With yesterday's announcement of Rock Band (PS3, X360) from Harmonix, many gamers have wondered just what kind of price tag will accompany the peripheral-laden game. Now, online retailers have put up product pages for the game itself as well as its spate of instrument accessories.

According to GameStop, Rock Band itself will sell for the standard PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 price point of $59.99, suggesting that unlike Harmonix's Guitar Hero games it will not include a controller. Both Xbox 360 and PS3 have guitar controllers listed for $59.99 each, as well as wireless guitar controllers for $79.99. The drum set controllers on both platforms run for $79.99 each, and the microphone controllers on both platforms for $39.99 each.

To assemble a full standard rock band, consisting of the game, two wired guitar controllers--one for lead or rhythm guitar and one for bass--a drum controller, and a microphone controller, would run up a pre-tax bill of $299.95, just over 299 US dollars. Swapping the guitar controllers for wireless versions would bump it up to $339.95.

It is a pricey proposition, but existing Guitar Hero owners may be able to save some cash, if a post by Harmonix developer Jason Booth on the game's official forums is any indication. "For some reason, IGN posted that Rock Band will not be compatable with Guitar Hero guitars," said Booth. "I thought I'd drop in and let you know that this is not correct."

There are currently no available adaptors allowing PlayStation 2 Guitar Hero controllers to be used with Guitar Hero II on Xbox 360 or either Guitar Hero game played using PS3's backwards compatibility function. It is unclear if Harmonix plans to release such an adaptor in the future. However, based on Booth's statement, it does seem likely that Xbox 360 Guitar Hero II controllers will work with the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band.

All pricing information on GameStop's site should be considered preliminary, along with the November 1, 2007 release date listed. As the retailer notes, "Release date and price are subject to change by game publisher."

Last month, rumors surfaced that Seta Corporation and Game Arts' Xbox 360 space shooter Project Sylpheed would be making it to North American shores courtesy of Microsoft Game Studios. This week, Microsoft officially confirmed those reports, stating that it will publish Project Sylpheed in North America this summer. The game's Japanese publishing rights are held by Square Enix.

Also confirmed for release by Microsoft Game studios was Artoon's supernatural stealth action game Vampire Rain. Vampire Rain was announced in Japan for Xbox 360 as well as PlayStation 3, to be published by AQ Interactive. It is not clear what the current plans are for the game's previously expected PS3 release in North America, given that the Xbox 360 version is being published as a first party game.

Both Seta's Project Sylpheed and Artoon's Vampire Rain are slated to be released by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360 in North America this summer.

This week, the Wii's Virtual Console service saw three new releases, one each from NES, Nintendo 64, and TurboGrafx-16. Nintendo delivered its classic space shooter Star Fox 64 (Nintendno 64, 1-4 players), originally published in 1997 and available for 1,000 Wii Points ($10). Konami offered up its infamous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES, 1 player) action game, released in 1990 and available for 600 Wii Points ($6). Finally, Hudson made put up Westone's sidescrolling action/adventure game Dragon's Curse (TurboGrafx-16, 1 player), being sold for 600 Wii Points ($6).

For full rundowns of all three games from the Shack staff, check out this week's edition of our Wii Virtual Console Reviews.

Microsoft has revealed that this week's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday release will be MumboJumbo's ball-touching action puzzle game Luxor 2. The game, which sees players thrusting balls into similarly colored balls to destroy the balls before the long line of balls can pass into a ball recepticle, is similar to PopCap's Xbox Live Arcade launch game Zuma Deluxe--itself similar to Mitchell's earlier arcade game Puzz Loop, which the developer translated into this year's Nintendo DS puzzler Magnetica. Luxor 2 distinguishes its ball-matching action by giving players a moving platform from which to expel balls, rather than allowing players to release balls only from a fixed ball projector.

MumboJumbo's Luxor 2 will be released on April 4, 2007 for 800 Microsoft Balls Points ($10).

Capcom sent word that the second map pack for its Xbox 360 third person shooter Lost Planet: Extreme Condition will be released this week. It will include the multiplayer maps Hive Complex, set around an abandoned mine and bridges, and Trial Point, set in an office surrounded by a modern metropolis.

Lost Planet's multiplayer map pack #2 will be available via the Xbox Live Marketplace on Friday, April 6 for 400 Microsoft Points ($5).

Greg Canessa, who recently served as general manager of Xbox Live Arcade, has been taken on as PopCap Games' vice president of video game platforms, PopCap announced today. In his role, a newly created position at PopCap, Canessa will help expand the reach of the leading casual game publisher and developer to as many systems as possible, as well as overseeing development of games to ensure they are as suitable as possible to their given platforms. Among these platforms are home and portable consoles, and various online and mobile platforms. PopCap also plans to stake out a claim in retail distribution, in addition to its currently dominant online models.

Canessa was crucial to the establishment of Xbox Live Arcade on the original Xbox, its feasibility as a business model for developers and publishers, and the high priority and system integration seen by the service on Xbox 360. Prior to joining PopCap, he had been employed by Microsoft for seven years, and in total boasts fifteen years of industry experience.

Interestingly, in an interview published on Chris Kohler's Game|Life, Canessa includes in a list of target platforms "Apple TV," suggesting that Apple's recently announced video streaming set-top box may have some kind of interactive entertainment functionality. Canessa did not go into any further detail on the subject.

Tdoday, Ubisoft issued a brief media advisory stating that tomorrow morning its Ubisoft Montreal studio will announce "an important growth plan for the company in Quebec." No details were given as to the nature of the announcement or plan, which will be presented by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot and Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat, with a variety of government officials in attendance.

It seems Canadian publication La Presse may have the scoop, however. According to GameSpot citing a report from the newspaper today, Ubisoft will receive a government grant from Canada to assist in the creation of a computer animation studio. Apparently, the division will be opened by Ubisoft Montreal, one of the publisher's largest and most prolific development houses. The list of Ubisoft executives and Canadian officials included in Ubisoft's media note lines up with La Presse's claims of who will be present.

Ubisoft will receive a grant of CA$8 million (US$6.8 million) as part of a larger continuing CA$454 ($383.7 million) grant for the company to boost Quebec's job market. As far as what the studio will produce, it will apparently start off with "short films for the general public," though its longer term plans were not specified.

Several game-related plans were revealed during Activision's quarterly financial conference call yesterday, but it looks like we missed one--sort of. GameSpot points out that during the call, in addition to mentioning that Activision plans to double its Wii and Nintendo DS output as reported yesterday, publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith also specifically noted that major franchises such as Spider-Man, Shrek, Transformers, and Guitar Hero will be making it to Nintendo's current home console.

The first three come as little surprise, as they are all external licensed properties that were already likely to end up on all supported platforms. The Guitar Hero revelation actually comes as more of a confirmation than a new announcement. Last September, CEO Bobby Kotick stated that Guitar Hero, which became an Activision property after the company acquired RedOctane, would come to "every significant new format." Given Activision's boosted development plans for Wii, it is clear the publisher considers the system "significant," but this week's comments solidify those expectations.

Buena Vista Games, Disney's video game publishing arm, was renamed today to the more buzzwordy Disney Interactive Studios. The company maintains both first and third party publishing operations. "This change reflects our focus on creativity, the weight of Disney content in our portfolio, and the enormous value consumers see in the Disney brand," said senior VP and general manager Graham Hopper on the new identity.

According to statements made by Nintendo of America marketing VP Perrin Kaplan to IGN, Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has sold over one million units on Wii in the Americas. IGN's report did not have figures for the game's sales on GameCube, or its performance in other territories worldwide. Kaplan did also note, however, that Nintendo is on track to meet its hardware sales goals for Wii of selling six million systems to consumers worldwide by the end of March.

Microsoft today announced that it has partnered with major entertainment content providers, including CBS, MTV, Paramount Pictures, Turner Broadcasting System, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Warner Bros., to bring downloadable video content to Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Marketplace. Along with the announcement, Microsoft listed numerous movies and television programs to be made available both in 720p and 480p resolution formats. Television programs will be offered for sale, while movies will be provided on a rental basis. Content to be live on Marketplace within calendar 2006 includes:

- Adult Swim: "Robot Chicken," "Aqua Teen Hunger Force"
- CBS: "CSI," "Survivor," "Star Trek"
- Comedy Central: "South Park," "Chappelle’s Show"
- MTV: "The Real World," "Pimp My Ride"
- Nickelodeon: "Avatar: The Last Airbender," "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Skyland," "The Nicktoons Network Animation Festival"
- Paramount Pictures: "Mission: Impossible III," "Nacho Libre," "Jackass: The Movie"
- Spike TV: "Carpocalypse," "Raising the Roofs"
- NASCAR: "Race Rewind"
- UFC: "UFC: All Access," "The Ultimate Fighter" original reality series
- VH1: "Breaking Bonaduce" and "Hogan Knows Best"
- Warner Bros.: "The Matrix," "Superman Returns," "Batman Forever"

As with other Marketplace content, movies and television programs will be accessible to any Xbox 360 owner with a free Xbox Live Silver subscription. Rented movies can apparently be kept for up to 14 days, but once watched will only remain viewable for 24 hours. Microsoft did not divulge purchase and rental prices. However, according to a forum post made on the NeoGAF forums before the Microsoft announcement, TV episodes will sell for 240 Microsoft Points ($3) in both SD and HD formats. Movies will allegedly rent for 320 Microsoft Points ($4) in SD and 480 Microsoft Points ($6) in HD. This information is still unconfirmed, but the poster in question, one "mildewproduction," has made several accurate predictions about various unannounced Microsoft programs in the past.

High definition movie content is expected to surpass 5GB, raising questions as to the adequacy of the included Xbox 360 hard drive, which in practical terms provides 13GB of storage space. Microsoft representatives have stated that while the company has no current plans to offer a larger drive, it will consider doing so if consumers deem it necessary.

Video content will be available in the United States as of November 22, one year after Xbox 360's North American debut. It is not clear which videos will be available from day one.

Microsoft today announced that this week's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday release will be Konami's Contra. The game will be available from Xbox Live Marketplace for 400 Microsoft Points ($5) as of 1:00am Pacific time on Wednesday, November 8. It is a port of the arcade version of the game, and will include an online- and split-screen-enabled two-player cooperative mode. Players can choose between original arcade graphics and sound or updated visuals.

Coming to Xbox Live Arcade starting in January 2007 will be six classic Atari arcade titles: Centipede/Millipede, Battlezone, Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe, Missile Command, Tempest, and Warlords. All games will be updated with leaderboards, online matchmaking for multiplayer games, and the option of playing with updated graphics and sound. "Years ago, we couldn't even have imagined how gorgeous the classic games from 25 years ago would look with high definition graphics," said Atari Networks senior VP Chris Bergstresser, "but Xbox 360 has allowed us to make that leap." All six games are expected to be available within the first half of next year.

Finally, Microsoft revealed that five other Xbox Live titles will be made available by the end of 2006: Gastronaut Studios' Small Arms, Stainless Games' Novadrome, Wanako Studios' Assault Heroes, PopCap Games' Heavy Weapon, and Midway's Defender. Specific release dates were not given.

Sega announced today that it has acquired the video game adaptation rights to Marvel's Iron Man character, which includes the game rights to Jon Favreau's pcoming Iron Man feature film. That movie is expected to hit theatres May 2, 2008, and it is likely that a corresponding video game will be released on the same day or close by. "The Iron Man history is filled with compelling and intriguing characters and stories," said Sega of America president Simon Jeffery, "and with the power of the next-gen systems, SEGA will be bringing these characters to life like never before."

Today's press release also makes reference to "at least one additional Marvel Super Hero property" to which Sega has acquired the video game rights, though details as to its identity were given.

THQ today released the first map pack for Volition's Saint's Row (X360). Available now for download via Xbox Live Marketplace, the Industrial Map Pack is smaller in both size and price than many Marketplace content packs. It contains one new map playable in both Gangsta Brawl and Big A$$ game modes, and sells for 80 Microsoft Points ($1). More Saint's Row content is expected to be made available in the coming months.

Konami has sent over details of a limited run preorder bonus for Kojima Productions' upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP). Placing a preorder for the game at GameStop, EB Games, or Game Crazy will net you a set of plastic armor for your system, consisting of a clear front and a silver back emblazoned with the Konami, Kojima Productions, and Portable Ops logos.

Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops ships for PSP this December.

Square Enix announced today that it shipped 1.5 million units of its anticipated RPG Final Fantasy XII (PS2) when it went on sale in North America on October 31, 2006. The shipment sets a record for Square Enix in North America, though not necessarily for the formerly independent Square. Final Fantasy XII also marked the first game Square Enix has ever released in North America with a mandated street date, meaning that retailers were required to refrain from selling the title to consumers before its official release.

This week, Microsoft made headlines when it declared that it had secured a year of next generation exclusivity for major upcoming soccer titles FIFA 07 from Electronic Arts and Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer 6 from Konami. "I'm really pleased to be able to announce today that Pro Evolution Soccer 6 will be an Xbox 360 next-generation exclusive for the next twelve month," said Xbox Europe head Chris Lewis during its Games Convention press conference. "I'm also really happy to be able to announce that FIFA 07 will also be a next-gen exclusive on Xbox 360 for the next twelve months. So, whether you prefer FIFA 07 or Pro Evolution Soccer 6, as a football fan you need look no further than Xbox 360 because you won't be able to get them on any other next generation platform. Xbox 360 owns football." Microsoft later issued a press release confirming the news.

However, speaking to 1UP today, Konami's Winning Eleven creator and producer Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka stated that Konami has no such agreement with Microsoft, and that apparently Microsoft's announcement has "caused some issues" with Konami, which has for many years enjoyed a strong relationship with Sony. "The presentation was misleading," he said, referring to Microsoft's press conference. "We never said exclusive for one year on the next-gen platforms. We said this year. We were agreed that it was this year." Apparently, the reason Konami will not be launching the PS3 version of Pro Evolution Soccer 6 alongside its Xbox 360 version is simply that the game is not far enough along. Though it will definitely not ship in calendar year 2006, it may be released next spring.

1UP goes on to claim that, according to unspecified sources, EA's FIFA 07 may also not be next-gen exclusive to Xbox 360 for Microsoft's promised twelve months.

Buried at the end of a hands on preview of Toys for Bob's Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (Wii) (which we also previewed), IGN has a rather discouraging rumor regarding third party support for Nintendo's upcoming online service for Wii. "IGN has separately learned from multiple development sources that Nintendo will not release Wii Wi-Fi Connection libraries until early 2007," reads the preview, "which means that no third party launch title will have an online mode." This runs contrary to previous indications that Ubisoft's Red Steel would have an online multiplayer mode, but to date it is true that no third party publisher has explicitly detailed online plans for Wii launch games.

If this rumor is true, it may be that Nintendo's online multiplayer solution for Wii is not yet developed enough for widespread distribution to third parties, which may bode ill for the initial state of the service. Nintendo had not responded to Shacknews' inquiries as of press time.

Back in June, word leaked out of a retail collection of Xbox Live Arcade games for Xbox 360, dubbed Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1. Today, Microsoft has officially announced that collection. It will consist of six currently available Xbox Live Arcade games:

- Bizarre Creations' Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
- Reflexive Entertainment's Wik: Fable of Souls
- NinjaBee's Outpost Kaloki X
- PopCap's Bejeweled 2 Deluxe
- Silver Creek's Hardwood Backgammon
- TikGame's Texas Hold 'em

It will also come with a free one-month trial to Xbox Live Gold, as well as demos of Carbonated Games' UNO, GarageGames' Marble Blast Ultra, and Sprout Games' Feeding Frenzy. The package will be available worldwide on September 5, 2006, with retail price in the US of $39.99.

Namco Bandai today announced the official subtitle for its upcoming PlayStation 3 game based on the Gundam mecha franchise, which the company revealed earlier this month. Now known as Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire, the game is in development by Bandai Entertainment Company. - Screenshots.

BEC's Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire is set to ship for PlayStation 3 later this year.

Vivendi today announced a the official release date for Radical Entertainment's Scarface: The World is Yours. The game will ship for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC on October 8, 2006. PS2 owners will have the choice of standard packaging or a special Collector's Edition of the game, which includes a DVD with a "Making of the Game" documentary, interviews, a map of the game world, concept art, and a walkthrough with commentary, packaged in a metal case. The standard PS2 and Xbox versions of the game will retail for $49.99, PC for $39.99, and Collector's Edition for $59.99. - Interview, screenshots.

LucasArts has announced that the official website for Traveller's Tales LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (PS2, Xbox, GCN, X360, NDS, PSP, GBA, PC) has gone live, featuring character and enemy profiles, wallpapers, screensavers, and other game-related content.

Electronic Arts today announced the official website for developer Criterion Games, the studio behind Black (PS2, Xbox) and the Burnout franchise. The site includes interviews with development personnel as well as a Mailbag feature allowing gamers to ask questions of Criterion staff members.

Leipzig Games Convention coverage continues from sites such as GameSpot, IGN, 1UP, Pro-G, and HEXUS.

Some gamers have been hoping for, or in other cases assuming the existence of, an upcoming Xbox 360 price drop later this year, presumably to combat PS3's launch this holiday season. According to the Microsoft marketing employee-run Gamerscore Blog, however, those gamers will have to keep on hoping, because no such price drop is planned this fall. The news should come as little surprise, given the existing $200 average gap between the various models of Xbox 360 and PS3, as well as remarks by Microsoft's Peter Moore last month that Xbox 360 got its price cut when Sony announced its system's price point at E3.

Fans of Nippon Ichi's well received RPG Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2) looking forward to the upcoming Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories (PS2) may have another title to anticipate soon. Speaking to RPGLAND, Nippon Ichi producer Souhei Niikawa addressed questions as to whether positive sales of Disgaea 2 would prompt the company to keep the series going. "Sales number always helps for sequels," he said, "but we have no intent on ending this series just yet, so you can count on part 3."

No potential platforms were cited, though a recent interview with Nippon Ichi marketing coordinator Jack Niida suggests that the company has at least one new game in the works for PS2 and PS3, and is considering various other platforms for development.

A retail box shot has surfaced, depicting what seems to be a physical collection of Xbox 360 Live Arcade games. Entitled Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1, it provides "all the fun of Arcade without using Xbox Live or an online connection"--though it still includes a month of Xbox Live Gold, just in case.

As far as what games are included, Bizarre Creations' Geometry Wars gets top billing, but screenshots of several other games are shown as well: Reflexive Entertainment's Wik: The Fable of Souls, PopCap's Bejeweled 2 Deluxe, NinjaBee's Outpost Kaloki X, Silver Creek's Hardwood Backgammon, and TikGames' upcoming Texas Hold'em Poker.

According to a GameStop product page, the package will sell for $39.99 and will be released October 2 of this year, though that information is unconfirmed.

According to a blog entry from Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Xbox Live will be taken down for maintenance tomorrow between the hours of 2:00 am and 6:00 am Pacific time (-8 GMT). "My Xbox" services on Xbox.com will also be unavailable. Apparently, the service interruption is for routine server upkeep; no new functionality or content will be added.

Following Square Enix's acquisition of fellow developer/publisher Taito last year, the parent company has announced upcoming management changes to its new subsidiary. According to a GameSpot translation of a report from Impress Watch, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada will be assuming the role of Taito CEO while also retaining his existing title. Current Taito CEO Yasuo Nishigaki will become Taito's chairman of the board of the directors.

According to THQ's official site for Volition's Saint's Row (X360), a playable demo for the GTA-esque action title will be released later this year. It will be included in the August issue of Official Xbox Magazine and will also be downloadable via Xbox Live on August 1, four weeks before the full game's release on August 29.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recently spoke with Japanese technology publication Tech-On!, published by major news source Nikkei. Iwata discussed the research that went into the company's upcoming Wii console, the parallels between the success of DS and plans with Wii, as well as some practical details about functionality with the system's Virtual Console and WiiConnect24 services.

In regards to Virtual Console, Iwata confirmed that Nintendo hopes to see developers create smaller games on lower budgets to be distributed online, in addition to the classic titles already planned for download. "It is possible to create a reasonably entertaining game in 2 months with a team of three," he said, and suggested a price of 500 yen for such games, equivalent to about $4.42. "By offering an environment that allows this," Iwata continued, "we hope to encourage more developers to pursue basic yet enjoyable gameplay."

Since Nintendo DS demos can be distributed to DS consoles via wi-fi kiosks, and since Wii will include built-in wi-fi capability, many have speculated that it may be possible for gamers to download DS demos from the internet to a Wii console, then send the demos to a DS system. Iwata also confirmed that this will be possible, when describing an example of functionality for WiiConnect24, which allows Wii to stay connected to the internet at all times. "This would allow Nintendo to send monthly promotional demos for the DS, during the night, to the Wii consoles in each household," said Iwata. "Users would wake up each morning, find the LED lamp on their Wii flashing, and know that Nintendo has sent them something. They would then be able to download the promotional demo from their Wii's to their Nintendo DS's." He admitted that while users can already download DS demo content from retail locations, he expects people to prefer to do so at home.

Despite recent comments by Microsoft's Peter Moore suggesting that Xbox 360 backwards compatibility may be on the back burner, it looks like there's still another compatibility update in the works. According to members of the Gamerscore Blog, run by Microsoft PR employees, a patch consisting of about a dozen games should be available "in the next few weeks." No specific game titles were mentioned in the posting.

Today, Microsoft issued an announcement that the first new map pack for Rare's Perfect Dark Zero (X360) had been released via Xbox Live. However, gamers who logged into the service to try and purchase the content quickly discovered that it was nowhere to be found. Soon after the announcement was made, Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb confirmed in a blog post that the update is indeed not yet ready.

Still, the preemptive announcement suggests that that maps are nearing completion, and gamers can probably expect them to appear in the relatively near future. When Map Pack #1 is actually available, it will contain four new maps for 500 Microsoft Points ($6.25). The maps are entitled Plaza, Trench, Rooftops, and Gas Plant. Last week, a free Perfect Dark Zero was released containing the map Plaza.

Citing a "friendly anonymous source at Microsoft," Joystiq has rumors of price points for several upcoming Xbox 360 accessories. Earlier this week it was revealed that Xbox Live Vision, the name of Xbox 360's upcoming camera peripheral, would be released September 19 in North America. Joystiq claims that it will come in a $39.99 bundle along with a current model wired Xbox 360 headset, a copy of Xbox Live Arcade's UNO, and one month of Xbox Live Gold service. It is unclear whether the camera will also be available separately.

The wireless headset announced during E3 will reportedly sell for $59.99. A new 256MB Memory Unit is said to be priced at $59.99, compared to the current 64MB Memory Unit which sells for $39.99. Xbox 360 faceplates themed around Halo, Forza 2, and Viva Pinata will go for the standard faceplate price of $19.99 each. All of these accessories are planned to ship this fall. Finally, the USB wireless gaming receiver, which will allow Microsoft's wireless Xbox 360 peripherals to be used with Windows PCs, will go on sale in early 2007 for $19.99.

Microsoft of course has not commented on the accuracy of the reports. Joystiq claims that the information was in fact taken from official pricing plans which have not yet been publically announced. All of the price points seem reasonable and expected, but, as always, treat this as rumor until further confirmation is received.

Last week, Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned in an interview that it may be possible for player characters in multiplayer Wii games to feature user-drawn faces. Today, Wired's Chris Kohler published excerpts of an interview with Nintendo producer Katsuya Eguchi confirming that this is indeed planned as a console-wide feature rather than being limited to the Wii Sports games which made use of such caricatures at E3. "The caricatures will exist in the hardware, as data, as one of several profiles that you could save in the Wii," explained Eguchi. "And if you insert compatible software into the Wii, it will pull up the images that you chose."

Today, Ubisoft launched its official site for Taito's Over G Fighters (X360), a near-future combat sim with real world jet fighters. Nintendo launched its official site for Mitchell's Magnetica (NDS), a remake of Mitchell's original Puzz Loop, later cloned by PopCap as Zuma.

The New York Times has an interesting article on Sony that may shed some more light on the PS3's hefty price tag. Howard Stringer, Sony's new CEO, is hoping to revitalize the "Sony premium," the higher prices that have traditionally accompanied Sony products because of the confidence they can give consumers that the products in question are superior. As it has expanded out into so many different consumer markets beyond its core competencies, particularly in Japan, that premium has become devalued. The company is hoping to bring it back.

Eurogamer has an interview with Capcom's Keiji Inafune, speaking on the upcoming action title Lost Planet (X360).

GameSpot has a Q&A with Insomniac president Ted Price about the company's upcoming shooter Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3).

Game Informer has a fairly uninformative five part video interview with Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan, in which she discusses probably nothing that you haven't heard before if you've read any other Nintendo PR interview recently.

Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison delivered a keynote address today at Game Developers Conference. While the Sony exec did not deliver a great deal of new information on the company's upcoming console, he did make it clear that Sony's next-gen plans are extremely ambitious.

For a bullet list breakdown of the remarks on PS3, check Shacknews' earlier coverage. Here are some additional clarifications based on questions asked in threads today:
- Warhawk, from SCE Incognito, will be playable at E3 in some form.
- The games that were showcased during the keynote (Warhack, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, MotorStorm, Singstar) are not confirmed launch titles, but Harrison stated that they are obviously farther along than many games, so they may be candidates.
- PS3 will have wi-fi built in, and the controllers are also wireless. As previously stated, the machine supports seven wireless controllers simultaneously but eight total; to use all eight, one must be wired.
- Harrison's statements indicated that the machine itself has no provisions for games being region encoded. Every console worldwide will also support every display standard. If a particular publisher decides to ship a game without PAL support, for example, the game could not be played on a PAL television. However, a gamer in a PAL region could still play the game if the PS3 is hooked up to a non-PAL video display.
- No price was announced or suggested. I do not believe the words "price" or "cost" were even mentioned.
- The machine is slated for a worldwide simultaneous launch in early November. Previously, it was indicated that the machine would be shipping to "Australasia," but Harrison used the word "Australia." This may have been a casual mistake, it is hard to know for sure.
- Oddly, Harrison seemed unwilling to specifically confirm that each system will come packaged with a hard drive, even though SCEE representatives confirmed as such last week. However, he did reiterate that games will require a hard drive to run.

Here's some additional news regarding PS2 and PSP. Again, most of this is nothing new.
- PS1 has had a 12+ year life cycle, and Sony expects PS2 to continue to sell past 2010.
- Designer David Jaffe came to the stage to officially announce God of War 2 for PS2. Since Jaffe is currently working on his own project, the game is being helmed by God of War lead animator Cory Burlog, with supervision by Jaffe. The developer had a joking response to questions as to why the game is in development for PS2 rather than PS3. "PS3 is probably the most powerful game machine on the planet, but it has limitations, technical limitations," he explained. "It seems to be incapable of delivering three-way sex scenes in realtime."

A couple brief items about Nintendo have surfaced over the past few days. Some of them may very well be addressed at tomorrow's keynote, but don't hold your breath.

- Rumors have been flying that the company will reveal the final name of Revolution tomorrow. Since the console's initial unveiling, executives have stressed that "Revolution" is merely a codename, and not the system's final trademark. This is consistent with Nintendo's past behavior in console launches; Nintendo 64 was known as Ultra 64 for some time prior to launch, while GameCube was originally known as Dolphin.
- A few days ago, Pokemon Company founder and president Tsunekazu Ishihara suggested in a Famitsu interview that the Revolution has additional functionality that has not yet been unveiled. While this is by no means new information, Ishihara indicated that these functions are significant enough that he was unwilling to speak at all about his company's games in progress for the upcoming system. "There are still areas of the Revolution itself that have not been seen," he said, "so we'd like to coordinate with Nintendo's movements."

Namco has confirmed that there will be no further entries in the widely praised Katamari Damacy franchise. So far, the game has seen two PS2 entries and a recent PSP version. However, series creator Keita Takahashi, whose first video game design was the original Katamari Damacy (PS2), has been very vocal about his frustration that his creation was turned into a sequel-prone franchise.

Coming from a traditional art background, Takahashi has voiced general displeasure with the endlessly sequel-driven nature of the video games industry. Though he originally pledged not to work on any sequels to his game, Namco planned to develop a bare-bones sequel to the game with or without his involvement. Rather than let the property out of his hands, he agreed to design We Love Katamari (PS2). However, when Namco announced Me and My Katamari (PSP), Takahashi refused to have any involvement, and has been quite vocal regarding his disappointment with the game. Previously trained as a sculptor, he has also stated that he plans to leave the games industry in the near future in the hope of designing children's playgrounds.

It was likely that revelation that caused Namco to reconsider its position. Takahashi's total value to the company, including any future games he may design, may very well be greater to Namco than the ability to continually release sequels within one franchise, especially in the case of a game which relies so heavily on seeming fresh and novel.

Namco Bandai Games announced that it will be bringing the arcade classic Point Blank to Nintendo DS. The game will of course use the system's stylus to replace the original light gun. Point Blank DS will include stages from all three original games, and will ship this summer.

Now available at the Xbox Live Marketplace is a demo for Blazing Angels, allowing you to try out Ubisoft's new action flight sim which is also coming to Xbox and PC. The demo of the singleplayer kind. Also available is AstroPop, the latest Xbox Live Arcade puzzle game from PopCap.

IGN takes a look at the impact of DS and PSP with The Evolution of Design. GameSpot talks to Microsoft's Peter Moore, and they also have a video interview on Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting (Xbox 360).

Nintendo still seems to really get a kick out of jumping out of nowhere and announcing crazy stuff at keynotes and random press conferences. Anyway, in that vein, the company has just wrapped up a press conference at which several upcoming DS games and peripherals were detailed. The Advanced Media Network has coverage of the event. A more complete writeup will go up in LNC tomorrow, but in short:

- A DS web browser from Opera is in the works
- A digital TV tuner for DS; since this operates on an upcoming mobile TV broadcast service in Japan, it is unknown whether a similar product will come out elsewhere
- Winning Eleven 9 for DS will use Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
- Children of Mana and Xenosaga I+II movies were shown
- New Super Mario Bros. will launch in Japan in May

Developer Monolith had a good year in 2005, with the release of two well-received horror-tinged first person titles: F.E.A.R. for PC and Condemned for Xbox 360. Condemned publisher Sega recently confirmed that game's upcoming translation to PCs. Now, a rumor in the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly suggests that F.E.A.R. might be making a leap in the opposite direction, getting an Xbox 360 port some time within this year.

The rumor seems largely speculative, and publisher Vivendi isn't talking, but it seems like a good fit. F.E.A.R. was a hit with both critics and gamers, and Monolith has experience shipping games on both platforms. In more general terms, the Xbox and now the Xbox 360 seem to be the console of choice for traditionally PC-focused developers. So while it's certainly not official, don't be surprised if it happens.

Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GCN), in true Zelda tradition, was delayed last year from its holiday season release period to some time in the second quarter of 2006. Yesterday, gaming blog Kotaku reported that Best Buy had switched its release date for the game to November 2006. This fit in nicely with recent comments by Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime suggesting that the game might hypothetically benefit from taking advantage of the Revolution's unique controller when played with that system's GameCube backwards compatibility.

I contacted representatives from EB Games and GameStop, both of whom stated that their release dates remain at the previously estimated June 1; they have not received any memos suggesting otherwise. I was unable to speak to an official representative of Best Buy, but information obtained from the company's retail employees and website was changed to reflect an April 1 release date. For Nintendo's part, the official answer was, "We've been monitoring all the rumors and unfortunately cannot confirm anything except it will be out this year."

Of course, with that rumor came the resurgence of rumors that the game has been switched to a Revolution title. While it's certainly possible that Nintendo is integrating Revolution functionality in the game and may try to position it in such a way that it helps drive Revolution sales, a number of Nintendo executives both from Japan and the United States have stated that the game will in fact ship on GameCube. When that happens is anybody's guess.

Last September, Kuju Entertainment creative director Tancred Dyke-Wells strongly hinted in an interview that the company's Nintendo-published title Battalion Wars (GCN) might very well receive a multiplayer-enabled sequel on Nintendo's upcoming Revolution. Today, Idle Thumbs reported news from "a reliable source" that Kuju is indeed working on a title for Revolution. I'd be rather surprised if it turns out to be anything but Battalion Wars, quite frankly.

Update: As one might expect, Nintendo has given a neutral response to this rumor: "At this time I have no confirmation of Kuju working on a Revolution sequel to Battalion Wars. This is not to say they are or they aren't, we just cannot confirm or announce either at this time."

Hideo Kojima's slightly lesser known game franchise, the Boktai series of games for Game Boy Advance, will be making the transition over to DS according to translated reports of Japanese publication Koro Koro Comic. The two GBA titles, which shipped in 2003 and 2004 to positive critical response, were notorious for their gameplay-affecting built-in solar sensors. Perhaps due to this rather inconvenient feature, the next entry in the Boktai line will eschew using natural light in favor of a graphical sun displayed on the top screen of the DS. Much like in Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS), the sun will operate based on the machine's internal clock. It will also be affected by random elements such as cloud formations and rain.

You may remember Datel announcing its 4GB hard drive for Sony's PSP. After the device's launch, it seems Datel wasted no time in getting caught up to the other new handheld. The company has just revealed a 4GB hard drive for Nintendo DS. It seems essentially the same as its PSP counterpart (except for form factor obviously), but also includes media player software since the DS doesn't have that capability built in. Like the PSP hard drive, it's a bit pricey. Import site Lik Sang has the device currently on preorder for $179.00, a price promised to have been confirmed by Datel.

Xbox 360 owners have some more Xbox Live Marketplace content available this week. The main entry is a demo for Ubisoft's Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, weighing in at 575MB. Since its release, many gamers have reported a variety of bugs that were not present in the Xbox 360 in-store kiosk demo of the game. These complaints were relayed to the Marketplace team by Xbox Live's Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb, though it is not yet known what action will be taken.

The other Live updates add extra content related to existing titles. Stainless Games' recently released revamp of the classic shooter Crystal Quest has a variety of visual and auditory modifications available for 100 points ($1.25) each. EA Chicago's upcoming Fight Night Round 3, PopCap's Bejeweled 2 Deluxe, and Microsoft's Hexic HD each now have several themes and pictures available for purchase at varying prices.

1UP puts the Xbox 360's parental control features through their paces.

This Composing With Electroplankton guide makes me want to bust out my copy of the game again.

Sega put a great deal of fanfare behind Amusement Vision's yakuza epic Ryu ga Gotoku (PS2) by producer Toshihiro Nagoshi after keeping it conspicuously hush-hush under the codename Project-J. Indeed, when the game was released in Japan, it was met with critical acclaim. The sales figures didn't reflect that, however, and to my dismay Sega has kept quiet on the possible of a Western release of the game.

Fortunately, I have just received word from a trustworthy source that European localizations of the game are in the works, and though a North American release isn't a certain it seems likely. Sega has not yet responded to requests for confirmation. Fingers crossed!

At the extraordinarily named "Hopper's Vol.1 25H Our Party People" event in Japan, the details of which I haven't the slightest clue, designers Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear), Goichi Suda (Killer 7 [PS2, GCN]), and Kazutoshi Iida (Doshin the Giant [GCN]) spoke together at a panel. Suda noted that Kojima's 1988 adventure game Snatcher (MSX) was a big reason he became involved with games, and he and Kojima mentioned that they should collaborate on an adventure game to be announced at E3. The event is reported slightly differently by various sites, but only one doesn't play it off as if the comment was a joke, which doesn't speak well for fans hoping for such a collaboration--but hey, you never know. If I had to come up with designers known for utterly insane stories, those two would be on the very short list. Hell, it might even be a list of two.

Suda also brought up the Nintendo Revolution and confirmed hisproject for the console, stating that development is in progress. Kojima is working on a Revolution game as well, but has been reluctant to disclose any details.

Speaking of Amusement Vision, the latest issue of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine reports that a new edition of the studio's best known property, Super Monkey Ball, is under development. The game will, somewhat surprisingly, be a story based platform-ish game with various themed worlds as well as puzzles and multiplayer minigames. The game, entitled Super Monkey Ball Adventures, will be handled by Traveller's Tales, the studio behind the underrated Lego Star Wars (PS2, Xbox, GCN, GBA, PC).

Given the news' presence in a Sony-sponsored publication, the story only mentioned PS2 and PSP as platforms for the game. However, the series has appeared on all three current-gen consoles and made its home console debut (and most frequent appearance and best sales figures) on GameCube, so don't be surprised to see it pop up elsewhere.

This weekend, fire hit the New York City offices of 2K Games and Global Star, divisions of publisher Take-Two Games. Those publishing arms have no game development operations in New York, so the incident will have no effect on games in progress. No employees were harmed. Jason Bergman, the man who basically invented my job and who now works for 2K Games, posted news of the fire on his blog this weekend (the entry has now been taken down).

The cause of the fire is still unknown. Upon receipt of the news, Take-Two nemesis Jack Thompson allegedly danced a jig.

Three new games are headed to Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade: PopCap's Astro Pop, what appears to be sort of a Tetris/Breakout hybrid; Stainless Games' Crystal Quest, a crystal-collecting space shooter originally released in 1987; and Sprout Games' Feeding Frenzy, a fish-eat-fish action title. All three games are due for release in February.

CNN/Money's Chris Morris takes a look at what went wrong with publisher Majesco. The company just announced its departure from high budget game development.

Starting to get tired of Guitar Hero (PS2)? First off, you shouldn't be, but if you are, you could always turn your guitar controller into an actual musical instrument. Or, rather, nerdstrument. Ugh, I felt dirty just typing that. Still, this is pretty cool.