All things considered, not such a bad week for the normally-awful British sales charts! Usual suspects Mario & Sonic and Brain Training are still hovering in the top half of the charts, but they're also joined by a bunch of games most of you lot would actually play. Like Army of Two, and Lost Odyssey, and Bully and, amazingly, a PC title. Yes, a PC title! I forgot the British charts even included them.

Thanks Dale North for adding this to YouTube and thanks Santa for the tip!

SCEE have announced a pair of release dates and a price for Gran Turismo 5: Prologue's European launch. The Blu-Ray version of the game will hit stores on March 28, while the downloadable version will arrive a day earlier as part of the week's PSN update. Those worried there will be discrepancies between the version's needn't, as the only difference is one comes in a box and one doesn't. The game will retail for ₤25/€40, and is joined by the GT5 PS3 bundle (₤300/€400) we mentioned the other week, which will also be appearing on March 28. Presser follows if you're at all interested.

Previously, we posted that Gameloft is bringing game Brain Challenge to Xbox LIVE Arcade this month. It features calculation exercises, puzzles and bad Mii-like matching games. This game was originally a 2006 cell phone game. Figures, as brain games are so 2006.

Fresh from Apple's SDK presentation last week, here's footage of Spore running, in real-time, on the iPhone. Appropriate use of accelerometer, restrained employment of touch-screen technology, nice graphics...yes, yes, this all appears to be in order.

Bad Dick! Bad! That's a page from Australasian electronics retailer Dick Smith Electronics. The happy, solitaire kid is holding up two games: Gears of War and Halo 3. Perhaps they are games other children want! Perhaps. But both are games that children can buy, and there's not a parent in sight. In Australia, Halo is rated "M (Recommended for mature audiences)", but can be purchased by younger customers. Gears of War legally can't! It's rated M +15, meaning "Not suitable for people under 15. Under 15s must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian." No wonder this kid's so happy! So if you are 10 years old, Dick Smith will totally hook you up.

Thanks, Christopher! Close-up after the jump.

The name, it could do with some work, but the premise, well, it's downright intriguing. Developers Obsidian, who brought us KOTOR II, are at work on Alpha Protocol, a game they're describing as an action-RPG and which will be appearing on the tried and tested triumvirate of PS3, 360 and PC. You play the role of a James Bond-type character, who plays his way through an RPG (it's got skill classes, etc) flush with Mass Effect-style combat sequences. It's also got Mass Effect-style dialogue (though you can only ever speak to an NPC once), with the added bonus of James Bond-style romancing, with alluring, deadly ladies across the globe ready and available for conquest. Excited? Don't be, you've got to wait until at least Spring 2009.
[via Game Informer Magazine]

Another PS3 tattoo! Not as crappy! Still kooky! While man who goes by the handle MobileTone may be the first person with P53 PS3 inked on his bodice, that doesn't mean he's got the first PLAYSTATION 3-themed tat. It seems that SCEE Omar Siu claims that prize (lucky him) with his "This is Living" shoulder art. Fingers crossed he doesn't ever changed companies! He got the tattoo on December 22, 2007 — coincidentally, the same day that Omar apparently changed medication.
Another PS3 Tattoo [PS3 Fanboy]

Nintendo have priced the first lineup of games for the Wii's WiiWare service, due to launch in Japan on March 25. While the most prominent title, Squeenix's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game, will cost 1500 points ($US 15), the other games are a little more affordable, ranging from 500 Wii Points (eg. Tenshi Solitaire) to 1000 Wii Points (incl. Dr. Mario, Pokemon Ranch). The full list of titles, for those of you who'll actually be partaking in the service come March 25, is at the link below.
WiiWare [Nintendo]

New York Gov. and critic of video game sex Eliot Spitzer has been linked to a prostitution ring. He apparently paid for sex. Federal investigators caught Spitzer via a phone tap in which the Governor planned to have a prostitute travel from New York to Washington, where he was on business, away from his wife and family. It's against Federal law to bring someone across state lines for the express purpose of prostitution. As game site GamePolitics points out, during his 2006 campaign, Spitzer uttered these now ironic words:

Thought we'd be satisfied with a single rain drenched Mark Wahlberg as Max Payne pic. One photo is not enough! No way, no how. We need more Mark, less rain. Check out the above photo of Marky Mark. It's the second shot of him as Max Payne. The third is after the jump. The fourth is somewhere else (we don't know!).

Some publishers are good at getting games out, globally, with minimal delays. Some, like Nintendo, are not. Some, however, are even worse than Nintendo. Like Square Enix, whose most recent AAA release - Final Fantasy XII - was released in Europe nearly a year after it first came out in Japan. Not. Good. Enough. Square Enix are looking at fixing that for future titles, though, telling Japan's Nikkei Net that in order to increase sales in non-Japanese markets they'll be trying a lot harder to give their games a simultaneous worldwide release. I'll believe it when I see it, but hey, at least it's a first step.
ゲームソフト、海外シフト――スク・エニ、世界で同時発売[Nikkei]

Ahhh yes, new screens and the final box art for upcoming Steven Spielberg game Boom Blox. I'm actually kind of excited to get this. Crazy, I know!

They don't throw their numbers around as often as the Xbox Live team do, but does that make PlayStation Network numbers any less exciting? Goodness no. So let's proceed. According to Sony's Chris Eden, there are currently 2.8 million registered PSN users in the US (which he also says, interestingly, is 50% of all PS3 owners), joining up at an average of around 100,000 per week. Those 2.8 million - of which a staggering 92% are male and 79% between the age of 18 and 34 - users have made 46 million downloads, with fl0w the top-selling PSN title in the US and Tekken 5 the most popular download in the UK.
Best Of GDC: 'Making Games For PlayStation Network - The Facts' [GameSetWatch]

We already knew Brits like buying video games more than music. Now it seems like like playing video games more than doing each other. A survey from "bedroom specialist Sharps" polled 2,000 people in the UK about that favourite activities in bed. What did the bedroom retailer find? Number one was sleeping, number two was talking. Three? That was watching TV. To see where gaming fell, hit the jump. It's surprising!

Two of Take-Two Interactive's biggest investors, Oppenheimer Funds and FMR LLC, drastically cut their shares in the company, Reuters reports, a sign of "shareholder unrest" that could be bad news for company management. After a rejected buyout offer from EA was made public, it helped boost the Grand Theft Auto publisher's stock price nine points in one day, making for some assuredly pleased stockholders. But now that Take-Two management have claimed the buyout terms "undervalue" the company, shareholders may be unwilling to wait for a dip in their investment.

Anyone? Anyone at all? Seven screens are on offer, all new, all showing the Zerg in various stages of rippin' stuff up. People, Protoss, dirt, space stations, it doesn't matter. If it's ground, the Zerg will come, and they will rip. It. Up.

Pirates of Caribbean director Gore Verbinski is excited. Not so much about movies, but games. Just like at DICE, he's very peppy and very clueless. That's okay! So, what interests Verbinski about games?

Konami's console port of the Raw Thrills arcade shooter Target: Terror set eyeballs ablaze when it was announced in January. A batch of new screen shots of the light-gun shooter turned Wii Zapper cash-in are set to temporarily blind a new group of unlucky saps in glorious 400 by 280 resolution. It's hard to believe that any game could possibly unseat Target: Terror, but we know that some brave shovelware publisher is going to give the old college try.

Why do we need a PC gaming alliance again? Oh, this is why. Epic boss Tim Sweeney, speaking with tgdaily, has outlined just why his company have signed up to the industry super-friends, and also notes the challenges the group face in returning a little swagger to the brand that is PC gaming:

Retail stores like Best Buy are selling PC games and PCs with integrated graphics at the same time and they are not talking about the difference [to more capable gaming PCs]. Those machines are good for e-mail, web browsing, watching video. But as far as games go, those machines are just not adequate. It is no surprise that retail PC sales suffer from that.

Curses! Just when we thought we could rest easy with humanity's place in the universe secured, some chuckleheads have to go and toss an asteroid at a planet. BioWare's Bring Down The Sky content pack for Mass Effect went live today, offering 90 minutes of action and 50 points worth of achievements for 400 Microsoft points. The vile Batarians are brining down a mobile asteroid station on the colony world of Terra Nova, and it's up to Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy to save the colonists from a most crushing defeat. Of course if you've already finished the game you're going to have to restart and play to the point where you are actually in control of the Normandy again, but that's a small price to pay for a chance at saving millions of NPCs from a grizzly death.

thatgamecompany, the team behind flOw and the upcoming Flower, isn't on board with the folks who moan about dreadful PlayStation 3 development. They're knocking out PS3 games in a 24 hour period these days, an exercise they're calling Game Jam as conceived by lead engineer John Edwards. This is how the kids let off some steam, apparently, throwing together a zombie-filled multiplayer shoot-fest with the crudest of the crude graphics. The gameplay, as described by tcg's Kellee Santiago, sounds pretty boss, but it's the Altered Beast sound bites that really warm my heart. Cool concept, one we hope becomes a retail product, despite Santiago's hints otherwise.

thatgamecompany's 24hr Game Jam [PlayStation.blog]

Indeed! Come May 23, you'll be able to enjoy the athletic antics of a creepy-looking Roger Federer and the ball-slamming serves of a very surprised Andy Roddick. Hey, I'm just going by the box art. Seriously, Federer looks like he wants to stab your dad.

Four platforms can expect the title - Xbox 360, DS, PS3 and the Wii. I'm guessing the PSP doesn't have the requisite drop volleying skills and the PC's net game can't pass muster.

2K Games says preview code should be available later this month. Until code does arrive, I'll just keep whacking my balls in Virtual Tennis 3.

I may have mentioned something about a Civilization: Revolution giveaway. Scratch that, I did mention something about it.

I'm happy to say 2K Games has given us the go ahead and provided four limited edition Xbox 360 faceplates to pass on to you guys. Of course, there's a competition involved.

All you have to do to be in the running is email tips@kotaku.com.au with your idea for a new Sid Meier game. For example:

Sid Meier's Clowns!: Compete online with up to 16 other freakishly dressed entertainers as you all try to fit into the same tiny car. Upgrade you selection of makeups and wigs as you progress through the game, and learn many fun and exciting skills including juggling, tightrope walking and kid scaring!

General terms and condition will appear shortly. For now, feel free to enter as many times as you want. We'll select the four lucky winners this time next week.

Thanks to 2K Games for the faceplates, I'm sure we can find them a nice home.

[Terms and Conditions]

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution [Official site]

Microsoft's VP of Interactive Entertainment for Europe Chris Lewis whipped out the PR rod today, boasting of a few new and carefully chosen figures in the typical marketing fashion. According to Lewis, Microsoft has snatched up "42 per cent revenue share of next gen-games market", factoring in hardware, software and accessories. That figure also includes Live subscription fees and accessories fortunately not available on other consoles—good for revenue showboating, but not so much for apples-to-apples dick waving contests.

For your viewing pleasure, a slew of screens from my hands on time with Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution for the 360 and PS3. There are some multiplayer shots in here as well as images from the single player mode including many of the character designs.

We really hope you didn't bite when "Sega" asked if you still owned a Dreamcast, promising you a snazzy @dreamcast.com e-mail address in return. It might not have been worth it, as the Mainichi Shimbun is reporting that Sega has called the Dreamcast.com web site nothing but a "bogus" domain squatter, saying that whomever is currently using the site is using Sega's trademarks and logos without permission. At best, its just a fan site collecting Dreamcast serial numbers for an exhaustive database, but at worst it may be a phishing scam built on the foundation of nostalgia for September 9, 1999.

While you may already be on the receiving end of some fresh spam, I'd definitely recommend a quick password change to whatever e-mail address you used if you submitted your info.

Sega Calls Attention to Dreamcast Imposter Site [Yahoo Japan]

Some babies are born head first....others feet first...but only one was born beard first. 68 years ago today in Oklahoma a legend was born. Carlos Ray Norris was once a shy, non-athletic boy, who was often tormented by his classmates for his mixed native-American heritage, but he used his lust for revenge to help him become the most powerful being on the face of the earth. As an Air Policeman (I'd assume sans plane, just flying round and arresting people) in the US Air Force he would earn the nickname Chuck and started studying the martial arts so hard that he had to create his own - Chun Kuk Do - because nothing else was good enough. Actor, arse kicker, inventor of the roundhouse kick, and star of the Atari 2600 game Chuck Norris Superkicks, without Chuck's influence the video game industry would just be a bunch of cutesy pet sims. Let it ring across Barrens chat on every server - Happy Birthday Chuck Norris! He might be 68-years-old, but he could still kick all of our asses at once without even blinking.

Special thanks to Kevin for reminding us of this special day!

Didn't make it to this year's Game Developers Conference? If you were particularly excited about attending some of Valve's various sessions, you can virtually attend through the power of the PDF. The house of Half-Life, Portal and Counter-Strike has released the slides from its four GDC presentations which cover all aspects of The Orange Box. The presentations "Integrating Narrative and Design: A Portal Post-Mortem" and "Stylisation With a Purpose: The Illustrative World of Team Fortress 2" may be the most layman friendly, giving regular folk a look beyond The Orange Box's developer commentary. All four are worth a peek at the very least.

Valve Publications [Valve via GameSetWatch]

Our first real look at the Zerg in Starcraft II was quite an eye-straining affair. Thankfully, Blizzard has released brief but clearer videos of the classic Mutalisk and Hydralisk units in action. It's chill-inducing stuff, watching a massive swarm of Hydras go to town on some Terran Battlecruisers. That action is in the following clip.