Coinciding with its recent 10 million in Europe milestone, the Nintendo DS has also topped 10 million "in the Americas," according to the latest press release. Playing the numbers game yet again, Nintendo claims to have sold nearly nine DS or DS Lite units every minute.

The DS launched earliest in the US, on November 21, 2004, close to 795 days ago. That number converts to approximately 1.145 million minutes, which would give Nintendo sales figures of 10.3 million portable systems -- certainly a lot more precise than previous ventures by Nintendo into the magical world of Arithmetic. Still, who are we to judge Nintendo's math skills when scientists are working to define a new number that explains the DS's sales numbers in Japan (sources tell us they'll likely go with "Nintend-illion").

[Update 1: Title used to refer to Western Hemisphere, which was used to reference the Americas but not any portion of Europe or Africa that subsequently lie in the West. Headline has been changed.]

To what extent is Halo an extension of the interactive storytelling of old? The latest issue of The Escapist has a thought-provoking piece comparing Bungie Studio's Halo with Virgil's The Aeneid. The theme of a revered, super-human warrior protecting his home world against two enemies (one with whom we can sympathize, in the case of the Covenant / Greece) is prevalent through each tale.

The interactivity, according to author Roger Travis, is an illusion for both the gamer and the Roman audience: we are immersed within the story but have no say over its outcome. Master Chief as Aeneas notwithstanding (no word on where multiplayer fits into the comparison), to what extent could one design a game where the progression is wholly determined by the user?

Could the lore of World of Warcraft be expanded through the present-day actions of its masses? Even open-ended games like Fable and Oblivion have main quests and endings. To play devil's advocate to our own question, perchance a central plot is required in story-driven games in order to give the wandering avatar an initial feeling of purpose. Could there be a cutoff point where the user is left to his or her own devices, or must we always be in pursuit of some tangible outcome laid before us?