Ubisoft announced a couple of days ago that Far Cry Instincts, which was only released this past September for the Xbox, would be getting a sequel this Spring for the Xbox and Xbox 360. The working title is Far Cry: Next Chapter, and it appears as if our hero has returned to an island setting to set traps, drive vehicles, and wield an aresnal of different weapons. The Xbox 360 version of the game, Far Cry Instincts Predator, will include an upgraded version of Far Cry Instincts and the Next Chapter.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6142241.html

A couple of days ago, Capcom announced that they will bring their Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening Special Edition to the states. What’s more, it’ll only be 20 bucks! That’s right, the game will be released to stores on January 24^th as a greatest hit title. Among those features is the ability to play as Virgil, Dante’s brother and the game’s villian. There will also be a "Turbo Mode" that speeds the game up by 20%, a movie gallery and mode that allows you to view all of the cutscenes in order, a very hard mode, a survival mode, and another couple of features.

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/678/678623p1.html

At the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show yesterday, Microsoft announced that they intend to have an external HD DVD drive for their new Xbox 360 available later this year. Most industry insiders had an inkling about this announcement, but none knew it would come so soon or as an external device. No price or actual date has been announced, nor has it been said whether or not this new drive will play games too. Most people believe that it won’t – it will be solely for movies.

Also, Microsoft has announced that they have signed on a third production partner to produce more Xbox 360 consoles. Selectica will begin producing new systems for Microsoft next month. You couldn’t have done this a couple of months ago, guys?

It was reported last week that year-over-year game sales were down 18% for the month of November, and it doesn’t look any better for this month. Yesterday, EA warned that its earnings for the quarter would be far lower than they had expected. So what gives?

Well, there are a few reasons for a lack of strong sales this holiday season. The root of all of these reasons is the XBOX 360. The Video Game Industry has a cyclical path. Systems come out, they rise in popularity, then the popularity declines and new systems get released to keep up with the times and earn more money. The XBOX 360 was supposed to do something like this for the industry. Just as last year’s Halo 2 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were last year’s killer apps, the XBOX 360 was to be this year’s. Unfortunately, for whatever reason (and opinions do vary as to the reason), shipments of the new system were woefully inadequate and the industry as a whole didn’t make money off of it with their extra games and accessories.

The other big reason is a lack of blockbuster titles. Of the 10 top selling games this year, 7 were released in 2004. This could also be the fault of the XBOX 360. Because people were banking on the release of a new system to fuel their game sales (in the case of the games for the 360, most of which were ports), companies didn’t seem to work too hard on releasing quality original material for the 360, with few exceptions. Others seemed to be unwilling to sink money in to a game that would have to compete with the new juggernaut. Because of this, the holidays have been stricken with a monster case of sequelitis this year; there were no blockbusters on shelves this Christmas.

At any rate, hopefully game companies will realize that the quality and quantities of their products has made the majority contribution to a massive decline in sales this year, and they’ll learn from their mistakes. In the mean time, enjoy your copy of the ninth Need for Speed title.