You will be able to buy or short sell Global Lifetime Sales (GLS) Stocks and Metacritic Futures at a fixed price for 48 hours. This allows all players equal access to the stock's IPO regardless of the time they log on. After 48 hours, the futures will trade as normal. All players, regardless of Basic or Advanced trading mode, will be able to participate in the IPO. All players are limited to 250,000 DKP positions in the IPO phase.

Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will also have Metacritic Futures debuting on the same day as their GLS stocks.

If you want a game listed for trading, be sure to bid for it in the Unlisted Games section.

• GLS Stock & Metacritic Futures IPOs

  IPO Day	Title	Platform	Company	Submitter
  7/1	Modern Warfare 2	Xbox 360	Activision Blizzard	Joe80 & Necron101
  7/2	Modern Warfare 2	PS3	Activision Blizzard	-THE-RAY-
  7/3	Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker	PSP	Konami	Joe80 & PhilHarrision
  7/5	The Last Guardian	PS3	Sony Computer Entertainment	deftangel & SyrinxPriest

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 on Tuesday, June 30. A stock price that you are not happy with is not grounds for continued listing.

GLS Stocks pending delisting:
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360)
Lego Indiana Jones (Wii)
Lego Indiana Jones (PS3)
Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360)
Madden NFL 09 (PS3)
Madden NFL 09 (Wii)
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS)
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Xbox 360)
Spore Creatures (DS)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)

August Monthly Sales Futures for software are making their debut tomorrow. Remember, there are new rules regarding Monthly Software Futures. If a game does not finish in NPD Group's Top 10, the game will cash out at the sales of the #10 title.

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 future's IPO regardless of the time they log on. After 48 hours, the futures will trade as normal. All players, regardless of Basic or Advanced trading mode, will be able to participate in the IPO. All players are limited to 250,000 DKP positions in the IPO phase.

Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360), Madden NFL 10 (PS3), Wolfenstein (Xbox 360), and GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra (Xbox 360) will have GLS stocks IPOing on the same days as the futures. Wolfenstein (Xbox 360) GLS stock was suggested by necron101.

• August Monthly Sales Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Platform	Company	IPO Price
  6/26	Madden NFL 10	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	80 DKP
  6/27	Madden NFL 10	PS3	Electronic Arts	50 DKP
  6/28	Batman: Arkham Asylum	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	20 DKP
  6/29	Wolfenstein	Xbox 360	Activision Blizzard	20 DKP
  6/30	GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	20 DKP
  7/1	Wii Fit	Wii	Nintendo	40 DKP
  7/2	Wii Play	Wii	Nintendo	25 DKP

Video game hardware sales in May 2009 were in line with the market's low expectations. Total hardware units (excluding PS2) sold were 1.33 million, inline with the market's expectation for 1.33 million units sold. The market appears to have priced in the effect of the recession after last month's disappointing sales. The Nintendo DS outsold expectations, making up for less than epected Wii and PSP sales. Xbox 360 and PS3 sold directly inline with market predictions.

Growth in video game software sales was once again negative year-over-year. Total video game software sales contracted another 17% from $540 million in May 2008 to $448.9 million. Traders on the simExchange prediction market expected $523.5 million in sales. Tracked software units sold directly in line, implying that unit sales were as expected but pricing was weaker. Anita Frazier of NPD Group commented: "Unit sales declined less than dollar sales did.  The dollar sales decline was exacerbated by a decline in average retail prices for almost all of the categories."

The star of May was clearly UFC 2009 Undisputed. The Xbox 360 version sold nearly twice as expected. New comer Wii Sports Active (Wii) also saw a strong opening. Frazier adds: "While there were some very strong new releases this month along with continued strong sales of evergreen games, this month's top 10 games sold 2.6 million units combined, whereas last year the top 10 sold 3.7 million units.  Again this illustrates how tough the comparisons are to last year."

Previewing June activity, Frazier remarks: "there are some promising games coming out this month between Sims 3 (PC), Prototype, Red Faction, Virtua Tennis, Ghostbusters, Transformers and Tiger Woods just to name a few.  At E3, it was notable how many games were targeted to the tween girl demographic, and this June will see a number of games introduced for girls as well.  June comparisons are still likely to be tough, but the wide variety of new content could help reinvigorate things somewhat."

The market also tracked the sales of Bionic Commando (Xbox 360), which did not make the top 10. The Monthly Sales Future will cash out at 10.98 DKP.

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

• US Hardware in May 2009

  Title	Actual units	Expected units	% From Expected
  Nintendo DS	633,500	546,200	+15.98%
  Nintendo Wii	289,500	350,800	-17.47%
  Xbox 360	175,000	176,800	-1.02%
  PLAYSTATION 3	131,000	134,500	-2.60%
  PlayStation 2	117,000	--	--
  PlayStation Portable	100,400	125,800	-20.19%
  Total Hardware Units (excludes PS2)	1,329,400	1,334,100	-0.35%

• US Software in May 2009

  Rank	Title	Actual units	Expected units	% From Expected
  1	UFC 2009 Undisputed (Xbox 360)	679,600	342,600	+98.37%
  2	Wii Fit (Wii)	352,800	407,400	-13.40%
  3	Wii Sports Active (Wii)	345,800	301,200	+14.81%
  4	UFC 2009 Undisputed (PS3)	334,400	--	--
  5	Infamous (PS3)	175,900	--	--
  6	Pokemon Platinum (DS)	168,900	--	--
  7	Mario Kart (Wii)	158,300	--	--
  8	Punch Out!! (Wii)	156,900	235,500	-33.38%
  9	X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged (Xbox 360)	120,700	144,000	-16.18%
  10	Wii Play (Wii)	109,800	201,300	-45.45%
  	Total Software Sales	$448.9M	$523.5M	-14.25%
  	Total Tracked Software Units	1,934.5M	1,953.2M	-0.96%

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.

• May 2009 Top 5 Traders

  Rank	Name	% Change
  1	murphjp	+55.46%
  2	KoalaKenny	+33.73%
  3	gossomer	+31.77%
  4	Darklance	+26.96%
  5	sn00py	+24.61%

Check out the complete May 2009 rankings.

• May 2009 Community Rankings

  Rank	Community Name	% Change
  1	NeoGAF	+0.48%
  2	Evil Avatar	+0.41%
  3	Cheap Ass Gamer	+0.37%

July Monthly Sales Futures for software are making their debut tomorrow. Remember, there are new rules regarding Monthly Software Futures. If a game does not finish in NPD Group's Top 10, the game will cash out at the sales of the #10 title.

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 future's IPO regardless of the time they log on. After 48 hours, the futures will trade as normal. All players, regardless of Basic or Advanced trading mode, will be able to participate in the IPO. All players are limited to 250,000 DKP positions in the IPO phase.

NCAA Football 10 will have Xbox 360 and PS3 GLS stocks IPOing on June 11 and 12. Fight Night Round 4 (Xbox 360) GLS stock was suggested by sagexsdx and will debut on June 13.

Certain games receiving Monthly Sales Futures were suggested by Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR). The games selected should have a 95% chance of making the Top 10 each month.

• July Monthly Sales Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Platform	Company	IPO Price
  6/11	NCAA Football 10	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	42 DKP
  6/12	NCAA Football 10	PS3	Electronic Arts	27 DKP
  6/13	Fight Night: Round 4	Xbox 360	Electronic Arts	20 DKP
  6/14	Wii Sports Resort	Wii	Nintendo	200 DKP
  6/15	Wii Play	Wii	Nintendo	25 DKP
  6/16	Wii Fit	Wii	Nintendo	40 DKP

When you are playing in a live poker game, you can’t really whip out a poker calculator and that is too bad, because no matter where you are in your poker career, a poker odds calculator can really help you improve your results. Fortunately, if you are playing online, using a poker odds calculator is not only permissible and legal, it’s easy and fun. There are advanced calculator such as Texas Calculatem and simpler ones like the Texas Holdem odds calculator at Learn-Texas-Holdem.com

What Can You Learn From a Poker Odds Calculator?

The LTH.com odds calculator will not necessarily teach you anything specifically, but it can provide instant statistics that can be extremely useful in your online poker games. You might be able to calculate your odds of hitting that gutshot plus overcard and how it matches up with the pot odds, but why waste valuable time when a poker odds calculator can do it for you? All you have to do is take a glance at the heads up display overlaying your online poker table and you’ll know everything you need to know to make the best decisions you can make.

Who Is Using a Poker Odds Calculator?

Who uses poker odds calculators? Anyone who wants to gain an edge in their online poker games, which should be everyone. With the current economy and restrictions on United States players, online poker is getting tougher and tougher. There are more good players and fewer fish. To stay ahead of the curve, you need to accumulate every little edge you can. A poker odds calculator, by making sure you don’t make erroneous calculations and providing information instantly so you can focus on making good decisions, gives you some of that edge you need.

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 on Wednesday, May 20. A stock price that you are not happy with is not grounds for continued listing.

GLS Stocks pending delisting:
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (Wii)
Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (PS3)
Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360)
SOCOM: Confrontation (PS3)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3)
Tom Clancy's EndWar (Xbox 360)
Tom Clancy's EndWar (PS3)
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (Xbox 360)
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (PS3)

We apologize for the delay in reporting April 2009 Rankings. The rankings for the month were:

• April 2009 Top 5 Traders

  Rank	Name	% Change
  1	oznerol	+40.82%
  2	yeohweihang	+29.74%
  3	iamnerp	+27.92%
  4	PhilHarrision	+26.96%
  5	hedoe	+26.39%

Check out the complete April 2009 rankings.

• April 2009 Community Rankings

  Rank	Community Name	% Change
  1	Cheap Ass Gamer	+1.14%
  2	Evil Avatar	+0.63%
  3	NeoGAF	+0.17%

July & August Console Futures will be IPOing this week.

You will be able to buy or short sell the Futures at a fixed price for 48 hours. This allows all players equal access to the future's IPO regardless of the time they log on. After 48 hours, the futures will trade as normal. All players, regardless of Basic or Advanced trading mode, will be able to participate in the IPO. All players are limited to 250,000 DKP positions in the IPO phase.

• July Console Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Company	IPO Price
  5/18	Xbox 360	Microsoft	28 DKP
  5/18	PLAYSTATION 3	Sony	16 DKP
  5/18	Wii	Nintendo	48 DKP
  5/19	Nintendo DS	Nintendo	62 DKP
  5/19	PlayStation Portable	Sony	18 DKP
  5/19	Total Software Sales	ALL	78 DKP

• August Console Futures

  IPO Date	Title	Company	IPO Price
  5/20	Xbox 360	Microsoft	30 DKP
  5/20	PLAYSTATION 3	Sony	18 DKP
  5/20	Wii	Nintendo	48 DKP
  5/21	Nintendo DS	Nintendo	62 DKP
  5/21	PlayStation Portable	Sony	18 DKP
  5/21	Total Software Sales	ALL	78 DKP