GameSpot writes: Wii Remote pack-in leads list of all-time titles; Guitar Hero III, GTA: San Andreas, Modern Warfare 2, Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii, Call of Duty 4, Madden NFL 07, COD: World at War, and Namco Museum also make chart.

Last week when NPD released its December 2009 US sales numbers, it declared that three of the 10 games of all time were from the Call of Duty franchise. Today, the industry-research firm released its list of top 10 domestic non-PC games to date, which reconfirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the fourth best seller of all time. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came in seventh place, followed by Call of Duty: World at War in ninth.

Don't call it a comeback--it's been here for years.
Unfortunately, NPD's number-one best-selling software "game" is a game many people don't consider a game at all. The Wii Remote pack-in minigames compilation Wii Play is now the top-selling software game product of all time in the United States, beating out Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (second) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (third).
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Wii games and hardware take up eight of the top ten highest-selling items in the website's video games department, with the console itself at the top of the list.
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Struggling to stay afloat, Take-Two decided to ship Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with a sex scene in the game and later lied to investors to cover up their decision, according to the suit settled today.

The 2006 suit, which was tentatively settled for $20 million, also alleges that company officers earned more than $18 million in insider trading even as the company's stock plummeted.

"As a result of the disclosures of the Company's true financial condition, its stock ratings have been slashed," the suit, initially filed by John Fenninger who purchased Take-Two common stock, states. "Moreover, the Company is exposed to class action lawsuits and regulatory enforcement actions brought by the Attorney Generals of several states. While the public investors lost over one billion dollars in market capitalization, the Individual Defendants pocketed over $18 million in insider trading proceeds."
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Grand Theft Auto dominates the list, but some suprise entries from Need for Speed and Medal of Honor lower down the list...
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Lost among the piles and piles of Playstation 3 and PSP announcements, we were totally unaware Rockstar were releasing a fabulous new package for the Playstation 2 which consists of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Vice City and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. If you've never touched said games then the Grand Theft Auto Triple Pack launches on July 31st for £17.99.

Yes, £17.99.

That's about 100 hours worth of game for under £20. Bar-gain.
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Abe Lincoln. Charles Darwin. Edge. Between them they’ve mastered the realms of politics, science and writing about overweight Italian plumbers. And, more importantly than any of that, they’re now all 200. Yep, the long-running and respected games mag has just reached its 200th issue, celebrating the landmark event by publishing 200 unique covers.So if you’re mad for Master Chief, delirious over Deus Ex or want to dip ... » Read More

Speaking in an earnings call following the release of Q3 financials last night, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder said that old GTA titles have sold in seven figure units for the quarter.
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Kotaku writes: "While we've seen countless story regarding children using Grand Theft Auto as their inspiration to do wrong, it's extremely rare that we see news about GTA being cited as a cause for good. It happened on August 27th around 9pm, as the Norris family of five was heading to Diamond, Illinois to visit relatives. Their 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee swerved off the road, hitting a guardrail and flipping four times before coming to a stop, caving in the roof and smashing out the back window. With her mother hanging upside down and her father pinned against the steering wheel, 11-year-old Audrey Plique climbed out of the back window and helped her parents and two younger siblings escape the car. The motivation for her heroic act, according to her mother Karen Norris?

'She just knew, from playing 'Grand Theft Auto.' She saw on there that when a car rolls over, it can blow up. She knew that could happen to us'"
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shacknews.com: The use of Grand Theft Auto as a scapegoat isn't going anywhere, says law professor Ashley Lipson. The trick is worth too much money.

"A good defense lawyer will blame everyone in sight, except of course the client. When he or she runs out of people to blame, it's time to look around for objects. What could be better than a popular videogame?"
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WSBTV writes: "Fulton County officials said they have arrested three teens and charged them with 57 felony counts in connection with a recent series of car bombings with Molotov cocktails in the city of Milton, north of Atlanta.

The felony charges include arson, criminal damage to property and possession of explosive devices in six vehicle fires between 11 p.m. July 24 and 3 a.m. July 25. Each teen is charged with 19 counts.

Officials said the teens -- ages 15 and 16 -- told authorities they learned "how to do it" from playing the video game 'Grand Theft Auto.'"
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A federal judge has put the brakes on a lawsuit filed over sex scenes buried in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

United States District Judge Shirley Wohl Kram wrote that purchasers of the game could not be lumped together in a class action. The claims of members of the proposed class would be affected by the law in each purchaser's home state, Judge Kram wrote, and therefore could not be resolved in a single proceeding in federal court in New York.

"Accordingly, the court decertifies the settlement class on the grounds that common issues do not predominate over individualized issues," the judge wrote.
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MCV: The Rockstar co-founder looks back over his amazingly successful career, discussing his biggest challenges, successes - and what's he's still to achieve.
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MCV: Rockstar boss reveals his motivations and his vision of the future in an exclusive MCV profile
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VG247: According to Forbes, GTA: San Andreas is the biggest selling game in America ever. Crime pays, clearly.

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (9.43 million)
2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (8.2 million)
3. Madden NFL 2007 (7.7 million)
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (7.3 million)
5. Madden NFL 2006 (6.65 million)
6. Halo 2 (6.6 million)
7. Madden NFL 2008 (6.56 million)
8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (6.25 million)
9. Grand Theft Auto III (6.2 million)
10. Madden NFL 2005 (6.1 million)
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Next-Gen.Biz writes: "The NPD Group has revealed the top 10 selling games of all time in the U.S. market.

Forbes reported earlier this week NPD Group's up-to-date top ten U.S. videogame sales figures by units, revealing a list dominated by the Grand Theft Auto and Madden NFL franchises.

As seen below, GTA: San Andreas from 2004 is the top-selling game in the U.S. with 9.43 million units sold. The franchise shows up on the top 10 three times, while Madden appears four times.

Activision had two 2007 titles already break the top 10 (Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4), while EA had one 2007 title on the list in the form of Madden NFL 08."
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VGB writes: Here's the Top 10 10 million selling games. Since the year 2000, there have been few games that sold over 10 million.
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Lawyers who filed a class-action lawsuit against Take-Two Interactive over the 2005 Hot Coffee scandal have put in a claim for $1,000,000 in legal fees. However, the total value of a settlement award to 2,676 claimaints in the case tallies less than $27,000. Here's how those awards break down:

* Tier 1 (up to $35.00) (no [GTA San Andreas disc] exchange required):
416
* Tier 2 (up to $17.50) (exchange required): 22
* Tier 3 ($10.00) (exchange required): 131
* Tier 4 ($5.00) (no exchange required): 2,050
* Disc Exchange w/o cash: 57
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Kotaku reports:

In the June issue of Playboy, Rockstar's Dan Houser gave a somewhat rare full-page interview on Grand Theft Auto 4 and violent video games. Why, Houser was asked, don't other entertainment industries offer more support for video games, since their controversial content is often targeted for criticism in the same fashion?

"It's about economics. We take market share and audience from other media - video game makers are challenging the Hollywood hegemony - so they're going to fight us. But I'm not going to fight them. I believe your Constitution protects us."

When interviewer Scott Alexander asked Houser about inequity in the way adult games are treated as compared with film and other media, Houser said:

"These are works of fiction. Playing a game that features violence is no different from choosing to see a violent movie. We're not trying to create a 'here's real life' sensation in a video game; it's "you're the star of a movie. We want to re-create the sensations you have watching movies. We're putting those in a video game."

When asked to isolate why Rockstar's games seem to provoke a swath of mainstream anger from certain circles, Houser said:

"We're trying to give gamers freedom. It boils down to critics not liking the fact that people can choose to do 'bad' things in a fantasy world - which to me is silly."

The full interview is print only, so to read the whole thing you'd have to look at a copy of June's Playboy. You know, for the article, of course.
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EDGE writes:

"Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes that the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 in the US during April, while monthly software sales hit $830 million, up 113 percent on last April's total.

Ahead of the NPD Group's April videogame sales data release, expected this Thursday after market close, Pachter forecast that Nintendo once again came out on top in terms of hardware sales, shifting 600,000 Wii consoles and 550,000 DS systems. He cited greater Wii and DS availability in his investor note as contributing factors to the systems' sales success. He also said he expects the PS3 to have outsold the Xbox 360 by 290,000 units to 275,000..."
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MCV reveals that title sells almost a million units in five days; takes over £39 million at retail.
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