BringIt is setting up a service with a secure site where gamers can compete for cash online 24/7. Any game platform with Internet connectivity can get in on the action.

“BringIt is going to transform the videogame landscape by allowing individuals to compete online for bragging rights and real money through skill-based gaming,” said BringIt CEO and founder Woody Levin. “Gamers have shown great interest and support for competitive gaming, so we are pleased to offer BringIt as a player-driven service that quickly connects gamers, allowing them to play legally for cash while getting a more intense competitive rush.”

Some of the titles in the service during the beta period are Madden NFL 2009, Gears of War 2, FIFA 2009, Halo 3, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, Rock Band 2, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart. BringIt will accept PayPal and major credit cards for bets between $1 and $100,000. Read more about the terms and conditions from the press release after the break.

I should think that mixing videogames and betting will seriously up the danger factor for gamers with addictive personalities. It should also make BringIt a lot of money.
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Nintendo fans should be keeping their eyes on this page on Amazon throughout the day today. There’s an all-day sale on Super Smash Bros. Brawl for just $26, which is a damn good deal for a Nintendo game that released a few months ago. Also, as I write this, Yoshi’s Island DS is available for $20, $10 below the standard price of $30. Aside from the Smash Bros. deal, side deals will be popping up throughout the day — the next deal will replace Yoshi’s Island at 8AM PDT, with a new one every two hours after that until 8PM tonight.

From the teaser text, it looks like Mario Kart and Pokemon Diamond/Pearl will be among the games on sale today, so keep checking back so that you don’t miss out on any good deals. (It’s also worth a bookmark for the future, as they have good deals on there from time to time, including videogame-related stuff.)

I’m a big fan of Boom Blox; it’s one of my favorite Wii games, and certainly the most fun I’ve had with any third-party title on the platform. The overall reaction to the game was quite positive, as the game garnered solid reviews. But according to the NPD Group (via GameDaily), the game sold only 60k copies in May, coming in at #25 for the month — surely that’s not what Electronic Arts had in mind for their Steven Spielberg-branded game had in mind, particularly in a month where sales of the system were so high at just over 675k.

Analysts have been split about what this means. Ben Schachter said, “While overall hardware and software trends for the Nintendo Wii continue to be strong, we would like to see more third-party hits on the platform,” before adding, “To-date, Guitar Hero III, Sega of America’s Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games, and TTWO’s Carnival Games are the only third-party Wii games that have sold more than 1 million units to-date according to NPD, and there are many third-party Wii exclusives that have come-and-gone with minimal reaction from the market.”

Anita Frazier disagrees and simply believes the game was caught in a month where the attention was directed to things like Wii Fit and GTA, which is the theory I personally subscribe to. “It’s still really hard for new IP to breakthrough the noise in the market, and there has been a lot of noise so far this year. Between Super Smash Bros. Brawl, GTA IV, Wii Fit, Mario Kart and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 (to name a few), there have been some really high profile game releases. The game was really well reviewed so I’m suspecting the marketing just didn’t break through the clutter to the extent that they were hoping for,” she said.

Earlier this week, however, EA CEO John Riccitiello told the audience at the William Blair Investor Conference (via MTV Multiplayer) that sales were actually on target, and that it had actually “met our expectations internally.” He also remains hopeful about the game’s future, saying, “A title like this one — can it do several hundred thousand or a million or more units? Sure, it’s just gotta keep selling.”

Nintendo has announced the winners of the Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii Father’s Day Tournament at Nintendo World in New York City. Dennis Tighe and his son Michael beat out the competition to take the top spot at this Sunday’s Father’s Day special event.

More than 35 parent/child teams competed for the grand prize but the Tighe’s walked away with the Wii system and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. What a Father’s Day present.

via Press Release; Photo courtesy of Business Wire

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise when you consider GTA didn’t have much time to sell in April, but it was a much closer contest for the top spots in May than you might have guessed. While the 360 version of GTA IV did take the top spot with 871.3k copies sold, Mario Kart was right on its heels with 784.4k and Wii Fit not too far behind at 687.7k. The PS3 version of GTA IV came in at number four with 442.9k and then there was a significant drop off to number five, Wii Play, which sold 294.6k copies.

Wii Play’s number is actually fairly low given the number of Wii systems that were sold in the month, but it’s quite possible that many of those Wiis were sold alongside a copy of Wii Fit, which isn’t a multiplayer-happy game like so many other games in the system’s library.

The DS and Wii also took four more spots in the top ten with Smash Bros., Guitar Hero III, and the two versions of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon coming in at numbers 6, 8, 9, and 10. Iron Man on the unkillable PlayStation 2 snuck in at number 7, no doubt thanks in large part to the movie’s great success.

May 2008 Software Sales:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (360) – 871,300
2. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel (Wii) – 787,400
3. Wii Fit w/ balance board (Wii) – 687,700
4. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) – 442,900
5. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) – 294,600
6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) – 171,100
7. Iron Man (PS2) – 130,600
8. Guitar Hero III (Wii) – 116,800
9. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS) – 107,000
10. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS) – 102,000

Metal Gear Solid 4 is sure to come in highly with the June NPDs, and it’ll be difficult to overcome both Grand Theft Auto and a continued stream of Wii Fit copies. It’s definitely got a good shot at outselling them, though, and with those hard-to-come-by MGS4 bundles selling like crazy, the PS3 will be sure to see a nice bump in the first month of summer.

Nintendo is challenging father’s to bring their kids to Nintendo World at the Rockefeller Plaza in New York City for a special Father’s Day event. The Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii Father’s Day Tournament is on for this Sunday.

The Nintendo World will be giving away trophies and the Wii to winning teams. See the full press release after the break for all the details.
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With a month like Nintendo had in April, there’s really no need to provide any sort of spin whatsoever. Just look at the numbers: dominating performances by both of their systems, six of the ten best selling games were on Nintendo platforms, five of which were published by Nintendo. All they really need to do is regurgitate what the NPD released and bam — point made.

“Wii sales were buoyed in part by the strong launch of Mario Kart Wii, which sold more than 1.1 million units,” said Nintendo VP Cammie Dunaway. “Our belief in appealing to a broad, diverse audience of players continues to resonate with consumers, and we look forward to continuing our outreach to an expanded audience with the launch of Wii Fit next week.”

They even provided a handy bullet point list to describe how they beat down Sony and Microsoft:

• Mario Kart Wii finished as the No. 2 game of the month.
• Six of the top 10 games of the month are for Nintendo systems: Mario Kart Wii (No. 2), Wii Play (No. 4), Super Smash Bros. Brawl (No. 5), Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (No. 7), Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (No. 8 ) and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (No. 9).
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl crossed the 3 million sales mark in the United States.
• Wii and Nintendo DS again finished as the two top-selling hardware systems.

As it turns out, GameStop’s claim that 64% of all copies of GTA IV sold were on Xbox 360 was spot on — 64.9% is the exact number if you do the math with NPD’s numbers for the month of April. Between the 360 and PS3 versions of the game, GTA IV managed to sell 2.85 million even though it was released on April 29 — not too shabby.

Mario Kart Wii, meanwhile, sold more than a million copies. That’s a million plastic wheels out there in the wild, imparing people’s ability to control the game properly. And of course, with the number of Wii systems that sold in April, you know you’re going to see a lot of Wii Play sales, and that we did. Smash Bros. had a big drop off, from 2.7 million in March down to 326k in April. Not that Nintendo should be complaining, with five of their games in the top ten, with six of the top ten on Nintendo platforms.

April 2008 Software Sales

GTA IV (360) – 1.85M
Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel (Wii) – 1.12M
GTA IV (PS3) – 1.00M
Wii Play (Wii) – 360,000
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) – 326,000
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3) – 224,000
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS) – 202,000
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS) – 202,000
Guitar Hero III (Wii) – 152,000
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) – 141,000

Call of Duty 4 on 360 continues to do its best Mustafa impression, as it just refuses to be kicked out of the top ten. Could next month finally see it kicked out? I’m going to go ahead and predict a bold “no.”

When you bash almost any game, you’re going to draw criticism from many of its internet-dwelling fans. In the case of a game like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which may as well be called Nintendomania, you’re going to get even more insane, ridiculous criticism. And by criticism, I of course mean profanity-laced hatemail filled with death threats for you and your dog.

So for the first time ever, Yahtzee took this week’s installment of Zero Punctuation to respond directly to some of the mail he’s gotten from crazed Smash Bros. fanboys who wrote in, trying to invalidate Yahtzee’s opinion.

And surprise, surprise — they failed.

Capcom has released some footage of the multiplayer for the upcoming Bionic Commando Rearmed. The XBLA/PSN title will recreate the original NES game with updated graphics and several new features, like co-op modes and multiplayer (as seen here). Maybe it’s the single-screen fighting, the faux-3D graphics, or the randomly spawing power-ups, but this footage reminds me a lot of the gameplay in Super Smash Bros.. At any rate, the multiplayer looks pretty fun, particularly since I’d never considered how a Bionic Commando deathmatch might look before. Thsi game just can’t be released soon enough, in my opinion.