If you've never heard of Ben 10: Protector of Earth, welcome to the club. If I said "Steven Seagle," that might raise some eyebrows, except that I mean Steven T. Seagle, the American comics, TV, film, theater, video game, and animation guy, not the American movie actor turned deputy sheriff with a black belt in aikido and (oddly enough) a thing for Tesla coils (who also spells his name 'Seagal').

Ben 10 is a cartoon co-created by Seagle about a kid with a watch that lets him turn into different sorts of aliens with special powers. Ben 10: Protector of Earth is a $20 video game spinoff for Wii, PS2, DS, and PSP that snuck up on the games industry and sold over 2.5 million copies globally since it launched around this time last year. The game got mostly shrugs and bored sighs from the two or three mainstream game sites that bothered to review it. And then it sold 2.5 million anyway.

"We are thrilled to see the strong consumer response to Ben 10: Protector of Earth and the continual climb in sales demonstrates the dedication of fans around the globe to this tremendous franchise," said Yoji Takenaka, president and CEO of D3P for both North America and Europe.

Takenaka says the company is hoping for even bigger sales from Ben 10: Alien Force, a sequel released on October 28. If its reviews are as middling as the first game's, it'll probably do just swimmingly.