New Games: The Xbox 360 version of Activision’s Call of Duty 4: ...

for the week ended Dec. 2. Microsoft 360 game Mass Effect -- the previous week’s No. 1 game -- slid to No. 2 its second week. No new releases made the top 10, nor did any PS3 titles. The top 10 had more games for 360 -- six -- than any other platform. Other leading games for Microsoft’s console were Kane & Lynch: Dead Men by Eidos at No. 3 (up four its third week), Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed at No. 4 (up two its third week), Need For Speed: ProStreet from Electronic Arts at No. 5 (down three its third week) and Microsoft’s Halo 3 at No. 8 (down three its 10th week). The only top 10 Wii game, Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy, was No. 10, down two its third week. Rounding out the top 10 were three PS2 games: EA’s ProStreet at No. 6 (down three in its third week), THQ’s WWE SmackDown Vs. Raw 2008 at No. 7 (up three its third week) and EA’s Madden NFL 08 at No. 9 again its 16th week… Development is underway on Street Fighter IV, Capcom said Thursday, not specifying what platforms it will be for or when it will ship. The first new entry in the action series announced in nearly eight years followed Street Fighter III Third Strike… JoWooD Productions and DreamCatcher Games will ship real-time strategy game Seven Kingdoms: Conquest for Windows in first quarter 2008 at $39.99 in the U.S. The game is the third entry in the Seven Kingdoms franchise… BigWorld Technology signed a deal with Vivendi Games’ Sierra Online to use the BigWorld Technology Suite to develop a coming PC online game targeting a mass market audience. The game wasn’t named nor were terms disclosed. The technology suite offers tools and technology for use in developing “cutting-edge, next-generation online games,” the companies said… Development has begun on a Nintendo DS version of FIFA Street 3, EA said Thursday. The game will ship Deb. 15 on the EA Sports Big label in Europe and Feb. 19 in North America, as the game becomes available for PS3 and Xbox 360, EA said. The DS version will offer touch-screen control and exclusive mini-game Kick Ups… 505 Games will ship Cooking Mama 2 in Europe during “early 2008,” the publisher said Thursday. The game sequel already shipped in the U.S. for Nintendo DS, from publisher Majesco Entertainment. European sales of the first Cooking Mama game for DS and Wii “surpassed one million units,” 505 said, making the franchise its “most successful title to date”… EGO Game Technology Engine is the new name for Codemasters Studios’ proprietary middleware, it said. The first generation version of the middleware -- dubbed “Neon” -- was used to create its racing game Colin McRae: Dirt. The latest version of the engine is being used to create its new games Race Driver: Grid and Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, it said. Development on the engine “formed part” of the Pounds 40.5 million ($84.3 million) that Codemasters invested in game design and technical development in the 12- month fiscal year ended June 30 -- up more than 150 percent over the year before, it said. The company made “significant investments” in its own cross-platform, multi-genre development solution in anticipation of the transition to next-generation consoles, Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens said.