The physics-based hurl-an-avatar-into-things-for-points title was released in March, and has benefited from extra levels and Trophy support over the subsequent months.
Even David Hasselhoff hopped on board, re-recording Culture Club and perhaps slopping a cheeseburger on the floor in the process.
High Velocity Bowling managed to take second, according to the list on PS3 Fanboy, followed by Super Stardust HD and the excellent PixelJunk Monsters. FlOw eased into fourth, tailed by Warhawk at five and Aquatopia at six.
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection kicked up a fuss at seven, beating High Stakes Poker at nine and Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty at 10.
/europeThe pope's year-end message to Church leaders sparked anger among gay and lesbian religious groups.
The Church "demands that the order of creation be respected," the pope said Monday, defining "the nature of the human being as man and woman," according to excerpts released by the Vatican.
Part of the Church's mission is to "protect the human beings against self-destruction," the Pope said in his annual address to the cardinals, archbishops and others who make up the Roman Curia.
The Church has as much responsibility to preserve what it sees as man and woman's God-given roles as it does to protect endangered species, he implied.
"The rain forest deserves, yes, our protection," Benedict said, "But mankind does not deserve it less as a creature."
He did not specifically mention homosexuality in his speech, but his meaning was clear, and gay rights activists criticized the remarks.
"I think the pope is trying to limit God's world view and stands in grave error by doing so," said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, which campaigns for openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics to be accepted fully by the church.
"Gay, lesbian, bixsexual and transgendered people represent part of God's creativity, which is beyond any human understanding, including the pope's," she said. "I would challenge the pope to show a little more humility."
She said it was particularly unfortunate that he made the remarks just days before Christmas, but described them as "so in line with other statements from this pope, it's not really atypical."
A papal spokesman issued a clarification after gay rights campaigners responded angrily to the remarks.
"The pope had no intention to offend or attack transgendered" people, Father Federico Lombari said Tuesday. "What the pope meant to say was that in God's eyes, a person is born either man or woman. And to deny this fundamental concept, central to Catholic teaching, is to create confusion.
"If you forget that ... people are born either men or women and together are meant to create children, then you can create negative consequences."
The Catholic Church considers homosexual intercourse to be a sin -- as it does all sex outside of marriage -- but does not consider homosexuality itself to be one.
"Homogenital behavior is objectively immoral, while making the important distinction between this behavior and a homosexual orientation, which is not immoral in itself," the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has said.
The Pope spoke of an "appropriate ecology of man," the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales said. "This is rooted in central Catholic teaching of the dignity of the person. It is a central message for all Christians. It is central to what it means to be human.
The co-founder of an investment advisory firm that lost $1.5 billion in the Madoff scandal was found dead Tuesday in an apparent suicide in his Manhattan office, police said.
Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, 65 years old, was pronounced dead about 8 a.m. New York City police said they believe the death to be a suicide but were awaiting results of an autopsy to be completed Wednesday.
Workers discovered Mr. de La Villehuchet's body about 7:30 Tuesday morning at the Madison Avenue offices of Access International Advisors, police said. Mr. de La Villehuchet had lacerations on his arms, and police ...
By Saijel Kishan and Katherine Burton
Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Liliane Bettencourt, the world’s wealthiest woman, entrusted part of her $22.9 billion fortune with Bernard Madoffthrough the fund manager found dead in New York yesterday, two people familiar with the matter said.
The 86-year-old daughter of L’Oreal SAfounder Eugene Schueller was the first investor in a fund managed by Access International Advisors, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because her investment isn’t public. The body of Access co-founder Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, 65, was found in his Madison Avenue office yesterday. Police said he probably killed himself.
Bettencourt, a Parisian, joins wealthy individuals from around the world, including Spanish billionaire Alicia Koplowitz, U.S. moviemaker Steven Spielberg and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, among victims of what Madoff, 70, told investigators was a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
“More high-profile names who have been victimized by Madoff will start to become known now,” said Ron Geffner, who represents hedge funds at the New York-based law firm Sadis & Goldberg LLP. “There’s a strong sense of anguish, fear and distrust.”
Calls and e-mails to Fondation Bettencourt Schuelle, the foundation she started in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur- Seine, weren’t returned. Bettencourt ranked 17th in Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people in 2008, the highest-ranking woman. Access, which oversaw $3 billion, raised money mainly from wealthy European investors.
‘Extensive’ Due Diligence
Access said in a Dec. 12 letter to clients that funds including its LUXALPHA SICAV-American Selection invested solely with Madoff’s eponymous investment firm. The fund had $1.4 billion in assets as of Nov. 17, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Access says it carries out “extensive” due diligence on the funds to which it allocates money, a process that can take as long as six months and cost $100,000. It also hires private investigators to run “extensive background checks” on fund managers, including searches on professional credentials, regulatory filings and bankruptcy, according to marketing documents dated September.
New York police are working on the assumption that de La Villehuchet’s death was a suicide, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday. The fund manager was found “with his feet propped up on his desk, a trash pail nearby to collect blood,” and no sign of a second person, Kelly said in the interview.
Body at Desk
He had cuts made by a box-cutter in the area of his biceps and his wrist, and pills were found nearby, Kelly said at a news conference. No suicide note was found. His body was found at his desk early yesterday morning by a security guard who had been called by an employee unable to enter the office, Kelly said.
Villehuchet founded Access in 1994 with Patrick Littaye. One of the firm’s partners was Philippe Junot, according to the marketing documents. Junot is the former husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco. Prince Michel of Yugoslavia is an investor relations executive, according to the documents.
Prior to Access, De La Villehuchet was chairman and CEO of Credit Lyonnais Securities USA, the U.S. investment banking arm of the French bank. He had joined Credit Lyonnais in 1987, and before that ran Interfinance, an international broker firm specializing in French, Belgian and Italian stock markets that he founded in 1983. He worked at Banque Paribas from 1970 to 1983.
Access, which had 26 employees, said in a statement on Dec. 12 it was working with lawyers to assess its exposure to Madoff. UBS AG, LUXALPHA’s administrator until this year, is no longer involved with it, said Karina Byrne, a UBS spokeswoman.
De La Villehuchet’s death comes as lawsuits mount in connection with investors victimized by Madoff. Fairfield Greenwich Group, a hedge-fund firm that had $7.5 billion invested with Madoff, has been sued for allegedly failing to protect its clients’ assets. Madoff was arrested on Dec. 11 and is now under house arrest at his apartment in New York.
To contact the reporters on this story: Saijel Kishan in New York atskishan@bloomberg.netKatherine Burton in New York atkburton@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 23, 2008 20:06 EST
