The much anticipated God of War III took the top sales spot last month according to recent NPD numbers. In close second was Pokemon Soul Silver, followed by Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3. That said, if you tabulate the numbers of both Pokemon titles sold in March you’ll get a combined total of 1.78 million units. Meaning, the true winner of March was actually the Pokemon franchise. However, individually (which is what the NPD tracks) Kratos takes it. Speaking of Final Fantasy, the 360 version of FFXIII sold only half as well as its PS3 counterpart – no doubt due to reports of a less-than-stellar port.

On the hardware side of things, the DS remained on top – despite the forced announcement of the 3DS. No doubt these numbers were also helped by the launch of the DSiXL. The Wii followed in second, with the Xbox 360 coming in third. As for the PS3, despite heavy sales of both GoW3 and FFXIII, the console saw a decline in sales primarily due to hardware shortages.

Full software and hardware numbers after the break.

Hardware:
DS: 701,000 (+14%)
Wii: 558,000 (+40%)
360: 338,000 (-20%)
PS3: 314,000 (-13%)
PSP: 120,000 (-10%)
PS2: 118,000 (+16%)

Software:
01. God of War 3 (PS3) – 1.10 million
02. Pokemon Soul Silver (DS) – 1.02 million
03. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) – 828,200
04. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (360) – 825,500
05. Pokemon Heart Gold (DS) – 761,200
06. Final Fantasy XIII (360) – 493,900
07. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) – 457,400
08. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3) – 451,200
09. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) – 429,600
10. MLB 10: The Show (PS3) – 349,200

via Joystiq

As great as Gameloft’s upcoming Earthworm Jim HD looks, I’d much rather have the ‘ I ♥ Jim’ t-shirt they’re all sporting in the above trailer. Does that make me weird?

Either way, the trailer looks just like I expected it to – the original Earthworm Jim redone in high definition. Would be kind of hard to screw that up.

The trailer also announces a contest to profess your love for Jim on Gameloft’s Facebook page. The winner will receive a trip to New York City and some other neat stuff. So what’s holdin’ ya back? Don’t you ♥ Jim? Check out the trailer for full contest details.

via Joystiq

Seems like 2010 is the year of the leaks. iPhones, Nintendo handhelds and today – upcoming Xbox Live Arcade titles. Thanks to a poster over at the Digiex forums we have an early look at a slew of unannounced Live titles. These include the Dreamcast classics Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventures, Metal Slug XX, Doom II, Quake Arcade Arena and more. Some of them, including Sonic and Metal Slug, have already leaked onto the net in their entirety, while the others have been confirmed through screenshots. Obviously no official announcements have been made from Microsoft. So we have no idea when these will be released or for how much. Frankly the sooner Quake Arena hits Live, the better. Screenshots after the break.

Digiex via Destructoid

Fans of the long forgotten X-COM franchise may have reason to celebrate this morning. 2K Games has announced that their Marin-based studio, who recently completely the truly horrible BioShock 2, are bringing back X-COM – as a first-person shooter. I would imagine this might cause some groans from fans as X-COM was originally a tactical-based strategy game. Although, its last sequel was a space combat simulator of all things.

2K’s President Christoph Hartmann seems excited: “Players will explore the world of XCOM from an immersive new perspective and experience firsthand the fear and tension of this gripping narrative ride.” He then added “Worked for Fallout 3, am i rite?” and promptly threw his hand in the air looking for a high five.

XCOM is currently in development for the Xbox 360 and PC. No word on a release window, however, you can register for updates at the newly launched XCOM.com.

via Joystiq

Microsoft has just released more information about the recently announced Gears of War 3. Expect the game to drop on April 5th, 2011 in North America (Japan will see release on the 7th and Europe on the 8th). The title will conclude the Gears “trilogy” – however, I wouldn’t worry about the franchise ending anytime soon. Also Gears content will be hitting the Avatar Marketplace on the 20th of this month (We’ve got screenshots after the break).

Likewise, Dude Huge has notified his twitter followers that Gears 3 will include 4 player co-op. Kotaku is adding that at least one player will have to play as the new female character Anya during this mode.

Finally, hit the break for box art, high res screenshots from the teaser and other goodies.

via Joystiq

With no Justin Bieber to stop him this time, Cliff “Don’t Call Me Cliffy B, or Dude Huge for that matter” Blezinski unveiled Gears of War 3 on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon not more than an hour ago. Late Night has already posted the interview and subsequent teaser (dubbed ‘Ashes to Ashes’) on their blog – head on over there to check it out.

Japanese gaming magazine CoroCoro is giving gamers their first look at the upcoming Pokemon Black and White. As promised by the Pokemon Company, the games seem to be getting quite the overhaul – at least graphically, anyways. The magazine provides few new details. What we can see is a more realized 3-D game world, and a revamped battle screen. Apart from this breif look, we’ll have to wait until the 15th for more information about these titles. Serebii.net has scanned all the screenshots for your viewing pleasure, head on over there for the full scoop.

via Serebii.net

Good news for StarCraft 2 fans. Blizzard has posted a look at the upcoming StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty Collector’s Edition. Bad news for StarCraft 2 fans, it won’t include the much missed LAN play.

That said, you can look forward to shelling out loads of cash for an alright looking box, behind-the-scenes DVD, soundtrack, comic book, art book, WoW content, DLC content AND a USB key featuring the original StarCraft anthology. Oh, right and the game for PC and Mac. No price point, yet. However, I would imagine it will be close to $100.

Remember, Wings of Liberty is the first part of the StarCraft 2 trilogy. So except two more of these Collector’s Editions in the near future. Complete run down of the CE can be found at the official StarCraft 2 site. Or hit the jump for high res shots.

Last night was supposed to be Cliff “Don’t call me Cliffy B” Bleszinski’s big appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he would announce Gears of War 3. However, due to an apparent scheduling conflict with Justin Bieber, the announcement was postponed until Monday.

Unfortunately, someone forgot to give that information to whoever runs the dashboard ads on Xbox Live. This morning gamers woke up to the above image, confirming that Gears of War 3 is coming and in April of 2011 to boot. Whoops.

Seems like 2010 is shaping up to be the year of poorly planned surprises.

via Kotaku

As promised, the Pokemon Company has announced two more Pokemon Nintendo DS titles for this year. Dubbed Pokemon Black and White, these titles will usher in the fifth-generation of the franchise when they launch in Japan this fall. And, that’s about all we know right now.

Actually, that’s not true. One new Pokemon named Zoroark was revealed back in February. He/she’s some sort of Monster Fox Pokemon. Although, if you ask me, it looks a lot like the Firefox logo. Lawsuit?

The Pokemon Company site is teasing more information on April 15th. So check back then for the full scoop.

via Joystiq