Late Night Consoling

Midway had their annual gamers' day in Las Vegas and there's a ton of media available for their wide range of titles. Some sites have condensed their coverage to a single page, so jump to either Game Informer or GameSpot to see impressions, videos, screens, and interviews for games such as LA Rush, NARC, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Unreal Championship 2, Fear and Respect, and Area 51, among others.

Microsoft announced today that it will voluntarily replace the power cords on 14.1 million Xbox consoles worldwide. Around 10,000 Xboxes have experienced electrical component failures with a handful of those causing "minor damage" to the entertainment center or carpet. Visit www.xbox.com to order your replacement cable. If you order within the next ten minutes, they'll double the offer and give you an additional power cable FREE*! *Offer not valid anywhere.

Gaming blog Kotaku claims they have some details on the design of Microsoft's next home console. Their sources say it will be a very sleek, curved unit that can be placed horizontally or vertically, like the PS2. The oddest part will be the ability to customize the unit; consumers can replace removable faceplates with different styles. Their source also said Microsoft is working hard on making it backwards compatible, but haven't yet accomplished the feat.

The European arm of Sony announced today a new racing title for the PSP called Pursuit Force. The game "follows the misadventures of a rookie police officer tracking down five criminal gangs across an entire fictional state in America." There are 30 missions spanned across a huge virtual world of 250 square miles. It's being developed by Bigbig Studios. No US plans have been announced.