Confirming recent analyst expectations, Sony Computer Entertainment America today announced a $20 price drop for the PlayStation 2, bringing the machine's suggested retail price to $129.99. This is the first drop for the system in almost two years; it last changed to $149.99 in May 2004. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft will answer with an Xbox price cut. Xbox sales have dropped off significantly since the launch of Xbox 360, and the platform has seen little support in recent months.

Sony's press release cited NPD sales figures pegging PlayStation 2 as holding 55.6% of the current home console market share in the United States. The company clearly hopes to grow that number by making the system even more attractive to casual gamers and gamers on a tight budget. Still, the move does not seem out of complete necessity; PS2 has shipped 33 million units in the United States and was the highest selling console in March in the United States (followed, somewhat surprisingly, by the Game Boy Advance), which is typical of its place in the hardware charts.

Representatives from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe stated that there are no plans to follow suit with a price cut in European territories.

Japanese publication Famitsu recently revealed the development of Ridge Racer 7 for PlayStation 3. Now, publisher Namco Bandai has announced that the game will be a launch title for Sony's upcoming system, expected to ship this November. Ridge Racer titles are historically known for launching with Sony systems, accompanying the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PSP so far. Interestingly, while the recent Ridge Racer 6 (X360) was among the weakest selling Xbox 360 launch titles in North America, it was the strongest seller for the Japanese market.

Ridge Racer 7's development team will be headed up by Masaya Kobayashi and Hideo Teramoto, both of whom worked on Ridge Racer (PSP) and Ridge Racer 6. The game will feature over 160 races, 200 cars, and will have support for 14-player online racing.

Okay, so it's not called that, but I wish it was. Namco Bandai Games today announced that The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch is in development for PSP. The game is being developed by Nihon Falcom, and is a followup to last year's The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion (PSP). Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch tells the story of friends Jurio and Chris, who must put a stop to the mysterious Raual Wave and find the equally mysterious Moonlight Witch.

The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch will ship this summer.

As you may have noticed, wireless download kiosks for Nintendo DS have been popping up at retailers lately, offering various game demoes rotated periodically. In Japan, however, Nintendo has added more than just demos. The company holds an annual 10 month Game Seminar, a training course allowing young aspiring game developers to complete their own game project. This year, four of the top games resulting from Game Seminar will be included into the download kiosk rotation one at a time, allowing DS owners to check out the games for free. The four games are Nekosogi Tornado, a vertical shooter in which the player uses the stylus to fling projectiles at enemies; Rotate and Erase, a puzzle game in which players must match up lines into like-colored triangles; Bioum, in which players draw organisms that come alive, creating a virtual ecosystem; and--you knew something like this had to be coming eventually--Chii and Fuu's Delicious Picturebook, which has the player teaching mice how to make pancakes. As with demos, the games are stored in the DS' RAM and therefore are wiped once the system is turned off; it can be kept in sleep mode to retain the game. Famitsu has some images of the games, going in the order listed in this article.

With the possible exception of that last game, these games seem equally suited to non-Japanese markets. Hopefully Nintendo decides to localize the games and ship them over to foreign shores. One also can't help but notice parallels to Nintendo's upcoming Virtual Console download service, which it promises will help smaller developers avoid costly distribution problems.

Speaking of Japanese, portable console download services, Ars Technica reports that Sony's online PSP video store, dubbed Portable TV, has been launched in Japan. According to Ars, there seem to be some rather odd quirks in the service, particularly when it comes to the DRM used. Video files--which range from episodes of TV shows, to trailers, to music videos--each have individual prices, and some are free. However, the odd part is that each video also has a timer ranging from about 5 to 30 days, and when that timer expires, the content must be renewed for an additional fee, even if it has already been purchased. It is unclear how this works in the case of free content, but the timer apparently still applies. This DRM cannot be bypassed by messing with the PSP's internal clock. The Ars writeup only includes two sample prices: $.90 (105 yen) for a Madonna music video with a one week expiration, and $1.80 for a Coldplay music video with an unspecified time period.

Store membership requires a Japanese credit card and mailing address, so PSP owners hailing from other territories will have to wait and see if Sony announces any localized versions of the service.

1UP takes a look back at a classic (depending on who you ask) SNES RPG, Shigesato Itoi's Earthbound. The sequel to that game, Mother 3 (GBA), is about to be released in Japan after a decade of delays and cancellations. However, 1UP's retrospective is also partially in honor of Grasshopper's DS RPG Contact, which was recently released in Japan and will be hitting North America in July, courtesy of publisher Atlus. (Time for a shill here.) Grasshopper is run by Goichi Suda, the oddball director of Killer7 (PS2, GCN), and like most of his games, Contact is looking pretty bizarre. Its visual aesthetic is gorgeous, however, exploiting the two screens of the DS in a unique way that is particularly eye-catching to longtime gamers. The bottom screen is presented in lush, watercolor-esque colors; the top screen is rendered in stark high-contrast 2D pixel art reminiscent, perhaps not coincidentally, of Earthbound. Atlus is a niche publisher, so this game probably won't get a huge marketing blitz, but don't say I didn't tell you about it!

GameSpot chats with Eidos brand manager Matt Gorman about Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider: Legend (PS2, Xbox, GCN, X360, PSP, PC).

When questioned about why Nintendo has been so tight-lipped about Revolution, company executives have frequently responded that it does not wish to see the console's specific capabilities replicated by the competition before the console has even launched. If recent rumors about possible Revolution controller competitors by Sony and Microsoft are to be believed, that may be happening in some form. Today, GamesIndustry.biz reports that Sony may also be attempting to implement a legacy game download service, similar to Nintendo's Virtual Console service for Revolution. Speaking to a source "from the development arm of a major third-party publisher," the article claims that Sony is "discussing the technical feasibility" of offering downloadable games from PS1 and PS2's back catalogue for PS3. Such capability would certainly require a hard drive, as PS1 and PS2 games shipped on CDs and DVDs rather than the smaller-capacity cartridges of Nintendo's NES, SNES, and N64. Sony has already explicitly stated that PS3 will be backwards compatible with physical PS1 and PS2 discs, so it's easy to imagine the company allowing for legacy games to be run entirely digitally. That said, the source did indicate that the company is still in the discussion stage of such a service. This suggests it probably won't be part of Phil Harrison's GDC presentation, but if true it may be a topic at this week's publisher-only PS3 info session.

Four years ago, Immersion Corporation sued Sony and Microsoft for infringing upon Immersion's haptic force feedback technology. Microsoft settled the case with Immersion, licensing the technology in question and ending up with a 10% stake in the company. Sony chose not to settle, and last year a federal judge ordered the company to pay Immersion $91M and halt sales of its offending products, which include PlayStation, PlayStation 2, their respective DualShock controllers, and a variety of games. Sony appealed that ruling.

The Wall Street Journal reports that last week, the judge denied Sony's appeal. The conflict seems to go back to the inventor of the technology, Craig Thorner. Sony claimed that Immersion hid information about older haptic technology invented by Thorner, and stated that it could have called into question the validity of other Immersion technology invented by Thorner. Immersion countered this, and alleged that Sony's $150,000 payment to Thorner was a payoff for testimony on Sony's behalf. Sony said that that sum was an "advance royalty" to another firm holding Thorner patents, Electro Source. The judge, however, ruled in favor of Immersion, citing "strong evidence" that the $150,000 was a quid pro quo payment.

Sony has not yet announced its next action. Because of prior rulings in the case, Sony has been paying Immersion a 1.37% royalty for the use of the technology, but Immersion's standard rate to its licensees such as Microsoft and BMW is 5%. Though Sony is clearly reluctant to pay the court-ordered $91M settlement, the company will likely be more reluctant to cease sale of its gaming hardware. The company still has an appeal on the sales injunction in the works, but if it is not upheld, the company will have to become an Immersion licensee and pay the settlement, or modify its force feedback mechanism such that it does not infringe on Immersion's patents.

Last month, Eurogamer allegedly obtained leaked marketing materials from SCEE detailing, among other things, a PlayStation 2 sequel to the PS2 hit God of War. Within hours, the news was removed from Eurogamer under Sony's threat of legal action. With the newest issue of Game Informer, those rumors have been confirmed: God of War's sequel is indeed heading to PS2. Like the original game, it is in development by Sony's internal Santa Monica studio. We should hear a great deal more at E3. The original Eurogamer report claimed the planned release is February 2007, but right now the best guess is generally early next year.

Microsoft's Xbox.com has been updated with a description of a downloadable demo for the Xbox 360 version of Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. However, I've been unable to actually find the demo for download at the Xbox Live Marketplace. Various reports by gamers online suggest I'm not the only one. It is also listed as one of the 14 Xbox 360 demos on the Marketplace demo page, along with the also mysteriously absent demo for Ubisoft's Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie.

Level 5, the developer of last year's Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2) and Rogue Galaxy (PS2), is apparently making several new games, according to translations of an interview with Japanese-language site gpara.com. The company is working on a "non RPG," a "something-something RPG" (presumably a hybrid of some kind), as well as its traditional "epic-scale RPGs." And there you have it.

IGN breaks down the Top 20 Essential GameCube Games: Part 1.

Some next-gen tidbits: (Be warned: there may be the words of analysts ahead; if you be offended by the words of analysts, just skip to a less offensive news item.)

- Film industry trade magazine Variety chatted this weekend with Sony CEO Howard Stringer, who has now been holding the reins of the international electronics giant for a year. There was little spoken about the PlayStation 3, but Stringer did it indicate that it should be out by the holiday season. "If PS3 'delivers what everyone thinks it will, the game is up,' Stringer boasts." It's an oddly vague statement from the CEO of the company. The article also positioned the console as "the poor man's Blue-ray," which would probably send Ken Kutaragi into fits of rage if he were aware the PS3 is being described as a poor man's anything.

- Faced with speculation that they may not see PS3 for another year, European retailers aren't too concerned. "PlayStation 3 will break all records whenever it launches," said Gamestation commercial director Martyn Gibbs. HMV head of games Tom Ellis was similarly optimistic, stating, "A later release gives 360 a better head start than Sony would want. But with PS2's massive installed base I doubt a delay would significantly undermine what PS3 will look to create."

- Friedman Billings Ramsey analysts Shawn Milne sent out an investor update predicting, as many others have predicted, that PlayStation 3 will miss its planned spring launch in Japan. He went on to suggest that the console might also miss summer in Japan, and even the 2006 holiday season in North America, leaving Japan as the only territory to see the machine this year. Milne's estimates were based on his firm's semiconductor research.

- GamesIndustry.biz spoke with various UK game industry types about what Nintendo needs to focus on to ensure retail success of Revolution. Peter Lunn of Nintendo distribution partner Koch Media suggests that the company will need to leverage "experiential marketing" to play up the console's unique features since it is not competing on a direct technical level with Sony and Microsoft's offerings. David Brabern of Frontier Developments points out that retailers are never too happy about console manufacturers selling software online, since it doesn't go through retail channels. Nintendo of course plans to offer games for purchase from its consoles' back catalogue. Perhaps the company could sell value cards in retail stores which could be used with the online service, similar to Microsoft's approach. Braben also rather obviously points out that since the console is not on a technological par with its competitors, it should also leverage its price advantage. Andrew Eades of Relentless Software believes that the system will have to be both "niche and mainstream," offering titles such as Zelda for hardcore gamers alongside titles for those who are less interested in "next-gen" and more interested in accessible entertainment. He points to the DS lineup as an example of this mentality

Atlus has announced its intention to publish Contact, the DS RPG from Killer7 designer Goichi Suda. The title is produced by Suda and designed by Akira Ueda, best known for Shining Force and various SNES Square titles. Character design is being handled by Atsuko Fukushima, who most recently worked on PoPoLoCrois (PSP), and the game is being developed by Suda's studio Grasshopper Manufacture. It features two deliberately contrasting graphical styles on the two screens; the bottom screen has lush high-color artwork, while the top screen features old school graphics reminiscent of a stripped down Earthbound. The game features realtime combat and apparently makes good use of the system's two screens. Most curiously, it also goes online by way of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which is certainly a first for a DS RPG. It's anybody's guess what it actually does once it's online.

Contact is expected to ship in North America this summer. - Screenshots. Press release.

The publisher also announced that it will be handling the North American versions of two titles in the Super Robot Taisen series, a franchise that has existed for over 15 years in Japan. The games are strategy RPGs in the time-honored giant robot tradition, with the ability to customize the mech units.

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation will ship this summer, with the sequel Original Generation 2 hitting in the fall. - Screenshots. Press release.

Publisher THQ has announced its complete acquisition of UK developer Juice Games, the studio behind last year's street racer Juiced (PS2, Xbox, PC). That title was published by THQ, and is the only title the studio has yet released for home consoles. The studio is currently working on bolstering the PSP's racing lineup with a PSP-exclusive entry in the Juiced franchise, Juiced: Eliminator. Juice Games senior VP of business development Dan Kelly indicated that the studio is also interested in moving outside of its eponymous franchise: "We look forward to the studio bringing more ground-breaking games to the Juiced franchise as well as developing new intellectual properties."

Juiced: Eliminator is due this summer. - Press release.

2K Games announced today that it will be publishing upcoming Family Guy licensed games developed by High Voltage Software. In development for "current generation consoles," which presumably means PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, the games are being worked on "closely with Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane." Recently, High Voltage has been best known for Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (PS2, Xbox, PC) but has also worked on other licensed tie-ins such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. - Press release.

Pandemic's campy role-reversal sci-fi title Destroy All Humans (PS2, Xbox), released last year, seems to have done pretty well for itself. It has reached the necessary sales figures to get it on each console's value price point line: PS2's Greatest Hits and Xbox's Platinum Hits. Both versions of the game now have an MSRP of $19.99. - Press release.

CDV Software Entertainment and Digital Reality have formed a partnership to develop and publish a range of strategy titles for next-generation home consoles and portables. Digital Reality is a developer of strategy titles exclusively, using its own Walker 3 engine allowing RTS games to be played from a first person perspective as well as the traditional third person. The two companies will operate jointly under the name WHIZ Software Kft. There are no details yet on WHIZ's first title, but it has a planned release period of Q4 2007. - Press release.

The briefly postponed multiplayer demo of Relic's The Outfit (X360) was posted on Xbox Live for download today. THQ heralds it as "the first ever pre-launch Xbox 360(tm) online multiplayer demo." - Press release.

Ubisoft sends over a video development diary on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (PS2, Xbox, X360, PC).

GameSpot has a designer diary on Reflections' Driver: Parallel Lines (PS2, Xbox).

Midway has announced that its upcoming Mortal Kombat: Armageddon will be the last Mortal Kombat title to hit the current generation. It will include Create-A-Fighter and Create-A-Fatality modes and a new mode called Konquest. Earlier this week, Midway also announced a PSP entry in the Mortal Kombat series.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon will ship this fall for PS2 and Xbox. - Press release. For more, see Shacknews' preview.

Speaking to GameSpot, Midway CEO David Zucker stated, "We will have a Revolution title this year," going a bit further than other developers or publishers which have confirmed Revolution support but not whether they would have titles out in 2006. It is unlikely the publisher will divulge just what the title is until Nintendo's unveiling of the console at E3. GameSpot hazarded a guess that it might be Midway Chicago's Stranglehold (X360, PS3, PC), but Midway responded that while the game may come to Revolution later, it is not the project Zucker was referencing.

First things first: XBLA is a hilarious acronym. Exblah. Midway also announced at a press event today that several of the publisher's titles will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 some time this year: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Cyberball, Defender, Root Beer Tapper, and, fittingly with tonight's intro, Paperboy. Previously, Midway released Robotron: 2084, SmashTV, Gauntlet, and Joust on Live Arcade. The company indicated that it hopes to do the same on Revolution and PS3 if Nintendo and Sony offer such services.

The release of the Xbox 360 has been one of the main reasons cited for the decline in game sales seen in recent months, as consumers shy away from current-gen products but face shortages with the only next-gen console yet released. The console hit hardest by that consumer hesitation is probably Microsoft's Xbox itself, since its next iteration is already out. To spur Xbox sales, Microsoft has released a new discount line, the Best of Platinum Hits, selling for an MSRP of $9.99. Eleven games inaugurate the Best of Platinum Hits, including five Tom Clancy's titles: Counter-Strike, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Fuzion Frenzy, MechAssault, Project Gotham Racing 2, Soul Calibur II, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Clancy's Ghost Recon Island Thunder, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow.

Sony also announced that two more titles would be joining its standard Greatist Hits line: God of War and Gran Turismo 4. Both have an MSRP of $19.99.

We haven't heard all too much about Edge of Reality's Fear & Respect (PS3, X360) ever since it was announced back in 2004. It turns out that's because the game is no longer in development. Speaking to GameSpot, publisher Midway's CEO David Zucker confirmed the game's cancellation. The game was being developed in association with Snoop Dogg and director John Singleton (Shaft, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers), who are apparently still in talks with Midway to work on a separate game at some point in the future.

VU Games is holding a contest to choose an unsigned band whose music will appear in Radical Entertainment's upcoming game Scarface: The World is Yours (PS2, Xbox, PS3, X360, PC). The contest is being conducted through the website MySpace, and to be eligible a band need only have a MySpace account with music and information uploaded. To nominate a band, go to the contest website. The 200 artists with the most nominations as of March 7 will be judged by a panel of music and game industry professionals, and then internet users will vote for the best act from that panel's 20 selections. Finally, the winner and two runner ups will get the chance to open for a known group during a concert at this year's E3. A track by the winning artist will also be featured in the game. - Press release.

EA sent word today that the Xbox 360 version of DICE's Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (PS2, Xbox, X360) has had its release date changed from March 15 to April 11. An EA rep stated that the game "is complete and in the final phases of testing at this moment," and that the delay was "to place MF2MC in the best possible launch window" rather than because of development issues. A multiplayer demo will also be available via Xbox Live Marketplace later this month.

GameSpot centralized all of its Midway press event coverage on one handy page.

GameSpot has a Q&A about the Metal Gear Saga DVD obtained from preorder copies of Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2).

IGN Revolution put up a feature about Revolution games known to be in development. It is accurate as of yesterday (so it doesn't mention the Midway one). There's some stuff in there I didn't know about, such as an actual confirmation of a Revolution sequel to Atlus' Trauma Center: Under the Knife (DS). It is also missing a couple, such as Kojima's title in development.

IGN has a developer interview on Metroid Prime Hunters (DS).

If the usually reliable UK trade publication MCV is to be believed, Nintendo will be announcing new details about Revolution at this year's Game Developers Conference from March 20-24. Last year, company president Satoru Iwata gave a frequently cited keynote address entitled "Heart of a Gamer," in which the former HAL Laboratories developer laid out some initial details on Revolution and described Nintendo's next-gen strategy. MCV goes so far as to suggest that Iwata will give an address that discloses details such as final release date and pricing information about the console. Since the company had not announced official attendance at GDC, many had previously assumed the company was waiting for E3 to speak any more about Revolution.

Japanese publication Famitsu has compiled the results of a survey asking 47 developers, 113 retailers, and 370 consumers for their expectations about consoles in 2006. It asked respondants questions including which next-gen console they expect to be most pleased with in 2006, which current- or next-gen console will be the top seller in 2006, what price point is expected for PS3, and what price point is expected for Revolution.

Perhaps not too surprisingly, Xbox 360 came out on the bottom of each category, except for one, in which consumers declared PSP the least likely to be #1 in 2006.

In terms of developers, 53.7% expect to be most satisfied with PS3, and 41.5% expect that from Revolution (choosing only from next-gen consoles). In the same category, dealers had very similar numbers, while consumers were a bit more split with PS3 at 46.3% and Revolution at 43.9%. Xbox 360 scored its best results in the consumer expectation category, with 7.9% believing it will be the most satisfactory.

As far as which console (both current- and next-gen) will be #1, 49.5% of developers chose Nintendo DS, 16.7% chose PS3, and 10% chose Revolution. Of the dealers, 38.3% chose DS, 31.5% PS3, and 12.3% Revolution. The consumers disagreed, putting PS3 (40.3%) above DS (32.6%), followed by PS2 (11.8%) and Revolution (11.5%).

Both developers and retailers expected PS3's price to come in at the equivalent of $339, while consumers expected $424. On the Revolution side, retailers expected $212, consumers $255, and developers a surprisingly low $170. Retailers probably have the right idea in the case of the Revolution, as that is a traditional price point for Nintendo consoles. As a side note, industry analyst PJ McNealy announced an expectation for Revolution to come in as low as $200 in North America.

It makes sense to see the developers and retailers expect the DS to perform the best, as they are the ones who would be most acutely aware of the system's seemingly unstoppable market share. Similarly, consumers will expect the PS3 to lead the pack given Sony's domination of the home console market for the last decade. All three groups had basically the same expectations from the actual quality of experience of each next-gen machine, with the Xbox 360's dismal results showing Microsoft still has a long way to go in capturing that market. It will also be interesting to see whether Nintendo can manage to keep its momentum with the DS; the recently announced redesign should help. It certainly scored better than Sony's PSP, which did not garner more than 5% of the votes in any category; it's certainly odd to see Sony performing (in both sales numbers and industry hype) better in non-Japanese territories than on its own turf with one of its consoles.

Atlus sent word today that the company is bringing Yggdra Union to Game Boy Advance in North America. The game is an RPG from developer Sting, the studio behind last year's well received and somewhat more easily pronounced Riviera: The Promised Land, also on GBA. Yggdra Union is set in the peaceful land of Fantasinia, which suddenly comes under attack by the Empire of Bronkia. The Princess Yggdra of Fantasinia flees with the legendary sword of the royal family. In a Zelda-like turn, the player controls another character named Milanor, rather than the titular princess. Milanor is the leader of a band of thieves who must turn the tide of the war.

Manga artist Satoko Kiyusuki will be handling the game's character design, with Riviera character designer Sunaho Tobe returning to do the card design for the game's card-based battle system. Yggdra Union will ship in fall 2006.

Press release

Based on a now removed post at Star Wars fan site TheForce.net, rumor spread today that another Lego Star Wars game is in the works. After contacting original publisher Eidos and Star Wars license holder LucasArts, GameSpot learned that Eidos does not have a license for any further Lego Star Wars games. The wording from Eidos was rather suggestive, however: "We're not involved in the next Lego Star Wars game...I'm not sure what the deal is." Unsurprisingly, LucasArts declined to give any details.

It seems likely, however, that LucasArts would want to continue the franchise, given the surprising multi-million copy success of the original, which was published on PS2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and PC. The first game was developed by UK-based Traveller's Tales. No mention was made as to whether the studio would be involved in the sequel.

Brian D. Crescente from Kotaku shows how he can somehow play both Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution at the same time.

Reports have been surfacing on internet forums--including a few posted here in the Shack comments--over the last few days regarding various problems people have been experiencing with their Xbox 360 consoles. Complaints include freezing, stuttering, crashes, overheating, and consoles failing to turn on. Some include pictures. GameSpot contacted Microsoft regarding the matter today. The company confirmed that problems exist, but also stressed that they are occuring with a proportionally very small number of Xbox 360 owners. Microsoft's support page has suggestions for some of the more common problems. Gamers who are unable to fix their console's problems can call 1-800-4MY-XBOX to see if they are eligible to receive a replacement unit or repair service. A Microsoft representative claimed that most repair or replacement orders will be resolved within five business days.

For my part, I've been lucky enough not to have any major problems with my systems other than the sometimes rather loud fan, which I'm sure is the case for the majority of 360 owners. I have been getting stuttering and framerate issues in Perfect Dark Zero, but not with Kameo or Project Gotham Racing 3, so that seems like more of a software issue rather than a hardware one.

Microsoft Entertainment & Devices president Robbie Bach stated today that Microsoft is "well aware that many gamers are disappointed to have not gotten their Xbox 360 on day one." He notes that the company still plans to replenish supply of the console to retailers on a weekly basis, despite the relatively low initial supply. To be fair, a more spread out launch rather than one giant first shipment has been Microsoft's stated position for recent months leading up to the console's release. The company may very well still have its hands full meeting demand, however, given that the console has still yet to launch in major territories such as Europe and Japan. While Japanese demand may not put too much strain on Microsoft's manufacturing capabilities, the European launch on December 2 should turn out to be a fairly big affair.

After months of curiosity on the part of Australian gamers, Microsoft has announced a launch date and price points for the country's rollout of its Xbox 360 system. The next-gen console will hit Aussie shelves on March 2, 2006, about three months after the console's initial availability in North America. (It does beg the question of how Microsoft can claim a worldwide simultaneous release...) The hard drive equipped Premium system will retail for AU$649.95 (~US$476), while the Core system will go for AU$499.95 (~US$366). Xbox Australia and New Zealand director David McLean commented that "Based on launch and production capacity, we are hoping not to have any stock issues, but it is difficult to forecast demand." Rather ironically, it was also noted that Australia is in fact Microsoft's most successful market worldwide from a market penetration standpoint, with the first Xbox system reaching a surprisingly high 35%-40% of the console market. McLean notes that Microsoft hopes to bring that number past 50% with the Xbox 360.

Square Enix made big news recently when company president Yoichi Wada claimed in a Reuters interview that main entries Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, the company's most well-known and profitable franchises, may see the light of day on a non-Sony console in addition to the requisite PS3. That same day, 1UP posted a quick news item stating that the report was "inaccurate," though Square Enix was unable to explain what exactly the inaccuracy was.

In what appears to be some kind of attempt at clarification, Square Enix has sent out an extremely brief press release. It starts off helpfully stating that Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft all plan to release next-gen consoles, and then continues to say that despite widespread speculation about Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest on other systems, "we have made no concrete decision on our strategic direction of this issue."

Square Enix has already announced Final Fantasy XI on Xbox 360 and a new Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles game for Revolution, so there have obviously been some decisions made, but presumably the statement is referring to future "main entries" in the series. Of course, while nothing was confirmed, nothing was denied either, so it's not quite clear what the purpose of the short statement was.

In keeping with the recent trend of developers speculating and proposing various game design ideas that could be employed on Nintendo's upcoming Revolution console, 1UP has spoken with five developers regarding the feasibility of various concepts on the machine. Unlike most other developer interviews on the matter, this one actually asks each developer about specific ideas that have already been concocted, either in Nintendo's official Revolution teaser video (ie, conducting a symphony) or by hopeful internet denizens (ie, lightsaber battles). The reactions were actually quite in-depth and positive, probably because each question was posed to a developer whose past game experience relates to the concept in question. For example, in one of the better interviews, the conducting concept was discussed with Harmonix president and co-founder Alex Rigopulos. Harmonix is of course known for its music-based games, such as Frequency and the recently-released (and critically acclaimed) Guitar Hero. Notably, Rigopulos stated that his studio is already brainstorming ideas for a Revolution game, waiting for "the one" to present itself.

Other developers questioned include Radical Entertainment's Eric Holmes, who most recently served as lead designer on The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (PS2, Xbox, GCN); Foundation 9's Chris Charla, who was senior producer on Death, Jr. (PSP); Atlus' Tomm Hulett, product lead on Trauma Center: Under the Knife (DS); and Midway's Bryan Eddy and Alex Offerman, who worked on Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (PS2, Xbox).

Those of you lucky enough to get an Xbox 360 console at launch can laugh at IGN's feature of stories from the poor saps that didn't, and those of you who tried and failed can commiserate along.

GameSpot has a designer diary for Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan (PS2, Xbox, GCN, GBA).