Rovio on Wednesday announced that its Angry Birds franchise has surpassed one billion downloads across Android, iOS, Windows and Mac OS X, with 350 million downloads having been served in 2012 alone. The latest Birds installment, Angry Birds Space, was downloaded more than 10 million time in less than three days and a whopping 50 million times in 35 days, making it the fastest growing mobile game of all time. The immensely popular franchise generated $106 million for the company in 2011 and drew in 200 million active monthly users. Rovio’s video announcement follows below.

Sony is aiming to launch its next-generation PlayStation video game console ahead of rival Microsoft, a recent report claims. Microsoft’s next Xbox console — which could be an ARM-based “Xbox lite” that will launch ahead of a true Xbox 360 successor that will be released some time later — is widely expected to hit store shelves for the holidays in 2013. According to an unnamed source speaking with VG247, Sony plans to launch its PlayStation 4 console before Microsoft’s next Xbox makes a splash. ”Sony are completely in the belief that they have the jump on Microsoft this time,” the source reportedly said. The anonymous source continued, ”Top line publishers already know about it. Developers working with publishers – like Ubisoft, for example – already know what’s going on. They’re already working on it.” Both Sony and Microsoft are expected to unveil their next-generation consoles during the annual E3 gaming conference next year.

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Wealthy smartphone users are more likely to own an Apple iPhone and less likely to play games or post on Twitter than average users. According to research from The Luxury Institute, 62% of U.S. consumers earning at least $150,000 per year own a smartphone. 45% of people falling to that category own an iPhone, 35% use an Android-powered device and 25% have a BlackBerry. More than 80% of wealthy smartphone owners download mobile apps, with the most popular categories being weather (63%), news (51%), travel (42%), business/finance (39%) and sports (34%). Facebook, Angry Birds and Words With Friends are the most popular apps, however higher-income consumers use far less entertainment apps than the average smartphone user. “As you get older and have family and significant others, aging parents, and a lot more assets and investments, you’re going to need apps for far more relevant things than playing games and chatting with your peers,” The Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza noted.

[Via Reuters]

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The next generation PlayStation has reportedly been code-named “Orbis,” and it will feature an anti-used game system and offer no backward compatibility with PlayStation 3 games, Kotaku reported on Wednesday. According to multiple unnamed sources, Orbis will have some kind of measure built into the console that will prevent it from playing used games. Users will be able to buy new games for the system on Blu-ray disc or as a PlayStation Network download, and if a user chooses to buy a disc, it will supposedly be locked to a single PSN account. Users will reportedly be required to log into Sony’s network to play games, with no offline mode available. Read on for more.

If a user does trade in a disc, the pre-owned customer will be limited in what they can do in the game, and may be forced to pay a fee to unlock and register the full title. Earlier reports claimed that Microsoft’s next generation Xbox could include a similar feature, however GameStop CEO Paul Raines said a used game block would be highly unlikely.

Similar to how Sony removed the PS3 Slim’s backwards compatibility with PS2 games, the company reportedly has no plans to offer backward compatibility with PS3 games on its Orbis console. The next-generation PlayStation is seemingly slated to launch during the holiday season next year, and it will feature an AMD x64 CPU and AMD Southern Islands GPU capable of running Orbis games at a resolution of 4,096 x 2,160 pixels, or at 1080p in 3D mode.

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Microsoft first discussed its “three screens and a cloud” gaming strategy in 2009, describing a scenario that could carry a single video game across a TV screen, a PC and a smartphone. Now, nearly three years later, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II counts itself among the first games to showcase this exciting integration. Owners of an Xbox 360 and a Windows Phone will be able to start a game on one device, pause, and pick up on the other device exactly where they left off. “One of the cool things about it is that the Windows Mobile 7 [sic] and the Xbox are going to be able to work in tandem in ways that are completely new,” Digital Grand Manager for Sonic 4: Episode II Ken Balough told Official Xbox Magazine in an interview. “So when you pick up the Windows Mobile 7 and you’ll be able to play Sonic Episode II, save it, stop, boot up your Xbox 360 and pick up right where you left off. And that’s a really cool thing Microsoft has going between the devices and I’m a huge fan of it.” The video interview with Balough follows below, and the conversation pertaining to the Xbox and Windows Phone can be heard shortly after the 4-minute mark.

[Via wpcentral]

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Microsoft’s next-generation video game and home entertainment console may use online downloads and a swappable solid state card port of some kind in place of a traditional disc drive. The news comes from British gaming magazine MCV, which cites an unnamed person who claims to have obtained the information directly from Microsoft. The Xbox 360 already supports digital content distribution models and it is expected that Microsoft will continue to increase its focus on non-physical media. At the same time, however, this new rumor counters earlier reports that the next-generation “Xbox 720″ will include Blu-ray disc support. When asked to comment, a company spokesperson wouldn’t confirm the move away from discs but did say Microsoft is “always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention.” BGR exclusively reported last June that Microsoft intends to unveil its next-generation Xbox console at the annual E3 gaming conference later this year. The console is expected to hit the market some time in 2013.

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One of the most beloved video games in history has been refreshed in a new mashup that gaming fans of all shapes and sizes need to download immediately. The title is “Mari0″ and simply stated, it’s Super Mario Brothers meets Portal. Game developer Maurice Guegan is the man behind Mari0, and he built the title from the ground up. It features a start to finish recreation of Nintendo’s original Super Mario Brothers game, adds a portal gun that shoots portals through which Mario can travel as in the popular PC game “Portal,” and mixes in a 4-player cooperative mode along with several additional features. The result is an addictive game that does a better job adding a new twist to an old classic than anything we’ve seen in recent history. Mari0 is free and open source, and it is available immediately for Windows, OS X and Linux PCs. A trailer video follows below, as does a link to a download that will ensure your Monday is completely unproductive.

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Apple may be working on an overhaul of its iTunes Store and App Store, according to 9to5Mac. Due to growing competition from music streaming services like Spotify and the growing popularity of Amazon’s online music store, the redesign of the iTunes Store is considered “a top priority for Apple.” The Cupertino-based company is looking to simplify the service and deliver a more user-friendly interface than the one afforded by its current design. The redesign will reportedly simplify content discovery, and it will “make the iTunes Store a much more engaging experience.” The revamped stores are reportedly scheduled to launch later this year.

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Rovio on Friday teased the next frontier for the company’s massive Angry Birds franchise. The fourth major Birds release will be called “Angry Birds Space” and is scheduled to land on mobile devices on March 22nd. In the newest edition, users will be flinging birds on zero gravity planets with new gameplay features such as slow-motion and lightspeed destruction, according to Yahoo Games. ”We think fans are really going to love it because we’ve already gotten amazing feedback on the physics of our games,” said Rovio’s GM of North America Andrew Stalbow. “They’re so accurate and easy to grasp that some teachers use Angry Birds in their lessons about projectile motion.” Rovio has confirmed that the game will have completely new birds along with some originals, who now possess various super powers. Since debuting in 2009, the franchise has been downloaded over 700 million times on iOS and Android alone. Read on for a video teaser from Rovio.

[Via Yahoo]

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HTC will be one of the first companies outside of Sony to receive PlayStation certification for its mobile devices, according to Pocket-lint. The announcement is expected later this year and devices with PlayStation certification could possibly debut at this month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Sony announced that its PlayStation certification program would launch on non-Sony devices at last year’s launch of the PlayStation Vita in Japan. The program gives smartphone and tablet owners access to many classic PSOne games and to Sony’s gaming network. It is suggested that HTC devices with the PlayStation Suite will begin hitting the market in the second half of 2012.

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The video game industry capped off a rough year in the United States with a horrible holiday month that saw sales plummet year-over-year across all categories. Market research firm The NPD Group recently released its sales estimates for December 2011 and the full year, and neither set of figures paints a pretty picture. Last month, total industry sales plummeted to $3.99 billion, down 21% from $5.07 billion in December 2010. Hardware sales dropped 28% to $1.32 billion in December, and software sales were down 14% to $2.08 billion. “December was very rough for new physical sales of video games hardware, software and accessories,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement. “Because of the great slate of content that came to market during the fourth quarter, I had expected December sales to represent a larger portion of total year sales than what occurred. This year, December accounted for just 23% of annual sales, while the average for the past ten years has been 28.” For the full year, hardware sales were down 11% to $5.58 billion, software sales dipped 6% to $8.83 billion and total industry sales slid 8% to $17.02 billion. The NPD Group’s full press release follows below along with a list of the top-10 best-selling games of 2011.

Image source: Kristen Lanae

2011 TOTAL CONSUMER SPEND ON ALL GAMES CONTENT IN THE U.S. ESTIMATED BETWEEN $16.3 TO $16.6 BILLION

-  U.S. VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY NEW PHYSICAL RETAIL CONTENT SALES REACH $9.3 BILLION -

PORT WASHINGTON, NY, January 12, 2012 – According to leading market research company, The NPD Group, the preliminary estimate* for total consumer spend on gaming content via all monetization methods, including new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games, is between  $16.3 to $16.6 billion. This total consumer spend on games content in 2011, which includes both physical and digital formats, represents sales that are down approximately 2 percent when compared to 2010.

Based on this estimate, spending on new physical content at retail continues to account for the majority of the total consumer spend on games content.  U.S. retail sales of new physical video game content, which includes portable, console and PC game software, generated revenues of $9.3 billion, an 8 percent decline over the $10.1 billion generated in 2010.

Bright spots came from HD console software sales, which were up 9 percent in 2011, as well as increases in the consumer spend on used games sales, full-game digital downloads and downloadable content, and mobile gaming apps, which partially offset declines in the other areas of consumer spend on content.

“Overall industry results are not entirely surprising given that we are on the back end of the current console lifecycle, combined with the continued digital evolution of gaming.  Core gamers continue to be engaged and spend on established franchises across both the digital and physical format using multiple devices for different gaming occasions,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.

“Our overall estimate of the market continues to point toward the increased imperative for deeper visibility into digital distribution than is available today, not only in the U.S. but globally.  This is the goal of our partnership with EEDAR, and central to our discussions with publishers and others in the gaming community,” said David McQuillan, president, Games at The NPD Group.

When it comes to mobile gaming, no one does it better than Gameloft. The French company is known for its visually stunning and in-depth game-play, having repeatedly raised the bar for mobile gaming throughout the years. Gameloft’s paid games range from $0.99 to $6.99, however, from December 29th through January 5th all of the company’s paid games can be had for $0.99. There is no catch and no gimmick; all games means all games, including the newly released first-person shooter Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, originally priced at $6.99. Other titles you may want to check out, should you have a compatible device, include Order & Chaos Online, N.O.V.A. 2 HD, 9mm HD, Adventures of TinTin, and BackStab HD. The sale begins tomorrow, December 29th, at 1:00 p.m.

[Via DroidGamers]

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Sony recently published a list of the games that will be available when its brand new PlayStation Vita portable gaming console finally makes its debut on February 22nd in the United States. The $250 console, which we enjoyed during our initial hands-on during E3 2011, will launch alongside exciting titles such as Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Dungeon Hunter Alliance, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 and more. Sony will also offer a 4GB memory card for just $19.99, or users can opt to spend up to $99 for a 32GB memory card. The full list of launch day games follows below in Sony’s press release. 

PlayStation Vita to Launch With Biggest and Best Software Lineup in Sony Computer Entertainment History

SCEA Announces U.S. and Canadian Lineup of PS Vita Games and Accessories

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Dec. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC today announced software launch details for the highly anticipated PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) handheld entertainment system, which will boast the biggest and best launch lineup across the history of PlayStation platforms. PS Vita will offer the most popular franchises in gaming along with entirely new titles – all built from the ground up to take advantage of PS Vita and the unique ways it enables gamers to play.
The PS Vita platform has the full development support of the gaming industry, including SCE Worldwide Studios and all third-party publishers, who are combining to deliver 25 titles on day one. First-party launch titles will include Escape Plan™, Hot Shots Golf®: World Invitational, Little Deviants™, ModNation™Racers: Road Trip, UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss™, and wipEout® 2048.  Key launch titles from third-party partners will include EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer (Electronic Arts, Inc.), Lumines ™ Electronic Symphony (Ubisoft, Inc.), Touch My Katamari™ (Namco Bandai Games America Inc.), Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3® (Capcom Entertainment, Inc.) and Virtua Tennis™4: World Tour Edition (Sega® of America).

Pricing for all software will range between $9.99- $49.99 (MSRP). Software titles will be available via PS Vita game cards at retail stores or digitally via PlayStation®Network. In addition, a select number of titles will be available exclusively on PlayStation Network

“PlayStation Vita is the ultimate portable gaming device, offering all of the interface, controls and social connectivity that gamers have been dreaming about to deliver unsurpassed entertainment and completely new ways to play,” said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America. “PS Vita features the most extensive launch lineup in PlayStation’s history, and there are more than 100 games in development, ensuring that PS Vita gamers will always have a steady stream of amazing titles at their fingertips.”

The gameplay experience on PS Vita is unmatched by any other mobile device in the market, providing new ways to interact through features such as its 5-inch OLED multi-touch screen and rear touch pad, dual analog sticks, dual cameras, and six-axis motion sensing system. PS Vita will also interact with the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) with compatible titles, offering multi-player gaming across both platforms and cloud-saving so consumers can play a game on one platform and pick up where they left off on the other.

PS Vita will draw consumers deeper into the gameplay experience by providing both 3G/Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi only models, enabling them to connect and play with the world around them, including their friends and other PS Vita owners. A variety of social networking and communications services such as Facebook, flickr, foursquare, Skype™, and Twitter will be available on PS Vita.

PS Vita launches at major retailers in the United States and Canada on February 22, 2012. The Wi-Fi model will be available for$249.99 (MSRP), and the 3G/Wi-Fi model will be available in the United States for $299.99 (MSRP). Consumers who pre-order the PS Vita First Edition Bundle will be able to pick up their devices as early as February 15, 2012. All first-party launch software titles and a selection of peripherals and third-party games will be available that day to support the release of the pre-sale Bundle.

Consumers who purchase PS Vita will also be able to experience Augmented Reality (AR) right out of the box.  Included with every PS Vita system are six AR Play cards and one voucher to download a handful of augmented reality mini games via PlayStation®Network.

SCEA Launch Day Titles
Escape Plan™ (PSN Only)
Hot Shots Golf®: World Invitational
Hustle Kings™ (PSN Only)
Little Deviants™
ModNation™ Racers: Road Trip
Super StarDust™ Delta (PSN only)
UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss™
wipEout® 2048
Launch Window Titles
Gravity Rush™
MLB® 12 The Show
Reality Fighters™
Unit 13™
Third Party Publisher Launch Day Titles
Army Corps of Hell ©	Square Enix, Inc.
Asphalt® Injection	Ubisoft, Inc.
BEN10™ GALACTIC RACING	D3 Publisher of America
Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND*	Aksys Games Localization, Inc.
Dungeon Hunter Alliance	Ubisoft, Inc.
Dynasty Warriors Next	Tecmo Koei America Corporation
F1 2011™	Codemasters®
EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer	Electronic Arts, Inc.
Lumines ™ Electronic Symphony*	Ubisoft, Inc.
Michael Jackson The Experience	Ubisoft, Inc.
Plants vs. Zombies™ (PSN Only)	Sony Online Entertainment LLC
Rayman® Origins*	Ubisoft, Inc.
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen	Namco Bandai Games America Inc.
Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (PSN Only)	Drinkbox Studios
Touch My Katamari™	Namco Bandai Games America Inc.
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3®*	Capcom Entertainment, Inc.
Virtua Tennis™4: World Tour Edition	Sega® of America
Launch Window Titles
LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 5-7	Warner Bros. Interactive Ent. Inc.
Disgaea ®3:Absence of Detention	NIS America, Inc.
NINJA GAIDEN® Sigma PLUS	Tecmo Koei America Corporation
Ridge Racer®	Namco Bandai Games America Inc.
Silent Hill Book of Memories	Konami Digital Ent. America, Inc.
Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted™	505 Games

Microsoft announced on Tuesday that last week marked the Xbox 360′s best ever week of sales. The company sold more than 960,000 Xbox 360 consoles and more than 750,000 Kinect controllers last week. Microsoft also confirmed that more than 800,000 of the consoles it sold last week were purchased on Black Friday alone. ”We have seen tremendous excitement from customers for our hot holiday gaming offers,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of Home Entertainment at Best Buy, in a statement. “Xbox 360 was among the best-sellers at Best Buy this Black Friday, and is a testament to the continued popularity of the gaming category this holiday.” Microsoft’s full announcement follows below.

Entering the seventh year of its lifecycle, Xbox 360 just closed the biggest sales week in the history of Xbox, selling more than 960,000 consoles in the U.S. during the week of Black Friday.

Microsoft’s retail partners are equally excited about our sales performance this holiday.

“We have seen tremendous excitement from customers for our hot holiday gaming offers,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of Home Entertainment at Best Buy. “Xbox 360 was among the best-sellers at Best Buy this Black Friday, and is a testament to the continued popularity of the gaming category this holiday.”

Sales highlights in the U.S. during the week of Black Friday include:

• Xbox 360 sold more than 960,000 consoles in the U.S. alone, of which more than 800,000 were sold within a period of 24 hours – the biggest week of sales in Xbox history. (Source: Internal data)
• More than 750,000 Kinect for Xbox 360 sensors were sold in the U.S. – standalone and bundled. (Source: Internal data)

If you’re unfortunate enough to be sitting at your in-laws wearing that itchy sweater you hate so much, at least we have you covered with a few games to get you through the night. EA and Gameloft have a huge sale going on and both are offering most titles for just $0.99. Gameloft has Starfront: Collision, Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden, Shrek Kart and dozens more up for grabs, each for just a dollar. In addition, EA has Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 for iPad, The Sims: Medieval and much, much more for just $0.99 a piece. That’s the same price as a McChicken, but so much more rewarding — and none of us should be thinking about more food right now.

Read [TouchArcade] Read [EA]