(AP)
Fri Sep 1st 2006 at 1:27 am ET
By MAY WONG, AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO Electronic Arts Inc. said Thursday that sales of its latest "Madden" football video game grossed more than $100 million in its first week, the biggest launch in the franchise's 17-year history and the latest sign of an improving outlook for the industry. EA, the world's largest video game publisher, said consumers snapped up more than 2 million copies of "Madden NFL 07" in its opening week, up 12 percent from last year's game launch.
The Madden game is the flagship franchise for the Redwood City-based game maker, with new versions each year ranking consistently as best sellers. To date, more than 53 million copies of the game have been sold. While a handful of other game titles have had more successful openings Microsoft Corp.
said its Halo 2 game reached $125 million in sales within the first 24 hours in 2004 robust interest in the Madden game is a welcome development in a year where game makers are struggling amid a video game console transition period. Along with other game makers, EA's sales have suffered as consumers have delayed purchases until the expected release later this year of next-generation consoles, namely Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news).'s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Co.
's Wii. An industry turnaround isn't expected until next year, and EA officials predicted during its quarterly earnings report on Aug. 1 that video game sales for 2006 across the industry would be flat to down 5 percent.
Still, the success of the latest Madden game illustrates how lucrative the video game industry has become. Its opening-week gross sales rivals some of this year's biggest movie box office draws: "The Da Vinci Code" movie, for instance, drew $102 million in its first week, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.
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First of all is is not fair to call Al Sharpton stupid. He merly voiced his own opinion, and did not change it based on what other people said, freedom of speech and voiceing ones own opinion is one of the things Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. fought for. That being said, i find this in no way offesnsive.
The lessons and meanings behind the episodes of Boondocks are often misconstrued. Instead of focusing ones whole attention on a word about someones ethnicity, those who watch the show, should focus thier the attention on the true lessons that can be gained from the show. This episode should not be all about the use of the n-word.
Whos to say that if He was alive today, he would have used the n-word, he may have, and he may not have. Rather then concerning oneself with the use of a racial slur, focus on what Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.
was all about, and not a word, that he did not even say himself. Dr.Marthin Luther King Jr.
was about unity and equality, and to ingore that message, because of one word, completly underminds what He fought for. So instead of seeing this as a mockery of a great man,see it as a tribute to a great man, and the things that He tried is hardest to uphold.
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