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GameGossip has word that an Animaniacs video game entitled "The Great Edgar Hunt" is currently in the works. The game is being done by the in-house Warner Bros. developers. From the article: "The game is a third-person action title developed by Warthog, and puts players to the task of guiding characters Wakko, Yakko and Dot throughout six levels while trying to find the Edgar trophies; each making use of their own moves. The game will also include five "Pinky & The Brain" mini-games."

Gamegossip has the word that IDW Publishing, the same folks who do the Silent Hill and Metal Gear comics, will be releasing a Castlevania comic book in March. The comic is to be entitled Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy 01. From the article: "It is 1576, and the legend of the Belmont family's vampire-hunting prowess still echoes through the Romanian countryside. While Christopher Belmont celebrates his nuptials, dark forces conspire to raise Count Dracula from his unholy slumber. With this ancient evil unleashed once more, young Belmont must to prove he is worthy of the Belmont legacy."

A story we have reported on frequently in the last few months comes to an end as Digital Illusions accepts EA's bid for buyout. From the article at GameGossip: "Corresponding to 32.0% of outstanding capital and votes, in addition to a further acquisition of 898,264 shares and the 18.9% already held by the company, Electronic Arts now holds a total of 6,044,720 shares, a controlling interest representing 59.8% of the outstanding capital and votes in DICE."

Thanks (I guess) to GameGossip for the news that SanrioWave Software is planning a Hello Kitty Massively Multiplayer Game. From the article: "The game will give players access to up to three characters, each customizable, and will include 15 different occupations, and five shops in which players can make in-game progress. Hello Kitty Online World will carry an subscription fee of sorts when launched throughout Asia later this year." The official game site is also available for perusal.

Thanks to GameGossip for the news that the Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed expansion has been confirmed for an October 27th release. The expansion adds space combat, two new player races, and a bunch of new emotes.

Thanks to GameGossip for the news that Lionhead studios has obtained investments from several firms. These funds were obtained to fund future games. The studio currently has four titles in the pipe, with two of them due to be released next year.

Thanks to GameGossip for its story discussing Korea-originating MMO firm NCSoft's financial results for the first half of 2004. Along with an "operating profit [of] $23 million", specific sales/subscription numbers were announced, a rarity in the MMO world, as the company "reported that Lineage II and City Of Heroes are both doing well, with sales as of the end of June at 86,000 units (Lineage II) and 190,000 units (City Of Heroes) respectively. Meanwhile, as far as active players are concerned, NCsoft reported that Lineage II and [the soon to be cape-friendly] City Of Heroes have 76,000 and 170,000 active players respectively." However, delays to NCSoft's forthcoming titles were also announced, since "Guild Wars has been pushed from Q4 2004 to the first-half of 2005. Meanwhile, [recently re-organized Richard Garriott title] Tabula Rasa has fallen back from Q4 2004 to the second-half of 2005."

Thanks to GameGossip for its round-up of Take Two/Rockstar Games' recently announced financial results, as the publisher reported "net loss for the quarter [of] $14.6 million", but made significant announcements in the statement including "letter of intent entered into between Take-Two and Sega Corporation to co-publish and exclusively distribute on a worldwide basis Sega's ESPN Videogames." Elsewhere, it was noted that "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the PlayStation 2 has sold approximately 300,000 copies as of the week ending May 30, 2004, making it one of the most successful debuts of a Western video game in Japan", and some less well-known forthcoming titles from various Take Two divisions include "Spy vs. Spy for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox [and] Ford Mustang: 40th Anniversary Edition for the PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox."

sdw3u writes "Falling sales of PlayStations contribute to a 23% drop in profits at the Japanese tech giant, while rival firms see profits surge." Perhaps it may be time for Sony to lower prices again, which has helped fuel another console's sales. They've also reported a 40% drop in game sales to accompany the drop in console sales. According to the article, they don't see things changing for the better anytime soon, though, and are now focusing on development of their PSP handheld system. Update: 04/27 16:08 GMT by S : A GameGossip news story has more info from Sony's conference call, noting "Sony cited expected lowered production shipments for both PlayStation 2 (from 20 million to 14 million) and PSOne (from 3 million to 1 million)... total software shipments this year (including PS2 and PSOne together) were at 254 million, ahead of its 250 million estimates."

Thanks to IGN Xbox for its coverage of an interview with Japanese Xbox boss Yoshihiro Maruyama, in which he discusses the release timing of the next-gen consoles, suggesting: "If asked if the [Xbox sequel's] release will happen next year, I'd say that no, it won't be next year", and predicting: "We foresee the next generation PS2 hardware arriving some time after 2006." He also mentions that a smaller-sized console is "something that we'd like to do" for the Xbox's sequel, which GameGossip are claiming may be called the 'Xenon', according to a job posting on Microsoft's website. Elsewhere, Microsoft's Robbie Bach has been discussing the evolution of Xbox Live at CES, mentioning, via GameSpot, that "...he wants to turn Xbox Live, the trash-talking meeting ground of testosterone jazzed gamers, into a kinder, gentler realm reminiscent of Microsoft's other online playground, the Zone.com." Finally, GameInformer provides clarification that the previously mentioned Xbox Media Center Extender Kit "will not recognize media on PC's not running Windows XP Media Center Edition" - it appears upgrading your PC to this edition may be tricky/impossible for some.

Torill writes "Gonzalo Frasca has some thoughts on Grand Theft Auto in the new issue of Game Studies. He particularly notes: 'When designers create a simulation that encourages experimentation, they are taking a huge authorial risk: trusting their players'. He also weighs in on the controversy over GTA's content, arguing, devil's advocate style, that the Bible, Mein Kampf and Das Kapital have caused millions of deaths, while it is still hard to prove that computer games really have caused deaths at all: 'Do the math. There is actually proof that books are extremely dangerous. They should be considered weapons of mass destruction. If you are really concerned about media effects, forget videogames: you should start burning libraries right now'." Coincidentally, the name of the article ties in with the alleged name of the GTA sequel, again claimed to be 'Grand Theft Auto IV: Sin City', even after (coincidental?) April Fool's jokes and other confusion.

Thanks to GameGossip for reprinting the press release announcing the release of Datel's unofficial Junk TV software for PlayStation 2, which allows UK-based users with a PS2, broadband connection, and the already million-selling USB Eye Toy peripheral to "record great video messages and share them with your friends over the internet. Store your video clips on Datel's Max TV server, and download messages recorded by others." The PS2 disc, which, interestingly, hasn't passed Sony approval, promises you can "record messages of up to a minute in length", and then "browse the uploaded clips by type, looking for soap-box rants, karaoke performances, games tips and more", although it's unclear whether messages will be vetted before being made public. Update: 12/15 23:11 GMT by S : The Junk TV site is now online, and reveals there's a U.S. version of the software called Max TV.

Thanks to GameGossip for reprinting a press release announcing Radica's forthcoming portable electronic game called 20Q, licensed from the 20Q.net website. The game seeks to guess an object you're thinking of by asking you 20 questions, starting with "Is it classified as Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Other or Unknown?" The site is billed as "The neural-net on the Internet", and since it's claimed that "20Q.net is a learning system; the more it is played, the smarter it gets", it'll be interesting to see if Radica's portable version tries to incorporate any learning attributes.

Thanks to GameGossip for their coverage of a Take Two financial conference presentation in which the company revealed details on its software sales and plans. The company's Rockstar Games subsidiary has now, astoundingly, sold "over 25 million units" of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, and "over 20 million" of those were from GTA3 and Vice City alone. Looking forward, the company's financial officers mentioned the November 19th release of GTA developer Rockstar North's gory Manhunt as a highlight, and also noted that "mid-2004 would see the release of The Warriors from Rockstar", as based on Walter Hill's cult gang movie. Finally, the next iteration of Grand Theft Auto, name as yet unknown, "will ship during late 2004."

Scorpion_1169 writes "According to Bungie.org, Microsoft/Gearbox's long-awaited version of Halo for the PC has gone gold, and is scheduled to hit store shelves on September 30th." There's also an interview with Bungie producer Michel Bastien over at Bungie.net, answering questions such as who might have leaked a Beta version of Halo online ("Nah, we don't know who it was. It really sucks because this build was not the most glorious build we've put together"), and the existence of easter eggs ("Like the Xbox game, you want to play through 'The Maw' on Legendary. We've got a couple of well-kept surprises, which, hopefully, we can roll out in the future...")

Thanks to IGN Cube for their new interview with Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack about Metal Gear Solid:The Twin Snakes, as he talks about this Winter 2003-due GameCube 'enhanced port' of the original MGS, including overall changes ("...one of the biggest enhancements is the ability to do all of the things you could do in Metal Gear Solid 2 in the Metal Gear Solid 1 world... there are all sorts of different [new] ways to finish a level"), AI upgrades ("...totally ramped up. I think it's safe to say that if you look at the AI from MGS2 then we're at [MGS] 2 and a half now"), and the Metal Gear Solid 2/VR Missions bonus rumors ("There will be extras, but there won't be another game in there.")

Thanks to GameSpy for posting a developer diary for XIII, the multi-platform, cel-shaded FPS from UbiSoft that's now due to ship on the 9th October. The executive producer on this Unreal-engine title talks about some of the stylistic innovations, such as "pop-up windows to show major actions or headshots", and "onomatopoeias... to help [the player] like a form of sixth sense", Batman TV show-style. GameSpot also has some recent, guarded impressions of the title, which is "based on an immensely popular [French] graphic novel series", and features an intriguing soundtrack from San Francisco turntablists Future Primitive Sound.

Pezman writes "Sam 'Freejack' Brown, formerly of Legend Entertainment, has released the 3rd installment of his article series discussing 'Game Developer Myths'." This opinion piece deals with "...this consistent belief that developers intentionally lie about a title's features in order to generate sales and interest", and points out that "developers don't generally like... early marketing, and the reasons should be fairly obvious - gamers tend to hold developers to every feature they promise."