Gamasutra writes:

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide.

This week's charts, with data taken from January 17th, 2008, feature Rock Band leading PS2 sales in North America, while Wii owners turn their attention to budget-priced titles like Luxor and Winter Sports. Data for "Saling The World" comes courtesy of the public sales information on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.co.jp, with sales split out for each platform and territory, and pre-orders disregarded.

Nintendo Wii

North America:
1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision)
2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo)
3. Winter Sports: The Ultimate Challenge (Conspiracy),
4. Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge (MumboJumbo)
5. Carnival Games (2K Games)

Japan:
1. Wii Fit (Nintendo)
2. Wii Sports (Nintendo)
3. Caduceus: New Blood (Atlus)
4. Nodame Cantabile: Dream * Orchestra (Bandai Namco)
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo).

Europe:
1. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega)
2. Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo)
3. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts)
4. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Capcom)
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo).

Xbox 360

North America:
1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision)
2. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games)
3. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft)
4. Halo 3 (Microsoft)
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision).

Japan:
1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision)
2. Armored Core 4 - Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (From Software)
3. Dead Rising/Gears of War-360 Platinum Double Pack (Capcom/Microsoft)4. The IdolM@ster - Xbox...
» Read More 

Kotaku reports that upset gamers who had their personal e-mails exposed to the hundreds, possibly thousands, of recipients of a customer service update from Activision on Guitar Hero III issues.

In just one of the e-mails that was forwarded to us, an impressive 860 recipient e-mail addresses were listed in the mail's 'To' field, ensuring that all who received updates on their replacement discs for the Wii version of Guitar Hero III had access to the e-mail addresses of the rest.

That's potentially bad news for consumers, who may have had their personal e-mail information sent to others, opening them up to heavy spamming. It may also be bad news for Activision, as the e-mail blasts may violate the company's online Privacy Policy.
» Read More 

- When last we left our heroes in the gripping case of the missing monaural sound in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Activision had set up its Web site to offer registration for replacements. Now we have an update on the progress of the replacement discs:
» Read More 

While they haven't been officially announced yet, three classic rock tunes have shown up on the leaderboards over at GuitarHero.com, which is pretty much a dead giveaway that they're on the way. One of the first Guitar Hero III download packs I feel is truly worth the cost, the three new songs are:
Journey - "Any Way You Want It"
Foreigner - "Jukebox Hero"
Boston - "Peace of Mind"
» Read More 

Activision gains more awards for COD4 and GHIII.
» Read More 

Xbox.Com announced a new sweepstakes in which you get the chance to earn some really sweet prizes by just playing Xbox Live!
» Read More 

Videogames are often put at odds with certain forms of productivity, such as learning a musical instrument. But performance simulators such as Guitar Hero have proven to be an entryway into real-world musicianship.

To help support a growing interest in guitar study, RedOctane and NAMM announced a partnership at the annual NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif. that will link Guitar Hero III to NAMM's "Wanna Play" campaign. This new facet of the public awareness campaign focuses on bridging the gap between virtual and real-life musicianship.
» Read More 

Major Nelson has posted the XBOX Live Marketplace Update for the 16th.

Theme
Title: Bravado Rock Vault

Content: Cradle of Filth Theme
Price: 150 Microsoft Points
Availability: United Kingdom
Dash Text: Four awesome Cradle of Filth images and logos for your Xbox 360. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Content: Motorhead Theme
Price: 150 Microsoft Points
Availability: United Kingdom
Dash Text: Four classic Motorhead images and logos. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Content: Sex Pistols Theme
Price: 150 Microsoft Points
Availability: United Kingdom
Dash Text: Four classic Sex Pistols images and logos. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

The rest of the update can be viewed at the source.
» Read More 

Was your New Years resolution to play more games? Have you kept to that? ConsoleMonster take a look at what we have been playing so far in 2008.

Halo 3 pips Call of Duty 4 to Number 1 spot for the most played live game of the year so far with Guitar Hero III rocking its way to number 3.

Full list and details at source.
» Read More 

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey picks what he believes will be the biggest sellers of 2008.
» Read More 

Just weeks ago, it felt as if the stalemate between Activision and Harmonix would never end. Both companies blamed the other for the lack of compatibility between guitar peripherals for Rock Band and Guitar Hero III. Thankfully, Nyko has come to save the day as it recently announced that it would develop a guitar that's compatible with both games.
» Read More 

In 2008, the team at MTV Games are proud to present to you the MTV Rhythm Game Track Finder, your beacon in the confusing swirl of rhythm games.

The regularly updated database will allow you to search any artist and any song to find out which rhythm games it is in and to compare song lists for any major music-based video game.

The database currently indexes song lists for more than two dozen rhythm games, including a range of SingStars, Guitar Heroes, Dance Dance Revolutions, Rock Band, and lesser-known favorites such as FreQuency, Elite Beat Agents and the Donkey Konga series.
» Read More 

1UP has been closely following the ridiculous back-and-forth between Rock Band and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock in achieving true cross-compatibility between the peripherals released for each. Unfortunately, the recent introduction of lawyers into the mix means gamers may not see an easy solution anytime soon, but at CES 2008, Nyko unveiled their own brand of solution that could make life easier for rockers on PlayStation 3.
» Read More 

Via Ripten:

"As if the recent Xbox Live issues hadn't caused enough problems, it now appears that you can actually lose an unlocked achievement as well. I've had a recent run-in with this disturbing occurrence, and as always, 1-800-4my-xbox's Max was there to help me out - and of course by help me out, I mean annoy me while I try to connect to a real person."
» Read More 

Orlando Sentinel "Control Freak" blogger Mark Reule has an opinion about the next installment of Guitar Hero.

He Writes

"After reading through February's EGM, I noticed a little tidbit about a rumored Guitar Hero sequel featuring a band that "rocks in mysterious ways". Give up?

Think 1991. Think Achtung Baby. It can only be U2."
» Read More 

Jan. 2, 2008 -- MSNBC tallied in their Game of the Year readers' votes between December 19 and 27. "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" garnered 33 percent of the over 17,000 votes and is MSNBC Readers' Game of the Year. The runner-up was "Bioshock" at 22 percent of the votes. The second runner-up was "Mass Effect" at 10 percent.

Here are MSNBC readers' picks for the best in each genre:

¿ Best sports game: Madden NFL '08
¿ Best racing game: Project Gotham Racing 4
¿ Best casual game: Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
¿ Best family game: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
¿ Best music game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
¿ Best handheld game: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
¿ Best role-playing game: Mass Effect
¿ Best action/adventure game: Bioshock
¿ Best shooter: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

View the full report for the runners-up in each category.
» Read More 

These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade, full versions purchased this week. 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. Sensible World of Soccer
2. Arkadian Warriors
3. Tempest

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1. Halo 2
2. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
3. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
» Read More 

ActionTrip's 2007 Game of the Year voting poll registered 10673 participants. 1809 registered users voted for Call of Duty 4, 1279 for Halo 3, 1192 for Assassin's Creed, 837 for "None of the Above", 716 for BioShock, 710 for Crysis, 627 for The Orange Box, and so on. The rest of the results can be viewed in ActionTrip's voting poll section.

¿ People's Choice: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
¿ Runners-up: Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Crysis, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

¿ Game of the Year (ActionTrip Staff): Portal
¿ Runners-up: Mass Effect, Halo 3, BioShock, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, The Witcher

¿ Best Action Game: Halo 3
¿ Runners-up: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box, God of War II, BioShock, Crysis

¿ Best Strategy Game: World in Conflict
¿ Runners-up: Supreme Commander, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

¿ Best RPG: Mass Effect
¿ Runners-up: The Witcher, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

¿ Best Sports Game: FIFA 08
¿ Runners-up: SSX Blur, NHL 08, Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

¿ Best MMOG: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
¿ Runners-up: Tabula Rasa, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

¿ Best Rhythm/Music Game: Rock Band
¿ Runners-up: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

¿ Babe of the Year: Joanna Krupa
» Read More 

MSNBC video game section has been polling gamers about their favorite games in a number of categories, trying to narrow down the search for the Game of the Year.

On Thursday the site put up the poll to decide which of the finalists, culled from the best of each genre, should be named the game of the year.

The finalists are:
¿ Madden NFL 08
¿ Project Gotham Racing 4
¿ Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
¿ LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
¿ Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
¿ The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
¿ Mass Effect
¿ Bioshock
¿ Call of Duty 4

At the time of this writing Call of Duty 4 was leading with 31 percent of the vote. BioShock was close behind with 22 percent and Mass Effect was in a distant third with 8.6 percent.

[ Words: Kotaku's Brian Crecente ]
» Read More 

Four new downloadable songs for Guitar Hero 3!

Holiday 2007 Single "We Three Kings" Price: (Free)

Die Fantastischen Vier "Ernten Was Wir Säen" - Single Track
Price: (200 Microsoft Points)

Extremoduro "So Payaso" - Single Track
Price: (200 Microsoft Points)

Trust "Antisocial" - Single Track
Price: (200 Microsoft Points)
» Read More