These days, it's usually a wise choice to go around looking for deals on your favorite video games. Gamestop is offering a few deals of its own from the week of March 2 to March 8. These include a buy two, take one promo, discounts and what not.

In fact, we'll make you a deal as well: if you turn to the full article after the jump, we'll give you more details on Gamestop's Deal of the Week. How about it?

Back when computer role-playing games in the west were considered to be for pimple-faced geeks that used to confine themselves in Dungeons & Dragons, Japan was crazy over Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and others that joined the bandwagon of the successful genre. America and Europe drooled over seductive elves and fought evil wizards for ages, while the land of the rising sun encountered bizarre creatures and embraced kids that eventually save the world.

Proving which of the two types is superior has been a hot topic for dedicated fans, making it interesting how what's enjoyable to some is simply odd to others. Only a few wouldn't favor one over the other, while the rest point at flaws apparent on both sides. Let's take a look at the elements that make western RPGs (WRPG) so different from Japanese RPGs (JRPG), and what strong points they have that leave gamers craving for more.

WRPG and JRPG girls face-off

Characters
Almost all WRPGs place players in the shoes of the main character. It's not an easy task (if not impossible) to name titles from renown developers like Black Isle Studios, Bethesda Softworks, and Bioware that don't offer aspiring adventurers the option to create their own characters. We've always seen humans, elves, dwarves, and other races take up various classes like fighters, clerics, wizards, and thieves.

Some argue that JRPGs aren't immersive because players are forced to play soon-to-be-heroes or warriors of light, but Japanese gamers seem to enjoy playing as someone else and are even able to relate with over-the-top personalities. Mute characters made to involve players in the story aren't enough to silence nitpickers, yet they seem to be effective as proven by Chrono Trigger and Pokemon. Instead of having cookie-cutter races and classes persistent in RPGs from the other side of the world, Japan had young boys fighting aliens and troubled esper girls escaping slavery.

We've only touched on the element of character here, so if you want to read the rest of this quick peek at the differences of WRPGs and JRPGs, then head on to the full article.

 

Chart Track has released the top 40 games in the UK for the week ending September 1. Before we get to the week's king though, we'd like to share that Chart Track now has integrated a "per unit, per platform" filter, which should now point us to the gritty specifics: the week's true top seller.

In a general perspective, Nintendo continues to dominate the UK, with three DS games and two Wii games claiming spots in the week's top ten. The success of the Japanese gaming giant in the region just barely leaves room for three more Xbox 360 games and one PC game.

Ranking high at number one is Take-Two Interactive's BioShock for the Xbox 360. Nintendo's Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training takes a solid second, with its sequel, More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima tailing close at third. Nintendo's Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree claims fourth spot, while EA Sports' Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for the Xbox 360 at fifth and the Games for Windows version of BioShock at sixth cut the Nintendo cluster from the the rest of the Nintendo games. 

Nintendo's Pokemon Diamond starts the second Nintendo cluster at number seven, with Mario Party 8 dancing just behind it. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for the Nintendo Wii swings a solid nine, and Microsoft's Blue Dragon slips down one spot to close the top ten.

Again, the top ten games in the UK on a per unit (meaning they are ranked by how many units sold), per platform basis are:

1. BioShock, Xbox 360 (Take-Two Interactive)
2. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training, DS (Nintendo)
3. More Brain Training From Dr. Kawashima, DS (Nintendo)
4. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, Wii (Nintendo)
5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Xbox 360 (Electronic Arts)
6. BioShock, Games for Windows (Take-Two Interactive)
7. Pokemon Diamond, DS (Nintendo)
8. Mario Party 8, Wii (Nintendo)
9. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Wii (Electronic Arts)
10. Blue Dragon, Xbox 360 (Microsoft)

What are they playing over at Sweden? Aren't you curious? This bit of info just might save your life one day, y'know. The region's data trade firm, Dataspelsbranschen (now try saying that as fast as you can, ten times consecutively), has just released the top sales charts of video games for Sweden.

The Multiplatform chart is dominated by the MMORPG mogul that is The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade from Blizzard. This is followed by Pokémon Diamond on the Nintendo DS. MotorStorm and R:FoM have also landed a place in the multiplatform chart, and unsurprisingly, both titles get bragging rights in the PS3 chart.

The 360 chart has Guitar Hero II fronting the musical act - and smack dab in the middle is Gears of War on fifth place. The Wii has Leon Kennedy and Ashley Graham running up to first place with Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, while Twilight Princess is galloping up to the Top 2 spot.

On the handheld side, the DS chart has both Pokemon (Diamond and Pearl) titles on top, while the PSP chart has Pro Evolution Soccer 6 kicking into the goal - Konami's sports title is enjoying the kingly spot on top.

 Multiformat

1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
2. Pokémon Diamond (DS)
3. World of Warcraft (PC)
4. Counter-Strike 1: Anthology (PC)
5. Guitar Hero 2 Rock the 80´s (PS2)
6. The Sims 2 H&M Fashion (PC)
7. Pokémon Pearl (DS)
8. Motorstorm (PS3)
9. Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
10. Singstar 90's (PS2)

Check out the Full Article link below for each individual chart per platform!

BioShock's still hot and heavy as Gamefly's top requested game on Gamefly for the week ending on August 13. The past two weeks seems to be a period of great upheaval for the PlayStation 3. The Xbox 360 and the Wii, on the other hand, still has its top three intact.

   

What's new on the 360 though, is that Darkness has finally released its death grip on top five. Overlord also drops to make way for Stranglehold and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08. BioShock is on its second week at number one, its release impending with only a week to go.

Resident Evil has dropped out of the top five games for the Wii, while Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has jumped to first place in anticipation for its release next month. Boogie, which was released last week, didn't make the cut.

The PS3 experienced a heavy change this week as Lair drops from first place to last on the top 5. Ninja Gaiden Sigma drops one more place to take 4th while Madden NFL 08 takes first. Darkness also leaves the PS3 top 5, but Heavenly Sword has gone up to 2nd.

View the full list at the full article after the jump!

Let's face it - cute, cuddly monsters with freakish powers beats angst, bespectacled wizard trainees any day. Taking the lead in UK's most recent Chart Track all-format poll ending July 28 is Nintendo's Pokemon Diamond for the DS, with Activision's Transformers: The Game taking second place.     

For the PlayStation 3, Resistance: Fall of Man appears to be holding to the number 10 post, while Forza MotorSport 2 for the Xbox 360 tailgates along at 11th.

• Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo)
• Transformers: The Game (Activision)
• Pokemon Pearl (Nintendo)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Electronic Arts)
• Shrek the Third (Activision)
• The Darkness (Take-Two)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Electronic Arts)
• New Super Mario Brothers (Nintendo)
• Pirates of the Carribbean: At World's End (Disney Interactive Studios)
• Resistance: Fall of Man (Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft)
• Rugby 08 (Electronic Arts)
• Mario Striker Charged Football (Nintendo)
• MotorStorm (Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Spider-Man 3 (Activision)
• Tomb raider: Anniversary (Eidos)
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)
• Tom Clancy's rainbow Six: Vegas (Ubisoft)
• Transformers: The Game - Autobot (Activision)
• Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (Nintendo)    

The American Library Association recently held their annual meeting in Washington and the focus of the gathering was how to help students who have learned many of their information gathering and analysis skills from video games apply that knowledge in the library.

The suggestions from the experts were striking: our friendly librarians should play more video games. However, solving the widening gap is not as easy as that as pointed out by Online Computer Library Center VP George M. Needham.

He pointed out that the students of today are "Digital Natives" while the librarians are simply "Digital Immigrants." And much like the theory behind migration, the immigrants should be the one to adopt and not the other way around.

Likewise, author of book "Digital Game-Based Learning" Marc Prensky explained:

In geography - which is all but ignored these days - there is no reason that a generation that can memorize over 100 Pokemon characters with all their characteristics, history, and evolution can't learn the names, populations, capitals and relationships of all the 101 nations in the world. It just depends on how it is presented.

Needham mentioned as well that he is not suggesting that college libraries "tear up the stacks to put in arcades," but that they rethink many assumptions and teaching methods. He added:

The librarian as information priest is as dead as Elvis. The whole gestalt of the academic library has been set up like a church with various parts of a reading room acting like the stations of the cross, all leading up to the altar of the reference desk, where you make supplication and if you are found worthy, you will be helped.

Remember all those McDonald's outlets that display how many people they have served over the years? Now, imagine putting that sort of computing into videogames, and see who comes out on top. With that said, we bring you this Top 20 published by the UK-based "The Independent."

From what we see, Japan seems to hold in this list, with Mario, Pokemon, and Final Fantasy making it to the top three. Then again, it looks like all the top gaming mascots are here. We advise the fans out there to cross-reference this with anything else they may have read, for accuracy's sake. Enjoy poring over it.

The best-selling games franchises

1. Mario: 193 million
2. Pokémon: 155 million
3. Final Fantasy: 68 million
4. Madden NFL: 56 million
5. The Sims: 54 million
6. Grand Theft Auto': 50 million
7. Donkey Kong: 48 million (centre)
8. The Legend of Zelda: 47 million
9. Sonic the Hedgehog: 44 million
10. Gran Turismo: 44 million
11. Lineage: 43 million
12. Dragon Quest: 41 million
13. Crash Bandicoot: 34 million
14. Resident Evil: 31 million
15. James Bond: 30 million
16. Tomb Raider: 30 million
17. Mega Man: 26 million
18. Command & Conquer: 25 million
19. Street Fighter:25 million
20. Mortal Kombat:20 million

On a last note, we did find it mortifying that our personal faves like MGS did not make it.