Considering that the Xbox 360 hasn't sold nearly as much as the PlayStation 3 or the Wii in Japan, it's a huge achievement for Halo 3 to top Media Create's charts. It's up and away the top seller there, with 58,670 units sold for the week ending on September 30.

Halo 3 sold about  2,000 units more than the runner up, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Toki. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is still a heavyweight on third place. Other games that have debuted on top 10 in Japan is Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PS3 (9th) and Bleach Blade Battlers (6th).

Interestingly enough, there aren't any Wii games on top ten. It probably won't bump off Nintendo, but perhaps Halo 3 has found favor for the Xbox 360 in Japan?

In celebration of the the monster catching weirdness that is Pokemon, let's talk about a new contest Nintendo has set up for fans and prize hunters alike. Nintendo and SmugMug, a photo-sharing site, have set up the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Detectives Contest, in which you get to tell the story of your life as a pokemon.

We're serious. The basic premise of the Mystery Dungeon game is that you wake up one morning and discover you've become a pocket monster yourself. A contest asking about your life as a pokemon doesn't seem so far-fetched.

For the contest, people are asked to send in artwork or photos that tell the story of their life as a pokemon or how they came to be one. If you're a comic book artist, making an entry wouldn't be much trouble, but we can only imagine what a photoessay of your monstrous origins would be like.

Frankly though, we don't think this picture would be the thing they had in mind. Winners will receive Pokemon prize packages, which include a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game pak, and a free DS Lite. You have to hurry though, as the contest ends on November 5. Good luck, you DS loving gamers you, and make us proud!

This TV Spot for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team, illustrates perfectly how somebody would feel, if you wake up one day and found out you're blue, pudgy, have flippers for fingers, and only has a cute permutation of your name as vocabulary.

Then after everything sinks in, a very disturbing realization will dawn on you - you fit into a ball, you're naked, and you'd never be as popular as main Pokemon, Pikachu.

Download: [Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team TV Spot]
Buy: [Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team]

G'day, mates! Ol' St. Nicky will be coming around in a few short months, and if you're reading us from Oz, then we here at QJ will be glad to help you with your Chrissie wish lists! It's no big, as we say back here; we do this courtesy of your fellows over at PAL Gaming Network Australia who've compiled this list. After all, the Pacific should never be a barrier to people who share the passion for gaming.

All dates are subject to change if their respective game publishers decide to change them, though (it's happened before, right?). Stay tuned to QJ for any new updates to this list as we find them.

September 2006:
21: Starfox Command, Joytech Accessories
28: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team
30: Disney's Little Mermaid Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Disney's American Dragon: Jake Long, Age of Empires 2: The Age Of Kings

October 2006:
  5: FIFA 2007
19: Break'em All
22: Crazy Frog Racer
23: Top Gear Downforce
25: Tony Hawk Downhill Jam
26: Clubhouse Games, Mario Hoops 3 on 3, Ys Strategy, Surge Hive, New Zealand Story, The Sims 2: Pets
31: Lunar Knights, Eragon, Justice League Heroes, Tomb Raider: Legend, Arthur and the Minimoys, Bionicle: Heroes, Tom and Jerry Tales

November and onwards at the full article (click on the Full Article link below)!

"Pika? Pika-pika! Squirtle? Squirtle! Bulba-bulba! Char!" Now if you can understand that, then kudos to you - you'd find this game interesting. If not, then maybe you'd want to experience your life as a pokemon? Because whether you know how to understand pokemon-speak or not, starting September 20, all of you can get your hands on Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team for the Nintendo DS and the Red Rescue Team for the GameBoy Advance. And since the release date is drawing near, let's take quick refresher course of what we can expect.

The game's concept is based on this: "What if you wake up one day as a pokemon?" And thus starts your adventure. You wake up as a pokemon, and you get to recruit another one as a partner to form a rescue team. There's 380 other pokemons in the game that you'd be able to interact with, and the player can accept rescue tasks to get a fellow pokemon out of harm's way.

For friends that have a copy of either game, they can help each other out in a dungeon in a Rescue Mode. When one of them loses in a dungeon, the other person can join in and and bring them out without losing money or items gathered in the adventure. The fallen comrades that are given aid can then restart from where they left off.

Both Blue and Red Rescue Team have the same game content, and are rated E for Everyone (every pokemon, for that matter).

Buy: [Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team]

We at QJ like to make our articles more interesting than usual. So when we saw a list of games and accessories coming out this week, we thought of a way to make it more entertaining than a plain old list. Here we go!

Twelve Samurai Warriors  journey to Castlevania on a Dragon Quest, and there, they find a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. After losing 10 of their comrades to various traps, only two finally reach the end of the lair. They open the large door and was surprised to see that there were no guards nor traps. All they saw is a chair in front of a burning fireplace. A soft voice tells them to come in and take some health potions.

They first check it for poison and find out that it's ok, however they foolishly tosses it aside and commands the old man to stand up and come with them to be tried by the King of the land. The man stands and introduces himself as The Godfather. He has been waiting for years for anyone to go through the dungeon alive. Anyone who comes through the dungeon must fight him to the death.

They began fighting wildly. The old man wasn't such a slouch! He moved swiftly and kicked harshly. In the end , The Godfather falls to the might of the two samurais. Before he dies, he turns on the Xbox Live Camera and proclaims to all his henchmen that it's Open Season for the two Samurais. Just then the ceiling blows open and a thousand ninjas appear from the smoke. Our tired and wounded heroes are surrounded!

Will our heroes survive? Find out next time, same QJ Time, same QJ Channel!

We just gave you some boxart and screenshots for Pokemon Ranger just a while ago. Now, on to something even more different from the rest of the PokeSeries. Because in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team, you get to actually control a pokemon! You could be Squirtle, or Charmander, or Bulbasaur!

And not just that! The pokemon you would be controlling in the game would be based on a personality test that could put you into one of the 16 pokemon that players could assume. The game will be released on September 18 in the US - just a few days from now! So we're guessing all you PokeFans are probably PokeGeared to go get it, so without further ado, some PokeScreenshots:

   

GameFly reports on this week's top rental charts, covering the most requested games, both released and still yet to come, for the week ending September 8.

Continuing its surge from recent weeks, Xbox 360 titles maintain top positions throughout the platform chart, with Saints Row dominating as the most requested game across all platforms. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy climbs one spot higher to finally fall second to Saints Row in the Xbox 360, while successfully beating all other titles for the original Xbox. Racing game Test Drive Unlimited meanwhile rallies close behind at number 3.

For the handhelds, Nintendo's own Star Fox: Command clings on to the top spot for the Nintendo DS, followed by Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Mario Hoops 3-on-3. The PSP charts gets dominated by Sony's tiny blobs of joy, Loco Roco with LEGO Star Wars II still battling it out at the second spot for this category. Shooting scores at number 3 is Def Jam: Fight for NY -The Takeover from Electronic Arts.

GameFly is an online video game rental subscription service in the US. What makes this game rental company unique is that they allow subscribers to buy selected pre-played games at a reduced price, should they decide to keep the game.

The appeal of this system is that it allows gamers to just "fish" for the games that would be right for them, thereby helping them make the decision as to which games to buy. We all know how heavy on the pockets original copies of these games can get. And the last thing we'd want to get is some lame game that we bought just because somebody else said it was good, only to find out later on for ourselves that it just doesn't suit our tastes.

Yup, if you aren't sure of what to buy, renting the games first would really be one of the safest options to go for.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is yet another release in this famed series in which the main character wakes up only to realize that he's been turned into an actual Pokemon. While being the first actual game in which you play as a Pokemon might seem exciting enough already, what's even better is that Nintendo is offering everyone who pre-orders the game a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescuer's Guide. This guide features plenty of Pokemon information as well as a preview of another game.

Pokemon copies have been known to sell fast, so you better pre-order this soon before they run out. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team plays on the Nintendo DS while the Red Rescue Team is meant for Game Boy Advance SP. In both releases, you play as a Pokemon as you work your way through randomly generated dungeons. Both versions are planned for release on September 18th, while the official guide will be sold separately starting September 12th.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team for DS will be released as scheduled on November 10 in Europe, about two  months after its North American debut.

Unlike previous titles, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team will let players assume the role of one of the 16 pocket monsters - not their human trainers - including Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur. The Pokemon character a gamer plays is automatically selected based on a personality test. Those of you with "fiery temperaments" are likely to end up as Charmander. Gamers with "electric personality" could be transformed into Pikachu.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team uses Nintendo DS’s second screen to display a map and the touch-screen to activate certain functions. The DS game can link with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team for GBA  (which will be released on the same date) for item trading using the GBA link cable.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team also features a unique password based Rescue Mode. Players who fail to complete a dungeon can give their friends a unique password that will allow them to enter the dungeon and rescue them. Players can enter Rescue Mode wirelessly between Nintendo DS consoles. Friends using a Nintendo DS and a GBA can enter the Rescue Mode via the the two slots on the Nintendo DS.

At the beginning of each game, the player must partner up with another creature to help other Pokemon and uncover the mystery behind their transformation. With a cast of more than 380 Pokemon in the main adventure plus dozens of bonus missions, Pok?n Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team promises enough mysteries to unlock for months.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (DS) and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (GBA) will retail for around $56.