Revitalised retailer GAME has launched a new online price checker tool for you to total up your trade-in games.

The chain is also currently offering 25 per cent extra credit on trade-ins until the end of May.

GAME's price checker forces you to enter in the barcode of the product you want to trade in, then fill in a CAPTCHA form.

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Ubisoft's first Rayman platformer launched on PlayStation 1 in 1995 before receiving a Game Boy Color port in 2000.

It's yours to download this week for £4.50/€5.

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Sci-fi shooter Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier has shot to the top of the UK all-format charts, beating Max Payne 3, last week's number one.

In a busy week for new releases Capcom RPG behemoth Dragon's Dogma slotted in in third place, ahead of Codemasters' latest racer DiRT Showdown in fourth.

Mario Tennis Open on 3DS managed an 11th place entry, while Doctor Who tie-in The Eternity Clock materialised in 34th from retail sales alone (digital downloads are not counted).

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Apologies in advance for this: as Saturday Soapboxes go, it's going to be chirpy and probably quite inane. That makes some kind of sense, at least. The conversation it was based on was chirpy and inane too. That's my bag, I guess.

A few days ago, a friend of mine challenged me to think of something genuinely positive about the current gaming scene. He'd been listing all of the woes for the last few minutes: studio closures, brain drains, cloning, delayed next-gen consoles, triple-B games vanishing, traditional handhelds in trouble...

I'm not going to pretend what I came up with can match any of that. Truth be told, there are hundreds of thousands of things I feel genuinely positive about, anyway. There's the theoretically easy route to market, the range of platforms for developers to aim for, the endless possibilities of cheap middleware and - oh yeah! - the sheer amount of good games that are coming out. Something else - something far more basic - popped into my head, though, and then it wouldn't go away. Over the last few years, games have rediscovered colour.

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As bona fide stop-the-press moments go, the events of 1st March 2010 stack up impressively. With Modern Warfare 2 smashing sales records across the globe and cementing the Call of Duty brand's claim to 'biggest gaming franchise ever' status, Activision announced out of the blue that its creators, Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, had been relieved of their posts with immediate effect.

What on earth could have prompted the publisher to get rid of the two men responsible for its steamrolling multi-billion dollar FPS cash cow? Next Tuesday, after more than two years of legal pre-amble, the relevant parties will gather in a Los Angeles court room to establish exactly that, decide who did wrong by who, and at what cost.

With a billion dollars in damages potentially at stake, not to mention the reputations of some of the biggest players in the video game industry, it promises high drama, Machiavellian corporate intrigue and, surely, a whole lot of name-calling.

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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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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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EA Sports has officially lifted the wraps on FIFA 13 and introduced this year's big gameplay improvements, with Complete Dribbling, First Touch Control and Attacking Intelligence all coming to this year's model.

Complete Dribbling's a feature that's partly inspired by this year's FIFA Street reboot, allowing players to dance around the ball and face their opponents at all times.

First Touch Control, meanwhile, adds a more random element when players take the ball, with player attributes now playing a larger role in the control of a ball.

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It's not over until it's over, as those in pale blue who left the Etihad Stadium before full-time on Sunday found out to their own eternal embarrassment. This year's Premier League has seen the title move from one side of Manchester to another, a seismic shift that some five years ago would have seemed improbable.

This console generation's battle of the football titans has, at times, felt equally dramatic, as full of fumbles and moments of flair as anything the Premier League has offered up in the last nine months. It started with Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer as champion elect, but now looks set to end with FIFA in a position of unquestionable supremacy.

"It's been an amazing journey. I think it's been the most exciting journey that I've ever been on. But it's come with plenty of sleepless nights," says EA Sports' executive vice president Andrew Wilson, a fast-talking Australian who's the embodiment of corporate cool.

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Gear of War creator Cliff Bleszinski has spoken out against Japanese game developers for ignoring multiplayer options.

When asked what Japanese developers needed to focus on to grow their industry, Bleszinski told Gamasutra that the role of multiplayer in Japanese games was lacking.

"My advice to Japan is that in a disc-based market right now, you cannot [ignore multiplayer]."

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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 £3.60.

3DS endless-runner Bird Mania 3D also launches. It looks a bit like Whale Trail, except you control a blue parrot. It costs £1.80.

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Sniper Elite V2 leads the UK's all-formats chart for the second week running.

The long-range shooter held off competition from FIFA Street and FIFA 12, despite the end of the footie season swelling the former's numbers.

Prototype 2 fell to fourth, while Mass Effect 3 held firm at five.

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GAME Group's Australian business has entered administration. Shops will remain open for the time being.

Staff were told they wouldn't be stocking huge new PC release Diablo 3 due to payment issues with shipping companies, Kotaku Australia reported. A subsequent email from GAME Australia's head office announced that administration had been entered.

Customers with pre-ordered of Diablo 3 at GAME Australia are being contacted via text message, and told they will not be able to pick up their copy, nor will they have their pre-order deposit refunded.

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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 (-£94 million). But this year, Square Enix gained 6 billion yen (£47 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 (£178.5 million), despite net revenue being roughly the same as last year - 265.8 billion yen (£2.06 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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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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A video game version of Lego Lord of the Rings has been suggested by leaked images of Lego toy boxes. It's backed up by a now-removed listing for the game spotted on retailer ShopTo's website.

Toy versions of the new Lego Lord of the Rings product line are due to launch later this year. Early versions sent to toy reviewers displayed logos for Lego video game developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive, MCV reported.

The ShopTo listing for Lego Lord of the Rings on Xbox 360 carried a 26th October release date.

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The Call of Duty Elite service now has 10 million registered users, two million of which are paid-up premium subscribers, publisher Activision has announced.

As of 31st March, its FPS franchise has 40 million monthly active users, with players logging a total of 1.6 billion hours of online gameplay in Modern Warfare 3.

The numbers were released as part of the publisher's quarterly financial report. Net revenue for the last three months was $1.17 billion, down from $1.45 billion during the first quarter of 2011.

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Critically revered WiiWare platformer LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias arrives on the App Store some time tonight, priced at £2.49/$3.99.

As reported by Pocket Gamer, it's already available in New Zealand, meaning a European release is imminent.

See the clip below for a glimpse of the iOS version in action.

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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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Blockbuster has signalled its intent to capture the hearts and minds of UK gamers with the launch of a rewards scheme of its own - one it reckons is the best available.

Blockbuster's VIP Gamer scheme launches today, and grants customers points for doing pretty much anything.

As with other reward schemes, such as GAME and Gamestation's reward card, VIP Gamer gives you points for spending money - 100 points for every £1 spent in-store and online.

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6/10 shooter Sniper Elite V2 has ricocheted to the top of the UK all-format charts.

It beat Prototype 2, last week's number one, which shuffled down into second.

Mortal Kombat on PlayStation Vita was the only other new entry in this week's chart, arriving in 33rd place.

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Unpronounceable PC puzzle platformer VVVVVV will launch on the 3DS eShop this Thursday, Nintendo has announced.

VVVVVV tasks players with controlling the game's gravity, flipping hero Captain Viridian across the screen to progress. It's yours this week for £7.20.

Game Gear classic Sonic Labyrinth will also be available on 3DS this week, priced £4.50. It shifts Sonic's speedy roots to a more measured platforming experience, with lots of keys to collect.

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A barebones announcement from the publisher failed to deliver any further pertinent information, other than that it's an "interactive Family Guy experience" and the show's original voice cast are all on board.

Acti won't have to put in too much effort to surpass the show's first attempt at a video game crossover. Take Two's 2006 PlayStation 2/Xbox effort limped to a 3/10 at the hands of Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead.

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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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PS3 farming role-playing game - "ooh, arr, I'm a farmer and this is my plough" - Rune Factory Oceans will be released on 25th May, Rising Star Games has told Eurogamer.

The game's been available for a year in Japan, and for half-a-year in the US. It's also available on Wii there. It's known as Rune Factory: Tides of Darkness in the US, and there are a handful of reviews out there. Critical opinion hovers around the average mark.

In Rune Factory Oceans, you run a farm as well as set sail on wondrous adventures, battling sea monsters for fame and glory. There's an overarching story of world-threatening evil, and you, as two people trapped in one body, need to set about saving it.

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Rabbids Rumble has been revealed by a listing on the Australian Classification website.

No release date or launch platforms are mentioned.

The Aussie Classification site posted the game's listing on Wednesday, Nintendo Life spotted.

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The story of Free Radical Design begins with one of gaming's milestones, and after almost nine years it ended with the studio's blood on several publisher's hands. Founded in April 1999, the Nottingham-based studio created the much-loved shooter series TimeSplitters and third-person psychic drama Second Sight during the PS2 era. But Haze, the company's final game, received a critical mauling, sold poorly, and shortly afterwards Free Radical entered administration.

This article began with the question 'Did Haze Kill Free Radical?' But after speaking to every key figure in the company's history, the story turned out to be much bigger than the poor reception of one title. It's about how big publishers sometimes manhandle the developers they work with, and how badly they handle change. It's about how they asphyxiated one of Britain's finest independent developers, and drove an industry legend out of the games business.

Free Radical Design was founded by key members of the Rare team that made GoldenEye. Released on N64 in August 1997, it was the first classic console shooter and sold a stunning eight million copies. "I think at the time we naively believed we did everything ourselves," laughs Free Radical co-founder Steve Ellis. "We were kind of a company within a company in Rare and credited ourselves for the success of GoldenEye, without really acknowledging that many other people played a part in that."

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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 £129, 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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The humble home video game console and the traditional publisher-led model that supports it is on its last legs, so says Firefall creator and former World of Warcraft lead Mark Kern, with developer-centric free-to-play titles waiting in the wings to replace them.

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer earlier this week, the Red 5 Studios CEO argued that the free-to-play model offers developers much more room to flex their creative muscles, rewarding gamers with more innovative gameplay experiences than risk-averse AAA console publishers can hope to offer.

"The model is transitioning away from these big boxed games where you're pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a title, to these sorts of games that don't count on the distributor," he told us.

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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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Nintendo's strategy with the 3DS's early years and its forthcoming Wii U launch is to put core-orientated games ahead of efforts to attract the mass market, according to CEO Satoru Iwata.

Speaking in an investor Q&A following its financial report last week, Iwata explained that the platform holder has learned from mistakes made with the Wii.

While that console succeeded in attracting new customers with more casual titles such as Wii Sports, he admitted Nintendo had then struggled to convince core gamers to take the platform seriously, which negatively impacted the system's long term success.

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Torrent portal The Pirate Bay has posted an angry response to news yesterday that UK ISPs have been asked to block the Swedish site, accusing the High Court of promoting internet censorship.

A post on its website today refuted the court's claim that the site infringes copyright and called out the UK government for having double standards on free speech.

"The Western countries of the world all complaints [sic] about the censorship in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia and so on. But they are really the worst culprits themselves, having double morals in doing an even worse thing themselves," it argued.

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WiiWare sales numbers are now "almost non-existent", the publisher of retro side-scroller La-Mulana has said.

Indie publisher Nicalis has cancelled La-Mulana's planned WiiWare release in Europe and the US, claiming it was now "near impossible to sell sufficient units on WiiWare".

Japanese developer Nigoro first launched La-Mulana on PC in 2008. An updated WiiWare version was in development for several years and finally saw light of day in Japan last June.

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The second part of Frontier Development's LostWinds platforming series is on its way to iOS, the UK developer has announced.

Titled LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, it originally launched on WiiWare back in 2009 to general critical acclaim.

Following its predecessors jump to iOS last year, it too is now going mobile, though no release date or price has yet been confirmed.

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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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The wealthiest game developers in the UK are Andrew and Paul Gower, founders of RuneScape studio Jagex, according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List.

As reported by Develop, the pair are apparently worth £102 million. They were the games industry's top earners last year too, though their cash pile has shrunk a little over the last months - they were said to be worth £145 million in April 2011.

The UK games industry has two other representatives in the list. Jon Burton, the boss of LEGO studio Traveller's Tales, came in at 908th on the list with an estimated fortune of £80 million.

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Bejeweled bits and bobs and Plants vs Zombies playthings are on the way, courtesy of a new deal signed by developer PopCap.

The casual gaming giant has signed a deal to license its products for commercial use. In short, the Wall-nut-branded boxer shorts you've always wanted will soon be available.

Deals have been signed that include apparel, headwear, bags and accessories, plush toys, figures, headphones, USBs, speakers, device cases, wall graphics, Pop! Vinyl figurines, calenders, posters, adult sleepwear and boxers.

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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 £6.30).

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Open world mutant adventure Prototype 2 managed to wrap its tendrils around the UK all-formats chart this week, debuting in first place.

But it failed to match launch week sales of the first Prototype, despite it launching on a Tuesday and therefore having a longer time on sale.

Prototype 2 did however manage to sell more than other recent number ones Kinect Star Wars and Witcher 2 in their respective launch weeks.

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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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17.13 million 3DS consoles have now been sold worldwide, Nintendo has announced. The figure covers all sales up to the end of March 2012.

That means a healthy two million more 3DS units have been sold in the last three months. A previous tally of 15.03 million was jotted down at the end of last year.

Even the company's aging Wii coughed out another million units. It has now sold 95.85 million, up from 94.97 million on New Year's Eve 2011.

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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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Konami has announced PES 2013, due out this autumn. It launches on Nintendo 3DS, PC, PSP, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. No mention was made of PS Vita.

Konami said the game sees the series returning to its roots, with an emphasis on individual skills. Included for the first time is full control over shots. The result of this, Konami said, is "the most faithful recreation of modern day football to date".

This is described as PES FullControl, or PES FC (see what they did there?). Within it are a number of key pillars: Total Freedom of Control; Dynamic First Touch; Full Manual Shooting and Full Manual Passing; Dribbling; Full Manual One-Two; Response Defending; and Goalkeepers.

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UPDATE: Anthony Kozak, the developer who worked on the project, has been in touch to say that there is no target release window at this time, and that Ubisoft is yet to officially comment on the status of the project.

Mention of the project has been removed from his website.

ORIGINAL STORY: Innergy, the mysterious stress-relief software Ubisoft showcased back at E3 2010, has reared its head again nearly two years after it was first announced.

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Tetris-clone Block Factory arrives on the 3DS eShop this week. It costs £3.60.

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 £7.20 or 800 DSi Points.

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Polish role-player The Witcher 2 has stormed the UK all-format charts, taking first place.

Reigning chart champion FIFA Street, last week's number one, was booted down to second.

The Witcher 2's chart victory was well deserved: Simon Parkin awarded the game 9/10 in Eurogamer's Witcher 2 review. 98 per cent of sales counted last week were for the new Xbox 360 version, although Chart-Track does not count PC digital download sales.

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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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Generation Xbox: How Video Games Invaded Hollywood by Jamie Russell; Yellow Ant, paperback

Generation X is a label that's been around for a while, but it was popularised by Douglas Coupland's 1991 book. He's a faddish author - always writing of the moment, for the moment - and the best anecdote about his book concerns Richie Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers, who found himself seated next to Coupland at a dinner shortly after its release. The author's introductory gambit: "So, are you a member of Generation X?" Edwards turned his back on Coupland and refused to acknowledge his presence for the remainder of the evening.

Such are the pitfalls of generalisations - because, of course, humans are pretty complex things. The title Generation Xbox is a clear tip of the hat to the Generation X idea, but the reasons for it are mystifying. Throughout, you suspect that author Jamie Russell doesn't have much faith at all in this term. It never quite fits, and by the end you suspect it's just there for a saleable cover.

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Ancient amphibian arcade hit Frogger is being updated for the 21st century with the inclusion of real-time traffic from a New York street.

5th Ave Frogger includes cars and trucks from the real 5th Avenue, tracked via webcam and turned into 8-bit obstacles for you to avoid.

New York creative chap Tyler DeAngelo is the brains behind the new game. He's been charting its progress via the 5th Ave Frogger blog, documenting the game's car-scanning technology, day and night modes and giant rats.

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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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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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Wii JRPG Pandora's Tower has failed to trouble the top of the UK all-formats chart. It squeaked a 38th place entry, despite being the first Nintendo-published title stocked at GAME since the retailer's recent troubles.

This left FIFA Street to regain the top spot despite a decline in weekly sales. In fact, sales of every top 10 title fell from last week's totals.

Kinect Star Wars, last week's number one, sank to fourth place. Otherwise it was an EA-only top five, with Mass Effect 3 and FIFA 12 in second and third, while Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 scored fifth.

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No one has ever mistaken me for being gallant, but if the need for foolhardy heroics ever arose, I'd attempt what was necessary to save a loved one from a cruel or horrible fate. For instance, if a lion escaped from the local zoo, wandered into my garden and started staring at my family like they were a herd of gazelle, I'd grab the angle-grinder from the garage and do my best to look like an experienced poacher. And if my sister was ever trapped inside a burning building, I'd like to think the current hosepipe ban wouldn't put me off.

But if my significant other was suffering from a disfiguring curse that was transforming her into some shambling mutant, and the only way to save her was to butcher 13 nightmare creatures that each lived at the top of a colossal tower - while also running back and forth with fist-sized chunks of purple flesh that I had to watch her consume - I'd be tempted to take a leaf out of Simon Pegg's book and keep her safely secured in the garden shed until a more convenient solution presented itself.

Thankfully, Pandora's Tower doesn't feature a lazy option. When this curse falls upon Elena - a maiden from the nation of Elyria - the dashing Aeron does the honourable thing by setting his sights on the first tower. What follows is a soppy and yet surprisingly sinister love story that's woven around a finely crafted adventure. It makes use of engaging real-time combat, delicately implemented motion controls, progressively challenging environments and even unobtrusive dating simulation to toe the line between an action-RPG like Dark Souls and a hack-and-slasher like Onimusha - all the while retaining a unique identity.

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Spooky 3DS photography horror Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir will launch in the UK on 29th June, Nintendo has announced.

The Wii version of Fatal Frame 2, or Project Zero 2 in Europe, has also been dated. The surival horror also creeps to Wii on 29th June.

Spirit Camera is a spin-off from Tecmo Koei's Fatal Frame series and uses augmented-reality to set parts of the game in the real world.

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Nintendo games have returned to UK specialist shop GAME with the Pandora's Tower Limited Edition.

According to GAME this is "very limited and the last print run". From GAME's website the Wii-exclusive RPG costs £50.

The last Nintendo published title to be stocked by GAME was Resident Evil: Revelations for 3DS, which released on 27th January 2012. Subsequent Nintendo published/distributed games, including Mario Party 9, The Last Story, Tekken 3DS, Kid Icarus 3D and PokePark 2, failed to materialise on GAME store shelves after it encountered difficulty in securing new stock from publishers.

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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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Last November, a film archivist in Hertfordshire found an old tin sitting on a shelf. The tin was labelled "Hungry Hobos", and a quick check on Google revealed that it contained a genuine piece of movie history. It was an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon - he was the precursor to Mickey Mouse - made by Walt Disney's animation company in 1928, and long thought lost forever.

A copy of the film travelled with Junction Point boss Warren Spector when he visited London last week to show off Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, the unexpected sequel to the odd and rather troubled, Wii exclusive from 2010. Spector screened it for us before launching into his game presentation - I wish all press events worked like this - and it was astonishing stuff to watch.

When you think of Disney cartoons - I'm talking about the shorts, here, rather than the full-blown features - you may be picturing something that's lavish and beautiful, but rather tame and rather bloodless. Disney shorts tend not to be funny and violent the way that Warner Bros. cartoons are. They don't feel as subversive.

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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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Weekly Vita sales have plummeted to an all-time low in Japan, with Sony's new handheld dropping below 10,000 for the first time since launch.

The system managed to shift just 8931 units in the country last week, down from 12,105.

How much lower can it go? The next software launch of any consequence is a remake of PlayStation 2 favourite Persona 4 due on 14th June. That should offer a bit of a spike, but it's hardly Mario Kart.

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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 £150.

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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Assassin's Creed 3 and Halo 4 are the most keenly anticipated games of 2012 according to a new Nielsen poll.

The respected US statistics outfit has published platform specific lists for PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 by polling "eight key consumer metrics, including Awareness and Purchase Interest" and then combining them into one overall score.

Halo 4 topped the Xbox 360 chart, Assassin's Creed 3 won out on PlayStation 3 and Madden NFL 13 took the Wii crown.

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Outside of a few evergreen titles like Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport, F1 and Mario Kart, the racing game genre has been in a state of chaos and decline for a few years now, with great games like Blur and Split/Second pitching up to fanfare from genre fans and then disappearing into bargain bins a few days later. We love them, but the audience just doesn't seem to be out there.

So the odds were that Ridge Racer Unbounded was going to struggle whatever happened when you put the disc in the drive, and the Ridge Racer brand's own creative decline since Ridge Racer 6 half a decade ago probably wouldn't have helped. Not content with those obstacles to success, however, the developers then created another one of their own: they failed to explain how the game worked.

We've been over this enough on the site already, so we'll just say that if you would like to hear in detail the story of "the fun button" and the total lack of reference to it in Ridge Racer Unbounded, check out this week's podcast. We've spoken to developer Bugbear Entertainment since the game was reviewed, too, so we also have an update on a possible patch for the issue and their reaction to the news that people were struggling. Somewhat harrowingly, it turns out the game originally had a tutorial... which was removed right before release.

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The original NES Legend of Zelda will be available to download on the 3DS eShop from this Thursday, Nintendo has announced.

Zelda is freely available for those in the 3DS Ambassador Programme. Everyone else must pay £4.50/€5.

Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers arrives on the Wii Shop Channel's Virtual Console for 800 Wii Points (about £5.60).

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Poor old George Lucas. It's easy to forget that in 1997 he used computer technology in a way that arguably enhanced the original Star Wars trilogy (leaving Greedo and that dodgy bit with Han Solo walking on Jabba's tail aside). I watched those films at the legendary THX-equipped "Wycombe Six" cinema in the town of my birth, and remember loving every cleaned up frame, fade and transition.

But then, it is easy to forget that, and the reason why is because over the last 15 years Lucas has barely paused in an apparently relentless campaign of tinkering, tampering and, of course, franchising. We like to imagine Lucas sat behind a desk in an office piled high with pod racers, Trandoshans and Crystal Skulls, while a succession of increasingly unlikely marketing executives file past with licensing contracts for him to sign.

The frustrating thing is that surely at this point we should be safe? There isn't much more damage left to do to the original trilogy - touch wood - and if he wants to spend the next decade and a half updating the prequel trilogy then he's perfectly welcome to do so. He can't exactly make the scene where Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen fall in love next to a fire any worse, after all. And let's not talk about the one where they cavort with a space cow.

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The US state of New York has banned convicted sex offenders from all gaming networks, including Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Battlenet.

As reported by GameSpot, the state's attorney general, Eric T. Scheiderman, yesterday announced that 3580 online accounts have been closed or had communication privileges cancelled.

Microsoft, Sony, Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros., Disney and Apple all cooperated with the purge, which follows on the heels of a recent court case in the state in which a 19-year-old pleaded guilty to abusing a 10-year-old he met on Xbox Live.

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UPDATE: THQ's corporate communications vice president Angela Emery offered Eurogamer the following response:

"Obviously, Mr. Zelnick's perception of THQ is outdated and inaccurate. His comments are irresponsible and false. Perhaps he would be better off commenting on his own business."

ORIGINAL STORY: Beleaguered publisher THQ won't be in business six months from now, reckons Strauss Zelnick, CEO of rival outfit and GTA publisher Take-Two.

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Hirokazu Yasuhara, the former Sega employee who directed the first four Sonic the Hedgehog games, has taken a job at one-time arch-rival Nintendo.

As reported by Gamasutra, Yasuhara now works at Nintendo NST in Redmond, Washington - the first party US studio responsible for Metroid Prime Hunters and the Mario vs Donkey Kong series among others.

Nintendo has confirmed the news but wouldn't divulge exactly what his new role will entail.

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EA has been voted the "worst company in America" by readers of customer watchdog site The Consumerist.

EA and Bank America had beaten a number of other contenders - including Ticketmaster, Apple, GameStop, WalMart, Sony and PayPal - to reach the final round, which the games publisher won with 64.03 per cent of the public vote. Over 250,000 votes were counted throughout the contest.

Reasons cited for its win include nickel and diming customers with post-launch DLC, buying up small developers to snuff out competition and releasing buggy games.

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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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It launches on Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3 with Move support. All versions work with the Top Shot Elite peripheral. The PS3 version works with the PS Move sharp shooter peripheral, and the Wii version works with the Wii Zapper.

In the game you play Peter Delacoeur, a MIB Agent in training. There's two-player split-screen and four-player "hot seat" competitive action.

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More footage from the canned Star Wars: Battlefront 3 game once in development at TimeSplitters creator Free Radical Design has been uncovered.

The freshly uncovered video clip is taken from an early Xbox 360 build of the game, said Past To Present, earlier even than the previous video evidence of Free Radical's efforts: a shaky YouTube clip posted online three years ago, soon after the project (and then the studio itself) collapsed.

The video reveals early gameplay footage and a glimpse at what the full game would offer via the title's extensive menus. Modes included Story Campaign, Training, Galactic Conquest, Instant Action, Challenges, Freeplay and Jedi Arena.

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The Wii is the lead platform for Epic Mickey 2 - but that doesn't mean the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version is an "up-rezzed" port, designer Warren Spector has insisted.

As revealed by Eurogamer last week, Epic Mickey 2, due out this September, is being made by around 800 people in a new "virtual team" approach. UK studio Blitz Games is handling the PS3 and Xbox 360 version, leaving Spector's Junction Point to concentrate on the Wii version.

Why? Because the 160-person Junction Point has Wii expertise and in-house Wii tech, having made the first game exclusively on the Nintendo home console.

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