Well, Batman: Arkham Asylum slips into the top 20 at least, taking a respectable number 16 position. The two MMO titles more or less storm the charts, with Cryptic's Champions Online snagging number 3, and Aion pulling a double as the normal version rocks number 1 and the limited edition takes the 5-spot. This means near domination of the top 5 for MMOs this month, with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King at number 4 while The Sims 3 slips down to 2.

Not a bad start for two of the most eagerly anticipated MMO titles of the season. Check out the full chart below to see if your favorite made the cut this month.

Predictably, most of the reactions have less to do with one's favored console, and more to do with another. Lovely how everyone's an expert on something they not only don't have, but they also proudly refuse to buy.

The chart kind of reminds me of something proposed by a sports writer I worked with back in college . He figured all football coaches - few of whom ever deviate from postgame clichés - should be given a menu of boilerplate answers, that way news conferences would go much quicker. It'd be just a guy at a lectern looking at a list saying, "Uh, let's go with a number 5, number 11, numbers 13 through 16, then 29, 46 and 51, except for 51 replace 'injuries' with 'suspensions.'"

If anyone can draw up a list of 50 or so for us, we can pack a lot more into our threads. Such as No. 13 - Slow news day?

Video Game Message Board Reaction Chart [GameSpy]

"We're very excited about this achievement especially given so many competitive titles this year," said Will Kassoy, senior vice president, global brand management, Activision Publishing, Inc. "Consumer and critics agree that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is one of the best games ever created and further establishes Call of Duty as one of the premier brands in the industry."

Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare™ Ranks #1 Title in Units Worldwide for Calendar 2007

Game Sells in Excess of Seven Million Units According to The NPD Group, Chart Track and The GFK Group

SANTA MONICA, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that Call of Duty 4®: Modern Warfare™ was the #1 title in units worldwide for calendar 2007, according to The NPD Group, Chart Track and The GFK Group. Developed by Infinity Ward, Call of Duty 4®: Modern Warfare™ has sold in excess of seven million units worldwide since its launch in November.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has garnered critical acclaim, securing more than 18 perfect score reviews and over 40 combined Editors' Choice and Game of the Year awards in the U.S. alone. The game has been nominated for 10 prestigious Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards, including Game of the Year. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare also currently is the #1 Xbox 360™ title on Xbox Live, based on unique users, according to www.majornelson.com.

"We're very excited about this achievement especially given so many competitive titles this year," said Will Kassoy, senior vice president, global brand management, Activision Publishing, Inc. "Consumer and critics agree that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is one of the best games ever created and further establishes Call of Duty as one of the premier brands in the industry. This ground-breaking game and franchise continue to establish new standards by which all other action games will be judged."

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted net revenues of $1.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's World Wide Web site, which is located at www.activision.com.

Nintendo DS

Nintendogs: 15,770,000
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl: 12,170,000
New Super Mario Bros.: 11,150,000
Brain Age: 9,660,000
Mario Kart DS: 8,530,000
Brain Age 2: 7,530,000
Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: 1,350,000
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: 1,290,000

Nintendo Wii

Wii Sports: 11,860,000 (including hardware bundles)
Wii Play w/Wii Remote: 6,320,000
Mario Party 8: 2,890,000
Super Paper Mario: 1,740,000
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree: 1,380,000
Mario Strikers Charged: 1,330,000

Nintendo Reveals Million-Selling DS, Wii Titles [gamasutra] [image]

While Sega had a good week, it seems Japanese gamers have had their fill of Seaman, as the PlayStation 2 release dropped from number 1 to number 21 in its second week. Oh well! Media Create's sales figures for October 22 to the 28 are below.

01. Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire (DS) - 142,000 / NEW
02. Ar Tonelico II: Sekai ni Hibiku Shoujo Tachi (PS2) - 72,000 / NEW
03. World Soccer Winning Eleven DS Goal x Goal! (DS) - 29,000 / NEW
04. Imabikisou (PS3) - 23,000 / NEW
05. DS Bungaku Zenshuu (DS) - 21,000 / 54,000
06. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch (DS) - 20,000 / NEW
07. Ghost Squad (Wii) - 20,000 / NEW
08. God of War II (PS2) - 17,000 / NEW
09. DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou - Satsui no Wana (DS) - 17,000 / 98,000
10. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS) - 16,000 / 537,000

11. Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS)
12. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (DS)
13. KanKen DS 2 + Jouyou Kanji Jiten (DS)
14. Wii Sports (Wii)
15. Gundam Battle Chronicle (PSP)
16. Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (PS2)
17. Taiko Drum Master DS (DS)
18. Mario Party 8 (Wii)
19. Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann (DS)
20. Volleyball World Cup: Venus Evolution (PS2)
21. Seaman 2 (PS2)
22. Gintama: Banjiya Chuubu! (Wii)
23. Tamagotchi no Puchi Puchi Omisecchi: Mina San Kyu (DS)
24. Mario Kart DS (DS)
25. Wii Play (Nintendo)
26. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
27. My Housekeeping Diary (DS)
28. More Brain Age (DS)
29. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii)
30. Home Teacher Hitman Reborn! Let's Assassinate!? (PS2)

Hey, look! Lair showed up on this week's chart, too! Wave to it as it passes by. More ordered lists after the jump.

01. DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou - Satsui no Wana (DS) - 61,000 / NEW
02. Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (PS2) - 47,000 / 251,000
03. Gundam Battle Chronicle (PSP) - 28,000 / 114,000
04. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS) - 26,000 / 502,000
05. Arcana Heart (PS2) - 23,000 / NEW
06. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (DS) - 22,000 / 440,000
07. Lair (PS3) - 22,000 / NEW
08. ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat (DS) - 17,000 / 67,000
09. KanKen DS 2 + Jouyou Kanji Jiten (DS) - 16,000 / 67,000
10. Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS) - 16,000 / 631,000

11. Tamagotchi no Puchi Puchi Omisecchi: Mina San Kyu (DS)
12. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
13. Mario Party 8 (Wii)
14. Tashiten: Tashite 10 ni Suru Monogatari (DS)
15. Jikkyou Powerful Major League 2 (PS2)
16. Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (Wii)
17. Mario Kart DS (DS)
18. Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops+ (PSP)
19. Wii Sports (Wii)
20. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
21. My Housekeeping Diary (DS)
22. Taiko Drum Master DS (DS)
23.Jissen Pachi-Slot Hisshouhou! Hokuto no Ken 2 (PS2)
24. Brain Age 2: More Training In Minutes A Day (DS)
25. Project Gotham Racing 4 (Xbox 360)
26. Namco Museum DS (DS)
27. Animal Crossing Wild World (DS)
28. Arabians Lost: The Engagement on the Desert (PS2)
29. Wii Play (Wii)
30. Mario Strikers Charged (Wii)

Hilarious pie-chart/video-game joke [BoingBoing]

I dig Metafuture... an entertaining, witty gaming blog written by one of Kotaku's disgruntled ex-own. I was saddened by the recent announcement of its passing as a blog: who will point out mistakes in our grammar or chide me for having the name of a Harry Potter fan fic character now?

Metafuture is now positioning itself as a new, more accurate Game Rankings. The idea is to inflate or deflate a review's score based upon that site's history of rewarding that score multiple times. In particular, it hopes to give a more accurate value of a game's actual worth according to a particular site by taking into account, for example, whether or not a site realistically only judges games by a 7-9 point scale.

IGN, we're looking square at you. And one of the first fruits of Metafuture's new focus is the above graph, which charts IGN's entire history of game review scores on a 1-10 point scale. Notice that IGN only really likes to give games whole number scores. Their most common score? An 8.0, followed closely by a 7. Not really surprising, but it's nice to have scientific proof.

Gamespot is a bit more balanced. Their most common score is a 7, but they give out scores above and below a hell of a lot more frequently than IGN. Florian Eckhardt

An Analysis of IGN Review Scores [Metafuture]

Weary Kotaku Scout, rest your pink-and-chartreuse-seared eyes by laying them on this tasteful graph. There, there.

At right are the charted results of a study conducted by PlayOn, who reports that the ratio of Horde to Alliance players is actually pretty stable. Meaning that Alliance outnumber Horde on PvE and RP servers about 2-to-1, are approximately matched on PvP servers, but that these ratios don't change much.

Of note, while there was a severe Alliance imbalance on the PvE and RP servers, there was a matched equilibrium on the PvP server. Again, neither changed over time.

Server Sample: RP (High), PvE (High), PvP (High)
Sampling Period: July 2005 - January 2006
Sampling Resolution: ~12 minutes
Parsing Method: The sample unit is each unique character in each 2 week period.
Data Filter: Characters above level 1 and who spent less than 95% of their time in a main city.
Sample Size: ~100k characters in each 2 week period

This goes against my assumption, usually strongest after getting mobbed by pallies at Crossroads while my greenskinned brethren stand idly by, that the Alliance are breeding like Ohio schoolgirls. Eliza Gauger

Alliance/Horde Ratios [PlayOn]