In response to GamePro's article, Microsoft's global marketing director, Albert Penello, offered the following response:

"We have to disagree with your conclusion that the trend of Xbox 360 versions of games being best is changing, especially when you look at the entire catalog of multiplatform titles available. We also feel there were some key features of Xbox 360 games that deserved a little more play in your reviews. For multiplatform console owners, Achievements and Gamerscore have to be listed as an influencing factor to purchase the Xbox 360 version; their success and popularity is undeniable. The fact that other consoles have not implemented anything like this across every game should not be a reason to leave these features out of consideration. Plus, with Xbox 360 the capability for controller rumble comes standard, not as a future option and you get all the benefits of Xbox LIVE and its community of more than 10 million members.

'The cold, hard truth' is that Xbox 360 has the best games - and industry reviewers and consumers agree. Xbox 360 has more games with an aggregate review score of 90 or higher than the competition combined and multiplatform titles regularly sell better on Xbox 360. The majority of games are still lead developed for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE simply makes games better. The competition between platforms is great for gamers and in 2008 we are going to continue to work with developers to push the boundaries of our platform and the LIVE service to make sure the best game experiences continue to be on Xbox 360."
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First Day sales in Japan for February 21.
Numbers in brackets are shipments.

Etrian Odyssey 2 (DS) : about 50k (about 100k)

Musou Orochi (PSP) : about 25k

Winning Eleven: Play Maker (Wii) : about 20k (about 70k)

Bioshock (360) : about 10k (about 20~25k)

Lost Planet Extreme Condition (PS3) : about 10k (about 20~25k)

Burnout Paradise (PS3) : about 5k

Burnout Paradise (360) : about 3.5k

Nights: into dreams... (PS2) : about 3.5k (about 20k)

Space invader (DS, PSP) : about 2k
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Msxbox-World writes: "Regardless of the sales and regardless of positive reviews, looking at the Live activity it appears that EA's racer has failed to make any sort of impact at all (failing to enter the top 10 most played games since it was launched)."
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Today's XBOX Live Marketplace Update:

Disruptive Art: Dragon Dreams Theme
Price: 150 Microsoft Points
Availability: Everywhere

Disruptive Publishers Anime: Mystical Girls Gamer Pics
Price: 80 Microsoft Points
Availability: Everywhere

Burnout Paradise Accolade Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: Everywhere

Dark Messiah Of Might and Magic: Elements Gameplay Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: Everywhere
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EA Games president reveals "extension" of driving and skateboarding series in next fiscal year, commits long-term to Mass Effect, and says next Need for Speed will return to series' roots.

Another new franchise EA is prepping a sequel for is Mass Effect, which was announced for the PC today. From the very first time now EA-owned developer BioWare showed it off in 2005, the role-playing game franchise was touted as trilogy. EA Games president Frank Gibeau's presentation today suggested it may not end there, as he told analysts that it "will be a franchise for [EA] for a very long time." He also said that going forward, EA will take over publishing duties on the Mass Effect franchise from Microsoft Game Studios, which handled the game's initial release on the Xbox 360.
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Burnout Paradise has been knocked off top spot, but by which new release?
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Xbox accounts for 61 per cent of units sold in UK.

The latest title in the former Sony exclusive franchise Devil May Cry has debuted in the UK's All Formats charts at number one, with the lion's share of sales on the Xbox 360.

Sixty one per cent of sales were on the Microsoft console, with the rest on Sony's PlayStation 3 and PC. The game is number one in the All Formats charts but also the individual format charts as well.
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To celebrate Burnout Paradise, Electronic Arts Inc. today announced a special Game with Fame Valentine's Day event on the Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network.
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Exhaustnote.com reports Japanese gamers won't see Burnout Paradise for nearly a month after it's North American release. But in typical fashion, they get some Japan-specific content. The site has additional information on the vehicle and EA's plan to "unlock" it. Burnout Paradise will debut in Japan on February 21st.
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From criteriongames.com:

Just a quick message to let you know that the Community section of burnout.ea.com/community/ is now live in the UK. Other territories will go live soon. "What can you find in this section?" you say. Well...

1. Burnout Rule The Roads
Compete with your friends to set the fastest times and highest Showtime scores on the roads of Paradise City. It takes determination to stay ahead of the rest. Can you dominate the leaderboard?

2. My Statistics
Track your game progress - everything from number of Billboards left to find, to what car you used in your last online race.

3. My Friends
Manage your Friends List. - Ever wondered how much time Discodoktor is spending playing the game online?
Create quick links with up to 9 friends playing on the same platform as you, and search for any Burnout Paradise driver to see their stats.

4. My Rivals
Check out what your latest Online Rivals are up to - are you ahead on takedowns?

5. Forum
Read fan feedback and get direct answers from Matt Webster and Paul Ross, our new moderators.

Sounds cool huh? Well stop reading this and get over there!!!
www.burnout.ea.com/community/
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Publisher Electronic Arts confirmed to MTV Multiplayer today that Burnout Paradise's additional content allows gamers who choose to opt out of engaging with new content to still see the new content in-game while playing online. Additionally, EA says the content will be a combination of pay-to-play and free.

"It's our intention to extend the life of Burnout with additional DLC in the near future. As mentioned, we don't want to split the online community between those that have content and those that don't. Our intention is to offer both free and paid for DLC in a way that enables everyone to 'see' the content, even if they have not paid for it," said an EA representative in an e-mailed statement.
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Burnout Paradise takes pole position for the second week...
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Criterion Games have made an official statement explaining why Burnout Paradise requires a HDD for full online play on the Xbox 360.
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Electronic Arts has decided to extend the online mutiplayer portion of the Burnout Paradise demo.

Earlier this week, EA indicated that it would be switching multiplayer off as of February 1 "in order to enable the best possible experience for gamers who have purchased Burnout Paradise." The company then urged players to buy the full game.

An EA spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz that they have extended the deadline by two weeks, and will now be switching off the servers on February 15 instead.
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If you're still enjoying the high-speed online thrills of the Burnout Paradise demo you'd better make the most of it because today's the last day it'll work online. To free up some bandwidth on its inevitably busy online servers, EA is clearing out the cheap-skate gamers by shutting down the online part of the demo tomorrow. "In order to enable the best possible experience for gamers who have purchased Burnout Paradise, we will be switching multiplayer off this Friday 1st February," confirms ... » Read More

For those of you that have been enjoying playing the demo online now is the time to buy the full version as of Friday
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Videogamer reports: "Burnout Paradise has impressed gamers since its release last week, but the Xbox 360 version isn't the same for everyone. Reports from gamers suggested that the game needs a hard drive for online play, meaning owners of Core and Arcade Xbox 360s can't play the game online. Having been totally unaware of this, we hunted down our retail 360 copy of the game to look at what was said on the case. After close inspection we finally saw the text.

"online multiplayer 2-8/hard drive required" read the orange text on the second line of the game information on the rear of the case.

A user on Maxconsole.net contacted EA support and received the following reply via email:

"The hard drive is needed to store temporary data when playing online as the data transferred from one console to another requires storage space greater than what the memory card can contain."

We're waiting for an official response from EA on the matter"
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VideoGamer.com takes a look at the big rumours currently doing the rounds in the video game industry. Every week they'll hunt down the juiciest stories and give their opinion on how legit they are.

Retro Studios working on Zelda spin-off

The Rumour: Surfer Girl claims that Retro Studios' (the team behind the Metroid Prime series) next game will be revealed at or around the time of E3 (which takes place in July) and shockingly is a spin-off from the Zelda series.

Verdict: This seems too far fetched to make up. What's most puzzling is the kind of game this supposed spin-off will be. We're putting money on an action/adventure game of a similar style to Retro's cancelled GameCube project Raven Blade.

Plausibility rating: 3/5

Killzone 2 missing 2008

The Rumour: Killzone 2 is without doubt the most hyped game in development for the PlayStation 3, but with that hype comes much pressure. So much pressure that it's not going to be shipped until it's completely ready - even if that means 2009.

Verdict: This latest Killzone 2 rumour comes from Surfer Girl but that doesn't automatically make it 100% legit. Sony undoubtedly will want Killzone 2 released this calendar year, but all isn't lost if it doesn't happen. We're sure Insomniac's Resistance 2 will be more than happy to step into Killzone's FPS shoes. Sony probably won't get another chance to make Killzone into a big franchise, so Guerrilla Games will likely get all the time it needs.

Plausibility rating: 4/5
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At last! There's a game at the top of the charts which isn't Call of Duty 4 or Assassin's Creed...
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Gamasutra reports this week's top rental charts from U.S. game rental company GameFly, representing the most requested games for the week ending January 21st, highlight both to-be-released and already released games in a unique demand-specific chart.

Burnout Paradise hangs on to the top spot for the second week in a row. Capcom's Devil May Cry 4, slated to release February 5th, made the top five twice last week --the Xbox 360 SKU in second position, and the PS3 SKU in fourth -- but this week, the Xbox 360 SKU steps back a spot to third, while the PS3 SKU fails to chart in the top 5.

What follows is a breakdown of the top titles requested by GameFly subscribers across each of the major platforms:

Xbox 360

1. Burnout Paradise (Electronic Arts)
2. Turok (Touchstone)
3. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom)
4. The Club (Sega)
5. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft)

Nintendo Wii

1. No More Heroes (Ubisoft)
2. Endless Ocean (Nintendo)
3. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo)
4. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo)
5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega)

PlayStation 3

1. Devil May Cry 4 (Capcom)
2. Burnout Paradise (Electronic Arts)
3. Turok (Touchstone)
4. Unreal Tournament III (Midway)
5. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Sony)
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