April Monthly Sales Futures for hardware and software are making their debut Sunday.

Please remember, we have tweaked the IPO system so that when IPOs close and begin normal trading, they will do so at a random hour of the day. This change was made to address complaints by many players that people who are able to access the web site exactly at 11AM Pacific time have an unfair advantage. This should also reduce the orders for the stock at the moment the IPO is released for normal trading.

Also remember, for Monthly Software Futures of games that do not finish in NPD Group's Top 10, the game will cash out at the sales of the #10 title.

What is an IPO? This is when a stock first appears for trading. On the simExchange, you will be able to buy or short sell the Futures and GLS stock at a fixed price for 48 hours. This allows all players equal access to the IPO regardless of the time they log on. After 48 hours, the futures will trade as normal. All players are limited to 250,000 DKP positions in the IPO phase.

• April Console Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Company	IPO Price
  3/21	Xbox 360	Microsoft	40 DKP
  3/21	PLAYSTATION 3	Sony	35 DKP
  3/21	Wii	Nintendo	42 DKP
  3/22	Nintendo DS	Nintendo	55 DKP
  3/22	PlayStation Portable	Sony	12 DKP
  3/22	Total Software Sales	ALL	70 DKP

• April Monthly Sales Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Platform	Company	MSF IPO Price	GLS IPO Price
  3/21	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction	Xbox 360	Ubisoft	35 DKP	N/A
  3/22	Quantum Theory	PS3	Tecmo	15 DKP	N/A
  3/23	Monster Hunter Tri	Wii	Capcom	15 DKP	N/A
  3/24	2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	15 DKP	N/A
  3/25	Final Fantasy XIII	PS3	Square Enix	30 DKP	N/A
  3/25	Final Fantasy XIII	Xbox 360	Square Enix	20 DKP	N/A
  3/25	Battlefield: Bad Company 2	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	20 DKP	N/A
  3/26	New Super Mario Bros Wii	Wii	Nintendo	40 DKP	N/A
  3/26	Wii Sports Resort	Wii	Nintendo	30 DKP	N/A
  3/26	God of War III	PS3	Sony	30 DKP	N/A

We've made some changes to the web site over the last couple of days. Our goal is to simplify the SimExchange so that new users are less likely to get confused and/or lost on the web site. Changes include:

* Relabeling links and terms to be more obvious of their function. Example: Instead of "wiki summary" it is now "edit summary."

* Consolidating navigation into the right column of the website (where the Order Book is located) and simplifying the layout to 2 columns.

* Removed features that weren't being used, such as image and video submissions.

* In the interest of getting more GLS stocks listed, we will be listing games one-by-one rather than waiting for a group. Please check the Upcoming IPO calendar on the blog. We will no longer dedicate blog posts to GLS stock IPOs; rather, we will simply make a comment in the forum.

Other changes we are considering include changing the currency from "DKP" to something more straightforward like "S$." Certain terminology on the site has always been obstacles of confusion for players. Your suggestions are always welcome. Please let us know what you think may be confusing and what we can do to change the web site for the better.

Due to user demand, we have changed the rules regarding the Time Trust. When selling over 25,000 DKP worth of stock or futures, the user will cash out all the DKP currently accrued in the Time Trust. This change was made to influence a better balance of buying vs selling.

The following tables compare market expectations on the simExchange and actual results as reported by the NPD Group.

• US Hardware in February 2010

  Title	Actual units	Expected units	% From Expected
  Nintendo DS	613,200	462,000	+32.73%
  Xbox 360	422,000	335,700	+25.71%
  Nintendo Wii	397,900	500,900	-20.56%
  PLAYSTATION 3	360,100	263,700	+36.56%
  PlayStation Portable	133,400	108,900	+22.50%
  PlayStation 2	101,900	--	--
  Total Hardware Units (excludes PS2)	1,926,600	1,671,200	+15.28%

• US Software in February 2010

  Rank	Title	Actual units	Expected units	% From Expected
  1	BioShock (Xbox 360)	562,900	477,700	+17.84%
  2	New Super Mario Bros (Wii)	555,700	482,100	+15.27%
  3	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)	314,300	--	--
  4	Just Dance	275,400	--	--
  5	Wii Sports Resort (Wii)	272,500	267,500	+1.87%
  6	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)	252,800	--	--
  7	Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360)	246,500	365,400	-32.54%
  8	Dante's Inferno (PS3)	242,500	174,700	+38.81%
  9	Dante's Inferno (Xbox 360)	224,700	184,500	+21.79%
  10	Heavy Rain (PS3)	219,300	205,700	+6.61%
  	Total Software Sales	$624.4M	$644.8M	-3.16%
  	Total Tracked Software Units	2,324,100	2,576,600	-9.80%

The market also tracked the sales of BioShock 2 (PS3) and White Knight Chronicles (PS3), which did not make the top 10. The Monthly Sales Futures for these games will cash out at 21.93 DKP.

Where do the expected sales numbers come from?

The simExchange is the video game stock market. Gamers and developers sign up on the simExchange for a free trading account. Using fantasy money, players buy virtual stocks in video games they believe are under-predicting sales and short sell stocks they believe are over-predicting sales. This concept is widely known as "the Wisdom of the Crowd" and this system is known as a "prediction market." Sign up and play today.

About the predictions

Predictions on the simExchange should become more accurate over time as (1) the diversity of the pool of traders increases and as (2) more accurate players are rewarded with more virtual currency for their accuracy (thereby enabling them to form more predictions) and less accurate players lose virtual currency (thereby discounting their ability to form more predictions).

The rankings in February were distorted by trading in Sadness (Wii), which will be refunded.

• February 2010 Top 5 Traders

  Rank	Name	% Change
  1	argon	+280.04%
  2	gader	+28.51%
  3	ScottCroft	+26.29%
  4	kitmercer	+24.09%
  5	kanarendran	+22.02%

Check out the complete February 2010 rankings.

March Monthly Sales Futures for hardware and software are making their debut Saturday.

Please remember, we have tweaked the IPO system so that when IPOs close and begin normal trading, they will do so at a random hour of the day. This change was made to address complaints by many players that people who are able to access the web site exactly at 11AM Pacific time have an unfair advantage. This should also reduce the orders for the stock at the moment the IPO is released for normal trading.

Also remember, for Monthly Software Futures of games that do not finish in NPD Group's Top 10, the game will cash out at the sales of the #10 title.

What is an IPO? This is when a stock first appears for trading. On the simExchange, you will be able to buy or short sell the Futures and GLS stock at a fixed price for 48 hours. This allows all players equal access to the IPO regardless of the time they log on. After 48 hours, the futures will trade as normal. All players are limited to 250,000 DKP positions in the IPO phase.

Yakuza 3 (PS3) was suggested by ixaarii.

• March Console Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Company	IPO Price
  2/27	Xbox 360	Microsoft	30 DKP
  2/27	PLAYSTATION 3	Sony	25 DKP
  2/27	Wii	Nintendo	50 DKP
  2/28	Nintendo DS	Nintendo	45 DKP
  2/28	PlayStation Portable	Sony	12 DKP
  2/28	Total Software Sales	ALL	65 DKP

• March Monthly Sales Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Platform	Company	MSF IPO Price	GLS IPO Price
  2/27	Battlefield: Bad Company 2	PS3	Electronic Arts	20 DKP	N/A
  2/27	Battlefield: Bad Company 2	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	20 DKP	N/A
  2/28	Final Fantasy XIII	PS3	Square Enix	100 DKP	N/A
  2/28	Final Fantasy XIII	Xbox 360	Square Enix	50 DKP	N/A
  3/1	Yakuza 3	Xbox 360	Sega	15 DKP	70 DKP
  3/2	God of War III	PS3	Sony	100 DKP	N/A
  3/3	Red Steel 2	Wii	Ubisoft	12 DKP	N/A
  3/4	New Super Mario Bros Wii	Wii	Nintendo	35 DKP	N/A
  3/4	Wii Sports Resort	Wii	Nintendo	25 DKP	N/A
  3/4	BioShock 2	Xbox 360	Take Two	20 DKP	N/A

Video game hardware sales in January 2010 were below market expectations. Total hardware units (excluding PS2) sold were just under 1.6 million, 10.5% worse than the market's expectation for nearly 1.8 million units sold. Hardware sales fell 21% compared to last year.

Software sales came in 11% under expectations; however, this was a 12% drop from January 2009.

Xbox 360 was the only console to outperform market expectations with a 27% beat. Highly anticipated new release Mass Effect 2 disappointed with sales 22% below forecast. New Super Mario Bors and Modern Warfare 2 continued their strong performance as expected. New releases Bayonetta, Dark Void, and MAG failed to even chart.

The following tables compare market expectations on the simExchange and actual results as reported by the NPD Group.

• US Hardware in January 2010

  Title	Actual units	Expected units	% From Expected
  Nintendo Wii	465,800	548,200	-15.03%
  Nintendo DS	442,200	542,700	-22.20%
  Xbox 360	332,800	262,100	+26.97%
  PLAYSTATION 3	276,900	292,900	-5.46%
  PlayStation Portable	100,100	138,700	-27.83%
  PlayStation 2	41,600	--	--
  Total Hardware Units (excludes PS2)	1,597,800	1,784,600	-10.47%

• US Software in January 2010

  Rank	Title	Actual units	Expected units	% From Expected
  1	New Super Mario Bros (Wii)	656,700	588,400	+11.61%
  2	Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360)	572,100	728,700	-21.49%
  3	Wii Fit Plus	555,700	--	--
  4	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)	326,700	318,200	+2.67%
  5	Mario Kart (Wii)	310,900	--	--
  6	Wii Sports Resort (Wii)	297,600	336,900	-11.67%
  7	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)	259,000	216,300	+19.74%
  8	Army of Two: The 40th Day (Xbox 360)	246,500	224,300	+9.90%
  9	Just Dance (Wii)	191,900	--	--
  10	Darksiders (Xbox 360)	171,200	241,900	-29.23%
  	Total Software Sales	$597.9M	$671.4M	-10.95%
  	Total Tracked Software Units	2,529,800	2,654,700	-4.70%

The market also tracked the sales of Army of Two: The 40th Day (PS3), Bayonetta (Xbox 360), Bayonetta (PS3), Dark Void (PS3), and MAG (PS3), which did not make the top 10. The Monthly Sales Futures for these games will cash out at 17.12 DKP.

Where do the expected sales numbers come from?

The simExchange is the video game stock market. Gamers and developers sign up on the simExchange for a free trading account. Using fantasy money, players buy virtual stocks in video games they believe are under-predicting sales and short sell stocks they believe are over-predicting sales. This concept is widely known as "the Wisdom of the Crowd" and this system is known as a "prediction market." Sign up and play today.

About the predictions

Predictions on the simExchange should become more accurate over time as (1) the diversity of the pool of traders increases and as (2) more accurate players are rewarded with more virtual currency for their accuracy (thereby enabling them to form more predictions) and less accurate players lose virtual currency (thereby discounting their ability to form more predictions).

The following stocks are candidates for delisting. These stocks were chosen for delisting due to inactivity in the stock and/or lack of discussion for an extended period of time. Delisting stocks is necessary to unlock DKP for trading and concentrate DKP in the stocks people are trading.

All shares will cash out at the last traded price. This price is determined as the fair value as the market has not viewed the price as undervalued or overvalued for some time. These stocks will no longer appear when browsing the genres and platforms pages. You will still be able to view the stocks' pages by searching for the games.

If you feel any of the following should not be delisted due to an upcoming event (such as the game has not yet been released in all regions), please make a case and post in this forum by 11AM PT on Monday, February 15. A stock price that you are not happy with is not grounds for continued listing.

GLS Stocks pending delisting:
Bionic Commando (Xbox 360)
Call of Duty: World At War (Xbox 360)
Call of Duty: World At War (PS3)
Call of Duty: World At War (Wii)
Empire: Total War (PC)
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)
Soul Calibur IV (PS3)
Star Ocean: The First Departure (PSP)
Tom Clancy's HAWX (Xbox 360)
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)

February Monthly Sales Futures for hardware and software are making their debut Tuesday.

Please remember, we have tweaked the IPO system so that when IPOs close and begin normal trading, they will do so at a random hour of the day. This change was made to address complaints by many players that people who are able to access the web site exactly at 11AM Pacific time have an unfair advantage. This should also reduce the orders for the stock at the moment the IPO is released for normal trading.

Also remember, for Monthly Software Futures of games that do not finish in NPD Group's Top 10, the game will cash out at the sales of the #10 title.

What is an IPO? This is when a stock first appears for trading. On the simExchange, you will be able to buy or short sell the Futures and GLS stock at a fixed price for 48 hours. This allows all players equal access to the IPO regardless of the time they log on. After 48 hours, the futures will trade as normal. All players are limited to 250,000 DKP positions in the IPO phase.

Dante's Inferno (Xbox 360) was suggested by necron101. Dante's Inferno (PS3) was suggested by mikemill. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3) and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360) were suggested by deftangel.

• February Console Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Company	IPO Price
  2/2	Xbox 360	Microsoft	25 DKP
  2/2	PLAYSTATION 3	Sony	25 DKP
  2/2	Wii	Nintendo	55 DKP
  2/3	Nintendo DS	Nintendo	55 DKP
  2/3	PlayStation Portable	Sony	12 DKP
  2/3	Total Software Sales	ALL	65 DKP

• February Monthly Sales Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Platform	Company	MSF IPO Price	GLS IPO Price
  2/2	White Knight Chronicles	PS3	Level 5	15 DKP	N/A
  2/3	BioShock 2	Xbox 360	Take-Two	35 DKP	N/A
  2/3	BioShock 2	PS3	Take-Two	25 DKP	N/A
  2/4	Dante's Inferno	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	15 DKP	100 DKP
  2/4	Dante's Inferno	PS3	Electronic Arts	15 DKP	100 DKP
  2/5	Heavy Rain	PS3	Sony	25 DKP	N/A
  2/6	Battlefield: Bad Company 2	PS3	Electronic Arts	20 DKP	150 DKP
  2/6	Battlefield: Bad Company 2	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	20 DKP	150 DKP
  2/7	Mass Effect 2	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	25 DKP	N/A
  2/7	New Super Mario Bros Wii	Wii	Nintendo	30 DKP	N/A
  2/7	Wii Sports Resort	Wii	Nintendo	30 DKP	N/A

• January 2010 Top 5 Traders

  Rank	Name	% Change
  1	wrangler_smoked	+79.35%
  2	kanarendran	+44.73%
  3	kitmercer	+41.22%
  4	yajimari21	+38.43%
  5	ryuou	+29.99%

Check out the complete January 2010 rankings.