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mybrainonfire writes "1UP has an article looking at Microsoft Vista and its implications not only as an operating system as a whole, but what it means for gaming, based on a recent visit to Microsoft. 'According to the Microsoft message: Windows games is becoming a big priority. A study done among thousands of users determined that 35% of people use the PC for Web surfing, 18% use it for games and everything else is an also-ran. The next biggest thing, email, is only 9.2%. This gave Microsoft the boot in the proverbial ass to get back to its PC gaming roots.' It's a little rambley, but it's an interesting take on what to expect whenever Microsoft stops delaying things."

1up.com is reporting that MTV's Video Music Awards has a 'Best Video Game Soundtrack' in the mix this year. However, as usual, MTV misses the point. From the article: "Dance Dance Revolution Extreme, Madden NFL 2005, Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition, Def Jam Fight for NY, and Tony Hawk's Underground 2 have all been nominated. Unsurprisingly, the reason these games have been nominated isn't because they feature charming, interesting, moving symphonic scores." Good job for highlighting more cookie cutter Top 40's crap, MTV. Way to go.

1up.com has up an in-depth preview of the PS2 exclusive Soul Caliber 3. From the article: "... Yotoriyama and team Calibur's latest effort -- a true PS2 exclusive set for release this fall -- will be packed with gameplay modes (we'll get to those later) designed to entice all types of newcomers. 'We developed [Soul Calibur III] with features that will appeal to a variety of consumers in order to get them to pick up the game and experience that great gameplay. That goal hasn't changed since we developed the first Soul Calibur [on Dreamcast].' On the gameplay side, not a whole lot has changed either -- which, for many Soul devotees, is a good thing."

1up has some information from a recent release of Xbox 360 launch information. They have available for you the Launch Titles list, an assurance that the EU and JP launches will be this year, an overview of the event, and updates on the titles Ninety-Nine Nights and Frame City Killer. From the launch titles list: "Activision: Call of Duty 2, Tony Hawk American Waste, Quake 4, Gun - Capcom: Resident Evil 5, Dead Rising - Square Enix: FFXI - Microsoft Game Studios: Everyparty (from Game Republic), Ninety Nine Nights, PGR3 - Ubisoft: Ghost Recon 3"

1up has some information from a recent release of Xbox 360 launch information. They have available for you the Launch Titles list, an assurance that the EU and JP launches will be this year, an overview of the event, and updates on the titles Ninety-Nine Nights and Frame City Killer. From the launch titles list: "Activision: Call of Duty 2, Tony Hawk American Waste, Quake 4, Gun - Capcom: Resident Evil 5, Dead Rising - Square Enix: FFXI - Microsoft Game Studios: Everyparty (from Game Republic), Ninety Nine Nights, PGR3 - Ubisoft: Ghost Recon 3"

1up has some information from a recent release of Xbox 360 launch information. They have available for you the Launch Titles list, an assurance that the EU and JP launches will be this year, an overview of the event, and updates on the titles Ninety-Nine Nights and Frame City Killer. From the launch titles list: "Activision: Call of Duty 2, Tony Hawk American Waste, Quake 4, Gun - Capcom: Resident Evil 5, Dead Rising - Square Enix: FFXI - Microsoft Game Studios: Everyparty (from Game Republic), Ninety Nine Nights, PGR3 - Ubisoft: Ghost Recon 3"

1up has some information from a recent release of Xbox 360 launch information. They have available for you the Launch Titles list, an assurance that the EU and JP launches will be this year, an overview of the event, and updates on the titles Ninety-Nine Nights and Frame City Killer. From the launch titles list: "Activision: Call of Duty 2, Tony Hawk American Waste, Quake 4, Gun - Capcom: Resident Evil 5, Dead Rising - Square Enix: FFXI - Microsoft Game Studios: Everyparty (from Game Republic), Ninety Nine Nights, PGR3 - Ubisoft: Ghost Recon 3"

1up has some information from a recent release of Xbox 360 launch information. They have available for you the Launch Titles list, an assurance that the EU and JP launches will be this year, an overview of the event, and updates on the titles Ninety-Nine Nights and Frame City Killer. From the launch titles list: "Activision: Call of Duty 2, Tony Hawk American Waste, Quake 4, Gun - Capcom: Resident Evil 5, Dead Rising - Square Enix: FFXI - Microsoft Game Studios: Everyparty (from Game Republic), Ninety Nine Nights, PGR3 - Ubisoft: Ghost Recon 3"

1up.com has a feature up looking back at the stylized wonder that was Jet Grind Radio. From the article: "Besides the relatively basic, and surprisingly challenging "collect spray cans, tag buildings and run away from the cops" premise, another thing that elevated the Jet Grind Radio experience was its exceptional soundtrack. Brassy, and brash as hell, the vibrant beats and future funk of the game's OST rests comfortably alongside Sega's equally cutting-edge soundtracks for games like Rez and Space Channel 5."

1up.com has a feature up discussing their deep and abiding love for Katamari Damacy and its sequel. From the article: "The original Katamari Damacy is to many the best example of innovation the game industry has seen in years. It's not easy to define, it doesn't use traditional game mechanics, and it's a game where the music and the feeling of playing are as important as the objective. You roll a ball around, it picks stuff up as you go, and it's a swell time. But to hear game director Keita Takahashi describe it, the concept of "fun" comes before 'innovation.'"

The storm of media and cynicism that was "Hot Coffee" is, thankfully, coming to an end. To wrap things up, reactions were mixed to the re-rating of GTA. Some thought it too much, some too little too late. With the removal of the M rating, ESRB president Patricia Vance considers the matter closed. Even those in the industry itself seem glad that it's over, though the folks quoted for the 1up story seem cynical about the whole thing. "[Rockstar] TOTALLY screwed the modding community, as far as I am concerned. Because they could have just removed the content. They tried to get cute and leave it in. In my experience that sort of thing is always deliberate. Anyway, the point is that most game developers are recalcitrant and immature jerks. When mom tells us we can't do something, we're sure as hell going to do it. If you get my meaning. I think 'mom' in this case was the ESRB." As a sidenote, stock in Take-Two Entertainment dropped by almost five percent at close of market today, on the news that even Gamestop is dumping the now AO-rated GTA title.

1up.com has coverage of the meeting held yesterday in which Sony let more details slip on the future of the PSP, plans for the PS3, and the state of the Playstation 2. From the PS3 update: "One big piece of news is that Sony will be including both Havoc Complete and AEGIA, two physics modeling solutions, with the PlayStation 3 SDK. Even more importantly, Sony themselves will be providing 'frontline support' for Japanese developers. This should be a big boon to next generation development, as a lack of Japanese language documentation and support has been one of the major hurdles for Japanese developers to adopt middleware solutions."

1up.com has coverage of the meeting held yesterday in which Sony let more details slip on the future of the PSP, plans for the PS3, and the state of the Playstation 2. From the PS3 update: "One big piece of news is that Sony will be including both Havoc Complete and AEGIA, two physics modeling solutions, with the PlayStation 3 SDK. Even more importantly, Sony themselves will be providing 'frontline support' for Japanese developers. This should be a big boon to next generation development, as a lack of Japanese language documentation and support has been one of the major hurdles for Japanese developers to adopt middleware solutions."

1up.com has coverage of the meeting held yesterday in which Sony let more details slip on the future of the PSP, plans for the PS3, and the state of the Playstation 2. From the PS3 update: "One big piece of news is that Sony will be including both Havoc Complete and AEGIA, two physics modeling solutions, with the PlayStation 3 SDK. Even more importantly, Sony themselves will be providing 'frontline support' for Japanese developers. This should be a big boon to next generation development, as a lack of Japanese language documentation and support has been one of the major hurdles for Japanese developers to adopt middleware solutions."

1up.com's never ending flow of excellent features has turned up a piece celebrating gaming music at its finest. The article delves into the past of gaming music and talks about the realities of today's soundscape. From the article: "Along with Space Channel 5's tracks, Katamari Damacy is one of the best examples of what musicians are doing with compressed audio today. Each song is lengthy enough so as not to repeat itself during the 5 to 6 minute stages in the game, and composer Yu Miyake let his imagination run riot, running the gamut of musical styles from introspective electronic music to big-band swing to power ballads to lounge singing. Just like its namesake, the disparate styles all clump together to form something awesome that's worth experiencing even outside the context of the game. "

1up.com has some tidbits about the fifth Resident Evil title, which looks to be slated for the 360 and PS3. From the article: "What is surprising, however, is the game's bright atmosphere, a stark contrast to the dark, dreary environments usually found in Resident Evil games. There's even one screen shot where a blaring sun high up in the sky blocks the camera's view of several approaching enemies who happen to look suspiciously like zombies. Could we be seeing a return to classic form this time? Time will tell."

1up.com has another entry in its 'Crucial Classics' series, and this one features a truly excellent NES title, Bionic Commando. From the article: "Most of Bionic Commando's innovations came in its hero's bionic arm. While the lead-footed character could not jump, a tap of the A button sent a moderate length of cable zipping out at a 45-degree angle, in hopes of attaching to anything vaguely resembling a platform. From there the player could perform a Tarzan-like swing to cross distances or simply retract the slack, allowing their commando to hang from the ceiling or even climb up to the next tier. The arm could also be sent straight up or horizontally, but Capcom's designers wisely made the useful angled shot the default."

The much anticipated Metroid Prime: Hunters for the Nintendo DS has been revealed to be slated to release without multiplayer. 1up.com has the story: "Really, we could have made this game online. But Nintendo's vision of online play is different from that of other companies...We wanted it to be free, easy, and easy to access for everybody. To set up the kind of infrastructure that we needed, and to meet the launch date we have for this game, the two just didn't match."

1up.com has a feature up examining the possible end of days for the Game Boy Advance. From the article: "...it would seem the end is nigh. Sony's PlayStation Portable offers PS2 level power and a beautiful screen next to GBA's humble, Super NES-quality experience. And Nintendo seems be placing its hopes on its quirky but successful two-screened DS. Rumors of a next-generation Game Boy system were crushed at E3 2005 with the unveiling of Game Boy Micro, a revised GBA selling on its stylish, compact design and beautiful (but minuscule) screen."

1up.com has a piece looking at the changing variable of game length, and current gamer tastes when it comes to time investment. From the article: "For better or worse, one of the main ways gamers size up a game's value is by length. After all, an RPG that promises 40 hours of gameplay must be superior to one that offers a mere 20, right? Not quite. The fallacies here are obvious enough. For example, what good is 40 hours of content if only 20 are worth paying attention to? Or what if a game takes ten hours to run through, but is eminently replayable? Despite these and other valid arguments, many gamers, especially in recent years, have subscribed to the 'longer is better' school of thought, without really considering what 'longer' actually means."

1up.com has a first look with video of the upcoming We Love Katamari. From the article: "Without question, the new game is its father's son -- very literally so, in fact. (The narrative that appears between stages details the tough-love story of the fruity King Of All Cosmos and his childhood struggles to win the acceptance of his own stern and cold-hearted dad.) More to the point, the gameplay itself is largely unchanged from last year's surprise hit. The control scheme is exactly the same, and the fundamental concept of rolling things into a giant katamari ball within a certain time limit remains intact as well."

Computer Games World, part of 1up.com, has done up a fantastic piece looking into the world of Massively Multiplayer Sweat Shops. More than just a look at how it's done, it painfully illustrates that not all farmers are farming by choice and not all farmers are from Asia. From the article: "How does it work? The macros for World of WarCraft, for example, control a high-level hunter and cleric. The hunter kills while the cleric automatically heals. Once they are fully loaded with gold and items, the 'farmer' who's monitoring their progress manually controls them out of the dungeon to go sell their goods. These automated agents are then returned to the dungeons to do their thing again. Sack's typical 12-hour sessions can earn his employers as much as $60,000 per month while he walks away with a measly $150."

1up.com has an interview with the guy who faked the beautiful Nintendo On video prior to this year's E3. The faked video raised quite a ruckus on message boards from here to fark. From the article: "The Nintendo community is famously excitable when dealing with leaks and rumors - the uproar over recent comments insinuating Revolution's downloadable classics would be free sent shockwaves - and this instance was really no different. Still, there were plenty of skeptics and cynics. To many, the presence of the esteemed Virtual Boy, the company's infamous portable blunder from the mid 90s, tipped the scales. 'The Virtual Boy isn't something Nintendo should ever use to promote a new revolutionary product,' said Jeffery Van Camp, editorial coordinator at Nintendo fan site N-Sider. Even the visionary behind Nintendo On admits 'Nintendo would never make another reference to a console that didn't comply with their expectations, but in this case, it wouldn't be a mistake, but a correction.'"

Sophia wrote in to mention some discussion of Video Game Violence on 1up.com this week. Brooks Brown had the experience of attending Columbine High School around the time of the now infamous shooting incident. Via his blog, Brown goes into a detailed discussion of Why Violence in Gaming is a Good Thing. From the article: "GTA isn't about fucking hookers or killing cops. It's a story of a guy who got screwed trying to get back on top. It is, by nature, a story game. Postal 2 may let you kill anyone you want in bloody and disgusting ways - but that's not what it is about either. It is, by nature, a tech demo in the abilities of programmers and AI. it is WE - the gamers - who change what the game is about and determine what happens. It is the person playing who determines what the game contains." Jane Pinckard has a quick reaction to his post. More commentary on this subject is available via John Davison's Blog, who met Brown at a taping of a news program which was ostensibly to be about gaming in general. Instead he was ambushed about violence in games and ended up walking out.

Sophia wrote in to mention some discussion of Video Game Violence on 1up.com this week. Brooks Brown had the experience of attending Columbine High School around the time of the now infamous shooting incident. Via his blog, Brown goes into a detailed discussion of Why Violence in Gaming is a Good Thing. From the article: "GTA isn't about fucking hookers or killing cops. It's a story of a guy who got screwed trying to get back on top. It is, by nature, a story game. Postal 2 may let you kill anyone you want in bloody and disgusting ways - but that's not what it is about either. It is, by nature, a tech demo in the abilities of programmers and AI. it is WE - the gamers - who change what the game is about and determine what happens. It is the person playing who determines what the game contains." Jane Pinckard has a quick reaction to his post. More commentary on this subject is available via John Davison's Blog, who met Brown at a taping of a news program which was ostensibly to be about gaming in general. Instead he was ambushed about violence in games and ended up walking out.

Sophia wrote in to mention some discussion of Video Game Violence on 1up.com this week. Brooks Brown had the experience of attending Columbine High School around the time of the now infamous shooting incident. Via his blog, Brown goes into a detailed discussion of Why Violence in Gaming is a Good Thing. From the article: "GTA isn't about fucking hookers or killing cops. It's a story of a guy who got screwed trying to get back on top. It is, by nature, a story game. Postal 2 may let you kill anyone you want in bloody and disgusting ways - but that's not what it is about either. It is, by nature, a tech demo in the abilities of programmers and AI. it is WE - the gamers - who change what the game is about and determine what happens. It is the person playing who determines what the game contains." Jane Pinckard has a quick reaction to his post. More commentary on this subject is available via John Davison's Blog, who met Brown at a taping of a news program which was ostensibly to be about gaming in general. Instead he was ambushed about violence in games and ended up walking out.

1up.com's Crucial Classics series has a feature up discussing the little people inside your games. From the article: "...someone realize[d] that it was a niche to be exploited by computers, which up to that point weren't particularly cuddly. To be fair, neither were Little Computer People, confined as they were behind the fourth wall of a monitor. Which was probably for their own safety, as they were just the sort of creatures that might die a horrible smothery death in the arms of a little girl."

1up.com has a well thought out look at the Uneasy Relationship between Gender and Gaming. No girl power, no PSP lickers. From the article: "Leisure and entertainment have evolved alongside humans. Even in more primitive times, life couldn't be all about clubbing saber-toothed tigers. And while men and women usually enjoy the same forms of entertainment, it doesn't mean they always enjoy the same kinds of entertainment."

1up.com has a look at the history of drugs in games, from the pellet-popping days of Pac-Man to the industrious sales efforts of the GTA games. From the article: "As games drew a wider audience, not to mention a wider variety of creative talents (some pretty weird stuff reportedly went on at the Atari offices in an evening), they necessarily drew on a wider spectrum of influences and inspirations...some of them chemical in nature. There have been games that were probably made on drugs -- Rez springs to mind, or the Virtual Light Machine -- and even reviewed on drugs, when A.C. Styles dosed the office coffee pot at Die Hard Game Fan."

1up.com has a piece up examining the reasons and rationale behind the online gaming cheater. From personal pride to pure cynicism, the realm of the cheater has many ways in. From the article: "Using grenades and jumping on friends' shoulders can help you get ridiculously high and reach far-off boundaries in Halo 2. Players like Joe32 call it creative thinking. Victims of sniper fire that seems to come from another world call it cheating."

Sony has ordered its suppliers to produce fewer units of the PSP handheld, 1up reports. From the article: "While meeting with suppliers, Sony reportedly plans to manufacture only 12 million units, reports Next Generation from Japan's Nikkei BP. Previously, suppliers had expected orders in excess of 18 million units for the portable hardware. No reasons were cited in the original article, and representatives for Sony Computer Entertainment America were not available for comment." Meanwhile, GameIndustry.biz is reporting that the company is unrepentant about the PSP's launch delay and the consistent PS2 shortages. From the article: "...despite the constant criticism of the company, which will launch PSP in Europe in September nine months after the Japanese launch, in fact, 'we like this - we don't want to go first.'"

eXxy writes "1UP.com talked to SOE about the Matrix Online announcement, and came away with some info that wasn't in the public PR. SOE is picking up many former MxO employees and offering jobs at their Seattle office, the DC Comics game is PSP/PS3/PC and should be cross-compatible between all three platforms, stuff like that."

eXxy writes "1UP.com talked to SOE about the Matrix Online announcement, and came away with some info that wasn't in the public PR. SOE is picking up many former MxO employees and offering jobs at their Seattle office, the DC Comics game is PSP/PS3/PC and should be cross-compatible between all three platforms, stuff like that."

An anonymous reader writes "1UP.com has posted a fantastic piece on the Tomb Raider series that examines how the franchise has been tarnished over the past few years -- and questions whether Lara can still win back the hearts of gamers. What's especially amusing is the inclusion of GameRankings scores, demonstrating the series' consistent drop in quality (Tomb Raider 1 averaged an 89%, while the latest installment, Angel of Darkness, came in at 54%.)."

1up.com has a great feature up detailing the exploits of a young woman they sent in to various game stores under the cover of a clueless girlfriend. The results are both informative and hilarious. From the article: "Spy: When are the new systems coming out? Clerk: Sony just came out with a new version of the PlayStation. It's smaller, more compact, that's about it. Xbox--they haven't mentioned anything about something new coming out."

1up.com has a feature up including side-by-side interviews with Anti-Gaming Muckraker Jack Thompson and Prof. Henry Jenkins. The site manages to ask both proponents some tough questions, and they get some realistic answers in response. From the article's Jenkins interview: "Education is the key, not legislation. If you heavily regulate the industry it will narrow what games are in the market, and retailers will only carry content that is suitable for the youngest of players. Retailers won't carry a Mature-rated game if you move to an enforceable system. We saw this with the comic industry in the '50s. The other way to approach this problem is to put the burden on the consumer. We have to educate."

1up.com is reporting that Rogue Leader and Rogue Squadron developer Factor 5 has signed an exclusivity deal with Sony and the PlayStation 3 console. From the article: "Factor 5 has already played with Microsoft's Xbox 360, but said the PlayStation 3's 3.2GHz Cell chip offered more processing power over the other hardware options. The added power, allowing for a more realistic gaming experience, fueled the company's decision. Factor 5 made no comment on Nintendo's Revolution in the story."

Last week was so interesting I caught the plague and died for two days. Now that I've gotten a rez and E3 has wrapped up, a look back is in order. Ferrago takes a look at E3 no-shows, like STALKER, while GamesIndustry.biz has a look at statistics. The big three PR conferences were some of the highlights of the Expo, and Gamespot tells us who 'won'. The best way to get a feel for what happened last week, though, is to get it firsthand. The Casual Gamer Experiment is over, with his impressions now available. Personal accounts are available at Press the Buttons, GamersInfo.net, CliffyB.com, Grimwell.com, John Davison's Blog, and Jeremy Parish's Blog. Was there any firsthand E3 coverage that you particularly liked this year? What did you think of G4's live broadcasting, if you caught it? Update: 05/23 18:56 GMT by Z : Obligitory PA link. From the post: "I don't believe there is any such thing as a 'Playstation 3' yet, and I don't believe in the Killzone video. What I do believe is that Sony harnessed the media and then rode it from place to place, one hand on the bridle while the other waved madly in the air."

Last week was so interesting I caught the plague and died for two days. Now that I've gotten a rez and E3 has wrapped up, a look back is in order. Ferrago takes a look at E3 no-shows, like STALKER, while GamesIndustry.biz has a look at statistics. The big three PR conferences were some of the highlights of the Expo, and Gamespot tells us who 'won'. The best way to get a feel for what happened last week, though, is to get it firsthand. The Casual Gamer Experiment is over, with his impressions now available. Personal accounts are available at Press the Buttons, GamersInfo.net, CliffyB.com, Grimwell.com, John Davison's Blog, and Jeremy Parish's Blog. Was there any firsthand E3 coverage that you particularly liked this year? What did you think of G4's live broadcasting, if you caught it? Update: 05/23 18:56 GMT by Z : Obligitory PA link. From the post: "I don't believe there is any such thing as a 'Playstation 3' yet, and I don't believe in the Killzone video. What I do believe is that Sony harnessed the media and then rode it from place to place, one hand on the bridle while the other waved madly in the air."

Hellgate: London and The Elder Scrolls IV are two hotly anticipated roleplaying titles coming at us in the upcoming year. Hands-On examinations of Hellgate are available at Gamespot, 1up.com and IGN. The Elder Scrolls is examined at Gamespot and IGN. From the 1up article: "'Since we're building an RPG, even though it's primarily played from the first-person perspective, we don't want it to be a twitch-fest,' he says. 'We're doing things that have soft-targeting, or area effects, or auto-locking, to make it where your success in the game isn't determined on your physical reflexes, or the dexterity of a fourteen year old. It's all about building up a character: your level, your stats, your skills, your equipment, your items -- it's the classic RPG in that sense.'"

The Xbox 360 title that everyone seems to be excited about is the first person shooter Gears of War. Hands-On impressions are available from 1up.com, Gamespy, Gamespot, and IGN. From the IGN article: "Sera is gripped in darkness. The Locusts are most at home in the shadows, so expect the worst moments to occur when the lights go off. Gears of War can best be described as a mix between a third-person tactical shooter and a survival horror game. This is pop-and-shoot gaming, not the run-and-gun style of Halo 2. Oh, and it's f---ing awesome."

The Ico sequel Shadow of the Colossus has been showing its stuff on the expo floor since the doors opened on Wednesday. IGN, Gamespot, and Gamespy have looks at the upcoming title. From the Gamespy article: "Following the light from your sword will allow you to locate a colossus, but that doesn't mean your approach will be without difficulty. While Ico was focused on a castle, Shadow is focused on the wider world and its natural features." Update: 05/19 23:40 GMT by Z : 1up.com has a look at the game as well.

The first day of the E3 show is netting hands-on impressions of some of the most anticipated games of the upcoming year. 1up.com is offering up impressions for the New Super Mario Bros. title for the DS, and We Love Katamari for the PS2. Gamespot has a hands on with the upcoming Firaxis/2K title Civilization IV. Feel the Sid Meier love. From the article: "Civ 4 will finally update the series to a 3D engine. Firaxis is using an updated version of the Gamebryo engine that was used in last year's Sid Meier's Pirates. And yes, the early screens looked a bit muddled, but the game looks a lot cleaner and more beautiful now and in person. You can zoom out and see the entire world (presented as a rotating globe) and see continents, mountain ranges, and forests."

The first day of the E3 show is netting hands-on impressions of some of the most anticipated games of the upcoming year. 1up.com is offering up impressions for the New Super Mario Bros. title for the DS, and We Love Katamari for the PS2. Gamespot has a hands on with the upcoming Firaxis/2K title Civilization IV. Feel the Sid Meier love. From the article: "Civ 4 will finally update the series to a 3D engine. Firaxis is using an updated version of the Gamebryo engine that was used in last year's Sid Meier's Pirates. And yes, the early screens looked a bit muddled, but the game looks a lot cleaner and more beautiful now and in person. You can zoom out and see the entire world (presented as a rotating globe) and see continents, mountain ranges, and forests."

Yesterday's Nintendo press conference was probably the most subdued and honest of the three major events this week. While they didn't have anything really earth-shattering to offer up, the Gameboy Micro, the Revolution's game-downloading capabilities, and the new Zelda Trailer were all welcome news from a company that has been very quiet of late. Commentary, photos, and speculation available from: Nintendo, Engadget, USAToday, GamesIndustry.biz, 1up.com, Gamespot, Cube.IGN, NYT, BBC, Gamasutra, and CNN. Specific coverage on the new Gameboy Micro is available from Gamasutra, GamesIndustry.biz, and CNN. My two cents about Nintendo's conference are available below. Last night I took in G4's E3 coverage, and their discussion of the Nintendo press conference struck a chord with me. This last console cycle, with the Gamecube, Nintendo really missed the boat. The GC wasn't released until many months after the PS2 was already in homes lighting up screens, and their attempts to carve out a market share were always muddled by confusing choices. The most confusing choice of the current generation, by far, was their almost complete refusal to participate in online gaming. While the Xbox sailed by with the Live service and the PS2 limped into the arena with the broadband adapter, the GC quietly sailed on with only Phantasy Star to break up its lonely voyage. At last year's E3 Nintendo very specifically said that they were not going to miss the boat this time. They were going to release the next console right around the same time as the other two companies and make sure their name was out there.

I have high hopes for the Revolution, but to be honest Nintendo's press conference was very underwhelming. Even given that the PS3 isn't going to be on store shelves for another year, what Sony showed on Monday was literally jaw-dropping. Even if there was some liberal use of pre-rendered footage in the presentation, the press conference put on by Sony was designed to fire the imagination and get people excited about the possibilities of the next generation. Nintendo offered us Nintendogs. And a new Game Boy Advanced. Yes, I think that downloading old games onto your Revolution is a cool idea, but a...uh...friend of mine tells me that I can emulate those games on my PC for free.

Perhaps all this is just worrywortism. Nintendo has never failed to be innovative in the past, and their support of the DS and quirky games like Warioware is proof that not everything has to be same-old same-old in this ever more business-like industry. They have more than a year to get their ducks in a row, but I'm afraid that Sony and Microsoft may have already beaten them to the punch. In the end, it's not just about making fun games. You have to sell them too.

The PlayStation 3 was unveiled yesterday afternoon in a press conference at Sony Pictures Studio. The event was full of beautiful demonstrations, specifications, and talk of the games of tomorrow. The machine is certainly impressive, with backwards compatibility, support for up to seven Bluetooth controllers, multiple HD signals, and intimate interactions with the PSP. Coverage, screenshots, and specs available from 1up.com, Gamespot, Joystiq, NYT, Voodoo Extreme, Gamespy, BBC, GamesIndustry.biz, Engadget, Anandtech, Kotaku, Gamasutra, and CNN Money. The only downside I see so far? The controller. Update: 05/18 21:35 GMT by Z : Gamespot has up a comprehensive look at the console based on what is known so far.

The ever-vigilent 1up.com has a heads up on the upcoming Xbox title Ninja Gaiden Black. A revamp of the the highly acclaimed restoration of the old skool series, Ninja Gaiden Black rehashes the 2004 release with new difficulty settings (both easier and much harder), mission modes, new bosses, new cutscenes, and more content all around. From the article: "A promise to provide the thrills of the Hurricane Packs to those without Xbox LIVE. The people who played the Hurricane Packs account for just 10 percent of the total of people who bought Ninja Gaiden. I wanted to provide follow-up support for the remaining 90 percent if I could. I've said from the beginning that I don't consider the Hurricane Packs to just be a service for the fans, but rather an investment towards the next level of progress. Now that has become a reality and Ninja Gaiden Black is the result of this."

You may or may not have caught the Xbox 360 unveiling on MTV Thursday night, but the internet will provide. A plethora of sites have photos, videos, commentary, specifications, and interviews about the new system. Your fellow readers have pulled together to provide links to: 1up.com, Joystiq, Gamespot, The BBC, CNN, NYT, Gamespy, Team Xbox, Voodoo Extreme, Anandtech, and eToyChest. The official Xbox 360 site opened last night as well for word straight from the source. For more official images Ourcolony.net has been 'solved', and now features an OurColony specific video preview. Finally, for commentary on the event, the Video Game Ombudsman provides an alternative to the press releases. From the post: "Kyle Orland (9:28:42 PM): The future of gaming is a girl in a blue dress? Dan Dormer (9:28:47 PM): The future of gaming is a girl with a bag? Kyle Orland (9:28:57 PM): She's the Xbox! OMG!"

Neitokun writes "1up.com is reporting that there is going to be a Sequel to Gunstar Heros for the Gameboy Advance. Called Gunstar Super Heros, game appears close to the action-y style of the original. The production company, Treasure, appears to be concerned more about quality than just making a sale-worthy game. From the article: 'We're not going to make a sequel just because it would sell. That would be a disaster.'"

1up.com is doing a comprehensive run-down of Star Wars video gaming. From the reprehensible Masters of Teras Kasi fighting game to the sublime story of the original Knights of the Old Republic, they have it all. From the article: "Whatever the case, nothing puts us quite in the mood for a pre-movie celebration like diving in and playing some good Star Wars videogames. With roughly 80 such games having come and gone over the past 20-some years, we figured now would be the perfect time to single out the best and worst that this beloved franchise has to offer."