The Force Unleashed may have sold 5.7 million units worldwide, but let's take a look at the substance of that figure. Gamasutra notes that the global total is made up of all the various platforms the title was available on. The list includes all major consoles, handhelds, iPod Touch, iPhone, N-Gage (for realz?!) and other mobile devices.

Despite the varying quality of Force Unleashed on all platforms, the competent next-gen offerings were a hit right out of the space hanger. Although the gameplay may not have been stellar, the story certainly captured people's attention, as the title went on to recently win a Writers Guild award for game writing.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has been awarded the second annual video game writing award by The Writers Guild of America. The title bested Fallout 3, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 and Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! Before complaining about your favorite game not even being nominated, it's worth noting that the award is only open to WGA members.

Congratulations to Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey on the award. They crafted a fine story that fit into the Star Wars universe and arguably bested any of the "prequels."

The Writers Guild of America has announced five nominees for best video game writing in 2008. This will be the Guild's second year giving out the award, with last year's nod going to Dead Head Fred. Hmm, well, this year's nominees are certainly an interesting group and are sure to generate some conversation about what constitutes good writing in a game ... provided said game was written by an eligible WGA member, that is.

• Fallout 3
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Tomb Raider: Underworld
• Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
• Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!

Although most of those titles are instantly recognizable, Dangerous High School Girls is an indie title that's (clearly) gaining some recognition. Are you betting on the dark horse? The winner will be announced Feb. 7.

[Via Big Download]

As promised, Amazon kicked off their all-Wii Gold Box deals last night, with $25.98 copies of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The Gold Box deals so far include:

• $10 Namco Museum Remix (gone, but that's probably okay!)
• $40 Disney Sing It bundle with mic (expired, but that's probably okay!)
  
• $10 Trauma Center: New Blood (out of stock!)
• $20 We Ski (gone!)
• $35 Wario Land Shake It! (already claimed!)
• $50 DDR Hottest Party 2 bundle (expired)
  
• $30 High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance

The announced Gold Box deals aren't the only discounted Wii offerings at Amazon today. As part of their "15 Days, 15 Deals" promotion, they've marked down all kinds of Wii games and accessories to ridiculous prices. We've wanted to buy a Balance Board cover for a while, but held off out of an interest in not feeling stupid for paying twenty dollars for one. $2.98 sounds about right! The promotion also includes $40 Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, $20 We Love Golf, and discounts on the Wii Fit Energy Pack (see our impressions!), replacement Wii AC adapters, and maraca shells.

And hey, while you're at Amazon, why not pick up today's MP3 Daily Deal, The Muppets' Green and Red Christmas, for 99 cents?

The new DLC includes seven additional characters for The Force Unleashed as well as a new single player mission, eight additional cars for GRID and a few extra rides / maps for Vigilante 8. Click the links below to get today's DLC deets.

• The Force Unleashed Character Pack 2 - 400
  
• The Force Unleashed Jedi Temple Mission Pack - 800
  
• GRID 8-Ball Pack - 800
  
• Vigilante 8: Arcade High Octane Pack - 320
  

The Top Global Markets sales data from NPD, Chart-Track and Enterbrain (via GameDaily) reveals that Madden NFL 09 blitzed the global charts to become the best selling game in the third quarter of '08 (that's July to September). Trailing Madden were Wii Fit and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Also, showing that the franchise still has some Pikachu-charged power behind it, Pokémon Platinum battled in fourth place with 1.4 million units sold, despite being only available in Japan. Mario Kart Wii rounded out the top five.

Certainly the most interesting question about the sales figures is: Where would Wii Fit be if it was actually meeting demand? Madden's sales were (obviously) US heavy, while Wii Fit had a regional sales spread based on Wii's install base. Find the full sales figures after the break.

Recently Star Wars fans were treated to The Force Unleashed and while the game has faced mudslinging for certain technical issues, fans of the franchise have been touting it as a better story experience than the prequel films. In a nutshell, The Force Unleashed puts players in control of a "bad guy," at least in the beginning, and because of this distinction the line it straddles as a T-rated title can become blurry. The team at What They Play have compiled a list of 10 points gamer parents - which some of you are - should know about the title before allowing your children to play or at least be in the same room as it is played.

Not surprisingly most of the list is compiled of points that reference the story specifically. For instance, players take on the role of a Sith and are often tasked with killing innocent characters. A point that is now widely known is that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has two endings: one for those who end the game as a good guy and one for those who continue through the path of the Dark Side. However, another point in the list is that players are unable to make their allegiance selection from the beginning of the game and must progress through the story as a villain before the choice is presented.

Looking for a helpful guide to aide in your Force related parenting? Check out What They Play today.

Star Wars is popular for the multitude of memorable characters yet every decent Star Wars game is based on completely different people within the universe. Sure, The Force Unleashed main character Starkiller is cool but wouldn't it be fun to go all "Force crazy" as Luke Skywalker or Obi-Wan? LucasArts agrees and has announced plans via news release to add new character skins for the main character which will allow gamers to play as Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan, Ki-Adi-Mundi and Kit Fisto.

LucasArts also announced plans to release a new mission in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where the Apprentice will learn more about his father and battle his inner demons while navigating through the rubble of a destroyed building.

No amount of Jedi Mind Tricks were able to extract the pricing or release details from our contacts at LucasArts. The Force is strong with them. For another image of the re-skinned Apprentice do as the Xbox ads say, jump in.

The big releases are starting to drip out as the industry steadily ramps up for yet another packed holiday season. This week, the Xbox 360 plays host to some decent titles including the likes of Rock Band 2, Pure, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. On top of those, we've also got Armored Core: For Answer and ... um ... Battle Fantasia. To our disappointment, we have learned that Battle Fantasia is not a fighting game about the Disney movie Fantasia. It's a shame, really, because we were ready to throw down with some tutu-wearing hippos.

[Via Joystiq]

This week the Force unleashes worldwide whilst Americans get their hands on off-road racer, Pure. Europeans can enjoy recording TV onto their PS3 hard discs (while playing games, no less) and the Japanese finally get their hands on Eternal Sonata (though they choose to call if Trusty Bell, and why not?) Here's the full release list:

US Games

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  [Get a free $20 gift card at Toys R Us stores; Get a free $5 gift card at Circuit City]
  
• Armored Core: For Answer
• Pure

EU Games

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• PlayTV

Asian Games

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• GI Jockey 4 2008
• Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume
• Unreal Tournament 3

Don't forget, release dates are constantly subject to change, so check with your local retailer if you need any of the above information confirmed. We're now only a month away from one of our most anticipated titles of the year -- Dead Space starts the holiday season off on October 14th and after that it's a terrifyingly expensive avalanche of titles until years end.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is already a hit in the world of rectangular objects filled with paper and words. The New York Times' bestseller list shows that The Force Unleashed novel by Sean Williams has Jedi mind-tricked its way atop the hardcover fiction pile.

A demo for The Force Unleashed is currently available on both XBLM and PSN. The full game releases globally in two weeks.

[Via Game Daily]

To celebrate the release of The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, LucasArts has sent over two copies of the book, which are currently getting midichlorians all over our lovely coffee table. So, to prevent our furniture from having the ability to Force Choke every person who spills a drink, we're giving them away to decorate your living rooms and grant your furniture the midichlorian count to Force Choke you.

To enter this giveaway:

• Leave a comment telling us what force power, or combination of force powers, you'd use in your everyday life! Would you fly to work, strangle a boss, or simply heat your coffee?
  
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec and fully operational battle stations).
  
• Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day (comment more than once and you'll be encased in Carbonite).
  
• This entry period ends at 7:00pm ET on Saturday, August 30th. We'll randomly select two winners at that time, who will each receive an art book valued at $30. Please check your e-mail!
  
• For a list of complete rules that you can peruse or crush with your mind, click here.