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We know thatNintendo’s Wii is selling well, but how much better would they have fared if console supplies were plentiful? There’s no way to know for sure, but James Lin, senior analyst at the MDB Capital Group, tells theNew York Timesthat Nintendo may have missed out on over a billion dollars in sales. What’s worse is that this figure does not include related software sales. “It’s staggering,” said James Lin, referring to this holiday season....

I tried writing this article in Google Chrome, and it was less than pleasant. I thoroughly enjoy the browser for its speed, but the lack of plugins (namely Speed Dial and Rikaichan for me) make it nearly impossible to quickly translate Japanese articles. Ah well, sticking to Firefox for now. So, here’s tonight’s Japanese stories: Anew teaser sitehas opened for the latest Atelier game. The new title,Atelier Annie, is set to be on the DS and come out sometime in 2009 for 5,040 yen....

2.5 million songs fromRock Band’sDLC have been downloaded through Xbox Live and the PSN in just over eight weeks. Yes, 2.5 freaking million since the games release in November. Of all the DLC, the Metallica three pack (“Ride the Lightning”, Blackened”, and “And Justice For All”) is the best selling of the bunch. The Police, Queens of the Stone Age, David Bowie and Black Sabbath also follow as some of the top sellers fromRock Band’sDLC....

Join Venom, Carnage, and myself live onJustin.tv/destructoidas we test our patience and mental sanity during an hour-long run ofHello Kitty Onlineand giving away three copies of the premium edition ofHello Kitty Onlinewhich comes with a pet and $15 of in-game credit! From what we can gather the game resembles FarmVille with even more clicking, pinned to a Lisa Frank envisioning ofWorld of Warcraft. This is surely the hardcore gaming experience you’ve all been waiting for!...

Microsoft partnering withLast.fmto bring streaming radio services to Xbox 360 was an exciting E3 announcement, even though it wasn’t really game-related. Well, for me at least. Why? Because I like music about as much as I like games. But I’ll admit, I’ve slept on the Last.fm for the past seven years. While friends have spent years providing the service with information about its listening habits (Last.fm will then generate streaming radio playlists based on this), I just recently caught on....

Here’s an absolute shocker of a story for you:Microsoft discoveredthat over 75% of parents in Europe are concerned over the content of the videogames they willingly let their children play, while 43% of them were unaware of any kind of rating system. One of the three countries in which the survey was conducted was the UK, which doesn’t have an obscure rating label at all. In fact, a massive red circle with “18” printed on it, exactly like our movies, is pretty bloody telling, don’t you think?...

As if being able to totally bring the house down with fat beats isn’t enough incentive for you to pre-orderDJ Hero 2, GameStop and Activision are sweetening the deal a bit. Those that order theDJ Hero 2“Turntable Bundle” or the “Party Bundle”from the retailerwill totally get a super dope (what the kids are saying), ultra fly (another thing the kids are saying) Puma turntable controller bag. So you’re able to carry the controller around with you when you go to parties and stuff....

Pre-orderLeft 4 Dead 2for PC on Steam or through participating retailers and you’ll be able to wear Bill’s hat fromLeft 4 DeadinTeam Fortress 2. The hat is available right now for all to wear, so long as you’ve pre-ordered the game. According to theTeam Fortress 2blog, the hat came into theTeam Fortress 2universe via a science experiment: And lest you think this is just some marketing gimmick, here’s the intricate back-story justifying it: while conducting a science experiment on parallel dimensions, Bill’s hat fell off a table into the Team Fortress universe....

Tower defense games — You’ve played one; you’ve played them all. Sure, the look is always different, but the bottom line is always the same: stop the enemies by placing towers and such along the enemy’s path.Defense Grid: The Awakeningis no different except that this is the first time I have played a Tower Defense set in the future. And just like any other TD game,Defense Gridis very addictive. Hit the break to find out all about the game....

What do you do when you are done withDivinity II: Dragon Knight Sagaand have a team full of ideas on how to turn the dragon gameplay into something deeper? After seeing it in action at gamescom, the answer appears to be that you turn it into a real-time strategy game, focused on aerial dragon combat, with role-playing elements. Dragon Commanderis a game that is pretty “out there,” but because Larian Studios self-publishes its games it can get away with creating a ridiculously cool title for those people who’ve been aching for more full 3D plane combat....

I’ll tell you something. Whenever I leave the house I wrap a bike lock around as many objects as I possibly can so that they are anchored down and no one can take them. Sure it consumes most of my morning everyday, but I’m secure in the knowledge that my jar of peanut butter is safe and sound if anypeanut butter thievesthat come around. However, my 360has never been safeso I spend much of my day pacing back and forth worrying about it....

The achievements for Rockstar’s upcomingRed Dead Redemptionare all at once awesome and and altogether frustrating. On one hand, there’s one achievement that you can get for killing and skinning 18 grizzly bears. This is awesome because any game that lets you hunt and then skin grizzly bears deserves its props. But on the other hand, it’s a shame that notallof the achievements are grizzly bear related, and that there’s no indication that you can playasa grizzly bear....

Ooh, ninjas! There’s only a few days left before one lucky user will able to carry his or her lunch to work in thepimp Ninjatown lunchboxI put up for grabs last week. Just wanted to remind everyone if you still want a chance at winning this one-of-a-kind item, head over to theWee NinjaTronand whip up a ninja, then add him to the comments in the original contest post.Contest wraps up this Tuesday, October 28th at midnight EST and we’ll announce a winner the following day....