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Mortal Kombat decapitates the competition in April NPD report
It’s no secret that the video game community has responded to NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat reboot with a resounding “I love it.” But like Shao Kahn taunting a clearly inferior kombatant, the game also emerged on top of The NPD Group’s April 2011 sales report. And according to a tweet from Kombat creator Ed Boon, the game sold over 1,000,000 copies during the month. Flawless victory indeed.
April 19’s other big release, Portal 2, teleported its way to the top of the list with a strong #2 showing. Of course, it’s important to point out that a good portion of Portal 2’s sales were digital downloads through Steam, which isn’t counted by the NPD.
But the biggest surprise from last month’s top ten might be the absence of Sony’s SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs. The online shooter was also released on April 19th, one day before hackers took down the PSN. The service has yet to return and its offline status definitely contributed to SOCOM 4’s lackluster sales.
Hit the jump for the complete top ten of April’s bestselling games. (more…)
Your Madden NFL 12 Cover Athlete: Peyton Hillis
Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis didn’t just win the Madden NFL 12 Cover Vote, he demolished his competition, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick. The Madden NFL 2004 coverboy only managed to capture 34% of the vote to Hillis’ 66%. Hillis had an impressive 2010-2011 season, but this vote was clearly a huge upset.
All told, more than 12,000,000 votes were cast throughout the entire tournament and Hillis steamrolled some pretty hefty competition (including head-to-head victories over Ray Rice, Matt Ryan, Jamaal Charles and Aaron Rodgers).
Madden NFL 12 (with Peyton Hillis on the cover) will be released for the PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 on August 30.
Michael Vick, Peyton Hillis fight for Madden NFL 12 cover
And then there were two.
The voting for the Madden NFL 12 cover athlete is down to the end and only Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick and Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis remain.
Hillis defeated the heavily favored Aaron Rodgers to reach the finals while Vick ended the cinderella dreams of Adrian Peterson. A Vick victory would give the formerly incarcerated quarterback his second Madden cover appearance while Hillis has run over some of the biggest names in pro football to reach the finals. I think it’s safe to say that few people picked either of these guys to make it this far.
Final round voting will continue from now until Monday, April 25. The winner will be announced on April 27th during ESPN 2’s “SportsNation.”
Madden NFL 12 blitzes stores on August 30
Rob Semsey, the Director of Public Relations at EA Sports, has tweeted that Madden NFL 12 will be released on August 30. Normally, the Madden series rushes stores during the middle of the month, but with this year’s labor problems between the NFL and the players union, perhaps the publisher wanted to give the development team at EA Tiburon a little more time before the season starts.
Semsey said the later release date was picked “to align closer to the start of the NFL regular season.”
Whatever the reason, the currently cover athelete-less Madden NFL 12 will be released for the PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 whether the lockout is resolved or not.
Rodgers, Hillis, Vick, Peterson are the Madden NFL 12 final four
The third round of the Madden NFL 12 Cover Vote has come to a close and now only four names remain.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers emerged victorious over New England’s Danny Woodhead. He’ll face Peyton Hillis of the Cleveland Browns in the semifinals, who continued his cinderella run with a win over Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles.
The other half of the bracket includes Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick on top, Vick beat the 49ers’ Patrick Willis in round three. He’ll be challenged by Vikings wide receiver Adrian Peterson, who stomped Drew Brees with 62% of the vote.
Semifinal voting begins today and runs through April 17.
Nintendo Download for 3/28/11
This week’s Nintendo Download is a bit thin as the consolemaker has no WiiWare or Virtual Console titles to add to the Wii Shop Channel.
However, this week will see the release of new demo versions of two previously available games: Dart Rage, a dart-throwing simulator; and Learning with the PooYoos: Episode 2, a “poetic brain-trainer” for the 3 to 5 set.
This week’s DSiWare releases include Simply Solitaire and Faceez: Monsters!. You can find out more about both of these titles after the break. (more…)
Natsume Championship Wrestling on VC this week
Back before every wrestling game had to have a WWE (or WCW or ECW or TNA) license to be successful, Natsume released Natsume Championship Wrestling during the Super NES-era and wrestling fans everywhere seemed to enjoy it. With WWE All-Stars scheduled for release next week, this new addition to the Virtual Console might be a good warm-up. It’s joined this week by the WiiWare release Arcade Essentials, “a collection of five classic arcade games.”
The DSiWare Shop will also receive two new titles this week: Shapo, a balancing puzzle game; and G.G. Series: D-Tank, a shooting game where players control a tank.
More information on all four games can be found after the break. (more…)
Plants vs Zombies added to DSiWare Shop
PopCap Games has seemingly released Plants vs Zombies for every platform under the sun, but they found one they missed as the publisher has added the game to the DSiWare Shop today.
If the eternal struggle between brain-eaters and begonias doesn’t interest you, this week’s DSiWare update also includes Rabi Laby, a platformer where a woman and her pet rabbit venture to a magical land; and 5-In-1 Mahjong, a portable mahjong game.
The lone WiiWare release this week is Liight, a puzzle game that combines music and colors.
More information on all of these titles can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Tagged DS, Plants vs Zombies, Wii