Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2’s $550 million milestone

Despite the controversy (or perhaps, because of it) surrounding Activision Blizzard and Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continues to break sales records. Modern Warfare 2 has set a new worldwide estimated five-day sell-through record of approximately $550 million, according to internal Activision estimates.

Modern Warfare 2’s launch beat all previous first-and five-day entertainment industry box office, book and video game sell-through records set by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film ($394 million), The Dark Knight film ($203.8 million) and the previous record set by Grand Theft Auto IV (6 million units, $500 million) - just to name a few.

Modern Warfare 2’s success also extends to Xbox LIVE, where more than 5.2 million multiplayer hours were logged playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the first day alone. More than 2.2 million unique gamers played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in one day on November 10th - a new one-day record for Xbox LIVE.
Finally more than 11 million achievements were unlocked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the first day.

Love it or hate it, Modern Warfare 2 is kickings a$$ and cashing checks.

Shippin’ Out: Week of Nov. 16, 2009

Buried in a sea of offal (the usual rush of products prior to the holiday shopping season stampede), are a number of promising games including multiple versions of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2, the new Tony Hawk game, Left 4 Dead 2, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, NCAA Basketball 2010, LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, LittleBigPlanet’s PSP debut, and so much more. You can check out the rather massive list after the break - which doesn’t even include the new stuff making its way to digital distribution platforms like Steam, GamerGate, Impulse and more.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii was released on Sunday, Nov. 15, so if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, you should be able to find it at most major outlets.

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Mass Effect 2 Collector’s Edition details

A Collector’s Edition of BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 will also be released in limited quantities on January 26 in North America (Jan 29 in EU) alongside the standard edition. The Collectors’ Edition comes in a tin case and includes the full version of the game, a 48-page hardcover “Art of Mass Effect 2″ book, Issue 1 of the Mass Effect Redemption comic book, and a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes and making-of videos. In addition, the Mass Effect 2 Collectors’ Edition will include in-game weapons and armor that can only be obtained by purchasing this version.

Mass Effect 2 will be available on the Xbox 360 and PC. The Mass Effect 2 Collectors’ Edition will retail at an MSRP of $69.99 on Xbox 360 and $59.99 on PC.

Find out more at masseffect.bioware.com.

Nintendo DSi on top, PSP moves up in Japan

According to Media Create, the Nintendo DSi was the best selling console in Japan for the week of Oct. 19 - 25th, 2009. During the week Nintendo managed to sell 42,199 units, followed by the PSP with 32,865 and the PS3 finally beating out the Wii with 29,977 units.

No hell has not in fact frozen over - price cuts are like little miracles!  Personally I think that the PSP go would be doing a lot better if its price point wasn’t more than the Wii at this point. Go figure. Full list below:

1 - DSi: 42,199

2 - PSP: 32,865

3 - PS3: 29,977

4 - Wii: 25,917

5 - DS Lite: 6,550

6 - Xbox 360: 4,470

7 - PS2: 1,951

Source: Media Create

2.6 million copies of Tekken Shipped

No matter what Scott Jones thinks of Tekken 6 (read his freshly penned review where calls me a cheap bastard for some reason), it is proving to be a top seller for publisher Namco Bandai Games. Across all platforms the game have shipped over 2.5 million copies of the standard retail, Arcade Stick and Limited editions shipped to retailers worldwide for launch. Europe is having a big impact on Tekken 6 - or at the very least Namco Bandai Games and retailers’ expectations of the game’s potential. Shipped just means that retailers want copies of the game in their stores in the hopes than fans want to buy the game.

Tekken 6 is available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 now.

Runes of Magic game cards now at Target

Pre-paid game cards for Frogster’s free-to-play MMO Runes of Magic will soon be available at Target stores nationwide. The cards will provide instant access to in-game credits in Runes of Magic. The game cards started shipping to Target stores on October 1st.

Runes of Magic Game Cards come in $20 increments and can be used in the game’s diamond shop to purchase mounts or in-game enhancements. The Target Game Card joins the recently announced Zeevex card program which will make Runes of Magic’s in-game currency available at 7-Eleven stores. Frogster continues to look for additional ways to support the community with alternative payment methods, survey credits and other opportunities that open up the game’s paid enhancements to the free user base, the company said.

You can learn more about the game by visiting www.runesofmagic.com.

Two upstate NY GameCrazy stores closing

According to a blog post on the online site of Albany New York’s top newspaper, The Times Union, GameCrazy plans to close two of its three area stores including stores at 818 Central Ave. in Albany and on Route 9 in Latham, NY. A store spokesperson confirmed that the Albany store will close after a liquidation sale that will begin on Saturday. This will leave only one GameCrazy store left in the area - in the 20 Mall in Guilderland, NY. The Latham store is slated to close Oct. 24, according to an unnamed employee at that location.

Earlier this week Movie Gallery announced that it would close nearly 200 of its stores. Thanks to our own Matt Nolin for the tip.