Weekly Recap: Xbox One vs. PS4 Battle Heating Up, Advanced Warfare Sales

(Some Of) The Big Stuff:

PS4 vs. Xbox One news dominated the top headlines this week, as SCEA president Shawn Layden suggested in a media interview that the PS4 is currently outselling the Xbox One by a 2:1 margin. In the same interview, he said he's unfazed by Microsoft's recent $50 Xbox One price cut, which has led to Xbox One sales "skyrocketing," and in fact overtaking PS4 in the US for the past two weeks. With the holiday season approaching, expect the battle to heat up.

Though the PS4 has jumped out to an early lead, Microsoft is already closing the gap, according to EA CFO Blake Jorgensen. During a presentation with analysts this week, Jorgensen said the Xbox One is seeing a jolt in sales due to the recent implementation of the price and the various value-oriented bundles. He also predicted that after the busy holiday shopping season ends, there should be around 25 million combined PS4 and Xbox Ones out there, trending ahead of where the PS3 and Xbox 360 were at the same point in their cycle.

Activision isn't giving out official sales numbers yet, but the publisher announced this week that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is now the "biggest entertainment launch" of 2014, outpacing all other games and movies. First-week sales and DLC pass sales are up year-over-year compared to Call of Duty: Ghosts, Activision added. On top of that, the entire Call of Duty series has now generated more than $10 billion to date, which is more than the total box office receipts for film franchises such as The Hunger Games, Iron Man, Transformers, and Avengers ... combined.

The Other Stuff (Stories We Like, But Didn't Cover With a Standalone Post):

2K Games this week released a bunch of statistics that speak to just how popular the recently concluded Big Alpha for 2015's 4v1 shooter Evolve was. Among the numbers is more victories for hunters (731,414 to 574,079), 1.3 million total rounds played, and 7.2 million views on Twitch. You can see the full infographic on the game's website here.

Take-Two is no longer just a video game publisher. The Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands parent company announced this week that it's getting into the comic book business. As part of a new initiative headed up by former Marvel president Bill Jemas called Double Take, Take-Two will release new stories based in the universe of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. You can stay up to date with Double Take at its Facebook page.

Mid-tier publisher Majesco could be in trouble. The company is publicly traded, and SEC documents discovered by Gamasutra show that the publisher recently laid off a number of staff and announced that it has no major games in the pipeline for 2015. "We have suffered losses that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern," reads a line from one of the documents. Read the full report here.

Tough news for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn fans, as Square Enix has confirmed that the game has faced ongoing DDoS attacks. The attacks have made it difficult for users to log into the game, and there appears to be no end in sight. Square Enix apologized for the problems, and said it will take "every possible measure" to address the issue.

Sony offered up a tease about one of its future games this week, as SCEA president Shawn Layden let slip in an interview with GamesBeat that God of War developer Sony Santa Monica is working the company's "next big franchise." Oooh! What could it be? We may not have to wait much longer to find out, as Sony will hold its gamer-focused PlayStation Experience event next month in Las Vegas, where the company is expected to talk about its future game lineup.

We've seen some pretty incredible Little Big Planet user-created levels over the years, but this might be the best one to date. One determined fan has spent two years recreating Final Fantasy VII in Little Big Planet. The results are amazing. Check out the video above to see what I'm talking about.

How much have you spend on mobile games? I bet it's not as much as Sex Pistols singer John "Rotten" Lydon did. He reveals in a new interview that he spent more than £10,000 ($15,697) over the course of two years on various iPad games, including Real Racing 3. Wow!

Activision Blizzard has settled a lawsuit related to the company's 2013 buyout from former parent company Vivendi. Under the terms of the settlement announced Wednesday, Activision Blizzard will be paid a sum of $275 million, though further specifics were not announced.

Digital Extremes' popular free-to-play game Warframe got a huge expansion this week called Archwing. The free update lets players freely fly wherever they want without the need for a ship. It also adds new weapons to players' arsenals, Quests to expand the game's lore, enemies to fight, and a new reputation system. The free game has been downloaded more than 12 million times to date, and is now the most downloaded PS4 game of all time.

Looking for more content from Hyrule Warriors, the recently released Legend of Zelda/Dynasty Warriors Wii U game? If you are, you're in luck, as Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma writes on Miiverse that the game's second DLC expansion, The Twilight Princess Pack, will be released on November 27. That's a day before Thanksgiving, meaning you can avoid your family by playing the game after you chow down on turkey. The highlight of the DLC is a new playable character: Twili Midna.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick not only knows how to run a video game business (see Take-Two's surging stock price for evidence of that), but the man is also well-versed in the workings of the entire United States economy. He recently appeared on Bloomberg TV and gave his thoughts about how the economy is coming along, and he speaks rather expertly on the subject. Check out the video here.

Free game alert! Trion Worlds Defiance, which ties into the Syfy TV show of the same name, is now a free-to-play game. The PC version transitioned to the new business model earlier this year, so this is a long time coming for Xbox 360 owners. With Defiance the TV recently renewed for a third reason, you can expect lots more content in the game. You can download Defiance for Xbox 360 free today on Xbox.com.

2014 will surely go down as the year of "So Many Simulators." The latest is Grass Simulator, which is actually a game about shooting cows. The reasoning, at least from what I can gather, is that grass is fed up with being bovine breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and is out for revenge. The game is available today on Steam through Early Access for $9.

Uh oh, Battlefield fans. It sounds like Battlefield Hardline's second beta, which EA announced in June would be coming to all platforms this fall, is no longer a sure thing. Writing on Twitter, Visceral Games GM Steve Papoutsis dodged the question. We followed up with EA, and were told that "there will indeed be a Battlefield Hardline demo for all announced platforms before release," though the company wouldn't confirm if this would be this fall or sometime in 2015.

Company of Heroes fans, this one's for you. Sega this week released the latest expansion for Company of Heroes 2, which is called Ardennes Assault. It's available to buy now for $39.99/£29.99/€39.99. Based on the Battle of the Bulge, the expansion features 18 new single-player scenarios, with players squaring off against advancing German forces.

Have you ever wondered what Minecraft would look like with realistic graphics? Wonder no more, as an intrepid modder has done just that. Unfortunately, this is not a real game you'll be able to buy. It's still an impressive video to watch; maybe the movie will look like this?

Clothing company Musterbrand is now selling gear based on CD Projekt Red's Witcher series. The company's Witcher Collection features all kinds of clothing, including jackets, scarves, t-shirts, and even knapsacks based on the franchise. Head here to see the full collection. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launches for Xbox One, PS4, and PC in February 2015.

People riding the subway in China may have been shocked recently when they saw a "real" Dark Portal in one of the stations. To promote the release of WoW's Warlords of Draenor expansion, Blizzard's marketing team went all-out in a Shanghai subway station. The portal features a camera on one side and a screen on the opposite, leading to some very surprised faces. Check out more coverage and video of the portal here.

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