Today, I noticed my bill from Yahoo for Gamerscentre.com was due, so I paid that off and then proceeded to check the bill dates for my other sites and I have found out that Yahoo has decided to raise the domain renewal fees to $34.95 per domain name. I have about 3 sites that this fails under and the funny thing is that I am being charged $43.95 for two of them and $34.95 for one of them. It’s an incredible jump from paying $9.95USD to $34.95 and $43.95 once every year.

So right now, I am thinking of transferring my domains to another provider, maybe GODADDY, at about the launch of the new Gamers Block site.

Nice doing business with you Yahoo…

Hello viewers!

Thanks for voting on last weeks poll! This weeks poll will be up at some point on Sunday.

The new Gamers Block site is under hold due to the GB developer going on vacation. When he gets back, we will layout the plans and I will make an announcement. This new Gamers Block site is going to be about 85% social based, so its important to get people visiting Gamers Block the latest info on this project, so they can tell others, which will make our launch a success. The new Gamerscentre template, which I have talked about many times, will be up when he comes back as well.

The GB newsletter is on the way and I am serious about it this time. Expect weekly emails sent to your in box.

If by chance the GB developer doesn't come back within the next two weeks, I am going forward in opening up the “Barton Avenue Network” site at www.bartonavenue.com

I have this other site under my belt and that sites name is GameFluid: http://gamefluid.com/

When the GB developer comes back, I will ask if he can do the logo, and I will start with working on GameFluid.com with him.

As for new columns, the Gamers Block writers are busy right now and will return when they have free time to write.

Until tomorrow,

-Michael Ogle

Slow days have dawn on us at Gamers Block and I cant wait until this Friday when I will be able to talk to the Gamers Block web developer on the new version of Gamers Block, which goes under the code name of “GB3”.

Via email, I just got invited to the Nintendo E3 Media Briefing and I wish I could go and also visit E3 this year. Nintendo has been giving hints at their big E3 2008 surprises, and one of the surprises turns out to be “a big game for the holiday that the gamers will want” as said by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime when talking to GametrailersTV.

One of the other surprises involves the Nintendo DS, but no one is sure if Nintendo will roll out a third design or maybe bring out an entirely new system that is rumored to focus on media functions (audio and video) as well as sport an additional slot, other than the GBA Slot, for removable storage. If that said is true, I think Nintendo needs to ditch the dual screens and introduce a wide screen that can simulate a dual screen mode when playing Nintendo DS games.

Well, that’s all I have to say for this week.

Until next week!

Michael Ogle

First, I would like to welcome Sarah back to Gamers Block! Please read her column for more information. Second, A new change is underway at Gamers Block! By the time its completed people will think we are a new website. Technically, Gamers Block has been on the web for about 4 years now.

Third, in unrelated site news, I would like to thank Minho Cho of NuriTech for sending out a PSP related package that I ordered. Matter of fact, I would like to thank the staff at NuriTech and Joytron in Korea as well for making fantastic accessories for the PSP & DS. To get back to the order I received, I ordered a PSP Slim protective screen filter, the Joytron PSP Slim & Lite (PSP-2000) System Skin Case - Crystal Clear, and they actually sent me a free portable mini stand, which is very cool! It was nice to receive a personal written out thank you greeting with my package. I look forward to doing business with NuriTech soon.

Check out NuriTech at www.nuritech.us.

All right people, I will talk to you again next week!

Michael Ogle

On the site end, I am still in planning over the new changes coming to Gamers Block, that I brought up last week, and I am really going to fast track on getting my list completed and hopefully July will be the month when changes will be shown. You can already see that 40% of the work has been displayed on the site.

That is all the site news for now.

Now, over the weekend I bought Crisis Core and I love the game and the only negative I can bring towards the game is the in game camera. For instance, I am on this one mission where you have to use tactics to enter a base and collect 5 treasure boxes(not mandatory, but the five treasure boxes contain good materia) without getting caught, and if your caught you go into battle and after the battle one of the five boxes is opened by other guards until no more treasure is left.

The In-game camera makes the whole process of conducting tactics to sneak pass and hide away from guards very hard and its annoying getting caught by surprised, when you think the coast is clear and then reseting the game numerous times to get surprised again.

I bought another game and its not the SNK arcade collection which I said in last weeks update. I actually bought echochrome for the PSP. I might share my thoughts on that another day.

That is all for this week!

Michael Ogle

It has been nineteen days since the last Gamers Block update, and I am here to bring you updated news on the Gamers Block front. I have plans again for another update to take place at Gamers Block which will really give the site more potential to raise the audience attendance at Gamers Block. Right now its the matter of how much money it will take to be done. The business here at Gamers Block, since 2008 , is to not bring you news reports, but daily personal opinions, which I haven't been able to give the audience.

As for Pod casts, I really want to do it, but I am having problems on when I can record it at the most quiet time. Depending on how my first completed recording turns out, I wish to do pod casts like 2-3 times a week.

Gamerscentre: The default template will be replaced in June with the official Gamerscentre template. Gamerscentre is a real special project and you will see soon.

E3: I have got a email asking if I received my E3 invitation as its been sent out and the email is from an firm of a company I wont name. To answer back, I have not received any emails nor letters from the expo or whoever is issuing out the invites. See, this years E3 requires an invitation. With the old E3, to get in, you would need to apply for a press pass and have a Tax ID.

Even if I do receive an invitation, I wont go this year.

Why? I was not expecting to goto E3 2008 and I do not have the equipment on hand to make reports.

Next year, I hope.

TGIF cause I get paid tomorrow! I have a PSP and I think its time to pick up crisis core and maybe that SNK Arcade collection title that was just recently ported to the PSP from the PS2.

June is the month I will make my foray into purchasing the PS3 and its been a long hold out, but Sony is finally releasing a title I want to buy a PS3 for. What is it? Metal Gear Solid 4, duh.

Expect many future pod casts to cover Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear On line.

Chances are I wont get the PS3 until a week after the 12^th, but when I do, I will post my PSN name if you want to battle me in Metal Gear On line. I would really like to assemble a Gamers Block / Gamers Centre Team in the future to take on on line multiplayer games.

This Gamers Block Update has been real causal and I think its going to stay that way.

Bye for now,

Michael Ogle

Tomorrow will be the best time to for me to record this shindig

1) WTF!? $599 for the Metal Gear Solid 4:LE PS3 pack?

- Gamers are freaking out at the price announced by Komani, in the past week, for the North American stateside release of this limited edition package which sports Gun-metal colors. What is Michael's view?

2)EHHHH.. I don't have a second topic in mind, so I guess I will base the show on the first topic and just hit on the news of the week, a little outside gaming talk, and wrap it up in 15- 20 mins in length.

Gamerscentre registration is open, but keep in mind that Gamerscentre itself is still under development. I am going to take tomorrow to finalize the rules and work on getting the skin for gamerscentre done. Gamerscentre look will be based off the Gamers Block site.

I may record a pod cast this week, maybe later tonight.

Monday is the start of the new poll week, and I am having trouble picking out a good question for people to vote on. If you have a suggestion send me an email: Michael.Ogle @gamersblock.com.

Have a good weekend people!

PS: If you have nothing to do this weekend, why don’t you go out and catch a flick?

New polls will be introduced at the start of each week from now on.

For the current poll, no matter what, the current Gamers Block logo will never change due to public opinion, as it is my property.

I will debut polls in the future that will have an effect on Gamerscentre or Gamers Block from the public standpoint.

Michael Ogle

Gamerscentre.com should be open by then, but thats not the big news.

The big news is that a Gamers Block print Ad will be appearing sometime in May in either Metro or 24 (Toronto Area Only)newspapers. It will be a one day ad, but I hope I can turn it into a one time monthly shot.

Under the \'more in spotlight \' link column lays empty space, which doesn't fill up upon the number of spotlight columns submitted, as I thought it would.

The free space spot will be filled with a vertical banner that I hope will help raise earnings from the ad system Gamers Block is using.

- http://gamersblock.net/news.php?id=377

Which game will you purchase a PS3 for?

• Metal Gear Solid 4 52 (55.32%) WINNER
• Grand Theft Auto IV: 34 (36.17%)
• Gran Turismo 5: Prologue: 4 (4.26%)
• Little Big Planet:4 (4.26%)
• Total votes: 94

Thanks for your participation!

Michael Ogle

The work on Gamers Block is completed; just the logo needs to be enlarged :)

Up next is the work on skinning and modding of Gamerscentre.com and I will be ready to start promoting both sites as a whole to a new market of gamers online that have not visited us in the past.

Stay Tuned!

It has come to my knowledge if you dont have the latest version of your internet browser installed, the Gamers Block site wont show up properly.

Please upgrade to fully enjoy the Gamers Block website

I just got the chance to see the finished logos for Gamers Block, Gamerscentre.com and Barton Avenue and they all look great.

Friday will be the put up date for the Gamers Block logo, so check us out back on Friday to see our new logo.

UPDATE

The wrong thing to do on my part was to announce a date and not be able to deliver the new logo on the site. We do have a new logo, and it will be on the site very soon.

When Gamerscentre.com opens officially, you will be able to log into the Gamers Block site with your Gamerscentre.com account to write comments and also submit a column for posting on the main page.

What is a Column?

Some examples of types columns Gamers Block is looking for:

• Reviews
• gossip
• humor, etc

Blog like submissions are also acceptable. All submissions will be placed under approval, before movement to the main page. Your articles will not be edited by anyone at Gamers Block, so make sure you get all your correct thoughts in, and run a spell check of your article before submission, or your piece will be deleted. Gamers Block has no rivals, so we invite other sites to join in and submit columns. As time passes, upgrades will be made to further improve the system.

Myself, Michael Ogle, will host a weekly 10minute or 15 minute pod cast that will be available via this site and at www.youtube.com/gamersblock, for next Monday.

The first five minutes, or so, will contain my experience with Ebgames Canada to capture my preorder copy of Metal Gear Solid: The essentials collection, while the product was \'lost in transit\', eight days after its release date.

The next minutes to follow that will go over the news of the past week, hardware and software sales and info on the changes here at Gamers Block.

UPDATE

This weeks pod cast will be delayed for a Wednesday release.

“Block It” is a term that Gamers Block uses for its voting system, like Digg.com uses the term Digg™. The public is not able to use this system until Gamerscentre.com is completed, as you must use your created log in to access it.

Which game will you purchase in March?

• Super Smash Bros Brawl: 17 (35.42%)
• God of War: Chains of Olympus: 10 (20.83%)
• Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII: 3 (6.25%)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2:18 (37.5%)

Thanks for your participation!

Michael Ogle

I am looking towards this week to getting the new logos up on the Gamers Block and Gamerscentre site.

(1) A little edit was made to the \'Gamers Block Bio\' post.

(2) Next week, a new entry to the about page will be posted.

For all the people that signed up for the GB newsletter, I must tell you that we have not issued 'any' newsletters as yet. The plan at Gamers Block right now is focusing on the further development of Gamers Block & Gamerscentre. Expect the GB newsletter to hit your email boxes later this year.

Michael Ogle

GameFluid.com will focus on art designs involved in the games we play today. GameFluid.com will launch in 2008 as part of Gamers Block family of sites which include the soon to debut Gamerscentre.com.

Our Spam problem is being taken care of folks

Second, the forums will be shut down in the next few days for good. I am writing my staff to let them know.

Michael Ogle

Gamers Block

Ok, so to get to the point, I have been thinking of ways to find out more about Clover field and its monster who is hidden from view in all of the trailers. What better way to find out more about Clover field, by checking game publisher sites for clues. Most movies are marketed into videogames, right? No clues have been found, until I seen this new poster for Clover Field.

Hmm… doesn’t this shadow remind you of a certain videogame character? So, now with out no further ado, I present to you the monster in question!

This GTA:3 promo item is the Stinger Spike System: pocket size tire deflating device, which is now for sale on Ebay at this link. The seller of this item doesn’t give a back-story, but chances are the item was probably given away at E3 years back.

We at Gamers Block wish you and yours a very merry christmas!

From Gamers Block Staff

I was just checking out the archive of reports I have made on the Gamers Block: Classic blog and it has made me rejuvenated to start up my reports again. I expect to return to my old “blogself” by the weekend.

Take Care,

Michael Ogle (mroca /mobchip)

(Back then was known as \'MobChip\').

If you did not get a Louis Vuitton case for your PS2, we here at Gamers block boutique, will delay our eating of 1963 cheeses and gloat at another product that you don’t acquire. Second-rates, these are times to trifle your babies pamper money on the newest LV accessory, which is for your PSP! We will give you more information on this PSP case, once we finish our truffle.

Here is a snack you may make while playing ‘Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree’ straight from Nintendo Canada’s Get Up and Play site. Any game based recipes that I find around the net will be posted under ‘Recipe Time’, so keep a look out folks.

Brainiac Parfaits

You'll need:

•           A variety of yogurt flavors

•           A bowl of raisins

•           A bowl of dried cranberries

•           A bowl of granola

•           A bowl of dried coconut

•           A bowl of miniature chocolate chips

•           Bowls of strawberry and raspberry jam

To do:

•           Spoon out the yogurt into individual bowls.

•           Let your guests build their very own perfect parfait!

Metal Gear Solid 4 needs to sell over a million copies on its first day to recoup its production costs, according to Ryan Payton, one of MSG: 4 assistant producers, to Reuters.com today.

“We’re telling our fans that if you want to play ‘Metal Gear Solid: 4’, you have to buy a PS3,” Ryan Payton adds to defend MGS: 4 exclusivity.

The Playstation 3 is currently behind sales of its rivals, and I believe its going to be a battle to get MSG: 4 to do over 1 million sales on its first day, like what Microsoft did with Halo 3, but its possible . I don’t own a PS3, but I am very interested in buying one to play MSG: 4 and I think others that are interested in the series, who don’t own a PS3, will catch the bug to buy both on the release date.

IDC analyst, Billy Pidgeon, told GamesIndustry.biz today that top next generation videogames cost between USD $10 and $50 million to develop.

\'You might be able to weather one title coming in at 500,000 in sales,\' said Pidgeon. \'But two or three failures like that and even big publishers are going to be hurting.\'

Soon to be released, Metal Gear Solid: 4, now faces the challenge to sell over 1 million copies on its first date of release on the PS3 system that is selling way behind its competitors.

“Rising production costs means that it is tougher for third-party games to turn a profit if they are exclusive to a single console”, reports Mark Androvich of Gamesindustry.biz.

From Reuters.com today.

As of October, only 2 million PS3s had been sold in the United States, compared to 5.2 million Wii consoles from rival Nintendo and 7.2 million Xbox 360s from Microsoft, according to market research firm NPD.

A year after its release, only two PS3 games have sold more than 1 million copies*, a benchmark of financial success for a big-budget game. The 7-year-old PlayStation 2 had nearly 100 games sell more than a million copies.

*PlayStation 3 games that have sold one million copies or more.

• Resistance: Fall of Man (2 million)
• MotorStorm (1 million)

Activision has joined an alliance with Discovery Communications, which own the following TV stations: TLC & various channels under the “Discovery Channel” name, to create games based on Animal Planet programming.

The games will be released in late 2008.

The Los Angeles Times website has posted a report that lists reactions from various parents that will cut toys out of their holiday budget in favor for videogames.

\'It was emotionally difficult to have to take those toys away,\' Kathleen Buczko said. \'I know there must be thousands of kids who had to go through the same thing.\'

Gaming revenues are forecast to climb 19% or more, according to Wedbush Morgan Securities.

Retail toy sales are expected to decline by 2%, to $23 billion, said to the LA Times by Gerrick Johnson, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets.

Other than the appearance of “The Man”, the show will feature exclusive videos of Borderlands, Grand Turismo 5 prologue, Halo 3 DLC Map Pack, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and TNA Impact! (The video game).

The Awards will be taped on December 7, and will premiere on December 9 at 9pm ET/PT on Spike TV.

• Tales of Innocence (Bandai Namco) - 9, 9, 9, 8 - (35/40)
• Me and the Sims (EA) - 7, 7, 6, 8 - (28/40)
• Juushinden: Ultimate Beast Battlers (Konami) - 7, 6, 8, 7 - (28/40)
• Power Pro Pocket 10 (Konami) - 8, 8, 8, 9 - (33/40)
• Nepleague DS (Jaleco) - 7, 6, 5, 6 - (24/40)
• Arkanoid DS (Taito) - 8, 8, 8, 7 - (31/40)
• Winning Eleven DS Goal x Goal (Konami) - 7, 7, 7, 7 - (28/40)
• K-1 World GP (D3 Publisher) - 6, 6, 6, 6 - (24/40)
• Gintama: Gin-oh Quest (Banpresto) - 8, 6, 6, 6 - (26/40)

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Capcom) - 8, 8, 9, 8 - (33/40)
• Chronicle of Dungeon Maker II (Global A Ent.) - 9, 8, 9, 8 - (34/40)
• Silent Hill Zero (Konami) - 7, 8, 8, 7 - (30/40)
• Minna no Golf 2 (Sony) - 10, 10, 8, 9 - (37/40)
• Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida (Sony) - 10, 8, 8, 10 - (36/40)

• Disney Princess (Disney) - 7, 6, 6, 6 - (25/40)
• Doraemon Wii: Himitsu Douguou Ketteisen! (Sega) - 6, 7, 6, 5 - (24/40)
• Tamagotchi no Furifuri Kagekidan (Bandai Namco) - 8, 7, 7, 7 - (29/40)
• Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Ubisoft) - 8, 6, 7, 7 - (28/40)
• No More Heroes (Marvelous) - 9, 8, 8, 9 - (34/40)

• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Sony) - 9, 9, 9, 9 - (36/40)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Disney) - 6, 5, 7, 7 - (25/40)
• Conan (THQ) - 7, 7, 7, 7 - (28/40)

• Conan (THQ) - 7, 7, 7, 7 - (28/40)
• Viva Pinata Let's Party (Microsoft) - 8, 7, 7, 6 - (28/40)
• Lost Odyssey (Microsoft) - 9, 9, 9, 9 - (36/40)

• Shoukan Shoujo: Elemental Girls Calling (Kadokawa Shoten) - 6, 6, 6, 6 - (24/40)
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Capcom) - 8, 7, 9, 9 - (33/40)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Disney) - 7, 6, 8, 7 - (28/40)
• Disney Princess (Disney) - 7, 6, 6, 6 - (25/40)

• Atsumare! Viva Pinata - Let's Party (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 7 ,7 ,7 ,7 - (28/40)
• Conan (Xbox 360, THQ): 6 ,5 ,5 ,6 - (22/40)
• Guilty Gear 2 Overture (Xbox 360, Arc System Works): 6 ,7 ,5 ,7 - (25/40)
• Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 7 ,8 ,6 ,6 - (27/40)
• Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 9 ,8 ,8 ,8 - (33/40)
• Momotarou Dentetsu 16 Gold (Xbox 360, Hudson): 8 ,8 ,8 ,8 - (32/40)
• Stuntman Ignition (Xbox 360, THQ): 8 ,8 ,6 ,8 - (30/40)
• Virtua Fighter 5 (Xbox 360, Sega): 7 ,8 ,9 ,8 - (32/40)
• Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Xbox 360, Konami): 9 ,9 ,8 ,8 - (34/40)

According to SCEA figures, PlayStation 3 USA sales have climbed 300 percent following the introduction of the 40GB & 80GB PS3’s.

Sales of the PSP have jumped 136 percent with PS2 sales up 287 percent.

In Japan, SCE revealed that over 1million units of the new model [psp-2001- PSP 2002] psp have been sold.

A GameIndustry.biz article- on the subject at hand- refers to a report in variety that’s says the WGA is keen to embrace videogames at some point now with the strike entering its second- or maybe third week- in Hollywood.

GameIndustry points out that writers who would normally work in film and TV projects will experience a lower payout when jumping into the videogame field.

Electronic Arts has issued an apology due to using topless “Page3” (Feature in The Sun: UK Newspaper) models for its promotion for Need for Speed: pro street.

EA had the following to say: \'We regret that these images slipped through the proper EA approval process,\' said a spokesperson for the publisher, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz.

Oh, I have forgotten your birthday, old little white rectangular box bundle of joy, which promotes brain exercises thanks to Big Brain Academy and will keep the senior centers suicide free for the holidays with Wii bowling tournaments.

Lets take a moment to look over the highlights of the Wii console since its North American launch in November 2006.

• Wii has been consistently sold out since it launched on Nov. 19th 2006
• More than 69% of Big Brain Academy™ Wii Degree games have been registered online by Canadians aged 44 years and older
• According to Amazon.com, Wii is the number one gift item for wedding registries
• Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Alberta is using Wii to help its patients with movement and balance issues
• Studeo 55, a fitness facility in Vancouver, has incorporated a Wii workout station into circuit training
• Home Instead seniors’ homes across Canada have brought Wii in for special games nights and tournaments
• Coast-to-coast malls, conference centers and event facilities are hosting Wii parties for birthdays, reunions, corporate functions and other celebrations

Thanks to Lorena Cordoba of Cohn & Wolfe for the facts.

Jean Chrétien, Canada’s 20th prime minister of Canada, was put on a series of tests, which included some “Wii Boxing” on last nights Rick Mercer Report on the CBC.

Yes, the \'CBC\', the Canadian station that is referred in “South Park” as the home station of “The Terrance & Phillip show”, is in fact a real station!

You can check out the clip here

Thanks to Lorena Cordoba

The Economic Times of India recently released a story that claims SCE’s co-chief operating officer, Jim Ryan, told them that SCE working with Sony Ericsson on a Playstation phone is plausible, which has caused a Sony representative to contact GamesIndustry.biz to report that the claim of a PS phone is far from being truthful.

\'Jim Ryan was in fact misquoted by the Economic Times of India about this issue. We are not currently working together on the creation of a PlayStation Phone.\'

So ends the hype on the PS phone.

London based HMV has told GamesIndustry.biz that their Oxford street location has been selling Nintendo Wii systems like hotcakes by the minutes they reach the store floor.

“Our store on Oxford Street had a delivery last week and it sold out in 34 minutes,\' revealed Tim Ellis, HMV's head of games. \'That gives you an idea of how many we could actually sell.” – Quote taken from GamesIndustry.biz report.

As for Playstation 3 sales, Tim Ellis, says it sales are brilliant since Sony made the decision for the price drop.

SCE (The Japanese PS division) will be releasing a limited edition “Deep Red” PSP on Dec.13, reports japannewsreview.com & famitsu.com.

The “Deep Red” PSP will be sold as a “value pack” set and a “1seg pack”. The PSP “Deep Red” value pack also includes, a pouch, a strap, cleaning cloth and a 32mb Memory Stick DUO. The “1seg pack” includes everything included in the “value pack”, but will boast a TV tuner for picking up Terrestrial digital broadcast feeds from Japanese broadcasters.

1seg service is currently not available to the public in North America; so don’t waste your money folks buying the “1seg TV tuner”.

\'The Professional Bull Riders\' league has entered a partnership with D2C Games, Inc, (Crave Entertainment) to bring all the adrenaline and challenge of bull riding to the PS2, Wii, XBOX 360, PSP, \'with downloadable versions\'(?), and the PC.

Note!

Now, the original printing from the press release says \'with downloadable versions on the PSP\'. It’s a real confusing sentence, so I just think Crave Entertainment is either saying that the PSP version will be downloadable or updateable.

End of Note.

The PBR games are scheduled for release in time for the world finals beginning in October 2008.

According to akihabaranews.com, Sony’s division in France is offering a refund up to 250€ - 500 € if you purchase a LCD TV (Sony Only) as well as a Blu-Ray player or a PS3.

Unknown to me, until I got a report from Gameindustry.biz, comes the announcement that the new N-Gage will be pushed from its November 2007 date to sometime in December 2008.

If I understand the whole situation, the new N-gage will be integrated in various Nokia phones that offer the “Ovi” service.

The following Nokia devices will be compatible with the N-gage platform.

• Nokia N73
• Nokia N81, Nokia N81 (8GB)
• Nokia N93
• Nokia N93i
• Nokia N95
• Nokia N95, Nokia N95(8GB).

Microsoft has signed with ESPN to offer sports content over its Xbox Live digital delivery service, reports Gamesindustry.biz today.

NCAA basketball and football games, X Games competitions and programs such as Madden Nation will all be available to Xbox 360 users, according to an Associated Press report.

Standard definition, commercial free NCAA games will sell for USD 3, with hi-def versions at USD 4.50.

Below is the Japanese \'Mario Galaxy\' commercial, which was released on Japanese TV this week, with the game currently in Japanese stores

Personally, I would love to see more videogame commercials with no CG at all. I just want to see the in-game graphics like this commercial has shown, with little talk.

Lets wait and see how the American commercial turns out

Update: This is actually “the sixth” Mario galaxy commercial released in Japan.

Video Credit: TVinjapan.com

Kix-flies.com previously revealed the “2008 Dunk SB 720” from the Nike Summer 2008 catalog, but has now been informed that the “720°” is actually a tribute shoe to the first skateboarding arcade game, 720 Degrees, manufactured by Atari Games in 1986.

If you have already pre-ordered Mario Galaxy, like I did a few weeks back, you may want to run back to Game-Stop, etc, and pre-order the collectors edition strategy guide by Prima.

Other than the included “giant glow-in-the-dark” posters and info required to find all 120(stars) that unlock the super-secret ending, you also get a signed note from Mr. Shigero Miyamoto.

Call your local retailer for more info.

Thanks to tvinjapan.com for the link.

Germany

• 1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
• 2. The Orange Box (PC)
• 3. FIFA 08 (PS2)
• 4. The Settlers (PC)
• 5. More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima (DS)
• 6. Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 (PS2)
• 7. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
• 8. Pokemon Diamond (DS)
• 9. FIFA 08 (PC)
• 10. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)

Spain

• 1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
• 2. FIFA 08 (PS2)
• 3. Project Gotham Racing 4 (Xbox 360)
• 4. FIFA 08 (PS3)
• 5. WWE Smackdown! Vs. RAW 2007 (PS2)
• 6. More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima (DS)
• 7. My Sims (DS)
• 8. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
• 9. FIFA 08 (PSP)
• 10. Pokemon Diamond (DS)

Console Sales: October 15 - 21, 2007

• 1. NDS Lite - 70,608 [5,724,448]
• 2.PSP - 58,669 [2,066,468]
• 3.Wii - 24,932 [2,760,665]
• 4.PlayStation 3 - 17,130 [752,425]
• 5.PlayStation 2 - 10,281 [627,823]
• 6.Xbox 360 - 3,011 [161,508]
• 7.GBA SP - 130 [21,175]
• 8.GB Micro - 118 [26,710]
• 9.GameCube - 48 [10,021]

Game Sales: October 15 - 21, 2007

• 1.Seaman 2: Peking Genjin Ikusei Kit (PS2, Sega) - 32,798
• 2.DS Bungaku Zenshuu (NDS, Nintendo) - 32,438
• 3Dragon Ball Z: Sparking Meteor (PS2, Bandai Namco) - 20,467 [271,000]
• 4.Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou - Satsui no Wana (NDS, Tecmo) - 19,982 [81,000]
• 5.Gundam Battle Chronicle (PSP, Bandai Namco) - 19,472 [133,000]
• 6.Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Toki no Tankentai (NDS, Nintendo) - 19,462 [521,000]
• 7.Beautiful Katamari Damacy (X360, Bandai Namco) - 18,935
• 8.Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Yami no Tankentai (NDS, Nintendo) - 16,248 [457,000]
• 9.Miru Chikara o Jissen de Kitaeru: DS Ganryoku Training (NDS, Nintendo) - 15,425 [646,000]
• 10.Banushi Life Game: Winners Circle (NDS, Genki) - 14,774
• 11.KanKen DS 2 + Jouyou Kanji Jiten (NDS, Rocket Co.)
• 12.Wii Sports (Wii, Nintendo)
• 13.Tamagotchi no Puchi Puchi Omisecchi: Mina San Kyu (NDS, Bandai Namco)
• 14.Galaxy Angel II: Mugen Kairou no Kagi (PS2, Konami)
• 15.Mario Party 8 (Wii, Nintendo)
• 16.Taiko no Tatsujin DS (NDS, Bandai Namco)
• 17.Mario Kart DS (NDS, Nintendo)
• 18.Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP, Square Enix)
• 19.Tashiten: Tashite 10 ni Suru Monogatari (NDS, Nintendo)
• 20.New Super Mario Bros. (NDS, Nintendo)

Nintendo is now the second biggest company in Japan, as it kicked down the former second place, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, to third place. Toyota still currently holds the number 1 spot.

Timesonline reports, that Nintendo's rise was largely thanks to the 7.33 million sales of Wii players, which help doubled Nintendo market share year to more than Y10, 000 billion- *87.4 billion U.S.D*.

GB DISCLAMER: The Calculation above was provided by Google’s calculator web feature, and should not be taken as the fully accurate result, as current exchange rates may provide another calculation.

Kimimaro Ayanokouji, manga artist and TV personality, is set to star in his own Nintendo DS Game, reports Mainichi. JP + Japannewsreview.com.

TheOtaku.com says that Mr. Ayanokouji, is best known for his simplistic style and books like “Tsuma no Kuchi Ichido Haritai Gum Tape” (Just Once I Want To Put Tape Over My Wife’s Mouth”).

“Mainichi ga tanoshii ! Ayanokouji Kimimaro no Happy Techo” (“Everyday is fun! Kimimaro Ayanokouji’s happy notebook”) is the games title, will launch for 3,990yen, on Oct 25th.

However, why wait until Oct 25th? No, I wont refer you to a bootleg copy, which does not exist! But, I will place a link for anyone interested to try out the official demo here!

I won't give a translation of the opening because all if it is included in the trailer, which has English subtitles.

The graphics for the game look stunning, the game has an interesting premise; this is a game still in development in Japan so no one knows when (or if) it'll be available in North America.

\'...if Sony's touting the PSP for its TV output, why didn't it toss in the cable for free?\' he wrote.

With an easily smudged screen and a short-lived battery, the PSP still has a long way to go to be a great console, but having 1 GB of memory added to this revised version does help.

With Nintendo outselling the PSP with their DS, according to Reuters, Sony needs to think of more practical ways to improve the PSP if they want to see sales go up.

The latest promotion on the playstation website, goes through what USA PSP owners need to do to get six months of complimentary T-Mobile Hotspot Wifi service.

Don’t expect to just set the service up by the comfort of your own home; you need to make sure you have the latest PSP firmware (3.71) and locate the nearest T-Mobile Hotspot to set this offer up. For more info, visit this link

With the amount of users playing WoW online at around 8 million (compared to Second Life's 2 million), according to,The LA Daily News, several trends have emerged within the MMORPG.

First, The Associated Press reported on the cheating habits of WoW players and how real money is now at stake. However, the issue isn't with the cheaters, it's with how companies like Blizzard Entertainment are going to stop the cheaters.

\'Cheaters who get banned from games often immediately sign back up under a different user name, paying money for a new account in hopes of trying again,\' the AP story said. \'If cheating protections were significantly stronger, fewer perpetrators would continue to buy accounts.\'

Washington Post columnist Mike Musgrove reported on another trend: Machinima filmmaking. This is where players use characters in WoW as part of a storyline for a movie, TV episode etc...

South Park did this in an episode a while back in which most of the episode took place within WoW.

Now, New York-based programmer A.J. Loiacono and his associates are working on a movie called (appropriately enough) \'MMovie,\' which will take place within WoW, and will have a running time of approximately two hours.

\'It's much more like a real film shoot than I ever thought it was going to be,\' said Nate Taylor, who is helping with the movie. \'You don't have as much control as you do when you're filming in the real world.\'

The Canadian Toys R Us division has started to advertise in this weeks flyer, a “special coin” give away for Mario Galaxy pre-orders. Only 5 million coins will be made as reported by kotaku.com last week. Therefore, buyers better get a move on before “November 12th” to make a deposit on what is sure to be a collectors item.

Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Wii console will be released on Nov 12(NA).

Kaplan has been with Nintendo for 15 years and supposedly Reuters has received an e-mail that was personally made by Kaplan, which states her departure from Nintendo.

The email in question:

\'I finally will be leaving Nintendo at the end of the year. Until then, I am focused on getting a great transition team in place and handling all of my normal responsibilities as well.\' Kaplan states.

Gameindustry.biz also confirmed that Nintendo has yet to name her replacement

Gears of War: Coming to a PC Near You! What Are the Differences Between the PC and 360 Versions?

Due to the long Canadian thanksgiving weekend, video game retailers such as EB Games in Toronto's Yorkdale mall, couldn't get all the new releases on time for the Tuesday release, as confirmed by a personal friend of mine, who talked to a EB rep today.

If you're a Star Wars Fan or not, please take the chance and look into the PSP title which looks fantastic!

Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, said that Nintendo has received over 100 proposals from software development companies to join the upcoming Wii Ware download service during a press conference this week. Chances are that Wii Ware was announced during the Nintendo autumn conference.

The Wii Ware service is set to offer users downloadable games, which developers can make at a low cost, reports gamesindustry.biz.

Dr. Mario, Pokemon Ranch Channel, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Bomber Man are the only titles that have be announced for download from the Wii Ware service.

In 2006, Microsoft released a set of tools under the name of Microsoft XNA which provides an environment for developers to create and release games for the XBOX 360.

Stay tuned to Gamers Block for future updates.

Capcom is moving its former PS3 exclusive \'Monster Hunter 3\' release to the Nintendo Wii console, due to high development costs, reports Gameindustry.biz.

I could only think that this is the start of Capcom moving other future titles from the PS3 to the Wii.

No, I am not thinking RE5 to the Wii.

Nintendo’s 2007 autumn conference was held today in the Makuhari Messe convention center, and the news that was disclosed from the meeting is very juicy

Sonic joins the Brawl!

• Yes, Sonic will make an appearance in Super Smash Brawl, and Nintendo announced its release date for January 24, 2008, so no December 2007 release as noted by various video game news sources.
• Announced earlier on GB today, was the shifting of the former PS3 exclusive “Monster Hunter 3”, which will now be ported the Wii, was also discussed at today’s meeting.
• The Mario & Sonic Olympic title will be released on November 22. (Maybe that’s the Japanese release date)
• Wii Fit will be released on December 1.

Sega Corp. had to shut down an arcade in Gifu Prefecture due to an adolescent losing his fingertip on a chain attached to a \'Target Striker\' machine, reports Mainichi Online yesterday.

I could not find any information on what genre \'Target Striker\' fits in, but it either a shooting, sport, or fighter title.

Sega has ordered 430 videogame arcades to not use their Target Striker machines.

Normally, I would not refer our visitors to another site, but GamesIndustry.biz was granted an interview with Brain Jarred, Bungie’s community and franchise director in which Jarred talks about Bungie’s independence from Microsoft to the Halo IP which Microsoft now owns. The piece on GameIndustry.biz.is only a preview of the full interview with Brian Jarrard, which will be published next week on the GameIndusry site.

Coverage of my classic gaming commercials picks comes to an end with the middle 90's Dr. Mario commercial that promotes the Game Boy and NES release.

I used to see this commercial very frequently during the commercials breaks of WWE Superstars on the then “WUTV” Fox from Buffalo, NY. It's funny to watch it now at 22 years old, but I was terrified of seeing this kid's skunking head on his normal looking body at whatever age I was then.

For this weekend only, I will be posting some of the greatest video game commercials I have seen growing up. I have picks from around the world and for this hour we will make a stop in North America.

Super Nintendo: Final Fantasy 3 commercial.

JAPAN VERSION

Check out the retro Square Japanese logo at the end of the commercial.

The Japanese commercial for Super Mario RPG is one of the most freshening commercials I have ever seen in my life. In the next hour, we will head back to North America to view a commercial that scared me in my younger years.

Europeans will receive a stripped down 40GB PS3 that SCEE said its upgraded.

Today, SCEE announced in a press sent out that the new 40GB PS3 is no longer backwards compatible with PS2 titles. Other removals include 2 USB ports rather than 4USB ports, and the multi-memory card slot.

The upgrade is a new firmware update that upscales DVD movies to display in 1080p.

The introduction of the new PS3 is said to be the result of extensive research into the entertainment needs and preferences of the next generation of PS3 owners.

The “New” 40GB launches on Oct 10 for €399.

However, Microsoft retains equity interest and the Halo IP. Therefore, Mircosoft will publish all Bungie releases including the upcoming “Halo Wars” and will handle the future Halo movie.

If you ask me, it kind of sucks. Even though they are independent, Bungie has to focus on Microsoft platforms only.

The following top ten list is provided thanks to Gamesindustry.biz.

• 1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
• 2. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Toki (DS)
• 3. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)
• 4. Tamagotchi DS (DS)
• 5. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Yami (DS)
• 6. Bleach Blade Battlers 2nd (PS2)
• 7. English Test 2 (DS)
• 8. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX (PSP)
• 9. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PS3)
• 10. Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops + (PSP)

Note:

• Rise of Lair is the Japanese title for “Lair”.
• Idol Janshi Suchie- Pai 4 : No, it not a Japanese Idol or American Idol game. It’s not even a singing game either. I did some browsing on google.com and it’s actually a Mahjong title!

Anyways, lets cut to the chase and bring you the latest review scores from the-magicbox.com!

*No link necessary; the news is on the font page*

• Rise from Lair (PS3, Sony): 9, 7, 8, 9 - (33/40)
• Project Gotham Racing 4 (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 9, 8, 8, 8 - (33/40)
• Operation Darkness (Xbox 360, Success): 6, 6, 6, 5 - (23/40)
• Arabians Lost: The Engagement on Desert (PS2, Prototype): 6, 5, 6, 4 - (21/40)
• Arcana Heart (PS2, AQ Interactive): 7, 6, 7, 6 - (26/40)
• Idol Janshi Suchie-Pai 4 (PS2, Jaleco): 8, 7, 6, 5 - (26/40)
• Tashiten: Tashite 10 ni Suru Monogatari (NDS, Nintendo): 9, 7, 7, 7 - (30/40)
• Otona no DS Mystery: Idumi Jiken File (NDS, Interchannel): 4, 6, 4, 6 - (20/40)
• DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou (NDS, Tecmo): 7, 8, 7, 7 - (29/40)

Game Watch & japannewsreview.com reports that Nintendo- fans (Japanese Only) will be getting a free cover/jacket for their Wii remotes which will be able to withstand all the punishment its buyers put them through.

The peripheral, which is “free” can be ordered by visiting the Nintendo Japan homepage (First: Google Translate page) or by calling the Wii remote Jacket Call Center at “0120-565-121”.

Now, I know that number is completely useless for viewers living in regions other than Japan, but I just posted the number for Japanese viewers who don’t know of the free offer.

Japannewsreview.com reports that Square-Enix will be taking its latest Dragon Quest side game named “Battle Monster Road” on a road show.

The point of the road show is not just to promote “Battle Monster Road”, but also to hold a tournament, which will lead its winners up to the battle finale in December 2007.

The road show will hit eight unknown locations, which is open to elementary school students, as well as people wishing to team up with one of their parents. In all, Square- Enix seems to want a family & adolescent atmosphere during its road show stops.

Nintendo & Best Buy Canada have put together a special incentive towards phantom hourglass “in-store purchases” which started yesterday (OCT 2) and will go on until their supplies last. Canadians will receive an exclusive \'hourglass\', which you can view below.

What bugs me the most about the TV out feature on the new PSP is the fact that Sony released a AV cable, component cable, and couldn’t give us just one cable like the consoles come with.

*Hears faint sounds of cash registers still ringing at 12:30am*

Definition of Cables:

• With the PSP AV- Cable, you can only play movies, listen to music and view images, which includes viewing the PSP interface and web browser on your TV.

• The PSP component cable is used only to play games on your TV.

Therefore, there is a lot of switching going for PSP Slim users, who bought both and did not know what each cable is for.

The exclusion of the S- Cable for North America really doesn’t bug me. You can view the report via Kotaku.

What is not mention in the Kotaku report is that the S-Cable has the same function as the AV-Cable.

Richard Garriott, creator of the “Ultima” series of games is paying $25 million to become the sixth space tourist to spend a week on the International Space Station in 2008.

Garriott will be the fifth U.S. Citizen to travel to the Internernational Space Station.

All five tourists flew to and from the International Space Station on Soyuz spacecraft:[9]

• 1. Dennis Tito (American): April 28 - May 6, 2001
• 2. Mark Shuttleworth (South African / British): April 25 - May 5, 2002
• 3. Gregory Olsen (American): October 1 - October 11, 2005
• 4. Anousheh Ansari (Iranian / American): September 18 - September 29, 2006
• 5. Charles Simonyi (Hungarian / American): April 7 - April 21, 2007