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Square-Enix and their detemination to take over the universe have struck again. Since the launch of thelimited slim PSP bundled withCrisis Coreon September 13th on Japan, 75,943 units have been sold. Add in the 250,702 units sold after the full launch of the handheld on September 20th, and numbers are looking pretty. Not bad for less than two weeks of sales. Worldwide sales of the little black handheld are believed to be over 25 million, which is astonishing considering previous to E3 the general consensus seemed to be that the PSP was best used as ahandsome paperweight....

GamesIndustry.biz has recently conducted a huge survey of industry members to find out their top picks of 2010. The survey, which reached out to 99,000 members of the business, has namedHalo: Reachas the biggest seller of 2010, beating out other hopefuls such asFinal Fantasy XIIIand evenCall of Duty 7. The survey also namedAlan Wakeas 2010’s “Dark Horse,” while music games are expected to take the biggest popularity hit. The industry also believes that casual games will experience the most growth this year, followed by action/adventure games and the ever-booming MMO category....

By now, if you’ve playedModern Warfare 2online, you will have noticed some of the playlists don’t allow the use of Xbox LIVE’s party chat functionality. The main reason for the lack of support is that people with way too much time on their hands can use the private chat to jump onto opposing teams and cheat. Afair amountof people playModern Warfare 2for fun with friends, and they are rightfully pissed off over the decision....

Activision’s very own Infinity Wardhas shared its secretswith the world, explaining whyCall of Duty 4: Modern Warfarewas such a massive success. The magic formula is a mixture of in-house game engineering and an indie development approach. Here is what Matt Rubin had to say onCoD4‘s technology: “We develop everything in house as we think it’s not a good development/production idea to buy a new engine because you feel that one has more bells and whistles....

The only shocking part of this story is that it didn’t happen 1.5 seconds after the story originally broke. Nevertheless, outraged gamers have finally decided to slap Sony with a class action suit over thePlayStation Network hacking situation. The Rothken Law Firm filed the suit in California, where all good lawsuits are born, and it alleges that Sony “failed to take reasonable care to protect, encrypt, and secure the private and sensitive data....

A2M’sNaughty Bearis about a mischievous, slightly homicidal bear that terrorizes the Island of Perfection. That alone should have your attention. But what if a teddy bear on a rampage simply isn’t frightening enough? You dress him up likeFriday the 13th‘s Jason Voorhees. Pre-ordering the game from GameStop will let you play dress up with Naughty Bear, giving you the option for him to don a hockey mask, a dark jump suit, and a machete....

Like withDynasty Warriors,there’s not much a person can say about theRomanceseries that fans don’t already know about. One thing I can at least bring up is the new debate gameplay feature. Yes, you will actually have debate battles to break up the regular fighting. No, I’m not joking. You’ll need to review the topic and make sure to keep your anger levels in check to win the debates. How very …thrilling....

When the Dtoid crew last sawLairatCESfor the PlayStation 3, we were not very impressed. Sure, it looked OK, but trying to actually control the game proved to be the most disappointing thing this side of Sanjaya still being on American Idol. But unlike Sanjaya, this baby is pretty to look at. Don’t believe me? Well look at the screenshots, I mean come on. you may’t manufacture solid gold like this, can you Bruce Dickinson?...

Maybe you’ve heard of Juanes, maybe you haven’t. I suppose it depends on where you live and what circles you run in, because apparently the dude is a huge Latin music rock star, and his music is making its debut inRock Bandin July. A six song pack of Juanes songs will hit the Rock Band Music Store on July 27 and will include: “A Dios le Pido,” “Fijate Bien,” “Gotas de Agua Dulce,” “La Camisa Negra,” “Mala Gente,” and “Yerbatero....

You know what we’ve never run before? A story about some old, out-of-touch activist who claims that “studies show” videogames are bad for children. We’ve never written about people like that before, so let’s write one on this unique fellow, South Carolina whingebag Tom Turnipseed. He wants the Consumer Product Safety Commissionto ban certaingames and toys. That’s also his real name. “It’s easier for children to play with war toys than to learn how to read or play the piano,” says Turnipseed, inadvertantly making war toys sound really good....

Funny joke: Slang and Konami had originally scheduled to ship its Mexican wrestling title,Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ringthe same timeMadden NFL 11was hitting shelves. Yup. Well, no longer. The title is now set to hit shelves on October 12 to “maximize the game’s potential, while taking full advantage of the upcoming holiday season.” In other words, to get it the hell away from the launch of EA Sports’ “sure thing” juggernaut....

It’s no secret that LucasArts is approaching new IP differently — the studio has made that plain since CEO Darrel Rodriguez joined. But it’s the way they’re doing it, in a post-Fractureworld, that makes it interesting: the studio is looking forward with an internal approach.Lucidity, as I’ve learned, is an example of that. In a recent interview with the studios’ David Nottingham, in which we coveredLucidityextensively, I commented that the colorful downloadable title was quite the departure fromFracture, and then asked ifLuciditywas an example of how LucasArts was planning to do new IP in the future....

Shortly after I brought home a copy of Capcom’sStreet Fighter IV, I realized I made a huge mistake. The mistake wasn’t the game — I think it’s the cat’s ass — it was neglecting to pre-order Mad Catz’s laudedTournament Edition Arcade FightStick. I assumed that my wicked controller skills would translate to success. They haven’t. I’ve discovered that I desperately need the edge that a good joystick provides. It’s no secret that MadCatz’s TE FightStick shipped in an extremely limited quantity....