EA has revealed the known -- but never officially announced -- sequel to Boom Blox for Wii. According to the press release, EA's Boom Blox Bash Party will be out this spring, featuring 400 new levels and a greater emphasis on multiplayer -- as evidenced by the "Party" in the title. (As well as the "Bash" -- which is a kind of party, we believe.)

"Boom Blox Bash Party is a wild social gaming experience," said Steven Spielberg, who is involved in the new game in whatever nebulous capacity in which he was involved in the first title. "We know families and friends really enjoyed playing the original Boom Blox together, so we designed more explosive multiplayer experiences with Boom Blox Bash Party."

Even more exciting, BBBP now has online integration for its level editor, allowing players to share their destructible Mario sprites with the community at large. EA will offer its own downloadable levels as well.

According to the NPD, a good exclusive does not necessarily equal good sales. The group has collected data for 2008's exclusives on each platform and, well, there have been some under-performers. On the Xbox 360 side, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was a disappointment, selling only 140,000 units. The other exclusive on Microsoft's console, Fable 2 (Joystiq's GOTY), was more of your traditional success story with a respectable 1.2 million copies sold.

And what about the industry-leading PS3? We already know MGS4 sold extremely well, but the same cannot be said (yet) for LittleBigPlanet and Resistance 2, both of which seemed to perform lower than expectations; LBP sold 611,000 copies in North America while R2 unloaded 600,000 units.

As for Nintendo, well ... it won. It always does. Last we heard, Nintendo stopped making games and was in the process of building a Kirby-shaped Death Star to orbit the planet.

You don't have to be a seasoned photojournalist -- even one who's covered wars -- to recognize inconsistencies between Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop and the Xbox 360 original. Now, Capcom's Colin Ferris has stepped up to defend the February release, stating that while the company is "quite concerned" over criticism of the title, it "was not designed for side-by-side graphics comparisons with the 360." Instead, the product marketing manager states simply that it "was designed to be a fun Wii game."

Ferris openly admits that the Wii-take won't look as "beautiful" as the original, nor will the Willamette Parkview Mall's escalators be as crowded with the recently deceased, facts we have already accepted, albeit begrudgingly. "Does that mean we should deny Wii gamers the joy that 360 owners had in surviving three days in a zombie-infested mall," asks Ferris. "The answer is, obviously, no." Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop is expected to shamble onto retail shelves for the Wii on February 24.

Combining European and North American sales data, Edge has compiled a list of the top selling games of 2008. The figures are "guesstimates," due to the nature of how sales data is represented, but the site attempts to rank 60 games, all of which sold over a million copies. The top six are:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV - 13 million
2. Mario Kart Wii -11 million
3. Guitar Hero (various) - 10 million
4. Wii Fit - 9 million
5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 7 million
6. Call of Duty: World at War - 7 million

The findings nearly match the North American NPD figures, with the exception of Madden, which slides down once Europeans get thrown into the equation. We're checking with NPD to see if it plans to release another global report -- in conjunction with Chart-Track and Enterbrain -- to the public. What will we bicker and complain about otherwise?

Update: NPD let us know a global software list should be available "early next week."

MTV expects Rock Band to activate overdrive this year and have over 5,000 songs available for play, reports Billboard. Developer Harmonix hit its goal of having over 500 songs, spread across discs and DLC, on the music platform by the end of last year.

Although we have no reason to doubt Harmonix's ability to provide content, the math dictates that an average of over 90 songs would need to release every week for the rest of 2009. Even if that figure is mitigated by special discs (like AC/DC) or Rock Band 3 (unlikely), the developer has its work cut out. We've contacted Harmonix to find out if its publisher is being realistic.

Update: Full Harmonix statement after the break.

[Via GameDaily]

Warner Bros. is preparing to restart Lara Croft's celluloid career, reports ComingSoon.net. The rights to a Tomb Raider film were reportedly included in the deal when Warner acquired approximately 20% of publisher Eidos last year. How this particular franchise reboot -- overseen by producer Dan Lin -- ties in with Eidos' alleged plan to redesign the iconic protagonist (again!) remains to be seen.

Chances are she won't be played by Megan Fox, though. According to a rumor making the rounds yesterday, the Transformers star was poised to succeed Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in a third Tomb Raider film. However, according to What They Play, Fox's spokesperson says the actress is "not involved in the movie at all."

Sorry, Fox fans; looks like the role of Lara still belongs to Angelina.

Source -- Warner Bros. Rebooting Tomb Raider
Source -- Megan Fox is not the new Lara Croft

Team6 Game Studios is looking to rock the socks off one and all Wii gamers with its new title, Glacier2. This game has grabbed the rule book and thrown it right out the window. Instead of tasking the player with ascending a mountain most deadly and cold, the game will start you at the top of the mountain, asking you to get down alive.

As evidenced by the game's box art, you drive a machine of death across 18 different levels in the game. You won't be confined to just one vehicle, either, as the title will feature 7 different rides, each with their own unique set of weapons. Don't bother asking how these rides got to the top of the Alps in the first place (or, subsequently wonder why that method can't be used for extraction).

Such lines of thinking will only cause your brain to melt.

Fans of 2D fighters and the Guilty Gear franchise, prepare for enjoyment. Aksys has revealed Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, which is set to grace the PS2, PSP, and Wii with its 2D splendor in Spring 2009. As big fans of 2D fighters, we were more than happy to receive the press release and pass the info along to you all. So, what should you expect?

Well, there will be punching. There's also going to be some kicking. And, by all means, do not freak out when you see a character or two jump. Jokes aside, it's another Guilty Gear game. You pretty much know what you're getting into by now.

Another week, another bundle of Rock Band DLC oldies for the Wii, which according to the press release should be available now.

Individual Tracks (200 Wii points apiece)

• "Attack" - 30 Seconds to Mars
  
• "Gimme Three Steps" - Lynrd Skynrd
• "Live Forever" - Oasis
• "Just What I needed" - The Cars
• "Siva" - Smashing Pumpkins
• "Tell Me Baby" - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Fun fact: the Rock Band series has about 559 songs. At this point, Wii owners have access to 212 of them, leaving 347 songs to go. At 6 songs per week -- not counting any future DLC -- we should see Wii owners catch up to everyone else some time before mid-2010.

Wii Fit remains at the top of the UK charts for the week ending January 24th, closely followed by its buddy Call of Duty World At War at number 2. These two games are trying their best not to let anyone into their special "Top Two" club, despite EA's numerous attempts so far this year. Lord of the Rings: Conquest, which showed strong sales when it debuted at number 3 in the charts, has now dropped to number 4.

This makes way for EA's newest contender, Skate 2, which has also managed to reach number 3 in the charts during its debuting week. Strong sales, but not strong enough to beat Call of Duty: World At War, which has been hovering up there for over two months now. The strangest story is Wii Fit's, however, as it has jumped up from 33rd to 1st in the last three weeks. We're not sure what sparked this Wii Fit resurgence ... perhaps being constantly told they're overweight by their government has finally had an impact on UK citizens.

Excellent news, fans of ... various ... services ... being made available through Wii Channels! There's one more item of Channel-related news out today. A trademark found on the European trademark database suggests that Nintendo is looking to take its Digicam Print Channel to Europe (and potentially elsewhere) as the "Photo Print Service Channel".

The Digicam Print Channel, a service offered through a deal with Fujifilm, allows Wii owners to order prints of photos saved to an SD card, create customizable Nintendo-themed photo albums, and even order business cards featuring Nintendo backgrounds and Mii pictures. The business cards are available in Japan as Club Nintendo rewards.

We've been coveting those Mii business cards for a while, though not enough to make our own imitation and just go to Kinko's. Being able to get the genuine article through the Wii would be lovely.

Much like it did last month, Activision Blizzard has announced three new DLC packs for Guitar Hero World Tour due out in February. Let's hope this remains a dodeca-annual affair.

Acoustic Track Pack (440 / $5.49)

• "Drive" - Incubus (160 / $2)
• "New Slang' - The Shins (160 / $2)
• "Wonderwall (Oasis cover)" - Ryan Adams (160 / $2)

Wings Track Pack (440 / $5.49)

• "Junior's Farm" (160 / $2)
• "Hi Hi Hi" (160 / $2)
• "Jet" (160 / $2)

Bob Seger Track Pack (440 / $5.49)

• "Old Time Rock and Roll" (160 / $2)
• "Her Strut" (160 / $2)
• "Get out of Denver (live)" (160 / $2)

The Acoustic Track Pack is coming Thursday, February 12, followed by Wings and Seger on the two Thursdays after that, respectively, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Check out videos for the first trio after the break.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata will be putting his oratorical skills to the test, delivering a keynote entitled "Discovering New Development Opportunities" at this year's Game Developers Conference. There are no other details provided, and trying to discern any surprise announcements based on that speech title is pretty much a fruitless endeavor.

Iwata last gave a GDC keynote in 2006, when he showed Brain Age and Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Company man Miyamoto gave the 2007 speech and revealed ... the Everybody Votes Channel. As for last year, the House of Mario's presence was limited to a handful of sessions. Get your bingo cards ready, Iwata's keynote is set for Monday, March 25 at 9 a.m. PST (that's noon, Joystiq Standard Time).

You know, sometime in de future.

In response to solid sales enjoyed by its squishy, Wii roll-playing game, publisher THQ has hinted that de Blob may be changing status from quirky once-off to lovable franchise. "We're pleased with de Blob's performance worldwide," a THQ representative recently told IGN. "It's a great intellectual property and you can tell your readers to expect to see more of de Blob in the future."

According to IGN and data compiled by the NPD group, de Blob had sold 230,000 copies by the end of 2008 in the US alone -- not exactly a colossal smash hit, but certainly a happy end to a humble beginning.