20th Dec, 2007 Gaming is an up and down experience. Some years cram top quality titles into our every orifice until were bursting with videogame joy and have excess polygons dripping messily out of our ears, while some other years… Well, some other years are 1983. In 2007 though, weve had a very good year indeed. A scarily good year in fact. One which has provided us so much brilliance on every format that its a genuine worry that the laws of karmic balance will soon bring us a plague ... » 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. Arkadian Warriors
2. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
3. GripShift

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1. Halo 2
2. Fable
3. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
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Dec. 18, 2007 - A PriceGrabber.com survey of 3,309 online shoppers conducted in early December reports that:

¿ The number of consumers interested in video games and consoles continues to rise, with 64 percent of respondents planning to purchase a gaming equipment in the next year.

¿ 71 percent of online shoppers plan to spend more than $50 on gaming.

¿ 55 percent favor consoles in the $100 to $300 range.

¿ Game selection is the most important attribute when choosing a gaming system.

¿ 31 percent favor the Nintendo Wii, saying it offers the best games.

¿ Non-violent games have gained in appeal, with 29 percent rating animated/child-friendly games as their preferred genre.
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Improve Online Quick Match results and reduce "Failed to Connect to Server" messages.

Introduce calibration screen improvements, helping users with high lag AV systems, and Playstation 3 users with Dolby Digital enabled.

Add the Co-Op Quickplay mode for Playstation 3 users.

Enable the Hyperspeed cheat to work in online games.

Include various stability improvements and fixes.
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The Bitbag writes, "The Warner/Reprise Track Pack includes master recordings of "No More Sorrow," by Linkin Park, "Sleeping Giant," by Mastadon and "Pretty Handsome Awkward," by The Used. The single song downloads offer such popular singles as "So Payaso," from Extremoduro, "Antisocial" from Trust, and "Ernten Was Wir Säen" from Die Fantastischen Vier."
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Here are some observations issued by NPD analyst Anita Frazier, on total industry sales and the performances of Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, Guitar Hero III, Rock Band, the 360 HD-DVD add-on, and Wii accessories.
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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. 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. Marble Blast Ultra
2. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
3. Asteroids & Deluxe

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1. Halo 2
2. Fable
3. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
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Latest American sales from VGcharts.

1 Wii Sports - Nintendo 325,483
2 Forza Motorsport 2 - Microsoft 208,037
3 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Activision 201,476
4 Super Mario Galaxy - Nintendo 188,325
5 Mass Effect - Microsoft 113,856
6 Wii Play - Nintendo 112,724
7 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision 106,583
8 Assassins Creed - Ubisoft 102,501
9 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - Activision 92,441
10 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - Activision 81,408

DS 458,050
Wii 325,483
360 250,648
PS2 161,513
PSP 160,848
PS3 155,515
GBA 32,268
GC 2,545
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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. 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. Assassin's Creed

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1. Asteroids & Deluxe
2. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
3. UNO

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1. Halo 2
2. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
3. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
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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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3rd Dec, 2007 The industry is still shaking from the earthquake announcement of Vivendi and Activision's merger today, but gamers themselves are going to have a lot of questions too. Both companies hold their fair share of much-loved franchises, several of which have extremely radid fanbases, so worry is going to be high as to what the deal is really going to mean. It seems accepted human 'wisdom' that any change is a change for the worse, and in gaming any alteration in the corporate status ... » Read More

Via CNet:

The immense popularity of the hit Guitar Hero franchise--the third iteration of the game, Guitar Hero III, brought in $115 million during its first week on the market--may be the best thing that has happened to the instrument, to rock 'n' roll, and to guitar instructors, in a long time.

"I have an overwhelming feeling that my business is safe for years to come when I see kids playing Guitar Hero," said Dan Emery, owner of New York City Guitar School. "These kids are really enjoying playing Guitar Hero, and they're really being turned on to old classic rock" via the game.
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After injuring one of his fingers from playing too much Guitar Hero II, modder Egyokeo took it upon himself to rig up a MIDI drum kit to work with the game. If he wasn't going to be able to grip the fret his Xplorer until the aching digit fully healed, then he'd play guitar¿with the drums. Hit the jump for some videos of the final product.
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USInfo reports on the growing popularity of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, particularly among musicians.
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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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Xbox360 writes:

"Johnny Rotten's now infamous ranting at Guitar Hero III's launch party was captured on OXM's cameras and has now been uploaded on OXM.co.uk for all to see. After introducing himself by saying "[censored], it's rubbish, I hate the whole thing", the Sex Pistols singer then goes into the reason why he's there - to promote Guitar Hero III.

"I'll give it to you basic and honest," he says. "The offer came in and I took it home and I played it with a bunch of kids. What I like is it weren't teaching you how to be a rock star, it was teaching you how not to be a rock star..."

And that was the last thing said on the game, after explaining how the Sex Pistols re-recorded tracks (Anarchy In The UK and Pretty Vacant). For what followed was half-an-hour ranting about Tony Blair, screaming "I AM ENGLAND" and throwing microphone at journalists who he thought were "smug." Watch the whole video to see what we mean. And keep an eye on the swear counter too... ouch."
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Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter estimates that Activision's key music franchise will total around 7.5 million units sold this year, but will decline a bit next year because of Rock Band.
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Activision Inc has announced that it is raising its financial outlook for its fiscal third quarter, ending December 31, and for the financial year as a whole.

This is the result of better than expected revenues to date on its titles, which include Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

The statement released by the company revises the Q3 outlook up from USD 1.05 billion to USD 1.23 billion, with a diluted earnings per share moving from USD 0.51 to USD 0.66.
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MTV Games has taken its first major step into the console game arena with the launch of "Rock Band," with company executives touting the title as the integration of music and gaming on a whole new level.

"Our belief is that 'Rock Band' is not just a game," said Jeff Yapp, executive vice president of program enterprises at MTV Networks Music Group. "It's a new platform for which to engage with music, and that's what we're most excited about."

"We're pretty optimistic about what this game is going to do," Jeff Yapp said. "But our next big announcement, which is coming up fairly quickly, is a move to a whole other realm."
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Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock lets fans thrash and burn with new wireless guitar controllers available for each platform, including exclusive Gibson Guitar's Les Paul model for the Xbox 360, Wii and PS3. PlayStation2 gamers will also get to shred on an exclusive shape, Gibson's Kramer guitar, popularized by hard rockers and known for its body design, pickups, electronics and construction for furious finger fretting.

Activision, Inc. today announced that standalone wireless guitar controllers will be available at retail stores nationwide by early 2008.
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