If you're anything like us, you immediately tore into the recently released Capcom Q3 2009 financial report looking for the number of Mario Party Fushigi no Korokoro Catcher arcade machines the company sold in the last nine months of 2009 (80, in case you were wondering) only to find a wealth of information about the publisher's other games. For instance, worldwide sales (sell-in, not sell-through, mind you) of Bionic Commando crept over 700k, while Monster Hunter Tri moved 1.15 million in Japan alone -- we worry deeply for the monsters of Japan, being hunted relentlessly by all of those people. At this point in the post, we'd like to point out that these numbers are for the nine months ending December 31, 2009, and thusly don't reflect January's sales. Also, things are about to get really boring.

The Japanese publisher is reporting a 5.9 percent increase in net sales for the nine month period, and boasts an 84.3 percent increase in "operating income compared to the same term in [Fiscal Year 2008]," which is to say sales increased by ¥49,987 million from the same time period last year (netting ¥1,731 million). Whew - glad we got through that! Capcom itself doesn't ruminate on the numbers too much either, saying "only a few flagship software titles were released from our home video game division, while both arcade operations and content expansion were weakening." Unfortunately for us, there's still no word on the US arrival of Mario Party Fushigi No Korokoro Catcher.

Source -- Capcom 3rd Quarter Financial Results (warning: PDF)
Source -- Capcom 3rd Quarter Financial Results press release

We told you last week, but with a certain something likely taking up every ounce of delicious brain juice you've got right now, we felt it prudent to put out a reminder. 'Splosion Man, Twisted Pixel's game of splodey splendor, is 50 percent off this week on Xbox Live, bringing it down to a very reasonable 400 price tag. If you haven't bothered to check it out yet -- it is one of 2009's best games, y'know -- then there's really no excuse now.

Shortcut: Add Splosion Man to your download queue [Xbox.com]

Mass Effect 2 has warped to the top of Chart-Track's UK sales chart, revealing that Britain isn't just about Just Dance (which still stepped its way into second place, by the way). Comparing debut weeks, the Normandy crew's second outing sold twice as well on Xbox 360 than the original did back in 2007 and three times higher on PC. EA is expecting a good financial return from Mass Effect 2, having already shipped 2 million copies.

Taking the bronze this week on the all-formats chart is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and in fourth is ... MAG. Yes, coverage of the PS3-exclusive may have been totally eclipsed by BioWare's space opera, but it still managed a strong debut -- have a look at our review to see if it's worth the attention. The rest of the list features the usual suspects, though Dragon Age: Origins has made a return to the top 40. It seems Mass Effect 2 wasn't the only BioWare game casting a spell over consumers last week.

Source – Mass Effect 2 gravitates to No1 [GFK Chart-Track]
Source – Latest UK Software Charts [GFK Chart-Track]

Beginning February 3, the first issue of the four-part comic series Mass Effect: Redemption will be available on the iTunes App Store. To celebrate its release, Dark Horse and EA have announced the issue will be free for a limited time. How limited is the "free digital comic" window? One day only. After February 3, the digital release is bumped up to 99 cents. Of course, if you're a Mass Effect 2 fanatic you probably own the collectors' edition, which included a mini-version of the first issue. But, if you love moving pictures, a free digital comic is a hard thing to ignore.

Sure, you could take Bungie's latest foray into Mythbusters territory as full on confirmation of Halo: Reach not having Project Natal support, or you could be like us and remain skeptical of the developer's still-not-straightforward wording. In a recent post on Bungie.net, the company attempted to answer a mess of "myths" about its upcoming Halo game, including "Myth: Reach is being built for Natal!" In answering, the post states, "Halo: Reach is NOT a Natal title and is being developed expressly with the traditional Xbox 360 controller in mind."

That said, rather than outright saying, "No, there's no support for Project Natal in Halo: Reach," Bungie instead chose to loosely word the answer. It certainly doesn't help the situation that multiple Bungie employees have expressed interest in seeing Natal incorporated into the Halo series, with Bungie prez Harold Ryan even saying he could "absolutely" see Reach specifically incorporate Natal. So, about that myth ...

We've been wondering why it's taken Square Enix so long to churn out another installment in the core Final Fantasy franchise, seeing as how the last game came out approximately forever ago. The answer recently came in the latest Dutch issue of Official PlayStation Magazine, which contains a revealing interview with Squeenix's Yoshinori Kitase. According to a fan translation of the interview, Kitase said "Final Fantasy XIII was originally meant to be a PS2 title, but we had to switch systems due to the arrival of the PS3. That cost us about one and a half years and was constantly a case of trial and error."

Considering it took Square Enix roughly "one and a half years" to develop and release Final Fantasy IX, that's a pretty substantial amount of time lost. Hopefully the developer will have an easier time when working on the next current-gen Fantasy.

[Via VG247]

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Dante's Inferno executive producer Jonathan Knight responded curiously to a query about the possibility of upcoming adaptations of the other two installments in the Divine Comedy, Purgatorio and Paradiso. According to the Times, "Knight said his team was focused on the release of Dante's Inferno as well as on additional downloadable content for that game," though he later confessed "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about that."

We think Visceral's missing out on a great chance to kill two birds with one stone -- why not make Purgatorio and Paradiso DLC packs for Inferno? For instance, a few months after the game comes out, release a patch that makes the game's load times last for 49 days. Boom. Purgatorio in the bag.

Update: As awesome as that sounds, it's more likely he was talking about the "Dark Forest" prequel DLC that will come bundled with the Limited Edition version of the game on PS3. We're still going to hold out hope, though!

According to a report on GamerBytes, Microsoft has submitted the upcoming Xbox and PC Game Room itself to the ESRB for a rating, rather than have each title re-rated by the board. The article claims that Microsoft's upcoming virtual arcade will sport a rating of E10+ -- meaning anything with a rating of Teen and higher will be left out of the Avatar hangout.

Since each game release (regardless of platform or delivery method) must be rated by the ESRB, the process of rating the Game Room itself could save Microsoft time, allow the company to reach its promised goal of "over 1,000 titles," and halt leaks of future titles via the ESRB website. While the current crop of Game Room titles are too retro for the rating decision to matter, other classics like Street Fighter and SmashTV won't make the cut. (Although, both are already available on Xbox.)

While the Game Room's current rating is bundled with the initial crop of 30 titles, it's unclear if the application's rating will ever change to accommodate more recent arcade releases. Joystiq has contacted Microsoft for clarification.

[Via Kotaku]

Alright, alright, you kind of already knew about the giant blue dragon in the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins 'Awakening' expansion pack, but you hadn't seen her (yes, her) in all her rage-filled majesty, scaring the crap out of those venturing into Blackmarsh. Between her and Skeletor, we're getting pretty psyched for March's DA:O content infusion. Sure, there's that other BioWare RPG that we're obsessively playing for now, but how long will that last before we feel the urge to venture back into the fantasy realm? We're guessing about two months. And hey, if nothing else, it'll give us something to talk about at PAX East during the Joystiq / Blueberry Muffintops Breakfast.

Since January 20, the team at Behemoth have been raising money through Xbox Live DLC sales of Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid to support relief efforts in Haiti. Over four days, Behemoth has collected $15,585.65 through DLC purchases; however, since the promise was to donate 200% of all DLC sales, The Behemoth has matched the total leaving the donation jar filled with $31,171.29!

That's great, but for The Behemoth it isn't great enough. Today the team announced they will continue to extend the promotion until the total donation jar hits $50,000. What a bunch of sweethearts. Check out a list of the DLC you can buy to help offer support for the people in Haiti. They really need your help.

Continued →

We wouldn't blame you if you're hesitant to trust your cold, unfeeling game console with your credit card information -- when that thing inevitably goes sentient, you just know its just going to go on an overpriced accessory-shopping spree. Fortunately, there's other ways to obtain content on the Xbox Live Marketplace; for instance, a recently added GameStop listing has revealed that Borderlands' two DLC packs, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, will soon be bundled together in a retail package for the 360 and PC.

The bundle, which is set to drop February 23, will be priced at $19.99, which is how much the DLC would cost if purchased separately on the Marketplace. Only, now you're also paying sales tax, meaning you're buying an expansion pack and paying for a few pages of a public elementary school textbook. How nice of you!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

There is no shortage of button-mashing action titles coming in 2010, and Dante's Inferno is right around the corner. Promising buckets of blood, brooding and boobs, the team at Visceral Games hope to capture the overlapping fans of both literary masterpieces and punching monsters in the face. It's like an obvious Venn diagram of awesome. Well, until someone finally turns Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret into a collectible card game.

While things around the track have been quiet, Capcom is finally spilling the oil regarding DLC for its upcoming racer MotoGP 09/10. At this week's Silverstone event, Capcom revealed that two free DLC packages will be released for the motocross title "shortly" after the game's release.

Before the MotoGP 09/10 turns the final corner onto store shelves, Capcom will release an Xbox 360 and PS3 demo "about a month" prior to the game's launch. The demo is slated to feature the world-famous Mugello, Italy, track as well as all three bike classes and will probably make any race fanatic's wheels spin with joy. Whether you're looking forward to its upcoming March release or not, one thing is certain: The racing references in this post need to end, immediately.

Vroom. Okay, now.

VideoGamePriceCharts.com, a site that tracks average online prices for video games and consoles, has released its year-end report for 2009, and if you were buying and selling games speculatively (we all do that, right?), you'll want to check it out. Okay, so maybe you weren't picking up the now-discontinued Demon's Souls Deluxe Edition because you hoped it would get rare, but if so, you're in luck: That game topped the list, raising in value from an MSRP of $69.99 up to a high of $116. Grand Theft Auto IV's Lost and Damned retail box (which contained a code for the DLC) is another big collector's item, and if you were so lucky as to nab a copy of Bass Pro Shops' The Strike (with Fishing Rod) for Xbox 360, then reel in the money, because it raised in value over 50%. Whew! Welcome to the exciting market of video game price speculation!

For a little more practical information, you can also see which companies and consoles kept their value in 2009 -- turns out MTV, Atlus and Nintendo games all did well at resale, with the Wii (surprise!) topping the market for overall value held among its games. Of course, you should really be buying games (and supporting developers) for their quality, not for their resale value, but it doesn't hurt to figure out which ones will give you a few more bucks in return when you're done.