Microsoft has just issued the latest backwards compatibility update for the Xbox 360, allowing over 80 previously unsupported original Xbox games to be played on the system. Thanks to the Xbox 360's software emulation, all supported games are capable of running in resolutions up to 1080i with anti-aliasing.

Notable titles added include Armed and Dangerous, Breakdown, Burnout 2: Point of Impact, Freedom Fighters, and Syberia II. To see if any of your favorite original Xbox titles are now playable, scope out the latest additions or the full list of backwards compatible games.

Today's update also increases the number of titles Microsoft will be able to offer via the Xbox Originals program, which allows Xbox 360 owners to download original Xbox titles from Xbox Live and play without a disc. Each game will run 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) when the service debuts on December 4.

Xbox 360 owners can obtain the update by either inserting an original Xbox game into the system while connected to Xbox Live or by downloading the update from Microsoft and burning it to a disc.

Nintendo has launched a new Wii channel called Minna no Nintendo (translated, Everybody's Nintendo), which allows gamers to check out videos and interviews of Nintendo games for various systems as well as send game demos to Nintendo DS systems via local wi-fi. Unfortunately, it's only available in Japan--so far.

According to hands-on reports from internet experts at the NeoGAF forums, Minna no Nintendo currently features an interview with Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto about the company's upcoming aerobic extravaganza Wii Fit, a DS and Wii release list, video previews of Wii games, and demos of DS titles including Namco Bandai's new Tamagotchi game, Brain Age 2, and a variety of other entries in the mass market-friendly Touch Generations series of games.

Also available is a feedback service allowing gamers to rate games they own in various categories. Areas of judgment include whether each game is well suited to single- or multiplayer play, its appropriateness for casual or hardcore audiences, its relative difficulty level, and overall quality.

Shacknews has sent inquiries to Nintendo's North American arm regarding future plans to make the channel available elsewhere.

Blueside's Xbox 360 action RPG title Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom has gone gold, Microsoft announced today. The game is ready for mass production and on track for its previously announced January 8 release in the U.S.

Asia and Australasia will receive the title earlier on December 13; though Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will have to wait until February 1 to buy the title. The last two Xbox titles in the Kingdom Under Fire series had an action-strategy leaning, this game focuses more on dungeon-crawling hack-and-slash action.

In addition to the debut of Xbox Originals, the Xbox Live fall update will also give members of the community a social networking-like friend-connecting feature when it debuts December 4. Dubbed "Friends of Friends," the option allows gamers to view the friends list of anyone who has the feature enabled, Microsoft announced today.

For those frightened of Xbox Live friend-stalking, the feature's setting can be modified as of today at the Xbox.com Friends of Friends site. For members older than 18, the default setting at the feature's launch will allow everyone to view their friends lists. Gamers can also block the feature entirely, or make their list viewable to "friends only."

In the interest of safety, Microsoft won't allow gamers younger than 13 to enable this feature, and only those older than 18 can set their list as viewable to the general public.

Nintendo is celebrating sports, gambling, and wildlife conservation with today's additions to the online Wii Virtual Console. All three games will be available at 9 a.m. PST/12 p.m. EST.

Double Dribble, Konami's much-loved NES basketball simulation for one or two players, arrives on the download service at 500 Wii Points ($5). Ecco Jr., Sega's child-friendly Genesis expose on the antics of young dolphins, sells for 800 Wii Points ($8).

Vegas Stakes, meanwhile, comes from Kirby developer HAL Laboratory. The Super Nintendo title offers blackjack, slots, poker, craps, and roulette for up to four players, along with the occasional encounter with another gambler, which, depending on your actions, can end in profit, loss, or everyone thinking you're a jerk. To stay on the table, you'll need to chip in 800 Wii Points ($8).

Detroit-based rock band The Romantics, the 80s group most famous for its song "What I Like About You," has sued Guitar Hero publisher Activision, claiming that the cover recording of the famous song in Harmonix's Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s is too similar to the original version.

Wavegroup Sound, which records covers for the Guitar Hero games and strives for accuracy relative to the authentic studio recordings, is likely to take the suit as a compliment--or at least it would be if the San Francisco-based company were not a target in the lawsuit as well.

The Romantics have had success in suing over the use of its marquee song for commercial purposes, previously winning a suit revolving around the unauthorized use of the song in TV ads. This time around, however, the usage was entirely by permission.

The Romantics' suit seeks unspecified damages and an injunction preventing the sale of the game, which it says infringes on the group's likeness. It claims that, by hosting a recording so similar to its own recording, gamers will associate the band with the game. "I was very upset because the band had worked very hard over many years to develop and use its distinctive sound," said The Romantics singer Wally Palmer.

In a moment of candor, attorney William Horton explained to Detroit Free Press, "The sales of this game are huge. We're all for good commerce. We just want to share in it."

Developer Tri-Crescendo has another RPG in the works, this time developed exclusively for Nintendo's Wii console. Details of the title were revealed in this week's issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu and translated by 1up.

Known for the Baten Katos (GCN) series of RPGs and most recently for Eternal Sonata (PS3, X360), Tri-Crescendo's new title takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting, with players taking the role of a young male known as Seto.

The title will make heavy use of a Wii remote-controlled flashlight and other tools collected from fallen foes. According to Famitsu, the title should be retailing next year in Japan, with no North American release date announced as of this time.

Internet-connected Xbox 360 owners can now download an expansion pack for Sonic Team's action-RPG Phantasy Star Universe (PC, PS2, X360) and another demo of Midway Austin's extraterrestrial FPS BlackSite: Area 51.

Weighing in at 1.92GB, Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus adds new areas, missions, weapons, items and enemies to the game, providing new adventures for both solo and online multiplayer. It sells for 1600 Microsoft Points ($20), with the disc-based PC and PS2 editions slated to hit retailers this week at an MSRP of $39.99.

Meanwhile, the second free demo of BlackSite: Area 51 (PC, PS3, X360) to hit Xbox Live checks in at 988MB, giving players the chance to roam through the streets of a small town overrun by alien baddies. BlackSite hit stores in both PC and Xbox 360 flavors earlier this month, with the PS3 edition slated to arrive before the year's end.

Sony's recent PlayStation 3 price cut and introduction of a 40GB baseline model spurred PS3 sales this month, which had been relatively weak since launch. In light of this, Sony CEO Howard Stringer told Hollywood Reporter the PS3's momentum at this point rivals that of the PlayStation 2 in its era.

"The momentum shift and the energy behind PS3 in time for Christmas is extremely fortuitous," Stringer told Hollywood Reporter. "It was planned by the PlayStation group, but I think this momentum now--particularly the number of games coming out, including our own as well as third-party--is the same as it was with PlayStation 2."

Though momentum is a somewhat general term, the PlayStation 3 sales at this point certainly don't match that of its predecessor's first year on the market--even with the PS2's 8-months of territorially exclusively Japanese sales. The PS2 had shipped 10.04 million units one year after its Japanese launch.

As of September 30 this year, Sony had sold only 5.59 million units of the PS3. The bump given by 100,000 consoles sold following the recent price cut do little to reconcile the difference between its current console's sales and that of the PS2.

Stringer also emphasized the difficulty developers have had adapting to Sony's new platform, although he claims this was the same of the PS2, furthering the argument that the system's "momentum" should not be considered on par.

"The amount of bandwidth and the processing power of Cell give game manufacturers a lot more work to do to use this system to its full benefit--and it's taken awhile to do it," Stringer added. "The same was true of PlayStation 2."

A smorgasboard of downloadable content and on-sale items will arrive on the PlayStation Network today, joining the two already announced PlayStation Eye titles. Usually arriving on Thursday, the store received its update early due to the Thanksgiving week, as detailed in the official PlayStation blog.

Most notable are the Rock Band (PS2, PS3, X360) downloadable tracks, which are already available on Xbox Live and listed in our post earlier today. Every track from the Xbox update has made its way to the PlayStation Store as well, with prices of $5.49 for the three-song Police, Queens of the Stone Age, and Metallica packs. Individual songs are priced at $1.99.

For a holiday gift to PS3 owners, Sony cut the prices of three notable titles in half and reduced the cost of another, making each in the lot available for $4.99. The... Read more

Sony Computer Entertainment America has just launched the PSP version of the online PlayStation Store, allowing PSP owners to download everything from full-fledged PSP games to demos and themes.

PC users can access the online marketplace store.playstation.com. Those with an account for the PS3's online store can use their existing login, and downloaded content is transferred to an attached PSP via the PlayStation Network Downloader program available on the site.

Initial offerings include downloadable versions of SCE Studio Liverpool's already-released Wipeout Pure and Gangs of London, at $14.99 and $19.99 respectively, as well as the $9.99 PlayStation Store-exclusive Syphon Filter: Combat Ops multiplayer game and free demos of Slant Six's SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike and Sony Bend's Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow.

SingleTrac's Twisted Metal 2 and Insomniac's Spyro the Dragon, both of... Read more

Though new content usually arrives on the PlayStation Store every Thursday, at least a couple games will be coming early this holiday week, according to SCEA assistant producer Greg Lutton on the official PlayStation Blog. Both titles--Operation: Creature Feature and Aquatopia--make use of the PlayStation Eye accessory and presumably come from Sony's internal studios.

Operation: Creature Feature has gamers directing tiny monsters through levels with their hands using the PlayStation Eye and will cost $4.99. More of an interactive fish tank than a game, Aquatopia lets players interact via the Eye with a virtual school of sea creatures and will cost $1.99.

Both titles should be arriving on the PlayStation Network later today.

Sony has released an updated firmware for the PlayStation 3, bringing the version number to 2.01 and improving the system's overall stability. The Remote Start functionality has been tweaked as well, resolving issues with the system magically powering up of its own accord.

However, it also appears that the update introduces some new problems for those that play Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare online. Reports of an error message reading "102-'BD_EXCEPTION_IN_DB" began flooding the offical message boards of developer Infinity Ward and those of the game itself after the new firmware arrived, though users claim the problems have become less frequent in the time since.

PlayStation 3 owners are required to download and apply the latest firmware, a process that can be done from the console itself, before they can head online with the system.

Following the recent PlayStation 3 price cut and cheaper baseline model introduction for consumers, Sony today nearly halved the cost of its PS3 development kit. Sony's hoping the cheaper dev kit will get more third party developers interested in the platform.

The development packages will be sold for $10,250 in North America, 950,000 yen ($8,600) in Japan and 7,500 Euros ($11,250) in Europe. The statement from Sony hinted that more price reductions are to come, as well.

"As more and more new titles are developed for the PS3 format, SCEI will significantly reduce the price of the Reference Tool in order to contribute to the cost saving measures of the development community," the announcement read.

Although the recent price cut increased PS3 sales slightly in North America, the system was still the least-selling console in October, though sales of the new 40GB system during the holidays may give the platform a larger install base.

The sixth in Omega Force's long-running tactical slash-em-up series, Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3, X360) will arrive in the U.S. on February 19, publisher Koei announced today. Although Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires (PS2, X360) marked the series' debut on the Xbox 360 in North America, the developer claims Dynasty Warriors 6 was the first in the franchise developed from the ground up for current-gen consoles.

Koei revealed the game at this year's Tokyo Game Show, and the title retailed in Japan just last week. Unfortunately, the game features exclusively offline play, with two-player splitscreen as the only multiplayer option.

Mike Borland's Doritos Dash of Destruction has won the Doritos Unlock Xbox contest, and will be made into a full-fledged Xbox Live Arcade title by acclaimed XBLA developer NinjaBee (Cloning Clyde, Band of Bugs).

The contest challenged entrants to create a game that mixed the Doritos brand with entertaining gameplay.

Borland's concept has a T-Rex chasing a Doritos delivery truck, with players controlling either the truck driver or the hungry dinosaur. It was among the five finalists that made it onto the Snack Strong Productions site in playable prototype form, and received the most votes from site visitors.

Doritos Dash of Destruction will be available via Xbox Live Arcade as a free download in summer 2008.

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Wii's release in North America. To celebrate, Nintendo has, as it does every Monday, added more retro titles to the system's online store.

This week, Virtual Console is graced by Wrecking Crew, Sonic 3D Blast, and Super Air Zonk. The Nintendo-developed Wrecking Crew on NES, which tells the tale of Mario and Luigi's puzzling foray into building demolition, runs 500 Wii Points ($5).

A collaboration between Sega and Traveller's Tales, the isometric exploits of Sonic 3D Blast mark a bit of a departure from the blue speedster's 2D Genesis adventures. Though the gaming public may have mixed opinions on the title, you can come to your own conclusions for 800 Wii Points ($8).

One of the few TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM titles on Virtual Console, Red's Super Air Zonk: Rockabilly-Paradise branches out of the Bonk platforming series, exploring the sidescrolling and shooting antics of Zonk that were first showcased in Air Zonk. Renowned for its self-proclaimed rockabilly soundtrack, Super Air Zonk sells for 800 Wii Points ($8).

The Star Trek Games website has a Star Trek Conquest Q&A posted, asking Frank Aarnot of 4JStudios about this PS2/Wii title that Bethesda is publishing.

Update: The promotional site for the offer has been reactivated, providing more details. Apparently, only original Xbox owners who have a current Xbox Live account and migrate their subscription to a new Xbox Live Gold membership after purchasing an Xbox 360 during the specified period will be eligible.

Original Xbox Live subscribers with an active account as of as of November 20, 2007, will be considered eligible. Though it's an online promotion, it's also only valid for subscribers living in the United States.

Original story: Want a copy of Bungie's Halo 3 for free? Microsoft will apparently be giving free copies of Halo 3 to anyone in the U.S. or Canada who purchases an Xbox 360 between November 21 and December 21, according to a page spotted by Evil Avatar on the official Xbox site that was quickly taken down.

The registration site for the offer is still up, requiring buyers to log in with the Windows Live ID linked to their gamertag. The site requires a valid Xbox 360 serial number and instructs applicants to enter the code XBX7777 on the online form.

Unfortunately, interested parties may have to wait until after Christmas to join their Halo 3-playing friends, as the site says Microsoft will ship out the games by January 18. Shacknews contacted Microsoft for comment, but has not yet received a response.

For fans of Japanese RPGs and other quirky games like the Trauma Center series, Tokyo-based game developer and publisher Atlus is a well-known name. But none of the company's works have seen a release on Microsoft's Xbox 360 platform in the states.

That will change next year, as the North American publishing arm Atlus U.S.A. has become an official third-party publisher for Xbox 360, the company announced today. The first two titles coming to the platform will arrive in 2008: Operation Darkness from an unannounced developer and Spectral Force 3: Innocent Rage from Idea Factory.

Operation Darkness is a strategy RPG set in an alternate World War II-era reality, where magic-using soldiers must be utilized to overthrow Hitler's own sorcerous squadrons. Spectral Force 3 is the first in the series of tactical RPGs to come stateside and pits players as a mercenary able to recruit up to 40 characters in the mystical world of Neverland.