Developer Traveller’s Tales has announced this it is supporting the British charity Comic Relief by releasing a code in Lego Star Wars II that unlocks red noses for all the characters. No, really. Look at the screen below if you don’t believe me.

The code comes in honor of the UK’s Red Nose Day, the day on the UK calendar when the nation unites to raise money for Comic Relief through an all-day live television event. Also, as the name suggests, the day also involves the purchasing and wearing of plastic red noses to show support. Red Nose Day aims to tackle poverty and social injustice in the UK and Africa. 40 percent of the money raised directly through Red Nose Day is allocated to work in the UK and 60 percent goes to work in Africa.

In order to access the red nose code for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox 360 and PC versions of Lego Star Wars II, visit the [url=http://www.ttgames.com/]TT Games websit[/url]e where the code can be accessed after donating any amount to Comic Relief.

Other Red Nose Day support has also been seen in the virtual world of Second Life, where residents are able to [url=http://www.rednoseday.com/secondlife/]purchase Comic Relief t-shirts and red noses[/url] using their in-game spare change. Further information on the Comic Relief charity, including information on how to donate to the cause, are available at the [url=http://www.comicrelief.com/]official website[/url].

[img]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/news/2007/03/freepic-ttgamesrednose1.jpg[/img]

The NPD Group has sent out the U.S. hardware and software sales number for February, and once again the Wii was found to be a hot item for the month by selling in excess of 335,000 units despite it being near impossible to find. The Wii was topped only by the Nintendo DS, which sold 485,000 units in February.

In total, Nintendo systems represented 54 percent of all hardware sales in February, more than those of all other manufacturers combined. The Xbox 360 sold 228,000 units while the PlayStation 3 dropped to just 127,000 units. Perhaps most interesting in this is how the PlayStation 2 continues to be such a strong contender, breathing down the Wii’s neck by selling through 295,000 units.

Other figures include 176,000 PSP units sold in the month, 136,000 Game Boy Advance handhelds, and just 24,000 units of the GameCube.

The top 10 games sold in February are as follows:

1. Crackdown (Xbox 360) – Microsoft – 427K
2. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) – Nintendo – 371K
3. Diddy Kong Racing (DS) – Nintendo – 262K
4. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) – Nintendo – 130K
5. Guitar Hero 2 w/ guitar (PS2) – Activision – 130K
6. Gears of War (Xbox 360) – Microsoft – 119K
7. Major League Baseball 2K7 (Xbox 360) – Take-Two – 113K
8. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Xbox 360) – Capcom – 111K
9. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii) – Nintendo – 109K
10. NBA Street Homecourt (Xbox 360) – Electronic Arts – 102K

With E3 now taking a more covert road this summer, the door has been left open for another, more manic convention to swoop in and fill the void. This emptiness was filled earlier this year when officials from IDG World Expo announced the Entertainment for All Expo (E for All), scheduled to take place in from October 18-21 at the former E3 venue the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The public event, up until now, has remained much of a mystery, though today Gamasutra was [url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13160]passed along some interesting information[/url], including a heads up that both Nintendo and Sony will be on hand – giving the event a great deal more creditability in the process. Both companies will have large booths at the show, though considerably less so than what media were used to wading through at E3. The entire E for All event has been relegated to the convention center’s South Hall, with the center’s Kentia Hall devoted to those companies wanting to sell their wares.

Other booths, according to available information, are currently “reserved by companies such as IDG Entertainment itself, Future Publishing, G4 and TechTV, DirecTV, and the World Series of Video Games Tournament.”

In addition, according to a statement by IDG on the [url=http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=106348]GamePro website[/url], tickets are expected to go on sale June 1, with pre-sale tickets going on sale a month earlier. Pricing for these tickets remains an unknown at this time. The event will also be home to yet another iteration of the long running Video Games Live concert series as well.

Sounds like a good time, though the idea of a public event alongside memories of how manic E3 had become with the public having the “sneak in” leaves me with more than a few reservations.

[img]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/news/2007/03/e_for_all.jpg[/img]

Admit it, deep inside all of us there is an 11 year old girl yearning to break free. Because of this, I believe that we all like to play with paper dolls. That is what makes this post so significant, as the enigmatic Sarah from the Cartoon Doll Emporium has posted up [url=http://www.cartoondollemporium.com/shigerudoll.html]a paper doll of Nintendo darling Shigeru Miyamoto[/url] for the dressing up. How do you like your Shiggy? In a suit? Dressed as Link or Donkey Kong? The options are many. There is even a game Developers Choice Award to paste in his two dimensional hand. Fun!

[img]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/news/2007/03/shiggy_paper.jpg[/img]