Despite entering the charts at number three last week, Lego Star Wars II has proved a popular favourite with the British public, rising to snatch the top spot from Dead Rising this week. The rest of the chart follows in similar vein, demonstrating only a slight shuffle from last week's positions. Several Xbox 360 titles are selling well, but the multiformat nature of Lego Star Wars may have tipped it to the top -- that, and it's Lego, man.

1. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
2. Dead Rising
3. Saints Row
4. Cars
5. Test Drive Unlimited
6. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training
7. New Super Mario Bros.
8. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
9. Lego Star Wars
10. The Sims 2

Over at Ain't It Cool News, there's a lengthy interview with Peter Jackson, covering the director, script and visual effects for the upcoming Halo movie. Jackson's enthusiasm shines through, and it's clear he's aiming at something better than your average "video game movie":

It is original and new and has not been seen before on the screen. It's not Ridley Scott, it's not James Cameron, it's not what we've seen before, but it's something new and fresh and it's cool.

The interviewer suggests the concept of an "adult" Halo movie; fortunately, there's an older interview with director Neill Blomkamp to take your mind off the thought.

[Thanks, WebPimp]

While dance games don't lend themselves well to online competition, this latest gem from Codemasters UK -- promoting upcoming game Dance Factory -- is enough to make anyone bust a move. Almost.

By filming yourself dancing, then uploading the video, you could be voted to the top and find yourself at a Pink concert before long -- if you can survive the site's lurid colour scheme long enough to send in your video, that is. Armed with a terrible cameraphone and a drunken mate called Dave, we'll be shielding our eyes and entering; after all, lightweight fun is what dance mat games are all about.

[via Eurogamer]

Massively multiplayer golf? Yes, you heard us right. Purporting to already have a million players worldwide, subscription-free MMO golf title Shot-Online hits retail stores this week. The game aims to combine the social aspects of MMO games with a serious golf mechanic, though its cartoony graphic style implies a less-than-serious approach.

From an outside view, this just looks like a golf game with a bit of social infrastructure slapped on; rankings, communication and levelling your character make a potentially dull sports game something that's potentially engrossing. It isn't true novelty -- the idea of ranking and progression in sports games, as well as competitive multiplayer, date back a way -- but at least it's not elves.

An interesting tidbit dredged up from Raph Koster's presentation at the Austin Game Conference comes via Wonderland: most gamers are introverts. Pardon us while we gasp in disbelief for a few minutes. Koster claims that most gamers fall into the Myers-Briggs types INTJ, INTP, ISTJ and ISTP. With INTJ being a classic scientist, and INTP a classic programmer, it seems as if games really are designed by nerds, for nerds.

As Alice points out, what would a game designed by an extrovert look like? How are those of us who have Myers-Briggs types beginning with E catered for by modern games? Perhaps we're more likely to head off to the pub and pay someone else to level our MMO characters -- perhaps we're more drawn to social or casual games -- or perhaps we just don't play at all.

This article over at bit-tech.net looks at ten of the more offbeat game control schemes -- from bongos and maracas to cameras and dance mats. It's a nice reminder that gaming isn't all "up up down down" and that sometimes you can have a little fun with the controller as well as with the game.

Of course, collecting multiple peripherals, one for each game, quickly becomes a hassle -- will next-gen's out of the box accessories render a cupboardful of controllers unnecessary? Or will we see some manufacturers continue to make third-party peripherals because their games simply aren't possible otherwise? Perhaps it'll be a bit of both -- the thought of playing Guitar Hero with a PS3 joypad, or dance games with the Wii, has us reaching for our plug-in accessories already.

The UK's fastest-selling Xbox 360 game yet, Dead Rising has rushed straight to the top of the all-format charts this week. Beating popular newcomers Lego Star Wars II and Test Drive Unlimited to number one, Dead Rising's debut means a drop in position for last week's high-rankers Cars and Saints Row. A recent expansion pack means The Sims 2 is unfortunately still glued to the top-ten list.

1. Dead Rising
2. Saints Row
3. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
4. Test Drive Unlimited
5. Cars
6. The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff
7. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
8. New Super Mario Bros.
9. The Sims 2
10. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training

An open letter in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper condemns "junk culture" -- junk food, junk entertainment and a fast-moving culture -- for its effect on children, with sombre phrases like "ruining our children" and "the death of childhood" weighing down its paragraphs. From the letter:

[Children] still need what developing human beings have always needed, including real food (as opposed to processed "junk"), real play (as opposed to sedentary, screen-based entertainment), first-hand experience of the world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant adults in their lives.

A scathing commentary on the evils of modern life -- and what's more, plenty of readers agree that the hands-off parenting enabled by video games is a big problem for today's youth. Perhaps the high profile given to this complaint (a national broadsheet) will open up some serious debate on the matter, rather than give a platform for rabid anti-gaming propaganda to spread to the UK as well.

According to this CNET article, MMO development platform Multiverse is becoming a hit. The "talk of the Austin Game Conference", about 100 developers are already signed up for the beta, and while some potential products seem to be going the sword-and-sorcery route, others look more interesting.

However, as a commenter at Wonderland points out, Multiverse isn't the only option out there. With a high-profile investor in James Cameron, and plenty of publicity, it's overshadowing products like HeroEngine -- more options for development mean more diverse final products, but the 'indie MMO' space could certainly become quite exciting thanks to Multiverse and its cronies.

The next expansion in the Guild Wars series, Nightfall, is just around the corner -- but for anyone who can't wait until October, NCsoft are running an open preview event on September 22-24. During that weekend, Nightfall will be free to play for just about anyone, regardless of whether you have Guild Wars already.

The previous expansion, Factions, had a very successful preview event, so it's no surprise the idea's being repeated. It makes sense for NCsoft to capitalise on Guild Wars' free nature by, well, making it even freer -- if only for a short while. Those of us already resigned to paying monthly for MMOs may find it a nice change to try a new one without cost, but as every hour spent on a free game is one that we have already paid for on another MMO, it's hard to drag us away.

Part of the London Games Festival, the BAFTA awards for video games will help provide some recognition to gaming that's on a par with film and TV -- at least, in the UK. The nominees, announced today, cover a wide range of games -- from popular favourites such as Tomb Raider: Legend and Oblivion to the more off-beat in Guitar Hero and Katamari.

Given the way the UK charts have been looking this summer, the mainstream games may well come out top in most categories, though we'd like to see more recognition for other titles. Fingers crossed; the awards are on October 5th.

Three analysts are spilling their thoughts over at Gamasutra, examining the state of the PC gaming industry at the moment. With console platforms offering an appealing piracy-free environment, it's no wonder soundbites like "becoming a niche" and "retail spending ... will decline" are springing readily to mind; however, the overall tone is mostly positive.

Will the PC market become one of digital distribution, MMOs and casual games only? Analysts disagree; digital distribution has limits, but offers the opportunity for more revenue and profit. MMOs and casual games are on the rise, but the "Games for Windows" initiative may provide a much needed consolidation and marketing effort for PC games in other genres as well.

This October, the London Games Festival will be hitting the UK's capital with a whole bevy of gaming events. (If you're in the industry, or you want to be, that is.) First up, we have the European answer to GDC, GDC London, for the development types -- sessions range from the excitingly-titled-yet-probably-dull "Combat: The Ninja Way" through to a Molyneux special on design inspiration.

More a business sort? The Games Summit is up your street, with buzzword-compliant "hard-hitting business content" for all tastes, from ARGs to -- surprise! -- another Molyneux special, this one on Lionhead. The newly-announced Games Summit keynote will be given by Michael Denny of SCEE, focusing on the networked age and digital distribution, which should provoke some interesting thought.

Other events in the Games Festival lineup include the London Game Career Fair and the BAFTA Video Games awards (a British Academy Awards, for games, with more swearing). For those of us interested in playing games, celeb-spotting and the slightly offbeat, events throughout the week of the Festival -- 2-7 October -- will hopefully deliver, with a showcase at HMV's Oxford Street branch and a 'fringe' show which both look to be worth attending.

Those of us this side of the pond may have been reading the various Video Games Live tidbits with a detached air of mild interest, but finally we'll be able to get in on the musical action. The concert of videogame music will be hitting London's Hammersmith Apollo on November 25th, and tickets went on sale last week.

We'll be there, so watch out for the Joystiq t-shirt amidst the crowds; now, if only the concert would do a UK or European tour for those of us aware that London isn't the only city on this continent.

The concept: During the 'Game Design Room 101' session at Develop, several developers brought out props to represent their pet peeves from games. If you've read the novel 1984 by George Orwell, you'll know where the concept comes from. In the UK, Room 101 is a weekly game/talk show presented by Paul Merton, who invites a guest to come on the show who then attempt to convince him that a certain annoyance in their lives should go in the bin, and never be seen again. This seminar (and series of posts) takes a look at certain elements of games that were nominated by the panel to go in the games designer's bin. Conrad and I are going to take opposite positions in the debate.

The point: Jonathan Smith of TT Games brought out a pair of scales to represent his nomination -- balance. Balance, according to Smith, is where a developer expressly sets out to tell the player "you can have this much fun", rationing the pleasure out piece by piece.

My stance: Balance should go.

Conrad's stance: Balance should stay.

You decide.