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The launch of the newest version of Nintendo's DS handheld has seen hundreds of Japanese gamers line up for the privilege of owning one. From the IGN article: "With such an early sellout, it should come as no surprise that retailers had to turn people away. IGN noticed a steady stream of people arriving at shops, seeing the line, confirming that the DS was indeed impossible to get, then leaving. Some got in line anyway, perhaps in the hope that a few extra units would be available at the end." Update: 03/02 15:46 GMT by Z : Gamasutra spells out that the DS Lite has sold out after only a short time on the Japanese market.

Gamasutra has a report on the state of game addiction science. From the article: "Yes, South Korean and American gamers have died from exhaustion. Yes, this makes bored journalists and unpopular politicians very happy. China has already thrown a fair bit of legislation at video games, whether or not games are the problem. On the other hand, such legislation might fail to address the real problem. In this article I explain addiction simply. Then, I talk about research that attempts to connect addiction to gaming, and some clear problems in that research. One caveat: this article is not going to make anyone into a trained clinician."

Gamasutra reports on elements of the Microsoft project code-named Origami, which has been revealed through some snooping to be a tablet PC. The device is shown playing Halo indicating there is likely to be some gaming aspect to the product. From the article: "Previous to the appearance of the DigitalKitchen video, Bill Gates had discussed a mobile PC concept at a conference in Seattle last year, where a non-working device called the Ultra Mobile 2007 was shown. At the time, Gates indicated that the device should have an 'all-day' battery life, weigh less than a pound and cost between $500 and $800. Microsoft has indicated it will unveil more details of the Origami Project 'in the coming weeks'."

Gamasutra reports on Sony's flat denial of a second God of War title. Likewise, they say a Gran Turismo 4 Online Edition is not likely. Indeed. From the article: "...Sony spokesperson Ryan Bowling has confirmed to Gamasutra that the reports, which place God Of War 2 on the PlayStation 2 in February 2006, and Gran Turismo 4 Online Edition in the second quarter of this year, including six-player online gameplay, are definitively not true. He did, however, note that Eurogamer's news mentioning the PSP incarnation of Killzone, Sony's first-person shooter franchise, was correct in as much as this title had been officially announced by the company."

Atari and other game publishers have come to a settlement with American Video Graphics, a company which claims a patent on (essentially) an in-game camera POV. Atari agreed to pay the company $300,000 for 'irrevocable' rights to the company's patents. From the article: "In a recent IGDA column on the subject, lawyer Jim Charne commented on the danger of this exceptionally wide-ranging patent, noting that: 'Several of these defendants have joined together to mount a common (and very costly) defense', and further commenting: 'The '690 patent litigation is an attack on the industry as a whole. It is indeed something for developers to worry about.'" The other companies mentioned, apparently, came to similar settlements. It's frustrating to me that these companies chose to buy off a pointless suit like this, rather than see the patent nullified.

Gamasutra has a 'Soap Box' editorial up discussing the bad lessons World of Warcraft teaches. From the article: "1. Investing a lot of time in something is worth more than actual skill. If you invest more time than someone else, you "deserve" rewards. People who invest less time "do not deserve" rewards. This is an absurd lesson that has no connection to anything I do in the real world. The user interface artist we have at work can create 10 times more value than an artist of average skill, even if the lesser artist works way, way more hours. The same is true of our star programmer. The very idea that time > skill is alien."

The year is finally picking up some steam, with new game announcements, ship dates confirmed, and delays expected. Besides the already announced Zelda delay, Nintendo actually has good news to offer. New Super Mario Bros. is slated for a May 7th release here in the states. Fallout 3 will not be at E3 this year, despite the highly anticipated nature of the game. Oblivion, Bethesda's upcoming RPG, doesn't quite have a release date yet. It should be coming out 'soon', though. NCSoft is apparently working on a dungeon crawler themselves, with the City of Heroes publisher announcing Dungeon Runners at the Taipei game show. For those of you who (like me) loved the title, there are sequels to F.E.A.R. on the way. They won't be carrying the stupid name, thankfully. There will also be a sequel to God of War, slated for release next February. Finally, for classic gaming fans, the GameTap service will be offering the Ultima series of games for play in the near future, probably around the same time that Street Fighter 2 will be on the Xbox 360 Arcade. Looks like we've got a 2006 worth looking forward to. Update: 02/22 20:18 GMT by Z : Changed the God of War information link to Gamasutra; Eurogamer pulled the info after legal threats from Sony.

Gamasutra is reporting on a first: a paid lobbyist for the games industry. The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association has hired Stuart Spencer to represent the industry's interests in Washington. From the article: "Spencer's experience as a lobbyist comes from his founding role in the Stanton Park Group, where he also served as principal and general counsel. While at Stanton Park, Spencer represented several technology and health care clients. Prior to that, Spencer was a staffer for Rep. Louise Slaughter from 1996 to 2003, where he eventually became the House member's chief of staff."

Gamasutra has a piece on the development of the visual look of Star Trek Online. From the article: "We set out to reproduce the interior of a starship from the television show, so we began by examining shots of the sets. Looking over the images, we made a few observations. There are many light sources. The lighting is diffuse. Shadows are soft. There are several types of material with different reflectivity and specularity. These were the features we wanted to reproduce in game. We thought they were the key to the look."

Gamaustra reports that Sony may be planning to use game downloads to deter piracy in Asia. From the article: "According to the article, Yasuda is quoted as saying that the 2006 plan of SCE Asia is to construct a PlayStation 3 infrastructure on which software makers can distribute software digitally ... selected developers will get prototype funding from KIPA, and additional post-prototype funding from SCEJ, as well as free technical support and PlayStation 3 development kit rentals. Further online reports have indicated that digital downloads of game material, as currently available for the Xbox 360, should be relatively simple with the PlayStation 3, though details of the PS3's online service are still closely veiled." Kotaku, meanwhile, reports that some Korean developers don't like this idea.

Gamasutra has a talk with Jani Karlsson, senior manager for the N-Gage at Nokia. He talks about how Nokia sees the N-Gage, and what they plan to do with the little engine that could've in the near future. Sort of. Kinda. From the article: "GS: So the new handsets which are coming out with the N-Gage technology inside. What's the visibility of the brand of N-Gage within those? JK: I really can't comment on that because I'd be stepping on other peoples turf. Every single product that Nokia has a strong individual marketing message to it. The power to decide the visibility or non-visibility of any brand, external or internal, is really down to individual brand departments. GS: So... you can talk about the future of N-Gage? JK: Sure - that's all about expansion, into the smartphone areas."

Gamasutra reports that Dave Perry, the founder of Shiny Entertainment, quit his role with the company to aid its sale from floundering Atari. From the article: "Shiny Entertainment was founded in 1993 by Dave Perry, and produced the hit Earthworm Jim series, as well as the financially successful Enter The Matrix. It is also noted for more esoteric titles such as MDK, Messiah and Sacrifice. The studio was sold to French publisher Infogrames by Interplay in 2002 for an estimated $47 million, before the company bought the rights to the Atari name and logo." Sacrifice was a unique and under-rated strategy title. It was flawed, to be sure, but the immediacy of summoning your troops in the field was a lot of fun.

Gamasutra reports that Valve and IGA have settled their legal issues in the wake of the Subway advertising issue. From the article: "The joint statement explains 'an amicable resolution of differences regarding in-game advertising in Counter-Strike', which 'also absolves IGA's advertisers and IGA's advertising agencies from any liability', but does not specifically mention whether IGA will be permitted to run similar campaigns in the future."

China has increased restrictions on internet game cafes. They've clamped down on anti-government slogans or displays and are now barring teenagers from them completely. Gamasutra reports: "'With the development of the Internet, there has been some harmful and illegal content,' said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao. 'The Chinese government has adopted some management measures so as to limit the immoral and harmful content, especially for young people.' Chinese regulation of Internet content has become controversial in recent weeks due to popular search engine Google's acquiescence to Chinese censorship of its results in exchange for official license to operate in the country."

Gamasutra reports that Cedega 1.5 has been released for Linux gamers looking for a Civ IV fix. From the release: "TransGaming Technologies has released Cedega 5.1, which features support for some of the newest PC titles such as Sid Meier's Civilization IV, FIFA 06 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Cedega allows games originally created for the Windows platform to run on Linux, straight out of the box. Other titles supported on Cedega 5.1 include Battlefield 2, Dungeon Siege II, City of Villains, Madden NFL 2006, World of WarCraft, Half-Life 2, Guild Wars, and many others. Cedega 5.1 builds on this growing list of game titles with new features that improve overall game play."

Last week's Gamasutra question of the week dealt with the possibility of new genres for Nintendo's Revolution system. Some interesting answers from the industry, as always. From the article: "I would say the interesting part is not what new genres will come about, but how most existing genres will be transformed by this. For example, fighting games will no longer have to be about special moves and combos when you can simply put one controller in each hand and start punching and blocking like in real life (maybe strap one on a leg to kick). "

dxprog writes "Opera has announced that they and Nintendo are going in together to create a web browser for the DS. The browser, based on Opera's core engine, will take advantage of the system's two screens and the touchscreen to provide on-the-go portable internet access. From the article: 'Within just five seconds of turning on the system, the Nintendo DS is already fully operational. This makes it the ideal device to enable people to swiftly obtain the latest information from the internet, wherever they are.'" Update: 02/15 15:50 GMT by Z : More information about the browser and game announcements available from Gamasutra, and Iwata's aim that they'll hit 10 Million DS units sold is reported on the Next Generation site.

Gamasutra has a great piece with the highlights of a Q&A held with the creators of Shadows of the Colossus. The piece offers insight into the games's creation and design from Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido. From the article: "Speaking about the industry in general, Ueda lamented, 'If you look right now the industry, it's full of sequels. Which is fine, I play a lot of sequels, because they're fun, but I don't think we can leave it like that. If that's all there is, I'm afraid the market will start to diminish. We need new games that we can challenge ourselves to.' As far as recent examples of game designs Ueda has enjoyed, he had a few kind words for Valve's Half-Life 2. 'It's a such a natural setting, and the puzzles are incorporated in that natural setting, and the players don't get lost. And that's something we put a lot of effort into for Ico, so I understand what went into that.'"

Distressing news from the games industry job market continues to surface, as Activision lays off about 7% of its workforce, or 150 people. From the Gamasutra report: "The cuts are said to be across the board, with no specific developer or publishing unit announced as being affected more than another, with spokesman Ashley Dyer commenting that the layoffs were part of an effort to 'realign' the company's operations for the next two years."

Gamasutra has a bevy of information about the XBox 360. Sales seem to be slowing, just as supply issues seem to be resolving. Microsoft has a target for its annoyance regarding those issues. An analyst is blaming German chip manufacturer Infineon Technologies for the slow arrival of 360 units to market. Regardless of past problems, the company is going full speed ahead with more launches. Latin America saw launch on February 2nd, and "The system will launch in Korea on February 24, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore on March 16, Australia and New Zealand on March 23, with a global presence in 30 countries by the end of March."

Gamasutra has a bevy of information about the XBox 360. Sales seem to be slowing, just as supply issues seem to be resolving. Microsoft has a target for its annoyance regarding those issues. An analyst is blaming German chip manufacturer Infineon Technologies for the slow arrival of 360 units to market. Regardless of past problems, the company is going full speed ahead with more launches. Latin America saw launch on February 2nd, and "The system will launch in Korea on February 24, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore on March 16, Australia and New Zealand on March 23, with a global presence in 30 countries by the end of March."

Gamasutra has a bevy of information about the XBox 360. Sales seem to be slowing, just as supply issues seem to be resolving. Microsoft has a target for its annoyance regarding those issues. An analyst is blaming German chip manufacturer Infineon Technologies for the slow arrival of 360 units to market. Regardless of past problems, the company is going full speed ahead with more launches. Latin America saw launch on February 2nd, and "The system will launch in Korea on February 24, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore on March 16, Australia and New Zealand on March 23, with a global presence in 30 countries by the end of March."

Gamasutra continues to expand their coverage of student game design programs, with a postmortem on the student project Insignia. A group of six students spent most of a year working on an RPG/RTS hybrid using the d20 license from Wizards of the Coast. From the entertaining writeup: "The process of pitching our idea was highly informative and gave us an industry perspective, insight and positive feedback from the judges. The pressure of competition also helped really focus the team's efforts rather than the more nebulous approach of most student projects."

Rimbo writes "One popular view of the cellphone gaming industry is that it's the place where they exile people who couldn't cut it in the console and PC game industry. The other popular point of view is that with the huge volume of handsets everywhere, it's a market primed to explode. Today's Hit from the Wireless Pipe takes a look at some little-noticed details of the buyout that suggest that this is not the sign of the market maturing that many want it to be." Relatedly, that buyout was finally approved by the Jamdat Shareholders this past weekend.

Gamasutra reports that Ralph Baer, the man whose work inspired the game Pong, will be honored in a White House ceremony on February 14th. He is to receive the 2004 National Medal of Technology. From the article: "The award, which is America's highest honor for science and technology, goes to those who 'have helped commercialize new technologies, create jobs, improve American productivity, and stimulate the Nation's economic growth and development', and was established by Congress in 1980."

Next Generation has the results from the Interactive Achievement Awards, one of the most respected accolades a game can receive. God of War came away very, very well from the event. If you're interested, you should know that starting in 2007 the AIAS may be televised in a collaboration with Dick Clark Productions. Some of the given awards: "Game of the Year: God of War, PC Game of the Year: Battlefield 2, Console Game of the Year: God of War, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: Guitar Hero, Outstanding Achievement: Animation: God of War, Outstanding Achievement: Art Direction: Shadow of the Colossus, Outstanding Achievement: Soundtrack: Guitar Hero" Just a little more respectable than a SpikeTV award.

An article at Gamasutra pines for MMOG characters to have their own lives. Specifically, the author wishes that over a very long period of time xp would accrue for parked characters. From the article: "Here's what I'd like to see: instead of Vanille Ice and all the millions of unused characters sitting on their collective tookuses, why not imagine that each day they venture forth and do some low-level crime fighting (orc slaying, etc.) just to, you know, 'stay in shape'. Now this workout wouldn't actually happen in any way visible to players logged on, but these characters would earn nominal amounts of experience each day. And in three months time, presto, a new level."

Gamasutra has a great feature up, looking at a day in the life of Tony Basch. Tony is one of the folks currently attending The GuildHall, a directed course in game development at Southern Methodist University. Several big-name talents are associated with the place, and his writeup is an interesting look into one of these very new programs. From the article: "Kyle and I remain in the classroom to work on our individual class assignments. While programmers have their Minesweeper clone, the level designers (or LDs as everyone calls them) have 90 textures to do in seven days on top of their normal reading assignments, daily quizzes, and work from other classes. Personally, I wouldn't be able to survive such an assignment, so I give my respect."

Gamasutra reports that Battlestar Galactica producer Ronald Moore will be keynoting the Vision track at this year's Game Developer Conference. From the article: "'Ronald Moore was presented with the challenge of reinventing a beloved story, which is a challenge often presented to producers of games,' said Jamil Moledina, director, Game Developers Conference. 'His example of creating one of the most brilliant and successful science fiction masterpieces in recent Hollywood history is a perfect inspirational case study to capture the imaginations of the game creation leaders who attend GDC.'"

Gamasutra has a piece looking at the move to unite player and gameworld by removing the HUD from the gameplay space. From the article: "Many elements found on a typical HUD are there not out of necessity, but out of convention; they represent a sort of 'info overkill' that, for the vast majority of players, has no impact on gameplay at all. For every piece of information you offer the player, ask, 'Is this information essential to the game experience?' In doing so, you might find that you don't need to bombard the player with quite as much data as you once thought you did."

Gamasutra reports on PopCap Games' expansion to international markets. From the article: "Based in Dublin, Ireland, the new operations center will serve as a local hub for PopCap's European and Asian business activities, as well as studio facilities for international games and new title development. According the company, the studio has initially launched with around 12 employees. Newly-localized PopCap games for some European markets will be launched this quarter, and international versions of www.popcap.com are expected in the first half the year. "

Gamasutra is running one of their highly enjoyable 'soapbox' pieces, looking at possible ways you could implement a feedback or ranking system for Massively Multiplayer Online Game players. From the article: "When playing an MMORPG, I should be able to give a positive, neutral, or negative rating to anyone who has been in my group for more than thirty minutes. Negative ratings could be characterized via a multiple-choice list of common gripes (i.e. 'loot theft', 'abusive language', etc) -- a feature now built into the Xbox Live feedback system. However, it isn't clear that a good feedback system requires this level of depth; there's an argument to be made for simplifying the process as much as possible."

Gamasutra has the word that Ubisoft will be distributing Capcom's titles for PC audiences. From the article: "The deal covers North American and European territories; no details on which company would distribute the PC games in Japan, if any, were given. The first of the three titles to hit shelves will be Onimusha 3, the oldest of the games, so presumably the deal has been in the works for some time. Still unclear is whether Capcom is porting the games to PC internally, or whether a third party is handling the console-to-PC conversions. Onimusha 3 will be released in both territories in February 2006."

Gamasutra reports on Take-Two Interactive's 10-K filing with the SEC for 2005. A much anticipated document, it lays out information about the ongoing troubles Rockstar's publishing parent has been having. Besides the recent high-profile lawsuits, it gives details on their purchases over the last year. From the article: "It is also revealed that Top Spin developer Indie Built was purchased for $18.5 million in cash. Although not technically part of the company's financial year the cost of Civilization IV developer Firaxis was put at $26.7 million, composed of $12.5 million of restricted common stock and $0.86 million in cash. A significant $11.3 million of the total was in the form of contingent considerations based on future product sales."

Alex Petraglia writes "I'd actually laugh at this if I didn't find it so disturbing. An open letter sent from Alain Tascan, General Manager of EA Montreal, to Joel Tremblay, Ubisoft Montreal, begins as such: 'On behalf of all game makers in Quebec, I urge Ubisoft to stop the illegitimate practice of forcing talented people to sign employment contracts that restrict their creative and economic freedom.' EA came under great scrutiny last year with claims of stifling employee creativity, refusing to pay for overtime, and generally engaging in less-than-savory practices. Additionally, it's widely known that EA currently seeks to gain greater control over Ubi through a hostile takeover."

Gamasutra reports on the update to the Xbox 360's Live element, which fixes a number of bugs and smooths out certain elements of the system. It, allegedly, is also intended to shut out folks trying to hack Microsoft's new console by making the demo disc unusable on retail machines. From the article: "The demo disc in question was produced for Xbox 360 retail demo kiosks, and was found not to contain any copy-protection when hackers obtained their own unauthorized copy of the software in mid-December ... meaning it was possible to run demo versions of the Xbox 360 software on the disc on burned media. Several commenters on website Xbox-Scene seem to confirm that the disc is no longer functional."

Gamasutra reports on a Wheeling Jesuit University study that indicates gameplaying can allow those with great pain to live more fulfilling lives. From the article: "The Wheeling study compared several different genres of games in their effects on pain. Six types of games were used: action, puzzle, arcade, fighting, sports, and boxing, all varieties that encourage high attention and stimulus. (Games such as RPGs and graphical adventures were likely left out of the survey for their low-impact nature.) The game types most effective in distracting from pain, meted out by cold pressor tests after 10 minutes of each subject playing a particular game type, were the sports and fighting games."

Gamasutra reports on Microsoft's announcement that their revenues are up, but the games division has seen a sharp decrease in profitability. From the article: "Microsoft's Home and Entertainment division, which overall includes the Microsoft Xbox video game console system, PC games, the Home Products Division, and TV platform products for the interactive television industry, saw revenue of $1.56 billion in the 3 months to the end of December and a significant loss of $293 million, compared to $1.37 billion revenues and a small profit of $55 million in the same period last year."

Conradq writes "Via Joystiq: 'Nintendo President Satoru Iwata today announced Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer version of the best-selling Nintendo DS. Also featuring brighter screens, Nintendo DS Lite will launch in Japan on the 2nd of March. Nintendo DS Lite will be less than two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter. Nintendo will announce more information about the availability of Nintendo DS Lite in North America and other territories in the future.'" Additional: by Z : Commentary available via Gamasutra, Next Generation, and The Game Chair. A good move, right on the heels of the news that Nintendo's profits more than doubled in Q3 as a result of the DS's sales success, and that they've hit 3 million online connections via their online component. Also, for the record, they snowed us earlier this month.

Conradq writes "Via Joystiq: 'Nintendo President Satoru Iwata today announced Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer version of the best-selling Nintendo DS. Also featuring brighter screens, Nintendo DS Lite will launch in Japan on the 2nd of March. Nintendo DS Lite will be less than two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter. Nintendo will announce more information about the availability of Nintendo DS Lite in North America and other territories in the future.'" Additional: by Z : Commentary available via Gamasutra, Next Generation, and The Game Chair. A good move, right on the heels of the news that Nintendo's profits more than doubled in Q3 as a result of the DS's sales success, and that they've hit 3 million online connections via their online component. Also, for the record, they snowed us earlier this month.

Cryptic Studios' City of Heroes is a success in the world of Massively Multiplayer titles. Not everyone involved with its creation has enjoyed that success, though. Gamasutra has an interview with Rick Dakan, one of the founders of Cryptic Studios. From the article: "It was a fairly complicated situation. We had grown from our original handful to about seventeen at that point, which seems tiny now, but it was overwhelming at the time. I certainly didn't have a lot of management experience, and no one else did either. So we were making good progress, but we were off track in a lot of ways too, just kind of stuck in the mud. So Mike [Lewis] stepped in at that point and started looking at things. There were problems with the CEO position, and with my position. In programming there were three big people who left right in that same week. There was me, who got basically asked to leave, but I asked to become a consultant in the same breath. So I stepped down as a designer, from the sort of working in the office aspect of my job. Our producer got flat-out fired."

Next Generation is running the almost unimaginable news that Infinium Labs has a $5 Million funding commitment from Golden Labs Investors. From the article: "The funding, which comes in the form of a convertible debenture and warrant, and allows for an initial funding payment of $625,000, with an eventual exercising of up to $5M in convertible debt. will allow Infinium to start manufacturing and marketing its PC Lapboard peripheral. The PC peripheral, which is being billed by Infinium as 'the first device to allow gamers to comfortably use a mouse and keyboard from their couch', rotates for left and right-handed users and also inclines on a 90-degree angle, with a hard surface below for the Phantom Mouse."

Gamasutra has an interesting interview with Kristin McDonnell, CEO of LimeLife Inc. The company specifically targets female mobile gamers, and she talks about what steps they're taking to make sure they reach out to a challenging sector of the market. From the article: "But if you look at the female gameplay preferences, they are very consistent across ages. So, women who play games, if they're kids or even in their 40s, they like to have short play sessions, especially in mobile. They like frequent rewards, they like learning modes, they like to be able to interact socially, they like to be able to customize the experience. And so those types of gameplay benchmarks are really consistent across the ages, and it's really kind of the game mechanic that you might put on top of it."

Gamasutra reports that Bethesda Softworks will have the rights to make Star Trek games on all the platforms available. From the article: "The move follows the high profile legal confrontation between previous license holder Activision and Viacom, in which Activision accused Viacom of letting 'the once proud Star Trek franchise stagnate and decay.' The disagreement was apparently brought to an amicable conclusion in March of last year, at which time it was implied that Activision would retain the license until 2009. However, following Bethesda's unveiling of new game Star Trek: Legacy, from Empire Earth II and Star Trek: Armada II developer Mad Doc Software, Bethesda has now confirmed it owns the game license for all television and movie incarnations of the science fiction series."

Despite the wait for big-name game releases, the folks at Microsoft haven't been sitting still now that the 360 is (more or less) on store shelves. IGN reports that plans are still moving forward for more backwards compatible titles, despite rumours to the contrary. No dates or titles to expect were released, though. Additionally, a launch in India is just a matter of time, according to a Gamasutra report. They consider the Indian market very important ... they just don't have a date in mind yet. The 360 is slated to launch in Korea on February 24th, and Australia, Taiwan and Singapore on March 2nd.

After a long and troubled history, the Stargate videogame has finally been canceled by developer Perception. The company itself is in trouble, according to the Gamasutra report. From the article: "According to the same source, the game has now been terminated for all formats and the development team 'let go'. Any decision as to whether to proceed with the game, which had apparently reached the Alpha stage of completion and has built up a sizeable fan community, will now presumably rest at least partially with license holders MGM. No official comment had been received from Perception as of press time."

Last week we discussed Gizmondo's bleak future. Over the weekend, Gamasutra reports, Gizmondo Europe filed for bankruptcy. From the article: "According to an SEC filing in the U.S., the application 'provides Gizmondo Europe with a moratorium in order to affect a financial restructuring of the business.' Gizmondo Europe will have a court hearing on 31 January 2006 to grant the administration order. During the interim period, Gizmondo Europe is immediately subject to protection of the Court and all enforcement actions of creditors are automatically stayed."

Gamasutra has an article looking at what game companies had on show at this year's CES. From the article: "Microsoft's keynote was similarly dry in the games arena, with the only major announcement coming from Microsoft's interactive entertainment vice president Peter Moore revealing that an add-on device capable of playing HD-DVD movies - and only movies, he'd later clarify, not games - will eventually be released for the Xbox 360. HD-DVD is, of course, the only major competitor against Sony's Blu-Ray for the next generation of high-definition media. Moore also revealed new shipping estimates for the Xbox 360, stating that between 4.5 and 5.5 million units will be shipped by the end of June of 2006, aided in no small part by the creation of a third manufacturing plant."

There have been a number of statistic-related announcements in the gaming industry of late. The beginning of the year sees companies trying to start off on the right foot through upbeat marketing. So, with that in mind comes the news that XFire now has 3 Million subscribers, the 1 Millionth DS handheld has sold in Europe, and Microsoft has listed the top 10 Xbox Live Arcade titles. From the Xbox Live article: "Although no exact figures for sales were revealed, the publishing giant has detailed its most popular games on the Arcade service, with Bizarre Creations' Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved leading the pack. The game is an adapted version of the retro styled arcade game that first appeared on the original Xbox, as part of Project Gotham Racing 2. Since the launch of the service in November, Geometry Wars has achieved some 200,000 trial downloads and 45,000 paid downloads, proving exceptionally popular with the online community."

Gamasutra reports that World of Warcraft has hit another milestone in subscribers, with One Million European players and 5.5 Million players worldwide. From the article: "The figure of 1 million customers is more than four times the previously estimated size of the entire European MMORPG market. According to data from Media Control and GFK panels, plus internal studies and account data from Blizzard itself, the company is also claiming that World of WarCraft was the best selling full price PC game in Europe last year." All those players will have a new world event to look forward to at the end of the month, as RPG Vault gives a preview on the Lunar Festival due to be released on January 27th.