Something called My Little Sister Can't Possibly Be This Cute Portable Can't Possibly Continue is currently the best selling game in Japan.

It's a PSP title, it's published by Namco Bandai and it's the game that 53,175 Japanese people most wanted to play last week. We'd head to YouTube to find out more but we really don't want to wind up on a government watchlist.

In fairness, it was another slow sales week in Japan. The only other new entry worthy of note was a PSP remake of Persona 2, which debuted in third place.

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Nintendo will broadcast its E3 press conference on Facebook and its website. The conference is scheduled for 5pm UK time on Tuesday 5th June.

The Nintendo E3 website is optimised for smartphones, so you can watch all the action on your phone if you wish. Like the Facebook page now for updates. You can RSVP at the dedicated Facebook Nintendo @ E3 Expo app to put your name down.

Nintendo will unveil the final version of its Wii successor console, the Wii U, at E3, as well as announce a raft of new games for all its platforms.

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Rockstar's new multi-platform shooting game Max Payne 3 has beaten Blizzard's new PC and Mac game Diablo 3 to the top of the UK all-formats chart.

This is the first Max Payne game to debut at number one. Max Payne 3 beat Max Payne 2's 2003 launch week total by almost 10 to 1.

Max Payne 3 enjoyed this year's second biggest video game launch behind Mass Effect 3.

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Toyota's latest in-car navigations system are now compatible with the Nintendo DS.

Japanese drivers who use Toyota's Smart Navi system can buy the special Nintendo DS software directly from the car manufacturer. It comes at a price though: 206,850 yen (Ł1618) for the navigation system and 7329 yen (Ł57) for the software, Kuruma de DS ("Use the DS in the car").

The DS cartridge (presumably compatible with Nintendo 3DS, too) contains bluetooth technology to interact with the car's systems, Kotaku reports.

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Nintendo's latest Wii release sold 37,353 to pip solid 3DS performer Fire Emblem: Awakening to number one.

The only new release in the top 20 is PlayStation 3 shooter Starhawk, which moved a modest 12,873 to debut at four.

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GameBoy platformer Kirby's Dream Land 2 will be released on the 3DS eShop this Thursday, Nintendo has announced.

The monochrome adventure sees Nintendo's pink puffball teaming up with new friends Rick the Hamster, Kine the Fish and Coo the Owl. The trio of critters amplify Kirby's powers in the fight against King Dedede. It's yours for Ł3.60.

3DS endless-runner Bird Mania 3D also launches. It looks a bit like Whale Trail, except you control a blue parrot. It costs Ł1.80.

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Last autumn's Deus Ex: Human Revolution and this year's Final Fantasy 13-2 have helped Square Enix return to profit making.

Last year, Square Enix lost 12 billion yen (-Ł94 million). But this year, Square Enix gained 6 billion yen (Ł47 million).

"The Group's results were favourable due to increased sales of console games boosted by our major titles, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Final Fantasy 13-2," Square Enix noted. Expanding web and smartphone business were also picked out.

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Konami's yearly accounts are out, whoopee, and the big success story is games for social networking services (SNS).

These helped Konami's profits nearly double to 23 billion yen (Ł178.5 million), despite net revenue being roughly the same as last year - 265.8 billion yen (Ł2.06 billion).

More, more, more, said Konami, even name dropping a possible partnership with Zynga.

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ORIGINAL STORY: Prototype 2 was the best selling game in the US during April, according to the latest round of NPD sales data.

Activision's open world action sequel just pipped Kinect Star Wars to the top spot, followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in third.

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It would be "absolutely criminal" for HMV not to take advantage of GAME Group's plight, CEO Simon Fox has said.

That's why HMV will perform a U-turn, and go from slimming down its games offering, to beefing it up.

"Before and during Christmas the support we were getting from the games industry in general was disappointing," HMV CEO Simon Fox told MCV.

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The beefier DSi XL model will sell for $129, down from $169. The 3DS will continue to sell for $169.

A Nintendo UK rep told VG247 that there are currently no plans to drop the price in the UK.

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In the UK, northerners prefer Xbox 360 and southerners prefer PlayStation 3.

Scots spend the most time playing games and prefer RPGs. South-westerly folk spend the least time playing and prefer adventure games.

Yes, these are the irrefutable findings of a survey - one brought vividly to life as an infographic, no less!

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Nintendo platforms totally dominate this week's Japanese sales charts, with a number of key titles enjoying a massive spike during the country's annual Golden Week holiday period.

Mario Party 9 took the top spot, unseating Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and selling 144,585 in its second week on shelves.

There were six 3DS titles in the top 10. Super Mario 3D Land saw an 82 per cent week-on-week up-tick in sales to take fourth place, Mario Kart 7 was up 96 per cent in fifth, Kid Icarus: Uprising followed in sixth with sales up 63 per cent, while Monster Hunter Tri G was in seventh, with a 21 per cent sales increase.

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Eurogamer.net Podcast host Tom Champion has been ill! He's been as sick as a dog. A rescue dog. A rescue dog with fleas, and with arthritis in its back legs. Poor mutt. But he's back now, and so is the podcast.

Only, well, I wish he'd done some preparation. Instead, in he wafted with no bloody idea what was going on. The real patients (test subjects, even) were to be Tom Bramwell and me, Robert Purchese, his guests.

But it was calamity averted when Champion looked for a champion among you, our listener(s). In a moment of delirious ingenuity he gathered your questions, thousands of them (well, a couple of dozen), cobbled them together and fired them pow-pow-pow at our faces.

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"Once the boxes had gone, he [the administrator] did a walk around the store. He was asking us what we planned on doing next. If I'm honest, I was a bit short with him. He was saying, 'What are you going to do now - have you got any plans?' And I was like, 'I've just lost my job. I've been doing this job for two-thirds of my working life, if not more than that, working in a game shop. And suddenly I haven't got that option. So no, I don't know what I'm going to do now. First things first, I'm going to make sure I get the money that I'm owed. But I don't know, I don't know what I'm going to do.'

David Jennings was assistant manager of Gamestation Congleton, one of 227 GAME and Gamestation stores closed by administrators. He was also was one of 2104 staff to be let go by the end of the most devastating week in GAME Group's history. "My first reaction was complete and utter shock. I was a bit devastated," he remembers. "It's incredibly brutal; I know that's what administrators do, but going from the day before, thinking well we're supposed to be safe until the end of the week, to suddenly, within a couple of hours on Monday morning, being told that I wouldn't have a job any more..." This is David's story, an account from the front line of GAME's battle for survival - the shop floor.

Roughly nine years earlier, David Jennings started work part-time at GAME in Crewe, where he lived. Working there meant combining a wage with a hobby he loved, and it meant getting out of McDonald's. "The amount of people I met," he tells me, "who said 'I'd love to work in a game shop!' - it made me feel really proud and like I was lucky to be in this position."

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Nintendo launched its fourth major home console 10 years ago today in Europe. A decade ago, the GameCube was born.

The console launched in a blaze of excitement flared up by a pre-emptive pre-launch price cut. The GameCube launched in the UK for Ł129, in either purple or black.

Nintendo's launch line-up included the often overlooked Luigi's Mansion, the beautiful water physics of Wave Race: Blue Storm and the best version of a Hoth level ever in a Star Wars game, found in Factor 5's Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader.

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Spin-off zombie shooter Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has entered the Japanese software chart at number one in its debut week.

The Slant Six-developed dud sold 252,525 copies on PlayStation 3 to take the top spot, with a further 16,285 on Xbox 360. That's the best Japanese debut ever for a non-mainline Resi title. Earlier this year 3DS release Resident Evil: Revelations managed 160,575 in its first week.

Elsewhere in the chart, Mario Party 9 came in at second on Wii, selling 152,883 in its first week. The Vita had a rare representative in the top five with Gust adventure Ciel Nosurge: Ushinawareta Hoshi e Sasagu Uta shifting 33,324 for a fourth place debut.

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Famous England cricketer Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff might have saved Nintendo UK boss David Yarnton's life.

The pair were taking part in a charity bike ride in Greece when the hefty 53-year-old Yarnton "suddenly toppled" from his bike, the Mirror reported - apparently "overcome by the sweltering conditions".

There Yarnton lay, unconscious, when Flintoff caught up with him and "performed emergency aid". He put Yarnton in the recovery position and waited until the ambulance turned up.

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The recent Steam version of classic indie platformer Cave Story is coming to the 3DS' eShop, publisher Nicalis has revealed.

As detailed in a Destructoid interview today, the download will include the new Wind Fortress stage from last November's PC release, as well as 3D visuals, touch screen menus, customisable controls, and support for both 4:3 and widescreen displays.

According to producer Tyrone Rodriguez, it'll be out "in a month or so". A price hasn't been announced.

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Sega arcade bike racer Super Hang-On launches on the Wii Virtual Console this week, Nintendo has announced.

Super Hang-On was first released in arcades 25 years ago. It contains 48 tracks to bike around, and Eurogamer's racing nut Martin Robinson is probably bouncing around as we speak.

You can download it on Thursday for 900 Wii Points (about Ł6.30).

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So, Nintendo may not be particularly keen to admit it, but Super Mario is now an annual franchise. New Super Mario Bros. 2 will arrive on 3DS in August, less than a year after Super Mario 3D Land appeared on the same two screens.

After 17 Super Mario titles in the first 27 years of the series' life to date, six have now appeared in the last seven: New Super Mario Bros. (DS, June 2006), Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, November 2007), New Super Mario Bros. Wii (November 2009), Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, June 2010), and then the 3DS duo. That's the same number of instalments as we've seen in the Call of Duty series, at least until Black Ops 2 is unveiled.

When New Super Mario Bros. 2 (even the title is hilarious) was announced last weekend, I remember saying to someone I was with: "Cool! How long before we're typing in digits for our Mushroom Pass and patching Mario on day one to fix backwards-flying Koopas?"

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The Vita is currently being outsold by the both the Wii and PSP in Europe, according to sales research conducted by Nintendo.

The platform holder included a graph in its recent financial briefing showing individual system performance across the continent for the last three months.

According to the data, which Nintendo president Satoru Iwata explained is "based on sales information by market research companies in each European country," PlayStation 3 comes out on top, with 3DS and Xbox 360 neck and neck in second, Wii in fourth, PSP in fifth, Vita in sixth and DS in second.

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Nintendo expects to begin making money on each Nintendo 3DS sold by September 2012.

In its outlook for its next financial year, Nintendo said it will cease selling its portable console below cost by the middle of the fiscal year ending 31st March 2013.

Nintendo has been selling the 3DS below cost ever since its "significant" price cut last year, a move designed to boost sales of the console following a slow start.

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Nintendo strategy RPG Fire Emblem: Awakening has stormed to the top of the Japanese software chart on its first week of release.

It sold an impressive 242,600 units, more than all the other titles in the top 20 combined. It's also the best week-one total for a new Fire Emblem game since Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem on the SNES way back in 1994.

Nintendo recently confirmed plans to bring the game to Europe, though a firm date hasn't been set.

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The game condenses each level from the original Super Mario Bros. into 32 single screens, offering enemies and platforming elements from each.

A Super Mario Summary is the brainchild of Swedish developer Johan Peitz, who created the game in 48 hours for weekend game creation challenge Ludum Dare.

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Tetris-clone Block Factory arrives on the 3DS eShop this week. It costs Ł3.60.

Block Factory, developed by Pyramids studio Enjoy Gaming, focuses on the ability to customise games with your own puzzle shapes and themes, which can then be shared via QR codes or StreetPass.

Pricey DSiWare picture and video studio Inchworm Animation is also set to launch. It allows you to create stop-motion videos and time-lapse photos with a range of other graphical tools and painbrushes, then export them as GIFs or BMPs. It costs Ł7.20 or 800 DSi Points.

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Nintendo mascot Mario will star in New Super Mario Bros. 2 this summer, a new side-scrolling platformer due for release on 3DS in August.

A sequel to the New Super Marios Bros. games on DS and Wii, this latest title mixes classic 2D jumping and goomba-squashing with snazzy new visuals.

Mario's much in-vogue Raccoon suit is also set to make an appearance. Steady there, PETA.

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Cult DS adventure The World Ends With You could soon be getting some kind of follow-up, judging by a tease from co-creator Tetsuya Nomura.

Speaking in an interview with Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, as translated by Andriasang, Nomura cryptically pointed out that publisher Square-Enix decided to add voice acting to lead character Raimu for her cameo in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance "out of consideration of the future of The World Ends With You series."

When asked what he had planned for the franchise in the future, Nomura replied, "Regarding The World Ends With You, I can't say anything at present... (laughs). But there probably is something."

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Devil Survivor Overclocked is a 3DS remake of 2009 DS effort Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, in which you'll be attempting to save Tokyo from a demonic invasion. The 3DS version adds a new chapter, full voice acting and remastered visuals.

Ghostlight is also bringing over that game's DS sequel, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2, originally released in Japan last July.

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Vita sales continued to slide in a slow week for both hardware and software sales in Japan.

Sony's new handheld shifted just 8250 units, down from 8931 last week.

Numbers were down across the board though, with a dearth of new software releases to fuel sales. The 3DS comfortably held onto the top spot, selling 63,796, compared to 72,115 the week prior, while PlayStation 3 held on to second place despite sales falling from 19,370 to 17,765.

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As detailed over on Siliconera, it's being developed by Aspect Digital. You remember them - they made Deep Duck Trouble Starring Donald Duck on the Sega Master System.

It's a fairly straightforward side-scroller in which you take control of head man-mog Lion-O as he attempts to see off Mumm-Ra and his gang of no-good goons.

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Nintendo begins selling video content via 3DS this week with the launch of animated short The 3D Machine.

The seven minute long cartoon was previously free to watch via the 3DS video app. From this Thursday you can pay 90p (€1) to watch it again.

Arty 3DS title Colors! 3D is also released this week. It boasts an impressive array of creative tools that allows you to create layered 3D drawings. There's a trailer below.

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Nintendo of America has snapped up the domain SuperMario4.com.

The web address currently acts as a redirect: try to access SuperMario4.com in a browser and you'll be warp-piped to the official Nintendo US website.

Nintendo has already announced a new side-scrolling Mario game for release on 3DS by the end of the financial year - April 2013.

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Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted he wishes he had designed Angry Birds, the hit gaming phenomenon now available on practically every non-Nintendo platform.

Nintendo's legendary developer revealed he enjoyed playing the game, praising its simple controls and "exciting" combination of game elements.

"Angry Birds is a very simple idea but it's one of those games that I immediately appreciated when I first started playing," Miyamoto told Hookshot, "before wishing that I had been the one to come up with the idea first."

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Upcoming Pokémon sequels Black 2 and White 2 will feature new main characters and a number of fresh locations to explore.

Set two years on from the original Black and White, the new DS sequels see the Unova region partly covered in ice, forcing the action into new areas of the map.

New playable characters, gym leaders and a new rival will feature, while the game's events kick off in a fresh location, Hiougi City, Serebii reports.

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1992 was the year Bill Clinton became US President, Charles and Di split and, on the 11th April, when Nintendo launched its new console in the UK. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System cost Ł150.

UK Nintendo fans had been waiting nearly a year-and-a-half for the console's launch (nothing unusual at the time) ever since the Super Famicom first released in Japan in November 1990.

The SNES would go on to sell over 49 million units: less than its predecessor, but enough to make it the clear winner of the generation. The Sega Mega Drive, its main competitor, sold 39 million, the TurboGrafx-16 sold 10 million.

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3DS sales saw a significant jump in Japan last week thanks largely to the release of a new entry in Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts action RPG series.

Nintendo's portable sold 121,921 units, compared to 94,011 last week.

It continues to totally dominate the Japanese hardware market - its nearest rival was PlayStation 3 with 23,771 sales. The Vita continues to slum it, but saw a small bump to 12,105, up from 10,302.

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Feudal Japanese Pokémon spin-off Pokémon + Nobunaga's Ambition has been granted a US release under a new name: Pokémon Conquest.

Developed for the DS by Tecmo Koei, Conquest sees players take on the role of a young warlord in a kingdom full of Pokémon.

It's a crossover with the little-known Nobunga's Ambition series, a historical strategy RPG franchise existing since 1983 but virtually unheard of outside of Japan.

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Nintendo-created puzzler SpeedThru: Potzol's Puzzle will be released on the 3DS eShop this week.

It's an Aztec-themed brainteaser that involves rotating 3D objects to fit them, key-like, into the correct slots. It's a bit like Hole in the Wall, but without Dale Winton.

SpeedThru's Nintendo-developed pedigree comes at a price, however: Ł5.60/€6. But you get 90 stages for your money, plus local two-player using one or two 3DS systems.

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The GAME and Gamestation websites are back online, following a three day outage as GAME Group entered administration.

"GAME is back online!" announced the GAME Twitter account. "Website Reward functionality returning shortly. Watch this space!"

Both GAME and Gamestation are running sales. On GAME there's a Spring Sale, and on Gamestation, "Shop Prices Smashed".

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Update: Gamestation Elite Cards and GAME Reward Cards have both now been reactivated.

Both work in the same way: points are earned when buying all products, but can only be used/redeemed on pre-owned products.

Original story: GAME administrators have reactivated Reward Cards. Reward Points can be redeemed on pre-owned games and earned on all products.

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Update: Comet parent company OpCapita has bid again for GAME, according to a new report by The Independent.

OpCapita is apparently after the 333 stores (211 GAME, 122 Gamestation) that remain open.

OpCapita reportedly bid for GAME before GAME entered administration, but this was blocked by GAME's lending syndicate of six banks, lead by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

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GAME Group has published a list of Gamestation stores still open and trading in the UK.

There are 122.

GAME Group moments ago confirmed the names and locations of the 211 GAME stores that are still open and trading in the UK.

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GAME has published a list of all GAME stores across the UK that are "still open and trading".

They number 211.

They're reproduced in full below.

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Three classic Sega Game Gear games head this week's Nintendo eShop update.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble, Shinobi and Dragon Crystal both launch this Thursday as downloadable games. Sonic costs €5 / Ł4.50, Shinobi costs €4 / Ł3.60, and Dragon Crystal costs €3 / Ł2.70.

On the Wii Virtual Console, Capcom's Mega Man 5 launches for 500 Wii Points. DSiWare puzzle game Hints Hunter launches on the 3DS eShop and the DSi Shop for €2 / Ł1.80 or 200 Nintendo DSi Points.

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Series creator Pendleton Ward Tweeted the news earlier today, revealing that the title is due out later this year and will be "hot to trot like a horse".

No other info has been revealed, though Ward did offer up a handful of sketches illustrating his excitement - take a look below.

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It can be yours, this Thursday, for Ł2.70/€3.

Otherwise, it's a sparse week for the eShop.

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Jumpers for goalposts footy game FIFA Street has kicked Mass Effect 3 off the top spot in the UK's all-format chart. It scored the best launch week for any FIFA Street game to date.

BioWare space opera Mass Effect 3 found itself in second place, ahead of SSX and FIFA 12, meaning the top four games were all EA-published titles.

Other new entries fared less well. PlayStation 3-exclusive car combat game Twisted Metal debuted in 12th place.

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You know that thing everybody always moans about when Beenox turns in a perfectly serviceable but rather linear Spider-Man game? That thing about everybody actually wanting a return to the open-world web-swinging of Spider-Man 2? Yeah, well Beenox fixed that thing everybody always moans about.

For The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker's got all of New York City to play around in once more: he can swing down 5th Avenue, jump most of Central Park in a single bound and splat himself against the wall of the Empire State Building whenever he wants - or at least the wall of a building that looks a lot like the Empire State Building, since the design for the original is under copyright (or whatever the equivalent of copyright is for skyscrapers).

Beenox, in other words, has done what everyone was asking them to do. After the unexpected pleasures of Shattered Dimensions and the mild disappointments of Edge of Time - a) it was a rush job and b) Val Kilmer - a proper movie license has given the developer the chance to give Spidey a huge chunk of real estate to patrol. So how's the game shaping up?

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Stop the presses! Mass Effect 3 is the UK's new all-formats chart number one.

But exactly how well did it do? Chart-Track doesn't publicly reveal sales figures, but mentioned Mass Effect 3 was comfortably the biggest game launch of the year so far. It has already outsold the previous four number ones (SSX, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, UFC3 and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning).

BioWare's third entry in its space opera trilogy outsold the launch weeks of Mass Effect 1 and 2 combined, although release dates on separate platforms were previously staggered.

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GAME has extended its firesale to hardware, and launched its "Spring Clean" promotion.

The shop has slashed prices across the board - for games new and pre-owned, hardware new and pre-owned, and accessories.

There's a raft of deals on hardware as part of the Spring Clean promotion. Catch 'em while you can.

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Capcom's seminal platformer will cost 800 Wii Points on the Wii Shop Channel (Ł5.60).

On 3DS, Game Boy adventure Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters arrives on the handheld's eShop. It costs Ł2.70/€3. Myths and Monsters is a sequel to the NES original and is released ahead of brand new 3DS title Kid Icarus: Uprising, out at the end of the month.

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There won't be any more Sega-published Marvel games.

That's according to TQ Jefferson, vice president of games production for Marvel.

Sega has published five games based off of Marvel movies in recent years: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Captain America: Super Soldier and Thor: God of Thunder.

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To celebrate the upcoming Pokémon Video Game Championships in Europe, from 1st March Eurogamer is teaming up with The Pokémon Company International to offer a Fighting-type Pokémon to help anyone trying to battle their way to victory.

The special Lucario Pokémon knows the Bullet Punch move, a powerful attack that is usually difficult to learn. This Lucario also has the Hidden Ability Justified, increasing its Attack when it takes damage from Dark-type moves. We should all be so fortunate.

Apparently this Lucario is considered by many to be the strongest Fighting-type Pokémon, so if you bring him to bear on opponents in the Pokémon Video Game Championships, you should be laughing all the way to the Pokébank (disclaimer on behalf of Pokélawyers: Pokébank is not an official Pokémon Company International product).

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New Capcom action IP Asura's Wrath has got off to a sluggish start in its native Japan, entering the weekly software chart at five.

The eccentric CyberConnect2-developed title sold 30,308 copies in its debut week. It arrives in the UK on 9th March.

Namco's PSP RPG Tales of the Heroes: Twin Brave took the top spot, selling 85,309, followed by 3DS farming sim Harvest Moon: The Land of Origin with 81,131.

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UPDATE: A day later and Team Meat's Tommy Refenes has backtracked on his claim that the 3DS eShop file size limit is 2GB.

"Never said that 2GB was the size restriction on eShop," Refenes posted on his Twitter account. "I do not know what it is," he added, Nintendo's lawyers peering over his shoulder.

ORIGINAL STORY: Games released on Nintendo's 3DS eShop can weigh in with as much as 2GB of data, it has been revealed.

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UPDATE: Nintendo has just confirmed that Pokémon Black and White 2 will see an autumn 2012 release in the UK.

ORIGINAL STORY: The next major Pokémon games will be direct sequels to Pokémon Black and White, Nintendo has revealed.

Named Pokémon Black and White 2, the games will launch in Japan in June.

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PlayStation Vita launch title Uncharted: Golden Abyss has claimed top spot in the new UK all-format charts.

Another Vita exclusive, FIFA Football, scored second. It's worth noting that sales company Chart-Track does not count digital sales, meaning the games achieved their chart places based on boxed copies alone.

The two games accounted for 50 per cent of the total Vita software sold last week. There were 23 launch titles in total.

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New sales figures have revealed how PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS are doing in Japan.

Statistics released by Japanese sales tracker Media Create (via Andriasang) show figures for the 3G Vita model compared with the Wi-Fi only Vita model.

Surprisingly, when Vita launched in Japan in December, the more expensive 3G unit had the greater share of sales. Since then, however, the imbalance has levelled off and both numbers have sold in equal measure.

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A new 3DS iteration of Konami's popular dating sim Love Plus took the top spot, selling 104,969 copies, with Binary Domain shifting 73,683 at number two.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy debuted at three, with sales of 67,206. Elsewhere on the chart, PSP button masher Samurai Warriors 3 Z Special entered at seven and Tekken 3D Prime Edition at a lowly 11.

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The 69p rip-off was uploaded by a third-party scammer and reportedly crashed as soon as users tried to load the game.

"We continue to combat the unauthorised release of games, applications and merchandise that trick our fans into purchasing something that does not meet our quality standards," a Pokémon Company spokesperson roared at Develop.

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The Wii and DS aren't dead yet. And they won't be dead in 2013, either, according to one publisher.

At least, for younger gamers.

Publisher Little Orbit has signed a deal with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to release a video game based on Young Justice, the DC Comics animated TV show.

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A trial version of cuddly virtual pet game Nintendogs + Cats will be available to download from the 3DS eShop this Thursday, Nintendo has announced.

The demo contains a free litter of felines to make friends with and scare with the vacuum cleaner.

There are also two new games downloadable on DSiWare. The first is 3 Heroes Crystal Soul, a puzzle game with RPG features.

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THQ brawler UFC Undisputed 3 entered the UK all-format charts in first place, holding off FIFA 12 in second.

UFC3 is the first game from troubled publisher THQ to hit the top-spot since last year's Homefront, although UFC3 sold less at launch than previous entry, UFC 2010.

Tekken 3D: Prime Edition, last week's other newcomer, failed to enter the top 40 altogether. It's nowhere to be found on the 3DS specific top 10, either. The fact that retailers Game and Gamestation did not stock Tekken 3D probably didn't help.

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A demo version of Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater will slither its way onto the 3DS eShop this Thursday.

The trial will give gamers a forked tongue-taste of the stealth shooter classic. It has been completely revamped for the 3DS with sparkly new graphics and touch screen controls.

And if you have a new-fangled Circle Control Pad Pro, it will work with that too.

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2010 shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops has the greatest video game ending of all time, according to Guinness World Records.

It polled over 13,000 fans to find the best video game ending ever for an entry in the Guinness World Records 2012 Gamer's Edition book.

This report is spoiler free.

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According to NPD data for the month of January, Activision's shooter beat out Just Dance 3 to the top spot.

Skyrim finished third, NBA 2K12 fourth and Battlefield 3 fifth. There were no new entries in the top 10.

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SoulCalibur 5 has entered the weekly Japanese software chart at number two, but sales are well below its predecessor.

The latest entry in Namco's beat 'em up series sold a modest 34,328 copies on PlayStation 3 in its first week on shelves, compared to the 74,607 SoulCalibur 4 managed back in 2008.

It was beaten to the top spot by last week's number two, Resident Evil: Revelations. Capcom's 3DS adventure saw sales drop 70 per cent week-on-week to 43,575, but that was still enough to take the chart crown.

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A video game adaptation of forthcoming sci-fi blockbuster Battleship launches this April, publisher Activision has announced.

Developed by Silent Hill: Homecoming studio Double Helix Games, it's "a blend of strategic naval command and first-person action gameplay."

The game won't follow the movie's plot, instead telling a standalone story set in the same universe. See the screens below for a closer look.

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Through a locked gate, down a winding path and by a still pond a few miles outside of the leafy village of Twycross, England, a bonsai tree stands. It was a gift given to Rare by Shigeru Miyamoto, the most famous game designer in the world, as a thank-you for the game developer's critical and commercial success in creating games for Nintendo, the most famous game maker in the world.

For Rare's staff arriving to work at 8:30 sharp each morning, it has served as a reminder of the company's heritage, of who they are, of how lucky they are to be a part of something so admired, so rare. An unassuming trophy of past glories, it's also an inspiration for future goals, a symbol carefully cultivated to weather trends, transcend fashions; rooted, a gnarly resolution.

On 20th of September 2002, Microsoft paid $375 million for this bonsai tree and all that it symbolised: creative excellence, technical mastery, innovation, originality, soul and the precious fingerprints of Nintendo. The fledgling Microsoft Game Studios, desperate to acquire world-class talent that could help establish its game console, saw in that tree everything it desired to become.

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Kirby-themed Breakout puzzler Block Ball headlines this week's Nintendo eShop update.

First released on the Game Boy in 1994, the new digital version costs Ł2.70/€3 and is available to download from this Thursday.

Classic NeoGeo brawler King of Fighters '97 arrives on the Wii's Virtual Console, meanwhile. It costs 900 Points (about Ł6.30).

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Final Fantasy 13-2 has entered the UK all-formats chart in first place, ending FIFA 12's reign on top.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, a trilogy of classic MGS games now made a little prettier, arrived in second.

Fellow new entry SoulCalibur 5 was fifth, behind Battlefield 3 and FIFA.

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Embattled retailer GAME has confirmed it is in talks with its lenders over its current credit troubles.

Its lending syndicate is reviewing the company. In a statement GAME hinted it may sell its overseas operation.

GAME has a strong presence in Europe and Australia. It has 94 shops in Australia, 197 in France, 288 in Spain and Portugal and 67 in Scandinavia.

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Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, the rather brilliant DS adventure from the same Capcom team behind the Ace Attorney series, gets an iOS release tomorrow.

As spotted by a NeoGAF poster, the game has already popped up on the New Zealand App Store. The first two chapters are free to download, but you'll have to hand over your local equivalent of NZ$10 (around Ł5) for the rest of the game.

It's a universal app compatible with iPhone 3GS or above, iPod Touch and any iPad running iOS 4.3. Alas, there's no word on an Android release.

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From Software's mech battler Armored Core 5 and Capcom's Resident Evil: Revelations both scored big debuts on this week's Japanese sales chart.

The PlayStation 3 SKU of Armored Core took the top spot, shifting 163,906 units, with Resident Evil close on its heels at number two, with 146,559 sales.

That's a solid debut for the 3DS title, outstripping first week Japanese sales of Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube.

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The official Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney movie will release outside of Japan, its director Takashi Miike has confirmed.

Miike confirmed plans to release different dubbed and subtitled versions of the courtroom detective drama for each region, during a Q&A session attended by Twitchfilm. This is good news as certain character's names vary wildly from country to country.

The movie's plot follows that of the original game in the Ace Attorney series, first released on Game Boy Advance in 2001.

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3D Classics Kid Icarus soars onto the 3DS eShop this week.

Nintendo has been giving the game away free since the start of January to anyone who recently registered two Nintendo-published games.

But from this Thursday's update Kid Icarus is available to all, albeit at the cost of Ł5.40/€6.

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Club Penguin is no hybrid chocolate bar.

It's a browser MMO about cartoon penguins and their snowy online world of mini-games and igloo decorating. It's a giant; a business boasting 150 million registered accounts and 10 to 15 million active monthly users. And a portion of those pay Ł5 every month.

Lane Merrifield created it for his children.

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GameStop shops in Northern Ireland have closed, as the company continues transferring all UK business online to the GameStop website.

Pictures of closed GameStation stores in Northern Ireland were taken at the weekend (and posted on TheGamingLiberty). Apparently staff were told on Sunday.

"We are transferring all of our UK business online to www.gamestop.co.uk," read a post by GameStop UK on Facebook. "We will honour all outstanding deposits and gift cards on www.gamestop.co.uk please contact - help@gamestop.co.uk for further assistance. Have a lovely day!"

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Ancient aerial Game Boy platformer Balloon Kid releases on the 3DS eShop this week, Nintendo has announced.

Balloon Kid is a sequel to the classic NES game Balloon Fight, in which players tapped A to guide a boy holding helium balloons around obstacles.

In Balloon Kid, you play as a girl. Dusted off on 3DS, it costs Ł2.70/€3.

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FIFA 12 has now made more money in the UK than any other sports video game ever.

Naturally, that includes any other title in the FIFA series to date.

EA's annual footy fixture notched up a fifth consecutive week at number one this week, its seventh since launch.

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Japanese import publisher Rising Star Games has announced a bustling 2012 release schedule for Europe, with an increased emphasis on 3DS games.

Rising Star confirmed it would handle publishing duties for five 3DS titles this year, including retro rhythm title Bit.Trip Saga and the latest Harvest Moon farming sim games.

Rune Factory Oceans, the latest chapter of Harvest Moon's spin-off RPG series, will also arrive. But the PlayStation 3 and Wii game will only launch in Europe on PS3.

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Update: VideoGamesPlus.ca has begun emailing customers to inform them of the site's apparent security breach.

VGP admitted it was "currently investigating a security issue" in a generic email addressed to users, passed to Eurogamer this evening. The company recommends users change their passwords "as a safety precaution" and apologised "for any inconvenience caused".

Original story: Popular import retailer VideoGamesPlus.ca has reportedly been hacked, resulting in 21,000 of its customers' details being posted online.

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Sony's new handheld sold 18,361, down from 42,915 the week prior. That put it in fourth place in the hardware chart, with 3DS in first, PlayStation 3 second and PSP third.

It was a slow week all round, with the Christmas/New Year sales bump finally winding down. The 3DS sold 100,668 to take the top spot, down from 240,819 last week.

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FIFA 12 holds onto first place in the UK top 40 chart for a fourth week running, following another quiet seven days in January.

Sales fell for every top 10 title. FIFA 12 sales dipped 54 per cent; sales of Just Dance 3, which finished second, fell 21 per cent.

Skyrim was third, and Battlefield 3 fourth - a place higher than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for a second week running.

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THQ has denied cancelling its 2014 line-up of games - but the future of ambitious Warhammer 40,000 MMO Dark Millennium Online is less certain.

The publisher responded to a gloomy rumour spread on Twitter by video game executive Kevin Dent. He heard that the Warhammer 40,000 MMO and the THQ 2014 line-up had been cancelled. Dent had also heard THQ was "offering" itself for sale to Asian companies.

THQ's response, via a statement offered to VG247, read: "THQ has not cancelled its 2014 line-up, and has not made any decisions regarding the planned MMO.

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Why? According to a post on publisher Nicalis' Twitter feed yesterday, because it failed its Nintendo Europe submission thanks to "some really minor crap with the manual".

Don't give up all hope though. Nicalis promised to "try again this month".

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The AIAS shortlist for the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards - i.e. the game Oscars - has been revealed.

Game of the Year 2011 contenders are Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2 (Eurogamer's Game of the Year 2011), The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.

Uncharted 2 scooped an incredible 10 AIAS awards two years ago, including Game of the Year 2009.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the best-selling game in the USA during 2011, according to sales tracker The NPD Group.

Just Dance 3 came in second, followed by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Battlefield 3 and Madden NFL 12.

The full top 10 was as follows:

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The 3DS has started 2012 with a bang, seeing a significant hardware sales bump and a raft of software in the top five.

Nintendo's handheld was, yet again, the best-selling console of the week, moving a very healthy 240,819 units. That's up from 197,952 last week.

Its nearest competitor was the PlayStation 3, which sold 74,459.

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Modern Warfare 3 was the best selling video game in the UK last year, UKIE and GfK Chart-Track have revealed.

Call of Duty games have now topped the annual pile three years on the trot.

FIFA 12 finished as the second best selling UK video game of 2011, followed by publisher sibling Battlefield 3.

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Once upon a time it was easy. Just 15 years ago most games slotted into their categories with librarian-pleasing snugness. Take the adventure game.

In 1985 they were text games with a focus on storytelling and puzzle solving. Five years later it was the same but with animated graphics and mouse clicks replacing the typing.

But defining the genre now is like hugging fog. The once firm borders of adventures have crumbled and their ideas have diffused out into the wider gaming ocean. Today the definition of an adventure game depends on what school of thought you embrace.

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