X Box - NPD divulges top selling games in the US for November

NPD divulges top selling games in the US for November
Another feather in the cap for Gears of War. After recently topping the Xbox Live Activities chart, the NPD group has revealed that GoW topped U.S. sales charts in November. So what if the Wiimote is the best selling accessory for November, MS scored a winner with the gory, third person shooter anyway.

Anyhoo, the title sold one million units, which is equivalent to sales of US 61.5 million. Now that's a lot of money if you ask anyone, but one could only wonder if Gears could sustain this kind of performance now that we're in the pivotal holiday season. It is interesting to note that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess made the list and settled for third place while four games for the PS2 made the cut. Here is the top 10 selling games for November.

1. Gears of War (Xbox 360, Microsoft)
2. Final Fantasy XII (PS2, Square Enix)
3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, Nintendo)
4. Guitar Hero II (PS2, Activision)
5. WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2007 (PS2, THQ)
6. Call of Duty 3 (Xbox 360, Activision)
7. Madden NFL 07 (PS2, EA)
8. Need for Speed Carbon (PS2, EA)
9. Nintendogs (Nintendo DS, Nintendo)
10. Pokemon Ranger (Nintendo DS, Nintendo)

Granddaddy of console collections up for auction

We already know that eBay has got some of the weirdest items ever known to man up for auction, and while this one isn't exactly weird per se, it's definitely worth mentioning.

The item up for grabs? One man's entire video game collection which has been painstakingly amassed over the years (or decades. It depends...) which he is now selling for US 25,000. So, why sell your precious collection? It's all for the sake of lurrrve, really, since the money from the auction will go to an engagement ring and a wedding. Isn't that sweet?

As for the swag itself, there are 17 home and portable consoles up for grabs, each one with its own set of wires, accessories and of course its own library of games. The games themselves count to almost 400, and other stuff thrown in the pack are an unopened 60GB PS3, an Xbox 360, a Virtual Boy with twelve of its sixteen total games, and so many, many, many other things.

So go on. Indulge yourself. (We would if we could!) Be the envy of every gamer in your block. Just make sure you have a good relationship with the bank that you'll be taking that loan from, though.

FFXI's Starlight Celebration: game bundles and multiplayer maps

It's the season for giving, for caring and sharing,
With buying and selling and killing all 'round,
So let's have a Fantasy quite worth enjoying
By slaying the treants that abound!

Yes, adventurers. Starlight is upon us, and in preparation for the Starlight Celebration, Square Enix has set up some gifts for Final Fantasy XI fans in the form of new content and special game bundles.

The new content is a holiday-themed quest chain and some new PvP areas to play in. The quest seems to involve two different problems. First, the trees made for this year's celebration have gone missing, which means you'll probably have to go find them. Second, and somewhat more interestingly, is word of treants terrorizing Dhalmel Farm, with the possibility of them being in towns as well. Before this year's smilebringers can give gifts and new items to people, you're going to have to go out and take those treants down.

For PvP fans with the Treasures of Aht Urgan expansion pack, you'll have a lot more to contend with as new areas have been opened with a new gameplay style: Salvage. In Salvage PvP, your task is to check on four different ruins and get the treasures within. It won't be easy, however, as the site describes what you'll have to get past:

The main objective of Salvage missions is the exploration of the archaeological remains of four newly opened areas (Zhayolm Remnants, Arrapago Remnants, Bhaflau Remnants, Silver Sea Remnants) and the eradication of the demonic beasts that rule their deepest depths. However, this will not be as easy as it sounds. A powerful force known only as the Pathos of Alzadaal limits the abilities of all who enter, making them easy prey for the hordes of fiends waiting in the shadows.

Finally, for people who are interested in getting into the game, we've got more info on the latest version of the Vana'diel Collection. As we mentioned before, the Windows-only Final Fantasy XI Vana'diel Collection 2007 has all the games and expansions, an exclusive fold-out map with walkthroughs for beginners. What we also know now is that the Collection includes two thirty-day free trial passes for yourself and a friend to try the game out. Definitely a worthwhile Christmas gift for gamers at a US 30 price tag.

For more info on these new additions, don't hesitate to check the site below (it's the FFXI official site). Enjoy!

Age of Conan screens, and Age of Conan screams 360

Lush, tropical, and rugged is how barbarian likes it. Here be a tonnage of screens from Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures to sweat to. Big, hairy barbarian also very happy to see a few scenes of combat against fellow barbarians and big, scary spiders. Doesn't take much to make barbarian happy, don't it? (Especially if Funcom throws in a drunken brawl every night...).

Ah, but big, hairy barbarian want to take 360 wireless controller and beat big scary creatures with it. Now it's possible. Funcom announced that Microsoft "gave them the green light" to dev their MMO for the Xbox 360, too. Says Trond Arne Aas, Big Barbarian Chief of Funcom, "This is a groundbreaking leap forward for Funcom. The fact that we now get the chance to develop Age of Conan for the Xbox 360 means access to a potentially whole new and large MMO market."

Interesting to see where this goes - Age of Conan is one of the Windows Vista showcase titles, and we're quite curious to see simultaneous Windows Live/Xbox Live multiplayer in the same manner as Shadowrun's. More puny skulls for barbarian to crush.

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Gears of War surpasses 2 million sales worldwide
What's the Fastest-Selling Next-Generation Console Game of 2006? What's the Fastest-Selling Exclusive Xbox Game of All Time? As of now, it's this game right here:

Gears of War... worldwide, more than 2 million copies have been sold - an amazing feat for a game that's only been in the market for about six weeks. So what's the best way to celebrate something this momentous? With a press release of course (what - you were expecting fireworks and free downloads?).

• "Gears of War clearly has won the battle for the title of the must-have game of the year," said Richard Teversham, Director of Platform and Marketing, Home and Entertainment Division EMEA.
• "We've always held high hopes for Gears of War, but we never expected such an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and gamers all over the world," said Michael Capps, president of Epic Games. "Our fans can absolutely count on Epic to keep delivering new gameplay through Xbox Live."

The press release also said that Gears of War is quite big on Xbox Live too. There are more than 1 million unique gamers in about 10 million online gameplay sessions unlocking 7 million achievements. "Paid registrations per day have skyrocketed more than 50 percent since the game's launch," said the press release. Amazing.

Remember when we told you about how Microsoft wanted Gears of War to boost Xbox Live activity? Well, it's doing it. The press release said that "on top of being the No. 1 title on Xbox Live, Gears of War has driven new members to the network."