If you know Heath Ledger, then you’ll probably know that his last film, Batman The Dark Knight, has  landed on the number two spot of the all-time box office hit list.

That said, I can’t imagine how Eidos and Rocksteady’s upcoming Batman Arkham Asylum can fail, even though it is really a separate project from the Nolan films.

But still, you’ll have gaming fans waiting for it, and curious movie and comic book fans, and I wouldn’t be surprise if Heath Ledger fans might give it a looksee to see to check if the in-game Joker can live up to their idol’s definitive portrayal.

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It seems “Tales of Vesperia”, the latest in Namco’s series of “Tales of” games, had what it takes to help push Microsoft and its XBox 360 video game console over the top against it perennial rival, the Sony Playstation 3.

The new game catapulted sales of the XBox last week to beat the PS3′s numbers in Japan, where it has until now met little success with the Japanese gaming population.

We here at the ol’ Gaming Technology Blog really love keeping tabs on the continuing tit for tat, give and take, mano a mano dialogue between people who think video games are bad, evil, unwholesome corruptions sent by the devil, and people who use their brains.

Example of people who use their brains? These psychologists who have
“discovered” that playing video games has benefits, and that you can’t just lump them all up under the “bad” category.

You can read the whole article by clicking on this link.

What They Play, a parents’ guide to video games, conducted two separate studies asking parents about things their kids did that they as parents found objectionable.

Around 3,000 parents responded by ranking video games a “more objectionable” activity than watching porn or drinking beer.

They also ranked violence in video games as more objectionable than sexual content.

Interesting tidbit from the World News Network… they claim that in the Asia Pacific region, online activity is on the uptick with online gaming leading the way, while online video and music fall to the wayside due to rampant piracy.

Hm. Maybe online audio and video execs could learn something from the gaming industry about how to protect their products from piracy.

You can read the full article here.

The results are in: the second quarter of 2008 was all Nintendo’s.

The company shipped 5.2 units of its Wii gaming console from April to June, dwarfing its nearest competitor Sony, which shipped 1.6 million PS3s. Microsoft brought up the rear, moving 1.3 million XBoxes.

Nintendo also trounced the competition in terms of software and handheld gaming unit sales.

Now that DC’s got some of its self-respect back, what with Batman: The Dark Knight making all sorts of noise all over the place, they’re launching DC Universe Online.

It’s a make-your-own-hero (or villain) sort of massively multiplayer role playing game, and it’s been three years in the making. It will be available to Windows PC and PS3 gamers.

It’s happened to at least once to every gamer: you throw down your controller (keyboard, joystick, gun, whatever) and exclaim, “I could make a better game than this!”

Well now Microsoft, via its XBox 360 console, is giving gamers a chance to put up or shut up.

So you use the available XNA tools that have been around for a bit, you pay a Creators Club membership, develop the game, offer it up for peer review online, and if it passes muster, you get a cut of the profits.

The user-created Community Games, as they are called, will be sold for $2.50 – $10.

So the prices came out earlier this week for Intel’s latest batch of processor chips, and boy those Core 2 Extreme Quad-Cores cost a bundle. Way more than earlier reports led us to believe.

Why? Is it because desktops have been making a comeback lately, thanks to frugal techies looking for a cheaper alternative to laptops? Does Intel feel confident that it is winning its war against its rival AMD?

The Seattle Times website has posted a neat little article delineating the philosophical differences between game console rivals Sony and Nintendo. With its PlayStation 3, Sony is intent in expanding the console gamer’s online options, from playing to downloading content to chat and other interactive experiences.

Nintendo and its Wii, on the other hand, is focused on the individual’s playing experience. The Wii barely has any online capabilities.

Which philosophy will win in the end? Or can they co-exist harmoniously? Reading the original article might help you make up your mind.