Blood Bowl is a game of real fantasy football, with races from the Warhammer universe taking on each other in brutal football action. The game is already available for digital download on the PC, but we've been waiting for word of the Xbox 360 and PSP release for quite some time. Now the waiting is over.

"We're thrilled to have a part in bringing a proper retail version of Blood Bowl to North American gamers on Windows PC, Xbox 360 and PSP." said Aubrey Norris, Manager of Human-Orc Relations at SouthPeak. "It's never easy to get all these races to agree on something – but if there's one thing they love its good competition with a lot of bloodshed!"

The PC and Xbox 360 version will be hitting store shelves next month, with the portable version dropping sometime this spring.

"This is not the year for silly stuff," said Keith Browning, 50 of Columbus, Ohio. He lost his job at a Honda plant and struck out on his own. "My brother gave me a Wii video game. I'm definitely returning that. We need some new pots and pans for the house. And I need tools to get my company going."

Last year, I bought my parents a Wii for Christmas, then was laid off from a gig in Silicon Valley. Mom demanded that I return the machine, and when I told her the Amazon reseller wouldn't take it, she insisted I sell it and pocket the money, which I did.

So I can understand where this guy is coming from, with the "silly stuff" comment. We've heard plenty about video games being high-value diversions similar to what movie houses provided back in the Depression. But for some people, when you're not working - or not working enough - giving or playing games just doesn't feel right.

Browning's quote is the definition of anecdotal, but I'm wondering if it portends a shopping mindset that means bad things for games this year.

A Tentative Sparkle Enlivens Holiday Shopping [The New York Times]

Instead, according to Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, the number of games released this year increased. In 2008, 1092 titles reached a retail shelf in the United States. In 2009? 1099. Not much of an increase, then, but an increase all the same.

In assessing this data, EEDAR's Jesse Divnich raises an interesting point; 1099 new games means there are 55% more titles available to the public in a bricks-and-mortar store. Yet those stores aren't expanding their game sections. Meaning space is at a premium, and with each year that passes, more games earn "permanent" shelf spots (Call of Duty, GTA), further reducing the amount of space for new titles.

Game releases hold steady in 2009 [GameSpot]

Steam's holiday sale has kicked off a little early this year, with all kinds of tempting deals. Like Mirror's Edge for $5, GTAIV for $7.50 and Defense Grid for $2.50.

That's Mirror's Edge, GTAIV and Defense Grid - three of the finest games of the past two years- all for $15. Crazy.

There are plenty more great deals listed (50% off all Ubisoft games, an Eidos pack with Batman, Mini Ninjas, Deus Ex and Hitman), and plenty more to come until the sale ends on Sunday, January 3.

[Steam Holiday Sale]

This past week Kotaku put a comprehensive look into its crystal ball, breaking down what's ahead for the major platforms, while also looking at the agendas and priorities of games' top influencers and constituencies over the 365 days to come.

This is our equivalent of baseball's hot stove league, when the season's done but there's still fun in pulling up a chair to opine and speculate. Please rejoin us and your fellow readers in the following features and discussions of 2010, the year to come in games.

2010: The Year Of Better PSP Games?</
2010: The Year Of Better PlayStation 3 Games?
2010: The Year of Better Xbox 360 Games?
2010: The Year of Better PC Games?
2010: The Year Of Better Wii Games?
2010: The Year of Better Nintendo DS Games?

What Won't Be Coming To Video Gaming In 2010

You're A Gamer In 2010 ... What Will You Do?
You're A Game Developer in 2010...What Will You Do?
You Run A Big Game Publisher In 2010...What Will You Do?
You're A Video Game Retailer In 2010...What Will You Do?

Sooprise, sooprise, "households with kids ages 6-12 represent the 'sweet spot' for these products," writes Nielsen on its blog. Also, these households tend to be wealthier, with incomes above $70,000. But lest you think this is strictly a suburban whitebread consumer template, Hispanics and Asians were most likely, among ethnicities, to pick up this type of game, too.

What is interesting to me is the console breakdown of video game movie buyers. The PlayStation 3 is the clear leader, followed by the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. The Wii? A distant fourth.

This is probably attributable to the first three consoles outnumbering the Wii for development of video game adaptations. But as Nielsen started this by painting the picture of a comfortable, dual-income family with kids younger than 12 in the house, and with most major film adaptations going to all consoles, the Wii turning up so low is kind of a surprise.

Movie-based Video Games and the Households that Buy Them [Nielsen Blog]

"Have you played (insert game here)?" It's a question most of us have asked when considering a video game purchase, and the answers given are often more influential than marketing campaigns that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. A study released today by study released today by global integrated communications agency Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, and Harris Interactive. Industry trade groups, surveyed 507 adult gamers between June 6th to July 27th of this year, finding that 33% of those who had purchased a game within the six months prior to the study cited word of mouth from family and friends as the biggest influence on their purchase.

More powerful than friends are a subset being called "Influence Multipliers," friends who are more connected to other gamers, therefor having a much larger say in what other players play. Of the 507 surveyed, 21% were identified as "Influence Multipliers"

"Compared to all video gamers, Influence Multipliers are a hyper influential subset of friends who are also far more connected to other gamers," said Dan Gallagher, senior vice president, Insight & Analytics at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. "As a result, Influence Multipliers have an outsized network influence effect on their gaming colleagues. By targeting the media channels that Influence Multipliers rely on, marketers can optimize their marketing spending."

Gallagher's advice here is something that politicians have been using for ages. You don't have to influence everyone - just the ones who influence everyone else. Words to market by.

The remainder of the chart shows that advertising and promotions accounted for a mere 11% of influenced purchases, beaten by game reviews, demos, and retail presence.

I'd say that actual advertising is most effective for non-gamers, with gamers being so connected these days that we don't need advertisements to know a game is coming out. We don't need to be made aware of a game's existence, just its quality, and for that, we turn to each other. Group hug, everybody!

We've already explored the world of game publishing in 2010 from our reader's point of view, and now our second installment of "What Will You Do?" takes a look at the place people buy video games. How can retail video game outlets improve the industry in the coming year? Retailers are a powerful force in video gaming, having a say in what games will be stocked and in what quantities and how games are marketed to players, while also playing an important role as the consumer's direct-link to the games industry, giving newcomers their first impressions of the hobby we know and love. Retailers are also responsible for the used video game market, which grows larger and (some would say) more threatening every day.

Flip on the neon open sign and get to work!

Using Final Fantasy XIII to promote TVs.

Sofmap, a Japanese retailer with stores in Tokyo and Osaka, has a Final Fantasy XIII display up at its main store in Akihabara. The FFXIII trailer is being looped on a big screen HD television. In Japanese, the sign reads, "If you're playing Final Fantasy XIII, then of course big screen!"

If anything is going to get those Japanese gamers who haven't yet embrace HD gaming, it's going to be Final Fantasy XIII.

ソフマップ本館　「ファイナルファンタジー１３を遊ぶなら、やっぱり大画面！」 [アキバBlog]

Families, accessibility, paunches, sweaters, grandpa, a snarky daughter...yup, they've got this down pat.

Nintendo's Wii holiday commercial [Go Nintendo]

It's also running a free-shipping promo that isn't all that glamorous, but is worth a mention: Free shipping on The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the DS, and free shipping on all pre-ordered games.

You can check out the deals here. Alert reader bjorked noticed in yesterday's Weekend Coupons that the sale was announced in this weekend's Toys 'R Us circular.

Toys 'R Us: Video Games [site]

Come on, say it with me now, kids: "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories? Used? For $14.99? OH MY GODDDDDD!!!!!! THANK YOU MOMMY!!!!"

GameStop Holiday [Site]

The prepaid card, announced Wednesday, "is a perfect marriage of encouraging responsible spending while providing a unique reward program," says EA Sports global marketing boss Todd Sitrin. Purchases accrue rewards points at more than 26,000 physical locations across the U.S., and more than 700 online retailers.

Like frequent flyer or other rewards programs, when a cardholder buys something, a percentage of that goes into a rebate fund for purchasing EA Sports titles. Although it's a debit card the balance is reloadable either from a bank account or buy purchasing other cards available at places like Walmart, CVS, Radio Shack and 7-Eleven.

If you really want this card but don't know where to find one, call 877-732-7114 and you can enroll over the phone.

In all, you get a 360 Elite, two controllers and copies of both Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, all for CAD$400 (USD$380).

It should be on sale right now, so if you're interested in the 360 and somehow missed Halo, why not. At the very least, you'll be supporting the idea of consoles coming with two controllers.

The Wii went on sale in the UK in December 2006, so we're looking at an average of 2 million per year. Not bad. Sure, sales have slowed over the past 6-9 months, but I'm not going to be the one to rain on Nintendo's parade.

Six million is good, but if it wants to claim the title of best-selling British console of all time, it's got another four million to sell before it overtakes the PlayStation 2.

Wii hits six million in the UK [MCV]

Redbox boss Mitch Lowe says that he's holding the talks in an attempt to not only expand the range of products they can offer, but also to try and pre-empt the kind of disputes Redbox currently find themselves in with movie studios.

Studios like Fox, Universal and Warner have withdrawn from Redbox's kiosks in recent months, unhappy with the way the company charges so little for rentals, as they feel it undermines actual DVD sales.

So Lowe is sounding out the idea with a number of undisclosed publishers, one of which is THQ. "If you look at movies and music in some ways", THQ boss Brian Farrell says, "resisting new business models has not been a great formula for success, so one of the things I like about our industry is we tend to think, 'We have to adapt to this change.' So it's part of our DNA".

To help with the talks, Redbox have already begun trialling "Gamebox" machines in a number of locations in the US, like the one above, sent in by reader Richard. They've been in select markets since the middle of the year. Should these talks go well, though, you can expect them in a lot more markets.

Redbox talking with video game makers [Reuters]

GameStop was trading for $21.73 around 1 p.m. U.S. Eastern time, $2.11 off its opening price of $23.84 and a decline of 8.8 percent. It had hit as low as $21.36 earlier in the day.

Bloomberg News reported that an analyst advised clients that GameStop, whose stores have been located in close proximity to Walmart to capitalize on the retail giant's foot traffic, may have to drop its prices to remain competitive. Walmart's price cuts affect 25 games, including Left 4 Dead 2, and Uncharted 2, and take as much as 20 percent off their MSRP through Dec. 24. Walmart is also offering a $50 gift card with the purchase of a Wii.

GameStop Falls Most in S&P 500 After Walmart Cuts Game Prices [Bloomberg]

The "Imperial Edition" of the game will come with a copy of Napoleon: Total War, an "illustrated wallchart biography of Napoleon Bonaparte" and download codes for two exclusive unit packs.

The first is the "Elite Regiment" pack, which comes with any boxed copy of the game, not just this fancy edition. It includes five of the "most elite military Forces of the Napoleonic Wars", which breaks down to two cavalry and three infantry units. Nice, but it also comes with the regular edition.

The "Heroes of the Napoleonic Wars" pack, on the other hand, is exclusive to the Imperial Edition. It collects ten units, some infantry, some cavalry, and since these guys have better names, sharper uniforms and bigger feathers in their caps, they should also be of more use on the battlefield.

Being a UK-based game, there's only British pricing currently available at the moment: while the standard edition comes in at £30 (USD$50), the Imperial Edition is £50 (USD$80), which is a hell of a lot more to pay for a set that doesn't include a large action figure or set of night vision goggles.

That's every single game. Not just the crummy ones, or he old ones, or the crummy old ones, or the crummy new ones. All of them. So Dragon Age, Mass Effect, The Sims 3, Need for Speed, FIFA 10, The Saboteur, the works.

Only catch? Looks like it only applies to the US store, so those in Europe or Australasia (I, for example, can't access the sale), you're shit out of luck.

EA Thanksgiving Sale [EA, via Big Download]

Can't say we can remember the last time a single game got its own store. Actually, it's rare a game company gets its own store, so a one-title shop is just bananas.

There's a catch, though; both stores are only open for a limited time, with the shutters coming down on December 14.

[Image: Gary Whitta @ NeoGAF]