What are the best-selling games in America, Japan, and Europe (UK) this week? Thanks to Amazon online sales data here are the games that are the most popular now.

Nintendo Wii
North America: 1. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Play (Nintendo), 3. We Ski (Namco Bandai), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo).

Japan: 1. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Totsugeki!! Famicom Wars VS (Nintendo), 4. Link no Bowgun Training + Wii Zapper (Nintendo), 5. Dairantou Smash Brothers X (Nintendo).

Europe: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts), 5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega).

Xbox 360
North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft).

Japan: 1. The Darkness (Spike), 2. The Idolm@ster: Live for You! (Namco), 3. The Idolm@ster — Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Namco), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. Turok (Touchstone).

Europe: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. The Orange Box (EA Games), 4. Viking: Battle for Asgard (Sega), 5. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft).

PlayStation 3
North America: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEA), 3. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 5. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft).

Japan: 1. Senjou no Valkyria (Sega), 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 3. Makai Senki Disgaea 3 — First Print Limited Edition (Nippon Ichi), 4. Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (Sega), 5. Armored Core: For Answer (From Software).

Europe: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (SCEE), 3. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), 5. Burnout Paradise (EA Games).

PlayStation 2 Read more…

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Iron Man, one of Marvel’s most indestructible Super Heroes, blast onto videogame platforms with this adaptation of the big screen movie. This third-person action game immerses players in the world of Tony Stark — the brilliant industrialist and inventor who both created and became the world’s toughest hero - Iron Man. By customizing the advanced technology in Iron Man’s suits, gamers can take advantage of a wide array of high-impact weapons to strategically blow-up and destroy any enemy force and fight to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.

Drawing from both the movie and comic book storylines, Iron Man features the voice talent of the stars from the major motion picture — Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, and Shawn Toub. Utilizing the power of next-gen gaming consoles, Iron Man offers photo-realistic graphics, non-linear gameplay and huge open worlds in which gamers can travel as far as the eye can see.

Is the billionaire hero’s game shiny and polished or covered in a thick layer of tarnish? Find out in this Iron Man game video review:

Read more…

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Michel Ancel (father of Rayman) was interviewed in JeuxVideo Magazine issue #91 and declared that “Beyond Good and Evil 2” is actually in the pre-production phase. Considered one of the best games of 2003, “Beyond Good and Evil” (on PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC) unfortunately did not achieve the expected level of commercial success.

To quote: “I’m working on “Beyond Good and Evil 2. We’ve been in pre-production for a year, and we’re mainly doing R&D with a small group. But for now, we’re in the ‘outline’ step. Ubisoft has not greenlit this project,” Mr. Ancel admitted during the course of the interview. He also noted that from 10 to 12 people are working on the project. The Beyond Good and Evil sequel has been worked on and off on since the original action-adventure game’s release.

He continued: “We want to continue the style of the original: a great variety of gameplay types, lots of emotions in the gameplay, and engaging characters. This time we’re going to examine the future of the planet, how the animals get along.”

No systems were announced yet since the project hasn’t been approved, but it’s expected for the Xbox 360 and PS3, although I’d hope it’ll be released on the Wii and PC too. Will it be announced at the upcoming UbiDays event that runs from May 28th to 29th? Stay tuned. — From JeuxVideo, translation from French by Stumpokapow

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LucasArts has released a playable PC demo of LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, allowing you to try out this game before it’s available on June 3rd in America and June 6th in Europe, on PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS3, PSP, Wii and DS. Click the link above to download the 465MB file.

The LEGO Indiana Jones trilogy game presents a tongue-in-cheek take on the first three cinematic adventures of pop culture’s most iconic archaeologist, including Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

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Game Informer’s June 2008 issue cover feature of Guitar Hero 4 revealed Neversoft’s plan for the future of the franchise: vocals, drums and the ultimate form of creative control with the ability to craft your own songs.

But that’s not all, as you can see from the magazine scan above, there’s a new drum kit which has the two cymbals on top of the drums (the main difference from the Rock Band kit). Plus it has a foot pedal! This is just a first-run prototype of the drum set at the Neversoft offices, but Game Informer were fairly impressed with the layout reports Engadget. — Via Gameinformer

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Back in November 2006 Apple applied for a patent for a pointer-remote device that communicates via infrared. Not that unusual, until you hear the Wii Remote-like part: it also uses a sensor bar that you put in front of the TV to detect 3D movement.

To quote the patent description: “…the absolute x- and y-positions of [the] remote control can be used, for example, in video games to position a user’s character or to otherwise track the movement of the remote control in a user’s environment.”

AppleTV navigation could get a lot easier if ever used. — Via Kotaku

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Much like our past World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King preview. In this recent World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King video interview with Blizzard’s Designer J. Kaplan and Producer J. Allen Brack, the two talk for 10 minutes about scroll inscription creating and what else World of Warcraft’s upcoming expansion has to offer.

Click on the bottom-right corner arrow to view it fullscreen.

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Funcom and Eidos are proud to confirm some of the impressive figures powering the Age of Conan launch, and the two companies are happy to reveal that the Age of Conan Beta has passed 1 million sign-ups and their website got 5 million unique visitors this year. As one of the most anticipated MMO’s ever, the 1 million mark confirms the amazing interest in the game, and is the largest ever beta sign-up figure in the history of the genre. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures launches May 20th in North America / Oceania and 23rd of May in Europe.

“How all of our strong figures convert into later sales and subscription figures is still unknown,” said Morten Larssen, VP of Funcom Sales and Marketing. “But our pre-order numbers in some important retail chains track as among the highest for any MMO launched.”

To celebrate Funcom released a bloody Age of Conan “Femma Fatale” trailer:

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BattleForge (release: Q4 2008 on PC) is a newly announced fantasy online real-time strategy game from EA, where you assemble your own army with collectible trading cards. Win, trade and buy your cards online to create your ultimate deck. Mix and match the elements of your cards to play with your friends online and conquer massive online battlegrounds.

For mortals caught in a clash between insane gods and ancient giants, standing together is the only option. Using the forces of Fire, Frost, Nature and Shadow a mysterious Forge which makes legends come to life, is their single hope to create armies powerful enough to overcome these impossible odds. It is now time to set out and reclaim an epic fantasy world which has been overthrown by sinister powers in the twilight of a dying sun.

Watch the trailer for this real-time strategy game with mythical beasts both big and small.

Click on the bottom-right corner arrow to view it fullscreen.

“BattleForge is the next step in compelling RTS gameplay by taking the battles completely online,” stated Executive Producer & Vice President Richard Leinfellner. “With co-op play, challenging tournaments, Guilds, chat rooms and a robust marketplace for trading and buying your cards; BattleForge is the first RTS to add integral social and community components to an exciting fantasy RTS.”

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The June issue of Game Informer magazine has Guitar Hero 4 as the cover story and exclusively reports on new features like the Create-A-Song and Album creation for online sharing, as well as a Create-A-Character option! They also confirmed four new bands: Van Halen, The Eagles, Linkin Park and Sublime. They also vaguely mention the new Guitar Hero 4 guitar designed by Red Octane that includes a new input mechanic that’ll change the way you’ll play. The music-rhythm game will appear on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and Wii probably by the end of the year.

Here are the exciting newly unveiled features:
* Create a song. Although these exclude vocals due to storage and possible copyright issues.
* You’ll be able to name your song as well as creating album art. After you’ve done all that you can upload it to GH Tunes where anyone can download it.
* You’ll be limited to 5 songs at first. But depending on the ratings you get you’ll possibly be able to upload 10 or more.
* The song sharing mode will be in the Wii and PS2 versions also, but GI says it’s unlikely that it’ll be as robust as the PS3 and 360 versions.
* Drums, bass, vocals, guitar are the supported instruments.
* Create a rocker.
* Create a guitar and drums.
* All songs will be master tracks.
* They don’t want to discuss specifics on track listing out of fear of being scooped by the competition. However they confirmed four bands: Van Halen, The Eagles, Linkin Park and Sublime.
* A new guitar designed by Red Octane that includes a new input mechanic that’ll “impact the way you play Guitar Hero in the future”.
* The magazine saw through notes while playing, Neversoft said that was the new input mechanic and that they were trying to patent.

Thanks for transcribing SolidSnakex, pic via About.

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