In an earnings report issued to by Take-Two, besides a Red Dead: Redemption delay of game, it was revealed that the underwater big boy BioShock 2 has sold 3 million and the mighty, mighty GTA: IV a monumental 15 million.

So many copies sold!

For reference, BioShock the original sold 4  million total, so its sequel is rapidly approaching that figure.

In other multi-million sales news, Take-Two’s softcore software “Carnival Games” has surpassed 6 million sold across both Wii and DS, the company reported today. Scary, huh?

The Monopoly we know and (mostly) love, is getting major makeover.

To celebrate the game’s 75th Anniversary, Hasbro is streamlining the board game experience by making the game board circular and removing paper currency.

This will be fun?

Where did the money go? It’s still there, but you’ll have a credit card to keep track of every transaction, thus nullifying the ability to say “hey look over there” and steal a couple bills from your brother.

The game itself remains unchanged, meaning 4-hour sessions ending in the dead of night will still happen, but the genre “board game” might need to change to “bored game.”

The new, circular Monopoly will hit shelves later this year.

Source: Wired

World of Warcraft patch 3.2.2 hit the Internet today and alongside the arrival of the Icecrown Citadel came the game’s ending cinematic where the Lich King himself falls.

Spoilers are EVERYWHERE in this video, so be warned. But as for the patch itself this culminating patch to the Lich King expansion allows players into the Frostwing Halls, where the King himself awaits.

WoW fans, enjoy!

A few weeks before the official NPD December sales statistics trudge their way through the sloshy snow, Nintendo came up with some figures of their own, and they all spell m-0-n-e-y.

Indeed it does.

According to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, the company sold over 3 million Wiis in December, up from 2.15 during the same time the year before and over 4 million copies of New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

“The millions of people who bought Nintendo hardware during the holidays can look forward to enjoying great games on those systems now and in the future,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for Nintendo DS, and Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii are all currently providing Nintendo fans with amazing experiences and fun adventures for the whole family.”

I’ve worked retail for years, and I can say with full confidence, that this year was the busiest I’ve ever seen, especially and totally in the Nintendo department. I had to punch a grandmother in the chest to score my copy of New Super Mario Bros.

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Wondering what items made Amazon.com’s best-selling video game list for 2009? Here’s a hint: you probably already know the answer.

The quick and appropriate answer is Nintendo, which dominated the list, and claimed 9 of the top 10 spots. Holy jeebus, that’s impressive.

The only non-Nintendo item in the ten? Yupp, it’s Modern Warfare 2 ducking in at number 9.

01. Wii
02. Wii Remote controller
03. Wii MotionPlus
04. Wii Nunchuk controller
05. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
06. Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
07. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
08. Wii Fit (Wii)
09. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
10. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)

11. PlayStation 3 Dualshock 3 controller
12. Wii Play (Wii)
13. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
14. Wii Wheel
15. Assassin’s Creed II (Xbox 360)
16. Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360)
17. PlayStation 3 120 GB
18. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
19. EA Sports Active (Wii)
20. Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360)

Source: Kotaku

Blizzard released Patch 3.3 “Fall of the Lich King” yesterday, and although it didn’t roll out smoothly, it’s now, as Blizzard says, fully operational.

The content and feature-rich patch also got a fully voice-acted, cinematic and intense trailer, full of action, suspense, and a grand musical score.

All for a patch!!

The Beatles: Rock Band, Band Hero, and Batman: Arkham Asylum. What do these titles have in common?

They’re all half-off, and just begging you to buy them before they’re gone.

Arkham Asylum, one of the finest Batman titles of all time, and one of our personal favorites for the year, is now only $30, when purchased in the Microsoft store.

Right next to it are two stellar music titles, both of which we loved to death, Band Hero and The Beatles: Rock Band.

At 50% off, these deals are mighty, mighty slick, and the only mistake you’re making right now is reading this post instead of hopping over to the MS Store and buying these before they’re gone.

As you could have guessed, the deals are good for Xbox 360 only.

Batman: Arkham Asylum, Beatles Rock Band, Band Hero @ Microsoft Store via SlickDeals

If you’re looking for a surprise today, I bet this isn’t one.

Revealed today by Xbox Live community manager Major Nelson, was the last week’s Xbox Live activity ladder, and, as you guessed it, Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remained atop the list.

Last week I played both titles over Xbox Live so does that mean I canceled out and didn’t add to either? I’m confused. Here’s the list, based on number of unique users for the week of Nov. 23.

Xbox 360 Top LIVE Titles

1    Modern Warfare 2
2    Halo 3
3    Call of Duty 4
4    Call of Duty: WaW
5    Assassin’s Creed II
6    Left 4 Dead 2
7    1 vs 100
8    GTA IV
9    Madden NFL 10
10   FIFA 10

Xbox Live’s Major Nelson, today announced that beginning tomorrow, you’ll be able to purchase pets for your Avatars.

Ranging from the mundane to the extreme and furry, for 240 MS Points, the following can be yours to love like your own!

Large Dog, Pug Dog, Dog in Bag, Cat, Siamese Cat, Long Haired Cat, Goldfish, Guinea Pig, Monkey, Bird, Snake and a Pony.

If I had an extra 240 MS Points kicking around I’d most definitely buy myself any of those creatures, I mean, who hasn’t dreamed of owning a pony I’m not actually a 12 year-old girl?

Here’s a look at how you’ll look with a cute little pet in tow.

Yes you can haz Pony via Major Nelson

Clothing retailer Old Navy and Rock Band publisher MTV Games today announced a unique partnership primed and ready to bring in-store kiosks, special promotions, and Rock Band merch to Old Navy stores nationwide during the Holiday 2009 shopping season.

Select Old Navy stores will open their doors on Thanksgiving to commence what the company calls its “Gobblepalooza” promotion, which lasts three-days, with varying deals peppered throughout.

On Thanksgiving day, if you haven’t become incapacitated with all the turkey you ate, and decide you want to do some shopping, Old Navy is offering a free Rock Band guitar with the purchase of Rock Band 2. Yupp, Old Navy will carry the full line of Rock Band software this season including branded t-shirts, Rock Band 2, The Beatles: Rock Band, LEGO: Rock Band, and Rock Band Classic Rock Track Pack.

On Black Friday, besides $15 jeans (!), Old Navy is giving anyone who purchases only $20 worth of Old Navy items, a free copy of LEGO: Rock Band on their preferred system.

That’s kind of amazing, but, as we suspected, Old Navy noted in their press release that supply is “extremely limited,” so you might just have to punch a grandmother in the chest to secure your copy. Can you do that?

Additionally, Old Navy will set up Rock Band gaming kiosks in over 700 stores nationwide, you know, so you can relax from all that shopping.

And finally, in the month of December, on the two Wednesdays leading up to Christmas, Dec. 9 and 16, any shopper who spends $25 or more will score a free code to download a song from the Rock Band Music Store.

"Rock Band offers families a wonderful activity to enjoy together and we’re excited to bring that experience to life in Old Navy stores this Holiday season," said Christina Glorioso, Vice President of Marketing Sponsorships for MTV Games. "This will make shopping for the Holidays fun for everyone and give moms a great activity to keep kids (and dads) entertained."

Congratulations Old Navy, you’ve preemptively lured me into your store!

What about you guys? Anyone planning on shopping at Old Navy this season now that you know about the gaming tie-in?

Full details on the entire Old Navy + Rock Band promotion here.

“In every Sims heart lies a passion,” or so says Electronic Arts, in this parody the publisher of The Sims 3 released today.

Yeah, we’re talking about “New Moon” here, and all its Team Edward and Jacob glory, not to mention the always dazzling K Stew.

How’d EA do recreating the film’s characters? You be the judge!

I like Lionhead Studios. Peter Molyneux I believe is a fantastic game designer and the Fable series is one of my favorites. But as much as I love the studio and the projects it makes, I would never, ever, do this.

That said though, these tattoos, across this dude’s chest, do look very well drawn, but still, the idea of that kind of permanence frightens me a bit.

At least he didn’t do this..

Source: Lionhead Blog

Activision is prepared and ready to launch Tony Hawk: RIDE this Tuesday and hopefully breathe new life into a tired franchise, but before the game hits, it needs to be marketed, right?

Sex sells, AmIRight? Yeah, I probably am. Check out this image, found on Tony Hawk’s Twitpic page.

I’m sold. What about you?

It’s no secret Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft” MMORPG is wildly addicting. With thousands of quests to complete, hundreds of mob species to slay and bosses to defeat, it’s a wonder how anyone can play in moderation.

If you’re enthusiastic about kicking your Azeroth-flavored habit, and have $14,000 to spare, an Internet Addiction rehabilitation center in Seattle, just opened up, claiming to be the first of its kind, and more than willing to help you go cold turkey.

The course, dubbed reSTART, is a 45-day intensive program where addicts are continuously forced to listen to a recording of Liam Neeson forcefully saying “Play WoW again and I’ll cut your balls off.” We kid, and if you’re really serious about quitting WoW, head on over to the reSTART website to learn more.

Or end up like this kid, your choice.

Logitech bills the G13 as a “game changing experience,” and it’s both true and false.

If you are a dedicated PC gamer — an elite WoW player, Call of Duty, Fallout 3, etc. — then the G13 can completely change the way you play. This is especially true online, where the customizable buttons on the G13 can give you a decided edge.

There’s just one thing that you have to get past: A game changing experience means you have to change the way you game. If you’re in your 20s and have been using control to shoot, alt to strafe, and space to open doors for the past 15 years, then the G13 is going to feel like a foreign object for a while. Younger players have the advantage here. Their minds aren’t as hard-coded as ours.

Getting past the difficulties of old age, the G13 has 25 programmable keys that you can set and switch with five savable profiles. You can also customize the backlight to four different colors. There’s also a 160×43-pixel LCD panel that can show messages between players and live game stats. The LCD panel is a bit of a gimmick, and the viewing angle isn’t great since your fingers are right above it.

One of the most useful functions of the unit is the ability to program macros to script commands as you see fit.

The unit is also nicely sized and won’t slide around your desk.

The control profiles are stored in the unit, so you can take the G13 with you with no software reconfigurations to worry about.

Still, a lot of us are used to what we do with the existing keyboard and mouse, but I do like the G13 even more as a laptop gaming solution. The mini joystick on the right of the unit is really handy in that regard.

While I never really got used to using the unit, with PC gaming on the downturn, it might be a blessing in disguise that something totally different has come along. The G13 works with PC or MAC and comes with a free World of Warcraft trial, which is one of the games it’s meant to be used with.

Blast factor: If you’re still an avid PC gamer, the G13 is a great solution with built-in profiles for the top games. The backlit keys and LCD really add to the appeal, too.