Hasta La Gadget!

In what may be considered the most deal-worthy Humble Bundle yet, THQ launched a sale where you can get up to seven of the game studio’s titles for whatever you wanted to pay for them. When we mentioned the deal yesterday, it had already reached over $220,000 in sales. Now, after 24 hours, the bundle has received over $2.2 million in sales from more than 400,000 people.

The best part is, the bundle still has 12 days to go to raise as much money as possible. While THQ could really use the money, not all the sales are going to the developer. A percentage of the funds are going to charity at Child’s Play and the American Red Cross. So, not only will THQ be making bank, but charities will be making bank as well.

What’s interesting to note is that the top contributor currently is THQ president Jason Rubin, who contributed $1,050 to the Humble Bundle, and in second place is Turtle Rock Studios, who are best known for contributing work to some of Valve’s top video games like Counter-Strike and Left 4 Dead.

The THQ bundle includes Darksiders, Metro 2033, Red Faction: Armageddon, Company of Heroes, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, and Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor. You can pay whatever you want for these six games, but if you pay at least the average donation amount (which is still under $6 at the time of this writing), you’ll also get Saints Row: The Third.

Humble THQ Bundle surpasses $2m in 24 hours is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Welcome to Thursday evening everyone – we received some pretty big news this afternoon, so let’s just jump in! Microsoft announced today that we’ll be able snag a Surface Pro starting in January, with the 64GB model demanding $899 and the 128GB model going for $999. Apple launched iTunes 11 today, complete with a brand new user interface and iCloud at every turn, so get those updates going. We also heard that Google is looking to deliver information to you before you even search for it, which is pretty cool but also a little bit creepy.

There’s a new trailer for the 2014 Corvette that seems to tease something along the lines of a digital instrument panel, and today NVIDIA released GeForce 310.64 beta drivers, seemingly in preparation for the incoming launch of Far Cry 3. The new Humble THQ Bundle has arrived and it lets you name your price on a collection of big THQ games including Saints Row: The Third, Metro 2033, and Darksiders, so be sure to check that out if you game on PC. Krell Industries announced today that it will be supplying the sound system in the 2014 Acura RLX, while Meryll Lynch thinks it won’t be long before we see T-Mobile offering the iPhone.

VLC has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its Windows 8 app, and the HTC HD2, a phone that originally shipped with Windows Phone 6.5, has been given a Windows Phone 8 port. Barnes & Noble’s Q2 financial results show the company spending a lot on digital content to keep up with Amazon and Apple, and the big G announced today that Google Drive will soon be getting support for website publishing. Gameloft’s GT Racing: Motor Academy was given new Red Bull-themed cars today, and the popSLATE iPhone case comes with an e-ink display, but it needs your help over at Indiegogo.

As always, we also have a few original articles up on the site this evening. Don Reisinger tells us why Nintendo’s new Wii Mini is a bad idea, while we went eyes-on with both the BMW i3 Concept Coupe and BMW i8 Concept Spyder at the LA Auto Show. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the rest of your night folks!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: November 29, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you know anything about the Humble Bundle, it’s that you can get a bundle of great games for whatever you want to pay for them. It’s arguably one of the best business models there is, and taking a donations approach instead of a fixed price opens the gates for greater revenue. THQ is one game studio that needs revenue, so they’ve decided to throw together a Humble Bundle of their own.

The bundle includes Darksiders, Metro 2033, Red Faction: Armageddon, Company of Heroes, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, and Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor. You can pay whatever you want for these six games, but if you pay at least the average donation amount (which is currently $5.21 at the time of this writing), you’ll also get Saints Row: The Third thrown in as well.

However, while you can pay any amount that you want, you’ll have to pay at least $1. Any amount lower than that and you will only receive the soundtracks to the games, which would still be a good deal, but we’re guessing you want the games more than anything. Of course, we would recommend paying a lot more than $1, since some of the proceeds go to Childs Play and the American Red Cross (and you can choose how much of your donation goes to each).

The games include Windows versions as well as Steam versions, so you’ll be able to import the games directly into Steam once you purchase the bundle. The Humble THQ Bundle has already raised over $220,000 and it keeps rising, so this will no doubt bring a little bit of cash incoming to THQ, which has no doubt been struggling for revenue the past couple years.

Humble THQ Bundle includes Company of Heroes, Metro 2033 and more is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

NPD has released its sales statistics for the US video game market in August, and Darksiders II has taken the software crown. That’s in a month where every category tumbled year-over-year, with total software sales falling by a significant 20% to $515.6 million. The decline in software sales didn’t sting as much, with that number only dropping 11% year-over-year before resting at $252.8 million for the month.

Hardware sales took the biggest hit, tumbling a whopping 39% to come in at $150.6 million. Looking at the software side of things, Darksiders II managed to take the top spot on the chart for the month, but NPD later confirmed to GamesIndustry International that the game only sold 247,000 copies in its first week and a half – Darksiders II was released in the US on August 14, and NPD’s cutoff date for the month was August 25.

That has to be a bittersweet moment for struggling publisher THQ. On the one hand, it must be nice to see Darksiders II take the top spot, but it’s almost certain that THQ was counting on more sales than Darksiders II managed to pull in. It may not be all doom and gloom though, as it’s important to keep in mind that NPD’s numbers don’t figure in Steam or international sales. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says that worldwide sales of Darksiders II may have climbed as high 1 million by now, but also pointed out that THQ needs to sell in the area of 2 million copies to break even on the game.

“I think that the sales are below what they had hoped for,” Pachter said. “I presume it sold around 500,000 globally in the first two weeks (the NPD cutoff was Aug 25), so it’s probably over 1 million now, but my understanding is that breakeven is greater than 2 million units, so it’s not likely to get much higher than that.” Pacher continued by saying that we should give Darksiders II another month to see if its sales improve. Have a look at the full NPD top 10 software list for the month of August:

1. Darksiders II (360, PS3, PC)
2. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
3. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)
4. NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3)
5. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (360, PS3, PC, Wii, DS, 3DS, Vita)
6. Sleeping Dogs (360, PS3)
7. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (360, PS3)
8. Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, PC, Wii, DS)
10. The Amazing Spider-Man (360, PS3, Wii, DS, 3DS)

Sadly, if Darksiders II sales don’t pick up, we may not see another release in the franchise. THQ has been struggling in a big way lately, and new president Jason Rubin has made it clear that he has no problem whatsoever cutting projects and franchises that aren’t performing in line with company expectations. While it’s great to see Darksiders II rank as the top-selling game for August, that may not be enough for a publisher that has no choice but to cut initiatives that aren’t bringing in cold hard cash. Let’s just hope that Darksiders II is more successful than these NPD numbers (and Pachter’s analysis) lead us to believe.

[via GamesIndustry International]

NPD: Darksiders II sold 247k copies in August, takes top software spot is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.