On track to make in excess of $22 billion this year alone, the video game industry topped $1.3 billion during the month of October. A surge in Wii sales (over 800k) led the way, to which we can only say “Wiiiiiiii!”

On the software side, Wii Fit led the way for games on Nintendo platforms (second overall to Fable II), while Wii Music landed outside of the top ten with only 81,000 copies sold between its October 20th release and the end of the month. Full details past the break.

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Everyone knew that copyright issues would be a problem with the song creation tool in Guitar Hero: World Tour. So it should come as no surprise that two of the most popular songs for download, based on the Mario and Zelda franchises, have been removed from the service.

Luckily, for anyone who has already snatched up the tunes, they are safe and sound on your console. Any newcomers, however, can ease their woes with other classic video game tunage from Metroid, Sonic, and Final Fantasy among others. That is, at least while you can.

MTV Multiplayer

I’ve added sixteen new screens of Sonic Unleashed in the gallery past the break. If they look unrealistically amazing for a Wii game, that’s because they’re from the 360/PS3 version of the game. Nonetheless, it gives you an idea for the visual style of the game, and hey, anything to get us excited for a Sonic game that’s supposed to launch next month is good, right?

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September was all about unleashing the Force. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had moved 1.5 million copies in the United States by September 23rd, and you can check out how it fared for the month on the 360, PS3, and Wii platforms after the break.

Overall sales were down compared to last September because, well, Star Wars just isn’t Halo 3 to gamers. Luckily for us Nintenfolk, the lack of a Halo 3 launch doesn’t change a thing. Wii Fit and the Nintendo DS sold well over half a million each in the United States alone, and nearly 700,000 of the Wii systems flew off US store shelves last month.

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According to Eurogamer, citing GfK Chart Track figures, Nintendo consoles are crushing the competition in the UK. In the last year, the Wii has sold more than both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 combined, selling 2.5 million units (compared to an even million each for the PS3 and 360). The DS is also dominating the PSP 3.3 million to 7 hundred thousand.

As for lifetime sales, the DS and Wii are leading there too, with 7.1 and 3.6 million units sold respectively. The Game Group predicts total Wii sales will climb to 4.9 million by Christmas.

Nintendo isn’t the only company counting it’s money, though. The total install base for all five current generation consoles and handhelds has doubled in the past year. It seems that none of the big three console manufacturers have anything to complain about in terms of sales.

Eurogamer
via Wii Fanboy

Here’s that other trailer from Tomb Raider: Underworld, apparently showing Lara making her way into an ancient Mexican temple. I always love these types of scenes. You know, the ones where stone architecture can keep from becoming slippery in the rain. The ones where archaeologists bother to do a front walkover across a random beam atop ancient ruins.

I mean. I don’t know what a front walkover is. Really.

One of the latest teaser trailers for Eidos’ Tomb Raider: Underworld takes Lara Croft under the sea. The Mediterranean Sea, that is. All this time, I’ve been wondering if there were any similar alternatives to Endless Ocean, and here we get the chance to blow up sharks, swim through a field of jellyfish, and chase after giant eels.

I’ll be uploading another video soon. Until then, enjoy the the jellyfish. I call him Squishy.

Ever wanted your art appearing in a video game? Normally, that’s called advertising and it costs money. For you poor folk out there like me, Ubisoft’s letting you put your artistic talents to work and design boards for the upcoming Shaun White Snowboarding game.

You’ve got from now until mid-October to submit your board designs to Ubisoft’s Art of the Ride site, where two winners every other week will get their snowboards included in the final game. All winners will receive prizes such as Wii consoles, and one will even have their design turned into an actual snowboard.

Be sure to head on over to the site to check out the existing winners and vote on the current entries!

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It’s football season! That means: another year’s worth of Madden games. Madden NFL 09 accounted for 2.3 million games sold in the United States last month, of which 5% were on Nintendo’s Wii platform. You can check out the big number’s from the NPD Group’s August report after the break, but Wii Fit dropped to #4 overall for the month despite selling more copies than it did in July…all thanks to America’s love of football.

Wii and DS sales dipped for the month, not surprisingly, but not enough to disturb Nintendo’s 1-2 tandem. Read on for the rest of the numbers!

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It’s not quite all of The Beatles, but Paul McCartney’s music will be making its way into Guitar Hero: World Tour via The Wings. “Band on the Run” is among the 86 tracks revealed in the game’s set list, found in its entirety after the break.

World Tour is still on track for a late October release in North America (ahem, see right) and November for Europe, while a certain Rock Band 2 will be coming soon to the Wii. You think this 86-song set list could cover an entire wall?

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