Kotaku's Brian Crecente has a leaked copy of the National Institute on Media and the Family's annual Media Wise Video Game Report Card, set to be officially released tomorrow. This year's report card is broken into five parts:

¿ The MediaWise Video Game Report Card
¿ The Buying Guide
¿ The ESRB Rating System and Ratings Education Efforts
¿ The Retailer Ratings Education and Enforcement Surveys
¿ Annual MediaWise-Harris Interactive Poll of Kids and Parents

Kotaku gives a quick summary for each part.
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This rare Limited Edition package features a number of bonus materials for fans of the game. Packed inside a special tin box, the Limited Edition features a figurine of lead hero Altair, a set of Penny Arcade comics, a Mini-strategy guide, Assassin-themed short films, and additional Assassin's Creed videos (including: making-of, trailers, developer diaries, interviews, etc.)
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What do you get when you combine a fashionably bald British television presenter with an ancient flying killer? Well, you get Jason Bradbury from Channel 5's The Gadget Show in Assassin's Creed of course.
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VG Chartz translates the latest first-day sales reported by the Japanese site Sinobi:

¿ Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS): about 200,000
¿ SD Gundam G Generations Spirits (PS2): about 160,000
¿ Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes (PS2): about 60,000
¿ Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters World Championship 2008 (DS): about 25,000
¿ Assassins Creed (360): about 20,000
¿ Naruto Shippuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen EX 2 (Wii): about 15,000
¿ Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes (Wii): about 7,000
¿ Disgaea Portable with Network Play (PSP): 7,000
¿ Zero no Tsukaima: Muma ga Tsumugu Yokaze no Nocturne (PS2): 3,000

Games listed below are red light(?):

¿ Guilty Gear: OVERTURE (360): about 4000
¿ Super Swing Golf 2nd Shot (Wii): about 3000
¿ Another Century Episode 2 Special Vocal Edition (PS2): about 3000
¿ IQ Sapuri 2 (DS): about 2000
¿ Izuna 2 (DS): about 1500
¿ Tony Hawk Project 8 (PS3): about 1500
¿ Tony Hawk Project 8 (360): about 1000
¿ Puzzle Quest (DS): about 600

Notes: Wii Fit is not on the list because it launches on 12/1 in Japan, and the wholesale market is already reporting a shortage.
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Following consumer feedback regarding some issues while playing Assassin's Creed for PlayStation 3, a corrective update has been developed and will be released worldwide on the PLAYSTATION® Network over the next few days. You can proceed to installation simply by launching your Assassin's Creed game. Please note that release times of this update may vary depending on your location. Thank you again for your patience.
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Penny Arcade's Gabe writes: "I guess some guy at IGN is mad at me and he lays into me on their podcast. [...] Basically some IGN guy is super pissed because I said I didn't agree with the bad reviews of Assassin's Creed. I'm actually of the opinion that if we're pissing off IGN we must be doing something right.

Honestly my main concern was to make sure people didn't avoid the game based on some of the poor reviews."

"The IGN thing is just sort of silly. He says I should leave reviewers alone because I 'just do things and write things as a freaking comic artist.' I'm not sure how to respond to that. I think he's trying to insult me but everything he said there is true.

The sad thing is I wasn't even talking about their review. I was talking about the 7.0 from 1UP. No one actually pays any attention to IGN or their 7-10 review scale."
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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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The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed have charted in both Spain and Germany according to weekly sales data released by Media-Control GfK International.

For the week ending November 18, the PlayStation 3 version of Creed was number one in Spain and number four in Germany. The PS3 version sold more copies than the Xbox 360 version which came in at number five in both countries.
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LOVEFiLM, Europe's number one online DVD rental service, expects Assassin's Creed to top sales and rentals this holiday season.

"Assassins Creed will definitely be up there; our audience have already heavily pre-ordered this and the sure scale of the experience is very cinematic, so will prove popular amongst film fans," Chris Bird, head of marketing services for LOVEFiLM, told GamesIndustry.biz.

"Kane and Lynch will also do well, as will Call of Duty 4. FIFA 08 and PES will also be 'must buy' for anyone getting a new console over Christmas."
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Ubisoft UK boss Rob Cooper has been celebrating the sales success of Assassin's Creed ¿ and stated that it proves new IP can still shift serious numbers at retail.

"I think the success worldwide of Assassin's Creed absolutely proves that new IP can live and prosper within the sequel and licensed based competition," he told MCV. "The industry is crying out for new and compelling content and we're delighted that AC has lived up to its expectations."

"The launch of Assassin's has been a huge global success. There are a number of factors for this in the UK. One is that the game has gripped a nation of gaming consumers. With licensed or sequel based titles, it's easier to know what to expect, but with Assassin's Creed there has been a ground swell of excitement since we first showed it at E3 06."
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Any doubts about Assassin's Creed can now be put to rest, as the game's sell-through sales have already topped the record level of 1 million units.
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Xbox360Fanboy took the time to go through all the Black Friday ads and list all the Xbox 360 deals.
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This weeks' Famitsu scores:

Dragon Quest IV (NDS, Square Enix): 9 / 8 / 8 / 9 - (34/40)
Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360, Ubisoft): 9 / 9 / 9 / 9 - (36/40)
Layton Kyouju to Akuma no Hako (NDS, Level 5): 9 / 9 / 8 / 8 - (34/40)
Swing Golf Pangya 2nd Shot! (Wii, Tecmo): 7 / 8 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
Rekishi Gunsou Presents: Monoshiri Sengoku Ou (NDS, Global A): 6 / 6 / 7 / 7 - (26/40)
Gouma Reifu Den Izuna Ni (NDS, Success): 7 / 6 / 6 / 7 - (26/40)
Nounai Aesthe: IQ Suppli DS 2: Sukkiri King Ketteisen (NDS, Spike): 7 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (28/40)
Rika-Chan DS: Onna no Ko Lesson: Oshare mo Oshigoto mo Omakase! (NDS, Takara Tomy): 7 / 6 / 7 / 6 - (26/40)
Simple DS Series Vol. 27: The Misshitsu kara no Dasshutsu: The Suiri Bangai-hen (NDS, D3): 7 / 5 / 7 / 6 - (25/40)
Disney Princess: Mahou no Jewel (NDS, Disney): 6 / 7 / 6 / 6 - (25/40)
Yes! PreCure 5 (NDS, Bandai Namco): 5 / 7 / 5 / 6 - (23/40)
Tank Beat 2 Gekitotsu! Deutsch-gun vs. Rengou-gun (NDS, MileStone): 7 / 7 / 6 / 5 - (25/40)
SD Gundam G Generation Spirits (PS2, Bandai Namco): 7 / 8 / 7 / 8 - (30/40)
Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes (PS2, Capcom): 8 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes (Double Pack) (Wii, Capcom): 8 / 8 / 7 / 8 - (31/40)
Naruto Shippuuden Gekitou Ninja Taisen EX2 (Wii, Takara Tomy): 6 / 7 / 6 / 7 - (26/40)
Tony Hawk's Project 8 (PS3/Xbox 360, Spike): 8 / 8 / 8 / 8 - (32/40)
Guilty Gear 2 Overture (Xbox 360, Arc System Works): 7 / 7 / 7 / 8 - (29/40)
Apocalypse: Desire Next (Xbox 360, Idea Factory): 6 / 5 / 4 / 6 - (21/40)
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There's a battle going on at the top of the chart between Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty 4...
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Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed has shot to the top of the UK all-formats charts and become the second fastest-selling new IP on an individual format behind 2002's The Getaway.

The Xbox 360 version of the game claims 67 per cent of sales, with the PlayStation 3 version taking the remaining 33 per cent. It also becomes the third fastest-selling Xbox 360 game within a weekly sales period.
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Queue up the complete Gamefly Top 10 most requested list:
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Ahead of Ubisoft's fiscal 2008 first half results expected November 20th, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter has predicted the company will announce full year sales estimates of €825 million ($1.21 billion), as Assassin's Creed, Haze and its casual lineup lead a strong holiday lineup.
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These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade, full versions purchased this week. The arcade list is based on full versions purchased. Here are the top 3 for each charts, see the source for the complete top 10 list.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles
1. Halo 3
2. Call of Duty 4
3. Gears of War

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1. Switchball
2. Word Puzzle
3. Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1. Halo 2
2. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
3. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
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GamerNode reports that recent posts over on the Ubisoft forums have gamers all fired up over reported freezing issues with the PS3 version of Assassin's Creed (as well as the Xbox 360 version - see Notes below.)

Some PS3 gamers are indicating that the bug is occurring with the new 2.00 firmware release while others have reported that their AC game froze up with firmware version 1.94.

Notes: Other websites and forums are also reporting freezing and other technical issues with the PS3 as well as Xbox 360 versions. Problems include system crashes, failures to record objectives and achievements, and lengthy load times. See alternative sources for details.
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