1 vs. 100 was a live game show available to Gold Subscribers on Xbox Live. It featured actual prizes, a live host, celebrity guests... and it might have been a bit ahead of its time. Late last week, Microsoft quietly pulled the plug on the show, notifying its fans via a short message and an updated official page. The announcement was met with howls of disappointment—some of which were coming from this writer—on Twitter, but it's clear that Microsoft wasn't seeing the return on its investment that was expected.

What happened? Why didn't players play in larger numbers? Why was the plug pulled? We have some thoughts.

Sonic 4: the brand is not damaged, this is what you want: Is it finally safe to get excited about a Sonic game? We chat with two of the men behind Sonic 4, and after playing the game itself, we think things are moving in the right direction. Yes, we've been hurt before... but we're ready to love again.

Masterpiece: Super Metroid: In our latest Masterpiece article, Ars looks back at Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo, which helped pioneer the concept of open-ended, exploration based games. There is a reason we call certain games "Metroidvania" titles. Super Metroid is a Masterpiece.

It's NPD time again, and for the month of June there was very little in the way of surprises for video game hardware and software sales. Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption continues to be a big seller, while the Wii dominates the top 10 list and the Xbox 360 sees a big boost. Let's take a look at the numbers.

Microsoft

For the second month in a row the top selling game is the 360 version of Red Dead Redemption. In its second month the game managed to move around 580,000 units. The only other 360 game to chart in the top 10 was UFC 2010: Undisputed, which took the number eight spot. Meanwhile, in terms of hardware, the 360 came in second, trailing only the Nintendo DS, moving an estimated 450,000 consoles. That's up by over a quarter of a million from last month. This jump is no doubt due to the recently released slim version of the 360.

Sony

When it comes to software, the same exact two games made the chart for Sony, though in lower positions. The PS3 version of RDR took the third spot, selling around 380,000 copies, while UFC 2010: Undisputed on the PS3 took the tenth spot. As for hardware, the PS3 and PSP took the fourth and fifth spots respectively, though both saw sales increases compared to last month. The PS3 sold 304,000, more than doubling last month's numbers, while the PSP moved 121,000 handhelds, for an increase of 60,000.

Nintendo

The rest of the software chart was unsurprisingly dominated by Nintendo games. Super Mario Galaxy took the second spot with nearly 550,000 units sold, while New Super Mario Bros. Wii (4), Just Dance (5), Wii Fit Plus (6), and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (9) round out the list. The lone DS game to chart was Toy Story 3, which placed in the number seven spot.

The DS continues to dominate the hardware sales numbers, taking first spot with over 500,000 units sold. The Wii, meanwhile, was the only console to see a drop in sales compared to last month. It placed third with 422,000 units sold, down 87,000 from May.

The introduction of the slim 360 clearly had a big impact on sales, though not quite enough to push the system past the DS. Or much ahead of the slumping Wii, for that matter. Meanwhile, RDR continues to sell steadily, on both the 360 and the PS3. In its first two months the game has sold nearly 2.5 million copies across both systems. June also marks the month that Pokemon has finally dropped out of the top 10, though with the recent release of Dragon Quest IX, it may not be long before we see another DS RPG make the list. Overall, the game industry is down 9 percent year-to-date versus 2009. 

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Sony has announced that the PlayStation 3 will be the first of the game consoles to get a taste of Hulu Plus, Hulu's subscription service with more content on more devices, and select PlayStation Plus subscribers are already able to play around with the video streaming service.

To get on the list of invitees you simply need to download the Hulu app from the PlayStation Store and request an invitation. Doing so does require a subscription to both services, however, meaning you'll need to pay $9.99 per month for Hulu Plus in addition to the $50 per year that Sony charges for PS+. This is only the case for this first-look preview, though. Sony has said that eventually the service will be available to all PS3 owners in the US.

It looks like it could be a while before Xbox 360 and Wii owners get a taste of the service, as Sony's announcement explained that the PS3 will be "the first and only console with dedicated gaming functionality that will offer Hulu Plus this year." Check out our hands-on with Hulu Plus to get an idea of how the service fares on the iPhone and iPad.

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Red Dead Redemption is a great game, but it suffered through a troubled development cycle. Originally slated to be released last fall, the game was delayed and there were numerous reports that employees at Rockstar's San Diego studio were unhappy with the working conditions. Now it looks like many of those people won't have to worry about the conditions anymore.

Rockstar has confirmed that, now that RDR is out, approximately 40 staff members are being cut from the San Diego team, which previously consisted of around 180 employees.