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Thanks to Reuters for its story noting that Microsoft's Xbox is "expected to have outsold Sony's PlayStation 2 for the first time on a monthly basis in April" , apparently helped "by a price cut that made the Xbox cheaper than the PS2" - though a PlayStation 2 price cut to $149 is seemingly rumored for announcement at E3. The rise of the Xbox-exclusive title is also noted: "Titles like 'Ninja Gaiden' and 'Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow' rode rave reviews to big sales, both finishing among the top five titles in sales for March, according to the NPD Group." Elsewhere in the same article, Dan Hsu of EGM comments on Xbox 2's possible showing at E3, commenting: "I think it'd be very strange for them to announce anything like that, because it would only hurt this holiday season for them... Even if this thing is not coming out for a year or two years, that still gives the impression that [the Xbox] is outdated technology."

An anonymous reader writes "The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic official forums are buzzing with new details on the Obsidian Entertainment-developed Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords for Xbox/PC, as discussed in this month's new EGM and CGW magazines [not yet available online, sadly]. Apparently, 'you will not play the same character', although 'you pilot the Ebon Hawk.. [and] start out as a Jedi' - the game 'picks up 5 years after the end of the first KOTOR', and returning roles are also confirmed for 'R2-D2-esque droid T3-M4' and 'another bot that bears a suspicious resemblance to the original's irascible 'meatbag'-loathing HK-47'."

Ant writes "A story over at Blue's News reveals that the June 2004 print issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly and Computer Gaming World (on newsstands in late April) will confirm a sequel to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and that the game is, as previously rumored, in development at Obsidian Entertainment, the developer formed by ex-Black Isle boss Fergus Urquhart."

KaiEl writes "I was skimming through the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (April 2004) the other day when I began to notice a recurring theme: pictures of scantily clad women, both virtual and real, kept popping up. Usually it's not surprising to find one or two skimpy outfits in an issue, but this one seemed crawling with them. I decided to chronicle a list of the semi-nudity in a post on my weblog. What does this surplus of sexy pictures say about the direction of the videogame industry? Is it a reaction to the success of 'male' magazines like Maxim and FHM? Is it a reflection of the video game industry's seeming fascination with the barely clothed female form (see: Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball)? Or am I just a prude who's getting worked up over nothing?"

Thanks to 1UP for its coverage of Konami's Gamers' Day, during which U.S. press are being shown new Konami titles, including the newly announced Neo Contra for PlayStation 2, a 3D update of the classic Contra action/shooter series - 1UP/EGM includes a brief interview with the creators. GameSpot is also covering the Gamers' Day, and notes that Konami has officially announced Silent Hill 4: The Room for PS2 and Xbox on their website, and "the game will see players assuming the role of Henry Townsend, who has become trapped in his cursed apartment." 1UP also has new details on Nanobreaker, an sci-fi PS2 action title "that doesn't fall that far from the Castlevania: Lament of Innocence tree" in terms of gameplay, and is, indeed, developed by the Castlevania team, who are also interviewed about the game. Update: 01/10 00:01 GMT by S : The full coverage overviews for 1UP and for GameSpot are being extensively updated as the day progresses, and GameSpy also has a coverage overview page.

Thanks to EGM for their article discussing the latest Electronic Arts games based on the Lord Of The Rings movie franchise. In talking to executive producer Neil Young, previously creator of unconventional online title Majestic, the existing, well-received Return Of The King game is dissected, but there's also information on further LOTR games due in 2004. Young discusses the already unveiled "[PC] RTS game we're developing called The Battles of Middle-Earth, which is being developed by our Los Angeles studio by the team that did Command & Conquer Generals", but also talks about "a new game - currently entitled The Lord of the Rings Trilogy... due out by the end of next year." According to Young, this multi-platform action title strives not to be a sequel too far: "The idea isn't to just take you back through the fiction again, but to give you some other characters who you might not expect to be able to play, and really extend the multiplayer features.. [and] develop the online feature."

Thanks to EGM for their interview with Microsoft's Ed Fries, discussing the state of the Xbox. He talks about the specialization of Microsoft's first-party Xbox publishing efforts, saying: "When we were starting, not only were we learning about how to be a console publisher, but we were also trying to make sure we had games in every genre because we really didn't know what kind of third-party support we were gonna get." Fries also quibbles with Nintendo's lack of voice acting in their games, mentioning: "someone asked [Miyamoto and Iwata] why none of their games had voices. And they talked about cost and the time and trouble to localize it... and I just felt like I was listening to silent-movie directors talking [about how films work fine without sound]", and arguing: "I feel like that's just part of the price of doing business nowadays, and it's something everyone should be doing."

Thanks to EGM for their interview with Nintendo vice-president George Harrison, discussing the current state of the GameCube, as well as plans for the future. Harrison is surprisingly honest, commenting: "I think we've had individual successes with things like Zelda: The Wind Waker and Smash Bros. and others. If there's a shortcoming for us on GameCube, it's not delivering enough consistent breadth and variety of software. That really is the key." He also explains the exact reasoning behind the GameCube's recent price drop: "We see people buying it for $99 as a second system; potentially someone who has owned a PlayStation 2 for three years already and know that they have another two or so years to wait [for the next console hardware generation]."

Thanks to EGM for their feature subjecting today's children to yesterday's gaming classics, as they "...rounded up nine children of the PlayStation generation - ages 10 to 13 - and forced them to play titles from the '70s and '80s." Games the kids comment on include Pong ("I would never pay to play something like this"), Tetris ("Which button do I press to make the blocks explode?"), and, evilly, E.T. for the Atari 2600 ("Didn't they bury this game in Mexico or something?")