Those figures are just movin' on up.

That's right… double-platinum status. I remember years ago, that type of jargon only got tossed around with records; shows you how old-school I am. Anyways, Harmonix's music rhythm sensation is progressively growing by the week it seems. The latest news reports that the Rock Band downlodable content has been a huge success, as gamers purchased more than 2.5 million game levels based on songs since its launch on November 27.

One of the recent DLC releases includes a trifecta of Metallica classic tracks: Ride the Lightning, Blackened and "And Justice for All", currently the game's top selling music downlaod to date. Close behind are the respective three-packs from the Police, Queens of the Stong Age, David Bowie and a swath of Black Sabbath covers (I'll pass on the latter).

"Our goal with Rock Band was to create an entirely new way for people to interact with the music they love," stated Van Toffler, president, MTVN Music Group/Logo/Films.  "The incredible response to the downloadable content we've released to date motivates us even more to establish this platform as a way for people to discover new, up and coming artists through the game - in addition to delivering great game play experiences set to the music of mega-artists."

Rock Band's DLC success sends a clear message that people WANT as much as Harmonix/EA can deliver. It's the perfect platform to introduce existing and developing artists. Fans can look forward to selections from artists like 30 Seconds to Mars, All-American Rejects and The Sounds. Plus, MORE music (yes… more) is on the way every week through 2008 featuring a robust variety of song packs, albums, and individual tracks which will vary in price from 80 to 240 MS points (which is the equivalent of .99 to $2.99). The average song sells for 160 points ($1.99).

Hm… I wonder if I can somehow convince Aaron to give up the review copy so that I can appreciate all Rock Band's heavenly glory. (Yeah, he's probably reading this right now saying: Dude, get your own!) :p

Exciting stuff if you can't get enough of statistical figures.

If you've been curious how Sony's market share with its console and handheld division, the latest figures below reveal a rather interesting portrait of success as reported by the November 2007 NPD sales data. A few of the highlights which stood out and was generously bolded by Sony's PR division indicate the PS3 had the biggest increase of any hardware platform in between the months of October to November. Reportedly, 466K PS3 units were sold in November… a 285% increase over previous month's sales. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare stood out as one of huge hits this holiday season with 444K units sold, followed by Assassin's Creed with 377K units. All of this sounds great on paper and hopefully means that third-party developers will focus on bringing A-class gaming to the PS3 instead of exclusively hooking up the Xbox 360.

I'd go over the PSP and classic PlayStation info, but that would defeat the purpose of this article. Read on for the full NPD report:

Hardware Momentum (PS3, PS2 and PSP)

**For the month of November, PlayStation hardware unit sales reached more than 1.5 million units, an increase of 160% when compared to last month's unit sales (October 2007).

**PlayStation total hardware revenue was $373 million in November, sales dollars increased by 170% compared to last month's sales.

**For the month of November, PlayStation console sales reached 962K units.

**466K PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) hardware units were sold in November, a 285% increase over the previous month's sales. PS3 had the biggest October to November sales increase of any hardware platform.

**PlayStation 2 (PS2) also experienced great momentum in November, hardware unit sales reached 496K, a 170% increase over last month's sales.  Since its release in North America on Oct. 26, 2000, more than 120 million hardware units and more than a billion units of PlayStation 2 software have sold worldwide, making it the best-selling gaming platform ever released.

**According to the latest Nielsen data (April – November 2007), PS2 is the most played videogame console averaging 42.2% usage minutes compared to 11.8% for Xbox 360 and 5.5% for Wii.

**PSP (PlayStation Portable) continues to experience strong sales momentum with new pricing and the availability of new entertainment packs.  In November, 567K PSP hardware units were sold, nearly a 100% increase over last month sales.

Software Momentum (PS3, PS2 and PSP)

**PlayStation total software revenue in November was $414 million, sales dollars increased by 128% compared to last month's sales.

**In November, retail dollars from PS3 sales totaled $138 million, a 192% increase over last month's sales.

**PlayStation had three software titles in the top ten list across all consoles: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for PS2 sold 966K units, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for PS3 sold 444K units and Assassin’s Creed for PS3 sold 377K units.

PLAYSTATION Network Momentum

**Just one year after launch, there are more than 3 million registered PLAYSTATION Network users worldwide who have downloaded more than 60 million pieces of content.

**In North America alone there are more than 1.8 million registered users who have downloaded more than 34.5 million pieces of content.

**A recent PLAYSTATION Network price promotion for Calling all Cars™, Everyday Shooter™, flOw™ and Pixel Junk Racers™ resulted in a combined 920% increase in total downloads

Barbie was right, math class is tough!

Numbers seem to be tricky things, but a few simple rules can get most people through their everyday lives.  Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are all you really need, thankfully, because if I had to use calculus ever again I'd probably just quit civilization entirely.  Even if someone finds the basics mathematical functions troublesome, calculators are cheap enough that they're given away free with cereal and fast food.  All of which means that there's really no reason for Gamespot to report the PS3 gaining on the Wii in Japan.

I'll admit that it wasn't until Squall pointed it out on the Got Next message boards that I noticed, but sure enough, the headline is completely wrong.  Here's the numbers to prove it.

The numbers from two weeks ago-

PS3:   17,139
Wii:  24,932

Or, the PS3 sold 68.74% of the Wii's total

Last week's numbers-

PS3:  18,785
Wii:  27,502

Meaning that the PS3 sold 68.30% of the Wii's total, or 0.44% less than the previous week.  While it's true that a headline saying "PS3 Registers Barely Noticeable Dip vs Wii in Japan" doesn't have the same ring, it would come with the advantage of not being 100% wrong.

A brave new confusing world.

I never was prepared to be a Dad. I thought I was, of course. But really, when you're a thirtysomething gamer who's pretty set in his ways, the addition of an often-cranky, often-awake-at-inopportune-times little bundle of squirms and squeaks can really throw you for a loop.

There's no doubt that being a Dad is the greatest thing ever. Except, of course, for my gaming and blogging habits, which are much fewer and farther between than ever.

However, I would like to state for the record that I indeed am alive and well and playing games every once in awhile. Sure, it's down to a few hours a week most of the time, but it's not so bad. The biggest change has not even been related to the little guy's arrival a few months ago, but rather to my change in career. These days, I don't ride the train anymore, so there's hardly any handheld gaming going on. It's almost all treadmill time on the 360 (which is only three days a week for the most part) or stealing a few late-night hours here and there. You definitely get an appreciation for the term "free time", because there's much less of it than there ever was.

So, what have I been playing lately? A smattering of things, really. I've gotten to the later stages of Valve's Portal, which is brilliant but has me stumped now that I am on level 13. This one's killing me, and I don't think I am smart enough to figure it out. Naturally, getting stumped there led me over to the main title of the Orange Box, Half-Life 2. I am more than a little embarrassed to admit I've never played it (or its predecessor), but I've started down the path and I'll see where it takes me.

This past week I really dove headfirst into Sega Rally Revo, for which you'll see a review on this site in the coming days. Once or twice a week in the past month I've also dropped into a few Halo 3 online matches with some longtime friends, which have been fun enough but hardly mindblowing. Maybe it's because I'm older, have so little time, or am just looking for more out of my games, but I am not feeling the love for Bungie's latest. I can't even pretend to be interested in the single player; after an hour or so plodding through the first level, the baffling storyline and oh-so-familiar gameplay leaves me bored beyond belief. 

Believe it or not, I am still playing a lot of The Bigs, an utterly addictive over-the-top baseballer that's been out for many months now. It's the perfect treadmill game. I also recently won the Super Bowl in Madden 08, a distinctly anticlimactic affair that didn't even get me an Achievement. Disgraceful!

Up next are a couple of GN review titles - Folklore and Warhawk. My PS3 hasn't been this happy since……..ever.

The purpose for this rambling, self-serving, incoherent blog post? None, other than to remind all the GotNexters that I am still here, still kicking, and still looking to get a good night's sleep one of these days.

 Let your Blu-ray player try something different. 

Jonathan Mak's Everyday Shooter is almost ready to bestow its aural pleasures upon PS3 owners everywhere as it has been announced for release this Thursday for $10. The synaesthetic shooter looks all kinds of awesome and should be considered required gaming for anyone with a PS3. You already spent $600 on the console so you could pay twice as much for your movies, $10 isn't going to kill you.

It's an odd feeling to be so looking forward to a PS3 title that isn't months or years away. Along with LittleBigPlanet and echochrome, PSN is definitely starting to give XBLA a run for its (my?) money. 

All these downloadable games are starting to take their toll on my wallet. Sin and Punishment and SMB2 on VC last week, and Puzzle Quest on XBLA and Everyday Shooter on PSN this week. The first three are all sold at a premium over standard prices too!

[via Destructoid]