And the votes (and sales figures) are in! Here's the data from Amazon.com as of July 8 that gives us the latest list of the top 5 games in America all across your favorite platforms. With all three next gen consoles vying for your hearts and thumbs, let's see if you're favorite game made the list.

  
Top 5 Games in America per console:

Nintendo Wii
Pokemon Battle Revolution didn't manage to get into the top 5 and is not likely to catch up with Super Paper Mario which is also a hit in Japan.
Wii Play (Nintendo)Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom)Mario Party 8 (Nintendo)The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)Super Paper Mario (Nintendo)Xbox 360
Although Forza Motorsport is still strong, sales are starting to drop.
The Darkness (2K Games)Guitar Hero II Bundle (RedOctane)Overlord (Codemasters)Gears of War (Microsoft)Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft) PlayStation 3
There seems to be a revitalized interest to the PS3 thanks to Nin...

Hockey fans who've been waiting for some new action on ice didn't have to wait too long for EA Sports to unveil NHL '08 for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and the PC as it sets a rocking tone heading into this year's E3 in Santa Monica. Check out their theme video:


As we've seen with some 15 years' worth of installments, the sports mavens at EA Sports are giving us some of the best-looking athletes on ice while showing off hard checks and lightning-fast breakaways. Not a lot has been revealed about new gameplay options and tweaks, but knowing the people behind the series, there's bound to be a handful.

The NHL franchise has been one of EA's longest-running lines of games and has come out on top or darn near it each and every time. Will the next-generation see another dynasty? Chances are that it just might.

There's been a bit of hype surrounding the red lights on the SIXAXIS controller of the 80GB version of the Sony PlayStation 3, prompting speculations to pop up on what it means.

A lot of users wondered if this could mean the return of rumble functionality to the system or some new additions that could enhance the experience. Sony, however, says "not so fast."

According to PS3 PR chief Dave Karraker, the red light is a result of a lighting effect and that there's no change in the original controller whatsoever. Strangely enough, the official PS3 blog explains that the Home button glows red when the debug controller is charged.

The only question now is which is which? Both are official responses and they seem contradictory. We'll update you as soon as we clear up this little mess.

 Following Sony's affirmation that it will drop the price of its high-end PlayStation 3 console's retail price to US 499, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter commented that a similar price cut is imminent for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

"The value proposition for the PS3 is increased at the new lower price point, putting increased pressure on Microsoft to cut the price of its Xbox 360," he says. "The 80GB and 60GB PS3 models compare favorably to the 120GB and 20GB Xbox 360 models."

Pachter predicts that the Core and Premium Xbox 360 models are likely to shed US 50 off while the top-level Xbox 360 Elite should go from US 479 to US 399. He also says that the below target shipping of Xbox 360s from last week indicates that Microsoft may be on to a move next up.

Microsoft, however, is still mum on the subject. A rep says "Microsoft has not made any announcements regarding a price cut on Xbox 360," but Pachter expects confirmations to happen in the upcoming ...

Following in the wake of an interview with Andy Serkis, we now hear more from Team Ninja and their feisty PS3 title, Heavenly Sword. We've got two videos today from ThreeSpeech, one on character design, the other on combat systems.

We've embedded the first video below, as found on GameTrailers. In it, ThreeSpeech gets the 411 from lead character artist Laura Kippax. She talks about how she was able to directly work on modelling and designing everything about Nariko (from the hair to the martial arts). Not only that, but we also get a glimpse of what seems to be Nariko's "partner."

Hey, if Xena had a Gabrielle, Nariko should definitely have a Kai... Check it out:


Now we could also embed the other video interview - the one on combat systems, with lead combat designer Sia Tong Man. However, we'd have to leave that behind the jump. Some of you guys may have heard about the combat system before, but as usual, you can also find some new game footage every now ...

Filed under: Gaming

Let this be a lesson to anyone in the audience planning the usual Tuesday multi-billion dollar video game console launch: dropping the price by a healthy chunk (like, say, $100) does very good things for sales of systems like the PS3 on sites like Amazon.

[Via PS3 Fanboy] 
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

It has been confirmed that the 80GB PlayStation 3 models originally released in South Korea will soon be available to North American consumers. It'll have a price tag of US 599 and a copy of video game title MotorStorm will be bundled with it.

Aside from that, we also got word that the new model will do away with the Emotion Engine chip. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) spokesperson Kimberly Otzman explained,
The current 60GB model utilizes a hardware and solution for backwards compatibility, namely the Emotion Engine chip. The new 80GB PS3 will use a software solution for backwards compatibility, similar to that currently found in the PAL model.

The spokesperson noted that the Emotion Engine chip will not be phased out as it will continue to ship with the 60GB models. However, those who will purchase the new model in August will "likely need to download system updates to ensure backwards compatibility".

For purposes of discussion, keep in ...

What we have below is one of those developer diary videos for the upcoming video game Haze. It features Free Radical Creative Director Derek Littlewood along with the development studio's other staff members and Haze demo which was released during the recently concluded Ubisoft's Gamers Day.

Basically, the video clip is about how Free Radical is polishing the said demo and how Haze is coming along in terms of development. Quite curiously, there was a portion in the video clip (around the 10-minute mark) where one of the coders was shown holding a PlayStation 3 controller that is blurred out.

Now, this then gave rise to rumors that the controller at the coder's hand is no other than the much-talked about rumble-enabled SIXAXIS. Despite this, however, we have to keep in mind that the video clip we're talking about was taken back in May so we honestly doubt it.

We're sharing you the video now just in case you want to have a look for yourself. It would be nice th...

N'Gai from Newsweek spotted reason for that seemingly useless PS3 upgrade to 80GB: an High def TV and movie download service.
...also an in-the-works video download service that will let PS3 owners download high-definition movies and TV shows, just as Xbox 360 owners have been able to do since November 2006. The frustration comes from the fact that while Sony will signal its intentions for the service during its E3 press conference, it won't go into any more details than that. We hear that it's because SCE Japan is still furiously beavering away at the guts of the service, and in keeping with the lips-sealed-until-it's all-shiny-and-ready-for-primetime culture of Sony's engineers that we discussed earlier this year with Playstation game software boss Phil Harrison, SCE will be, well, keeping its lips sealed until it's all shiny and ready for primetime. Bummer. Great, but you know what? Sony has had a terrible record of doing video downloads. We love their TVs, but that expen...

We all knew the European PS3s use software emulation to play PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 games, but all our US PS3s were doing much better hardware "emotion engine" emulation. But if you want one of the fancy new 80GB PS3s, featuring twenty—count'em, twenty—more jiggabytes than the 60GB model, you'll have to deal with software emulation for your old titles. We recommend you get the 60GB now, and make do with a little less space for better compatibility.
New 80GB PS3 eliminates "emotion engine" chip [Gamesindustry]