- January 2006 in video gaming
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January 31 2006 *
Sony is reportedly building aXbox Live -killer for thePlayStation 3 . [http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/31/sony-declares-full-on-assault-on-xbox-live/ (Joystiq)]
*StarForce , a DRM maker for computer games, threatens to sue popular weblogBoing Boing for criticising its products. [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7976 (Gamasutra)] , [http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/31/starforce_threatens_.html (Boing Boing)]
*CNET reports thatCisco Systems might be interested in buyingNintendo . [http://news.com.com/Is+TiVo+next+on+Ciscos+push+into+homes+-+page+2/2100-1036_3-6032452-2.html?tag=st.next (CNET)] , [http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=11723 (GameDaily.biz)]
*Blizzard Entertainment responds to theLGBT debate happening in "World of Warcraft ". The company stated: "To promote a positive game environment for everyone and help prevent such harassment from taking place as best we can, we prohibit mention of topics related to sensitive real-world subjects in open chat within the game, and we do our best to take action whenever we see such topics being broadcast." [http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2006/01/blizzard_respon.php (Edge)]
*Sony announces that ten servers will be merged with ten others on "Everquest 2 ". Players are cautiously optimistic. [http://eq2players.station.sony.com/news_archive.vm?id=695§ion=News&month=current (Sony)] , [http://www.darniaq.com/phpNews/news.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=192 (Darniaq)]January 30 2006 * Shares of
Take-Two Interactive , the controversial creator of the "Grand Theft Auto" series, rose Monday after news that the company was in takeover talks with an unnamed buyer. ( [http://videogames.yahoo.com/newsarticle?eid=434332&page=0 Yahoo)] , [http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7B353936A3%2D0C20%2D4B5D%2DB9C7%2D7AE68FA1615D%7D (Marketwatch)] , [http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=TTWO&t=5d&l=on&z=l&q=l&c= (TTWO Stock Chart)]
* A mandatory update forXbox Live on theXbox 360 was released. Microsoft claimed the update was for bugfixes and improvements. Members of themodding community claim that "the true purpose of this update was to halt the progress of the modding community". [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7968 (Gamasutra)]
*Nintendo released a statement regarding the "Red Tulip" phenomenon on "", stating "We have isolated the problem and determined that there was a temporary error with the upload tool when this letter was posted". Earlier, there had been speculation that the tulips were a result of black hat hackers. [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7967 (Gamasutra)]January 27 2006 * Players of the Horde clan from "
World of Warcraft " start the "Gamers Against No Kash" charity, to pay the subscription fees for valuable players strapped for cash. [http://www.gameshout.com/news/012006/article2889.htm (Gameshout)]
* TheNintendo DS returns to the top of the weeklyJapan ese charts, with 64,515 units sold compared to 38,271 for thePlayStation Portable . ThePlayStation 2 is third with 26,135 units sold, while theXbox 360 continues to sell poorly (just 3,616, less than the GameCube). The five best-selling games were "Brain Training for Adults 2 ", "", "Super Mario Strikers ", "Brain Training for Adults " and "Mario Kart DS ", all published byNintendo . [http://www.m-create.com/eng/e_ranking.html (Media Create)]
*Microsoft lowers its estimate ofXbox 360 sales in its first 90 days from 2.75–3.0 million units to 2.5 million due to supply shortage. The yearly estimate (4.5 to 5.5 million) is unchanged since Microsoft plans to increase its console production with the help of a new manufacturer,Celestica . [http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/10124/Microsoft-Cuts-Xbox-360-Sales-Target/ (TeamXbox)] Meanwhile, Microsoft postpones theAustralia n 360 launch from March 2 toMarch 23 ,2006 due to a "short term manufacturing challenge" . [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7946 (Gamasutra)]
* Microsoft of Japan made a statement to Japanese game magazineFamitsu regarding the Xbox 360 launch. "It was a lot more difficult than we had imagined. We couldn't prepare the launch titles that we had promised, and it made an impact," said Microsoft of Japan Xbox chief of operationsYoshihiro Maruyama . At the launch of the firstXbox in Japan, more units were sold in three days than have been sold of the Xbox 360 in one month. [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7956 (Gamasutra)]
* ThePlayStation Portable 2.01–2.50firmware versions, previously considered unhackable, are hacked by Fanjita. [http://pspupdates.qj.net/2006/01/homebrew-games-and-emulation-on-psp.html (PSP Updates)]
* TheLos Angeles attorney’s office suesRockstar Games andTake-Two Interactive over theHot Coffee mod . [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7945 (Gamasutra)]January 26 2006 *
Sony reports that strong sales of thePlayStation Portable helped the company make a profit of ¥70 billion, the first time in 11 years that the company has managed to avoid an annual loss. [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/26/business/sonyearn.php (Herald Tribune)] [http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7b9f35e6-8e86-11da-ae63-0000779e2340.html (Financial Times)]
*Microsoft announces $293 million losses in its Home and Entertainment division, record revenues overall. [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7938 (Gamasutra)]
*Nintendo reports decliningGameCube andGame Boy Advance sales but increased profits: ¥92.2 billion. [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6143188.html (Gamespot)]
*Nintendo announces its newly redesigned handheld, theNintendo DS Lite . The new model will be lighter, smaller, have configurable brightness and feature an improveduser interface . [http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/060126.html (Nintendo)] [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6143136.html (Gamespot)]
*Konami Corp. announces the list of titles it expects to ship in 2006, ranging from "Beatmania" to "", and covering multiple platforms. [http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/10114/Konami-Announces-2006-LineUp/ (TeamXbox)]
* Public schools inWest Virginia will add "Dance Dance Revolution " byKonami to their curriculum, in an effort to combatobesity . [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-01-26T014440Z_01_N1P346561_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-MEDIA-KONAMI-DC.XML&archived=False (Reuters)] [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6143007.html (Gamespot)]January 9 2006 *
Take-Two Interactive acquiresIrrational Games . [http://www.shacknews.com/docs/press/010906_irrational.x (Shacknews)]January 5 2006 *
Vivendi Universal Games acquiresHigh Moon Studios (formerly Sammy Studios, Inc), which gained independence from Sammy in 2005. [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-05-2006/0004243752&EDATE= (Prnewswire)]
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