STAMPER BROTHERS LEAVE RARE LTD

1UP.com is reporting that Tim and Chris Stamper, founders of Rare Ltd., have left the company effective immediately. While the official word on their departure has all the usual wording about the brothers leaving to pursue other opportunities, there is no actual word on whether they left the company of their own free will or were forced out. Simply put, Rare certainly hasn't performed the way Microsoft hoped it would when they purchased it from Nintendo in 2002 for 377 million dollars.

I don't know about you, but if I were Nintendo, I'd probably be dialing the Stamper's right now to remind them of past successes and offer to help them form a second party development house for the Big N.

For more information on this story, check out the 1UP.com article here. If you're interested in a quick history of Rare Ltd, check out their Wikipedia entry here.

NPD GROUP RELEASES HOLIDAY 2006 U.S. NEXT-GEN CONSOLE SALES FIGURES

According to an article over at GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that the NPD Group have released their preliminary U.S. console sales figures for the period of November 1st through December 25th. Here's what they've reported so far;

• Xbox 360 - Approximately 2 million units sold.
• Nintendo Wii - Approximately 1.8 million units sold.
• Sony PlayStation 3 - Approximately 750,000 units sold.

Naturally, those figures don't tell the whole story due to the later start and shortages of the Wii and PS3, but it does at least give an indication of where the big three came out following the holiday rush. Full details on this past holiday season's sales should be available from NPD later this month.

Check out the GamesIndustry.biz article at this link for more details.

UPDATE: 8:15pm 1/3/07 - Gamespot is reporting that the numbers listed above did not come from the NPD Group, but rather from International Data Corporation (IDC), a completely different market analysis firm. Those of you looking for more details should check out the Gamespot article at this link.

TEKKEN 6 COMING TO PLAYSTATION 3 AND XBOX 360?

Chalk this one up as a rumor for now, but word over at news4gamers.com is that the same source that leaked the news that Virtua Fighter 5 was going multiplatform is now saying that Namco's Tekken 6 is about to do the same.

"According to "sources within IGN" (the same source who said VF5 would come to Xbox 360) Namco is currently working on a Xbox 360 version of Tekken 6, that would appear winter 2007, just short after the PS3-version." - News4Gamers.com

There's not much to back that statement up in the article beyond a link to the full story which takes the reader over to a German language Xbox 360 website. If anyone out there can read German, feel free to let me know exactly what that website says about the whole thing, because losing Tekken 6 would be another massive blow to Sony and the PlayStation 3. You know, the thing that totally staggers my mind is that Sony seems content to just sit and do nothing while, at the very least, gamers perceptions of their chances in this round of consoles drops constantly.

Sure, I know that hard-core gamers don't make up a majority of the final console installed base numbers, but you've got to think that Sony at least sees the need to get those early adopters talking favorably about their systems. A prime example would be the people I work with - none of them are gamers, though many have children who play games. While they may not know much about the PlayStation 3's specs and may still consider the PlayStation name a strong sales motivator, they would also all tell you that the PlayStation 3 is overpriced and beyond one or two exclusives, were they to buy a console right now, they'd probably better off buying an Xbox 360 or Wii right now. Why? because they asked me what I thought about the new consoles since they know I play games religiously and have multiple systems, and I told them.

That is why Sony cannot just sit back and expect the PlayStation name to carry them to victory. Yes, if the children of those co-workers are adamant in the fact they want a PS3 somewhere down the road, they may just get one anyway - but if they were on the fence, word of mouth like that can be a killer. Sony, I'll give you a free "starter" tip - how about making that downloadable version Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection available in the U.S. PlayStation store sooner than the rumored January 18th, so people don't have to go through the stupidity of creating a second account to buy it now from the Hong Kong PlayStation store?

Before I ramble on any longer, let's hit the linkage - click here to head over to News4Gamers.com to check out the original article. Oh, and if you're curious as to how you get the Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Honk Kong download, click here to head over to an article on the process at GamersReports.

VERY SHORT HALO 3 VIDEOS LEAKED

If it weren't for the fact that it's Halo 3, I probably wouldn't even take the time to post these clips as news, but it is, so I will. It appears that some footage of the game - some very short footage of the game - was taken at Bungie's recent closed beta-test/play session held for American troops in Iraq. The videos don't seem to show much other than the opening title screen and a few seconds of a multiplayer game, but that's better than nothing I guess. Check them out below;

For more information on the event and the full sized versions of the above videos, use the following links;

• Bungie Get US Army To Beta Test Halo 3 - Kotaku
• Bungie Sends Halo 3 Beta To US Troops In Iraq - Firing Squad
• Halo 3 Leaked Footage 1 - YouTube
• Halo 3 Leaked Footage 2 - YouTube

Still no video love in the archives, so use the above links.

THIS WEEK'S RELEASES: JANUARY 1ST - JANUARY 7TH

If you thought the last two week's releases have been bad, you haven't seen anything yet. There is not a single title on this list that I can even find the slightest bit of enthusiasm about, so all I'm going to say is I hope you have some good titles to tide you over until next week.

Out of curiosity, is anyone getting as sick as I am of seeing the same PC titles being listed week after week? Here's the list;

• Great Invasions - PC - 1/2/2006
  
• Model Train 3D - PC - 1/2/2006
  
• Air Cargo Pilot - PC - 1/3/2006
  
• Hipsoft Puzzle Game Collection - PC - 1/3/2006
  
• Karaoke Revolution American Idol - PS2 - 1/3/2006
  
• Mozaki Blocks Deluxe - PC - 1/3/2006
  
• Super Collapse 3 - DS - 1/3/2006
  
• Yu-Gi-Oh!GX Spirit Caller - DS - 1/3/2006
  
• Paws & Claws Pet Vet - DS - 1/4/2006

Please keep in mind these are only estimated release dates and could change at any time.

STARDOCK SHOWS OFF DARK AVATAR IMPROVEMENTS

While most companies would be satisfied to just tell you about the enhancements they've made to the features and artificial intelligence of their latest game, the folks at Stardock do things a little bit differently. As such, they've posted a walkthrough of a war fought in Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, which will become a part of the game's official lore. The story follows along with in depth looks into the strategies being used and also serves as a good introduction to the game for those who have never tried any of the titles in the series.

It's a good read, and like I mentioned, really gives you a solid idea of just how deep the game is - if you're on the fence about grabbing the Dark Avatar expansion or Galactic Civilizations II, this article could just make up your mind - check it out here.

CHILD'S PLAY CHARITY 2006 DONATIONS APPROACHING ONE MILLION DOLLARS

While checking out Ben Kuchera's "Opposable Thumbs" column over at ArsTechnica this morning, I read that the latest update from the Child's Play charity is that they've almost broken one million dollars in donations for the 2006 drive. There are still a few days left, so if you haven't donated yet, now would be the perfect time. Think of the children and click the banner below to find out how you can help! (You've always wanted to be the hero who rides in at the last moment to save the day, haven't you?)

MAME32 .111.1 RELEASED

Following in the footsteps of the command line version, MAME32 v.111.1, the Windows GUI port of MAME v.111 is also now available.

Check out the official MAME32 page here for more details and the download links.

MAME V.111U1 RELEASED

After a bit of a delay for the holidays, the MAME team is back on the job. The latest "update" version of the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, version 1.11u1, is now available. This time around it focuses on a huge amount of behind the scenes changes, so those of you who aren't experiencing any issues with the last full build should probably hold off on getting the update until the next full release.

The only new game supported which is worth mentioning would be the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga Class of '81 machine, so if you've got one and need to emulate it, knock yourself out. The updated emulator files can be found at the official MAME page at Mamedev.org. You can Click here to see the full list of what's new in this update.

LAZY DAY TRAILERS: WORLD OF WARCRAFT - THE BURNING CRUSADE

You know, I got the Burning Crusade once after drinking the water in Mexico, and let me tell you, I was crapping thunder for a... oh wait... nevermind. I know, I know, the Burning Crusade jokes are about as stale as can be, but I figured I'd just jump on the bandwagon since I really couldn't think of much else to say about the below trailer that hasn't been said already. It's not in-game footage by any stretch of the imagination, but it's been a slow news week and it's entertaining enough, so here we go - the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade cinematic trailer;

As usual, no love for video here in the archives, so use this link for the trailer instead.