This week's top rental charts from U.S. game rental company GameFly, representing the most requested games for the week ending December 3rd, highlight both to-be-released and already released games in a unique demand-specific chart.

This week's top five all-platform requests show little movement once again, after last week saw the list barely ruffled. Assassin's Creed still takes the top spot for a third week with Mass Effect in second for its second week in a row.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which spent the last two weeks at number four, slips a bit to the fourth spot to make room for Kane and Lynch: Dead Men to move up one spot into the fourth spot, but that's the only movement -- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune stays at number five, where it entered last week.
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The Chanticleer's Art & Entertainment editor Toni Merriss picks her ten best games of 2007.
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Nov 29, 2007 Super Mario Galaxy's failure to sell in staggering numbers across America has led to the game being labelled a "borderline failure" by research analyst Michael Comeau, and that Nintendo's biggest Wii game will be a "huge disappointment" if it doesn't sell more than 3 million copies before the end of the year. We'll put aside our opinions that a) sweaty-browed men in suits shouldn't talk about videogames, especially ones who can't make eye contact with the camera, and b) analysts ... » Read More

VG Chartz' hardware sales for Black Friday week in North America are as below (ranked by units sold):

1. DS: 684,202
2. Wii: 421,419
3. Xbox 360: 254,680
4. PSP: 194,723
5. PS3: 174,045

The full report also includes the top ten software titles for the week for Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3.
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According to VG Chartz, here are the top 10 European software titles - with individual platforms, publishers, and units sold - for the week ending November 24th:

1. Brain Training (DS, Nintendo): 187,803
2. Assassins Creed (XB360, Ubisoft): 178,543
3. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo): 177,393
4. Need for Speed: ProStreet (PS2, EA): 149,927
5. High School Musical: Sing It! (PS2, Disney): 144,745
6. Assassins Creed (PS3, Ubisoft): 134,650
7. Mass Effect (XB360, Microsoft): 129,598
8. More Brain Training (DS, Nintendo): 128,614
9. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PS2, Konami): 124,674
10. Nintendogs (DS, Nintendo): 120,237
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Destructoid's Jim Sterling reports on 11.22.2007:

"For a while, Nintendo crown jewel Super Mario Galaxy had become the highest ranked game of all time, beating out The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and breaking a nine year streak for the N64 classic. Well, a new review of Galaxy has come along and, like a fiendish pooper of parties, reduced Galaxy's overall score down by a mere few percent on Game Rankings, just enough to allow Link a leg back up to the top."

Destructoid has the new average review scores for the top two ranking games of all time.
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Mario Party DS sold a further 116,000 copies during the week ended November 18 to retain the top spot in Japan.

The feat follows unit sales of almost a quarter of a million in its debut week, and is enough to beat the latest Resident Evil title to the Japanese software summit.

Wii exclusive The Umbrella Chronicles, the first of five new entries to make the top ten, debuts at No2. It supplants Shin Sangoku Musou 5, which drops one place to No3.

Overall 14 DS games, six Wii, four PS3, three PSP, two PS2 and one Xbox 360 title chart.

01. Mario Party DS (DS) - 116,000 / 350,000
02. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) - 83,000 / New
03. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (PS3) - 76,000 / 264,000
04. Pro Yakyuu Famista DS (DS) - 49,000 / New
05. Game Center CX (DS) - 46,000 / New
06. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 40,000 / 365,000
07. Heavenly Sword (PS3) - 15,000 / New
08. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS) - 14,000 / 230,000
09. Wii Sports (Wii) - 13,000 / 2,211,000
10. Soukou Kihei Votoms (PS2) - 12,000 / New
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Nov 21, 2007 You're undoubtedly one of the millions who're trying to collect all 120 stars in Mario Galaxy, and, just for you, we've spent hours collecting them all in one handy place. There's a video for each galaxy, each boss and all of the Luma galaxies that litter the hub area. We're assuming you can get the first Grand Star on your own. For your own reference, there are six kinds of stars: Power Stars (the most abundant) Grand Stars (from boss battles) Prankster Comets (traveling the ... » Read More

Nintendo has issued an official press release touting the accomplishments of Super Mario Galaxy for Wii:

¿ GameRankings.com now lists Super Mario Galaxy as the best-reviewed game of all time.

¿ Metacritic.com lists Super Mario Galaxy as having "Universal Acclaim" with a score of 98 out of 100.

¿ Praises from GameSpot, Yahoo!, and 1UP for Super Mario Galaxy.

¿ Super Mario Galaxy had the strongest one-week debut of any Wii game to date; its first week sales in the U.S. reached a record of over 500,000 units, according to internal sales figures.

The source article is the full official press release from Nintendo.
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Despite a slow start in Japan, Super Mario Galaxy is taking off in North America. Nintendo announced today that Super Mario Galaxy has sold over 500,000 copies in its first week of availability.

"Super Mario Galaxy had the strongest one-week debut of any Wii game to date and has also become the best-selling Mario title ever in its first week, with U.S. sales of more than 500,000, based on internal sales figures," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "It makes an easy gift choice as the holiday shopping season kicks off."
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Nintendo has just issued a rather boastful press release that Super Mario Galaxy has sold over 500,000 copies in its first week on sale in the US.
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Can Super Mario Galaxy live up to the hype and enter straight into the number one spot...
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VG Chartz is still compiling weekly data for Japan. Here is an early take on how some of the figures will look for the week ending November 18, 2007. These figures are preliminary and should not to be taken as gospel; they are just an early take on approximately where the market will be for the week. Estimates are in units sold.

Hardware sale estimates:
¿ DS: ~80,000
¿ PSP: 50,000 to 58,000
¿ PS3: 45,000 to 75,000
¿ Wii: 30,000 to 40,000
¿ PS2: 8,000 to 12,000
¿ Xbox 360: 4,000 to 7,000

Wii software sale estimates:
¿ Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Total): ~100,000
¿ Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (without the Wii Zapper): 63,000 to 70,000
¿ Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (bundled with the Wii Zapper): 25,000 to 30,000
¿ Super Mario Galaxy: 24,000 to 28,000

PS3 software sale estimates:
¿ Dynasty Warriors 6: 56,000 to 64,000
¿ Heavenly Sword: 9,000 to 13,000
¿ Ratchet & Clank Future: 4,000 to 7,000

Xbox 360 software sale estimates:
¿ Dynasty Warriors 6: 10,000 to 13,000

PS2 software sale estimates:
¿ Metropolitan Police 2: 8,000 to 12,000
¿ Armored Calvary Bottom: 6,000 to 10,000
¿ Ar Tonelico: 3,000 to 5,000
¿ Volleyball Worldcup Evolution of Venus: 3,000 to 5,000

PSP software sale estimates:
¿ Monster Hunter Portable 2: 8,000 to 10,000
¿ Covenant Door: 4,000 to 8,000
¿ Akumajou Dracula X Chronicle: 4,000 to 8,000

DS software sale estimates:
¿ Mario Party DS: 110,000 to 130,000
¿ Game Center CX: 40,000 to 48,000
¿ Famitsa DS: 28,000 to 34,000
¿ Drum Master: 24,000 to 28,000
¿ Final Fantasy Tactics A2: 9,000 to 12,000
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Voice of Mario Charles Martinet has told Gamer.tm that he believes Super Mario Galaxy to be the best Mario yet, and has also claimed that Nintendo is the best company in the world to work with.

Also worth a small mention is the soundfile Martinet did for them, which is linked to near the end of the newspiece.
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GameRankings, known throughout the industry as the definitive source for game score averages, has Super Mario Galaxy ranked #1 after 31 reviews, with an average score of 97.9%. The previous #1 ranked game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, had an average score of 97.5% from 30 sources.
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Nintendic's Steven Smith gives counterpoints to Variety's review of Super Mario Galaxy. Smith explains how Variety has missed the points on the innovation, story, control and particularly visuals of the game.

Smith concludes his arguments by writing that Wii is "where gameplay is king, not muscled visuals." He notes that none of the pretty PS3 exclusives - Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (89%), Folklore (74%), Lair (54%), Warhawk (84%) and Heavenly Sword (79%) ¿ has broken the 90% threshold at Metacritic - the level for which any game to be considered as an "AAA" title.

Smith compares those sub-90% titles to Wii exclusives Super Mario Galaxy (97%), Twilight Princess (95%), Resident Evil IV: Wii Edition (91%), and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (90%) - which have all surpassed the "AAA" marker on Metacritic.
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16th Nov 2007 Super Mario Galaxy is a near perfect game. If you dont already know that, then youll find out soon (And you will be making the effort to find out, wont you?). More than merely being an all round fantastic experience though, the game acts as a timely reminder of some elements of game design all too frequently missing now. It also points out a couple of new ones which should be taken note of immediately. Its not just the fact that Super Mario Galaxy marks both the return and ... » Read More

Mario Party DS sold almost a quarter of a million copies in its debut week to top the Japanese software chart.

Another new entry, Shin Sangoku Musou 5 for PS3, or Dynasty Warriors 6 as it will be known in North America, entered at No2 after shifting almost 200,000 copies, while the Xbox 360 version debuted at No5.

Mario Galaxy, last week's best seller, dropped to No3 following second week sales of 75,000 copies, down from 251,000 sold the previous week.

PS3 exclusive Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction entered at No10, while just one PS2 game, NBA Live 08, made the top 30.

01. Mario Party DS (DS) - 235,000 / New
02. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (PS3) - 188,000 / New
03. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 74,000 / 325,000
04. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS) - 23,000 / 215,000
05. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (Xbox 360) - 22,000 / New
06. Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles (PSP) - 19,000 / New
07. Wii Sports (Wii) - 15,000 / 2,197,000
08. DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou - Satsui no Wana (DS) - 13,000 / 129,000
09. Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS) - 13,000 / 690,000
10. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3) - 12,000 / New
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This week's edition of the regular Critical Reception column examines online reaction to Super Mario Galaxy, the long-awaited Wii entry in Nintendo's flagship franchise that some critics are calling "an exceptional game by any standard."

Since the release of the Nintendo Wii late last year, perhaps no title has been as highly anticipated as Super Mario Galaxy. Galaxy's release has become even more important at this point in the Wii's lifespan, following the recent announcement that Nintendo's other likely holiday hit, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, would not see release until 2008.

Early previews and trade show demos for Super Mario Galaxy were almost universally met with a positive response from gamers in the months leading up to the title's release, and the retail release of Super Mario Galaxy appears to be no different, earning a Metacritic-averaged score of 97 out of 100 from critics.
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In the run-up to the release of Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo is continuing the wide array of promotional techniques by this time announcing how Mario is far more recognisable than many famous stars. Despite being featured in numerous popular magazines and appearing on TV regularly, a survey released today by Nintendo to celebrate the launch of Super Mario Galaxy on Wii has found that Super Mario is more recognisable than Paris Hilton and Justin Timberlake.

The survey was taken by over 1,000 adults, and 69% recognised gaming's most iconic Italian plumber, whilst 53% could put a name to the face of paparazzi favourite Paris Hilton and 51% could identify Justin Timberlake. Other notable stars that failed to be as iconic as Mario (in this rather skewed survey) included Beyoncé Knowles (31%), Sienna Miller (11%), Nicole Ritchie (20%) and Akon (10%).
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