In today’s news roundup we have a look at the fall in game sales across the globe, an expected release date for the eagerly anticipated Star Trek Online, and to top it off EA’s Spore Islands on Facebook.
Global 6% Drop in Games Sales
It’s been a hard year for us all, what with the financial climate taking a turn for the worse, and we’ve been keeping a weary eye on the pennies. Not surprisingly this has also affected the gaming industry.
According to Enterbrain and GfK Chart-Track, there has been a 6% drop in games sales across the three largest markets (Japan, UK and USA) compared to the previous year at the same time.
Japan however has managed to beat the crunch with game sales up at 15%, compared to the 9% drop in the US and 19% drop in the UK. [Kotaku]
Star Trek Coming Soon
On a lighter note there is some good news for you Star Trek fans out there. The release date for Star Trek Online has been announced for February 2nd 2010, the official release in North America being 5th February 2010.
Players get the chance to play as the Federation or the Klingons. You can command your own starship, battle players and build up a crew from scratch. It’s a game to keep an eye on even if you’re not a fan of Star Trek. [1up]
Spore + Facebook = Spore: Islands
Finally, EA has announced Spore: Islands for the Facebook application. For those of you not familiar with the game, you basically have to create a species, evolve them, raise them on an island and eventually take over other colonies with your mighty army. It’s a tidy little game and good to pass the time, but if you’re used to ignoring requests, then be prepared to ignore a lot more as Spore: Islands comes to Facebook. [Joystiq]
Oddly enough I think in the last year I’ve bought more games than I ever have before, the prices have been really good, I’ve managed to pick up games for as little as £5.
How much does the game market usually vary by? I know my spending varies hugely depending on the number of decent games that come out.