How do video games stack up compared to movies when it comes to gross revenues? We’ve rounded up the top 10 highest grossing video games ever, based on worldwide sales through the end of 2011. DLC sales are not included.

10: Modern Warfare: $700 million

The Call of Duty series went into the modern era with a bang: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was released in 2007 and spawned an instant franchise. Modern Warfare would go on to sell millions of copies across multiple platforms, eventually generating over $700 million in revenue.

9: The Sims: $740 million

The original Sims was released in 2000 and became a best seller among casual and female gamers. The Sims has since become one of the highest grossing PC games ever, generating over $500 million in revenue on PC alone, and $740 million in total.

8: Modern Warfare 2: $780 million

The sequel to Activision’s Modern Warfare wasn’t as groundbreaking as the original, but it still managed to out-gross it, reaching $780 million.

7: Gran Turismo 3/GTA San Andreas (tied): $850 million

Gran Turismo 3 and Grand Theft Auto 3 are two of the best selling and highest grossing PlayStation 2 games ever. Both have generated around $850 million in revenue. However, GTA San Andreas was also released on the Xbox and PC platforms, and was later released on the Xbox 360 as well.

6: New Super Mario Bros. $1,2 billion

New Super Mario Bros. was the first must-have title on the Nintendo Wii. The game gathered great reviews and quickly became a top seller for Nintendo. In just two years, the game passed the $1 billion mark, and has to date generated $1.2 billion in revenue. But even then, it’s still only the 3rd highest grossing Wii game ever.

5: Wii Play: $1.25 billion

Everyone who bought a Wii got Wii Sports, and Wii Play was a natural extension to the bundled title. Wii Play was packaged with a Wiimote and sold separately as well. Despite lackluster reviews, Wii Play went on to sell almost 27 million copies, generating $1.25 billion in revenue for Nintendo.

4: Grand Theft Auto 4: $1,35 billion

Grand Theft Auto was one of the most anticipated titles on the current generation consoles, and gamers had huge expectations for the title. So did Rockstar, who spent $100 million developing the game. But it turned out to be a good business decision: GTA 4 grossed $1,35 billion, making it the highest grossing game in Rockstar’s history.

3: Mario Kart Wii: $1.4 billion

The best selling game for the best selling current-gen console, Mario Kart Wii, was released 2008 and was an instant hit with gamers and critics. It has since sold over 28 million copies, generating $1.4 billion in revenue — the highest grossing Nintendo game of all time.

2: Call of Duty: Black Ops: $1,5 billion

Black Ops took Call of Duty to an all new level: it grossed more than Modern Warfare 1 and 2, combined. This makes Call of Duty Black Ops the best selling title across all current-gen consoles. In all, Black Ops grossed $1.5 billion, and that’s without DLC — DLC packs which have sold millions of copies as well.

1: World of Warcraft: $10+ billion

Not only has World of Warcraft sold over 15 million copies (including expansions), but it has had a base of around 11 million paying subscribers for more than half a decade. This alone brings in over $1.5 billion per year. Overall, World of Warcraft is estimated to have generated over $10 billion in revenue to date.

Following in the footsteps of Street Fighter X Tekken, Team Ninja head, Yosuke Hayashi, revealed that the developer is very interesting in doing a crossover title with another fighter series. Furthermore, he expressed heavy interest in doing so with SEGA’s Virtua Fighter franchise.

He went on:

In terms of collaboration titles, there are staff on our team who just love fighting games and if there was any chance to do that we’d actively, possibly do that. The first 3D game I played was Virtua Fighter, that’s the IP I respect most. Virtua Fighter was the father of 3D gaming, so it’s very well respected.

Also, speaking on the upcoming Dead or Alive 5 title, Hayashi said he would be more respectful toward female design now.

Up to now we thought, with other games, let’s show the beauty of a woman. How do we do that? Make her breasts big and just make them jiggle, that was the concept.

Dead or Alive 5 will release later this year, with a demo of the game being offered as a preorder bonus for, Ninja Gaiden III, which is set for release March 20.

That’s right, everyone. The wait is nearly over. BioWare has announced today that its highly anticipated sequel sequel, Mass Effect 3, has finally gone gold.

Casey Hudson revealed on Twitter, “After an awesome effort by our team, I’m proud to announce Mass Effect is officially gold.” Hudson also went on to tease fans by saying, “Many surprises await you–this week and beyond.”

The demo officially releases tomorrow for Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3. Mass Effect 3 hits stores this March.

As apart of a Q&A feature today from Rockstar Games’ official website titled Asked & Answered, the company says a sequel to L.A. Noire is a “possibility.”

The company says, although busy with Max Payne 3 and Grand Theft Auto V at the moment, “don’t count out the possibility of a new game in the L.A. Noire franchise in the future.” They continued:

We’re all very pleased with how that game turned out and are considering what the future may hold for L.A. Noire as a series. We don’t always rush to make sequels, but that does not mean we won’t get to them eventually – see Max and Red Dead for evidence of that – we have so many games we want to make and the issue is always one of bandwidth and timing.

While there isn’t any DLC planned for the near future of the game, we’re sure there will be a return of the series, as Rockstar stated themselves, the company definitely gets to their games eventually, as seen with Red Dead and Max Payne.

The next generation Xbox console, rumored to be named Xbox 720, will be sporting a GPU based on the Radeon 6000 series, according to a rumor from IGN. The Radeon 6000 series was launched last year, and the Xbox 720 version will reportedly be close to the Radeon HD 6670 — a mid-range GPU. Despite being a mid-range GPU in 2011, it’s still said to be 6 times more powerful than the current Xbox 360 ATI GPU. Mass production of the chip is said to start in late 2012, which could mean a new console launch at the very end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013. Compared to the Wii U, another new console that’s launching this year, the Xbox 720 GPU will be around 20% more powerful.

Finally, it appears that Microsoft is coming to their senses and will abolish the MS live point system in favor of a regular $ price tag. According to a report from InsideMobileApps, Microsoft will abolish MS points across all services, including Windows Phone, Zune Marketplace, and Xbox Live.

The change will take affect by the end of 2012, and all prices will be based in real currency, depending on the user’s location/region. Microsoft Points have been a little scammy from the start, where the actual points are lower than the dollar amount paid, e.g. 400 MS points cost $5.

Flickr user “Nick Brick” knows a thing or two about LEGOs, judging by the looks of his creations. The man specializes in recreating Halo weapons in LEGO with astounding accuracy and visual detail. For instance, the Halo Reach SRS99 rifle, pictured above. Be sure to check out more photos of his full arsenal on Flickr.

Rockstar has released a new Max Payne 3 trailer, this time, we get a good look at some Max Payne 3 gameplay and game mechanics as well. But somehow, it feels odd hearing the new Max, with the new voice actor. Not much “noir” to it if you ask us, but the gameplay sure looks exciting. Be sure to check out more Max Payne 3 news, including Max Payne 3 bursts and our Max Payne 3 multiplayer coverage. The game is scheduled for release this May.

Ubisoft has announced that its Just Dance games have sold a whopping 25 million copies today, which now makes Just Dance a real franchise, with sales numbers up there with Gears of War and Uncharted. And that’s for a series that most hardcore gamers, even most gamers, don’t really take seriously. But with 6 games and 25 million copies sold, Just Dance is now a huge franchise for Ubisoft, which the latest title confirmed: Just Dance 3, released in October, has sold 7 million units to date. That’s more than Rage. More than Crysis. More than Battlefield 3. More than a lot of AAA games out there.

Halo 4 on the PC might be a possibility, according to a new rumor emerging from developer 343 Industries. The rumor comes from an “inside source” sent to DigitalBattle, suggesting that 343i has a “team looking into the possibility of porting Halo 4 to the PC” and that Microsoft is interested in this in order to “breathe life back into Games For Windows Live”. While 343 has yet to release a PC game, many developers from the defunct Pandemic studio left for 343, developers with a lot of PC experience (Pandemic shipped some 10 PC titles over the years) — so 343 definitely has the capacity and talent to work on the PC platform.

Halo hasn’t seen a Windows PC release since Halo 2 back in 2004. Since then, it’s been an Xbox 360 exclusive, even Halo Wars, an RTS, was only released on the Xbox 360.

Naturally, take this rumor with a grain of salt. Halo has been a system seller for the Xbox 360 over the years, and even if we see a Halo 4 PC release, don’t expect it to be simultaneous with the Xbox 360. Perhaps a year down the line, 2013, we might see Halo 4 on the PC. Might.