Source: videogamesblogger.com

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. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 4. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo).

Japan: 1. Tales of Symphonia: Ratatosk no Kishi (Namco), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. Resident Evil Zero: Wii Edition (Capcom), 5. Family Trainer (Namco Bandai).

Europe: 1. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo), 3. Big Beach Sports (THQ), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega).

Xbox 360
North America: 1. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 3. Battlefield: Bad Company (EA Games), 4. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 5. Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution (2K Games).

Japan: 1. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Bandai), 2. Battlefield: Bad Company (EA Games), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — Game of the year Edition (Activision), 5. Mobile Suit Gundam: Operation Troy (Bandai).

Europe: 1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 2. Battlefield: Bad Company (EA Games), 3. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 4. Rock Band: Band in a Box (EA Games), 5. Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution (2K Games).

PlayStation 3
North America: 1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 3. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft), 4. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (SCEA), 5. Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution (2K Games).

Japan: 1. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Bandai), 2. Initial D Extreme Stage (Sega), 3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots — Special Edition (Konami), 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — Game of the year Edition (Activision), 5. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami).

Europe: 1. Buzz! Quiz TV with Buzzers (SCEE), 2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 4. Battlefield: Bad Company — Gold Edition (EA), 5. Lego: Indiana Jones (Activision).

PlayStation 2
North America: 1. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (Konami), 2. Rock Band Special Edition (EA Games), 3. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 4. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Activision), 5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Wireless Bundle (Activision).

Japan: 1. Night Flower Romanesque: Love and Sadness are Your Aria (Marvelous Entertainment), 2. Harukanaru Jikuu no Kade 4 (Koei), 3. Hisshou Pachinko*Pachi-Slot Kouryaku Series DS Vol. 12: CR Shinseiki Evangelion - Shito, Futatabi (D3 Publisher), 4. The King of Fighters ‘98 Ultimate Match — NeoGeo Ultimate Collection (SNK Playmore), 5. Harukanaru Jikuu no Kade 4 — Treasure Box (Koei).

Europe: 1. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 2. FIFA 08 (EA Sports), 3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Activision), 4. The Golden Compass (Sega), 5. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami).

PC
North America: 1. Diablo Battle Chest (Blizzard), 2. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector’s Edition (EA), 3. The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff (EA Games), 4. World of Warcraft Battle Chest (Blizzard), 5. The Orange Box (EA Games).

Japan: 1. Hellgate: London (EA Games), 2. Lineage: The Cross Rancor (E-Frontier), 3. Ragnarok Online Summer Package 2008 (E-Frontier), 4. Final Fantasy XI: Vana’diel Collection (Square Enix), 5. The Sims 2: Ikea Home Pack (EA Games).

Europe: 1. Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Complete (Take 2), 2. The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff (EA Games), 3. Mass Effect (EA Games), 4. Football Manager 2008 (Sega), 5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Activision).

Nintendo DS
North America: 1. Guitar Hero: On Tour (Activision), 2. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo), 4. Brain Age 2 (Nintendo), 5. Brain Age (Nintendo).

Japan: 1. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (Nintendo), 2. Derby Stallion DS (Enterbrain), 3. The Game With No Name (Square Enix), 4. DS Bimoji Training (Nintendo), 5. Hiiro no Kakera DS — Special Edition (Idea Factory).

Europe: 1. Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training (Nintendo), 2. My Health Coach (Ubisoft), 3. More Brain Training (Nintendo), 4. Scrabble 2007: New Edition (Ubisoft), 5. 42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo).

PlayStation Portable
North America: 1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 2. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEA), 3. Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories (Rockstar), 4. Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco), 5. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (SCEA).

Japan: 1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom), 2. God of War: Chains of Olympus (Capcom), 3. World Neverland 2-in-1 Portable (Fonfun), 4. Sword to Magic to Campus Mono (Acquire), 5. Super Robot Taisen A (Banpresto).

Europe: 1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix), 2. Lego Indiana Jones (LucasArts), 3. God of War: Chains of Olympus (SCEE), 4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Take 2), 5. Final Fantasy I (Square Enix).

Mario Kart Wii keeps finishing first on the Wii chart. Assassin’s Creed returns on the top of the Xbox 360 chart after a discount to $24. PS3 exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4 remains at #1. Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection returns to the PS2 chart. The Diablo Battle Chest rises from hell to the PC top spot. Guitar Hero: On Tour rocks out on the DS chart again. And lastly Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII remains on the PSP chart. — For the full lists go to Amazon’s US, UK & JPN sites.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Blizzard has announced that the Archangel Tyrael from Diablo is the newest World of Warcraft (WOW) mini-pet!

You only would have recieved this special pet if you were one of the lucky people that got to attend the World Wide Invitational Blizzard show in Paris, France, where they announced Diablo 3. If you attended, you would’ve gotten a scratch card in your goody bag which entitled you to an in-game mini pet. The pet that they received however had remained a mystery . . . until now.

The mystery pet is none other than the Archangel Tyrael from Diablo! Here’s a pic if you don’t know who he is.

From the official Blizzard site: “The code for the in-game World of Warcraft pet that was provided in the goodie bag at the 2008 Worldwide Invitational will be usable at our Pet Redemption Webpage (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/misc/promotion.html) after patch 2.4.3 is released in the near future.

After you have received the in-game code from this webpage, the Alliance will travel to Stormwind and the Horde to Undercity to visit a new NPC where you will be able to claim the in-game pet.

The pet itself will be a miniature version of the Archangel Tyrael of Diablo 2 fame who will travel with you on all your grand adventures in Azeroth! Pictures of this amazing new pet will be available on the official website soon for everybody to check out.”

Via Worldofwar.net

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Overwhelmed by an army of angry and impatient fans, Blizzard this weekend reluctantly unveiled Diablo III, the third groundbreaking title in its highly acclaimed role-playing game series and sequel to the award-winning Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, at the company’s very first surprise press conference at its newly opened headquarters.

The announcement took place in the Blizzard Entertainment campus courtyard, in front of select members of the press who received a startling impromptu presentation that included a ten-second, freshly pre-rendered Diablo III cinematic trailer and a physically re-enacted gameplay demonstration by the development team taken hostage by the gamers. Take a look at the Diablo 3 teaser:

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

Under threat of a forum member’s taser “of teh win,” public relations staff explained that designed to be a revolutionary single-player and online role-playing experience, Diablo III will set players on a multitude of dynamically generated quests on the path to defeat the demonic forces of Diablo and his demon brothers Baal and Mephisto. Eight brand new and re-imagined character classes [zzap! aieee!] will be highly customizable in appearance and abilities, with 20 hero-specific skills per character and 10 shared abilities used to battle over 300 varieties of monsters in and an immersive 3D-graphics world.

Watch the first Diablo 3 gameplay video that shows the classes and explains their controls in about 20 minutes:

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

Set in the massive worlds of Sanctuary, Hell, and the High Heavens, Diablo III will include a compelling single-player story mode, as well as fast-paced online play through an upgraded version of Blizzard’s renowned online gaming service, Battle.net.

Diablo III will reinvent the persistent online world concept while preserving its hero-centric story, permitting up to ten players to join in on a game session for cooperative game play and dueling matches. Characters engage the forces of evil in a limitless world spanning, for the first time, the entire continents of Sanctuary, the High Heavens, and Hell including never before seen lands to explore. Using the latest graphics technology including DirectX 10.1, its next-generation 3D engine helps create a thrilling, immersive role-playing experience.

“With Diablo III, we’ll do everything we wanted to do with the first two games and much, much more,” pleaded Bill Roper, Senior Producer of Diablo II, whose team at Flagship Studios have abruptly moved Diablo III to their top priority. “We recognize that expectations are high but we plan to meet those expectations and deliver an engaging, action-packed, competitive experience that Diablo players and role-playing gamers worldwide will enjoy. Now will you let us go?”

Blizzard is developing Diablo III for simultaneous release on the Windows and Macintosh PC platforms. Further information about the game, including details on the single-player, multiplayer, and subscription features, as well as system requirements, pricing, and availability, will be announced in the months ahead. No, no, I mean days! Days, yes!

Check out the Diablo 3’s beautiful works of art.

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

About the Diablo series:
When the original Diablo was released in 1997, it was considered a critical success and reached number one on NPD INTELECT during its first month in stores. The game has sold in excess of 2.5 million copies worldwide and was honored as the number-one selling computer role-playing game in 1997 as well as being named Game of the Year by Computer Gaming World.

Debuting in June, 2000 Diablo II dominated PC game charts with sales of 4 million copies worldwide according to NPD INTELECT and key retail accounts around the world. The game was awarded several accolades including the prestigious Computer Game of the Year, Computer Role Playing Game of the Year and Game of the Year for 2001 by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. The critically acclaimed expansion set, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, released in 2001, became the fastest selling expansion set in PC game history. In its first week alone, it surpassed 1 million units sold worldwide.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Hothead Games announced they’ll be publishing Ron Gilbert’s long-awaited RPG-Adventure PC game, DeathSpank. Described as “Monkey Island meets Diabloâ€?, the singleplayer game will be released in episodic format and feature Gilbert’s unique style of humor and storytelling. The first part will be titled DeathSpank: Episode One: Orphans of Justice. In a related move, Ron Gilbert will be joining the company’s Vancouver-based studio as Creative Director, effective immediately.

Speaking from his secret game design cave, Ron Gilbert said, “I’ve spent over four years trying to find the right publisher for this strange little game. Now that I’ve done it, you just know that somewhere four horsemen are saddling up.â€?

The episodic game follows the thong-tastic adventures of a misguided hero named DeathSpank, a character that first appeared on Gilbert’s Grumpy Gamer website in a series of animated comics he penned with long-time creative collaborator, Clayton Kauzlaric.

Hothead prepared for Gilbert’s arrival by ordering the finest morsels of jellied moose meat and lager brewed with water from the nearest available glacier. “We’re all huge fans of Monkey Island and we love Ron’s unique vision and sense of humor,â€? said Joel DeYoung, COO of Hothead Games. “Ron shares Hothead’s goal of bringing much-needed humor and innovation into games, so having him here in Vancouver as our Creative Director is an excellent fit.â€? All this happened after Mr. Gilbert consulted at Hothead Games on the Penny-Arcade Adventures Game.