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Electronic Arts' NHL 07 debuted in the top three places in the Canadian video game sales chart for September with the PS2 version at No. 1, Xbox 360 at No.
2 and Xbox at No. 3. The hockey game is developed at EA Canada in Burnaby, B.
C. EA's NHL 2006 was the top-selling game in Canada last year on PlayStation 2. The Xbox version ranked No.
4 in 2005. NHL 2K7, the rival 2K Games hockey title, entered the September chart at No.- (Xbox), according to NPD Canada which tracks the video game industry.
THQ's Saints Row (Xbox 360) was No. 4, followed by EA's Madden NFL 07 (PS2). LucasArts had a good showing with Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, which entered the chart at No.
6 (PS2), No. 15 (GameCube) and No. 20 (Xbox 360).
Capcom's Dead Rising (Xbox 360) dropped to No.' from No. 1 in August.
Games on Demand: GameTap, an online broadband network that provides gaming on demand for a monthly fee, opened its doors to Canadian gamers Tuesday. The service (www.gametap.
com) is available for US$9.95 a month or, for a limited time, a one-year commitment for US$59.40.
For that, GameTap subscribers get more than 600 console, arcade and PC games as well as gaming-related videos. "You get to play all the games as much as you want, whenever you want," Ricardo Sanchez, GameTap's vice-president for content, said from Atlanta. The titles available range from classics like Pong (including a multiplayer version over the Internet) and Space Invaders to popular modern PC titles like Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider and Far Cry.
The menu also includes games from past consoles such as the Sega Dreamcast that have been recreated for the PC. The lag between game release dates and coming to the GameTap site is decreasing - its most current game at present is some nine months old, up from two years old when GameTap launched. The Canadian kickoff coincides with the GameTap release of Sam Max Season 1: Culture Shock, an episodic title that will provide gamers with new content on a regular basis.
The GameTap site is also getting into music, previewing Twisted Sister's new album ahead of its release in stores. GameTap, owned by Turner Broadcasting, launched in the U.S.
in October 2005 with 300 games. GameTap does not divulge subscriber numbers, but says its website gets more than one million unique visitors a month. "We've always looked at ourselves as the HBO of the game industry," Sanchez said.
New-look E3: The revamped E3 show is set for July 11-13 in Santa Monica, Calif., the Entertainment Software Association has announced. The annual trade show has been downsized to a three-day invitation-only event.
Instead of being housed in the cavernous Los Angeles Trade and Convention Centre, it will be held in hotel suites and meeting rooms. View seven day for previous Winnipeg Free Press stories.
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