Wii Sports may have just become the best-selling video game of all time, topping the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES which previously held the title.

VGChartz is reporting that Wii Sports has sold over 40.24 million copies in 110 weeks to surpass the original Super Mario Bros. and make it the game that’s sold the most units, EVER. Although we’ll have to wait until Nintendo confirms this one to say for sure, but I wouldn’t doubt it given that Wii Sports is a pack-in with the Wii console (except in Japan and South Korea). Super Mario Bros. was also a pack-in for the Nintendo Entertainment System between the years of 1985 to 1987 in the U.S., Japan and Europe. With in install base of 61.91 million NES units it seemed that nearly every NES console owner had the game.

Which also rings true of Wii Sports here in 2009. And unlike Super Mario Bros., Wii Sports still has room to reach the 50 million units sold milestone, which will be a marker never yet reached in video game history.

Wii Sports allows players to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck accessories to play a number of different sports ranging from boxing to bowling to golf to baseball. The game’s main goal was to get players used to how the Wii Remote and Nunchuck worked. The sequel, Wii Sports Resort, is scheduled for release in the second quarter of this year.

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Microsoft has revealed a few interesting top 20 lists for Xbox Live in 2008 including the Top 20 Downloaded Live titles and the Top 20 Xbox Live Supported Games. They even revealed a top 20 list for Xbox 1 titles that were still played in 2008.

The list isn’t that surprising but it does point out how many high quality online titles were released in 2008. Among the expected are Halo 3 as the most active Xbox Live game (based on unique users) which is followed by Call of Duty 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV. The top downloadable game was Castle Crashers which was followed by Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 and Braid.

Final Xbox Live Statistics for 2008:

Xbox 360 Top 20 Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1. Halo 3
2. Call of Duty 4
3. Grand Theft Auto IV
4. Gears of War 2
5. Gears of War
6. Call of Duty: World at War
7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
8. Battlefield: Bad Company Demo
9. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Demo
10. Rock Band
11. Fable 2
12. Mirror’s Edge Demo
13. Madden NFL 09
14. Battlefield: Bad Company
15. Rainbow Six Vegas 2
16. UNO
17. Castle Crashers
18. COD: World at War Multiplayer Beta
19. Forza Motorsport 2
20. Too Human Demo
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It has been revealed that those who pre-order Killzone 2 on February 5th, 2009 will get a demo to download so that they can mess around with the game before its release on February 27th in the US. Which means you’ll be able to play part of the game a whole month before everyone else.

The demo will be available exclusively at GameStop while supplies last, available to order both online and in physical stores. However in order to redeem the code to get the demo you must have access to the PlayStation Network. Codes will be sent via e-mail for those who ordered online on February 3rd. For those gamers who ordered in-store, they will be able to pick up their “rave card” with the code on it at the store they ordered the game at the week of January 5th.

Killzone 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to the original first-person shooter Killzone that was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2004. The game seeks to raise the graphical bar for current-gen shooters and first made a splash with what later turned out to be a computer generated Killzone 2 “target” trailer way back in E3 2006. Three years later, we’ll finally get to see whether or not the final game can hold up to the impressiveness of that initial trailer.

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Yoshiki Okamoto addressed whether or not there will be a Folklore 2 or a Brave Story 2 in an interview.

Okamoto is the creator of the Folklore, a PS3 exclusive title, as well as the PSP RPG Brave Story: New Traveler. He is also well known for creating several Capcom classics including the shooter 1942 and a co-creator of the Street Fighter franchise. He also developed the Genji series and Dragon Ball Origins and works at the company he founded called Game Republic.

1UP: Speaking about two games that you released a year ago, one of which you said you were the most proud of, Folklore, and also Brave Story, which I reviewed. I loved that game. How did Folklore do in the U.S.? I downloaded all the extra DLC, and I thought it was fun stuff, and it seems to have a very devoted following in the U.S., and Brave Story got very good reviews everywhere. Have you guys thought about making sequels to those games? I remember that you were thinking about making a Folklore for the the PSP. Is there any progress on that?

Yoshiki Okamoto: Unfortunately, we’re not making a sequel for either of those games. We had talked about a PSP version for Folklore, but we’ve since ceased those discussions. It makes me a little sad, but that’s just the way it is.

Make sure to read the entire interview which is hilarious as it goes off into some very funny tangents about relationships, Japanese women, marriage and more.

Sad to hear about Folklore, I know Supa had a pretty good time reviewing it and it looked like a very fun and original title from what I saw.

* Thanks to 1-Up for the photo.

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What do you think a normal day in the life of Shigeru Miyamoto is like?

Nintendo’s legendary designer and creator of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pikmin, Wii Music and lots of other Nintendo titles, has been instrumental in almost everything the company does from GameCube to Game Boy Advance connectivity during last last gen’s console life-cycle to the Wii Remote & Nunchuck and Wii Fit of today.

Although he is the big dog on campus, he seems to be a simple guy who takes a lot of pleasure in the small things in life, and tries not to get a big head.

When asked about his working day, Miyamoto-san responded,
“In the morning, I’m very often late for work! But when I’m in the office I’m working very hard. I work late at night, usually until at least 8.00pm and sometimes even until one in the morning.”

As far as his responsibilities go . . .
“Our department has so many people working on different projects. Some titles I’m deeply involved in and others I’m not so deeply involved in. Sometimes there is software I check on just once a week or even once a month. But I’m always getting reports on how games are going, then I make comments or decide to change aspects of the game. When games are nearing completion I usually get more deeply involved.”

To see the entire interview visit Official Nintendo Magazine.

* Thanks to Business Week for the image

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Here’s a list of this weeks game releases. Most popular are: Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero on DS, Saints Row 2 on PC, and Retro Game Challenge on DS. On the downloadable games front we’ve got today’s Wii Shop titles Kirby’s Dream Land 3 and Sandy Beach, as well as Race Driver: GRID and Magic Academy on GameTap Gold (updates Thursday). No word yet on any games for Xbox Live Arcade (updates Wednesday) nor PlayStation Network (updates Thursday).

Monday:
Kirby’s Dream Land 3 - $8 (Wii Shop)
M&M’s Adventure (PS2)
Paws and Claws: Pampered Pets (DS)
Paws and Claws: Pet Resort (Wii)
Saints Row 2 (PC)
Sandy Beach - $5 (Wii Shop)

Tuesday:
Big Bang Mini (DS)
CID The Dummy (Wii, PS2)
DJ Max Fever (PSP)
Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero (DS)
Fishing Master World Tour (Wii)
Jumble Madness (DS)
Retro Game Challenge (DS)

Thursday:
Magic Academy (GameTap Gold)
Race Driver: GRID (GameTap Gold)

Friday:
Ultimate Shooting Collection (Wii)

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Today Nintendo adds new/classic games to the popular Wii Shop Channel. The games go live at 9AM Pacific time. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at stores like Amazon (see Card above).

We’ve included videos of each of today’s games for nostalgia’s sake or so you can see if it’s to your tastes.

This week’s new Virtual Console game is:

Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (Super NES, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points = $8): Kirby, Dream Land’s resident hero (and everyone’s favorite puffball), must once again save the day when the mischievous King Dedede starts causing trouble. Kirby must travel through an assortment of levels, battling an exotic array of enemies (both new and familiar) determined to stop him from completing his mission. Always armed with his trusty ability to swallow enemies and gain special attacks, Kirby can also unite with some of his animal friends and make use of their particular talents. Featuring detailed graphics, challenging boss battles and the distinct charm of a Kirby game, it’s no wonder this title is considered a classic.

This week’s new WiiWare game is:

Sandy Beach (Konami, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone—Comic Mischief, 500 Wii Points = $5): Enjoy a fun day at Sandy Beach as you build elaborate sand castles. You can work peacefully on your sand castle or enter into a battle with invading crabs in Crab Battle mode. Players will strategically build their sand castle and use cannons to defend it against an army of destructive crabs. After successfully defending your sand castle, discover beach treasures and additional cannons with your metal detector to customize your castle even more.

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If you own Mario Kart Wii, you’ll know it lets you play online in 12-player races against drivers all over the world. Now, you can show off your racing skills in a Nintendo-sponsored worldwide competition.

The 17th Mario Kart Wii Competition started on January 1st and runs until January 10th. Now’s the time to get online and show you’re the best! So turn on your Wii and go to the Mario Kart Channel to get in on this tournament.

Here are the details for the contest:
Why not race through Toad’s Factory in a different way than usual? You might be surprised by what you find! Time to get racing, and best of all, you can submit your best time as many times as you like.

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Valve’s Chet Faliszek, known as one of the writers on the dialog in Left 4 Dead and Portal, was recently interviewed about the future of the Left 4 Dead franchise and what it was like working on the shooter.

He mainly talks about how the upcoming downloadable content would include more versus stories, but then switches to an interesting comment about the storyline of the game and what we presume to be that of the sequel, Left 4 Dead 2. To quote: “The backstory, in a way, would have to be something different. I don’t wanna play the backstory in a game, like where the infection came from and stuff.

Uhm, but I think we definitely have plans to continue on talking about the infection, the world. Because that’s the interesting thing right? How the world reacts to it, how it all falls apart or pulls together. (Let’s gonna go out there and fight! Alright!) But some people (I think) are of the mind that they wanted a little more story, some (you know) seeing the bulk of you are happy with the way it was told. So I think our plan is to just keep updating the game. Keep exploring the world and what’s going on in it.”

I don’t know about you, but count me in for more co-op action! — Hear the full interview over at Kotaku.

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

Nintendo Wii
North America: 1. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Wii Play (Nintendo), 4. My Fitness Coach (Ubisoft), 5. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts).

Japan: 1. Taiko: Drum Master Wii (Namco), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 4. Wii Sports (Nintendo), 5. Shape Boxing: Wii de Enjoy! Diet (Rocket Company).

Europe: 1. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), 2. Wii Fit (Nintendo), 3. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega), 4. Wii Play (Nintendo), 5. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (Ubisoft).

Xbox 360
North America: 1. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 2. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 4. Fable II (Microsoft), 5. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft).

Japan: 1. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 2. Tales of Vesperia (Namco), 3. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (Bandai), 4. Sid Meier’s Civilization: Revolution - Includes Strategy Guide, 5. Dead Rising - Xbox 360 Platinum Collection (Capcom).

Europe: 1. FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts), 2. Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft), 3. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 4. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 5. Gears of War 2 (Microsoft).

PlayStation 3
North America: 1. Call of Duty: World at War (Activision), 2. LittleBigPlanet (Sony), 3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar), 4. BioShock (Take 2), 5. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (Sony).

Japan: 1. White Knight Story: Ancient Heartbeat - Special Edition with Level 5 CD (Sony), 2. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (Bandai), 3. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 4. Yakuza: Kenzan! - The Best Of PlayStation 3 Edition (Sega), 5. Grand Theft Auto IV (Capcom).

Europe: 1. LittleBigPlanet (Sony), 2. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (Sony), 3. Fallout 3 (Bethesda), 4. FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts), 5. Mirror’s Edge (Electronic Arts).

PlayStation 2 Read more…

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