Archive for August, 2016

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided takes number one

Tuesday, August 30th, 2016

There is some good news, and some bad news for Square Enix with the weekly British game charts. Good news first, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided captured first spot on both the all formats and individual formats charts (top two spots), but less stellar is the fact that its predecessor Human Revolution “had a much stronger week 1” according to Chart-Track. Clearly there were far more PS3 and Xbox 360 units out there in 2011 then there are PS4 and Xbox One units now, but it’s still not a great sign.

A couple of other new releases did well as Madden NFL 17 managed a surprising 5th, with the console release of Assetto Corsa coming in at 8th. Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom also performed realtively strongly with 10th spot on the all formats chart. Quantum Break raced up to 16th spot (+623%) thanks to retailer hardware bundles.

All Formats (all prices):

1. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided / Square Enix (new)
2. F1 2016 / Codemasters
3. No Man’s Sky / Sony
4. Overwatch / Blizzard
5. Madden NFL 17 / EA Sports (new)
6. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End / Sony
7. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens / Warner Bros.
8. Assetto Corsa / 505 Games (new)
9. Grand Theft Auto V / Rockstar
10. Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom / Koei Tecmo (new)

Individual Formats (units):

1. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided / PS4 (new)
2. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided / Xbox One (new)
3. No Man’s Sky / PS4
4. F1 2016 / PS4
5. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End / PS4
6. Madden NFL 17 / PS4 (new)
7. F1 2016 / Xbox One
8. Overwatch / Xbox One
9. Overwatch / PS4
10. Assetto Corsa / PS4 (new)

This gaming news can be discussed here

Steam, Sony and Amazon are all issuing refunds on No Man’s Sky

Tuesday, August 30th, 2016

Steam, Sony and Amazon are reportedly issuing refunds for PC users of No Man’s Sky after weeks of problems since its launch.

According to Game Revolution, Steam is accepting requests for refunds no matter what the logged play time.

However, Steam has written a notice on its No Man’s Sky page stating that its “standard policy” applies to the game, which states that a title can only be refunded before two hours of play.

Additionally, Sony and Amazon US are also reported to be offering refunds (via Gadgets 360) to players however long their play time.

Many users have claimed on Reddit that they have successfully received refunds for the game despite having spent quite a while on it.

This all comes after expectations for the much-anticipated game were dashed due to numerous performance and stability issues, with Hello Games having released a series of patches to fix crash issues.

Additionally, reviewers have questioned its enduring appeal, the sandbox-style exploration format coming under criticism for its lack of things to actually do.

Since its release earlier this month, No Man’s Sky’s sales have dropped 81%, despite topping the charts when launched.

PC Invasion also reports that the number of players dropped dramatically from 220,000 to 15,700 by its second week.

No Man’s Sky is available now for PS4 and PC.

This gaming news can be discussed here

Cold Water is Number 1 single for a fifth week

Friday, August 26th, 2016

The Official Singles Chart is once again drenched in Cold Water this week, as Major Lazer, Justin Bieber and MØ hang on to Number 1 for a fifth consecutive week.

It’s been a closely run race all week between Cold Water and DJ Snake’s Let Me Love You, which also features Justin Bieber. Cold Water shifted just over 71,500 combined chart sales, meaning DJ Snake couldn’t charm his way to the top, finishing 1,469 behind to spend a third straight week at Number 2.

Major Lazer’s Cold Water drowns out the competition when it comes to streaming too – it’s notched up 5.03 million plays to be the most listened to track of the week.

The Chainsmokers edge up one place to 3 with Closer, featuring Halsey, and Calum Scott’s cover of Robyn’s Dancing On My Own drops one to 4, while Twenty One Pilots’ Heathens hits a new chart high, rising two to 5.

It’s a new chart peak for Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez’s We Don’t Talk Anymore, which leaps nine places to break into the Top 20 for the first time, at 14. Anne-Marie’s Alarm has also gone Top 20, up five to 19.

Highest brand new entry this week belongs to Ellie Goulding, with Still Falling For You, from the latest Bridget Jones movie, going in at 25, and Craig David & Sigala are also new at 29 with Ain’t Giving Up.

Two tracks break into the Top 40 for the very first time this week: a remix of Is This Love, from Bob Marley feat. Lvndscape and Bolier, is up 3 to 39, while Cheat Codes & Dante Klein rocket 37 slots with Let Me Hold You (Turn Me On) up to 40.

See this week’s Top 100 Official Singles Chart in full

F1 2016 overtakes No Man’s Sky in the gaming charts

Monday, August 22nd, 2016

Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky has been toppled at the top of the charts, with Codemasters’ F1 2016 replacing it in pole position.

No Man’s Sky sales were down 81% from last week, allowing F1 2016 space to overtake it and slip into first. Sales for the racing series were also down 32% on last year’s entry (F1 2015), a surprise given the encouraging critical reception enjoyed by this year’s effort.

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens saw better fortunes, with sales increasing 13%, allowing it to move back into number three. Outside the Top 10, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst saw a 90% rise in sales, putting it back in the Top 40 at 27.

In other chart news FIFA 16 and Rocket League stay where they are at seven and six respectively and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 slips out of the Top 10. Here is the GFK Chart-Track Top 10 in full:

1. F1 2016 / Codemasters Birmingham / Codemasters
2. No Man’s Sky / Hello Games / Sony
3. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens / TT Games / Warner Bros.
4. Overwatch / Blizzard / Activision
5. Grand Theft Auto / Rockstar / Take Two
6. Rocket League / Psyonix / 505
7. FIFA 16 / EA Sports / EA
8. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End / Naughty Dog / Sony
9. Doom / id Software / Bethesda
10. Minecraft: Xbox Edition / Mojang and 4J Studios / Microsoft

This gaming news can be discussed here

Justin Bieber makes it four weeks at No.1 with ‘Cold Water’

Friday, August 19th, 2016

He may have disappeared from Instagram this week, but it looks like Justin Bieber isn’t moving from the UK No.1 position any time soon.

The singer has claimed a fourth week at the top with his Major Lazer and MØ team-up ‘Cold Water’, which took the title with 83,000 combined sales.

They were made up of 26,000 downloads and 5.67 million streams, reports the Official Charts.

Bieber fended off tough competition from, um, himself for a second week, with his DJ Snake anthem ‘Let Me Love You’ stuck at number two.

Calum Scott holds firm at number three with ‘Dancing On My Own’, Chainsmokers and Halsey jump from 12 to four with ‘Closer’, and Jonas Blue slips to five with ‘Perfect Strangers’.

Outside the Top 10, Lil Wayne’s Suicide Squad single ‘Sucker For Pain’ is at 12, while Olly Murs climbs to 19 with his latest single ‘You Don’t Know Love’.

Elsewhere, Tieks’ ‘Sunshine’ featuring Dan Harkna advances nine places to 22 this week, while Martin Garrix is up to 28 with his Bebe Rexha team-up ‘In The Name Of Love’.

See this week’s Top 100 Official Singles Chart in full

No Man’s Sky is Sony’s second biggest launch on PS4

Monday, August 15th, 2016

No Man’s Sky has made a huge splash for Sony this week, with Hello Games’ space adventure charting in the top spot and becoming Sony’s second biggest UK release so far on PlayStation 4 (behind Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End).

Equally impressive, it’s the fifth best-selling new IP across ALL publishers and platforms, with the game only bettered by Destiny (PS4), Watch Dogs (PS4), The Getaway (PS2) and The Last of Us (PS3).

In other UK chart news, Mario & Sonic: Rio 2016 Olympic Games climbed up to 15th place, no doubt due to the ongoing Olympic Games in Rio.

Here’s the GfK Chart-Track top ten:

1. No Man’s Sky / Hello Games / Sony
2. Grand Theft Auto / Rockstar / Take Two
3. Overwatch / Blizzard / Activision
4. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens / TT Games / Warner Bros.
5. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End / Naughty Dog / Sony
6. Rocket League / Psyonix / 505
7. FIFA 16 / EA Sports / EA
8. Doom / id Software / Bethesda
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 / Treyarch / Activision
10. Minecraft: Xbox Edition / Mojang and 4J Studios / Microsoft

This gaming news can be discussed here

Cold Water stays at Number 1 for a third week

Saturday, August 13th, 2016

Major Lazer, MØ and Justin Bieber are Number 1 for a third consecutive week with Cold Water, fending off… Justin Bieber.

Justin’s new collaboration with DJ Snake Let Me Love You is a new entry at Number 2, boasting strong combined chart sales of 70,000. Despite LMLY being the most purchased single of the week with 40,000 sold, JB’s featured slot on Major Lazer’s track is still Number 1 with 93,000 combined chart sales, and was the most streamed song over the past seven days.

The rest of this week’s Top 5 are made up of music that all slips one place since last week. Calum Scott’s Dancing On My Own falls from 2 to 3, Jonas Blue and JP Cooper’s Perfect Strangers drops from 3 to 4, and The Chainsmokers’ Don’t Let Me Down featuring Daya slips one spot to 5.

New entries and high climbers

Rocketing 11 places to this week’s Number 9 is twenty one pilots’ Suicide Squad soundtrack single Heathens, the first UK Top 10 single for the Ohio duo. The Chainsmokers are back with another Top 20 entry this week, their Halsey collaboration Closer has risen 21 ranks to Number 12, Halsey’s first Top 20 single in the UK.

MØ’s Final Song hops up one place on the chart to Number 14 and Christine and the Queens’ Tilted also jolts one position, hitting the Top 20 for the first time at 20. Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez’s We Don’t Talk Anymore is up three to 23, closely followed by Fifth Harmony’s All In My Head (Flex), which enjoys a jump of 11 to Number 25.

Suicide Squad soundtrack cut Sucker For Pain marks a 19th Top 40 hit for Lil Wayne, an 8th for Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons’ 7th. The track which also features X Ambassadors, Logic and Ty Dolla $ign is this week’s joint highest climber, rising 37 places to 28.

Finally, another song that experienced a 37 spot boost on the Official Singles Chart is Tieks and Dan Harkna’s Sunshine. Featured on a Fiat 500 advert, the song vaults from 68 to 31.

Check out this week’s Top 100 Official Singles Chart in full

GTA 5 returns to the top of the gaming charts

Monday, August 8th, 2016

GTA 5 is far from new. The game was initially released in September 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which makes it even more startling that it’s now sitting atop the UK sales charts.

Atop as in ‘number one’, as in ‘most sold’, as in ‘beating Uncharted 4‘.

Somehow, a three-year old game has fended off much more recent titles.

GTA 5 was re-released on PS4 and Xbox One after its initial launch, but even those updated versions are approaching two years old. The vast majority of the game’s sales are on these two platforms.

One possible explanation for GTA 5’s sudden surge in sales is the release of GTA Online’s newest update, Cunning Stunts, which gives Los Santos the Trackmania treatment. Players are placed in race cars which are subsequently flung across completely improbable racetracks stretching over the skyline of Los Santos.

The full list (below) is dominated by fresh-faced games like Overwatch and Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but at the top of the list things begin to get weird. Rocket League? GTA 5?

And here is that list in full…

  1. Grand Theft Auto V
  2. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
  3. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
  4. Overwatch
  5. FIFA 16
  6. Rocket League
  7. Doom
  8. Call of Duty: Black Ops III
  9. Ratchet & Clank
  10. Minecraft (Xbox edition)
  11. Tom Clancy’s The Division
  12.  Star Wars Battlefront
  13. Lego Marvel Avengers
  14. Minecraft: Story Mode
  15. UFC 2
  16. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Siege
  17.  Pokémon Alpha Sapphire
  18. Lego Jurassic World
  19.  Fallout 4
  20. Pokémon Omega Ruby
  21. Minecraft (PlayStation Edition)
  22. Homefront: The Revolution
  23. Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
  24. Monster Hunter Generations
  25. Heavy Rain & Beyond Two Souls Collection

This gaming chart can be discussed here

Cold Water drenches the competition to log a second week at Number 1

Friday, August 5th, 2016

Major Lazer’s collaboration with Justin Bieber and MØ is the UK’s Official Singles Chart Number 1 for a second consecutive week.

Cold Water has passed 100,000 chart equivalent sales for the second week in a row with 104,000 of you buying or streaming the track over the past seven days. The Ed Sheeran-penned song was the most streamed single of the week and outperformed its 102,000 garnering figure from last week.

Major Lazer told Official Charts last week: “We can’t believe we have our first Number 1 and are amazed at the support from the UK. We have a lot more coming for you this summer!”

Calum Scott’s slow burning single Dancing On My Own climbs one place to Number 2, a new peak after 15 weeks on the chart. Jonas Blue’s BPI certified Silver single Perfect Strangers falls one place to 3, followed by two non-movers – The Chainsmokers’ Don’t Let Me Down and Drake’s One Dance at 4 and 5 respectively.

New entries and high climbers

Bastille’s Official Trending Chart Number 1 Good Grief climbs two positions to 13, while MØ’s Final Song enjoys a similar experience, up two to 15. A bigger jump comes from girl group M.O; their hit Who Do You Think Of becomes their first Top 20 single, rising seven places to 18.

Three high climbers follow shortly after at Numbers 20, 21 and 22. twenty one pilots’ Heathens becomes their second Top 20 entry, up 14 to Number 20, Titled from Christine and the Queens jolts six places to 21 and Anne-Marie’s Australian Top 10 single Alarm rises 10 spots to 22.

Halsey scores her first Top 40 single courtesy of her featured slot on The Chainsmokers’ new entry Closer (33) and finally, Fifth Harmony’s All In My Head (Flex) springs into the Top 40 for the first time, up 10 to 36.

Check out this week’s Top 100 Official Singles Chart in full

The Force Awakens makes it five weeks in a row

Monday, August 1st, 2016

Very few new releases means that Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens managed to make it five weeks in a row on top of the All Formats charts this week. It’s a tied record for Lego titles. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End stays on top of the individual chart and climbs back up to number two overall, proving that Drake has some strong legs. Elsewhere in the charts the Pokémon Go craze has done wonders for Pokémon titles on 3DS as Alpha Sapphire (11), Omega Ruby (18), X (25), and Y (29), all appear in the all formats chart. Keep in mind that these charts only reflect physical sales at retail and not digitally sold games.

All Formats (all prices):

1. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens / Warner Bros.
2. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End / Sony
3. Grand Theft Auto V / Rockstar
4. FIFA 16 / EA Sports
5. Overwatch / Blizzard
6. Doom / Bethesda
7. Rocket League / 505 Games
8. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 / Activision
9. Minecraft: Xbox Edition / Microsoft
10. Ratchet & Clank / Sony

This gaming news can be discussed here