 competition dishes out rare Halo 3 flaming armor
Beyond cries from fanboys for Recon, the rarest of all Halo 3 armor permutations -- or at least the rarest option -- is strutting around multiplayer matches with a flaming skull. Originally only available to employees of Bungie, the heated helmets are now the prize for G4's upcoming Sarkathlon.
In order to enter the contest, which runs until midnight on November 8, players must download a special variant of the map Longshore (only found on the second disk of Halo 3: ODST) and find eight hidden grenades scattered throughout the map. The player who completes the task and crosses the finish line in the shortest amount of time with saved replay proof walks away with the flaming skull. It's the Halo equivalent of painting a giant bulls eye on your back, so why wouldn't you want it?
In order to enter the contest, which runs until midnight on November 8, players must download a special variant of the map Longshore (only found on the second disk of Halo 3: ODST) and find eight hidden grenades scattered throughout the map. The player who completes the task and crosses the finish line in the shortest amount of time with saved replay proof walks away with the flaming skull. It's the Halo equivalent of painting a giant bulls eye on your back, so why wouldn't you want it?
[Image Credit: Hushed Casket]
Halo Waypoint live with Dashboard preview program, includes Avatar Awards
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Halo players to compete in WCG ODST tournament
We're not big fans of pro gaming, in fact, we think it's all a little hokey. But maybe you're a fan of getting free money for being good at Halo and really, who are we to stand in the way of that? It's in that spirit we tell you about the WCG USA Halo 3: ODST Locked and Loaded Tournament.
The 24 teams participating will have a chance at $5,000 in cash and Samsung-related prizes. If you'd like to join the kinda hokey but possibly lucrative fray, you can register here.
The 24 teams participating will have a chance at $5,000 in cash and Samsung-related prizes. If you'd like to join the kinda hokey but possibly lucrative fray, you can register here.
September NPD: Obviously Destined to Sell Tons

In software (see the chart after the break), unsurprisingly strong debuts took place for both games with Halo on the box and games with Mario on the box. In fact, strong is a bit of an understatement for ODST's 1.52 million units sold. It's not quite 3.3 million units, but for a presumably lower-cost spinoff using an existing engine, it'll do.
In a weird bit of cross-platform fickleness, The Beatles: Rock Band debuted in the top 10 for Xbox and Wii, but not PS3 -- while Batman: Arkham Asylum's PS3 version made a second appearance in the top 10 to the exclusion of the Xbox.
-DS: 524K
29K (-5%)-PS3: 492K
282K (+134%)-Wii: 463K
186K (+67%)-360: 353K
138K (+64%)-PSP: 190K
50K (+36%)-PS2: 146K
40K (+38%)Check out the software sales chart after the break.
Halo Waypoint detailed, captured on video
With the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard update preview kicking off today, Microsoft dropped some more details on Halo Waypoint, the Dashboard playpen for the Master Chief enthusiasts among you. The preview video – found after the break – walks you through some of the destination's functionality, notably the "career system" which will track "in-game accomplishments across multiple Halo games." Unsurprisingly, that career will be limited to the Xbox 360-released Halo games: Halo 3, Halo Wars, Halo 3: ODST, and "all Game Add-on content for those titles." Oh, you beat Halo 2 in under 30 minutes? We'll just have to take your word for it.
Halo Waypoint is being developed collaboratively by Microsoft's internal Halo studio, 343 Industries, and Certain Affinity, the Austin-based developer (with some former Bungie staffers) behind Age of Booty. Waypoint will be available November 5 for both Xbox Live Gold and Silver members; however, come November 26 those Silver members will have to pony up for Live if they want to keep their Waypoint access. That's a solid three weeks to determine if the exclusive Waypoint offerings – like the Nov. 7. preview of the "Halo Legends" anime anthology – are worth it. We imagine it will be for the hardcore Halo fan ... but we'd assume they've already got a Gold account.
Gallery: Halo Waypoint
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg touts holiday exclusives, 360 sales growth in down economy
Namedropping exclusives from Halo 3: ODST to Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City to Shadow Complex, as well as reaffirming Microsoft's "year-to-date growth in console sales compared to last year," Microsoft's director of product management Aaron Greenberg sounds extremely confident in the Xbox 360 (that's his job, right?). Thankfully, he's not always above admitting when his competitors are going to win. "When NPD releases September sales later today, we fully expect PlayStation 3 will come in as the console with the most units sold for the month," he tells Game Informer in a recent interview.
Unsurprisingly, though, he's sanguine on the prospect of Microsoft's console beating out Sony's. "We remain confident that Xbox 360 will not only outsell PS3 for the full calendar year, but for this entire generation." His confidence wanes though when asked about beating Apple with the Zune HD, offering only, "Our strategy has always been to completely focus on delivering the best games and entertainment experience in the living room and not get distracted by anything else." Gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, right?
[Image credit: gamerscore]
Unsurprisingly, though, he's sanguine on the prospect of Microsoft's console beating out Sony's. "We remain confident that Xbox 360 will not only outsell PS3 for the full calendar year, but for this entire generation." His confidence wanes though when asked about beating Apple with the Zune HD, offering only, "Our strategy has always been to completely focus on delivering the best games and entertainment experience in the living room and not get distracted by anything else." Gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, right?
[Image credit: gamerscore]
Interview: Microsoft Game Studios' Phil Spencer

Mind you, the part where Spencer suggests that alternate forms of input (whether in addition to or in substitute of traditional controllers) might become a common expectation is pretty interesting. You should definitely read that.
Joystiq: We just came out of the Tokyo Game Show panel discussion for Project Natal ...
Phil Spencer: The creators panel.
Yes, the creators panel. Hideo Kojima was there; they brainstormed about all these games. How much focus is Microsoft Game Studios placing on Natal development internally in comparison to other projects?
It's a big focus for us in first party. As a first party, I think it's our duty, it's our responsibility to look at the new technologies that we bring to our platform. We did this with Live. We did at launch of 360. When we look at Project Natal as an opportunity for first party to truly innovate on our platform, creating new experiences, new intellectual property, we're very focused. A large percentage of the studio right now is thinking about Natal as part of what they're doing.
EEDAR: Game sales slowdown turned around in September

The music genre may be slowing down, but Divnich notes that "both Guitar Hero 5 and The Beatles: Rock Band have performed at levels ahead of retail expectations," with sales predicted at 800k and 1 million units respectively. The same analyst at EEDAR previously predicted that Guitar Hero 5 would outsell The Beatles 2:1. With NPD sales results dropping next week, we'll soon see how accurate Divnich's latest analysis is.
ODST reaches 2.5 million sales; Haloverse expansions detailed
After yesterday's full-fledged assault on mainstream gaming news coverage, we were refreshed to read this great USA Today report on the current state of the Halo franchise. Sure, it further promotes the tired opinion that Bungie's ever-popular shooter is set to overtake the Star Wars franchise in the cultural marketplace. However, it backs up that assertion with startling figures: According to the report, Halo 3: ODST has sold 2.5 million units in the past two weeks, bringing the total sales for the entire franchise up to a cool 27 million.
Additionally, USA Today further supports its thesis by compiling a list of the future franchise spin-offs, including -- *deep breath* -- Halo: Reach, the Halo: Blood Line comic series, Halo Legends, Halo Waypoint, the Halo: Evolutions novel (and another heretofore unnamed book trilogy), and more McFarlane toys. Some may accuse this franchise of succumbing to over-saturation -- we think it crossed that bridge around the time it got its own Mountain Dew.
Additionally, USA Today further supports its thesis by compiling a list of the future franchise spin-offs, including -- *deep breath* -- Halo: Reach, the Halo: Blood Line comic series, Halo Legends, Halo Waypoint, the Halo: Evolutions novel (and another heretofore unnamed book trilogy), and more McFarlane toys. Some may accuse this franchise of succumbing to over-saturation -- we think it crossed that bridge around the time it got its own Mountain Dew.
Xbox Live Top 10: Halo 3, Trials HD, Forza 3 demo
As our more astute readers likely gathered from this very post's headline, another week has gone, so it's about time we checked in with Major Nelson to see what made his list of the most-played games on Xbox Live. Unsurprisingly, Bungie's dynamic duo of Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST managed to do well, taking the first and third spots, respectively -- Call of Duty 4 was in the second slot, while Forza 3's demo managed to get some play time on folks' boxes, taking a tight turn into the seventh place spot.
On the XBLA side, Trials HD did backflips to the top of the list, beating out recent releases Zombie Apocalypse and Bust-A-Move Live!. The remainder of the XBLA list saw favorites Battlefield 1943 and Shadow Complex rounding out the bottom end of the top five.
On the XBLA side, Trials HD did backflips to the top of the list, beating out recent releases Zombie Apocalypse and Bust-A-Move Live!. The remainder of the XBLA list saw favorites Battlefield 1943 and Shadow Complex rounding out the bottom end of the top five.
FIFA 10 debuts with record UK sales lead, Layton maintains second
FIFA 10 -- the Madden of Europa -- had the most successful "all formats" launch since Grand Theft Auto IV in the UK, according to Chart Track. First week sales of the footie fiesta grew by nearly 48 percent over its predecessor's opening week a year ago. This was the highest-selling launch of a FIFA game ever, with the Xbox 360 generating 48 percent of sales, PS3 46 percent, and the remaining formats making up six percent.
Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (the Diabolical Box in the States) held onto the number two spot from the week prior, while Halo 3: ODST sales dropped 75 percent to the third spot, after holding last week's crown.
Source -- FIFA 10 scores BIG (Chart Track)
Source -- All formats chart (Chart Track)
Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (the Diabolical Box in the States) held onto the number two spot from the week prior, while Halo 3: ODST sales dropped 75 percent to the third spot, after holding last week's crown.
Source -- FIFA 10 scores BIG (Chart Track)
Source -- All formats chart (Chart Track)
Watch the making of Halo 3: ODST live-action short
The micro-documentary also reveals some surprising trivia about the shoot, including the fact that the opening funeral scene was shot inside the cooling tower of an operating nuclear power plant. Oh, and the battle sequence? They filmed it at the bottom of a coal strip-mine. Really? We could have swarn it was New Mombasa.
Microsoft says Halo 3: ODST disc read errors aren't 'widespread'
Bungie quickly responded to a 60-page-long thread on the Halo 3: ODST forums where users complained the title had experienced disc read errors while playing in the game's Campaign and Firefight modes. Now, Microsoft has also sounded off on the errors, telling Eurogamer, "we are aware of a very small number of people who are reporting they can't play the game," and later adding "at this point it doesn't appear to be a widespread issue."
In our last post regarding the game-crashing errors, we asked readers if they had encountered similar problems during their time with ODST. Out of the 5,608 participants who responded at the time this article was written, 1,769 (or 31.5 percent) had reported technical issues with the game. We're sure Microsoft has their own method of tracking this data, but our polling figures certainly make the problems seem as though they've spread fairly wide.
In our last post regarding the game-crashing errors, we asked readers if they had encountered similar problems during their time with ODST. Out of the 5,608 participants who responded at the time this article was written, 1,769 (or 31.5 percent) had reported technical issues with the game. We're sure Microsoft has their own method of tracking this data, but our polling figures certainly make the problems seem as though they've spread fairly wide.






















