A new monthly report is in town, and it's a collaborative effort between the top three firms that track sales in the video game industry. North America's NPD Group, UK's Chart Track, and Japan's Enterbrain are now to come up with joint monthly reports. And with their powers combined... it's the Top Global Markets Report! Oooh, sounds like a golden idea! And guess what? The first report has already been published. Wanna see? Get a hold of the top five worldwide best-selling games of 2008 so far!

A couple of days back, we wrote a post detailing a piece of videogame legislation proposed by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) known as S.3315. Well, the full bill is now available after the jump for you to read. Don't worry, it's only three and a quarter pages long. Learn more about it after the jump!

Download: S.3315: The Video Game Rating Enforcement Act of 2008

It looks like the recent law enacted in New York has given politicians more leeway in introducing new game-related bills. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) recently introduced a new piece of videogame legislation to the US Senate. Find out what the game legislation's about after the jump!

Remember that mandatory game ratings bill that was passed by the New York Senate last month? Just yesterday, New York Governor David Paterson signed the video game bill into law, creating an interesting precedent for videogame legislation. Find out the full details of the videogame law after the jump!

For a place that once deemed September 26 as Guitar Hero Day, you'd expect most New Yorkers to be pretty cool about games. We've got news that might startle you though, as the New York State Senate recently voted 61-1 to approve a bill that would make game ratings mandatory in the state of New York. Learn more after the jump!

It seems that Rockstar's own Vice President of Creativity, Dan Houser, has something to say about the recent boom in casual gaming. Before you ask, no, he actually appreciates what the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS are doing - but as far as casual games are concerned, you might as well color him unimpressed. Check out what Dan said in the full article and see what it means to you.

The Cold War may have ended a long time ago, but that doesn't mean that spies can rest on their laurels. In fact, US intelligence agents have been keeping busy lately. Doing what, you may ask? Why, studying video games in order to improve their analytical skills.

It seems that DIA analysts have now joined the likes of surgeons in using video games for training. More on this unorthodox method of training in the full article after the jump.

Marvel fans rejoice for Activision has let slip a few more details about Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. To discover more about these games swing on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

The recent Spider-Man games have all been free roaming, open-ended games. However, the games never really gave you a choice of becoming the bad guy. Activision is looking to change that with their latest game, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. To find out more, head on over to the full article for more information.

Alex Mercer, main protagonist of Radical Entertainment's Prototype (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC), will get the chance to star in his very own comic book series as DC Comics and Sierra Entertainment plan on publishing a new comic series based on the upcoming video game title. You can check out a proposed comic book cover for Prototype as well as additional details about the series by reading our full article on it.