Though developer Petroglyph Games announced its PC sci-fi RTS Universe at War: Earth Assault had gone gold, publisher Sega today corroborated the news and announced that the game will ship to North American retailers December 10.

Retailer listings had previously indicated the game would ship out December 4. The Xbox 360 version of the game is expected next year.

For a taste of how the game plays, check out the 1.2GB demo over at FileShack, which includes a tutorial and the first two missions from the Hierarchy campaign.

A tally of the past four weeks of Japanese hardware sales shows that Sony's PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo's Wii for the first time, according to magazine publisher and marketing data provider Enterbrain.

The figures, as reported by Reuters, show that the PS3 sold 183,217 units throughout November, whereas the Wii only sold 159,193.

The strong sales of the PlayStation 3 are attributed to this month's releases of Konami's soccer title Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2, PS3, X360) and Omega Force's slash 'em up Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3). Both series are extremely popular in Japan, and tracking firm Media Create states they were the two best-selling PS3 games between November 19 and 25.

In terms of overall software sales, Winning Eleven 2008 was the third best-selling title of that time, topped only by the PS2 edition of the game and Square Enix's DS remake of Dragon Quest IV. Dynasty Warriors 6, which debuted earlier this month, came in at #13, with only two Wii games--Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy and Sega's Mario & Sonic at the Olympics--outselling it.

The PC version of Petroglyph Games' sci-fi RTS Universe at War: Earth Assault has gone gold and entered the manufacturing process.

One of the many Sega-published titles announced for digital distribution via Steam, the latest effort from the Star Wars: Empire at War (PC) developer is expected to be available from traditional retail outlets and Steam next Wednesday, December 5.

For a taste of how the game plays, check out the 1.2GB demo over at FileShack, which includes a tutorial and the first two missions from the Hierarchy campaign.

"Thanks to all of you who have been following the development, participating on the boards and playing along," community manager driph-PG posted on the studio's official site. "It's been a hell of a ride."

An Xbox 360 version of the game is slated to arrive early next year, and will be among the few Xbox 360 titles to support cross-platform multiplayer.

Sega has teamed with Valve to bring more Sega-published titles to the PC download service, the companies announced today. The recently released offroad racer Sega Rally Revo (PC, PS3, PSP, X360) is available for download now, with titles like Petroglyph's Universe at War (PC, X360), Sports Interactive's Football Manager 2008 (PC), and Shiny Entertainment's The Golden Compass (PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, NDS, X360) coming soon to the service.

Other Sega titles like The Creative Assembly's Medieval II: Total War (PC) and Rome: Total War (PC) that were already available in North America can now be downloaded by Europeans and gamers in most other territories as well.

Both Universe at War and The Golden Compass will be coming to the service this month. Gamers interested in Sega titles can browse the full list of available and upcoming games on Sega's Steam page.

In just over a year, Nintendo's Wii-based online Virtual Console service has netted over 3.5 billion yen ($31.7 million USD) in revenue.

Using the Virtual Console portion of the Wii Shop Channel, gamers can purchase and download retro classics from a variety of older video game systems, including the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx-16. In all, the service has accumulated more than 7.8 million downloads, and new titles are added each week.

The figures, as reported by IGN, were disclosed at a press conference in which the company discussed its recent teaming with Japanese internet provider NTT to promote the Wii's internet connectivity.

"We're currently unsure if this is a lot or low," said Nintendo executive Shinji Hatano. "They're not bad figures."

Nintendo plans to begin offering original downloadable titles--a la Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation 3's PlayStation Store--through the WiiWare portion of the online store in early 2008.

Nintendo is celebrating sports, gambling, and wildlife conservation with today's additions to the online Wii Virtual Console. All three games will be available at 9 a.m. PST/12 p.m. EST.

Double Dribble, Konami's much-loved NES basketball simulation for one or two players, arrives on the download service at 500 Wii Points ($5). Ecco Jr., Sega's child-friendly Genesis expose on the antics of young dolphins, sells for 800 Wii Points ($8).

Vegas Stakes, meanwhile, comes from Kirby developer HAL Laboratory. The Super Nintendo title offers blackjack, slots, poker, craps, and roulette for up to four players, along with the occasional encounter with another gambler, which, depending on your actions, can end in profit, loss, or everyone thinking you're a jerk. To stay on the table, you'll need to chip in 800 Wii Points ($8).

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Wii's release in North America. To celebrate, Nintendo has, as it does every Monday, added more retro titles to the system's online store.

This week, Virtual Console is graced by Wrecking Crew, Sonic 3D Blast, and Super Air Zonk. The Nintendo-developed Wrecking Crew on NES, which tells the tale of Mario and Luigi's puzzling foray into building demolition, runs 500 Wii Points ($5).

A collaboration between Sega and Traveller's Tales, the isometric exploits of Sonic 3D Blast mark a bit of a departure from the blue speedster's 2D Genesis adventures. Though the gaming public may have mixed opinions on the title, you can come to your own conclusions for 800 Wii Points ($8).

One of the few TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM titles on Virtual Console, Red's Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise branches out of the Bonk platforming series, exploring the sidescrolling and shooting antics of Zonk that were first showcased in Air Zonk. Renowned for its self-proclaimed rockabilly soundtrack, Super Air Zonk sells for 800 Wii Points ($8).

Update: Sega of America has formally announced the title for a spring 2008 release in North America.

Original Story:Sega Europe has officially announced The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return, the Wii-bound House of the Dead 2 & 3 compilation we reported on a few days ago.

As expected, the bundling of the old Dreamcast and Xbox titles and its light-gun zombie massacre will support both the gun-like Wii Zapper and co-op play. In celebration of the Wii's upcoming zombie outbreak, the company sent along several screenshots of zombie slaughter.

The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return will arrive in Europe spring 2008. No North American release has been announced, though it is expected within the same timeframe.

The Wii's predilection towards light gun zombie-killing goodness will continue with a combo pack of House of the Dead 2 & 3. The game is set to arrive at some point in 2008, and will presumably support the Wii Zapper, which hits North America on Monday.

Word of the game first arrived in the form of a now-removed GameFly listing, which Joystiq quickly confirmed as legitimate via Sega. Though the company did state the game was coming, a representative noted Sega was not ready to formally announce the title. A supposed press release from Sega Europe, referring to the game as "House of the Dead 2&3 Return," began making the rounds on message boards around that time, though its legitimacy is questionable.

The initial game listing indicated it was expected on March 31, 2008, though such specific dates this far in advance are generally estimates. Both titles were first released in arcades, with AM1's House of the Dead 2 arriving later on Dreamcast and PC. Wow Entertainment's House of the Dead 3 eventually made its way to Xbox and PC, complete with an unlockable version of House of the Dead 2.

Update: Xbox Live programming director Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb has confirmed that Xbox Originals will not feature achievements. "In order to preserve the integrity of the original gaming experience they provide, they will have the features available at the time of their initial release." he wrote.

Original Story: Fresh off the unveiling of downloadable Xbox Originals for Xbox 360, which are slated to arrive on December 4, Microsoft has released a list of known issues experienced when playing the born-again titles.

A result of the Xbox 360's software-enabled backwards compatibility, similar problems tend to crop up when certain original Xbox game discs are inserted into the system as well.

Bungie's Halo is marred by some "very mild" drops in its framerate. During FASA's Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, the top of the screen "very rarely" undergoes some "minor flickering," and during multiplayer, the "Press A to Continue" message does not display after the host leaves. Bursts of static will randomly occur in Lionhead's Fable, along with some texture issues and a brief pause when removing tattoos.

European gamers will find that Double Fine's Psychonauts will not run at... Read more

More previously import-only Sega Genesis titles are headed to Wii Virtual Console, claims Sega. According to the publisher, prices for import games will begin at 900 Wii Points ($9), with the premium likely caused by localization efforts.

Titles that were previously unreleased in North America began appearing on Virtual Console earlier this year, with Treasure's Sin & Punishment (N64) and Nintendo's Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (NES) among the first efforts. As is expected to be common with such games, both carried a price higher than those of normal releases for their respective platforms.

Sega's first import titles on Virtual Console were the internally developed Golden Axe III and Treasure's Alien Soldier, both of which were only previously available to North American Genesis owners via the Sega Channel, which marked the company's early attempt at online distribution.

Today's digidump brings you screenshots from Endless Ocean, The Golden Compass, NCAA March Madness 08 and Sonic Rivals 2. We also have a trailer from SimCity Societies. But we're starting off things with an Assassin's Creed video diary. Click here to see the rest.

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Majesco today announced the formation of Majesco Studios, a division that will henceforth handle internal development for the publisher. The company previously relied upon third party developers to create most of the games it published, such as Double Fine's Psychonauts (PC, PS2, Xbox) and Office Create's Cooking Mama series.

Former Sega senior VP of development Bill Petro will act as the Majesco Studios' VP of internal development, with the new studio said to "specifically focus on products and properties that resonate with the casual gamer."

Titles aimed at the casual gamer, such as Cooking Mama on DS and Wii, have proved to be among Majesco's most popular recent releases. The DS edition sold over 500,000 units in Q3 2007, with the sales of DS software accounting for 66% of the company's Q3 revenue.

"Creative and technical talent is at the heart of all great games and enduring intellectual properties," stated Majesco executive Gui Karyo. "Majesco Studios provides a means for us to leverage our resources and add the best players to our team for both the projects that we develop internally and the majority for which we utilize third party development."

In anticipation of next week's release of Super Mario Galaxy (Wii), Nintendo is celebrating the heritage of the world's most famous plumber by today adding Super Mario Bros. 3 to Wii's online Virtual Console store. Billed by Nintendo as the "greatest game ever," Mario's fourth--if you count The Lost Levels--and final platform-oriented NES outing runs 500 Wii Points ($5).

Accompanying Mario in his all-star adventure to Virtual Console are Alien Soldier and Power Golf. Much like Golden Axe III, Alien Soldier was never officially released in North America, and was only available through the Sega Channel. That all changes today, as Treasure's Genesis sidescrolling rendition of extraterrestrial slaughter arrives for 900 Wii Points ($9).

Hudson Soft's Power Golf, meanwhile, allows up to three players tee off across 18 different holes. The TurboGrafx-16 golfer is priced at 600 Wii Points ($6), and, as with all of today's additions, will be available to buy beginning at 12PM EST, which translates to 11AM CST and 9AM PST.

Sega is bringing out a tie-in title based on the upcoming Iron Man movie, the Marvel Comics adaptation staring Robert Downey Jr. and directed by Jon Favreau (Elf, Swingers).

Today the publisher sent along the first screenshots, which you can view below. Iron Man is looking akin to the previous Marvel property The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, featuring missions set in large environments with plenty of targets.

Confirming earlier reports, Sega announced it will be bringing a new iteration in the long-lost Samba de Amigo franchise to Wii next spring in North America and Europe as well as Japan.

As previously indicated, Brothers in Arms creator Gearbox Software will be developing the game. Gearbox is said to love both of Sonic Team's maraca-shaking Dreamcast titles, which had players shake height-sensing maracas to music at various altitudes. This time around, the Wii remote and nunchuk will replace those costly maracas. (Note: "Jesus Christ," exclaimed an overjoyed Chris Faylor when Sega's press release arrived in the Shack inbox this morning. -Remo)

Though details are few, Sega says the soundtrack will include both new song as well as returning favorites. Notable tracks from the original titles that may appear in the new edition include Bellini's "Samba de Amigo," Reel Big Fish's cover of A-ha's "Take on Me," and Hideki Naganuma's Jet Set Grind Radio anthem "Let Mom Sleep." More details on the song list and other new features are said to arrive within the next few months.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosted the British Academy Video Games Awards 2007 today, and Nintendo's Wii pack-in compilation Wii Sports came home with the most metal, taking six of the ceremony's 15 awards.

The title was actually nominated for seven awards, losing only the Best Game honor to 2K Boston/2K Australia's underwater shooter BioShock (PC, X360). Although several unreleased titles had somehow made the list of nominees, none of these games came away with an award.

Both Clover Studio's artsy adventure title Okami (PS2) and SCE Santa Monica's brutal mythical action title God of War II (PS2) earned two awards each. Look below for the full list of winners or check out the dubious list of nominees.

• Action and Adventure - Crackdown (Realtime Worlds, Microsoft, X360)
• Artistic Achievement - Okami (Clover Studio, Capcom, PS2)
• Best Game - BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia, 2K Games, PC, X360)
• Casual - Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
• Gameplay - Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
• Innovation - Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
• Multiplayer - Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
• Original Score - Okami (Clover Studio, Capcom, PS2)
• Sports - Okami Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
• Strategy and Simulation - Wii Sports (Nintendo, Wii)
• Story and Character - God of War II (SCE Santa Monica, SCE, PS2)
• Technical Achievement - God of War II (SCE Santa Monica, SCE, PS2)
• Use of Audio - Crackdown (Realtime Worlds, Microsoft, X360)
• BAFTA Ones to Watch Award (Independent Dev) - Ragnarawk (Voodoo Boogy)
• The PC World Gamers Award (Public Voting Online) - Football Manager 2007 (Sports Interactive, Sega, PC)

Update: Shacknews has received the following update directly from Chris Taylor, suggesting an external studio is handling the port of the game and indicating an announcement is imminent:

"We'll have a more official announcement coming in the next day or so... let's see if you can guess who it is... they have been around about as long as we have, share the same core values as we do, and have really great people who love games. It's hard to keep the secret, but we'll send an official press release out soon. And yes, SupCom is coming to the console!"

Original article: According to a Pro-G interview with Supreme Commander designer Chris Taylor, development studio Gas Powered Games will be undertaking the considerable task of bringing its massive-scale PC RTS game to a console platform--likely the Xbox 360, which Taylor considers "the platform of choice for moving stuff from the PC."

"You've almost made me confess that we're working on it... No, actually you have. That's good. I like that. This is a secret I want to share," admitted the often ebullient Total Annihilation and SupCom designer, true to form.

Taylor acknowledged the control difficulties inherent to strategy... Read more

From billiards on the moon to bipedal panthers and a ninja named JaJaMaru, today's new Virtual Console releases mark some of the strangest games yet to hit the Wii's online store.

The weirdness stars with Lunar Pool, an NES title from Compile that provides a glimpse into the recreational activities available on the moon. Essentially a cross between billiards and miniature golf, Lunar Pool runs 500 Wii Points ($5).

Next up is the North American debut of Jaleco's NES action title Ninja JaJaMaru-kun. In order to rescure Princess Sakura from Namazu Dayuu, JaJaMaru must break floor tiles and figure out the attack patterns of his various foes. There is also a chance he might ride on a giant frog.

As with Sin & Punishment and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, the localization cost of Ninja JaJaMaru-kun results in a slightly ... Read more

Characters like famous blue speedster Sonic the Hedgehog and encapsulated simian AiAi from Super Monkey Ball will come together for the first time in Sega Superstars Tennis, Sega announced today. Developed by Foundation 9-subsidiary Sumo Digital, responsible for the arcade conversions of Sega titles Virtua Tennis 3 (PS3, X360) and the recent Outrun remakes, Sega Superstars Tennis will hit PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, and Xbox 360 in early 2008.

The arcade tennis title will have 15 total Sega characters, including fellow ape Amigo from maraca-shaking Dreamcast title Samba De Amigo and dancer Ulala from Dreamcast rhythm title Space Channel 5. Play areas will be themed to match the game's Sega heroes, like Sonic's Green Hill Zone home court.

Sega also promises some tennis gameplay twists on Sega classic titles. Though lacking from all other versions, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions will feature online play.