Eidos celebrates the "must-have game of Summer 2009" today, announcing some rather large shipping numbers for the first Batman game in a long while to not outwardly suck. Citing numerous awards, including the dubious Guinness World Record the game earned for highest-rated comic book game, Warner Bros. gives credit where credit is due.

"The tremendous critical and commercial success of Batman: Arkham Asylum sets a new benchmark for superhero games," said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "Rocksteady Studios created an excellent game and the sales numbers demonstrate how a powerful franchise fused with high-quality production resonates with consumers."

As for how many of those 2.5 million copies shipped have sold since we reported on the 2 million sales, it would take a master detective armed with figures I don't have on hand to work out that figure. To the batcave!

Following up on the news that EA's The Sims 3 had sold 800,000 copies in its first month, Gamasutra decided to find out how well the fake people franchise's chief competitor for PC market share had fared over the past few years. The NPD gathered together data for all retail releases of World of Warcraft, from the Battle Chest to Wrath of the Lich King, coming up with 8.6 million units sold at retail.

It's a very impressive number, made more impressive when you convert that to actual dollars. Gama rounded the price to $30 a copy, which I think is a bit on the light side, considering the large number of collectors editions released for The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King expansions. Still, even the conservative estimate has the game netting $258 million at retail.

Once you figure in international sales and monthly subscription fees, you end up with more money than I have in my pocket right now.

World Of Warcraft's U.S. Retail Sales Total 8.6 Million [Gamasutra]

The new statistics arrive with the announcement of record growth for the console so far this year, celebrating a 28 percent jump in console sales over the previous year - the highest percentage growth of any console in 2009. Over the course of this console generation, U.S. customers alone have spent $14.5 billion on the console, including hardware, games, and downloadable content, which Microsoft's Don Mattrick attributes to offering more entertainment value than anyone else, while teasing next week's E3 announcements.

"We've always been confident that Xbox 360 offers more entertainment value than any other console on the market, and these latest numbers show that consumers agree. We expect our growth to continue to accelerate. Our news at E3 next week will underscore our commitment to bringing blockbuster entertainment experiences to everyone and to growing the Xbox entertainment brand globally."

On the software side of things, the Xbox 360 has generated $5.9 billion in sales for third-party developers to date, which according to the NPD group is more than the PlayStation 3 and Wii combined.

With more than 20 million active users, Microsoft is calling Xbox Live the world's largest global entertainment network. The service now reaches 26 countries, with an install base larger than any satellite television provider. More than 1 billion pieces of content have been downloaded from the service to date.

Live has been generating particularly amazing numbers since the launch of the New Xbox Experience last year, with a 136% increase in new members, TV and movie downloads doubling, and game add-on downloads increasing by 70 percent.

The official announcement ends with another E3 tease, promising more exciting announcements to come, as long as they don't blow the whole thing several days before the show, like everyone else seems to have been doing lately.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games™ Hits 5 Million in Global Sales

Founding Fathers of Video Games, SEGA and Nintendo, Find Winning Formula with First-Ever Pairing of Famous Mascots

TOKYO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—SEGA® Corporation today announced that its history-making video game title, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games™, has sold five million copies worldwide in just over three months. Developed by SEGA for the Wii™ video game system and the Nintendo DS™ system, with creative input and executive milestone approvals by Nintendo's developers, the title brought together for the first time the two most beloved icons in the entertainment industry. In the spirit of the Olympic Games, the legendary mascots also brought friends from their storied franchises along, including Luigi™, Knuckles™, Yoshi® and Tails™, to compete in a variety of Olympic events.

"With adored icons and fun game play, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has shot to the top of the sales charts and is clearly resonating with the growing audience of casual gamers that want an engaging and accessible gaming experience," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America.

Published by SEGA across Europe and North America, and by Nintendo in Japan, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games made its worldwide debut on November 6, 2007, when the Wii version hit store shelves in the United States. According to the NPD Group, which tracks sales data in the United States, the game was one of the top-ten best-sellers in the United States - across all platforms - in the critical holiday sales month of December.

When Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games launched in Europe just days later, it was an immediate hit, rising rapidly to the top of sales charts. Mario & Sonic became the best-ever performing Wii game over the seven-day period that ended on December 11, 2007. In January, Mario & Sonic was the best-selling video game in England across all formats.

"The market for entertaining games that everyone can enjoy is growing faster than any other segment in the industry, thanks in part to the explosive popularity of Wii and Nintendo DS," continued Jeffery. "A key element of our growth strategy at SEGA is to develop and publish games that appeal to this expanding market."

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is licensed through a worldwide partnership with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), the exclusive Interactive Entertainment Software licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"Guild Wars is a proven success and has set a new standard for online RPG games with its unique business model and superior playability," said NCsoft CEO Taek Jin Kim.

Guild Wars Tops Five Million Units Sold

Guild Wars franchise breaks major milestone in less than three years.

Bellevue, WA. Feb. 26, 2008—NCsoft® and ArenaNet® have announced that the Guild Wars® franchise of online roleplaying games has surpassed five million units sold in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Published by NCsoft and developed by ArenaNet, the Guild Wars franchise consists of the original Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions®, Guild Wars Nightfall®, and the recently released expansion, Guild Wars: Eye of the North™. The Guild Wars games have been commercial and critical successes since the release of the original campaign in April of 2005. Its award-winning content and innovative subscription-free business model have created a large and loyal following that is highly anticipating Guild Wars 2™.

"Guild Wars is a proven success and has set a new standard for online RPG games with its unique business model and superior playability," said NCsoft CEO Taek Jin Kim. "ArenaNet is dedicated to creating games that expand the market and provide great new content to our loyal player base. This success has built a great foundation from which the next generation of Guild Wars games will grow."

With the development of Guild Wars 2 underway, ArenaNet will continue to provide dedicated support to current Guild Wars games and its millions of customers.

"Reaching the five million mark is extremely gratifying for us at ArenaNet because it shows the hard work and dedication we put into our games has resonated with the fans," said Mike O'Brien, co-founder of ArenaNet. "We are committed to supporting all of our Guild Wars players, and at the same time, we're extremely excited to work on the game's evolution. Certainly the future of Guild Wars is as bright as its past and present."

For more information on the Guild Wars franchise, visit the Guild Wars website at www.guildwars.com. The award-winning Guild Wars series, including the recently released Guild Wars: Eye of the North, can be purchased from retailers or downloaded from the PlayNC store at secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/Store.pl.