The PlayStation Portable absolutely killed it in Japan last week, sales-wise, gobbling up a huge portion of the hardware sales market and giving Sony the dominant portion of the pie. Who's responsible?

The one-two punch of MonHun Nikki: Poka Poka Ailu Mura and Ace Combat: Joint Assault helped propel the PSP to sweet sales last week, according to sales tracker Media Create. Neither did much for the PSP's UMD-less sibling, which still languishes in last place.

For the bestselling hardware in Japan for the week of August 23 to 29, look at this bullet-pointed list.

• PSP - 55,112
• PlayStation 3 - 25,053
• Nintendo DSi LL - 19,010
• Nintendo DSi - 17,057
• Wii - 15,989
• Nintendo DS Lite - 3,925
• Xbox 360 - 2,665
• PlayStation 2 - 1,358
• PSP go - 836

With the holiday onslaught of new releases set to start, we gauged our twitterbase to find out which September-due games are most prominent on the radar. Read on to see which games fans are frothing over.

Here's the original question posed to our followers, featuring a few of this month's biggest releases:

While it hasn't even been a year since Halo 3: ODST released, fan fervor for Halo: Reach is still quite high. With Bungie putting its best foot forward in its swan song to the franchise it made famous, most gamers have high hopes, though a few (like the final tweeter of the bunch) are looking forward to the game for other reasons entirely.

The other game to nab a few mentions is the long-awaited zombie slaughterfest Dead Rising 2. As you can also see from the other games mentioned in these tweets, fan anticipation for the PlayStation Move is quite varied:

Finally, we must admit that even our own finely-tuned gamer-radar can malfunction from time to time, as there was one game we forgot to mention to our followers that one user managed to discover:

/slaps forehead.

Do you agree with fan sentiment, or are there other games this group forgot to bring up? Sound off in the comment section below or by replying to GamePro on Twitter.

2K Sports will publish Top Spin 4, the latest edition of its tennis sim, in 2011, with versions for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

In a statement issued today, Greg Thomas, 2K Sports' president of product development promised the game would deliver "an uncanny level of realism in the player and stadium models, authentic audio captured directly from real tennis matches, and all-new innovative controls."

The game is being developed by 2K Czech. Pam Development, the series' original studio, was bought by 2K Games and closed shortly after Top Spin 3 released. That game was generally praised for its superior presentation and realistic venues, tournaments and the depth of its player roster, but criticized for the difficulty of its control set.

A specific release date was not given. 2K Sports did say that preordering the game from GameStop will bring a free "vintage Andre Agassi" playable character (pictured above) when the game releases. The offer's good in North America only.

2K Sports rolled out five screens for the game in development. Check 'em out below.

During the Xbox Live Enforcement panel at PAX this past weekend, director of policy and enforcement on Xbox Live, Stephen Toulouse (a.k.a. Stepto), recited "Stepto's Law" for the audience. The complex formula is used to determine the validity of a complaint issued by a banned Xbox Live user. The law goes like this:
Toulouse feels that his law "tends to be almost 100 percent accurate of Xbox Live," but of course there can be exceptions to the rule -- er, law, in this case.

PAX 2010: Stepto's Law of Xbox Live ban protests originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look, I'm a fan of NBC's action-comedy Chuck, but there's no doubt that the producer of the show are the kings of product placement. I couldn't count on both hands the number of times one of the characters was eating (and then commenting on) a tasty Subway sandwich. Hey, this is our fault -- we all fast forward through commercials or leave the room, right?

So I guess this is the next step: build an entire episode (or in this case, a "webisode") around a product, in this instance, Halo: Reach. In this series, Chuck character's Jeff and Lester go on a road trip in search of Bungie's upcoming first-person shooter. The character Lester actually says outlaid the game's name and the date of its midnight launch before saying "I refuse to live without the new Halo."

A paid advertisement in the guise of a television program doesn't get more obvious than this, but fans of the show should get a kick out of the extra content featuring characters they love. Just remember, Halo: Reach launches on September 14, and you should start lining up for the midnight launch now. Consider bringing a Subway sandwich as a snack; you might get hungry waiting in line waiting for Bungie's latest, available exclusively on Microsoft's Xbox 360 this fall!

Uh… yeah.

If you're an Xbox Live Gold member and a Resident Evil fan, this week's deals are for you. Capcom is dropping its prices on not only its Resident Evil 5 downloadable content, but Avatar goodies as well.

The "Untold Stories Bundle" is now 560 MS Points (down from 960); "Desperate Escape" will run you 240 MS Points (down from 400); "Lost In Nightmares" is 240 MS Points (down from 400); and the "Versus Mode" add on is now 200 MS Points (down from 400). If you're looking to spice up your Xbox Avatar, Chris Redfield's uniform is now 160 MS Points, and a Resident Evil 5 Hawaiin shirt will run you 80 MS Points.

Capcom's got direct links to the deals (link below, so you can add them to your Xbox 360 download queue) on its blog. Anyone thinking about picking this stuff up?

Xbox Live Deal of the Week: Resident Evil 5 DLC [Capcom Unity]

The old pre-snap commands are back in Madden NFL 11, one highlight in a whale of an update that also adds replays of key moments from the upcoming NFL season, and even a "Breast Cancer Awareness" presentation mode.

Madden NFL 11's implementation of the "Strategy Pad" provoked howls of protest from the series' hardcore fans, for changing how pre-snap adjustments and hot routes on offense and defense are keyed in. But with this patch, now live on both consoles, the old command set from Madden NFL 10 is back. So those who have fidgeted, repositioned and audibled receiver routes from muscle memory can get back into that comfort zone.

The other big deal in the patch is Madden Moments Live, which will update weekly with the key moments of the ongoing NFL season, allowing players to recreate those matchups. Similar to the 49 "Madden Moments" from 2009 that shipped on the disc, EA Sports said Madden Moments Live will publish each week between two and four of the key games of the 2010 season for replay.

The replayable moments are available for purchase under the game's Madden Coins structure. Coins are earned in multiplayer play in either traditional Madden or its Ultimate Team mode, but they can also be bought for Microsoft points or money through the game.

Individual Madden Moments will cost 2,000 coins; all of a week's moments will cost 5,000 coins; and 60,000 coins gives you everything for free this year.

Madden Moments Live, which Xbox 360 users must download (for free) from Madden's "Game Content" menu, comes with five free scenarios from 2009, all involving the New Orleans Saints. Replays of three key victories, the NFC Championship and Super Bowl XLV are included. The feature is installed automatically when PS3 Madden owners get the update.

The rest of the title update delivers the usual raft of tuning, tweaks and balance adjustments, plus some other intriguing details. Notably, it provides penalties to quitters and Madden coin awards to those who were quit on in Ultimate Team multiplayer games, an issue the community had raised soon after release.

And, in a nice gesture, EA Sports included a "Breast Cancer Awareness" presentation mode reflecting the NFL's participation in the cause. It adds a pink ribbon field logo to the games, pink sweatbands, gloves and shoes to players (even pink ties in the stepping-off-the-bus pregame cutscene). The mode is selectable from the Play Now menu (the fourth option, past the AFL presentation). In franchise mode, all games your team plays in October (franchise October, not next month) will feature these details.

See all of the patch details at the link below.

From Us To You: Title Update #2 [Madden NFL Blog]

To: Ash
From: Crecente

On Sunday Totilo returned from Penny Arcade Expo, having covered the hell out of the show, with a week's worth of stories to still post. Thursday McWhertor leaves for next week's Tokyo Game Show in preparation for what is shaping up to be one of the better TGS showings in years.

Are you ready?

What you missed:
This Liquid-Cooled Xbox 360 PC Hybrid Costs More Than My Car
The Lonely Pinball Repairman
Quantum Chess Changes The State Of The Game
Company Of Heroes Dev Gave His Life To Save His Family
Cyberwarfare, North Korea, Rupert Murdoch and... The Big Lebowski?

Last year, top tier Samus Aran cosplayer Thas Jussim promised to strip down from Metroid's famous Varia Suit to the infamous Zero Suit introduced in Metroid: Zero Mission. Looks like the Brazilian Metroid fan's made good on that cosplay promise.

Jussim, responsible for the most faithful, most technically impressive Metroid cosplay we've seen to date, shows off her latest creation—actually based on the Samus from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, she says—at her deviantArt account. See it for yourself there in better detail.

I have always been a little bit fussy with Xbox Live Arcade games, and for a long time nothing has really knocked Castle Crashers off that top spot on my hard drive. But now a challenger appears.

I bring you Raskulls, an utterly addictive title for XBLA, complete with Mr Destrcutoid as a playable character! Phil Larson, CMO of Halfbrick, finds some time to chat to us about Raskulls, its gameplay, and the challenges of creating a great title with a small development team.

Before we set about filming the interview, both me and Daniel Carnerio spent some time playing; admittedly, we had alot of fun, and are both super excited about playing this game with all the lovley Dtoid community members when it launches. It has "Friday Night Fights" written all over it!

PC players eager to penetrate the "Lair of the Shadow Broker" -- and Liara -- in today's Mass Effect 2 DLC release have hit a snag. The new content is apparently incompatible with Windows 7 64-bit systems (update: all systems), as reported by Big Download.

"I haven't said anything as we are working on the issue," noted BioWare community coordinator Chris Priestly in response to countless complaints (no really, countless complaints) on the official forums. "I understand you are all irritated by this, but we want you all to play, so we are working hard to determine and fix whatever is causing this."

Update: Priestly has created a new thread tracking the issue. Apparently, the original download was corrupt and prevented "all" PC users from playing the new content. That file has since been removed from BioWare's download section (though it's harmless if you did download it). "We are working on a fix for the issue and will get a working file up for PC users ASAP," Priestly assures, without knowledge of a more specific ETA.

[Thanks, Killer rin & Daniel]

BioWare working to fix 'Shadow Broken' Mass Effect 2 DLC for PC originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft director of game platform strategy Andre "Ozymandias" Vrignaud is departing from his position after eight years on the job, apparently taking up a new position at Amazon. In a post on his personal blog announcing the career change, Vrignaud says he "can't really talk about details at this point," but adds that "it'll become pretty evident soon enough ... and you all know where my passions lie." Considering Vrignaud's recent work on bringing Xbox Live to Windows Phone 7 and given the news earlier this year of an as-yet-opened app store for the Kindle, we're betting his talents are being applied to gaming on the Kindle.

Vrignaud also lamented leaving the Xbox Live platform team, noting the "thousands of times when I've watched or engaged in a passionate debate in a conference room about some arcane subject where the platform teams (who are all also gamers) fought hard to do the right thing for the consumer." Regardless, with Amazon's promise of a Kindle app store launching before year's end, it'll likely be sooner than later that we hear more about what Vrignaud is up to.

Microsoft game platform director scooped up by Amazon originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can you pull off all of Ryu's trials in Street Fighter IV? Yes? Can you do them single-handedly? We think not! YouTube user biffotasty decided to give it a try, spending an hour "to see if it was doable." Trial 21 and 24 proved to be difficult, but thankfully -- for your entertainment -- "I realized that I was hardcore."

Continue reading Video: Street Fighter 4, played single-handedly

Video: Street Fighter 4, played single-handedly originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mixed martial arts fans wondering if EA Sports has what it takes to battle the THQ UFC giant may have their answer soon. A demo for the upcoming EA Sports MMA will be released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 28.

The demo will feature four fighters, two each in the heavyweight and middleweight classes. Heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem and Bobby Lashley will make up the heavyweights; Jake Shields and Jason "Mayhem" Miller will make up the middleweight class. EA Sports is also offering an interesting incentive to download the demo and then share it with your friends -- those who do will unlock "Classic" Randy Couture as a playable character in the full version of the game.

EA Sports MMA is out for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 18.

If you've been playing Mass Effect 2 while connected to the Internet, then beware, for you are being watched. BioWare has revealed that its sci-fi RPG sequel was loaded with little events that allowed it to mine data from players, working out how they played the game in order to make Mass Effect 3 a better game.

"More people played the soldier class than all of the other classes combined," says executive producer Casey Hudson. "If you know that, then you can start thinking about future games. Is that good? Is that a problem? Should we look at the other classes and start thinking about ways to make them selected as often as soldier? As part of asking these questions, we can design games in the future a lot better."

Other information includes the fact that fewer than 15% of gamers skipped conversations, that over half of players loaded a save from the original Mass Effect, and that PC players did fewer loyalty missions than 360 ones. 

With Rockstar having done the same thing with Red Dead Redemption, it's a little creepy to think that developers are spying on your actions. It's anonymous, but still, very weird. Next time you're trying to shag Morrigan in Dragon Age, just remember ... they're looking at you. 

BioWare Mines Data From Mass Effect 2 [The Escapist]

Kinect might not be able to read a Big Daddy's Poker Face, but it doesn't seem to have any trouble reading the rest of him as he tries out Dance Central at last weekend's PAX 2010.

Years from now we'll look back and realize the best thing to come from Microsoft Kinect was countless videos of things we otherwise wouldn't see dancing, from furries in Germany to this Big Daddy, who took to the dance floor at PAX 2010.

Sure he had a little trouble raising his drill arm, but then a drill arm only has to go so high.

Kameo, the tribal tattooed star of Xbox 360 launch title Kameo: Elements of Power, is a fairy, developer Rare says in a new interview with Edge magazine, a cover up designed to appeal to the Xbox's violence-loving fan base.

So says Rare creative director George Andreas to Edge, via CVG, admitting that the Kameo we know and (possibly) love is not a burly, testosterone elf, but a fairy. A truly unsettling revelation.

Talking about the development of that game, Andreas says, is "painful."

"We changed direction slightly because of the new audience we were trying to aim at," Andreas says. "We called Kameo an elf, but really she was a fairy. We tried to disguise that a few times, but it didn't really work out. It was a game with a fairy for an audience that likes shooting and killing things." I don't know about you, but I never would've suspected. A fairy of all things!

The Rare creative director believes that the UK based developer, snapped up by Microsoft in 2002, might have been better off scrapping Kameo, originally a GameCube game, and starting from scratch. A sequel to Kameo: Elements of Power was rumored to have been nixed in favor of devoting more of Rare's development time to Kinect projects.

Rare: Kameo should have been 'scrapped' [CVG]

Okay, first off, if you aren't in this video, it doesn't mean you're NOT a Dtoid All-Star. You are sure to be seen in a future Dtoid All-Star feature, because you are important. For now, though, we have a video that contains a lineup of unquestionable prestige: ex-Dtoid Reviews Editor and current Epic Games writer Aaron Linde; ex-Dtoid Features Editor and current Gearbox Studios writer Anthony Burch; the most interesting man on the planet, Papa Burch; and current Dtoid Reviews Editor Jim Sterling -- among many others. It's quite a roll call, and it's thanks to the power of Bit.Trip FATE that we all got together.

We were all too spellbound by the game to engage Alex Neuse much in the way of questions, but the video does show some gameplay you won't see anywhere else. Combined with the full write-up below, that should satisfy you Bit.Trip maniacs for at least a day or two. Oh, who am I kidding? Bit.Trip fans can't ever get enough of this series. I guess you'll just have to make do with what you've got. 

Sorry Other: M, you just don't cut the mustard.

Bit.Trip FATE (WiiWare)
Developer: Gaijin Games
Publisher: Aksys Games
To be released: Fall 2010

Bit.Trip FATE is the biggest game-changer in the Bit.Trip series to date. That's saying a lot, given that every game in the Bit.Trip series has been something of a game-changer. BEAT, CORE, VOID, and RUNNER are all in different genres, and FATE is no different. This is the first Bit.Trip shmup, but more importantly, this is also the first actively violent game in this decidedly pacifistic series. Sure, RUNNER asked series protagonist Commander Video to jump-kick a few boxes and blow up the occasional boss, but actions like that were never the goal. The goal of RUNNER was to get to the end. In FATE, the goal is to destroy. The time for innocent obstacles and non-violent solutions is over. The feeling of invincibility is gone, too. FATE is about facing an army of actively aggressive enemy combatants, and the feeling of constant threat that they bring.

Don't feel too bad for Commander Video, though. He's pretty badass. Armed with some unknown force, he can shoot anywhere he wants to on-screen. Point with the Wii Remote anywhere you want, then press and hold B, and you're killing anything and everything in sight. Sounds too easy to be a Bit.Trip game, right? That's actually how it feels -- for the first couple of seconds. It's only after that brief initial period of acclimation to FATE that you'll take hold of the clever limitations that the game puts upon you. Though you can shoot wherever you want, your mobility is limited. You can only move along a set path, called the "fate line." You need to constantly plan your movements based on the path of this unbreakable line, which, by the end of the game, leads you to... something.

Planning for safe travel upon your predetermined fate is just one of the strategies necessary for surviving this war. You'll also have to manage your offensive and defensive techniques in equal measure, as attacking slows your character movement by about 50%. Stop firing, and you'll get a burst of speed. That speed might be the only thing that can save you from a flurry of incoming bullets, but you can't stay fast forever. You'll eventually need to fire off your own bullet barrage, preferably after you've found a safe(r) place to hide.

Longtime series fans will be happy to see the return of the "Nether, Mega, Super, Ultra, Giga" health system from Bit.Trip BEAT, CORE, and VOID. Each word signifies both your level of health and your firepower (Nether being the weakest and closest to death, Giga being the strongest and most resilient). If your hit box (signified by the throbbing, cross-shaped core in Commander Video's chest) makes contact with an enemy's attack, you'll drop down a level. The only way to get your health and firepower back up is to earn points. That means you'll need to go back on the offensive, as destroying enemies is the only way to increase your score. The closer you are to death, the more important it is that you play aggressively, as that's the only way to pull yourself back from the brink.

The balancing act between offensive and defensive techniques doesn't end there. Strewn throughout each stage are multiple power-ups, each represented by one of Commander Video's friends (CommandGirl Video, Junior Melchkin, Meat Boy, and Mr. Robotube). These power-ups tend to lie in dangerous places, but grabbing one is almost always worth the risk. Each power-up alters your bullet pattern in an eye-catching, devastating way. ComandGirl Video allows you to shoot in ten directions at once, Junior Melchkin gives you a laser attack, Meat Boy gives you a giant bullet-absorbing blast, etc. Whichever friend you acquire will circle you for as long as they're active, protecting you from any enemy bullets that they collide with. These power-ups are time-limited. I guarantee you'll be sad to see them go.

Speaking of sadness, the game's soundtrack and visuals speak to an overarching sense of loneliness. At different moments during our playthrough, at least two Destructoid editors (Ashley Davis and Chad Concelmo immediately come to mind) exclaimed "It's so sad," with a tone of genuine, unadulterated empathy. Personally, I didn't feel sadness while playing the game, but I did feel that Commander Video was struggling against more than the throngs of enemies that surrounded him at all times. I couldn't shake the feeling that he was lost, and that his new sense of violent power was to be fleeting at best. For a two-dimensional character that is yet to speak a full sentence in any of his games, he sure is interesting.

Speaking of enemies, FATE has quite the dynamic bestiary. For the most part, the game's standard enemies and bosses come off as more disturbed than evil. They often appear to be deformed, maybe tortured, and at least partially unaware of what they're doing. The game's first boss rubs his own brain during battle, while staring blankly at you, the player, as Commander Video continually showers him with bullets. It's pretty off-putting, but also amusing. The world of Bit.Trip FATE is bizarre, cute, ugly, sad, and cool, all at once. 

It's all these things that make FATE feel like the bravest entry in this already risk-heavy series. That said, Bit.Trip purists have nothing to worry about; this still feels like a Bit.Trip game. The music is still naturally connected to your on-screen actions. You'll still need to take in the whole screen at once in order to survive, and while doing so, you'll still enter "the zone" that the Bit.Trip series has become infamous for. Play this game long enough, and you will start to lose yourself. It wouldn't be a Bit.Trip game if you didn't.

But what are you losing yourself to this time? Anger? Sorrow? Isolation? Redemption? I know more than I can tell you now, but I will say this; we are all headed down the same path. We can't control that. The only thing we can control are the choices we make along the way.

[BONUS TIME] Here is the special "Dtoid meets Bit.Trip" video, as seen at the Dtoid LIVE panel at PAX 10.

Usually I hate people who pull the ridiculous "play a real guitar" argument, but this advertisement for Sparrow's range of guitars is pretty classy. The general message is that no videogame can replace a real guitar, and I don't think anybody would argue that. 

It's just that some of us think it's way more fun to play with plastic buttons. 

Nevertheless, this is at least the coolest anti-Guitar Hero argument I've ever seen. Better than some hypocritical rock star whose music is in the games he's slagging off, at any rate. 

Guitar company puts together print ad that bashes gamers [GoNintendo]

Read about Halo: Reach in GamePro as you prepare for the launch of one of the most anticipated games of the fall.

The Fall 2010 quarterly issue of GamePro (on sale now) focuses on Halo: Reach. Stories from former EGM Editor-in-Chief and Bitmob.com Co-Founder Dan "Shoe" Hsu detail the campaign and Bungie's approach for this prequel, multiplayer modes, the future of the franchise now that Bungie's giving the reins to 343 Industries, and a timeline of the series.

Halo: Reach comes out September 14, a week from today. A special launch event is in the works for Monday, September 13 at the Best Buy Theater in New York City. Attendees can play the game and also will get to see a "surprise musical performance."

A West Coast Halo: Reach launch event is set for Monday, September 13 at the Experience Music Project | Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle. Developers from Bungie and 343 will be there, and attendees can play the game and compete in tournaments to win prizes.

This isn't the end of special events and promotions for Halo: Reach. Debuting today at TheWb.com is a series of five webisodes feature Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay) of NBC's "Chuck." These are also available on Xbox.com and Xbox Live.

Microsoft is also planning a series of special events on Xbox Live from September 14 to September 20 to celebrate Halo: Reach's launch. Players who sign into Live receive a free Halo: Reach invasion week theme. You can play against Bungie developers from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 16 in the U.S. and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. BST on Friday, September 17 in the U.K. The community team is also planning theme nights, such as Co-Op Night, Xbox All-Nighter, and Community Playdate.