It seems that all big games these days have to get their special editions to spruce up their launches. It's mandated by law or something. Capcom made no exceptions to that as they confirmed that Resident Evil 5 (PS3, Xbox 360) will have a special edition of its own. That and other details including the price after the jump.

How is a winner in the console race determined? By the number of consoles companies have sold? Or by how much the console company made? If money does the talking for you, then you're probably in for a shock. Sony may have led the console race last generation in terms of hardware install base, but guess who made the most money (and on the operating income level, we must add)? That's right: Nintendo - if the calculations of Justin of Gamerinvestments.com is accurate and factual.

Games Critics Awards is proud to bring to us the list of their top 10 games of 2007. 2K Games' BioShock (PC, Xbox 360) had the prestigious honor of grabbing the top spot as the judges' choice for Game of the Year, based on the point system ranking devised by Games Critics.

You can take a look at the other games that made it into the list in the full article!

We learned yesterday that Australia's Office of Film and Literature classification (OFLC) has changed its initial decision regarding Soldier of Fortune: Payback.

It should be remembered that publisher Activision was given the option by the classification board to either revise the initial version of the game or just let it stay unreleased in the Land Down Under. To watch the videos, follow the "read more" link below.

The Wii did much better in October than analysts Michael Pachter and Jesse Divinch predicted. Divinch now predicts that the Wii and the DS will again dominate the holidays.

He further predicts that the Wii will sell just beyond a million units more than the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. He also makes other observations; read about them in the full article.

With the NPD Group's June report arriving next Monday, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, fresh out from frowning upon the recently concluded E3 Media & Business Summit, gathered relevant information and flexed a couple of neurons to predict last month's findings.

 

Top on his fortune telling list is that the Nintendo Wii's monthly sales will rise higher than a 4 to 1 ratio against the Sony PlayStation 3, even while Nintendo still cannot supply the overwhelming demand. Notably, however, Pachter is being optimistic about the PlayStation 3's 100,000 sales point for a second time, lowered estimates for the Xbox 360's sales, and forecasted June's numbers as:

• Wii - 435,000
• PS3 - 100,000
• 360 - 200,000
• PS2 - 235,000
• PSP - 250,000
• DS - 550,000
• GBA - 90,000

In comparison, Gamasutra reports that simExchange has also offered its own predictions for the NPD June reports. Predictions aggregated from several users of the service cried out a 433,000 unit sales for the Wii, 101,000 for the PlayStation 3, 191,000 for the Xbox 360, 273,000 for Sony's PlayStation Portable, and 510,000 for the Nintendo DS.

Activision, according to Pachter, will have seen the largest financial gain in June, garnering US$ 80 million worth in revenue, a year-on-year rise of 129%, while Take-Two Interactive may see an optimistic 6% increase from last year's revenue to US$ 40 million, despite the issues over Manhunt 2 and the company's restructuring efforts.

Although Pachter predicted 2007 as the Year of EA, Electronic Arts isn't doing better in his forecast as it may suffer a 11% drop - compared to last year - to US$ 65 million for the month of June.

A lot of people are excited about Harmonix Music Systems' Rock Band for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and why wouldn't they be? They upped the ante on Guitar Hero by adding another guitar, a drumset, bass guitar and even a microphone for the game.

If that's not awesome enough, the gameplay video that was released was just ripping featuring the engineers working on it and a cover track of Welcome to the Jungle. So if that's not enough reason to at least look at the game, I don't know what is. Anyway, if this game has grabbed your attention as much as it has ours, then listen up. Kotaku posted the FAQ for the game with lots of details that any gamer should take note off.

Gameplay

• Guitar gameplay (Rhythm and Lead): Rock blistering solos to rock's best tunes! Challenge your rock star status on the screen while strumming a slick guitar that's modeled after the legendary Fender Stratocaster.
• Drum gameplay: Capture the power, physicality, and sheer fun of real drumming with Rock Band's custom drum kit controller featuring four pads, kick pedal, and real drum sticks.
• Bass gameplay: Bust out defying rock rhythm with the bass guitar option, which offers different parts to play in every song, and some unique gameplay twists.

Modes

• Tutorial Mode: Master the basics! No need for experience. Pick your weapon of choice and ascend from beginner to rock god.
• Practice Mode: Perfect your tune! Breakdown any part of any song at your preferred speed.
• Quickplay: Perfect your tune! Breakdown any part of any song at your preferred speed.
• Solo Tour: Take it on the road! Pack up your instrument of choice and set out on the open road for a fun and challenging single player career mode.
• World Tour: Conquer the world! Live the ultimate rock band lifestyle when you form a band locally or online and set out on tour. The journey to rock stardom takes you from small town bars to world-renowned venues. Earn fame and fortune along the way to secure rock star necessities.

Want to read more? Click on our full article for the full FAQ!

Microsoft has officially confirmed the news that a Forza Motorsport 2 demo will be hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace this month. According an official statement from Microsoft, the rumors this week of a downloadable demo are indeed true. Timing details will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Apart from the demo confirmation, Microsoft also released a list containing even more new cars that will be making appearances in the final game. Forza Motorsport 2, by the way, is scheduled for release next month. The list is comprised of cars categorized as "Aftermarket Tuner Car Classics." Check it out below.

• 1998 Toyota AB Flug S900 Supra Turbo
• 2000 Honda Aerogear Integra Type-R
• 2003 Toyota APR Performance Celica GTS
• 2000 Audi AWE Tuning SilverBullet S4
• 1995 Toyota Border MR2 Turbo T-bar
• 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Guldstrand Edition
• 1994 Honda Do-Luck NSX
• 1992 Toyota Do-Luck Supra
• 2003 Nissan Fairlady Z Custom Edition
• 2003 Ford FocusSport SVT Focus
• 2003 Lexus Foose Design IS430 Project Car
• 2000 Dodge Hennessey Viper 800TT
• 2006 Mitsubishi HKS Time Attack Evolution
• 1995 Mazda INGS RX-7
• 2002 Chevrolet Lingenfelter 427 Corvette
• 1999 Mitsubishi MINE'S CP9A Lancer Evolution VI
• 1993 Nissan MINE'S R32 Skyline GT-R
• 2002 Nissan MINE'S R34 Skyline GT-R
• 2004 Honda Mugen Civic Type-R
• 2002 Honda Mugen Integra Type-R
• 2003 Honda Mugen S2000
• 1995 Mazda RE-Amemiya RX-7
• 2003 Mitsubishi Sparco Lancer Evolution VIII
• 1998 Subaru Tommy Kaira Impreza M20b
• 2002 Nissan Tommy Kaira Skyline GT-R R34
• 1995 Toyota Tom's T020 MR2
• 2002 Toyota Tom's W123 MR-S
• 2002 Toyota Tom's Z382 Soarer
• 1998 Toyota Top Secret 0-300 Supra
• 2000 Nissan Top Secret D1-Spec S15
• 1998 Toyota VeilSide Supra Fortune 03
• 1998 Toyota VeilSide Supra Fortune 99
• 2000 Acura VIS Racing Integra Type-R
• 1995 Toyota VIS Racing MR2 Turbo T-bar
• 2004 Honda Wings West Civic Si

It looks like Activision's estimates were spot-on, as their Q3 report notes an 84% rise in profits. While the game publisher expects their revenue for the fourth quarter to be higher than their early estimates, they're tempering their news as a result of some additional news that will evidently detract from their business.

The company's net income rose sharply, from US$ 67.9 million to US$ 124.8 million. Compared to last year's Q3 revenues, Activision has also had some good fortune with a net revenue of US$ 822.8 million, definitely a boon compared to last year's US$ 816.2 million.

At the same time, they've also tempered their enthusiasm for next quarter's results. This is due to their upcoming review of their stock option practices, as well as the delay of their highly-anticipated Enemy Territory: Quake Wars game.

The triumvirate of next-generation consoles are all out. The war is now on. And IBM Corporation is sitting comfortably on its fortune at the backstage. As all of you might be aware, it was this company who developed the Power chip that powers Xbox 360 and Wii, as well as the Cell chip found inside the PlayStation 3.

The videogame deals earned IBM up to US$ 2.9 billion last year and US$ 2.5 billion in 2004. At the end of 2006, which by the way is just few days away, the company is expected to see about US$ 3.7 billion in sales of chips and associated design services. Aside from the actual sales, IBM has formed a new "technology collaboration solutions" unit that is expected to post US$ 4 billion in revenue this year.

This is actually a glaring contrast to status of the company before the deals. Prior to 2004, IBM was struggling to attract enough outside chip-making work to cover the enormous cost of manufacturing. As a result, their hardware division suffered a lost of US$ 252 million in 2003. The head of the said division, William Zeitler, couldn't hide his astonishment:

I think of this at the same stage of development that outsourcing was in the early '90s. There were a lot of people skeptical and now it represents a large part of IBM's portfolio. We had exactly the right proposition at exactly the right time. Ten years ago it would have been inconceivable that all the game processors would have used IBM product. Nobody would have thought of it because all we had was standard things.

Now that they've conquered the videogame market, IBM is looking on new prospects. They reported that possible future application of the chip includes computers for medical imaging, defense and complex simulations. Currently, IBM is expecting to ink a deal with companies like Mercury Computing Systems and Toshiba.