Parents.com recently put their heads together and worked out something of a buyer's guide for parents this holiday season. They reviewed several games and posted the five best kid-friendly ones they could find. The list's in the full article. (Hint: GTA IV isn't on it ).

Do you still have money to burn for the holidays? Figured out how to spend it yet? Well, Famitsu went on a survey, asking the Japanese about their holiday game spending plans. Read what the Japanese are planning to buy and why they're getting them. It might actually help you decide on which stuff to get after you read the full article.

With an announcement of Prince of Persia going gold, Ubisoft is also bringing more good news: it looks like Altair's Assassin's Creed costume is being passed around and recycled like fruitcake presents from three Christmases ago. After being donned by none other than Solid Snake in MGS4, Altair's red-and-white robes go to the Prince as an unlockable costume in Prince of Persia. Screenshots and more info in the full article!

November 28 is Black Friday and the official start of the Christmas Season. What goodies does GameStop have for all the good little boys and girls? Well, thanks to a leaked catalog we can have a looksee.

Ubisoft rolls with the punches once more. Following yesterday's announcement of a full lineup of pre-order freebies, they're now officially announcing via press release their intentions of bringing downloadable content for the game! (Heh. Looks like Ben Mattes jumped the gun on the press release the other day.) We also hear of a new developer diary for the game, as well as a revamp of Ubisoft's official website for PoP.

Ubisoft is really pulling out all the stops in releasing Prince of Persia come December (ooh, just a few more weeks now!). Today, they announced via press release a whole lineup of pre-order freebies for the game. Man, you could drown yourself silly with all that artwork!

Just a couple of weeks back, Codemasters said that Rise of the Argonauts (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) will be delayed to December. Unfortunately, that date apparently applies only to the US and other EU markets, but not the UK. How long must the Brits wait it out?

Downloading torrents is one thing, but attacking merchant ships with guns at the ready and stealing their goods is quite another. I'm talking real maritime pirates here.

Attacks from pirates off Somalia have been increasing recently, which might force merchant ships to take different trade routes. This could potentially cause shipments of various goods, including video game hardware and software, to get seriously messed up.

Sonic fans will have a little something to look forward to this holiday season, as Sega has confirmed that Sonic Unleashed is still go for a pre-Christmas release in North America and Europe.

With the September release of Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2), Harmonix now sits at 5th in US video game sales. As if that's not good enough news for the company, Viacom will pay Rock Band creators video-game bonuses exceeding US$ 300 million. Details and big sums in the full article.