It's finally happened. After an amazing fifteen months spent atop the Facebook application charts, Zynga's Farmville has been knocked off its perch.

At one stage Farmville — a game adored by its players and despised by everyone else — was clocking up 84 million users a month, making it not just the most popular game, but the most popular application across the entire social networking site.

It's now number two, however, with "Phrases" — a DIY quiz and trivia application — replacing it. While losing its title as King Application, Farmville has some consolation in the fact it remains the most-used social game on Facebook.

Phrases Overtakes FarmVille As Top Facebook App [Worlds In Motion]

When Pokémon: Black and White was released in Japan, the three "starter" Pocket Monsters were called "Tsutaaja", "Pokabu", and "Mijumaru". Tsutaaja doesn't quite roll off the tongue. What the internet came up with did.

The grass type Pokémon was dubbed "Smugleaf" or "Grinleaf" — both great names. But Nintendo has now revealed the character's official name. It is "Snivy". Not bad! But not Smugleaf.

The other starters are "Tepig", a Fire-type Pocket Monster, and Oshawott, a water type. Tepig is "Pokabu" in Japanese, and Oshawott is "Mijumaru". The changes make sense. For example, "Pokabu", which has a word play on "buhi-buhi" (the Japanese for "oink oink"), works better in English as "Tepig".

Shame about Smugleaf, though! But Snivy it is.

Starter Pocket Monsters [Official Site Thanks, Lowell!] [Pic]

Nobuyo Oyama is famous for voicing everyone's favorite earless robot cat from the future Doraemon and, well, looking like Doraemon.

From 1979 to 2005, Oyama voiced Doraemon. The 74-year-old was retired from the show and was replaced by a new Doraemon voice (not quite the same!) and a new Doraemon theme song (not as good as the previous one!).

Her lengthy resume is predominately the Doraemon television show, Doraemon movies and Doraemon video games. But this November, Oyama is voicing the menacing bear character "Mono-Bear" in PSP game Danga-Ronpa — a role she initially rejected.

As previously posted, Dangan-Ronpa, which means "winning an argument with bullets", is like Battle Royale, but with a psychotic bear instead of a psychotic Beat Takeshi.

Dangan-Ronpa is set in a school in which the students are trapped and the only way to escape is for them to kill each other. One student actually ends up dead, and players must sleuth out the killer. Evidence is stored in "word bullets" that are later used in rapid-pace dialogue. The game is stocked with stereotypical characters like an otaku, an idol, a jock, etc.

Besides voice acting, Oyama is quite the gamer. Well, quite the Arkanoid gamer. She first played the game at a game center in 1988 and is able to clear the entire game on one coin. "I'm terrible at other video games," she confesses. In the clip below, she plays through Arkanoid while doing Doraemon's voice.

The role in Dangan-Ronpa marks Oyama's first voice acting role in five years.

［ゲーム1週間］大山のぶ代、5年ぶり声優復帰　亀田妹は「スティッチ」イベントに | ホビー | [マイコミジャーナル]

2007 was the year of the Wii. So was 2008. But 2010? Not the Wii's year, especially when you look at the console's decline in the United States over the course of the year.

This chart, provided by Gamasutra and based upon US retail sales figures, shows a console in decline, its sales down by a significant margin over the past two years (and to such a degree that even a miraculous Christmas for Nintendo's console won't reverse that trend).

A price cut might help stop the rot. A "must have" game - something the Wii is lacking at the moment - wouldn't go amiss either. But then, would either of those things make Nintendo's machine seem more appealing to a "casual" consumer wowed by Kinect's advertising campaign? Or the ever-growing ranks of PlayStation 3 owners, lured by its multimedia capabilities and reduced price-tag?

In-Depth: Where Do Wii Sales Go From Here? [Gamasutra]

The holidays are coming, and that means it's time for you to start thinking about what sorts of gifts you want to give the PlayStation 3 owner and get as a PlayStation 3 owner this year.

The PlayStation 3 had a strong year in 2010—hey, it was no 2009, when Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Demon's Souls and Flower hit the system—with franchise greats like Gran Turismo and God of War representing on Sony's console. There was a flood of great third party content too, as well as the launch of the promising PlayStation Move.

Perhaps the best gift one can give the PS3 owner this holiday is a gift certificate, because there's plenty looming on the horizon from Sony—Twisted Metal, LittleBigPlanet 2, The Last Guardian—in 2011.

Here's our take on some of the best PlayStation 3 games of 2010, games perfect for the giving and receiving. Feel free to add your own recommendations in comments.

Gran Turismo 5

Rating: E
Genre: Racing simulation
Ideal Player: The car enthusiast that wants nothing but the prettiest, shiniest, most museum-like driving game to proudly display on the PlayStation 3 and grease monkeys who love tinkering with virtual cars.
What's It About?
The "real driving simulator" is back with an all-new entry in the 13-year-old racing game series that practically re-invented how car games are made and played. Gran Turismo 5 lets gamers drive the most exotic and famous of cars in real-world locations with realistic physics, a chance to experience the most expensive luxury cars in the world for just sixty bucks.
Bang For Your Buck:
Over 1,000 cars, dozens of race tracks, World Rally Championship, NASCAR and Super GT licenses, online racing, a course editor... you don't get much more bang for your buck than with Gran Turismo 5.

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Heavy Rain

Rating: M
Genre: Adventure
Ideal Player: The gamer who prefers an immersive, interactive story above all else and mature players with a thirst for murder mysteries. Possibly the woman who owns a PlayStation 3 and craves a crime drama, according to some.
What's It About?
This psychological thriller puts players in the role of four characters whose stories intertwine through tragedy, murder, loss and drug addiction. It's a dark, sometimes violent, sometimes sexually charged adventure that plays unlike most modern console games.
Bang For Your Buck:
There's a good story here, but the value may come in the numerous ways players can revisit Heavy Rain's story, altering the way scenes and plot threads play out based on the decisions players make.

Read Kotaku's review of Heavy Rain.

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God of War III

Rating: M
Genre: Action-adventure
Ideal Player: The mature PlayStation 3 player with a bloodlust for over the top violence and gorgeous, Hollywood blockbuster style action.
What's It About?
Greek warrior Kratos finally has his revenge on those who wronged him in this gripping, gory tale of god-on-god violence. Players battle their way through gods, mythical beasts and massive puzzles in the most gruesome ways possible.
Bang For Your Buck:
God of War III is a hefty adventure, but beyond the storyline and a few cool unlockable items, there's not a whole lot of content here. It's for the player who normally only sticks to single-player games.

Read Kotaku's review of God of War III.

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Joe Danger

Rating: E
Genre: Arcade racing
Ideal Player: The fan of Excitebike with a taste for something colorful and charming in the style of Super Mario.
What's It About?
Assume the role of motorcyclist Joe Danger, the world's "most determined stuntman," in this downloadable PlayStation Network side-scrolling racer that's full of big jumps, coin collection and smiles.
Bang For Your Buck:
Joe Danger has some serious challenges to face, including local multiplayer, plus plenty of items to collect and unlock. There's also a track editor, which creative types may want to invest their time in.

Read Kotaku's review of Joe Danger.

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Super Street Fighter IV

Rating: T
Genre: Fighting
Ideal Player: The gamer who longs for the one-on-one competition of arcades, who fondly remembers playing Street Fighter II against strangers.
What's It About?
This update to Street Fighter IV, which helped to revitalize console fighting games in 2008, packs in a huge roster of playable fighters and a much improved set of online multiplayer features.
Bang For Your Buck:
If you skipped out on the original release, Super Street Fighter IV is an exceptional value, filled with characters new and old plucked from the Street Fighter series. As long as there's competition online, there's value in this fighting game.

Read Kotaku's review of Super Street Fighter IV.

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Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Rating: M
Genre: Action-adventure
Ideal Player: People who like the idea of being a building-climbing, sword-swinging assassin. Gamers who enjoy being treated intelligently and would like to dig into a lengthy story full of references to 500 years of real history. Anyone who couldn't get into Assassin's Creed because of its poor combat system (they fixed it). Those hungering for a game that can, if desired, be played as a zero-tolerance, hide-the-bodies stealth adventure like the old Splinter Cells. Anyone who wants to pretend they're in beautiful Renaissance Rome where the Colosseum is waiting to be scaled.
What's It About?
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood returns gamers to Renaissance Italy and into the virtual body of expert assassin Ezio Auditore de Firenze in an adventure primarily set in Rome. In addition to the long list of murderous missions Ezio must perform, a new multiplayer mode breathes new life into the series.
Bang For Your Buck:
Another extended, expansive single-player adventure full of things to do, places to see and people to kill, plus a new multiplayer mode that adds to the game's replayability sure sounds like a decent amount of bang.

Read Kotaku's review of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

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Rock Band 3

Rating: T
Genre: Music rhythm game
Ideal Player: The Rock Band or Guitar Hero fan who's looking for any reason at all to come back to music games. The plastic guitar enthusiast (with patience) who might just want to figure out how to play one of these songs for real. People who understand why karaoke is fun.
What's It About?
It's about playing music (or at least recreating the act of playing music) to a broad selection of new songs. This time around, developer Harmonix has added keyboard support and plenty of songs with memorable keyboard parts, like Night Ranger's "Sister Christian," Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Foreigner's "Cold as Ice." Better still, you can actually learn how to play these songs note for note on a keyboard or with the special Rock Band Pro Guitar controller.
Bang For Your Buck:
The most worthwhile feature in Rock Band 3 is its long list of improvements that makes the game more enjoyable to play, but the included songs are great, as is the option to play more than 2,000 downloadable tracks. It's nearly endlessly playable and incredibly fun.

Read Kotaku's review of Rock Band 3.

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Red Dead Redemption

Rating: M
Genre: Open world action-adventure
Ideal Player: The player of Grand Theft Auto style games who pines for a simpler time, a better story and a chance to lose dozens of hours exploring a Western world.
What's It About?
Players assume the role of John Marston, former bad guy trying to make good. This ex-outlaw is on a manhunting mission, one interrupted often by a colorful cast of characters looking for help and occasionally looking for trouble. This Wild West adventure is thrilling, touching and a hell of a lot of fun.
Bang For Your Buck:
Players could easily spend fifty hours or more in the single-player side, there's so much content stuffed into Red Dead Redemption. Multiplayer modes aren't as polished or attractive, but offer a nice diversion. A handful of interesting downloadable add-ons extend the life of this Western adventure, but it's the Undead Nightmare expansion pack that every Red Dead Redemption player should play (after they've completed the main game).

Read Kotaku's review of Red Dead Redemption.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops

Rating: M
Genre: First-person shooter
Ideal Player: Adult shooter fans looking for a carefully paced story threaded with an intriguing plot and backed up by surprisingly robust multiplayer offerings.
What's It About?
On the single-player side, Black Ops is a time-hopping, globe-trotting series of flashbacks that tell tales of war, espionage and intrigue. Expect a short burst of blockbuster set pieces and war games. The real draw is multiplayer, where players can battle it out against millions of other Call of Duty fans in a long list of modes.
Bang For Your Buck:
Call of Duty: Black Ops' campaign won't be where most players spend the majority of their time. The progressive, deep multiplayer mode will be played for years, providing maximum bang for the buck.

Read Kotaku's review of Call of Duty: Black Ops.

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NBA 2K11

Rating: E
Genre: Basketball simulation
Ideal Player: A sports fan who either has experience playing basketball on some organized level, or is an informed observer of the game.
What's It About?
It's about making a great basketball game, the only new b-ball simulation you'll get on your PlayStation 3 this year. It's also about playing the highlights of Michael Jordan's career, one of the most prominently promoted features in NBA 2K11.
Bang For Your Buck:
This is the year to upgrade, thanks to better controls, improved animation, streamlined playcalling and a more robust management mode. In addition to a single-player basketball career mode, there's plenty of Jordan-centric play to dabble in, plus a massive online community.

Read Kotaku's review of NBA 2K11.

It's since been edited to remove all mention of Microsoft's home console, but earlier today, the Redmond software giant was advertising for people to come help work on Silverlight stuff for the Xbox 360. What does that mean?

Silverlight - Microsoft's in-house rival to Adobe's Flash - is of course already used on the Xbox, for those animated advertisements you sometimes get on your dashboard. And the 360 is also already home to "apps", as that's basically what the console's Facebook, Netflix, ESPN and Twitter services are.

So why would Microsoft be advertising for people to be "responsible for delivering features for Silverlight on the XBOX as part of the next wave"? Could be two things. Firstly, Silverlight is how applications are written on other Microsoft platforms, like the new Windows Phone 7. Meaning a game could be written for both the 360 and WP7 at the same time, and played across both systems.

Secondly, and more obviously, it sounds a lot like more "apps" are coming in the pipeline. And while the obvious targets for those would be the above-mentioned games/applications and more TV services, would it really kill Microsoft to put Internet Explorer on the 360? Or, at the very least, a YouTube app? Most times I want to use my console to play games on,but sometimes, I just like having something hooked up to my TV I can show stupid crap to my wife.

Silverlight Future Revealed ? ? [Techtrends, via Gizmodo]

A few years back, animation giants Pixar were working on a movie called "Joe Jump", the tale of an outdated video game character who's able to find his way into new titles. It had been presumed scrap, but no, it's not!

A report on the LA Times says that the film now has a new name - Reboot Ralph - and is very much alive, forming part of Disney's upcoming slate of animated feature films alongside a Winnie The Pooh flick.

This follows on from a report earlier in the year by Variety, which reckons Reboot Ralph will be a 3D cartoon and will be out on March 22, 2013.

There's practically nothing else known about the project other than that, so don't bother asking who's starring, what Joe/Ralph looks like or how movie studios are able to lock down dates so far in advance.

Disney Animation is closing the book on fairy tales [LA Times]

Kotaku goers, would you please help us get through this short-staffed Monday with a little contribution of your own? Man, we really appreciate you doing us an off-topic solid here. We're at a loss for words.

Let me tell you, it's not always easy trying to co-author a site when it's just you and Brian Crecente for most of the day. He's a good partner to have in a pinch, but I wouldn't recommend trying to run your video game web site with that kind of skeleton crew. Just a word of advice from someone who's been there.

Join us in a rousing post's worth of off-topic conversation by talking about these things and others!

• Esquire's interview with Christian Bale is amusing, annoying - Esquire interviewer handles the confrontational Bale very well here.
• Here comes the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot - Joss Whedon reacts! Amusingly!
• The Arcade Fire "Suburbs" video directed by Spike Jonze - Who can explain this to me? Short words please.
• Nissan Leaf gets a 99+ MPG rating - Who's killin' the electric car?
• The new Pretty Hate Machine is out - Buy and listen online.

Browser game Glitch is, first of all, maybe the first massively-multiplayer game to place its players inside the minds of supernatural creatures. It's also the next project from (some of) the people who brought you Flickr. Yes, Glitch is different.

The web-based multiplayer game is not about killing or farming, but growing, building and developing. You can build new skills, you can do favors, you can make smoothies, apparently. It all takes place in an ever-evolving persistent world that looks pretty cool. Glitch's official description labels the game "a collaborative simulation where the direction the world takes emerges out of the collective action of the players, rather than the top-down whim of a single person acting as god."

It's from Tiny Speck, the game studio founded by Stewart Butterfield, one of Flickr's original co-founders. You'd think they know something about social interaction on the web. They certainly know how to put together an unusual trailer.

Glitch is planned for launch early next year. Keep an eye on its progress at the game's official site.

Glitch [Official Site]

The Nintendo DS has one more thing to look forward to in 2011 with the release of Atlus' Radiant Historia, which brings an all-new 16-bit style, time-traveling "steampunk" adventure to the handheld next February.

Radiant Historia offers owners more of what the Nintendo DS excels at, namely old-school style Japanese role-playing games that involve saving the world, this time with a unique position-based battle system, magical time-hopping gameplay and a blend of lovingly hand-drawn 2D graphics with 3D environments. Developer and publisher Atlus also seems quite proud of the game's soundtrack, enough to include a CD of the game's original score with every copy of Radiant Historia.

Take control of the heroic Stocke in a battle that bounces through time when Radiant Historia ships in North America in February 2011. Or, knowing Atlus, any time after that.