It's been over a week, but PS3 news is back. For old time's sake, let's stick it right here, in the traditional top position.

A well-regarded member of the AV Forums with connections to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe had a meeting with SCE Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison, and he brought with him a bevy of questions from forum inhabitants. Of course, none of this information should be considered final or confirmed, but it all seems within reason. Unsurprisingly, many of the questions were not answered, and some were given stock responses the press has been receiving for months, but there were a few noteworthy points:

- The hard drive will be included with the console.
- It has not yet been decided whether PS2 peripherals such as the Guitar Hero guitar or racing wheel controllers will be compatible with PS3.
- Similarly, compatibility with PS1/PS2 memory cards has not yet been determined.
- The controller is being redesigned in some way, and the console itself is receiving "minor tweaks."
- PS3's Blu-ray playback capability was compared to PS2's DVD playback capability (unsurprising since PS3, which includes a Blu-ray player, will no doubt sell for hundreds of dollars less than the least expensive standalone BD player).
- PS3's online service will feature global online play across the US (presumably referring to North America), PAL regions, and Japan. This likely means that, in other territories, online play will be confined to the particular territory in question.
- Use of Sony's online gaming service will be free. Revenue will come from Xbox Live Marketplace-like microtransactions, as well as in game advertising. Sony will likely use information in users' profiles to deliver context-sensitive ads.
- 50GB Blu-ray discs will be needed for launch titles. Harrison and co. took the opportunity to point out that a next-gen console needs about a 100:1 ratio between game disc storage space and system memory. PS3 has about 98:1 thanks to Blu-ray, as did PS2 and Xbox, but Xbox 360 is 18:1 or so.
- PSP was briefly mentioned, with Harrison raising the possibility of a PSP redesign. If it happens, it would include a hard drive.

Again, take with a grain of salt, but nothing there is too surprising.

Various bits of Revolution news and rumor popped up today, so here we go.

- MTV News, which--remarkably--continues to have better game coverage than many game sites, published an interview today with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Again, Iwata promised that additional "unique features of the ... hardware that we haven't discussed yet" will be revealed at E3. Various developers, publishers, and internal Nintendo sources have made reference to unannounced features, but none have given any indication as to what they might entail.
- Intriguingly, Iwata stated he has "gained a little bit of interest in getting more involved in game development again." Prior to joining Nintendo just a few years ago, Iwata was in charge of HAL Laboratories, the development studio he co-founded with fellow programmers fresh out of college. Along with former HAL designer Masahiro Sakurai, he was instrumental in the creation of series such as Kirby and Super Smash Bros.

Iwata also mentioned that E3 would see announcements of various Revolution games developed by studios Nintendo met with at last year's GDC. Speaking of Revolution games...

- The generally reliable Advanced Media Network claims that sources from Nintendo of Europe have confirmed a platform-exclusive action game combining gunplay and swordfighting. Other sources have revealed that the game is an Ubisoft project called Katana (no relation to John Romero). There have been persistant rumors of Ubisoft developing a Revolution-specific shooter for quite some time now, but still, you know the drill. Grain of salt and all that.
- Independent developer AGFRAG announced that it has obtained the exclusive rights to develop a video game based on the late Bob Ross' television show and painting techniques. Yes, Bob Ross, the guy who taught how to paint clouds and trees while smiling and sporting a fro. Speaking to IGN, AGFRAG president Joseph Hatcher confirmed that the press release is real and not in any way an April Fool's joke, "but the side effect of people thinking it is might help us get noticed." The game is in development for Nintendo Revolution, Nintendo DS, and PC. - Press release.

Why stop with Revolution and PS3?

- According to translations of a report from German site GameFront Online, Microsoft is planning a relaunch of Xbox 360 in Japan. Japan has been a tough market for the console since the original Xbox was deployed there in 2002 but so far Xbox 360 has arguably had an even tougher time so far. It sold fewer units at launch than its predecessor did when it hit shelves, largely thanks to a lackluster launch lineup. Microsoft is hoping that lineup will be energized on June 29 when four high-profile titles are released: AQ Interactive's Bullet Witch, Sega's Chromehounds, Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, and Idea Factory's Spectral Force 3: Innocent Rage. Frequently, hardware is referring to as having an informal second launch when key titles or revisions hit the market, but since Microsoft is said to be making an announcement on the matter next week, it is likely something official will be in the works.

- Team NINJA's outspoken Tomonobu Itagaki revealed to Famitsu Xbox 360 that Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball 2 (X360) is being "fast-tracked" through development, and a trailer of the game will be shown at E3. The game will be playable over Xbox Live. This time around, it will also contain elements in addition to just volleyball, as Itagaki does not believe that just playing volleyball online would be particularly fun.

GamesIndustry.biz speaks with RedOctane CEO Kelly Sumner. RedOctane recently gained fame for publishing Harmonix's acclaimed Guitar Hero (PS2).

Adelaide, Australia newspaper The Advertiser has confirmed that Midway shut down its development studio in Adelaide yesterday. The studio was rebranded from its original name Ratbag to Midway Studios - Australia just this August. Apparently, Greg Siegele and Richard Harrison, who co-founded Ratbag in 1993, attempted yesterday to convince Midway worldwide studio senior VP Matthew Booty to allow the studio to remain open.

The article also mentions some previously unconfirmed news, which is that Midway has also closed its San Diego studio. Midway - San Diego just shipped Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows (PS2, Xbox), which reportedly had something of a bumpy development cycle. The game's designers, John Romero and J.E. Sawyer, both left the company early this year while the game was still in production.

Specific details of the San Diego closure have yet to surface, but the Australian studio had recently been hiring and was surprised by Midway's announcement. In total, over a hundred developers will be either let go or relocated.

Yesterday, GamesIndustry.biz posted an excerpt from an interview with Sony chief of development Phil Harrison regarding the difference between Microsoft's take on HD and Sony's. Today, the full interview was made public, and it mainly consists of talk about Sony's future plans. Lately there has been a rather notable lack of information regarding the PlayStation 3, and true to form Harrison's responses to questions regarding the upcoming console tended to dance around the issues. He explained that "we're in a period when we would rather focus on selling PSPs and PS2s," and "next year the emphasis will start to shift, and we will start to share with you at the appropriate time a lot of the cool things about PS3."

The one topic on which he was quite keen to speak is that bit about HD in PS3 versus in Xbox 360. He made a point frequently shared by PlayStation executives, which is that "true definition of HD" is "the display, the content and the hardware to play back that content, and PlayStation and Sony is the only organisation that has all three bits of the value chain together." In relation to Microsoft, he noted that "Xbox 360 doesn't play high definition movies and doesn't have true HD functionality," nor does it support 1080p. One of Microsoft's biggest Xbox 360 marketing angles is that the console ushers in what they call the HD Era, but Harrison said, "The HD era really only starts when we are on the market."

After recently announcing then retracting its November sales data, the NPD group has released final sales numbers for the month of November, including data on Xbox 360 consoles and games. The report shows that the console sold 325,902 units during November, a number clearly limited by Microsoft's limited supply capabilities. By comparison, Xbox sold 556,000 in the same time period upon its release in 2001. Where the 360 improves is with software sales. Customers bought 3.9 games for each console, though there were certainly consumers who bought games before the launch then were unable to actually secure a console, as well as reports of electronics chains requiring customers to buy bundled games in order to receive a console at launch. The top selling game was Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 2 with just over 250,000 units for a 77% adoption rate. Following that was EA Tiburon's Madden 06 (178,000) and EA Canada's Need for Speed Most Wanted (108,000). Then Rare's Perfect Dark Zero (86,000), Bizarre Creations' Project Gotham Racing (70,000+), and Rare's Kameo: Elements of Power (70,000+).

Peter Jackson's King Kong (PS2, Xbox, GCN, X360, DS, PSP), designed by Michel Ancel of Beyond Good & Evil (PS2, Xbox, GCN) at the request of Peter Jackson, has been cited as a rare example of a quality film adaptation in gaming. However, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot warns gamers that the the Xbox 360 version of the game "is dark on some TVs and it totally changes the experience. When it's dark, you don't see where you have to go." The Xbox 360 version was primarily developed on high definition TVs, and apparently when played on standard definition sets the game is simply too dark. Such unsolicited candor about such a fault is surprising from the CEO of a major publisher, especially considering there hasn't been any particularly visible outcry from gamers regarding the problem. Perhaps they simply adjusted the brightness value on their television sets? Guillemot recommends playing the game on a current generation console, saying that then "you start to see that it is beautiful," and promises that such flaws will not happen in the future.

Despite the launch of the Xbox 360, overall game sales last month dropped 18% from November 2004, confirming expectations by some that despite the usual holiday season sales spike the industry is in something of a slump. In terms of hardware, Game Boy Advance did surprisingly well, leading the pack with 690,000 units. Old standby PS2 followed with 531,000, Nintendo DS with 370,000, GameCube with 272,000, and Xbox with 197,000. As is often the case, PSP numbers were not available. The bestselling software was the Xbox version of Pandemic's Star Wars: Battlefront II (PS2, Xbox, PC) followed by the PS2 version. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP) made the list at #7, so the PSP must be doing alright, and Mario Kart DS was #10. Mario Party 7 made the chart at #9, somewhat uncommon for a GameCube title. The highest-charting Xbox 360 release was Call of Duty 2, which made #3.

Bungie has posted some backstory of the female Spartan character from Team NINJA's upcoming Dead or Alive 4 (X360).

IGN interviewed the executive producer of 50 Cent: Bulletproof, Andre Emerson, and some new details came out. First, the story is written by Terry Winter, who won an Emmy for his work on The Sopranos. 50 Cent plays himself as a hustler, described by Emerson as "as a 're-imagining' of what 50's life as a hustler may have turned out to be had he not become a rap phenomenon." He also tried to distance Bulletproof from GTA by saying, "we decided to create a game that was very tightly focused and story-driven, rather than open-ended."

Take Two president and CEO Paul Eibeler told reporters during a conference call that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has sold over 12 million copies. Those sales banked them $55.2 million in profit for that quarter (Nov-Jan), a 74% increase over the same quarter last year. Eibeler also mentioned that GTA PSP and GTA:SA for the Xbox and PC will ship sometime between May and July, but it was confirmed later to IGN that they will ship on June 7.

Do you loathe the outspoken leader of Team Ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki? Are you member of the development team for Tekken 5? Well, now's your chance to shut him up at his own game. From 10pm to 11pm PST on March 6, Itagaki will be available for challenge in Dead or Alive Ultimate. He'll be using the gamer tag DOAUMG.

Ubisoft announced that there is currently an auto-update available over Xbox Live for Ghost Recon 2. It updates the user interface, improves the network code, fixes a few bugs, and updates the Friend's List. Ubisoft also revealed that on Monday, new downloadable content will be available, which includes 3 maps, 2 gameplay modes, 8 weapons, and 2 skins.

The value-priced action title from Majesco, Phantom Dust, will be delayed. Don't worry, though, it's only for a week. It will still sell for $19.99 on March 15. In other news, IGN caught wind that the release date for WarioWare Twisted has shifted for all the major game retailers. While they're now showing April 21, rumor is that this is not a final date.

Novalogic announced today that its upcoming console adaptation of Delta Force: Black Hawk Down will have support for up to fifty players over Xbox Live. No other game has had over 16 players during a session. The Climax-developed game is set to ship April 26.

Earlier in the day, we posted our interview with John Romero about Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. TeamXbox chats with the senior producer of Dead to Rights II, Pierre Roux. FileFront talks with a few developers on Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. EuroGamer chats with Adrian Smith about Without Warning.