Yesterday I posted news that the web site for Super Smash Bros. was live but with nothing much on it. Today let me update you a little.. its live with nothing on it but some nice graphics and little-to-no information. Obviously Nintendo is favoring a staged release of information because the navigation bar is noticeably disabled in all the area one might want to know about like – Game Modes, Characters, Items.. etc. However you can hear all about the music!

You can see the information eeking out here. I know we need suspense but come on we have a lot of information about the characters already from E3 2006 and Nintendo Power Magazine over the last year.

Pro-G provides the top 20 selling games in the UK for the week 20, 2007. Spiderman 3 for the PS3 dominates the UK top games for a third week.

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2001 ELSPA Ltd
Entertainment Software (All Prices) Week 20, 20071: SPIDER-MAN 3
2: COMMAND & CONQUER 3: TIBERIUM WARS
3: PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 6
4: WII PLAY
5: COOKING MAMA
6: TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 07
7: FIFA 07
8: CRACKDOWN
9: DR KAWASHIMA’S BRAIN TRAINING
10: FINAL FANTASY III
11: THE ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION
12: SINGSTAR POP HITS
13: GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY STORIES
14: THE SIMS 2
15: GOD OF WAR II
16: BUZZ! THE MEGA QUIZ
17: NEED FOR SPEED: CARBON
18: LEGO STAR WARS II: THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY
19: NEW SUPER MARIO BROS.
20: VIRTUA TENNIS 3

Spiderman 3 has to stay on top two more weeks to match it’s predecessor which maintained the lead for five weeks on it’s release three years ago. It will have some stiff competition next week with several new releases hitting the shelves. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, driven by movies sales, will be a stiff competitor. Mario Strikers Charged for Wii, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales for DS and Crash for PSP will also be released this Friday.

Gamasutra has an interesting interview with Everquest II Producer Scott Hartsman about the future of Sony’s sequel game. His comments don’t dodge the hard questions about the often maligned title and cover how the game failed to perform initially, why players didn’t naturally find the game easy to transition to and  upcoming free expansion areas.

Interesting tidbits include the factt hat the original design was intended to be different from Everquest which led to player confusion and the design team often didn’t play the game so they failed to recognize how unfun the experience could be at time. Its nice to get this much candor in an interview – and reminds me personally of a similar conversation I had a few years back with the producers of Sony’s other ig “messed-up” MMORPG – Star Wars Galaxies.

This story on Gamesindustry.biz features some interesting quotes from Team Fortress 2 designer Robin Walker stating that Valve, developer of the popular Half-Life and Half-Life 2 games is not in the habit of nickel-and-dimeing their customers. Walker says the company makes content and people get the content when they buy the titles, not after the sale.

Charlie Brown, also of Valve states that one reason Counterstrike and Valve’s other multiplayer games are so popular is the massive amount of user created add ons but Doug Lombardi, the company’s Director of Marketing says “Our philosophy there is, if you buy the product, we put more content out to keep the game interesting, we sell more products.”

Instead of micro-transactions like Xbox Live!’s model the company is investigating  in-game advertisements and has even patched its popular Couterstrike:Source recently to support them.

EmpireStateNews ran an article on current legislation. The New York Senate is taking steps to limit children’s exposure to the violence in video games. The state Senate has passed legislation to implement several new measures including establishing an Advisory Council on Interactive Media and Youth Violence. This organization would review the current ESRB ratings and recommend steps to increase its effectiveness. The bill also outlines a plan to establish a Parent-Teachers Anti-Violence Awareness Program.

Following up on news that Ron posted yesterday, the Need for Speed Carbon site is counting down to to May 31st. Not much there yet but it looks like the announcements mentioned in the teaser trailer is imminent.

Last week we reported a number of stories surrounding the controversial flash game V-Tech Rampage. The game and its content came under fire because it depicts an amateur video game surrounding the massacre at the university campus.

The game was programmed by an Australian man and is hosted by Newgrounds, a popular flash game repository. Until now Newgrounds has been quiet and stayed out of the coverage but yesterday afternoon Ross Snyder, a Newgrounds programmer, posted a note about why the company is and will continue to host the controversial game.

“We’re a place where you can find polished, professional-quality animations and games, as well as creations that are more coarse, more personal, more “anything goes” – and everybody’s welcome. While we do have some loose content guidelines, the site is still a haven for artists that might not have anyplace else to gain exposure for their work.”

Snyder goes on to say that Newgrounds is a home for content that is often considered “edgy” and that though he personally finds the game in bad taste that the communicty members will judge the merits and they should have the opportunity to do so.

Snyder’s full statement is copied after the jump, but to read the discussion that has flourished since his post click here.

Read the full article

Hot off the news of yesterday’s Metroid Prime 3: Corruption release date reveal, Nintendo has released some juicy screenshots of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in action.

As you’ll see in the gameplay screenshots, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption looks very similar to the Gamecube Metroid Prime games. There really seems to be no huge graphical update. The Wii specific controls are going to be the main focus with this game it seems, so I really didn’t expect much in graphical upgrades.

Come back after the break for the screenshots as well as information on the upcoming Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
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Sony received a lot of press love last week due to their Sony Gamer’s Day. Many games were shown off with updated graphics, new trailers, but some interesting facts concerning the Playstation Network seemed to have slipped through the cracks from all of the salivating that occurred during Gamer’s Day ‘07.

• As the title states, 1.5 million users have created Playstation Network accounts
• 775,000 of those 1.5 million users are from the US
• 6 million pieces of downloadable content has been downloaded from the Playstation Store
• 115 million Playstation Network account logins

Those are some impressive numbers, but you have to admit that the fact the Playstation Network is completely free to use could really have helped push these numbers along.

Good for them. The makers of the God of War series stood up for themselves and put the violence of the game into context.

That’s really all we need is context, people. Parents should explain to their eleven year-old that violence in video games is not real, just as grown-ups who play the game should get a job.

So as long as we all just realize these few, key contextual issues, everyone should just get along. Jack Thompson and Don Phau can shut their stupid mouths, and we all can just play games in peace.

Thank you for your time.