14 DAY TRIAL // It has been a week of announcements and speculations, and you can take a look at the most important pieces of news in our selection below. And if you would like to read some more, you can take a look at the Weekend Reading piece on Bungie and the future, and the EndWeekGame article tackling Command & Conquer 4 and Neptune's Pride.
On Monday, Konami talked about the newly announced Pro Evolution Soccer 2011, confirming that Messi would once again be the symbol of the game and that the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores would be more important to the game. Blizzard also talked about how a new pricing model for StarCraft II would attract gamers from emerging markets to the real time strategy title.
On Tuesday, StarCraft II again made news with analysts estimating that the launch could be so successful as to generate sales of 5 million in the first year, while a Microsoft executive from Saudi Arabia appeared to confirm that the motion tracking Project Natal would be launched during the month of October.
On Wednesday, Electronic Arts revealed its financial results and talked about how Battlefield and Medal of Honor would be used to get back the first person shooter crown back from Activision. Ubisoft also offered fans something to cheer about with the official announcement of multiplayer-focused Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
With Project Natal coming in the fall, Microsoft is also ready to take the step to 3D, partnering with LG to try out three dimensional gaming in South Korea for a time. Meanwhile, DICE and Electronic Arts trumpeted Onslaught, a new piece of downloadable content set to offer four-player cooperative play for Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
Friday was the day when the NPD Group put out the sales numbers for the United States market for the month of April, showing a significant slowdown both in terms of hardware sales, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 gaining some ground on the Nintendo Wii, and software sales, Splinter Cell: Conviction managing to become the number one title of the month with under 500,000 units sold on the Xbox 360.