The Wii took a rare backseat to the Xbox 360 in US console sales last month, newly released NPD Group sales data shows. Microsoft’s system sold through 422,000 systems, 25,000 more than the Wii’s 397,000. The PS3 followed with 360,000.

Xbox 360’s director of product management Aaron Greenberg took to Twitter and quickly declared the month “best February in Xbox 360 history”.

On the software front, BioShock 2 took top honors with over 562,000 copies of the Xbox 360 version sold. New Super Mario Bros. Wii and the Xbox 360 version Modern Warfare 2 followed.

The big PS3 release for the month, Heavy Rain, debuted at number 10 with just under 220,000 copies sold.

Software
1. BioShock 2 (Xbox 360): 562,900
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii): 555,600
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360): 314,300
4. Just Dance (Wii): 275,400
5. Wii Sports Resort (Wii): 272,500
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3): 252,800
7. Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360): 246,500
8. Dante’s Inferno: Divine Edition (PS3): 242,500
9. Dante’s Inferno (Xbox 360): 224,700
10. Heavy Rain (PS3): 219,300

Home console
1. Xbox 360: 422,000
2. Wii: 397,000
3. PS3: 360,100
4. PS2: 102,900

Handhelds
DS: 613,200
PSP: 133,400

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"It looks like Future Shop isn’t the only retailer getting ready for the impending release of Sony’s blockbuster God of War III. Enter Best Buy Canada."

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Who Was There: Akira Yamaoka, who is best known for his music in the Silent Hill series, leveraged his 20 years of experience in video game production to discuss audio design in games from a producer’s perspective. He has worked not only as a composer, but also as a sound designer, sound director, and producer. Having recently left longtime employer Konami, Yamaoka is currently working with Suda51 on a new game at Grasshopper Manufacture that will be published by EA Partners.

Akira Yamaoka

What They Talked About: Yamaoka’s 2010 Game Developers Conference session began with a few slides that highlighted some facts of Japan, including the number of islands (6,852) and coastal line (comparable to that of Australia). Yamaoka wanted go over his background and heritage because the kind of attention to detail that is part of the Japanese culture ties in closely to what he ultimately strives for: perfection.

“We care about details. That’s the culture,” he said through a translator. “We are married to perfection, to details. I hope that links with the world of games.”

Yamaoka wanted to be a designer after entering the world of computer games. Computer graphics were still considered new at the time, and his original goal was to focus on graphics but then switched after he bought a PC.

“I wasn’t very serious and was having fun,” he explained. “I discovered that with a computer, you can compose music, so I switched to [make] computer music instead of computer graphics.”

Currently, Yamaoka uses MAX/MSP to compose, but the interface wasn’t as accessible 20 years ago. He says that nowadays, anyone can create music, but for him it’s a matter of going beyond that. Comparisons were made to film, but he stated that drama films don’t have the same interactive communication that video games do.

The composer went on to discuss how humans rely on visuals for stimulation but what he wanted to do was find a way to stimulate or “tickle” a player’s emotion with sound. Because humans have other senses as well, he hoped that later down the road, gamers can be “tickled” by taste and scents as well.

Yamaoka’s theory for controlling a person’s emotions is based around psychology. He explained how humans feel unstable when they turn clockwise and that there’s a psychological uncertainty there. Understanding what humans naturally fear is something that is used in games to create anxiety.

Having worked on the Silent Hill series since its inception, Yamaoka talked about how he would bring in sound three frames ahead to induce intensity or anxiety. The opposite would result when audio comes after the visual cues, which instead provide security and comfort.

Early audio cues induce anxiety.

Contrasting sounds also leave a lasting impression on a listener. An example that he used was to introduce a beautiful piano melody, followed by a frightening sound. Each sound becomes more vivid and the same trick is used in visuals as well.

Based on Yamaoka’s audio research, he explained that when the brain hears a sound that is followed by silence, the sound remains even after it has been cut off, which leaves a powerful impact on the listener.

“It’s the lack of sound that impresses humans more than the beautiful music,” he said.

The final part of Yamaoka’s talk was focused on the MAX audio software and how simple it was for him to use when composing and creating sounds. To demonstrate, he brought out his electric guitar and played for several minutes.

At the end of the presentation, he left the audience with a quote from his favorite architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who said, “God is in the detail of the arts.” He feels that to achieve what he wants, it’s in the details and through that, originality and uniqueness can be delivered.

Quote: “God is in the detail of the arts.”–Akira Yamaoka, quote originally by famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Takeaway: Silence can often be more effective than noise, depending on how it is used. Understanding how humans digest and process sound can help audio designers create something that is more powerful and memorable.

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EA’s Star Wars: The Old Republic is the company’s biggest undertaking yet — by far by the sounds of it — chief financial officer Eric Brown said at Wedbush’s financial conference yesterday.

The BioWare-developed MMO is the “largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company,” he said, adding that the project costs “significantly more” than EA’s average, $30 million packaged game.

A more specific figure wasn’t provided but Brown did estimate that competitor Blizzard’s World of Warcraft cost “$100 million, perhaps more” to develop and launch, a sum it now attracts monthly from its subscriber base.

“MMOs are sizeable undertakings,” he quipped.

EA is currently eyeing a spring 2011 launch window for SWTOR.

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When Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 was revealed to have PlayStation Move support, we wondered why EA would support every other motion-controlled peripheral (all two) and not Microsoft’s Project Natal. So we hit up EA for an answer. As it turns out, EA just wasn’t “in a position” to add Natal support to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 — but the company doesn’t rule out implementation in future installments of the franchise.

“We are always evaluating new technologies and Natal would be a perfect fit for the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise,” an EA spokesperson told Joystiq, “however we are simply not in a position to do so with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.”

There you have it: Natal is a “perfect fit,” but Tiger Woods 11 won’t have that functionality. Our guess? The Natal dev kits haven’t shipped and a post-release implementation patch would not be cost effective.

EA: No Project Natal support for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been gearing up for Split/Second for a while now, and news of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the destructive racer hitting Europe and North America in mid-May has only got us even more excited. However, we noticed that there hasn’t been any mention of the release date for the PC version just yet.

Turns out it’s still coming but it won’t be hitting shops like its console companions.

“We will be releasing on PC at the same time but it will be a limited online release,” a Disney rep told TVGB via email today.

We’re not entirely sure what “a limited online release” means, perhaps a Steam-only release, but we’ve followed-up with Disney for clarification.

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Though the PlayStation Move was only unveiled hours ago, companies are already beginning to pile onto the PlayStation motion-control bandwagon. The first publisher to jump aboard post-briefing was Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which announced Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest would support the LED controller- and camera-based system when it launches in the fall. The game was previously announced for the Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, and DS.

Warner Bros.’ family-friendly take on Lord of the Rings will support the PlayStation Move.

Though it is based on director Peter Jackson’s 2001-2003 live-action Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Aragorn’s Quest is closer in spirit to the 1977 Rankin-Bass animated version of The Hobbit. According to WBIE, the title will be “the first Lord of the Rings game created specifically for kids and their families.”

The game sees players taking control of the titular hero during his journeys to protect the Hobbit ringbearers on their quest to destroy the soul-corrupting One Ring and vanquish the evil Dark Lord Sauron. The cheerfully hued game will feature “a friendly, colorful rendition of Middle-Earth” and see players engaging in sword fights, lancing, and archery.

For more on Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, check out GameSpot’s hands-on preview from E3 2009.

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Quantic Dream co-founder Guillaume de Foundaumiere believes that the success of Heavy Rain proves that “there is space for innovation” in the industry.

Speaking in an interview with GamesIndustry, Foundaumiere said, “I think that Heavy Rain’s success is also a very important sign to the industry. There is space for innovation, and we are – to a certain degree – a relatively conservative industry, an industry where it’s sometimes difficult to push the boundaries.

“So whenever there’s a success such as Heavy Rain, it fuels a lot of hope for all the people out there who try to do things differently, and try to expand the market.”

Foundaumiere continued, “The mood of the team is pretty high – we’ve been working for three and a half years to deliver on a very strong promise.”

“As I always say, reviews are important, sales are even more important, but the most important thing for David [Cage] and I was to deliver on the promise.”

Check out our review of Heavy Rain here.

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Warner Bros let us know today that The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, a game previously headed for the Wii (and DS), will now also be making an appearance on the PlayStation 3, "with full support for PlayStation’s upcoming motion controller technology"."

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