Wii Remains Hottest Seller for Holidays

The titles you want stuffed in your stocking this year

(NEWSER) - Are you ready to wear out your thumbs this holiday season? Looking at games slated for holiday release, Forbes thinks gamers "crave a lot of morally questionable mayhem." Here are their top choices:

• Gears of War 2 (Microsoft): This game promises hordes of aliens to shoot up.
• Guitar Hero World Tour (Activision): Write your own songs, with drums and singing to add to your axe-grinding.
• Fall Out 3 (Bethesda): An adventure into post-apocalyptic Washington DC.

Nintendo, GameStop to offer rain check on video-game console

(NEWSER) - Kids hoping to score a Nintendo Wii this Christmas might have to settle for a skimpy rain check instead, the Los Angeles Times reports. Nintendo has completely sold out of its popular video-game console and won't be shipping any new units until January. Instead, buyers can reserve systems with full-price "Wii Certificates" available Dec. 20-21 at GameStop. More»

Video game set to conquer the competition

(NEWSER) - "Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat," released this week, takes players on the missions of elite modern fighters like the US Marines or British SAS, a departure for a video game series that previously focused exclusively on WWII. The game is set to be this holiday season's biggest seller, reports Reuters. More»

He also read more than 600 bomb-making guides

(NEWSER) - Anders Behring Breivik "trained" for his shooting massacre by playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, studying al-Qaeda, and reading bomb-making guides. The best-selling military game let him practice his shot using a "holographic aiming device," much like the one he used when slaughtering 69 people at a youth camp last summer, Breivik explained yesterday. "You develop target acquisition," he said. The court also heard that Breivik spent a year between summer 2006 and 2007 devoting 16 hours a day to playing World of Warcraft, the Guardian reports. Breivik described the fantasy game as a "hobby" that isolated him from the world. More»

Players will have choice of paying fee for extra content

(NEWSER) - The maker of the wildly popular Call of Duty video game plans to test just how dedicated its players are. In an industry first, Activision Blizzard will launch a monthly subscription fee this fall for gamers who want extra content that does not come with the $60 game, reports the Wall Street Journal . The "elite" option will be available with the Modern Warfare 3 version of the game. Details aren't fleshed out, but the fee is expected to be less than, say, a Netflix subscription of $7.99. The series has racked up $3 billion in sales over eight years. More»