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Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment veterans have formed a new studio, Checkpoint Studios. The studio will be focusing on social games, with its first game AviNation to be released on Facebook. In the game you use airplanes in order to build your own empire.

Checkpoint Studios describes itself as "committed to creating socially-connected gaming experiences designed to entertain everyone.  By taking a more progressive approach to the rapidly growing world of social games, we are fueled by a mission to make the future of fun a reality by making games for social and mobile platforms more engaging, more connected and, most importantly, more fun-to-play."

"When I first started playing social games, I was frustrated by what I felt was a lack of quality and real game play in so many of the titles," said Brian Wiklem, CEO and Founder of Checkpoint Studios. "The click-reward-repeat nature felt more like an activity or social chore than a game and, while there's clearly an audience for that, I know we can do better."

"While at Heavy Iron, I worked closely with Pixar to create the console versions of several of their properties such as Ratatouille and Up for THQ," Wiklem continued. "I once asked how they made such successful kids' movies, to which they responded that they didn't make kids' movies, but instead 'made movies they would want to watch'. That philosophy really resonated and stuck with me, so our driving force is to make social games we'd actually want to play."

Welcome to the new ‘Top 10’ weekly feature. Each week we will be taking a look at the top 10 selling games in a particular genre, platform, most recent month, even sprinkling in the top 10 selling games from a past year. All sales specified will be worldwide, unless stated otherwise.

Last week we took a look at the top 10 bestselling games published by Sony Computer Entertainment and the week before that the top 10 bestselling Nintendo games. This week we will be taking a look at the top 10 bestselling games published by Microsoft Game Studios that were released on a video game console, including games that were bundled. If there is a particular top 10 you want to see leave a comment and it may be featured in a future top 10.

Looking at the top 10 bestselling games published by Microsoft Game Studios, all but two of them were released on the Xbox 360, and the other two games were released on the original Xbox. The top 10 is dominated by just two franchises Halo and Gears of War and the two original Xbox games are in the Halo franchise. Also the bestselling game, Kinect Adventures!, comes bundled with every Kinect, just like Wii Sports use to be on the Wii.

The top 10 games sold a combined 80.79 million units. The eight Xbox 360 games sold a combined 65.87 million units, while the two original Xbox games sold a combined 14.92 million units.

There are five Halo games in the top 10, and three of them are in the top five. Halo Wars, a spin off RTS, and the remastered Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary are the only two Halo games not in the top 10. The five Halo games in the top 10 has sold a combined 41.44 million units, while the three Xbox 360 games sold 26.52 million units and the two original Xbox games sold 14.92 million units.

All three Gears of War games are in the top 10. As a note the franchise might have been published by Microsoft it is not first party, because it was developed by Epic Games. The three games sold a combined 17.81 million units.

Taking a look at the top 10 bestselling games published by Microsoft Game Studios as a bar graph really shows how a game, Kinect Adventures!, that is bundled 100 percent of the time helps a game sell. It has outsold the number two game, Halo 3, by 4.97 million units.

For people who are curious, Microsoft’s other big exclusive franchise Fable is just outside the top 10, with Fable III at number 11, Fable II at number 13 and the original at number 15. Also the second bestselling Kinect game is Kinect Sports at number 12.

Contact VGChartz at wdangelo@vgchartz.com

Today we had the chance to chat with Saara Bergström, Social Marketing Manager at Rovio, about their hugely successful franchise Angry Birds. I am confident that this game needs no introduction, so feel free to scroll on past me and get straight to the juicy bit!

Christopher Kerr: Hi Saara

Saara Bergström: Hi!

Christopher Kerr: Firstly I feel I should congratulate you on the success of Angry Birds, I believe the franchise has just reached 1 billion downloads, and that is quite frankly unbelievable!

Saara Bergström: Thank you! We certainly are thrilled to reach that number and more than numbers it's great to see that our fans love the game. It's quite amazing to get to 1 billion in such a short time, but it really shows that our strategy of putting fun and fans first really pays off here

Christopher Kerr: I'm still struggling to believe it quite frankly. Of course, when you first began working on Angry Birds, the 'iDevice' or Smartphone gaming was nowhere near as big as it is now. Looking back at when you first started working on the franchise, did you have any idea that the game would be this successful?

Saara Bergström: Well of course you never really know 100% if something will become a world-wide success like Angry Birds or something smaller. It's a combination of many things: great idea, solid user experience, game character design, platform choices, marketing direction and many other things, perhaps a bit of luck with the timing too. When Jaakko Iisalo, Rovio's lead designer, showed the first concept for Angry Birds we however knew that there's just something unique with the combination of the characters and gameplay. When we had a playable prototype ready and asked our friends and relatives to try it, we definitely realized this is an amazing game since people trying the game would refuse to give the phone back and would just want to continue playing. It's easy to pick up and hard to put down, we realized

Christopher Kerr: If you had to single out one thing that was paramount to the success of the franchise, what would it be? For me it has to be put down to the fact that the franchise is so damn marketable.

Saara Bergström: That’s a tough question since the Angry Birds brand as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If I had to pick just one thing, I think it would be the characters. The characters, the birds' personalities, and the fact that it is very easy to identify with them is a huge contributor to why the birds have become so popular, why they are so marketable and in addition a constant source of inspiration to people. For example the whole fan art scene around the Angry Birds is pretty amazing

Christopher Kerr: The community surrounding this game is really something. After the success of the original Angry Birds, I would imagine the sequel Angry Birds Space practically marketed itself. But what was it like trying to get the first game noticed? Was it just something that happened naturally as the downloads kept on coming, or was there more to it?

Saara Bergström: It got to the top of the Appstores in small countries, Scandinavia for example, and people started noticing it from the charts. That led to us being featured on the UK app store. It really was the word of mouth from people downloading and trying the game out that got us there. Also, we've kept our fans close from the beginning and our teams have always had a really open dialogue with the players, so it was quite organic

Christopher Kerr: Do you think it will be possible for yourself, or any other developer, to replicate the level of success that Angry Birds has had? Or will the franchise remain a phenomenon in that regard? In short, is trying to be the next Angry Birds a realistic goal?

Saara Bergström: Of course! Obviously, as mentioned there are many factors to it and by replicating each step of Angry Birds' success will probably not cut it today since times have changed. However I'm sure it is entirely possible if you just have the right ingredients in place and make the right choices

Christopher Kerr: Angry Birds Space has recently been released and it has been another success story. Naturally I'm not expecting a sequel to be on the cards just right now, but looking at the future of the franchise where would you personally like to see it go?

Saara Bergström: There still are many of things we haven't seen from the Angry Birds. We do have great plans in store for the future. I think the main goal is to still continue executing our strategy of bringing fun and delightful products to our fans in different forms.

Christopher Kerr: is it possible to give any hint as to what these plans may be? A taster of sorts for those avid fans.

Saara Bergström: Not at this point, sorry. The plan is hatching and we'll announce any new news when the time is ripe

Christopher Kerr: Do you think we are likely to see Angry Birds hit other platforms in the future?

Saara Bergström: Our approach has been to be on "all screens" from the beginning, so we are always on the lookout on where we should go next. The availability of Angry Birds on different platforms is quite wide-ranging already, but I don’t think we are done yet on that front.

Christopher Kerr: Well I look forward to seeing what you have in store for us. With Rovio being the self-made pioneers of mobile gaming, I am sure everyone is wondering what else we will see from you in the future. So apart Angry Birds, do you have anything else exciting in store for us?

Saara Bergström: Yes, exciting things in store for sure. A preview to the next exciting new thing can be found here: amazingalex.com

Christopher Kerr: Do you ever feel any pressure to continue to create games as successful as Angry Birds?

Saara Bergström: We are pretty confident that our focus on fun is the key to success with any casual game or any other forms of entertainment for that matter.

Christopher Kerr: On a slightly unrelated, but equally interesting note, what is your favourite game of all time? 

Saara Bergström: Ah, that's a very tough question! I've always been a platformer fan and a fan of casual games. I've been hooked on everything from Super Mario Bros to Tetris. On mobile I play all kinds of casual games but I have to say that Angry Birds Space is currently the game I've been playing the most and not because of work, but because I genuinely think the gameplay is fresh and there's enough challenge for me.

Christopher Kerr: Well that's fair enough. Is there anything else you want to add?

Saara Bergström: No, I think that's all from me. It was nice talking to you.

Christopher Kerr: It was a pleasure chatting to you. Thanks for your time Saara.

Interview: We Chat With Rovio's Saara Bergstr�m - Article on gamrReview

Kickstarter became a new way for developers to get support for the projects they wanted to make when Double Fine blew things wide open back in February. Many speculated whether the support Double Fine gathered would translate into a sustainable trend, and though no project has managed quite the same level of success, the community continues to show broad and unwavering support.



This is also why I am happy to report that, barring one, all of the games from last month's article have met their goals and were successfully funded (the exception being Police Warfare). Police Warfare had its campaign cancelled after a few days with the message that: "...this is by no means the end of Police Warfare. News will be coming", which could mean they found a publisher or other means of funding, though that's purely speculation at this point.

But the old makes way for the new, which is why I have a new list of interesting projects worth your attention and, just maybe, your support. First, a brief description of the Kickstarter process for those who don't know much about it:

”Is my support needed?”

You might be cautious about supporting projects, and that's not without reason. You have no guarantees that your investment is going to result in a game you will enjoy, after all. But in reality, it's not much different from buying a game as you normally would. There are no guarantees there either, and many of these projects allow you to receive a copy of the game as a reward if your pledge is large enough.

But how do you know there will be a finished product? Again, there's no guarantee that a project you pledge money to will succeed, but most developers will know what kind of budget they'll need to finish their game, or will be able to snag additional funding from other sources. There's a target sum of money they want the community to meet, but if the target isn't met, no supporter will be charged anything. In other words, your money isn't going anywhere if the developer can't actually secure enough funds to get their project off the ground.

But what about when that target has been met? Is there any point in funding projects beyond their target? Absolutely! The target that is set for the project is a minimum target; the target that needs to be reached in order for the developer to keep the promises that have been made with that target in mind. But every project that has managed to go over has provided additional value to the community, by making the game bigger or developing it for more platforms, for example. So your money isn't wasted just because the target has already been met.

Meet the projects

Now it's time to meet the highlights of this month. Read on!

SKYJACKER (Windows, Mac)

Pledge required to receive the game: $15
Funding ends: May 31st



Skyjacker is a space combat game where you play as a pirate. The game has you undertaking missions to loot and destroy other spacefarers, which lets you increase your rank and strength. 

What makes Skyjacker stand out is its focus on components. You're given great freedom in customizing your ship to best suit each mission, all the way down to changing flight styles (from traditional flight to much more dynamic styles as well). The opposing ships can also be damaged in several ways, giving the player different ways of dispatching them. The game features multiplayer - both cooperative and competitive.

Haunts: The Manse Macabre (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Pledge required to receive the game: $5 (every $5 gets you an extra copy of the game)
Funding ends: July 6th



Haunts is a turn based haunted house game with both single player and multiplayer. The single player campaign allows you to explore the macabre history of the mansion, while the multiplayer puts one player in control of the denizens of the mansion while the other player controls the intruders. The intruders choose an objective they need to accomplish inside the mansion (recover some artifact, cleanse the house, etc.) and the denizens have to defend the mansion, but without knowing what the intruders are trying to accomplish. All of the choices made by the players aren't revealed until they physically show up within the game, and there's a lot of focus on this ”hide and seek”-like mechanic.

Xenonauts (Windows)

Pledge required to receive the game: $20
Funding ends: June 10th



Xenonauts is an old-school strategy game that's channeling the spirit of X-Com. It has both real-time aerial combat and turn-based ground combat, with missions and environments generating dynamically depending on the events that occur in the world. 

Xenonauts is unique, partially because it will be released regardless of the success of the Kickstarter campaign, but also because everyone is offered full access to the latest development build of the game. This means you can try the game before you decide to pledge any money to it. Kickstarter funding will help flesh out the final release; without Kickstarter funding the final game will be more bare-boned.

Is that it?

Absolutely not, the crowd sourcing scene is buzzing with activity, and the games presented here only show a few of the projects worthy of attention. If you're hungry for more, below is a list of games that can help settle your stomach, but there are many more where they came from, so visiting kickstarter.com (and other crowd sourcing sites for that matter) is the best way to get the full picture.

• Diamond Trust of London
• Drifter
• Kitaru
• Legend of the Time Star
• Carmageddon: Reincarnation

I hope you found a project you want to support.

Kickstarters to Watch - May Edition - Article on gamrReview

Related Games:
- Xenonauts (PC) - review - sales - walkthrough - cheats

Downloadable content has been one of the most popular trends this generation. Last year Activision tried to find out if a market exists for a subscription service for a non-MMO with Call of Duty Elite. As the latest numbers peg Elite subscriptions -- which cost $50 a year, or were free with Modern Warfare 3's Hardened Edition -- at 2 million, an audience does apparently exist that is willing to fork over money for more than just a la carte DLC. Electronic Arts is now rumored to be preparing a premium service for the Battlefield series which is said to be launching in only a few weeks' time.

Battlefieldo reported on Friday a "very reliable source" had shared with it a timeline for the forthcoming updates Battlefield 3 is receiving. In addition to a mention of a fifth expansion pack (beyond the already released Back to Karkand and the previously announced Close Quarters, Armored Kill, and End Game) is a strategy guide being released in June and, more notably, something called Battlefield Premium.

The PC indie hit Minecraft was released on the Xbox 360 as an Xbox Live Arcade title last Wednesday, May 9. The game has already sold more than one million units in its first five days. This smashes the previous record which was set by Trials Evolution. That game sold over 100,000 units in its first two days on sale.

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition sells for 1600 Microsoft Points, which is equivalent to $20. That puts revenue at more than $20 million in just five days. Mojang CEO and Founder Markus "Notch" Persson had also Tweeted that the game made a profit within an hour of release.

Xbox Live's Larry Hryb, better known as Major Nelson, announced that the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft broke the Xbox Live Arcade sales record, but did not give any specific numbers. The PC version of the game has sold 5.98 million units to date according to the games official website. The iOS and Androids version passed the one million mark in March.

GameStop has announced a new partnership with Valve. The U.S. retailer will be selling Steam Cards, as part of Valve's Steam Wallet initiative. They will be used as a means to purchase games from the Steam online store. There is a $20 and $50 Steam Card currently available for purchase at GameStop in store.

This is not the first step that GameStop has done to try to remain relevant in the current digital download market. It had expanded its PC download codes to more than 1,500 PC games last year. They had also purchased Stardock's Impulse download service, which is a competitor to Steam.

Starting today you can purchase Steam Wallet codes at GameStop stores. These codes, which are available in $20 and $50 denominations, can be added to a Steam account and used to purchase content through Valve's immensely popular digital distribution service. This move may come as a surprise to some as GameStop last year purchased Steam competitor Impulse, yet it actually is a very sensible move for both sides.

For GameStop, this is another way for it to insert itself into the sale of digital content. It already offers things like downloadable content and points for the console manufacturers' respective platforms, as well as (more recently) digital PC games through Impulse. Getting a cut of money spent on Steam is an obvious benefit, but there is more to it than that.

Here we see data representing the global sales through to consumers and change in sales performance of the three home consoles over comparable periods for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.  Also shown is the market share for each of the consoles over the same periods.

Year to Date Sales Comparison (Same Periods Covered)

Market Share (Same Periods Covered)

2009 – (Week beginning January 4 to May 9)

2010 – (Week beginning January 3 to May 8)

2011 – (Week beginning January 2 to May 7)

2012 – (Week beginning January 1 to May 5)

Total Sales and Market Share for Each Year

"Year to date" sales for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 sales are shown in series at the top of the table and then just below a comparison of 2012 versus 2010 and 2012 versus 2011 is displayed.  This provides an easy-to-view summary of all the data.

Microsoft

Xbox 360 - Down Year-on-Year 18k, Year to Date -12.5%

Sony

PlayStation 3 - Down Year-on-Year 1k, Year to Date -7.1%
PlayStation Vita - n/a

Nintendo

Nintendo Wii - Down Year-on-Year 30k, Year to Date -35.4%
Nintendo 3DS - Up Year-on-Year 79k, Year to Date 54.5%

Contact VGChartz at wdangelo@vgchartz.com

Overview

Hardware sales are down on average just one percent week on week. Year on year sales are down on average 17 percent, however the 3DS is up 50 percent. The Wii and 3DS are the only two platforms to be up week on week, while the 3DS is the only platform to be up year on year.

Two games debuted in the top 30 this week. Sniper Elite V2 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sold a combined 266,020. There are no software milestones this week in the top 30.

Worldwide Hardware

Week on week sales are up for the Wii and 3DS, and are down for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, DS, PSP, and PlayStation Vita. The 3DS is at the top this week with sales of 186,867 units, which is up 17,889 (11%).  The PlayStation 3 is down 9,140 (-6%) to 146,882 units sold.  Xbox 360 sales are down 5,880 (-5%) to 123,867 units sold. The Wii sold 78,683 units, which is up 2,379 (3%).  The PSP sold 68,935, which is down 3,103 (-4%) compared to last week. The PlayStation Vita is down 5,556 (-9%) to 59,323 units sold. The DS is down 1,597 (-2%) to 39,310 units sold. Total week on week sales are down 5,008 (-1%) to 703,867.

Year on year sales are down across the board, except for the 3DS which is up. The PlayStation 3 is down 1,110 (-1%), the Wii is down 28,926 (-27%), and the Xbox 360 is down 17,931 (-13%). The PSP is down 115,087 (-63%) the DS is down 116,526 (-75%) and the 3DS is up 79,015 (73%). Year on year sales are down 141,242 (-17%).

Wii sales have increased slightly for two straight weeks, the PlayStation 3 decreased for one week and the Xbox 260 has decreased for two straight weeks. The PlayStation 3 has led every week this year and the Xbox 360 has been in second every week, except for the week ending January 7 where the Wii outsold it. The PlayStation 3 has a 42 percent market share; the Xbox 360 has a 35 percent market share; and the Wii has a 23 percent market share. Compared with ten weeks ago all three home consoles are down.

The 3DS has outsold its predecessor, the DS, by nearly 5 to 1, while the Vita was outsold by the PSP. The PSP has a 64 percent market share this week for the current generation handhelds and the DS has a 36 percent. The 3DS has a 76 percent market share for the next generation of handhelds, while the Vita has a 24 percent market share. Compared with ten weeks ago the 3DS is up, while the Vita, PSP and DS are down.

Worldwide Software

Two games debuted in the top 30 this week. Sniper Elite V2 (X360) debuted at number two with sales of 142,735. The PlayStation 3 version debuted at number three with sales of 123,285. The game launched in North America and Europe, with no release date in Japan.

TERA (PC) debuted at number four with sales of 101,471. The game launched in North America and Europe.

Other games in the top 10 that are not debuts include Mario Part 9 (Wii) at the top of the charts with sales of 177,382. Prototype 2 (X360) is at number five in its second week with sales of 95,374.

Prototype 2 (PS3) is at number six in its second week with sales of 71,209. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PS3) is at number seven with sales of 67,584. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) is at number eight with sales of 59,027. Mario Kart 7 (3DS) is at number eight with sales of 59,027. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (PS3) rounds out the top 10 with sales of 46,531.

Week on week software totals are down across the board, except for the 3DS which is up. The PlayStation 3 takes the top spot this week with sales of 1.62 million, a decrease of 280,616 (-15%). The Xbox 360 sold 1.47 million games this week, a decrease of 183,225 (-11%). Wii software sales are down 51,568 (-4%) to 1.10 million. The DS sold 534,789 games, a decrease of 56,029 (-9%). The 3DS sold 430,764 games, which is up 21,427 (5%). PSP game sales are down 56,491 (-18%) to 263,302 games sold. The Vita sold 118,005 games, a decrease of 10,017 (-8%).  Total combined software is down 616,519 (-10%) week on week to 5.53 million.

Year on year software totals are up for the PlayStation, Xbox 360 and 3DS, and are down for the Wii, DS and PSP. The PlayStation 3 is up 601,880 (59%), the Wii is down 52,382 (-5%) and the Xbox 360 is up 510,277 (53%). The DS is down 305,100 (-36%), the PSP is down 92,110 (-26%) and the 3DS is up 300,888 (232%). Total combined software is up 1.08 million (24%) games sold year on year.

The PlayStation 3 has sold the most games for a second week in a row, despite sales dropping. It has also lead for six of the last 10 weeks and the Xbox 360 led for the last four weeks. The PlayStation 3 has a 39 percent market share, the Xbox 360 with 35 percent, and the Wii with 26 percent. Compared to ten weeks ago all three home consoles are down.

The DS leads this week and for the seventh time in 10 weeks, while the 3DS lead for three of the other weeks. The DS has a 67 percent market share for the current generation handhelds and the PSP has a 33 percent market share. The 3DS has a 79 percent market share for the next generation handhelds, while the Vita has a 22 percent market share. Compared with ten weeks ago all four handhelds are down.

The Top 100 can be seen below or click here to view the full chart.

Pos	Game	Weekly	Total	Week #
1	Mario Party 9 (Wii) Nintendo, Misc	177,382	1,022,367	10
2	Sniper Elite V2 (X360) 505 Games, Shooter	142,735	142,735	1
3	Sniper Elite V2 (PS3) 505 Games, Shooter	123,285	123,285	1
4	TERA (PC) En Masse, Role-Playing	101,471	101,471	1
5	Prototype 2 (X360) Activision, Action	95,374	356,350	2
6	Prototype 2 (PS3) Activision, Action	71,209	257,394	2
7	Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PS3) Capcom, Shooter	67,584	826,791	7
8	Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) Nintendo, Platform	59,027	5,992,462	27
9	Mario Kart 7 (3DS) Nintendo, Racing	54,195	5,530,700	23
10	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (PS3) Activision, Shooter	46,531	11,769,229	26
11	Mass Effect 3 (X360) Electronic Arts, Role-Playing	42,597	2,191,856	9
12	Fire Emblem: Kakusei (3DS) Nintendo, Strategy	42,392	349,113	3
13	Kinect Adventures! (X360) Microsoft Game Studios, Misc	42,277	16,476,739	79
14	Kinect Star Wars (X360) Microsoft Game Studios, Action	41,523	709,014	5
15	Just Dance 3 (Wii) Ubisoft, Misc	41,150	8,993,701	31
16	Zumba Fitness 2 (Wii) Majesco Entertainment, Sports	39,229	1,551,509	25
17	The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (X360) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Role-Playing	37,751	320,813	3
18	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (X360) Activision, Shooter	37,531	13,971,905	26
19	Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS) Nintendo, Action	37,144	661,984	7
20	FIFA Soccer 12 (PS3) Electronic Arts, Sports	34,219	5,698,327	32
21	Mario Kart Wii (Wii) Nintendo, Racing	31,980	31,979,976	213
22	New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) Nintendo, Platform	29,908	25,433,959	129
23	FIFA Street (PS3) Electronic Arts, Sports	29,833	640,665	8
24	Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3) Sony Computer Entertainment, Action	29,341	4,234,075	27
25	Batman: Arkham City (PS3) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Action	28,892	3,178,508	29
26	Battlefield 3 (PS3) Electronic Arts, Shooter	27,327	5,266,535	28
27	Wii Sports (Wii) Nintendo, Sports	26,777	78,916,077	285
28	Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (Wii) Activision, Action	26,612	1,636,953	30
29	FIFA Soccer 12 (X360) Electronic Arts, Sports	25,764	3,677,358	32
30	Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) Sony Computer Entertainment, Racing	25,710	7,545,755	76

Contact VGChartz at wdangelo@vgchartz.com