2008 in video gaming
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| List of years in video gaming (table) |
|---|
| … 1998 . 1999 . 2000 . 2001 . 2002 . 2003 . 2004 … 2005 2006 2007 -2008- 2009 2010 2011 … 2012 . 2013 . 2014 . 2015 . 2016 . 2017 . 2018 … |
| Related time period or subjects |
| … 2005 . 2006 . 2007 - 2008 - 2009 . 2010 . 2011 … … 1970s . 1980s . 1990s -2000s- 2010s . 2020s . 2030s |
| Art . Archaeology . Architecture . Literature . Music . Science +... |
Notable events of 2008 in video gaming. See also history of video games. The release dates listed in this article are the games' original release dates.
Contents |
[edit] Events
| Platform key | |
| DC | Dreamcast |
| GB | Game Boy |
| GBA | Game Boy Advance |
| GBC | Game Boy Color |
| GCN | Nintendo GameCube |
| iPod | iPod |
| Lin | Linux |
| Mac | Macintosh personal computer |
| NDS | Nintendo DS |
| PS1 | PlayStation |
| PS2 | PlayStation 2 |
| PS3 | PlayStation 3 |
| PSP | PlayStation Portable |
| Wii | Wii |
| Win | Windows-based personal computer |
| XB | Xbox |
| X360 | Xbox 360 |
- June 28: Blizzard Entertainment announces Diablo III at Paris, France.
- November 13: Zeebo was announced. The console is aiming for developing countries.
[edit] Notable releases
- January 31 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the successor to the Nintendo GameCube's best-selling game, Super Smash Bros. Melee,[1][2] was released in Japan for the Wii. The game is a product of a landmark joint cooperation between former rival companies, Nintendo and Sega, along with the help of Konami.[3][4] It is the first Wii game to strongly support online play.[5] It dominated sales during its first week in Japan and the United States, selling 820,000 in Japan and becoming the fastest-selling video game in Nintendo of America's history with 1.4 million sold in the US.[6][7][8]
- April 29 - Grand Theft Auto IV was released simultaneously for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A few Hollywood producers have set precedent by beginning to browse video game release dates to check for conflicts due to Grand Theft Auto IV's potential harm to the May 2, 2008 release of Iron Man.[9] The PS3 and Xbox 360 version has taken the third and fourth positions of Game Rankings' best-rated games of all time, respectively;[10] as well as being the first console game since 1999 to receive a perfect rating from IGN,[11] and the first title to receive a perfect rating from GameSpot since 2001.[12]
- June 12 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3 was released to critical acclaim, earning a 10 out of 10 from both IGN and GameSpot,[13][14] and a 94% Metacritic rating.[15] As of June 26, 2008, the game has shipped 3 million copies worldwide,[16][17] selling 1 million in Europe[18] over 500,000 in Japan,[19] and 1 million in US.[20]
[edit] Business
- July 15 to July 17 - E3 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, U.S.A.
- July 31 to August 3 - QuakeCon 2008 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, U.S.A.
- October 2 to October 4 - Nintendo conference held in San Francisco, USA and Tokyo, Japan.
[edit] Open to the public
- August 21 to August 24 - Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany.
- October 3 to October 5 - E for All at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, U.S.A.
- October 9 to October 12 - Tokyo Game Show at the Makuhari Messe International Convention in Mihama-ku, Chiba, Japan.[21]
- October 9 to October 12 - Games Convention Asia in Singapore.
- October 10 to October 11 - Blizzcon 2008 in Anaheim, California, U.S.A.
[edit] Scheduled releases
[edit] Unscheduled releases
- See also: 2009 in video gaming
[edit] Hardware and software sales
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (September 2008) |
[edit] Canada
Based on figures from the NPD Group.
Video game console sales in Canada (first seven months of 2008)[22]
| Place | Console | Units sold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wii | 376,000 |
| 2 | PlayStation 3 | 200,000 |
| 3 | Xbox 360 | 154,000 |
[edit] Japan
Based on figures from Enterbrain.
Video game console sales in Japan (March 31, 2008 to September 28, 2008)[23][24]
| Place | Console | Units sold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | PSP-1000 and PSP-2000 | 1,583,731 |
| 2 | Nintendo DS and DS Lite | 1,314,919 |
| 3 | Wii | 1,105,174 |
| 4 | PlayStation 3 | 352,457 |
| 5 | Xbox 360 | 138,740 |
Best-selling video games in Japan (March 31, 2008 to September 28, 2008)[23][24]
| Place | Title | Platform | Units sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mario Kart Wii | Wii | 1,744,387 |
| 2 | Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G | PSP | 1,602,386 |
| 3 | Pokémon Platinum | NDS | 1,481,725 |
| 4 | Dragon Quest V | NDS | 1,152,229 |
| 5 | Wii Fit | Wii | 845,238 |
[edit] United States
- Based on figures from the NPD Group.
Video game console sales in the US (first six months of 2008)[25]
| Place | Console | Units sold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wii | 3.5 million |
| 2 | PlayStation 3 | 1.6 million |
| 3 | Xbox 360 | 1.34 million |
- Based on figures from the NPD Group via Gamasutra. Figures do not include collector's editions and software bundled with consoles.[26]
Best-selling PlayStation 3 games in the US (first eight months of 2008)[26]
| Place | Title | Units sold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto IV | - |
| 2 | Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots | - |
| 3 | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | 600,000 |
| 4 | Madden NFL 09 | - |
| 5 | Gran Turismo 5 Prologue excludes copies sold through the PlayStation Store |
- |
Best-selling Wii games in the US (first eight months of 2008)[27]
| Place | Title | Units sold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | 3.2 million |
| 2 | Mario Kart Wii with Wheel | 2.7 million |
| 3 | Wii Play with Remote | 2.5 million |
| 4 | Wii Fit with Balance Board | 1.8 million |
| 5 | Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock with guitar | 1.3 million[28] |
Best-selling Xbox 360 games in the US (first eight months of 2008)[29]
| Place | Title | Units sold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto IV | 3 million |
| 2 | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | 1.2 million |
| 3 | Madden NFL 09 | - |
| 4 | Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 | 900,000–1 million |
| 5 | Army of Two | 800,000–900,000 |
[edit] Other
Based on figures from Enterbrain, GfK Chart-Track, and the NPD Group, respectively.
Best-selling video games in Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States combined (January–July 2008)[30]
| Place | Title | Units sold in Japan | Units sold in the UK | Units sold in the US | Total units sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto IV | – | 1,582,000 | 4,711,000 | 6,293,000 |
| 2 | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | 1,681,000 | 213,000 | 3,539,000 | 5,433,000 |
| 3 | Mario Kart Wii | 1,601,000 | 687,000 | 2,409,000 | 4,697,000 |
| 4 | Wii Fit | 1,547,000 | 624,000 | 1,433,000 | 3,604,000 |
| 5 | Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock | 26,000 | 412,000 | 3,037,000 | 3,475,000 |
Best-selling video games in Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States combined (July–September 2008)[31]
| Place | Title | Units sold in Japan | Units sold in the UK | Units sold in the US | Total units sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madden NFL 09 | 1,000 | 35,000 | 2,958,000 | 2,994,000 |
| 2 | Wii Fit | 346,000 | 460,000 | 1,283,000 | 2,089,000 |
| 3 | Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | – | 321,000 | 1,417,000 | 1,738,000 |
| 4 | Pokémon Platinum | 1,482,000 | – | – | 1,482,000 |
| 5 | Mario Kart Wii | 218,000 | 394,000 | 856,000 | 1,468,000 |
[edit] References
- ^ Nintendo of America Inc. (2008-03-10). "At Long Last, Nintendo Proclaims: Let the Brawls Begin on Wii!". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Nintendo of America Inc. (2008-02-20). "Nintendo Reveals Its Next Engaging Experiences". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Sakurai, Masahiro (2007-10-10). "Sonic". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. Smashbros.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
- ^ Mcwhertor, Michael (2006-05-11). "E306: Super Smash Bros. Brawl Q&A". Kotaku. Retrieved on 2007-09-18.
- ^ Sakurai, Masahiro (2007-11-16). "Wi-Fi Play". Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
- ^ David Jenkins (2008-02-07). "Nintendo’s Brawl Smashes Open Japanese Charts". Gamasutra. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
- ^ Michael McWhertor (2008-02-07). "Super Smash Bros. Brawl Sells 820K In Its Debut Week". Kotaku. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
- ^ Nintendo (2008-03-17). "Super Smash Bros. Brawl Smashes Nintendo Sales Records". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-08-03.
- ^ Nick Lewis (2008-04-28). "Grand Theft Auto could be Hollywood's biggest summer competition". Canada.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
- ^ "All-Time Top 20". Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
- ^ "IGN: Grand Theft Auto IV Review" (2008-04-25). Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
- ^ "All Reviews". GameSpot. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
- ^ Haynes, Jeff (2008-06-12). "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Review". IGN. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
- ^ VanOrd, Kevin (2008-06-13). "Metal Gear Solid 4 review". GameSpot. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
- ^ "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
- ^ John Tanaka (2008-06-26). "Three Million for Metal Gear Solid 4". IGN. Retrieved on 2008-06-27.
- ^ James Brightman (2008-06-26). "Metal Gear Solid 4 Ships 3 Million Worldwide". GameDaily. Retrieved on 2008-06-27.
- ^ Neil Long (2008-06-24). "Metal Gear Solid 4 hits 1m sales in first week". Market for Home Computing and Video Games. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
- ^ Michael McWhertor (2008-07-03). "Portable Horse Training Fever Sweeps Japan". Kotaku. Retrieved on 2008-07-05.
- ^ Tom Magrino (2008-07-17). "NPD: PS3 sales spike on MGS4". GameSpot. Retrieved on 2008-08-03.
- ^ Le TGS 2008 en octobre
- ^ Neil Davidson (2008-08-26). "Nintendo Wii surpasses mark of one million consoles sold in Canada". The Canadian Press. Yahoo!. Retrieved on 2008-09-08.
- ^ a b Brian Ashcraft (2008-10-02). "First Half of 2008 Hardware/Software Sales Data". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved on 2008-10-27.
- ^ a b Ben Parfitt (2008-10-02). "JAPAN: PSP leads half-year sales battle". Market for Home Computing and Video Games. Retrieved on