No new games are to blame for the lame sales figures.
The NPD group announced that its January sales figures and consumer spending on video games fell 34% to $750.6 million in the US. Hardware sales totaled $324 million, down 38% year over year. According to G4, these are the worst sales figures since January 2004.
Modern Warfare 3 dominates online play while The Simpsons topped the XBLA list.
Major Nelson released via on Twitter the Xbox Live activity statistics for the week of January 30, 2012. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 continues to be the most played game online while the late release of The Simpsons Arcade Game topped the XBLA sales chart.
Bungie's passing the torch to 343 Industries
Bungie doesn't make Halo games anymore, but they have still maintained the game stats and player service records for the Halo games thus far. Well, that will change on March 31, because Bungie issued a statement today saying that all live data will now be handled by 343 Industries.
Rumor has it that the virtual currency system will be abandoned by year's end.
According to a source within the company, Microsoft's virtual currency system, Microsoft Points, will be phased out by the end of 2012. This will be implemented for Windows Phone, the Zune Marketplace and, of course, Xbox Live. At the end of 2012, all transactions will be based on each region's respective currency.
Sonic CD and Joe Danger succeeded financially and critically.
December is typically a slow month for video games. After the onslaught of releases during October and November, the last month of the year is usually reserved for buyers to purchase what's available. But some quality titles do continue to be released, and they're usually downloadable titles.
The recently released promotion gets started after Valentine's Day.
Larry Hryb (Major Nelson) announced on his blog the release dates and prices for the titles collectively known as the Xbox Live Arcade House Party 2012. The post also mentioned that if you purchase all four titles between February 15 and March 13, you'll receive 800 Microsoft Points.
The long rumored service seems to be in limbo for now.
We've been hearing rumors about Microsoft's plans to offer TV service through the Xbox 360 for a while now. However, it appears that those plans have been put on hold. Reuters is reporting that according to "people familiar with the discussions," Microsoft is currently stuck in a holding pattern.
Those affected by the problems during UFC 141 will get the event for free.
The Xbox 360's inaugural event for its new UFC app didn't go so well. UFC 141 was plagued with issues and connection problems. To rectify this, as a good will gesture, Microsoft will offer this Saturday's Pay-Per-View fight, UFC RIO: Aldo vs. Mendes, for free over Xbox Live.
Kinect for PC, 360 Sales Numbers and a Newscorp App.
CES 2012 is now underway and Microsoft's CES press conference yielded some announcements. One of the biggest announcements was the release date for Kinect for Windows. Coming on February 1, 2012, 200 companies, including Toyota, Mattell and American Express, are already developing apps for the motion control peripheral.
The promotion includes Alan Wake's American Nightmare and I Am Alive.
Microsoft is promoting a few Xbox Live Arcade titles with its second annual House Party. A trailer for House Party 2012 has been released on the Xbox Live Marketplace and it shows the titles included in this promotion: Alan Wake's American Nightmare, Warp, Nexuiz, and I Am Alive.
