Dave Rudden

As expected, Call of Duty: Black Ops continued its sales dominance during the final month of sales in 2010. Read on to see how other Black Friday blockbusters fared against December's new releases and the rest of 2010's top games in the December year-end NPD report.

Call of Duty: Black Ops had another stellar month to close 2010, with the combined sales for the IP topping 12 millions units for the two months it was available on the market in the United States. To put it in perspective, the second-ranking 2010 seller--Madden 2011--sold less than half of that amount.

Gaming's most famous heroine is getting another facelift in her next adventure, as Square Enix is redefining Lara Croft in her next game, simply titled "Tomb Raider."

This has been a tumultuous generation for the female adventurer Lara Croft. Never mind the fact that her franchise has been usurped by Nathan Drake and the Uncharted franchise--her previous two games (Tomb Raider: Underworld & Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light) have rebuilt the heroine and her universe, respectively.

All PlayStation 3 owners who utilize Hulu Plus will be able to use their console to stream shows from the popular website, as Sony has announced that Hulu access will no longer be restricted to PlayStation Plus users.

The $10-a-month Hulu Plus video streaming service currently requires a $50-a-year subscription to PlayStation Plus as well as an invitation to use the service. That will be changing in the next week, as Sony has revealed that customers of Hulu Plus will be able to stream the content via their PlayStation 3 for no additional charge. The PS3's Hulu Plus interface will also be updated with changes to address user complaints, according to the Hulu Blog.

North America won't be left out of the Mario anniversary love as Nintendo has revealed new Wii and DSi XL bundles to release on November 7, both of which will come with red-colored systems and popular Mario titles.

The Wii will have a third color added to its North American palette, as a limited edition red system will become available on November 7 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. The system will include a red console, Nunchuk, copies of New Super Mario Bros. and Wii Sports, as well as the new Wii Remote Plus (the updated Wii Remote that includes Wii MotionPlus support). The bundle will sell for $200.

A few game-related announcements have squeaked out of Comic Con, adding some welcome new elements to some highly-anticipated titles. Among the announcements involve improvements to Marvel vs Capcom 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Dead Space 2.

Here is a video featuring the two latest additions to Marvel vs. Capcom 3's ever-expanding roster -- superhero and summer 2011 movie protagonist Thor adds another fighter to the Marvel side while Okami hero Amaterasu joins the Capcom side. This duo joins the four additions named yesterday -- Super Skrull, Dr. Doom, Chun-Li and Devil May Cry's Trish -- bringing the current amount of revealed characters to 16 for the spring-due game.

Microsoft has revealed the launch pricing for its upcoming Kinect motion-control peripheral. Current Xbox owners will be able to score the Kinect and Kinect Adventures for $150, while the uninitiated will be able to purchase the bundle with a newly-introduced 4GB model of the system for $300. For current Xbox 360 owners, this features everything needed to connect the peripheral to the console.

The only console Kinect will be sold with is a soon-to-be-introduced 4GB model. The console bundle includes the system, a wireless controller, Kinect, and Kinect Adventures for $300. On August 4, Microsoft will start selling the 4GB system without Kinect for $200--meaning that unless a price drop happens between now and the November 4 release date for Kinect, this bundle will represent a $50 savings.

The already-innovative Crackdown 2 demo has been updated by Ruffian Games with the hardest difficulty in the franchise yet, while Rare has revealed an unlockable crossover character that will be playable in Perfect Dark upon purchase of the retail version of the superhero sandbox game.

If the ability to pre-earn achievements in the Crackdown 2 demo hasn't piqued your interest in downloading the file, Ruffian Games has made the brief taste of the open-world action game appealing to more than just convenience-seekers. Starting today, players will have the ability to play the demo on an even more abusive difficulty level called Sadistic, a setting that promises to put the demo's Ruthless level to shame. When the game releases, however, the only difficulty levels available will be the bottom two -- Fragile and Tough -- though it'll certainly give demo-trained agents a leg up on the skills necessary to dominate online multiplayer at launch.

While we'd love to have the sale start in time for fourth of July parties, it's tough to get angry at Microsoft for slashing the prices on hundreds of music game tracks, as 50 Guitar Hero tracks, 123 Rock Band tracks, and 38 Lips songs. From July 6 through12 Xbox 360-owning game musicians will be able to score the songs for up to 50 percent off.

The 211 songs on sale as part of Microsoft's LIVEapalooza promotion encompass only a handful of single tracks, with 10 Guitar Hero tracks, two Rock band tracks, and 8 Lips songs each dropping from $2 to $1. The savings for the other 191 songs are only applied when purchased as part of a track pack or album set, with three-packs selling for $3 instead of $6. Rock Band track packs featuring more than three songs have dropped to $6, while all albums have been cut to $10. On the Guitar Hero side, Metallica's Death Magnetic Album has dropped from $18 to $12, while the Rolling Stones Live pack is $5 instead of $9

Disney has made a major move in the world of Apple portable platform gaming, purchasing iPhone game developer Tapulous -- the company behind the successful rhythm series Tap Tap Revenge.

While the higher ups at the company have been interested in tapping into the iPhone and iPad gaming market for quite some time, enthusing about the platform back in February, the media giant first significant step into the mobile phone gaming category came today in the form of an acquisition. Tapulous, one of the earliest iPhone development teams and the creators of the Tap Tap music-based series.

Netflix will soon have a competitor in the realm of console and handheld video streaming in the form of Hulu, one of the most popular TV show streaming sites. The Hulu Plus service (which will still incorporate advertising) is currently invite-only, with compatibility currently limited to PCs, Macs, Apple's portable devices as well as Samsung internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players. However, in the introductory video and blog post, PlayStation 3 compatibility is promised soon (potentially before the fall, when other products have been slotted for), with an Xbox 360 version coming in 2011. Additionally, the survey required to request an invite asks users if they own a Wii, which may signal a Wii Hulu application in the works.

Microsoft has issued a statement about the addition of Hulu Plus to the Xbox 360, noting that like Netflix before it and ESPN soon, that Hulu's application will be catered to work with the system's strengths. When Hulu Plus does land on the Xbox 360, it will allow users to watch TV programs together in online viewing parties, and without using a remote with Kinect compatibility.