Video game sales have always been a hot topic in the gaming world. In the past, many players’ data came from vague and un-confirmed forum or blog postings as well as chatter along the highly-organized video game grapevine. Thankfully there’s no more need in relying on your pizza guy’s interpretation of video games sales charts. For the past 4 years, VGCharts have been collecting video game sales data and organizing it into the internet’s premier source for video game sales charts on the internet. Sales information goes back into the Nintendo 64 days and covers pretty much all of the major sales territories. Sales data are constantly being acquired, so expect many more updates in the near future, including the addition of Sega Saturn sales information.

Read more: VGCharts – Video game sales charts

10TACLE STUDIOS, the publishers of the upcoming Xbox 360 fantasy action adventure title Elveon, have acquired the future rights to all current and future titles from CDV Software Entertainment, further solidifying 10TACLE’s role as an emerging power player in the German / European games industry. With profit on the rise, 10tacle is consolidating it’s European development and publishing reach, with 6 in-house developers currently operating throughout Europe and no doubt more on the way. “Panzer Tactics DS” is one of the titles involved in the deal, which is being developed by one of Vienna, Austria’s few remaining game development studios, Sproing. No word on if this deal will negatively impact the developers currently under contract, but here’s to hoping it’s a positive turn and 10TACLE’s involvment is successful for the studios who are now working for 10TACLE.

Read more: 10tacle Studios assumes publishing rights to CDV titles | 10TACLE STUDIOS

According to a recent post on a Japanese gaming site, there is a rumour hitting the streets of Tokyo that the Xbox 360 will be receiving a price drop as well as a new colour on December 7th, 2006. Naturally this is only a rumour on a foreign language games site, but, it has some legs with some respected Japanese sites carrying the rumour and confirming with ‘insider sources’ suggesting that the ‘price drop’ will come in the form of a bundle with DOAX2. Many more rumours to come for sure..

Read more: Xbox 360 rumoured to drop in price and feature new colour in Japan (Japenese blog posting)

Manifesto Games, the online indie games distributor and publisher headed by game design legend Greg Costikyan, has finally opened their site and shop for preview and testing. Manifesto features hundreds of independently produced games for various platforms, from platformers to RPGs to online gambling to RTs, all available to purchase using a low, developer-friendly pricing structure, meaning indie game developers receive a higher royalty rate for every one of their titles sold. Finally the indie games market is learning a few lessons from the indie music market, which has been successfully supporting an alternative to mainstream, independent industry for decades, I just hope that Manifesto continues looking at their successes for guidence towards their own.

Read more: Manifesto Games site has gone (somewhat) live

It almost feels like EA day here at Playthrough HQ, but it’s not, we swear, we just love juicy gossip involving the industry in our own back yard. There are currently rumours swirling around the industry that an acquisition of German games developer Crytek may be in the works by mega-publisher EA, who already have publishing and licensing agreements in-place with Crytek. EA has been quite active recently in the German market, infusing the once-struggling local industry with an influx of resources and work. A recent article in German newspaper Die Welt quotes EA’s VP and GM of International Publishing Gerhard Florin as stating that Crytek is a “very, very interesting candidate” for an acquisition. However, an interview later with Crytek’s co-founder, Faruk Yerli, confirmed that a conversation has taken place between EA and Crytek, but refused to indicate if an acquisition is pending. Yerli also mentioned that Crytek is considering an initial public offering on the German stock market.

Read more: EA executives hint at Crytek purchase

Several days ago EA announced the purchase of Spellforce developer Phenomic, another in a long line of EA investment in German game developers. The studio will retain it’s existing management structure, which have done quite an amazing job of building up the studio and weathering the rough time of Phenomic’s prior publisher, JoWood. Phenomic will continue creating RTS and adventure games for the PC, console and online platforms as part of the EA family of studios.

As of now there has been no reaction from JoWood, only to their stock price, which in once again in a small downward spiral as management appears focused on their reorganization rather than developing and publishing quality games (perhaps Bingo Online may be a more fitting title, as the casual market seems better suited to JoWooD). Spellforce 2 from Phenomic was recently released by JoWood / Aspyr Media to quite positive reviews and sales figures.

Read more: EA purchases Phenomic Studios, makers of Spellforce

Microsoft pulled a fast one on Sony by securing the exclusive rights to Pro Evolution Soccer 6 from Konami and FIFA Pro Football 7 from EA for 2007. This means that pretty much the only 2 football/soccer titles that actually matter will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 in 2007, a crucial year for Sony with the launch of the PS3. Though this is but a blip on the radar in the US, this could very well hurt Sony (as if they aren’t doing enough to hurt themselves) in the EURO and Japanese markets, as football is undeniably the most popular sport throughout the world and both franchises were big sellers for the PS2 in the past. Both titles will be released Fall 2006 for the Xbox 360.

Update 1: According to the producer of PES, Microsoft only has PES6 exclusively because of the lack of development time to get it onto PS3, not because of any cash agreement with Microsoft. Seems MS were putting a spit and polish in their ‘exclusivity’ announcement.

Read more: Microsoft secures 12 months exclusive rights to Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA

Whew this flew under our radar. A few days ago, GarageGames bigwig Mark Frohnmayer announced that they would be canceling the Indie Games Convention which they host yearly as an alternative to more mainstream gaming conventions such as the GDC and E3 (R.I.P). The reasons stated for the cancelation are somewhat odd to be honest, basically the worry is that, with IGC approaching soon, GarageGames would be unable to deliver a quality event while still fulfilling the products which they’ve planned for the rest of this year, such as updates to the Torque Shader Engine, Torque X, Torque Game Builder, and Constructor. I’m sure they have their reasons, but it’s still a bit disappointing that they couldn’t find a way to throw more resources or bring in someone/some company to organize this for them, but indie business comes first I guess? We’ll wait and see if another entity can pick up the torch and run with it, or if another IGC appears when Garage has the time and manpower to pull it off.

Read more: Mark Frohnmayr announces cancellation of IGC 2006 | Indie Games Convention

Andy Robson, ex-test manager for Bullfrog and Lionhead Games, has announced the formation of Testology, a new games industry quality assurance consultancy group based in Hampshire, UK. Focusing on off-site testing, Testology will also be offering gameplay consultancy, functionality testing and in-game copy proofing services. Robson is a veteran QA manager, having worked on over 30 titles during his career with many of the top publishers. Good luck Andy, we wish you the best.

Read more: Ex-Lionhead exec launchs outsourced QA provider | Testology

Torque powered MMORPG Minions of Mirth developer Prairie Games has recently seen a bit of investment come it’s way, with industry veteran Randel Reiss (Sony Online Entertainment, Perpetual, GameLaw.org, etc) acquiring a majority stake in the 2-person indie development studio based in, of all places, North Dakota. The fantasy-themed MMORPG is somewhat small, but has grown exponentially in the past months, currently home to around 15,000 subscribers, reportedly.

Press release and links after the jump..

Read more of “Randel Reiss Acquires Major Stake in Prairie Games, Inc.“