Microsoft's Xbox 360 console enjoyed a stellar year in 2010, with the company announcing a number of impressive milestones at the recently held Consumer Electronics Show. Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360's worldwide install base has now reached 50 million units, with 30 million currently active Xbox Live members. 

 

The 360 console reported its best month ever in December 2010 with 1.9 million units sold, undoubtedly helped by Call of Duty: Black Ops and the motion sensing peripheral, Kinect. The Kinect itself is selling incredibly well, shipping eight million units during its first two months on the market.  

 

Microsoft has warned though that due to the huge demand its Kinect peripheral might be in short supply through to March.

 

 

Zynga, the creators behind the addictive Facebook game Farmville recently released a new game entitled CityVille. The game has the same premise as the original, expect that it focuses on city development instead of farming. 

 

Hoping to breath new life into its Farmville cash cow, the game has done surprisingly well, topping 100 million monthly active users at the last count. In less than 50 days after the title launched it now stands at 100 064 578 members, with 18 591 715 being active daily. The only question now is, how many golden goose eggs does Zynga possess?

 

 

The next game in Activision's amazingly popular Call of Duty (COD) series of first person shooters (FPS), will be created by the team from Sledgehammer games according to a recent job posting. 

 

The posting was for a community manager and read: “Would you like the chance to build and drive the studio community management effort for Sledgehammer and the next Call of Duty game? If so then we want to hear from you!” This will be the studio's first shot at creating a COD title, and although it was initially believed that Sledgehammer would create a third person shooter based in the COD universe, their website now clearly states that it is creating another traditional FPS title. 

 

It's still unclear whether the new title will be a sequel to 2009's Modern Warfare 2 or whether it will be a completely different game.

 

 

 

The latest instalment in Nintendo's long standing line of Pokemon Games, entitled Pokemon Black and White, has been a roaring success since it launched in Japan last year. The game sold 2.6 million copies in its first week, the best of any Pokemon game to date. 

 

But according to Gamespot the title, which has still only been released in Japan, has now reached an even more amazing milestone, selling more than five million units and becoming the fastest game to have done so on the Nintendo DS. The title is expected to launch in sunny South Africa on the 11th of March and will be available for the Nintendo DS, DS Lite and DSi.

 

 

 

 

Nintendo's upcoming handheld, the 3DS, will be continuing the company's urge to keep today's youth as fit as possible. The 3DS will be outfitted with a pedometer that counts your steps as you walk around. The steps are recorded in the console's Activity Log, and the more steps you and your 3DS take, the more Game Coins you'll earn courtesy of Nintendo. 

 

These 3DS Game Coins can then be used to purchase new items and weapons in your games' virtual world. While helping to keep people fit is definitely a noble cause, this isn't all the 3DS pedometer is aimed at. By allowing players to earn Game Coins, Nintendo is effectively ensuring that a large part of 3DS owners will be walking around with their handheld with them at all times, and this of course equals more time spent playing games on it.

 

 

 

Electronic Arts (EA) yesterday announced that one of the most popular games in its Need for Speed series is receiving a sequel. 2009 racing hit Need for Speed: Shift is the game in question, with Shift 2 Unleashed to be heading out to retailers at the end of March. And for those who really want an edge in the racing line, you can pre-order the Limited Edition version which comes with 40 unique career events and three exclusive cars namely the Nissan Silvia spec R Aero, Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV and the Lamborghini Murciélago LP640. Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed is releasing on the 25th of March on the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

 

Check out this new trailer for the game.