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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Ubisoft's legal counsel has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the webmaster of SomethingAwful.com via email and express mail. Here is an abstract:

"Ubisoft has recently learned that the extremely offensive pornographic image (the "Image") accessible at [WaffleImages.com] is being used on your website located at http://www.somethingawful.com [and/or] http://forums.somethingawful.com..."

"...the Image's blatant, vile, and unauthorized misappropriation of Ms. Raymond's name and likeness, and your conduct in using the Image on your Site, have caused immeasurable harm to Ms. Raymond's reputation and career, and constitute an egregious infringement of Ms. Raymond's personal rights and privacy rights..."

"Ubisoft hereby demands that you immediately: (1) permanently remove the Image from your Site, databases and servers and prevent any further uploading or display thereof; (2) permanently cease and desist all unauthorized use and hosting of images using the ASSASSIN'S CREED mark and Ms. Raymond's name and/or likeness; (3) provide us with the name and contact information of the person who originally created and/or posted the Image; and (4) complete, execute, and return to me the enclosed Declaration by November 16, 2007 to confirm that you are complying with Ubisoft's demand."

Ubisoft have prepared a declaration for the webmaster of SomethingAwful.com to sign. The full cease-and-desist letter and attached declaration are available at the source.
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From an email Surfer Girl received

Here's how Ubisoft deals with criticism:

A certain British gaming website had praised Assassin's Creed since it was announced. They'd run previews, interviews, did a lot to hype the game. When they played the final built, they finally realized it wasn't that great, so it got a 7/10. But instead of acknowledging AC's mistakes, Ubisoft got furious, pulled all ads from the site and cancelled all placed orders (mid five figures) indefinitely. A planned live interview with Jade Raymond isn't going to happen either. According to Ubisoft everything would have been fine though, if the site had just put an 8 instead of a 7 under the same text.
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16 Nov, 2007 The twist in Assassins Creed, released on Xbox 360 and PS3 today, has been a closely guarded secret. Even the developer, Ubisoft, has given little clues as to what it might be. And although we mentioned it briefly in our recent review, we thought it was about time to blow the whole thing wide open. Warning: Spoilers ahead You play as Desmond Miles who is plugged into a machine, called an Animus, that can render genetic memories in 3D. Using this machine Desmond can revisit ... » Read More

Pacific Crest Securities' Evan Wilson says new version of Nintendo's portable complete; holiday release torrent creating retail woes.

Wilson notes that not all games will be affected by insufficient retail space. "Clearly, the end-of-year squeeze creates limited space at retail, which limits the size of initial orders of games with less publicity and reorders of games with lower quality." He anticipates games with high preorder rates such as Guitar Hero III, Call of Duty 4, Assassins' Creed, Mass Effect, WWE, and Rock Band to be less affected by insufficient retail space. "Titles that could be at risk of getting squeezed," he continues, "include Haze, Kane & Lynch, and Uncharted."
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Destructoid writes:

"Well, this story just gets more and more confusing. The review has been rolled back to now include the text that was there in the final publication last night. IGN contacted Destructoid directly to say that the issue was a copy/paste error that had gone overlooked. For whatever reason, the finished publication had been gone into and swapped paragraphs or somesuch, at least by IGN's reckoning. Confusion abounds afresh.

Crossed wires? Innocent screw ups? Who knows? What I do know, however, is that the people who kept accusing me of making quotes up can keep their traps shut now -- I told you it was bloody there."
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On Destructoid you can find the proof that IGN indeed modified its Assassin's Creed review.

The current review contains this:
"These big open worlds, which are fully interactive, do come at a cost. There is considerable texture pop-in and occasional framerate hiccups. None of this deters from the gameplay though, so it is forgivable."

The original review contained this:
"These big open worlds, which are fully interactive, do come at a severe cost on PS3. There is considerable texture pop-in and noticeable framerate issues. Playing back-to-back with the 360 version, it's obvious that Ubisoft did not devote enough resources to the PS3 edition. The framerate is considerably worse, so much so that it begins to affect gameplay in the later levels. You can get through the first two-thirds of Assassin with the framerate being just an annoyance, but it becomes more of an issue for the final third of the missions."
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This is the Gametrailer's review of Assassin's Creed. There are some gameplay issues. The final compiled scores are as follows:

Story: 9.7
Design: 9.0
Gameplay: 8.8
Presentation: 9.2

Overall: 9.1
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Gamespot AU reports that both the PS3 and 360 release of Assassin's Creed (the heavily anticipated title from Ubisoft) will be delayed by one week. It has been pushed back due to "manufacturing and freight difficulties" from this Thursday to November 21st.
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Ubisoft is launching Assassin's Creed this week. Meanwhile Japan has to wait until November 29 to try it out, but unlike the multiplatform release in North America, Ubisoft only has a date for the Xbox 360 version. The Playstation 3 release is probably still coming out.

Siliconera finds this news rather interesting since Assassin's Creed was previously believed to be a Playstation 3 exclusive and it's made by a western company. Now in one territory the tables are nearly turned, Assassin's Creed is Xbox 360 only in 2007.
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Mysterious industry "insider" Surfer Girl reveals more "trainwrecks" and/or "nightmares" hidden behind the closed door of Ubisoft:

¿ How the editorials at Ubisoft have power of life or death over any project in the company.

¿ How Martin Tremblay, former CEO of Ubisoft Montreal, was "asked to resign" because a certain then senior producer named Yannis Mallat could not stand him. (Mallat has connection to the the Guillemot family that owns Ubisoft; After Tremblay's departure, Mallat was promptly promoted to CEO.)

¿ How Mallat influenced the editorials to kill an unannounced "AAA" HUDless FPS.

¿ The early troubled development of Assassin's Creed, and its secret sci-fi twist.

¿ Tom Clancy's connection (or lack of) to Ubisoft Montreal and Splinter Cell Conviction.
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Assassin's Creed is just a few days away from hitting store shelves, much to the delight of many a gamer. Ubisoft was kind enough to whet gamers' appetites with a preview of a few songs from Jesper Kyd's magnificent score. The songs are called City of Jerusalem and Jerusalem Horse Ride and can be streamed or saved for your aural pleasure. The songs really made me reflect on how far game music has come -- these are lush, expansive compositions that match the atmospheric excellence of full feature film scores.
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Super Mario Galaxy, Assasin's Creed and Crysis lead the pack of new releases for the week of November 12, 2007!
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Yes, The Game Of The Year (GOTY) discussion is already beginning! Spike is hosting its 5th annual Video Game Awards this December in Las Vegas, and this morning the nominees were released on Spike.com. What's in contention for Game of the Year? Orange Box, Halo 3, BioShock, and Mass Effect.
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The music industry's marketplace event MIDEM is bolstering its focus on the games industry with a joint keynote from composes Jesper Kyd and Nitin Sawhney.

Kyd has worked on a number of games titles to produce accompanying orchestral scores, including upcoming game Assassin's Creed. Sawhney, meanwhile, worked on recent PS3 game Heavenly Sword, but is also a famed artist in his own right.
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According to IGN's GamerMetrics, the current top ten most-anticipated titles are as follows (ranked by percentages of mindshare among IGN's audience):

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) 5.00%
2. WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 (PS3) 3.11%
3. Assassin's Creed (XB360) 2.63%
4. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) 2.54%
5. Mass Effect (XB360) 2.33%
6. WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 (XB360) 1.99%
7 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) 1.91%
8. Assassin's Creed (PS3) 1.86%
9. Rock Band (XB360) 1.70%
10. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) 1.29%
11. Crysis (PC) 1.24%
12. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) 1.13%

In addition, GamerMetrics analyzed IGN's traffics of Assassin's Creed for different SKUs (see the image below) and forecast that the game will sell 1 million units for Xbox 360 and 350,000 units for PS3 by the end of the year.
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Nov 9, 2007 If the prospect of exploring some massive environments coupled with some extremely cool fighting moves, or indeed our glowing review, hasnt already convinced you that Assassins Creed is well worth your money then maybe the video below will. This footage is taken from the Xbox 360 version and features Altair fighting swordsmen, clambering up tall towers and effortlessly gilding across rooftops. We also have a new trailer for your viewing pleasure that you can watch by clicking ... » Read More

Nov 8, 2007 Yves Guillemot, CEO of Paris, France-based Ubisoft, delivered a fascinating presentation during BMO Capital Markets' Annual Interactive Entertainment Conference in New York City on Tuesday. Guillemot seemed particularly enthusiastic about Nintendo's success in both the handheld and home console markets. "[Nintendo's mass market strategy] is very profitable for Nintendo, and very profitable for all third-party publishers," he said. "...Because [the strategy] is working, we create ... » Read More

Assassin's Creed will score over 90; multi-platform development is fine-tuned; and Ubisoft will achieve "Nintendo-like" quality on Wii next year. More from a recent investment meet-up...
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