The week in gaming news - Jan. 17

This is the news

Microsoft has claimed its first proper victory in its sales showdown with PS4, Naughty Dog confirmed a release date for a campaign expansion for The Last of Us and EA had a nice surprise for SimCity players.

And thats not all that happened this week; North Americas top-selling retail game was named (and it wasnt Call of Duty), Titanfall commenced early testing with lucky invited players ahead of its March launch, and Nintendo delivered disastrous news regarding its struggling Wii U campaign. Theres plenty to get through then, as GamesRadar takes you through the hottest stories of the past seven days in this weeks news roundup.

Xbox One tops December hardware sales

Xbox One took the gong as the top-selling current-generation console (because thats what they are now, guys) in December, with PS4 forced to settle for second in the period.

US sales tracking firm NPD confirmed the news on Thursday (opens in new tab) as Microsoft touted some 908,000 Xbox One units sold that month. Sony predictably held off releasing the PS4s December sales figure, instead opting to remind everyone of its overall 2013 sales lead. PlayStation 4 remains the cumulative leader for next gen console sales in the US, said the firm. "We sold every PS4 available at retail in the US and were out of stock in December due to overwhelming consumer demand, it added, not-so-subtly blaming supply shortages for hindering sales.

Grand Theft Auto V was the top-selling game is 2013

Call of Duty: Ghosts would have been a favorite to top the list of physical retail game sales in 2013 in US--were it not for pesky Rockstar (opens in new tab) and some game they made called Grand Theft Auto V. Activisions still-dominant shooter had to kick back in second place, just ahead of EA games Madden NFL 25 and Battlefield 4.

Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag rounded out the top-five, with NBA 2K14, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Just Dance 2014, Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition and Disney Infinity completing the list in that order from sixth to tenth. Call of Duty: Ghosts was, however, the top-seller in December, according to NPD.

Titanfall commences it first not-a-beta test

EA has sent out invites for a Titanfall technical test which the publisher has insisted is totally not a beta at all. A number of lucky recipients reported that their invites (opens in new tab) had offered them a spot on "an exclusive trial for an upcoming EA title on Microsoft's Xbox One. You could have guessed what title it refers to, but there was no need for speculation since a link to the Titanfall website was included in the message.

While EA assures players (opens in new tab) this isnt the Titanfall beta but simply a limited technical test, the firm also maintains that it has no further news on said beta. Its unknown how many people will be invited to the closed test, how long itll run or the nature of its contents. For now, youll just have to sit tight for the games March 11 release.

Nintendo in hot water over dismal Wii U sales

Nintendos hardware woes show no sign of waning as the firm this week announced a shocking drop in its Wii U sales forecasts (opens in new tab)--from 9 million to just 2.8 million units in the year ending March 31. This is expected to turn the companys full-year results from profit to loss.

Global sales of Wii software continues to outsell that of the Wii U, and Wii U sales are lower in the latter half of the year than the earlier half. Meanwhile, although 3DS was the best-selling game platform in US, Japan and much of Europe in 2013, even it is falling significantly short of the Nintendo's expectations. Company CEO Satoru Iwata has apologized to shareholders for the drastic shortfalls of its latest consoles, but has insisted he will not resign (opens in new tab) from his position. Where can Nintendo go from here (opens in new tab)?

The Last of Us DLC expansion confirmed for February

Left Behind is the title of Naughty Dogs first single-player DLC expansion for The Last of Us, and this week the developer confirmed a released date of February 14 (opens in new tab). The expansion will cost $14.99 and is now up for pre-order.

Left Behind will be a prequel to the events of the main game, taking place before Ellie meets Joel. She is instead joined by her best friend Riley, who reappears with a surprising revelation after being missing for weeks. The pair sneak out of their school into the dangerous outside to embark on a new quest. And, according to the trailers (opens in new tab), head into a theme park for some post-apocalyptic fun and frolics.

Steam Controller ditches its touch screen, gains regular buttons

Valve has made some significant revisions to its bold (or perhaps now slightly less bold) Steam Controller, having reportedly decided to ditch plans to incorporate a touch-screen panel (opens in new tab) between its innovative twin touch pads.

According to multiple reports from Valves Steam Dev Days event this week, the firm also revealed plans to rearrange the controllers unconventional XBYA face buttons into a more conventional diamond pattern, much like those established since the Super Nintendo. Since no images have been released, its unclear how this will affect the general layout of the controller and its twin touch pads.

SimCity finally gets confirmed offline mode

EA has finally confirmed that its city management game SimCity will be playable offline (opens in new tab) after an update coming soon is applied. The firm has a patch in development that will liberate players from the games controversial always-online restriction that caused quite a stir last year.

For most, this is great news (were not quite so sure (opens in new tab)), but some have lashed out at the publisher for having been previously adamant that the games core functionality strictly required online connectivity for cloud-processed elements. This prompted the games lead engineer to jump to the companys defense, explaining that significant portions of the game (opens in new tab) had to be completely reworked, a big task which he says took the AAA development team more than 6 months to accomplish.

Share your thoughts

Should Nintendo back out of the hardware business? Are you disappointed at the Steam Controllers loss of a touch screen? Did you get an illusive invite into the Titantal not-a-beta? Give us your take in the comments below Want more? Have a look at GameRadars 100 most anticipated games of 2014 (opens in new tab).