If you had rummaged around in CNBC’s Tech Check’s report lamenting the 360’s reliability, you would have noted initial reports of phenomenal Xbox 360 sales between the 18th of November and the 24th. Microsoft has since confirmed reports that it sold 310 000 Xbox 360’s over the Thanksgiving week in North America.

Last month the NPD Group revealed that 366 000 Xbox 360’s had been sold in the US in October. This figure falls quite squarely between the 519 000 Wiis and 121 000 PS3s sold during the same period. However, with Microsoft’s latest figures for the Thanksgiving week coming in to the spotlight, it is clear that November’s figures may well tell a different story.

With Nintendo reporting that 350 000 Wiis were sold during the Thanksgiving week, the gap between the two consoles is shrinking and may well be giving hope to Microsoft that this may be a better Christmas than previously anticipated.

Although the exact sales figures from Sony have yet to be announced, Sony has confirmed that PS3 sales did increase by 245% during the same week. However, with Microsoft reporting that estimates prove the 360 doubled sales of Sony’s PS3 for the week, it is apparent that the next-gen race is far from won.

Ryan Payton, Konami spokesperson and assistant producer, has revealed that Konami’s hotly anticipated title Metal Gear Solid 4 will need to sell 1 million copies on the first day to justify the game’s costly production.

Despite MGS4 being one of the most anticipated PS3 titles, Payton believes it may struggle to reach the 1 million mark because the PS3 has a relatively low installed base. According to recent figures released by the NPD Group and Media Create, there are roughly 2 million PS3 owners in North America and 1.3 million in Japan as at October. By comparison there are 5.2 million Wii owners and 7.2 million Xbox 360 owners in North America.

Despite Komani and Sony’s insistence that MGS4 will be a PS3 exclusive, Payton’s comments call into question whether the next installment will make an appearance on the Xbox 360. Due to the high production costs of the game, Konami might have to take this step to secure a good profit by widening its audience to include both Xbox and Sony fans.

Notwithstanding Payton’s observations, he confirmed to Reuters that MGS4 is still a PS3 exclusive. “We’re telling our fans that if you want to play Metal Gear Solid 4, you have to buy a PS3. The PlayStation brand has always been good to us, and we’re pretty bullish on the PS3.”

As production costs increase, third party titles limited to one console struggle to produce profits. Particularly if that console is a PS3, which is lagging behind sales of the Xbox 360 and Wii.

Sony itself believes that the days of the third party exclusives are numbered. Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing for Sony commented “We understand publishers are needing to recoup their investment. From our perspective, as long as the games aren’t going exclusive to other platforms, PS3 gamers are not actually losing anything.”

Sony seeks to deal with this issue by increasing its own game production, with Dille boasting that there are currently 15 internal studios working on PlayStation titles at present (more than Microsoft and Nintendo combined) and 15 PS3 exclusives on the cards for release between September this year and April 2008.

Although the PS2 has almost 100 titles that have sold over 1 million copies under its belt, the PS3 has just two. It is feared that Metal Gear Solid 4 does not have the appeal base to sell what is needed, however, on the other hand there will be gamers who purchase a PS3 to play this title.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is scheduled to arrive on the PS3 in quarter 2 of 2008.

Nintendo has reported that the Wii’s Virtual Console service has generated 3.5 billion Yen, roughly $33 million, to date.

According to IGN, the licensing director for Nintendo, Shinji Hatano divulged the figure at a Q & A after a recent press conference in Tokyo by Nintendo and NTT.

Nintendo reported that 7.8 million items have been downloaded over the service so far. Hatano stated “We’re currently unsure if this is a lot or low. They’re not bad figures.”

Sony’s PS3 has outsold Nintendo’s Wii for the past two weeks in Japan. The competition has been hotly contested and has inspired roaring debates between the two camps of supporters.

And so it was with anticipation that I inspected the hardware sales in Japan for the week ending the 25th of November, wondering what the next move in the next-gen race would be.

Somewhat expectedly the Nintendo DS topped the chart. Boasting five titles in the top ten of the software chart yesterday, the Nintendo DS continues to lead the overall console race. However, the figures did surprise me – the Nintendo DS has increased its lead over Sony’s PSP by selling a whopping 116 694 units this week. This is much higher than last week’s sales of 76 084 units and hints at an upward sales trend for the now-upon-us holiday season. Sony’s PSP also did remarkably well this week, selling 75 027 units and recording almost 10 000 units more than last week’s 65 609.

Moving on to the next-gen race…the results are in and the Nintendo Wii has taken back first place, selling roughly 4 000 more units than Sony’s PS3 although both consoles recorded a marked increase from last week’s sales. The Nintendo Wii sold 54 362 units, up from last week’s 36 230 while Sony’s PS3 sold 50 564 units, also up from last week’s 39 178. Make sure that you keep posted to check the results leading in to the holiday season. Perhaps this war will be won based on the popularity of upcoming titles.

The PS2 saw quite a marked increase in sales, selling 14 875 units (up from last week’s 8 855). This increase was due to two PS2 titles landing in the top ten of the software chart including a number 2 spot with Konami’s World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 selling 294 000 copies on the platform.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 still trails in the next-gen race. It saw a marginal increase from last week’s 6 525 to 7 117 units this week. The GBA sold 82 units, down from last week’s 262 while the Nintendo GameCube sold 44 units, up from last week’s 38.

Make sure you pop over to check out this week’s software chart with Dragon Quest IV debuts with over 500K. Want to see how the hardware faired last week, head over to PS3 outsells Wii for a second week.

Hardware Chart

Source: Media Create

Square Enix’s latest installment in its popular Dragon Quest series has debuted at the top of the Japanese software chart for the week ending the 25th of November. Dragon Quest IV for the Nintendo DS sold a whopping 597 000 copies in its launch week, placing it firmly ahead of the other eight new entries this week.

Konami’s scores as World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 lands second and third place. The PS2 version dominates with 294 000 copies while the PS3 version sells 141 000 copies.

Nintendo’s Mario Party DS is this week’s only non new-entry, selling 110 000 copies in its third week on the charts. Despite dropping three places to number four after two weeks in the number one spot, the game is still selling extremely well in comparison to its second week of 116 000 copies and its launch week of 235 000 copies. To date it has sold an impressive 460 000 copies, proving that Mario is still everyone’s favourite plumber.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess for the PS2 debuts in fifth place with 68 000 copies while Nintendo’s Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Wii enters in sixth place with 63 000 copies. Sega’s Dinosaur King: The Seven Fragments for the Nintendo DS lands in seventh place with 57 000 copies.

The Mega Man series controls the next two spots with two Nintendo DS games. Capcom’s Mega Man Star Force 2: Beserk × Shinobi is in eighth place with 37 000 copies and Mega Man Star Force 2: Beserk × Dinosaur is at number 9 with 37 000 copies. The top ten is rounded off by Hackberry’s Pachinko Assassin III: Iron Pachi-Chonmage 13 for the PS2 with 36 000 copies.

Apart from Mario Party DS, all of last week’s top ten titles tumble out of the top ten. Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii drops from last week’s number 6 to number 11 this week while Koei’s Shin Sangoku Musou 5 for the PS3 falls from last week’s number 3 to number 13. Capcom’s Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii plummets from last week’s number 2 to number 15 after just one week in the top ten.

Nintendo’s ever-popular Wii Sports drops from number 9 to number 15 after a brief reappearance in the top ten. Last week’s number 4 Pro Baseball Family Stadium DS from Namco Bandai also drops drastically from its debut at number 4 last week to number 16. Konami don’t manage to secure a top ten spot for the Xbox 360 version of World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 which is at number 18. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 from Square Enix for the Nintendo DS drops to number 25 from last week’s number 8.

With five top ten titles the Nintendo DS looks set to continue its dominance on the Japanese hardware chart. However, the struggle for supremacy in the next-gen race between Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PS3 is far from over. The PS3 has beaten the Wii for the past two weeks but with both consoles having the support of just one top ten title, it looks like things are heating up and the race is definitely on.

It will be interesting to see if the PS3 can beat the Wii for a third straight row before we enter the critical holiday season. Stay tuned for the hardware sales figures which will be released tomorrow.

To catch up on last week’s Japanese charts check out Mario Party DS still tops and PS3 outsells Wii for a second week.

Software Chart

Source: Media Create

The debate between Blu-Ray and DVD is still hotly contested but for now it seems as if the former is winning the struggle for dominance.

Over one million Blu-ray disc movies have been sold in Europe. This according to the Blu-Ray Disc Association European Promotions Committee who also point out that over 21 million units have been produced for sale in Europe if Blu-ray game discs are included.

According to Media Control GfK International, Blu-ray discs account for 73% of HD discs sold in Europe while HD DVD lags behind with just 27%. According to a SCEE press release, “The so-called ‘PlayStation effect’ is important since it is creating major economies of scale and makes BD disc replication cost effective.”

The sales of Blu-Ray disc movies had their highest weekly sales since introduction with over 66 000 units sold. The launch of popular titles such as 300, Spider-Man 3, Die Hard 4.0 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End no doubt had a large impact on these figures.

The report also states that the sales of Blu-Ray discs are increasing their lead over the HD DVD format each month since the PlayStation 3 was released. The official figures are that Blu-Ray is outselling HD DVD by 2:1 year-to-date and 3:1 since the PS3’s launch.

“This is an important milestone for Blu-ray Disc in Europe and proves once again that whenever consumers have the choice they decide overwhelmingly in favour of BD,” stated Frank Simonis, Chairman of the Blu-ray Disc European Promotions Committee.

“Early indicators show that the Christmas holiday season will be exceptionally good for Blu-ray Disc across all categories from packaged media to standalone players and BD capable games consoles.”

Codemasters and Microsoft have announced that Sensible World of Soccer will be released on the 19th of December on Xbox Live Arcade.

While retaining its original feel, the game introduces new optional enhancements and features new online multiplayer modes for the first time. Players can experience the game in HD thanks to both the original and updated custom graphics modes (from the original designer) being included.

“We are extremely pleased to announce that SWOS is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade before Christmas”, comments Tim Hodges, Assistant Product Manager. Players are going to have a great holiday playing one of the best known and loved retro classics of all time.”

“The wait has definitely been worthwhile, the online play is a blast and the game looks amazing and we are confident that players both new and old will feel the same way.”

Check out the game’s official website for more information.

Sony has announced plans to introduce a new battery for the PSP in mid-December. It will retail at $44.99. The new battery will only be available across North America with no current plans for European PSP gamers.

The new battery will enable PSP owners to get a longer battery life from their PSP. The PSP Extended Life Battery Kit includes a 2200 mAh battery pack that reportedly can double the battery life of the new PSP model (PSP 2000).

Speaking on SCEA’s blog, Sr Marketing Manager, PSP John Koller explained that “Because the extended-life battery is slightly thicker than the one that comes with the new PSP, we’ve included two custom covers in Piano Black and Ice Silver.”

“Those of you with the original PSP (PSP 1000) may recall that we offered an extended life battery pack (the stamina battery) previously, and this battery remains compatible with that system as well.”

Sidhe Interactive has announced that its popular arcade racing game GripShift is heading to Xbox Live Arcade this year.

The XBLA exclusive title will feature new content including updated graphics, improved controls, unlockable achievements, leaderboard funcitonality as well as extra single and multiplayer content including four player online racing, 120 Challenge mode levels and a Deathmatch mode.

“Veteran players and newcomers to the game will both find something to love in this definitive version of GripShift,” said Mario Wynands, Managing Director of Sidhe Interactive.

“We’ve added a substantial amount of new content, including new single player courses and a multiplayer Deathmatch mode for players bent on dominating their friends or climbing to the top of the leaderboards.”

GripShift is currently available on the PSP and PS3. For more information and screenshots head over to the official website.

Nintendo of America has announced that during the first week of the 2007 holiday shopping season it has sold more Nintendo products than at any other time in its history. In addition to millions of games and accessories, these sales figures include over 653 000 Nintendo DS units and 350 000 Wiis sold throughout North America. These figures represent sales from the 18th of November to the 24th of November.

The Nintendo DS set a new sales record for Thanksgiving week, beating the previous record of 600 000 held by the GBA for the same period in 2005 in the US. Boasting figures like this it is pretty certain that the Nintendo DS will be the top selling video game system of 2007.

The factory that Mario built also achieved great success with the Wii. The 350 000 Wii units sold is the highest one-week US sales total outside of its launch week one year ago. For many people it is clear that the Wii is a ‘must-have gift’ for this holiday season, but Nintendo are still dogged by supply constraints despite trying to meet demand by increasing its shipments and its fiscal-year sales forecast for the Wii.

Most fun and most affordable

The Wii sold 5 million units in North America after just 12 months, achieving this goal faster than any other video game system ever. Most importantly it has achieved this goal without a price drop. Nintendo has not adjusted the prices for either the Nintendo DS or the Wii, despite Microsoft and Sony lowering the prices of the Xbox 360 and PS3. The Wii is currently retailing at $249.99 while the Nintendo DS is available at $129.99.

“As shoppers look for ways to maximize their limited holiday spending money, they turn to gifts that can be used by the entire family,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “Wii and Nintendo DS offer something for every member of the family. They’re the most fun video game experiences at the most affordable price.”

Breaking records around the world

It seems that the Nintendo DS is experiencing success around the world with Nintendo recently confirming that 191 000 Nintendo DS units were sold in the UK in just seven days, the highest figure achieved by any other hardware format in a seven day period in the UK. The Nintendo DS also recently topped the 20 million mark in Japan, reaching an impressive life to date figure of 20 042 862 units.

The Nintendo DS continues to dominate the Japanese hardware charts while the Wii is also selling steadily in the land of the rising sun. Last week Nintendo confirmed that the Wii had become the fastest selling console to reach 200 000 in Australia, reaching this goal in less than one year since its launch down under.

Microsoft has issued another backwards compatibility update which adds over 80 games to the Xbox 360’s backwards compatibility list. The complete list of original Xbox games that you can play on your Xbox 360 now sits at over 300.

According to Major Nelson, “your original Xbox games will look better than ever on Xbox 360 running in 720p and 1080i with anti-aliasing. You can also play cross-platform between Xbox 360 and the original Xbox over Xbox Live.”

Remember to look out for the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard update next Tuesday which will enable 360 gamers to download select original Xbox games for $15.

Head over to Xbox Live to check out the full list of games. Below is a list of the new backwards compatibility tiles added:

2006 Fifa World Cup Germany

25 to Life

AMF Bowling 2004

Apex

Arena Football

Armed and Dangerous

Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance

Batman Rise of Sin Tzu

Bionicle

Blade II

Blinx: The Timesweeper

Blitz The League

Blood Omen 2

Blowout

Breakdown

Burnout 2: Point of Impact

Cabelas Dangerous Hunts 2

Championship Manager 2006

Colin Mcrae Rally 2005

Crime Life: Gang Wars

Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2

Dungeons& Dragons Heroes

ESPN College Hoops 2k5

ESPN NFL 2k5

Fantastic 4

FIFA 06 Soccer

Fight Night: Round 3

Final Fight: Streetwise

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone

Freedom Fighters

Freestyle Street Soccer

Future Tactics: The Uprising

Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee

Godzilla Save the Earth

Goldeneye Rogue Agent

Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball Max’d

High Heat MLB 2004

Hunter: The Reckoning

Indiana Jones And The Emperors Tomb

MLB Slugfest Loaded

MVP Baseball 2003

MVP Baseball 2004

MVP Baseball 2005

Nascar Thunder 2002

Nascar Thunder 2003

NBA 2k3

NBA Ballers

NBA Inside Drive 2002

NBA Street V3

NCAA College Basketball 2k3

NCAA March Madness 2005

NCAA March Madness 2006

NFL 2k2

NFL 2k3

NHL 2005

NHL 2K3

NHL Hitz Pro

Nightcaster: Defeat The Darkness

NTRA Breeders Cup: World Thoroughbred Championships

Playboy The Mansion

RLH Hunt or be Hunted

Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown

Rocky

Rugby 2006

Shattered Union

Shrek Super Party

Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter

Starsky & Hutch

Syberia II

Techmo Classic Arcade

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Test Drive

The Bard’s Tale

The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

The Guy Game

The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age

Thousand Land

Thrillville

Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers

Turok: Evolution

Van Helsing

WarPath

Worms 3D

Zathura

The latest Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics has been released, ranking the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs and game consoles according to the companies’ policies of toxic chemicals and recycling.

This is the first issue to include TVs and game consoles and the results are somewhat surprising. Sony sits in third place on the overall list but top of the game consoles. Sony scores 7.3 out of a possible 10 points for ‘more products free of toxic PVC and improved reporting on recycling and takeback especially in the US.’

Microsoft and Nintendo both entered at the bottom of ranking of environmental performance. Microsoft is new to the guide but scores just 2.7 for a ‘long timeline for toxic chemicals elimination (2011) and poor takeback policy and practice.’

Nintendo is also new to the guide but its performance was dismal, earning it the dubious title of being the first global brand to score zero across all criteria and landing it in last place on the guide and among the game consoles. According to Greenpeace there is ‘infinite room for future improvement.’

The Guide rates the companies in nine different categories: chemicals management, timeline for the precautionary principle (a chemicals policy), PVC phaseout, timeline for BFR phaseout, PVC-free and/or BFR-free models, individual producer responsibility, voluntary takeback, information to individual customers, and amounts recycled. Each category is rated, with the possible ratings being bad, partially bad, partially good and good, and points awarded for a total score.

Greenpeace rank the companies based on two demands, namely that the companies should ‘clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances’ and ‘takeback and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete.

The guide is updated every three months, with the current version being six, published on the 26th of November. What will the next three months hold for the console makers?

Here is a detailed list of how the companies faired in the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics.

Nintendo added another number to the record books this week, selling 191 000 Nintendo DS hardware units in just seven days. Chart Track confirmed the figure to be the highest figure achieved by any other hardware format in a seven day period in the UK.

Sony’s PSP set the previous record for weekly hardware sales when it launched in September 2005, selling roughly 185 000 units in its launch week.

Nintendo is reportedly “delighted to be able to announce this.” The factory that Mario built commented “Momentum has been increasing on DS sales and to achieve the highest weekly sales figure ever in the history of the games market is fantastic.”

To infinity and beyond…well, let’s just keep an eye out for Christmas sales figures for now.

Namco Bandai has unveiled a new RPG for the Wii called Fragile.

The full title of the game is Fragile: Farewell Moon Ruins and it has been described as a ‘ruin exploration RPG.’ The game’s official website reveals that the game will be developed by Tri-Crescendo, who made Eternal Sonata and Baiten Kaitos.

You can check out a teaser trailer but it does not give much away so for now you will just have to satisfy your curiosity with feasting your eyes on the beautiful Japanese anime style. In my opinion it is well worth checking out just to listen to the amazing music which plays when you load the site. There are also a couple of impressive screenshots on the site as well as what appear to be introductions to the characters.

Midway and Epic Games have confirmed that Unreal Tournament III for the PS3 will ship to North American retailers on the 10th of December. It should arrive in limited quantities from the 11th of December, with most stock hitting the shelves towards the middle of next week, and will retail at $59.99.

This announcement comes hot on the heels of Mark Rein’s confirmation that Unreal Tournament III for the PS3 had gone gold for North America and was released to North American manufacturing after being approved by SCEA.

Unreal Tournament III is the series debut on the PS3. The game will see players engaging in intense battles with AI or online players. The game is also slated to arrive on the Xbox 360 sometime next year.

According to Rein Unreal Tournament III will be headed to PAL territories early next year in January or February. Apparently there are localization-related tasks before the certification process can be started.