The moment you have all been waiting for…NPD’s February video game sales figures! Thanks to Zukaus and Powertrade. Go bid up their comments!

Hardware
1. Nintendo DS 485k
2. Nintendo Wii 335k
3. Sony PlayStation 2 295k
4. Microsoft Xbox 360 228k
5. Sony PlayStation Portable 176K
6. Nintendo GameBoy Advance 136k
7. Sony PlayStation 3 127k
8. Nintendo GameCube 24k

Software Top 10
1. Crackdown (Xbox 360) – Microsoft – 427K
2. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) – Nintendo – 371K
3. Diddy Kong Racing (DS) – Nintendo – 262K
4. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) – Nintendo – 130K
5. Guitar Hero 2 w/ guitar (PS2) – Activision – 130K
6. Gears of War (Xbox 360) – Microsoft – 119K
7. Major League Baseball 2K7 (Xbox 360) – Take-Two – 113K
8. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Xbox 360) – Capcom – 111K
9. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii) – Nintendo – 109K
10. NBA Street Homecourt (Xbox 360) – Electronic Arts – 102K

Today, the Daily Princetonian, Princeton University’s daily newspaper, featured the simExchange in an article about start-ups and entrepreneurship. The article focuses on entrepreneurship at Princeton, including quotes from my Entrepreneurship professor Ed Zschau. The simExchange is discussed from the perspective of entrepreneurship among recent graduates.

The simExchange was also recently featured on Rev2.org, a blog focusing on intellectual activity in Web 2.0.

Midway Game’s (NYSE: MWY) The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar for the PC will debut on the simExchange on Friday, March 16, 2007. It will be categorized under the Role-playing genre. Shares will open for purchase at 100 DKP (forecasts 1 million copies sold worldwide over lifetime).

The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar is a new Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) based on J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings universe. The game takes place after The Fellowship of the Ring. You can choose among four races and seven classes to create your character. Unlike many fantasy MMORPGs, the game does not involve any magic casting classes as magic is not widespread in Middle Earth. The game features three gathering skills and seven crafting professions.

Like many MMORPGs, the game features many PvE quests that you can tackle in six man parties or 24-man raids. The game will be more story-driven, in which players will meet key characters and trigger world events, rather than fighting hordes of boar to level up.

The game features many popular Web 2.0 features, including a wiki for players to contribute information on mobs (monsters), loots, and quests. A social-networking feature in which players can create their own journal pages about their characters in a form similar to MySpace.

The regular subscription rate will be $14.99 a month. Gamers who preorder will get a special $9.99 a month offer. An open beta will launch on March 30, 2007 for preorder customers and a public beta will launch on April 6, 2007.

The game will be released in North America on April 24, 2007. The game listing was submitted by pherstothelee.

Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales for the DS will debut on the simExchange on Thursday, March 15, 2007. It will be categorized under the Adventure genre. Shares will open for purchase at 35 DKP (forecasts 350,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime).

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales is a new game carrying the Final Fantasy brand designed for the younger audience. You take the role of a chocobo (for those new to the series, chocobos are giant birds used as mounts in the Final Fantasy universe). You and your fellow chocobo buddies enjoy kicking back at the farm and listening to stories read by Shirma, a white mage. However, Croma, a black mage, brings a new storybook one day. Reading this storybook summons all sorts of baddies that kidnap your chocobo friends. You, Shirma, and Croma must rescue your friends and stop the baddies before it’s too late.

The main game has you exploring the land finding different storybooks. Each storybook tells a Final Fantasy version of an Aesop Fable. After reading a storybook, you will be presented with a 2D, touch-screen minigame that will determine the ending of the storybook, which actually affects the real world. Doing well in these minigames will also reward you with new cards you use in combat.

Combat in Chocobo Tales is based on card-battles called “Pop-Up Duels.” You attack your opponents using different offense cards and deflect attacks using defense cards that match the offense card. There are about 120 cards you can collect.

The game features 4-player multiplayer over WiFi in which you card-battle or play minigames.

The game will be released in North America on April 3, 2007 and in Europe in May of 2007. The game was released in Japan on December 14, 2006 and has sold over 100,000 copies. The game listing was submitted by Joe80.

Activision’s (NASDAQ: ATVI) Call of Duty: Roads to Victory for the PSP will debut on the simExchange on Wednesday, March 14, 2007. It will be categorized under the Shooter genre. Shares will open for purchase at 40 DKP (forecasts 400,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime).

Call of Duty: Roads to Victory is a new Call of Duty game designed for the PSP. The game is the first of the WWII shooter series to hit the platform and features an entirely new campaign with arcade style action. Aiming is more generous and there are more opponents on the screen to shoot at. The game also features multiplayer up to six players. The game offers several modes, including death match, capture the flag, and king of the hill.

The single player campaign features 13 missions, divided into three roles: as an infantry soldier in the 82nd Airborne, a rifleman of the Canadian First Army, and a British Parachuting Regiment commando. You will be aided by up to two soldiers and carry two weapons standard to the Call of Duty series.

The game will be released in North America on March 13, 2007.

The game listing was submitted by Pherstothelee.

Sega’s After Burner: Black Falcon for the PSP will debut on the simExchange on Wednesday, March 14, 2007. It will be categorized under the Action genre. Shares will open for purchase at 25 DKP (forecasts 250,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime).

After Burner: Black Falcon is Planet Moon’s reinvention of Sony’s arcade classic, After Burner. The game is a third-person arcade flight combat game in which the player flies through 18 missions of blowing up enemy aircraft and ground targets. You earn money to buy upgrades as you clear each stage. These upgrades include better weapons and after burner improvements.

The game features 15 officially licensed military planes. You can customize your plane’s paint job such as a hot pink F-22. The game includes single-player, two-player co-op, and four-player competitions. The game includes Planet Moon’s trademark silliness. A tag mode called “Mad Cow” has the players trying to kill the one who is “it.” To match the name of the game, your jet will have a large set of cow udders to mark when you are “it.

The game will be released in North America on March 20, 2007.

The game listing was submitted by Ohnodonho.

Microsoft Corp’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Epic’s Gears of War (Xbox 360) is up 4.56%, increasing the global sales forecast to 4.31 million copies sold, following news that the game will be bundled with Xbox 360 consoles in Australia. The stock had hovered around 400 DKP (forecasts 4 million copies sold) for weeks as new developments surrounding the game seemed to dry up.

This news appears to be the catalyst Gears of War longs had hoped for. Last week, NickA said “It strikes me as odd--and I should note that I own a lot of this stock--that the share price hasn't outpaced the sales of GOW by much. This still has a lot of life left.” NickA points to the long tail effect of small but continuing sales that can continue for years for a title like Gears of War.

Gaara42 notes that the game “has already hit 3.81 million worldwide” and that “this game could sell 5 million copies in its lifetime.” Many traders attribute long-term growth for the game resulting from word of mouth as a continued buying sign for the game. Other traders expressed a more cautious sentiment that Gears of War already has a very high attach rate among Xbox 360 owners. More Xbox 360 buyers are needed to increase the pool of potential Gears of War customers.

Microsoft’s announcement that Gears of War would be bundled with the Premium Xbox 360 in Australia for A$699.95 would appear to answer those concerns. This package will begin selling on March 15. Just for comparison, a Premium Xbox 360 costs $649.95 in Australia and Gears of Wars costs A$99.95. Gears of War (Xbox 360) was up 1.23% in last night’s trading and continues higher today in moderate trading.

We recently received an email asking what exactly is the simExchange web site. Understanding that many gamers have never seen anything like this before, this blog post was created for them.

What do stocks have to do with video games? What is a prediction market? What exactly is the point of the simExchange website?

These questions may be running through your head as few people have really thought about the possibility of stocks on video games. . . and more importantly. . . why you would care about stocks on video games. For many gamers, visiting the simExchange is like a noobie firing up a Civilization game without reading the manual.

Trade fictional stocks with DKP play money? I'm too busy raiding for epic lewtz with my guild in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Why should I care? Here's a list of what the simExchange can offer you:

1. Think you know video games?

The simExchange lets you play in the prediction market for video games for free. You can test your video game predictions and compete against the world or play against your friends. What exactly is a prediction market? Read a good starter article on Wikipedia.

2. Ever wonder what the rest of the world really thinks about the games you already pre-ordered five months ago?

The simExchange lets you observe an aggregated forecast for how many copies a game will sell globally. Experts explain that market-driven systems can aggregate information from thousands of people, resulting in a better forecast than from any single analyst.

3. Want to find the games that are really worth your time to read more about?

The simExchange enables you to find new video games through the "wisdom of crowds." By aggregating the opinions of thousands of gamers, the simExchange saves you time in identifying the most anticipated games simply by checking out the stock price or trading activity for a game.

4. There's so much content about the game and so little time to read!

The simExchange enables you to learn about new video games through the "wisdom of crowds." News articles, images, and videos submitted to the simExchange are organized by their worthiness through a DKP driven bidding system that ties in with the rest of the simExchange prediction market game.

5. Want to learn more about the stock market?

The simExchange is a great opportunity to learn about the stock market in a risk-free entertaining game. The simExchange comes with all the excitement of trading but on the stuff gamers care about. Is trading really fun? If you like economic games and amassing virtual wealth like in Railroad Tycoon, the simExchange is for you! Never played games like that? Try the simExchange--it is totally free.

6. Want to communicate with other people who care about the success of upcoming games?

The simExchange community is made up of gamers, industry professionals, and industry watchers focused on this topic. The forums are moderated through a DKP driven bidding system that ties in with the rest of the simExchange prediction market game.

7. Interested in how other gamers are reacting to developments in the industry and particular games?

The simExchange Official Blog is the source for relating current news in the video game industry to the reaction of gamers seen through video game stocks. Want to join in the conversation? You can add game stock prices to your blog and write your own analysis of video game stocks.

8. Interested in how prediction markets and other "wisdom of crowds" technology can be applied?

The simExchange experience and the simExchange Official Blog are both great resources on applying these new concepts to video games.

This explanation is permanently available here.

Webby’s World, “a blog by a Brit about Web 2.0,” has featured a review of the simExchange from a Web 2.0 critic’s perspective. The article discusses an introduction of the simExchange, the Web 2.0 design, the AJAX trading interface, the presentation, and the nature of the simExchange game stocks.

Sega’s Virtua Tennis 3 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PSP will debut on the simExchange on Tuesday, March 13, 2007. The games will be categorized under the Sports genre. Shares will open for purchase at 45 DKP for the Xbox 360 version (forecasts 450,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime), 30 DKP for the PS3 version, and 25 DKP for the PSP version.

Virtua Tennis 3 (known as Power Smash 3 in Japan) is the next edition of Sega’s series of Tennis games made for arcades and then ported to home consoles. You take control a real-life tennis superstar and progress through a career mode, competing against other top tennis players around the world. Players you choose will play to the style of the real-life player. Virtua Tennis 3 includes both men’s and women’s tennis and the over the top tennis minigames from the previous home versions.

The Xbox 360 and PS3 games support native 1080p resolution. The Xbox 360 version is the first edition of Virtua Tennis to offer online multiplayer. The PS3 version includes Sixaxis support for motion gameplay.

In North America, the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will be released on March 20, 2007 and the PSP version will be released on March 30, 2007.

In Europe, the Xbox 360 version will be released on March 30, 2007, the PS3 version will be released on March 20, 2007. while the PSP version will be released on June 30, 2007.

In Japan, the PS3 version was released on March 8, 2007 while the PSP and Xbox 360 versions will be released on June 30, 2007.

The game listing was submitted by Zukaus.