Impulse and GamersGate are two pretty well known digital download services - we feature them every week in The Moneysaver - but they didn't show up in an NPD assessment of digital versus brick-and-mortar sales.

Earlier in the week, NPD Group claimed that digital download sales of PC games had almost caught up with games sold in physical retail locations. It's ranking of the top 5 digital distros, however, did not include Impulse or GamersGate.

You might remember the spat over Who's No. 2 last year, (trailing Steam, of course) with Impulse claiming the spot and GamersGate saying no way. Well, Big Download contacted both services to ask what they thought of not even being No. 5 in the NPD report.

Impulse boss Brad Wardell told Big Download: "NPD's numbers on digital don't tend to have much reflection on reality. As much as I would love digital distribution to take over the world, I can't think of a single publisher (including ourselves) that sells even close to a majority of its units digitally. I am a big believer in the future of digital distribution but the numbers we typically hear from publishers is that it's about a third (which is pretty darn good btw)."

And from GamersGate, CEO Theodore Bergquist had this to say to Big Download: "We did read the report and were actually quite surprised. We do not disclose our sales numbers and we were also not contacted during the research period of this study. That being said, from our numbers and most importantly our conversations with the leading publishers in the industry, I know we are easily one of the top retailers."

Impulse and GamersGate Heads Dispute NPD's PC Game Download Study [Big Download]

Thursday's news of "The Jordan Challenge" coming to NBA 2K11 certainly felt like a trip down memory lane - of video games, as well as His Airness' career.

In the days when Michael Jordan was the premier athlete in the NBA, if not the world, sports video games were on the whole not fully licensed, and usually titled after a single superstar. And it wasn't just Joe Montana Football or Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball. Mario Lemieux, David Robinson, Riddick Bowe and Greg Norman all had games named for them.

With NBA 2K11's "Jordan Challenge" - recreating 10 of his greatest games ever - and NHL Slapshot's "Peewee-to-Pro" career mode starring Wayne Gretzky, two major upcoming sports titles have reached back into the 1990s to give more than just the cover of a game to a player. They've given a huge chunk of its code to a single performer of that era, and betting that it will mean big sales.

It is a step back in time that, along with that era's great - and lesser - players showing up in NBA Jam, has the feelings of being a trend. That's somewhat ironic, considering Tiger Woods has been the face of simulation-quality golf, on any platform, for more than a decade, and only now the game is having as bad of a year in sales as he is both personally and professionally.

The response for "The Jordan Challenge" was uncommonly positive. I'm accustomed to seeing sports posts, regardless of the subject matter, littered with complaints, often bemoaning a lack of innovation. Yet I've never seen so many people vowing day-one buys for an alternative game mode. Jordan, who hasn't played in seven years, clearly strikes a chord with gamers.

"The relevancy of Michael Jordan, even in the eyes of 13-year-olds, is still as a champion and a superstar out there on the court today," 2K Sports' Jason Argent told me last month.

It's absolutely true, and it's probably why this will stop with both Jordan and Gretzky in their respective titles. In other sports, there simply are no retired or even active players that command fans' imagination, or are as widely accepted as their sport's greatest player ever.

The closest analogue, in terms of statistical performance anyway, would be baseball's Barry Bonds - but the freight on him is laughably overwhelming. Aside from the steroid controversy, Bonds has not appeared under his own name in a video game since withdrawing from the MLBPA licensing agreement - the only one to do so - in 2003. The cost of getting him into a game would be enormous, and considering how reviled he is by many baseball fans, eminently not worth it. And the next baseball player whose career might justify such a video game memorial? Roger Clemens, perhaps even more tainted and unlikeable than Bonds.

In football, Madden and FIFA have proven quite capable of selling a ton without giving a specific legend a game mode. All-Pro Football 2K8 put the NFL's greatest receiver on the same cover as one of the greatest quarterbacks and running backs of all time and still is largely forgotten. And the style of play isn't as given to the kind of role-playing-game achievement in "The Jordan Challenge" or the career progression of "Peewee-to-Pro."

Furthermore, 2K Sports went to a tremendous effort to license the likenesses of all the players - most now retired - who faced Jordan in these games. A legal dispute over the appearance of old-time players on classic teams led to that feature being discontinued in Madden (and, for additional different reasons, in NCAA Football).

The question then is how 2K Sports and EA Sports can, if they plan to at all, continue this kind of special appearance mode in NBA 2K12 and Slapshot, if any sequel is coming there. This is more of a concern for NBA 2K. Right now, Jordan's appearance on the cover and in the game is likely to deliver a huge sales spike. Though 2K has never been afraid to do something big because of an argumentative obligation to top it later, one wonders how next year's Jordan-less game would do in comparison, and if the Jordan Challenge feature carries over there's the implication it should be updated.

Probably the last thing 2K would want is a situation where NBA 2K11 cannibalizes NBA 2K12 because it has a feature the new game doesn't. Some have also pointed out that maybe 2K Sports is being shrewd, and in spotting a potential lockout with the players' union contract set to expire, created a mode that doesn't depend on the current events or players of the league. That's perhaps giving them too much credit, but it could be a nice side effect.

I have no proof of this, simply speculation - and a notable no comment from Argent as to plans - but I think 2K will extend "The Jordan Challenge" with DLC. And if they have permission to use the likenesses of Dominique Wilkins, Karl Malone, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler and others, then why not create role-playing challenges specific to their great career moments, too? I'm not saying put Reggie Miller on the cover of NBA 2K12, but his epic showdowns with the Knicks would absolutely create enthusiasm among lifelong NBA fans.

That's what might be someday. For this year at least, we can kick back, controller in hand, and revel in what was, and party like its nineteen-ninety ... five. Or two.

Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports video games. It appears Saturdays at 2 p.m. U.S. Mountain time.

Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono had his "Street Fighter IV and Beyond" panel interrupted by Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada today, with the rival fighting game makers joining together to announce two Street Fighter versus Tekken collaborations.

Street Fighter X Tekken was introduced with a teaser trailer featuring Street Fighter's Ryu facing down Tekken's Kazuya Mishima in a pre-rendered sneak peek presented in Street Fighter IV's sketchy, inky visual style. The game, pronounced "Street Fighter cross Tekken" will be coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Following the announcement, Ono surprised the crowd by holding up a Blu-ray disc with a copy of the game, then provided attendees with a live, playable demo.

Street Fighter X Tekken appears to feature Street Fighter IV's gameplay mechanics, locked onto a 2D plane, with both Tekken and Street Fighter characters performing EX-style super moves. The match started off with Ryu versus Kazuya Mishima, but Ono and Harada tagged in two more characters, Street Fighter's Chun-li and Tekken's Nina Williams. Ryu deployed his trademark fireball Ultra move, with Kazuya later following that up with his spinning electrified uppercut.

Harada followed that playable match with an announcement of his own, confirming that Tekken X Street Fighter is also in development at Namco. That game is rumored to play in the style of Tekken, with contestants fighting in a 3D arena.

Ono said the games won't be out "for a while" and that fighting game fans should enjoy Marvel vs. Capcom 3 while they wait.

Update: As some commenters have pointed it, Tekken's Kazuya Mishima was the fighter that appeared in the demo and trailer, not Jin Kazama. Apologies for the error.

At today's "Street Fighter IV and Beyond" panel, Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono revealed that he and his team "haven't forgotten about Street Fighter III." As proof, Ono offered an announcement, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition.

"We're just starting to work on it," Ono said of the new version of Street Fighter III, so "It won't be out in the immediate future." The fighting game producer said that fans should be vocal about their wishes for Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition as the team working on it had just begun development.

How long this has been available, who knows, but someone just found an Easter egg in YouTube that allows you to play a game of Snake on the video while it's paused or plays.

I've confirmed this for myself - it takes some doing, and maybe it's because I'm using a Mac, but if you press the up and left arrows simultaneously, Update: Just hold down the left arrow; up is not necessary it triggers the game of Snake. Snake, of course, is a game that's been around forever - move your snake around the screen and gobble up pellets, increasing your length as you do, without hitting the edges.

The Easter egg also seems to be tied to a video being categorized "gaming." I'm not sure if you need to be on the YouTube page itself or if it works with an embedded video. I tried it in a few other non-gaming videos and couldn't make it work. All that said, the command was very unreliable for me even in the gaming videos, so I can't be sure.

Final update: To the best of our knowledge: Just hit or hold down the left arrow; you have to be on the actual video page, not embedded or on the channel page; some say the clip has to be fully loaded, others say they can do it while it is loading.

Big thanks to Kotaku reader Save Me for the tip!

The idea that Rockstar Games was making "Grand Theft Auto: Rothbury" - whether or not a ghastly crime was committed there - was so sensationally ridiculous that when The Daily Star alleged such a plan, I ignored it. Rockstar didn't.

The studio has now extracted a remarkable apology from the U.K. tabloid, which last week spotted some kind of parody Photoshop on the web (pictured) and took that for confirmation that the games maker was capitalizing on the notoriety of a shooting spree and manhunt in northeast England earlier this year. Worse, the paper went and contacted victims of that crime for comment, representing as fact Rockstar's plans to make such a game - but made no attempt to get a statement from the studio before publishing.

Rockstar went on a counteroffensive, and The Daily Star today published a self-flagellating retraction and has promised "a substantial amount in damages" will be paid to Rockstar, to be donated to charity.

Here is The Star, served a banquet of crow:

ON 21 July we published an article claiming that the video games company Rockstar Games were planning to release a version of their popular Grand Theft Auto video games series titled "Grand Theft Auto Rothbury".

We also published what we claimed would be the cover of this game, solicited comments from a family member impacted by the recent tragedy and criticised Rockstar Games for their alleged plans.

We made no attempt to check the accuracy of the story before publication and did not contact Rockstar Games prior to publishing the story. We also did not question why a best selling and critically acclaimed fictional games series would choose to base one of their most popular games on this horrifying real crime event.

It is now accepted that there were never any plans by Rockstar Games to publish such a game and that the story was false. We apologise for publishing the story using a mock-up of the game cover, our own comments on the matter and soliciting critical comments from a grieving family member.

We unreservedly apologise to Rockstar Games and we have undertaken not to repeat the claims again. We have also agreed to pay them a substantial amount in damages which they are donating to charity.

It's staggeringly idiotic that any person - much less a news reporter or editor - would lack even the thimbleful of skepticism necessary to see this begins with an Internet fake. I have no idea what the penalty is but I hope it is painfully large. And participating in the writing, reporting, editing and publishing of this story - even at The Star - should be a firing offense.

Rockstar Games - Grand Theft Auto - An Apology [The Daily Star via Rock Paper Shotgun]

Extend the fiction of Dead Space to your shoulders and show the world your current stasis levels with Visceral's new Isaac Clarke backpack. Grab it at the Visceral online store if this is whole Dead Space thing is your bag.

Not because he's a Duke fan - heavens, no, really folks - but Kotaku reader Shwing apparently felt that one of college sports' A-list Haves should also Have a major bowl bid. And the Orange Bowl committee sighed.

Duke's major bowl history is - you see this every goddamn year in their media guide - basically the fact they played in the Rose Bowl at Wallace Wade Stadium in 1942 because FDR was afraid of a Japanese air raid on Pasadena. Unfortunately, Tojo didn't take the bait and bomb the shit out of Durham like everyone wanted. Thus there are five major college football programs in North Carolina today. And ECU.

Taking over Duke in Dynasty Mode NCAA Football 11, Shwing installs a pro-style offense reminiscent of Barry Wilson's finest attack, if it ever existed, and Dave Brown, if he was ever any good. The revival creates a palpable enthusiasm on campus. More than four hundred people show up to see the Blue Devils beat Miami, with only half leaving in the third quarter to catch a women's soccer game.

Duke, now laying full claim to the title of America's Underdog, faces a powerful No. 2 Florida State for the ACC championship in Charlotte, and triumphs over the Seminoles in a nailbiter. The Orange Bowl, having bravely tolerated visits by Wake Forest, Louisville, Cincinnati and Kansas in the past four years, finally goes all Howard Beale when it draws a Duke-Nevada matchup. CBS reads the schedule and sends Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel to Miami, just in case it's a second round NCAA tournament game.

Despite all this, Pro Joe Sun Player Life Brown Shark Stadium still sees a memorable and exciting game that leaves the fan breathless. Trailing 28-25, Duke came up with a key stop but exhausted its timeouts in so doing, and was pinned at its own 1 with less than two minutes remaining. "I had basically given up hope, but decided I needed to be as aggressive as possible," Shwing said, taking advantage of the new no-huddle controls in NCAA 11.

Amazingly, Duke makes it inside Nevada's 20, and quarterback Sean Renfree (go Shwing - playing with fully named rosters!) zips a square-out pass to his tight end, who can't get out of bounds. The field goal unit can't get on the field in time, so Shwing gets to the line and runs one last no-guts-no-glory play. Rolling out away from the pass rush, he finds wideout Donavan Varner in the back of the end zone for the game winning touchdown.

"I know it's just a video game, but damn - my hands are still shaking," Shwing writes. And here's the proof!

Remember, all you have to do to get yourself featured in Box Scores' Game of the Week is take a picture of whatever you've been playing - crappy cell picture will do - write up a couple sentences about why it was so compelling, and email it to me, owenATkotakuDOTcom, with "Game of the Week" in the subject header.

Now the Kotaku Sports open thread commences with the major sports TV schedule for today and tomorrow. All times are U.S. Eastern.

• Baseball
  Today's game of the week for much of the nation would seem to be an overrated Mets team at an overrated Dodgers squad. For those in markets where competitive baseball actually is played, the Rockies at the Phillies, or the White Sox at the A's are the alternate games. 4 p.m., Fox.
  
  Tomorrow, it's Rox-Phils on TBS at 1:30 p.m. and Cards-Cubs on ESPN at 8.
• 
  
• Motorsports
  Qualifying for the Brickyard 400 ran this morning at Indianapolis and is probably over; this evening NASCAR's Nationwide Series races the Kroger 200 at 8 p.m. Let's see if probates Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski can drive that without trying to kill each other.
  
  Tomorrow, the Brickyard 400 drops the flag at 1 p.m. on ESPN.
• 
  
• Cycling
  The final two stages of the Tour de France are today and tomorrow, live on Versus at 8:30 a.m., or tape-delay on CBS at 1 p.m. Sunday. Then we can all stop pretending we give a shit about cycling. I'm seriously amazed this isn't on the list of Stuff White People Like.
• 
  

Borderlands' lovable, annoying Claptrap, done in papercraft by Leo Firebrand, who also made the famous papercraft Fallout 3 laser pistol. More images and plans at his site.

You wanna know how you do it? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, that's how you get coupons!

Hardware

• Amazon is taking pre-orders for the new Xbox 360 4GB Slim Console bundled with Kinect Sensor and Kinect Adventures for $299.99. Bought separately, the console is $200 and Kinect is $150. Release date is November 4. [Dealzon]

• Also, while no discount (obviously) that super duper Halo: Reach special edition console is listed on Amazon for $399.99. It includes a game plus the console and two (2) controllers in the special Halo: Reach design. Go here to see what it looks like. [Dealzon]

• NewEgg also has the Xbox 360 4GB Slim Console for $199.99. [LogicBUY]

• The Xbox 360 Super Elite 250GB Splinter Cell Conviction Bundle is $299.99 at Dell [TechDealDigger]

• I'm astonished they haven't sold out of this thing yet. The old Xbox 360 Elite 120GB bundle with Lego Batman and PURE, plus an Xbox Live three month subscription and 1,600 Microsoft Points AND a play & charge kit is now $249 from Walmart.com. Was $299. [Dealzon]

• The Nintendo Wii black bundle is $179.99 at Dell. The original white bundle is $159 from Walmart.com. [Dealzon]

• Dell also has the Nintendo Dsi for $139.99. It's usually $169. [LogicBuy]

• GoGamer has Xbox 360 Street Fighter IV Round 2 FightPads (Viper and Sagat) for $19.90 through Monday. It's usually $37.89. Amazon sells them for $39.99. [Dealzon]

• The Logitech Forklift strikes again!!! I swear, we need to put that driver on Moneysaver staff. The Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (a dented box, but new and fully warrantied) is $54.99 after coupon from Logitech. Next best is $78. [Dealzon]

• Not specifically gaming, but you can play them on it: The Apple iPod touch 8GB (3rd Generation) is $164.98 after a $15 coupon at SuperBiiz. Next best is $179. [Dealzon]

Software

• Battlefield Bad Company 2 (PC) is $29.99 at Gamestop. [TechDealDigger]

• GoGamer has Red Dead Redemption for Xbox 360 and PS3 for $44.90 through Monday. Next best are $57 and $56. [Dealzon]

• The EA Store is slashing Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 by more than 50 percent off this weekend. The PC version of ME 2 can be had for $23.97. Original Mass Effect is five bucks. The Deluxe Edition is $35.97 [LogicBUY]

• Amazon has for pre-order Fallout: New Vegas on (360 and PS3) for $56.99 with a free $10 Amazon Video Games Credit. Walmart has the same thing, but for $59.99 and a $10 Walmart eGift Card. LogicBUY

• GameStop is running a Powersaver sale with up to 60 percent off Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 video games and accessories. Notable games include Assassin's Creed 2 for $19.99, Just Cause 2 for $29.99, Skate 3 for $39.99 and many more. [LogicBUY]

Digital Distribution

This listing of the Top 25 digital download bargains, all for PC, come courtesy of Deals4Downloads. You can see links to these and more at their roundup.

At GamersGate
1. Tomb Raider: Underworld is $14.97, save 50 percent. (Expires Sunday)
2. Tomb Raider Anniversary is $9.97, save 50 percent.
3. Mount and Blade: Warband is $14.95, save 50 percent. (Also at Direct2Drive, DLGamer, Impulse and Steam)
4. Heroes of Might and Magic V Gold Edition is $19.97, save 50 percent.
5. Silent Hunter ® 5: Battle of the Atlantic is $24.98, save 50 percent. (Expires Sunday)
6. Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West (Free Weekend)
7. Trine is $6.78, save 66 percent.
8. East India Company Bundle is $14.95, save 50 percent. (Also at Direct2Drive and Impulse)
9. Majesty 2: Kingmaker is $7.50, save 50 percent. (Also at at Direct2Drive and Steam)

At Direct2Drive
10. Fallen Earth: Blood Sports is $17.99, save 40 percent. (Also at Steam)

At GamersGate
11. Hearts of Iron III (PC, Mac) for $14.99, save 50 percent. (Also at DLGamer, Gamesplanet, Steam and Impulse)
12. Dark Horizon is $4.97, save 50 percent.
13. Sword of the Stars Complete is $14.98, save 50 percent. (Also at Impulse and Steam)
14. Europa Universalis III is $7.47, save 50 percent. (Also at Steam)

At Impulse
15. Monster Jam is $9.99, save 50 percent.
16. MotoGP 08 is $9.99, save 50 percent.

At Steam
17. Eufloria is $9.99, save 50 percent.
18. MotorM4X: Offroad Extreme is $4.89, save 30 percent.

At GamersGate
19. Rush for Berlin is $4.99, save 50 percent.
20. Knights of Honor is $7.47, save 50 percent. , (Also at Steam)
21. Majesty 2 - The Fantasy Kingdom Sim is $15.00, save 50 percent.
22. Legio is $4.95, save 50 percent. (Also at Direct2Drive and Impulse)
23. Penumbra: Black Plague is $4.97, save 50 percent.
24. Supreme Ruler 2020 is $9.99, save 50 percent.

At Good Old Games
25. Activision RPG Hits is $8.38, save 30 percent. at Good Old Games

And the Top 10 European Exclusive deals are:

At Gamesplanet
1. Call of Juarez Bound in Blood is 14.95, save 71 percent.
2. FUEL is £9.99, save 67 percent. (UK Only)
3. Stormrise is £9.99, save 67 percent. (UK Only)

At GamersGate
4. Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway is €7.47, save 50 percent. (EU only)
5. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is €4.97, save 50 percent. (EU only)
6. Shaun White Snowboarding is $14.95, save 50 percent. (EU only)
7. Far Cry 2: Fortune's Edition is €14.97, save 50 percent. (EU only)
8. James Cameron's Avatar: The Game is €24.95, save 50 percent. (Also at Gamesplanet, EU only)
9. Far Cry is €4.97, save 50 percent. (EU only)

At GamesPlanet
10. Red Faction : Guerrilla is £14.99, save 57 percent. (UK only)

Kotaku thanks our coupon partners for providing these and other great deals. Be sure to bookmark and search their Kotaku hashtags (#techdealdigger, #dealzon, #logicbuy, #deals4downloads and #dealtaku) for updates throughout the week.

Further, to our friends across the pond, check the #ukdeals hashtag and be sure to flag any deals you might have with that.

As always, smart gamers can find values any day of the week, so if you've run across a deal, share it with us in the comments.