Diablo III Tops May Software Sales, PC graphics now 24 times more powerful than the Xbox 360

[Archangel Tyrael]

 

U.S. market research firm NPD released its monthly sales figures today. Overall total games sales took a dive year-over-year, dropping from $718.9 million to $516.5 million for May 2012, a 28 percent decline.

 

Xbox 360 led console sales for the month, selling 160,000 units. Sony and Nintendo have not released hardware numbers as of this time. “All hardware platforms, save the 3DS, saw a decline in unit sales versus last year," noted NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "The Nintendo DS, however, did realize a 35 percent lift over April 2012, catalyzed by the May 20th price reduction on the DSi and DSi XL.

 

"Even with the price drop on the DS platform, 3DS sales realized an increase of 17 percent over last May.”

Below are the top 10 best-selling games in the U.S. for May 2012:

1. Diablo III
   
2. Max Payne 3
   
3. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
   
4. Prototype 2
   
5. NBA 2K12
   
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
   
7. Sniper Elite V2
   
8. Battlefield 3
   
9. Dragon's Dogma
   
10. Just Dance 3
    

"Diablo III is the top selling title for May, the first time since July 2010 that a PC-only game accomplished this feat. Since the game launched day and date through digital distribution as well, full sales of the title are some multiple of what is reflected in the retail sales," Frazier added.

 

"Starcraft II was the title that topped the best-seller list in July 2010, a testament to the power of the Blizzard brand in PC gaming.”

 

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware).

 

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/06/14/diablo-iii-tops-may-software-sales.aspx

 

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Usurped Nvidia GPUs can run Unreal Engine 4 with ease.

 

 

According to a report in New Scientist, modern PC graphics cards are 24 times more powerful than the one used in the Xbox 360.

That's according to Nvidia engineer Simon Green, whose GeForce GTX 680 card is reportedly the card powering Epic's recent demonstrations of their Unreal Engine 4.

 

While the GTX 680 is more than capable of running Unreal Engine 4, its successor, the GTX 690, is twice as powerful again, offering a potentially mind-boggling degree of power.

 

On the topic of cloud gaming, Green said that as technology and hardware evolve, "the wholeidea of owning a separate piece of hardware to play games on might be completely redundant."

 

With Unreal Engine 4 and Square Enix's Luminous Engine suggesting publishers and studios are ready to move into the next-gen, do you think Sony and Microsoft are halting progress?

 

Thanks to NowGamer.

 

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/353860/pc-graphics-now-24-times-more-powerful-than-the-xbox-360/