South Park: The Game delayed to 2013

South Park: The Game will not ship this fall as was previously announced. THQ today announced that the Obsidian Entertainment-developed role-playing game has slid to a release date of sometime during the company's Q4 2013.

Cartman and pals aren't making it out this year.

The publisher did not provide a reason for the delay, and as of press time, the company had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.

The news comes as part of THQ's latest financial report, which saw the company's net sales for the 12 months ended March 31 rise to $830.8 million, up from the $665.3 recorded a year ago. It wasn't all rosy for THQ, as the company posted a net loss of $239.9 million for the period, worse than the $136.1 million hit the firm took the year prior.

The company's digital business was a boon for THQ, as revenues in this sector for the year spiked 62 percent to $59 million.

THQ also parsed statistics and let loose some new information for some of its biggest brands. The company said Saints Row: The Third has shipped more than 4.25 million units since its launch in November. Additionally, THQ revealed that the Enter The Dominatrix expansion for Saints Row: The Third will arrive this September. Previously, it was expected sometime this fall.

The company also broke down shipment figures for its major fighting games. THQ said WWE 12 has shipped more than 2.2 million units since its launch in November 2011, up about 20 percent on like-for-like platforms in North America since last year's game. Additionally, UFC Undisputed 3 has shipped 1.4 million units since it debuted in February, the company said.

In terms of platform revenue, the Xbox 360 proved most successful for THQ. Microsoft's home console accounted for 36.7 percent of total sales, generating $306.42 million in the process. The PlayStation 3 came in second place, accounting for 27.4 percent of the share, totalling $229.2 million. The Nintendo Wii (14.3 percent share, $119.5 million) and the PlayStation 2 (.4 share, $3.3 million) rounded out the rest.

THQ unveiled a new, streamlined business strategy earlier this year, and today, the company said when the plan is fully realized in fiscal 2013, it is expected to result in a reduction of costs totaling $180 million. Additionally, THQ said it has reduced its commitments to children's licenses properties by about $30 million, and reiterated that it is no longer creating software or hardware for the uDraw GameTablet.

Source : http://gamespot.com/news/south-park-the-game-delayed-to-2013-6376812

Draw Something Charts Show Off The Perils Of Casual Gaming Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

Well, that went South quick -- casual, mobile game Draw Something is hemorrhaging players at an amazing rate. It was only  a month ago that 14,300,000 gamers were drawing little pictures with the game. Now there are 9,100,000 iPhone and Android artists online. That's still a lot of players, but the percentage user drop is huge too, and if you check out the chart below (from Appdata.com) you'll see that the trend line is not moving in a positive direction--unless you think "toward the center of the earth" is positive. Something could happen to reverse the slide, sure, but if it doesn't...

So what happened?

Draw Something came out in February, and by April, the company that made it, OMGPOP, was purchased for $180 million dollars by small-game titans Zynga. Then, almost as suddenly as it blew up, Draw Something deflated. It's hard to say specifically why, but it seems to me that the answer lies in a simple idea that game companies sometimes forget, but gamers never do: It just wasn't fun enough to keep playing it.

Like everyone else, I played Draw Something when it came out. I was quickly enthralled with the simple gameplay, instant gratification and ability to draw dongs on everything (that's how I roll.) It's a simple game, unencumbered by extraneous material, and at first, that purity of function was really cool-- who doesn't like drawing things? I played DS pretty hardcore for a week or so, but then, suddenly and with no warning at all, I no longer had any desire at all to play the game, and never made another doodle. I put it down as casually as I'd picked it up.

I didn't think about it at the time, but it seems like my experience mirrored the overall player charts for Draw Something. Everyone seem to have quickly loved it, worn it out and moved on. Why is that? For me, the effort it takes to draw something, while fun at first, just doesn't "pay off" over the long haul. There are no levels to the gameplay. No risk. No reward. No depth. Just the same repetitive motions, again and again. The game's not-subtle-at-all attempts to pry my credit card out of my wallet didn't help either. Once I started noticing that the same clues came up again and again, and you had to buy new ones, I was right out. Words should be free, man. So should colors. How are you gonna make me pay (in either time or money) for the color orange while giving me the clue "pumpkin?"

Even something like Farmville has a cumulative effect over time. A reason to build your farm and harvest your crops. Angry Birds has varying levels, a cool combination of chaos and thought, and the audacity to make a sequel with radically different physics from the original.

The rise and fall of Draw Something (and the continuing success of Angry Birds and various "-villes") can be seen as a lesson in how to have a successful game. At the final level, marketing, buzz, hype and a huge payout can only take you so far. It's the game design that ultimately determines longevity for gamers, especially for casual games, which can be put down as easily as they are picked up.

Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723648/draw-something-charts-show-off-the-perils-of-casual-gaming/

South Park: The Stick Of Truth Appears On Xbox.com Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

A now-removed listing on Xbox.com reveals that Obsidian's upcoming THQ-published South Park RPG has a title and some possibly final box art. It's called South Park: The Stick of Truth and you can see the box art in the captured image above, compliments of NeoGAF.

An assortment of in-game screenshots showed up with the listing, but they came from the same crop that we saw when the South Park game was first revealed in December 2011. The only new information we've got, other than the title and the seemingly official box art, is a note that the game will include offline co-op for 1-2 players.

These listings aren't always accurate, so don't take that co-op bit as the final word. The new title seems legit enough though, given the Xbox.com source and the apparent box art. Hopefully we'll hear more in the lead-up to June's E3 2012 trade show.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723507/south-park-the-stick-of-truth-appears-on-xboxcom/