I seems like it wasn’t too long ago that Activion was boasting that the Skylanders franchise had hit the $500 million mark. Well that story is officially history as the franchise has just officially doubled that figure and hit the billion dollar mark in lifetime sales.

This amount doesn’t just count video game sales, but also the toy sales related to the figures and accessories that go along with it. To date this includes more than 100 million Skylanders toys; that is a lot of add-ons! This milestone comes hot on the heels of the announcement of a new entry in the series entitled Skylanders SWAP Force which is due out later this year. Who knows, we might me celebrating the 2 billion dollar mark this time next year!

2/8/2013

• Urban Trials Freestyle Racing coming soon to PSN and PS Vita
• Crysis 3 rocks out to Muse
• Redbox Instant coming to Xbox 360
• More The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct pre-order info
• World of Tanks Update 8.4 *insert questionable use of British slang here*
• Frozen Synapse prepares for tactical insertion onto PSN
• Wikipad 7” Tablet on its way to retail

2/9/2013

• First footage of Wasteland 2
• Ratchet: Deadlocked offered as consolation giveaway
• Victoria II's next expansion announced for March 2013 release

2/10/2013

• ZombiU Deluxe Set brings gruesome artwork to the fray
• Rock Band DLC feeling the love next week

• Ninja Gaiden 3 Razors Edge coming to PS3 and Xbox 360 April 2nd
• PlayStation exclusive VR missions coming to Revengeance
• Nintendo and Namco bringing Mario Kart back to arcades
• What are the most popular Ravnica guilds?
• Gabe Newell presents the opening keynote to D.I.C.E. Summit 2013
• Euro Truck Simulator 2 receiving Eastern European Expansion
• Pink and Proud: FPS Bombshell
• The Astronauts unveil "weird horror fiction" The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
• This Conner has kung fu grip
• Nintendo Download for February 7, 2013
• Aliens Colonial Marines: Contact Trailer, Extended Cut
• Capcom brings the arcade experience home
• Expect a new OUYA every year
• Don't call the next game Mass Effect 4
• The next Xbox insider info is nothing to get upset about....yet...

• PlanetSide 2 gets its second update
• New Crusader Kings II Expansion announced
• Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams heading to PSN, XBLA, and PC retail this Spring
• Simple Thoughts w/ Die Hard Game Fan: Cool World (Super NES)
• Star Wars Pinball announced for all platforms
• Bring the arcade to your PS Vita with Playstation Home Arcade!
• Injustice Battle Arena announced!
• Borderlands 2 Add-On Content Pack coming soon
• CD Projekt Red announces The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Skylanders looking to mix it up, literally
• Namco and Capcom are at it again... and Sega too
• DOA5+ puts the PS3 and Vita on the same level
• The Walking Dead scores the inevitable preorder bonuses
• Fire Emblem Awakening stumbles a little bit past scheduled release
• Sony lets loose company that developed All-Stars
• The PlayStation event on February 20th will be streamed
• Wii U controller now works on the PC
• OUYA will be available in stores

• Twitch TV launches Twitch Turbo
• The 10 Most Ridiculous Things Said in Last Alert
• REDengine 3 to power Cyberpunk 2077
• Check out what an Oculus Rift with Half-Life 2 can do
• Guardians of Middle Earth set free for PS Plus
• Now Loading for February 3, 2012: Life of Crime Edition
• Celebrate the New York Toy Fair with Skylanders Giants
• Take a look at the infected and more for The Last of Us

• SOE's Bullet Run has officially run out of ammunition
• Medal of Honor no longer in the rotation
• There are a lot of people in this Dead Space 3 trailer
• Engadget talks to three developers about the OUYA
• Gabe Newell talks about Valve, the industry, and other interesting things
• Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon gets multiplayer

Nintendo has never been a company that crams obligatory multiplayer into their products just for the sake of it--one of the things I like about Nintendo. So when they add it to one of their longstanding franchises, odds are it will be good. That's what I'm hoping for Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, which will have a multiplayer mode when it launches on March 24th.

Players team up as different colored Luigis, which makes me wonder why they don't just have various other Mario characters working together. The multicolored Luigi team will have to work their way up the haunted ScareScraper, clearing one floor at a time and wondering if they'll run into Drs. Veknman, Spengler and Stantz in the process. It sounds interesting but I'm not sure if it will be more addicting than the Luigi's Mansion minigame in Wii U's Nintendoland, which had everyone rolling their eyes at last E3 but now has them all glued to their couches.
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• Omerta - City of Gangsters trailer showcases character creation and henchmen
• Air Conflicts: Secret Wars finally finds its way to the PS3
• The 7 Wonders of Crysis 3: episode 5
• Souls will be Sacrificed on April 30
• Now Loading: Audio Edition for 1/30/13

• Crytek opens a US branch and it's staffed by those from Vigil
• Get the X-Arcade Dual for $70
• Dead Space is Die Hard. In space.
• Get a head start with Sins of a Dark Age
• Trailer for Hitman HD: Trilogy
• Are these screenshots from the not-yet-announced ME3 DLC?
• New Bioshock Infinite trailer talks about Columbia: A Modern Day Icarus
• Now Loading for the week of January 27, 2013: Reel’em In Edition

For the first time in the franchises's history, three golfers will grace the cover of a Tiger Woods PGA Tour game - specifically in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14  - but only on the European version.  Because in 'Murica, we only care about 'Muricans, mirite?  Whatever.

The two legends appearing alongside Tiger will be Hall of Famer Seve Ballesteros, and current world No. 1 Rory Mcllroy.  Along with those three, you'll be able to play as 32 other pros, past and present, including golfing heroes like Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead, and Lee Trevino.

In other, more Amero-centric, cover news, Arnold Palmer will appear with Tiger on the North American edition, while Bobby Jones and Bubba Watson will appear on the cover of the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14: The Masters Historic Edition.

To learn more, you can follow the jump.  You can also visit www.easports.com/tiger-woods/ [READ MORE]

Eye-Brawl and Thumpback are two of the new figurines that will be joining the roster of characters available for use in the widely-popular Skylanders Giants. With the addition of these characters, the roster of giants now totals seven that players can select from for use in their adventures.

The water element giant Thumpback previously was a crew member of the pirate ship The Phantom Tide to fulfill his passion of fishing. The undead element giant Eye-Brawl is described as one of the most powerful Skylanders because of it's combination of a headless giant and flying eyeball, both of which joined together after a hundred-year battle. The headless giant and flying eyeball realized they would be far more powerful if they set aside their quarrels and join together as one Skylander.

Both figurines are now available for purchase at retailers.

Oh those wacky Brits.  They've done so much for America and they don't get enough credit.  They gave us Top Gear, Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, a million Shakespearean-level videogame voice acting performances, Idris Elba, and too many more to list.  However, maybe their biggest gift to us is a royal family we can laugh at without actually having to feel embarrassed for when one of them dresses up as Hitler.

They also gave us, albeit indirectly, FIFA Soccer 13.

Since it was recently revealed that Prince Harry, who pulled the classic "second son" move of joining the military, is, when he's not politely killing terrorists, the king of FIFA Soccer 13 (Hey, it may not be the English throne, but it's better than nothing) EA Sports decided to honor his achievements in the field of virtual soccer by cooking up an "all-royal" starting line-up (called a "first XI" across the pond).  However, it's not what you think: you don't have to be a royal blood relative, you just have something vaguely royal or Windsor-y in your name.

It looks like this:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------GK Matt Duke (Bradford City)----------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------Zat Knight (Bolton Wanderers)------Prince Desir Gauano (Lanciano - Serie B)------Simon King (Inverness)-------------------

Mark Noble (West Ham United)-Kevin Knight (Bray Wanderers - League of Ireland)-Prince Bauben (Watford FC)-Andy King (Leicester)

----------------------------Marlon King (Birmingham)-----------John Marquis (Millwall)-----------Ryan Noble (Sunderland)-----------------------------

Manager - Sir Alex "Fergie" Ferguson (Manchester United)

The sub bench looks like this: Charles Dias De Oliveira (Belem, Brazil), William Gallas (Tottenham Hotspur), Harry Kane (Norwich City), Danny Andrew (Cheltenham), Kevin Theophile-Catherine (Rennes), Mark Philips (Southend).

And finally, the reserves: Nathaniel Knight-Percival (Peterborough United), Ross King (UCD - League of Ireland), Dame N'Doye (Lokomotiv Moscow), Brendan King (Bray Wanderers - League of Ireland), Kevin-Prince Boateng (AC Milan).

(I find it hard to believe that Kevin-Prince Boateng couldn't crack the first XI, let alone the sub bench, but that's just me)

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