The marketing research firm NPD has turned in their analysis of what the top video game titles and consoles were last month and the news is very good for the industry as a whole. Leading the top in sales of new software was Activision’s “Call of Duty 4″ for the Microsoft Xbox 360 which sold an impressive 1.57 million copies. Nintendo’s “Super Mario Galaxy” came in second place and if you combine the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sales for “Assassin’s Creed” it would actually take the silver medal. Not coincidentally Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed” has emerged as the best-selling new IP for games in recent years.

Nintendo’s handheld DS gaming device sold an amazing 1.53 million units in November which was enough to give it the top of the chart for hardware sales. In second place was Nintendo’s Wii gaming console with 981,000 Wiis sold followed by Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in third spot with 770,000 units finding homes. Sony moved 577,000 PlayStation Portable to give it fourth place and the price drop in the PS3 convinced 466,000 consumers to go out and buy one of the consoles last month.

Time magazine has released its list of the top ten videogames of the year. Can you take a guess at what made their number one spot? If you guessed “Halo 3″ you don’t win a prize. “Like a pebble that has been rounded over the centuries by the gentle splashing of the ocean waves, ‘Halo 3′ has become the perfect hardcore first-person combat simulator,” said Time in their idol worship of the Xbox 360 killer app. “By dint of painstaking labor on the part of its developer, Bungie, it has been refined over three installments to the point where it delivers only pure, unadulterated gaming bliss.” Who knew that the editors at Time were down with playing some Master Chief deathmatches?

Of the titles that made Time’s best of 2007 list six are exclusive to one videogame system, of which three are for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and one each for Sony’s PlayStation 2, Nintendo’s DS and Wii console systems. Why didn’t at least one PlayStation 3 exclusive title make it on Time’s list? And no “Guitar Hero III” (or is that game now redundant that “Rock Band” is out and lets you play drums as well as guitar?)

Sony has official announced the launched a new model of the Playstation 2 in Japan with the model number SCPH-90000. This new model is sans an external power brick and instead has it built into the frame. This change hasn’t made the PS2 any thicker, and also hasn’t made it any thinner as we had hoped, but it will come a bit lighter than the current SCPH-79000 model.

This new model will be unleashed in Japan on November 22 for about the equivalent of $140, which isn’t the $99 PS2 price we were hoping to see. Now word yet on this model coming to the states yet but we’re guessing it will be soon and will hopefully come a little cheaper.

The Limited Edition Playstation two bundled with SingStar Pop that we told you about a couple of months ago is hitting some stores this weekend and Sony is advising customers to “get ‘em while they’re hot”. The SingStar PS2 pack comes in ceramic white which was previously only available in Japan (maybe we’ll get the white PS3 someday too?) and is the only way you can get your hands on a ceramic white model. It comes packed with the SingStar Pop game and two microphones, retailing for the exptected $149.99. The Playstation blog says that “some” stores will have it this weekend and will reach “everywhere” on November 4.

Information on the release of the new “Rock Band” game from MTV has made its way into the blogosphere today flaunting a lower-than-expected price. The game is to be released for both the Sony PS3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 on November 23, both priced at $169.99. As an early surprise, Rock Star will also be available for the PS2 the following month on December 10, going for $10 less at $159.99.

The games will come bundled with a single guitar, microphone and a drum kit. Also, that guitar that comes bundled for the PS2 and PS3 won’t be tethered with any wires letting you rock out more freely but unfortunately the Xbox 360 will require you to plug it in, at least for a while. A wireless guitar model for the 360 is expected to come up sometime next year.

Sony is still thinking that there’s life left in the old PlayStation 2 and it’s probably right considering how poorly the PS3 has faired in the next gen console war. To attract any remaining consumers out there still holding out on picking up a PS2, or simply to whet the interest of the collectors market, the company has revealed that it will sell a limited edition Ceramic White PlayStation 2 bundled with “SingStar Pop” and two of its high-quality USB microphones. The new white PS2 bundle will …