Madden NFL 09did big business on the Xbox 360, selling over a million units. While that’s certainly something to be happy about for Microsoft, the manufacturer believes that the football game is but one in a long line of titles expected to hit that shiny landmark before the year is out. Gears of War 2andFable 2are pegged to repeat the success ofMaddenwhen it comes to exclusives, while other multiplatform games such asGuitar Hero: World Tour,Rock Band 2andFallout 3are also being touted by MS as big hitters, selling more on the 360 than they will elsewhere....

You know how it works! With the help of each other, try to figure out all of the disguised video game covers. They all share a common theme that, once solved, can help you figure out the harder ones. This week’s theme is as easy as it gets, so I pretty much erased the entire cover of two of the games in an attempt to make the teasers more difficult. Don’t be afraid to shout out ideas and work together as a team to solve them all....

Natsume sent along their E3 line-up for this year, and there’s a few titles we’re looking forward to trying out. We’re probably most interested in the new Lufia series game,Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals, which we told you wascoming to the DS later this year. In fact, their whole line-up is DS titles this year. Aside from Lufia they haveHarvest Moon: Grand BazaarandRune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon.In the latter you play as a half human/half monster, and you’ll work to unite both races before they destroy each other....

TheNBA Livename had a good run, I guess. But it seems Electronic Arts is retiring the name, according to the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine, who is saying the game will be calledEA Sports NBA Elite 11. When asked about the mouthful of a title, an EA Sports spokesperson did all but come out and confirm the name change. “We knew it was time to leave the past behind....

Dad still can’t unravel the mystery behind the magnetic shopping carts at ALDI, but he might be able to masterLEGO Universe. Why? Connections, man. The sweet kind. Father knows LEGO and if his kid is rocking the MMO, he may just be pulled in. In a conversation withEurogamer, a couple of guys from Netdevil — the studio behind the equally mysterious MMOLEGO Universe— spoke about how the family-friendly title could defeat the generational gap....

Once again, it’s time for us to talk about the game that has a ridiculous amount of hype surrounding it, even though nobody knows what it is,Alan Wake. Developer Remedy Entertainment is keeping the hype fire stoked by pulling one of the oldest tricks in the book, the viral marketing ploy, and you may be damn sure it’ll work. Posted on the officialAlan Wakeforums, this new snippet of mysterious text was supposedly written by Mr....

Did you forget about Sony’s PlayStationHome? I kind of did, too. It was almost one year ago atGDC 2007that we started to hear about the free PS3 online application/virtual world, but the Sony camp has been pretty tight-lipped ever since. Sony’sJapanese Web pagehas several new pictures ofHome, and I have to say that things are looking pretty good. Of course, I’d love to know more about what I candowithHome, but all we can gather from these pictures now is that they’ve been working on the visual side of things....

The first newPunch-Out!!game in almost fifteen years is about to be released, and I can’t wait to play it. There arereasons to be concernedthat it may be a one-trick pony, but with so much mystery still surrounding the game, it’s also easy to imagine how it might still be amazing. Ignorance, as they say, is bliss. Well, our bliss may be in jeopardy, asNintendoDpad.comhas promised to give us newPunch-Out!!info every couple of days until the game’s release in mid-May....

Another slow week, but there are a couple of gems in this batch of releases at least. Most notable isArcana Heartfor the PS2. The fighting tech looks fresh and fun.Other than that, theOrange Boxis finally getting broken down this week for PC owners and there’s going to be a giant Yard Sale coming up forIkaruga. What’s looking sw33t to you?WVC:Bases Loaded, Yoshi’s CookieXBLA:IkarugaWii:Summer Sports: Paradise Island, MiniCopter: Adventure Flight, BaroquePC:Sam & Max Episode 205, Overclocked: A History of Violence,Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Assassin’s CreedPS2:Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol....

It’s another quiet week for releases, but there are a couple of standouts. The biggest beingDiRT 3for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Other than that, you’ll want to keep an eye out on99Bulletsfor the DS. What’s looking sw33t to all you this week? Tell us! DO IT! 99Bullets(DS) Dead or Alive: Dimensions(3DS)

[New releases is your weekly look at all the hot new titles coming out this week.] Every week until April, there’s going to be at least one major new game released. Starting this week, each of the main consoles are getting exclusives. On the Wii we gotNo More Heroes 2: Desperate StruggleandTatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.One is a game about being the best there ever was and the other is the ultimate fighting match up sinceMarvel vs....

It’s only 16 seconds long, butthis new teaser forResident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D does a great job of summing up the game’s selling points; online co-op, non-stop action, and incredible graphics.The new Nintendo Poweradds a few more details to that list; including info on the game’s skill/medal system, the possibilities for DLC, and the hint of an unannounced feature that will add to the game’s replayability. Replayability is the last thing I’m worried about when it comes toResident Evil: the Mercenaries 3D....

Bust-A-Move is like crack as it’s always such an addicting experience. Well, all puzzle games are extremely addicting to me but especially theBust-A-Moveseries. So, a newBust-A-Movegame is coming out for the Nintendo DS and it’s set to have a ton of features. You’ll be able to play with up to three friends through Wi-Fi, play through some mini-games, go through boss battles and it’ll have some customization features on top of the classicBust-A-Movegameplay you’ve come to expect from this series....