Just hours away from the official start of the Tokyo Game Show, much awaited titles have begun taking shape. Before things get a bit crazy later on, NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. has one last announcement to make: the western market won't find Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream anymore.

Don't worry, they didn't abandon the game or whatever. It still slated for release in 2007 only with a different name. To be officially known today as Eternal Sonata, the game's premise is now more clearer. It begins in the deathbed of a famous composer as he drifts between life and afterlife.

Before he passes on, a perchance meeting of a young boy and a young girl occurs: girl has a terrible destiny; boy fights to save her; their actions change the course of the world. Let's get it on!

Product Group Director Yoshi Niki shares, "Eternal Sonata will set a new standard in next generation RPG's as it combines an immersive, in-depth story line that will draw the player into the game." Bandai Namco claims to have taken full advantage of X360's capabilities, that allow for gorgeous graphics, 3-D character models and a groundbreaking battle system.

Despite such announcements however, Eternal Sonata is still being surrounded by a slew of questions. It is quite clear, for example, the removal of Chopin in the title. Does this mean they are going to use a different "fictitious" composer? We hope for answers within the next days.

Japanese arcade game Pac-Man originally appeared in 1979. Almost 30 years later, Mr-Gobble-Everything-On-My-Way is still yellow and of most importance, a force in the industry. Fact of the matter is, a world championship is currently being planned as a form of tribute.

Microsoft, in cooperation with NAMCO BANDAI Games, will host early next year the first ever Pac-Man World Championship. Aside from the announcement, no other details were divulged about the competition. However, it is needless to say that the said event will take place on the Xbox Live Arcade. The top 10 competitors will be sent to New York City to slug it out in the finals.

On a related matter, classics from the '80s and the '90s have conquered the XBLA. The current games were recently announced by Microsoft:

•     Contra by Konami Corp.
•     Gyruss by Konami
•     Dig Dug by NAMCO BANDAI Games
•     Track & Field by Konami
•     New Rally-X by NAMCO BANDAI Games
•     Rush’n Attack by Konami
•     Ms. Pac-Man by NAMCO BANDAI Games
•     Yie Ar Kung Fu by Konami

The strategy/boardgame from Bandai Namco Games for Xbox 360 has been updated with new captures. Although it is sad to note that the character designer for this game, Tomoharu Saito has passed away, he will always be remembered for his great contribution to the game.

Being developed by Omiya Soft, Culdcept Saga will also feature Xbox Live battles and is set to be released on 22nd of November this year in Japan. No details for North America release though. But we will keep you updated if new details surfaces. Meanwhile check this new screens and remember Tomoharu Saito. May he rest in peace.

Anybody looking for another quick retro fix over Xbox Live Arcade is in luck. Tomorrow, Namco's Dig Dug should be available on the Marketplace, as the official Xbox web page has posted the release date as 9/20/06. The game originally came out to arcades in 1982 and looks to have everybody inflating underground-dwelling monsters until they pop all over again. The main character of the game, Taizo Hori, has appeared in a few other games such as Mr. Driller. No specific price was released, but since it is one of the classic games hitting the Arcade, hopefully it will be the usual 400 Microsoft Points, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

We previously released a file that contained the list of games that'll be making an appearance at the Tokyo Game Show. Unfortunately for most of us who don't have much Nihonggo skills to show for, looking through that list didn't do us any good. So, here's a list of the games for the PSP, DS, Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 in English. However, not every one of these games will be released in North America. It's just they're in English. Oh you know what I mean. Here's the juicy list.

PSP Games	Developer
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception	Bandai-Namco
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology	Bandai-Namco
Tales of Phantasia: Full Voice Edition	Bandai-Namco
Bounty Hunters	Bandai-Namco
Gundam Battle Royal	Bandai-Namco
Gunpey Reverse	Bandai-Namco
The Doko demo Gal Mahjong	D3 Publisher
Daito Giken Koushiki Pachislot Simulator Yoshimune	Daito
Blokus Club Portable with Bumpy Trot	IREM
Mahjong Fight Club National Competition Version	Konami
Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops	Konami
Metal Gear Solid Bande Dessinee	Konami
J League Winning Eleven 10 + Europe League 06-07	Konami
Silent Hill Origins	Konami
Valhalla Knights	Marvelous Interactive
Fish Eyes Portable	Marvelous Interactive
Pilot Academy	Marvelous Interactive
Homestar: 21st Century Navigator	Sega
Sony Computer Science Kenkyuushitsu Kenichiro Mogi Hakase Kanshuu Nou ni Kaiketsu Aha Taiken!	Sega
Ore no Dungeon: Desire and Adventurous Spirit	Sega
Lost Regnum	Sega
Metal Slug Complete	SNK
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core	Square-Enix

The full list awaits after the jump!

Near the end of the Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker (just after receiving the "revelation") decides to fall off to his apparent death rather than join Darth Vader in the Dark Side. Eventually he came back in Return of the Jedi to finish off what he started. Looks like the same for LucasArts, LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy; it fell last time to THQ's, Saints Row.

This time it's the Return of the Game, as LEGO takes over the top spot once more both in the US and UK. The LEGO game has taken over the top of US/UK Xbox360, and the UK Nintendo DS sales figures. It's also within the top 4 of the US & UK PSP. Clearly, the game will be one of the better selling games across all platforms this quarter of the year.

Other notable thing for the Xbox360 is Atari's Test Drive: Unlimited which still among the the top 5 of the US & UK charts. Regarding the Nintendo DS, the surprising Cooking Mama just fried both the Mario Bros games. The PSP sales charts are a mix, with only the LEGO game in the same place. Japan has their own eclectic list, hopefully some will reach our shores as they seem to be interesting as well.

Here's the complete list of the Gamasutra's Top Five Sellers in the US, Japan, and Europe as of September 14, 2006. All sales data were taken from the September 14, 2006 sales figures on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.co.jp, with sales split out for each platform and territory, and pre-orders disregarded.

Xbox360
North America:
1. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts),
2. Saints Row (THQ),
3. Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports),
4. Dead Rising (Capcom),
5. Test Drive: Unlimited (Atari).

The full list awaits after the jump!

The Tokyo Game Show is coming up and Bandai Namco has announced what titles they'll be showing at Japan's biggest gaming event! Many of their biggest franchises will be at the show so there's a bit of something for everybody. Bandai and Namco are merged, but we'll list their titles by which company is developing it.

PlayStation 3
Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight (Bandai)
Ridge Racer 7 (Namco)

PlayStation 2
Battle Stadium D.O.N. (Bandai)
.hack//G.U. Vol.2 (Bandai)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (Bandai)
Captain Tsubasa (Bandai)
JoJo's Bizzare Adventure: Phantom Blood (Bandai)
Naruto: Konoha Spirits (Bandai)
Digimon Savers: Another Mission (Bandai)
Rider Kabuto (Bandai)
Gundam Seed Destiny: Rengou vs Z.A.F.T. II Plus (Bandai)
Tales of Destiny 2 (Namco)

PlayStation Portable
Gundam: Battle Royale (Bandai)
Gunpey-R (Bandai)
Tales of Phantasia: Full Voice Edition (Namco)
Ridge Racer 2 (Namco)
Bounty Hounds (Namco)
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception (Namco)
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (Namco)

Nintendo DS
Tamagotchi: Corner Shop 2 (Bandai)
Gintama DS: Yorozuya Daisoudou (Bandai)
Gunpey-R (Bandai)
Tales of the Tempest (Namco)

GameCube
Battle Stadium D.O.N. (Bandai)

Xbox 360
Culdcept Saga (Bandai)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Operation: Troy (Bandai)
The Idol Master (Namco)
Trusty Bell (Namco)

Took quite some time to get all that from Japanese into English! Bandai Namco is just churning out title after titles, especially titles with "Gundam" and "Tales of" in their names! According to this list, they aren't showing any of their Wii games. Weird considering the PS2 version of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi is being shown. Guess it won't make launch after all.

Pre-orders of Madden NFL 07 scores four touchdowns as they lead the pack of current best sellers in four out of seven platforms, while remaining in the top ten at numbers 2 and 8 in two others. Ranking first among games for PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, and Xbox, Madden edges out over tight competitors like Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus of Square Enix (PS2), Tekken: Dark Resurrection of Namco Bandai (PSP), Dead Rising by Capcom (Xbox 360), and Sid Meier's Pirates! by 2K (Xbox).

Nintendo superstars, however, are unstoppable with the Super Smash Bros. Melee dominating GameCube, while Madden has to content itself with only the number 2 spot. The New Super Mario Bros. continues its streak at number one in the DS chart with Brain Age, also from Nintendo, at number 2.

Two World of Warcraft titles meanwhile, invade the top two positions in MMORPG: World of Warcraft by Vivendi sits at number 1, while World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade exp. pack (pre-order), also by Vivendi, settles at number 2. Madden inches its way up slowly at number 8, while Nancy Drew: Danger by Design of Her Interactive loses grip of the top spot from last week to number four this week.

The top three games this week for PSP are: 1)  Madden NFL 07 (pre-order) - EA; 2) Tekken: Dark Resurrection - Namco Bandai; and 3) GTA: Liberty City Stories - Rockstar. For Xbox 360: 1) Madden NFL 07 (pre-order) - EA; 2) Dead Rising - Capcom, and 3) Madden NFL 07 Hall of Fame Ed. - EA.  In DS: 1) New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo; 2) Brain Age - Nintendo, and 3) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney  (re-stock pre-order) - Capcom.

According to Xbox Live Arcade worldwide games portfolio manager Ross Erickson, a new game on Xbox Live Arcade every week is very much a possibility for Microsoft, with the Arcade Wednesdays being just the beginning.

"We certainly have enough games in the pipeline - more than enough, in fact - to achieve that goal on a weekly basis," said Erickson.

Including XBLA games, Microsoft aims to have 160 games available for the Xbox 360 by Christmas. Galaga was released today, on August 2 it will be Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, followed by Pacman on August 9.

Titles included in the line-up are Texas Hold 'Em Poker, Sonic the Hedgehog, Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers. Companies like Capcom, Namco and Midway have huge arcade back catalogues, which could make for significant numbers of new XBLA games.
Not every developer, however, understands the 50 MB limitation Microsoft has put on XBLA titles. This is to allow 360 owners without a hard drive to store games on their 64 MB memory units.

While Sony hasn't revealed many details regarding their own online service, Microsoft's restriction could prove as an obstacle when the two companies will be competing head-to-head. Should Microsoft consider making bigger memory units, the 50MB limitation might become obsolete as well. According to Erickson "certainly those memory units are not available yet. And when they become available we'll re-evaluate".

Just like promised three weeks ago and mentioned just a little while ago that it should come out some time today, Namco's Galaga is now available on the Marketplace. The game download is only 15.34MB and features the classic gameplay we've all come to know and love. A few of the downfalls to the game is that the trial version only lets you play until level 3 and there is no 2-player versus mode (where after player 1 dies or beats the level it switched to player 2). The game is only 400 Microsoft Points, so if you want some actual "arcade" action on Xbox Live Arcade, go ahead and check it out on the Marketplace.

UPDATE: Yes, Galaga is now up in the Marketplace but witbyt (thanks for the tip!) posted some images of a warning that showed up when he tried to delete the game after download. We're not really sure what to make of these warnings...but if you do encounter the same problems and you have an inkling as to why these warning shows up, let your fellow XBLA users know of it by leaving your comments below.