Here's some good news for those folks who've been wondering about the fate of E3. Tecmo has announced that it'll be heading to E3 this year. Want to know what we've been speculating about their appearance? Head on over to the full article for more!

Media Create has released the Japan video game sales figures from November 5 to November 11. Nintendo is once again taking top honors with four of their games breaking the top ten list.

Mario Party DS took the top slot in the rankings with 235,000 units sold followed by Koei's Shin Sangoku Musou 5 for the PlayStation 3 and Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii which moved 188,000 and 74,000 copies respectively. Click on the "read more" link below for more details.

You know it's a slow sales week in Japan when there are no Wii games in the top 10 games. The new game sales charts for Japan are in from Media Create and they indicate that the Nintendo DS has dominated the charts for the week ending on October 21. The PS2 is in second place, and a lone Xbox 360 and PSP game also were thrown in the mix.

The slow down may very well be just the eye of the storm that is Super Mario Galaxy, which will hit in just a few days. The first Wii game to enter the charts is in Wii Sports in 12th place. The first PS3 game to enter is Lair, in 21st place. Here are the top 10 games in Japan for last week:

1. Seaman 2 (PS2, Sega) - 33,000 units
2. DS Literature Collection (DS, Nintendo) - 32,000 units
3. Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (PS2, Bandai-Namco) - 20,000 units
4. DS Nishimura Kyotarou Suspense Detective Series: Deadly Intent (DS, Tecmo) - 20,000 units
5. Gundam Battle Chronicles (PSP, Bandai-Namco) - 19,000 units
6. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS, Pokémon) - 19,000 units
7. Beautiful Katamari (Xbox 360, Bandai-Namco) - 19,000 units
8. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (DS Pokémon) - 16,000 units
9. Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS, Nintendo) - 15,000 units
10. Racehorse Owner Life Game: Winner’s Circle (DS, Genki) - 15,000 units

Korean game publisher HanbitSoft knew what it was doing when it introduced its hit video game golfing sensation Pangya to local gamers. From there the video game has spread across numerous countries, infecting them with online golfing fever.

Now this MMORPG-based golf game is stepping onto the handheld platform as NTreev Soft is bringing Pangya to the PlayStation Portable (PSP). This announcement was confirmed as the publishers of the PSP version of the video game said that it would be coming out during the first half of the 2008, followed by Astonishia Story 2.

So far, Pangya for the PSP is only scheduled to come out in Korea. With Hot Shots Golf coming out next year, its sure to encounter some stiff competition with Pangya's own established name in the video game world of golf. So far no game publishers have been found to localize this game as of yet, although sources from Siliconera have mentioned Tecmo as a likely candidate.

The much anticipated Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors was bound to make a tsunami in Japan, and it did. Pretty much all copies Nintendo shipped, 305,000 of 350,000, are already wiped off the shelves and reached the hands of hungry Japanese gamers.

Media Create revealed sales for the week of  July 9 to 15, and numbers show that Dragon Quest Swords is almost sold out. Other new titles didn't receive as much success: My Housekeeping Diary sold 46,947, Kirarin Revolution: Mezase Idol Queen! at 24,573, Monster Farm DS came in with 21,914, while Mega Man ZX Advent's numbers are at 21,379. All of these got in the top ten software sales list, and all are DS titles.

Speaking of top titles, Nintendo dominated the list this week with all in the top ten being games for the Wii or DS. Six of these are first-party, while Square Enix, Konami, Tecmo, and Capcom made their own contributions.

In terms of hardware, Ninty consoles are still selling like hotcakes. The DS enjoys its top spot, having sold 141,982 this week. Wii, the magic wand, gained a huge boost to 109,854 thanks to the wave DQ created. Sony and the PlayStation brand follows, but the gap in numbers is more than tens of thousands.

We kid you not, and we've got numbers to prove it. You can find them below.

Software sales for the week of July 9 - 15:

1. Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Wii, Square Enix) - 305,254
2. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass  (DS, Nintendo) - 69,896
3. My Housekeeping Diary (DS, Nintendo) - 46,947
4. Wii Sports (Wii, Nintendo) - 44,767
5. Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS, Nintendo) - 38,649
6. Wii Play (Wii, Nintendo) - 28,742  
7. Chibi Robo! Park Patrol (DS, Nintendo) - 26,905
8. Kirarin Revolution: Mezase Idol Queen! (DS, Konami) - 24,573
9. Monster Farm DS (DS, Tecmo) - 21,914
10. Mega Man ZX Advent (DS, Capcom) - 21,379

Hardware sales for the week of July 9 - 15:

1. DS - 141,982    
2. Wii - 109,854    
3. PSP - 37,578
4. PS2 - 15,777
5. PS3 - 13,493
6. Xbox 360 - 2,942    
7. GBA - 432
8. GameCube - 106    

The Xbox 360 console is definitely enjoying GameFly's spotlight lately, as Darkness takes center stage for the third time in the rental company's most requested released and to-be-released games chart ending July 2. Carried along (by imps) in second place for the week is Overlord, with third place going to Transformers: The Game. Transformers replaces DiRT for this post.

Resident Evil 4 retains its top rank from last week for the Wii games, as does Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PlayStation 3, Sim City DS for the DS, and Final Fantasy: Anniversary Edition for the PSP. On an interesting note, Lumines makes its appearance for the PSP's top five. We can only assume that this is connected to the recent exploit discovered by the Noobz team, which dramatically boosted sales for this said game.

• Xbox 360
1. Darkness (Take Two)
2. Overlord (Codemasters)
3. Transformers (Activision)
4. The Bigs (Take Two)
5. DiRT (Codemasters)
• Wii
1. Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
2. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo)
3. Pokemon Battle Revolution (Nintendo)
4. Mario Party 8 (Nintendo)
5. Mario Strikers Charged (Nintendo)
• PlayStation 3
1. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo)
2. Darkness (Take Two)
3. Transformers (Activision)
4. Rainbow Six: Vegas (Ubisoft)
5. The Bigs (Take Two)

The rest of GameFly's most wanted is available in the Full Article

 

If you've been penny-pinching to save up for upcoming games, here's a little primer on US retail releases this week, starting July 2.

Eye catchers of the week (for the grown-ups) would be Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3 and Vampire Rain for the 360. We've been covering both games for quite some time now, and the anticipation is fit to burst through Rachel's black leather suit.

Moms and dads may also want to get Platinum Sudoku or Vegas Casino for those quiet times when the kids are busy with Marvel TCG and Taito Legends 2. (More about these and other games in our Full Article).

What a way to start the month of July! New month, new week... new games!

Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The demo for this ninja action adventure title was one of the few demos that actually lived up to its hype. For those who are old enough to crave challenges and gameplay more suitable for mature audiences, this PS3 exclusive is a must-buy.

• PlayStation 3 - July 3, 2007
• US$ 59.99
• ESRB M (Mature)
• Tecmo and Team Ninja

Vampire Rain. Take on the role of John Lloyd, the government's vampire hunter, as he purges Los Angeles of the vampire threat. We're hoping that this horror action adventure game will cast new light on the vampire game genre with its stealthy "high-tech Buffy meets Sam Fisher" gameplay.

• Xbox 360 - July 3, 2007
• US$ 59.99
• ESRB M (Mature)
• Microsoft Game Studios and Artoon

See the other game releases by clicking on the Full Article link below!

 

For the week ending June 25, GameFly reports that the numbers have been pulling strong in the Xbox 360 charts, pushing the top three titles to also corner the top three spots across all console platforms. Despite rental price increases, GameFly has seen Take-Two's Darkness become the most requested game in their weekly chart for the second time around.

Codemasters packed a good one-two this week, seeing both Overlord and DiRT take the second and third top spots (respectively) on the Xbox 360 request lineup and the all-platform lineup. Microsoft and FASA Studios' Shadowrun, a chart topper back in early June, now sits idly at number five of the Xbox 360 charts for the second week.

Capcom's Resident Evil 4 is hot on the Wii gamers' wishlists, while Ninja Gaiden Sigma from Tecmo sits on top of the PlayStation 3 charts. Nintendo DS players request SimCity DS from Electronic Arts the most, and Square Enix' Final Fantasy is the PSP gamer's favorite this week.

Click on Full Article for the top five most requested games on each platform.

Media Create has revealed their weekly software sales list for June 11-17, and it's got some pretty interesting titles on top. Bandai Namco's RPG entry to the Xbox 360, Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream held nothing back as it took 2nd place off the bat. Tecmo doesn't disappoint neither as Ninja Gaiden Sigma took 3rd.

DS titles are still dominating the list, with 18 of 30 coming to the handheld. That said, it's finally looking good for Sony and Microsoft at least. Sure, only Call of Duty 3 is the other PS3 entry at 14 while Trusty Bell is alone, but we should be able to agree that some life is breathing into these consoles that Nintendo left behind.

Without further ado, here's the list:

01. [NDS] Practice by Observing: DS Observation Training (Nintendo) - 63,439 / 220,810
02. [360] Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream (Bandai-Namco) - 49,334 / NEW
03. [PS3] Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo) - 46,307 / NEW
04. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo) - 34,223 / 1,721,611
05. [NDS] More Brain Age (Nintendo) - 24,901 / 4,374,525
06. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) - 22,161 / 1,399,060
07. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo) - 19,297 / 4,539,176
08. [NDS] Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (Nintendo) - 16,879 / 156,867
09. [NDS] More English Training (Nintendo) - 15,855 / 288,570
10. [NDS] Brain Age (Nintendo) - 15,405 / 3,467,764

More after the jump!

 

Over every platform imaginable, games in GameStop are being offered for a lower price during the week June 8-14, at your nearest Gamestop outlet. With everything from coupons for free items or increased trade-in credit, they are also slashing prices off on Microsoft's Age of Empires III and its expansion, The War Chiefs.

Gamers on the Xbox 360 can now own Midway's Hour of Victory with a free Plantronics X20 headset when they reserve the US$ 59.99 title. DS owners can hope to avail of freebie collectible cards of Spectrobes once they purchase a copy of the game, while PlayStation 3 gamers can avail of a free t-shirt when they reserve a copy of Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

Be reminded that these deals are subject to certain conditions, so don't forget to read the fine print.