According to a GameSpot report, Activision and recently acquired Guitar Hero publisher RedOctane filed suit against peripheral manufacturer The Ant Commandos. Activision alleges that, by selling its Guitar Mania series of Guitar Hero guitar controllers, the company has infringed upon Activision's trademarks and copyrights, engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices, exhibited unfair competition, and released false advertising. The lawsuit claims that the Guitar Mania packaging emulates the Guitar Hero packaging and makes use of RedOctane's protected materials to promote the Guitar Mania product. The front of the Guitar Mania box states that the controller is "Compatible with PS2 Guitar Game;" elsewhere it notes it is compatible with Guitar Hero. Activision takes issue with this as well, claiming that the controller's motion sensor, which activates Guitar Hero's "Star Power" mode, does not always function propertly. A comparison of the Guitar Hero and Guitar Mania boxes is presented here. The Ant Commandos also makes alternative mat controllers for dance games and an alternative drum controller for Nintendo's Donkey Konga (GCN) and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GCN) games.

The lawsuit is somewhat ironic, given RedOctane's past (and current) positions as a defendant in copyright- and trademark-related matters. In a similar matter, Konami sued RedOctane in 2005 for publishing Roxor Games' dance game In the Groove (PS2), which Konami alleged infringed on a number of patents it holds for its long running Dance Dance Revolution series. A company named Knucklebonz also sued RedOctane over the use of the Guitar Hero name. Since June 2004, Knucklebonz has used "Guitar Hero" as a brand name for its series of collectible figures based on rock guitar greats. However, it appears the company failed to properly register the name until late last year.

Acclaimed RPG-oriented developer BioWare today announced that it has formed a new development group specifically targeting handheld platforms. The company's first title in the portable arena will be an unnamed project for Nintendo DS. No details were given regarding the game's setting or gameplay. Today's news comes only a month after BioWare sent out a survey to its community members inquiring whether they would buy a portable game based on Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, or Neverwinter Nights, or whether they would be willing to buy a portable system to be able to play such a game.

In addition to the announcement of the game and its development group, BioWare also stated that it is looking for developers to fill out the new team, which will be based at the company's main studio in Edmonton, Alberta. BioWare recently also opened up an MMO-focused studio in Austin, Texas.

Electronic Arts has publically confirmed that, as revealed this week, it will indeed be publishing a skateboarding game simply titled SKATE. The game is headed to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Today's announcement reveals that long time Need for Speed series developer EA Black Box, an EA Canada studio, will be handling the game. Professional skaters such as Danny Way and PJ Ladd will appear in the game. SKATE also features a "reactive city" environment as well as context-sensitive in-game cameras. "Our game offers a skate mecca for both skaters and gamers in search of the definitive authentic skating video game experience," said executive producer Scott Blackwood. "We're focused on capturing the actual feeling of skating with the innovative control system, the physics driven animations, and the intelligent cameras working together to really deliver the closest thing to being on a board." The game apparently offers a trick control system that is based on the two analog sticks, rather than the time-honored stick (or d-pad) plus face buttons method that is used in Neversoft's Tony Hawk series.

EA Black Box's SKATE is set to ship for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2007.

Ubisoft today announced its official release list for its third fiscal quarter, the fourth calendar quarter of 2006.

- Ubisoft Montreal's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (PS2, Xbox, GCN, X360, Wii, PC)
- Ubisoft Montpellier's Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii, NDS, GBA, PC; other versions to follow in 2007)
- Ubisoft Montreal's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (PS3, X360, PSP, PC)
- Ubisoft Montreal's Far Cry Vengeance (Wii)
- Gearbox and Ubisoft Shanghai's Brothers in Arms D-Day (PSP)
- Ubisoft Romania's Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII (PS3, Wii)
- Pipeworks and Ubisoft Montreal's Prince of Persia Rival Swords (PSP)
- MTO's Petz (NDS, GBA, PC)
- Ubisoft Paris' Red Steel (Wii)
- Arkane and Kuju's Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (PC)
- MTO's GT Pro Series (Wii)
- Ubisoft Montreal's Open Season (PS2, Xbox, GCN, X360, Wii, NDS, PSP, GBA, PC)
- Ubisoft Casablanca and Ubisoft Montreal's Star Wars Lethal Alliance (NDS, PSP)
- Ubisoft's Monstre 4x4 World Circuit (Wii)

Despite apparently having been available for a few weeks now at various retail locations, according to internet reports, the Xbox Live Vision peripheral for Xbox 360 has now officially been released. The USB video camera allows for in-game video chat as well as the ability for players to make a custom gamer picture viewable to friends. Currently, Carbonated Games' UNO makes use of the video chat feature. As of tomorrow, the functionality will be added to PixelStorm's Bankshot Billiards 2 as well as Silver Creek's Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Spades, and Hardwood Backgammon.

Xbox Live Vision is available for $39.99 and includes an Xbox 360 headset, UNO, and FreeVerse's gesture-based game TotemBall. The $79.99 Xbox Live Vision Gold Pack includes those components as well as Digital Eclipse's Robotron 2084, 200 Microsoft Points ($2.50).

This summer, Nintendo announced its Nintendo Fusion Tour (warning: site features loud sound), a series of over 35 rock concerts being held across the United States from September 27 to November 11. Nintendo stated that Wii would be present in some form at the shows, but did not state whether the machine would be playable by attendees. Today, the company confirmed that each show will feature multiple playable Wii consoles, along with Retro's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Nintendo's WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Toys for Bob's Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, Nintendo's Wii Sports, and Monster Games' Excite Truck playable for showgoers. Nintendo DS consoles and games will also be playable, though the only example of a playable DS game given was iNiS' Elite Beat Agents.

Gamasutra reported today that Rockstar Games has won a lawsuit launched by a Los Angeles strip club, claiming the in-game strip club "The Pig Pen" from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC) violates registered trademarks owned by the club. The logo of The Pig Pen bears a striking resemblence to that of the actual L.A. club, the Play Pen Gentlemen's Club--no doubt deliberately, as The Pig Pen is located in San Andreas' Los Angeles-esque locale of Los Santos. Despite the similarity, Rockstar was acquitted on First Amendment grounds, as though the in-game reference "bears some artistic relevance" to its real life counterpart, it "does not explicitly mislead consumers as to the source or content of the Game."

The official website of Leipzig's upcoming Games Convention has been updated to include a full list of publisher conferences to be held on August 23, 2006. Most of the conferences lack a detailed description and will likely be showcases for holiday season and 2007 lineups, but a specific title was given for Nintendo's: "Wii prove our promise." Earlier this year, company president Satoru Iwata stated that Nintendo will reveal launch information for its upcoming Wii console by September. So far, the only confirmed details are that the machine will launch before Thanksgiving and for under $250 in the United States. Rumors have been circulating this week that Nintendo will announce up to five new games during their conference.

Another interesting conference is listed. The exhibitor is "Electronic Arts/Nintendo," though no description or title was given. Last month, EA announced six Wii games based on long running EA franchises, only a few or which have as yet been shown. This conference may show more from that lineup.

Many other publishers and developers have Games Convention conferences scheduled, though few give descriptions. These companies include Electronic Arts ("Highlights 2006/2007"), Ubisoft, 10tacle Studios (Elveon & Codename Panzers: Cold War), Microsoft Xbox, Deep Silver, NCSoft Europe (Guild Wars Nightfall), Buena Vista Games, Midway Games, Square Enix, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, and Atari. All of these presentations will take place on August 23.

Though the last few months have seen a sudden upswing in publisher support for Wii, Ubisoft is one of the few third parties that has been on board with Nintendo's upcoming console since the beginning. During a presentation at the Ziff Davis Electronic Games Summit this week, Ubisoft North America president Laurent Detoc announced that the company currently has seven games in development for Wii. So far, the company has only announced two titles for the system--Ubisoft Paris' Wii-exclusive Red Steel, and Ubisoft Montpellier's Rayman Raving Rabbids, whose main version appears to be the Wii version, judging from comments by designer Michel Ancel.

Detoc also spoke on the Wii in general, particularly in regards to its potential to broaden the gaming audience. He sees the machine having "a large audience and market," and recalled that, "The first time I picked up that sucker I couldn't stop playing it."

Midway president David Zucker also revealed the extent of his company's Wii development, confirming that Midway has six games in the works.

Midway today announced that upon the release of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (PS2, Xbox, Wii), the PlayStation 2 version of the game will be available in a Premium Edition consisting of various extra features: an "arcade-perfect" port of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, 60 minutes of feature video content including a "History of Fatalities" movie, and a piece of animation cell cover art signed by Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon. There will be four metallic cover variants of the Premium Edition, three of which feature two characters each--Sindel/Shao Kahn, Johnny Cage/Goro, Kano/Sonya--and one of which is simply a metallic version of the standard box art.

The publisher also specified that the Wii version of the game confirmed yesterday will be shipping in the first quarter of 2007. More information about that version's features will be made available later this year.

Speaking to Kotaku, SNK Playmore marketing manager Yoshihito Koyama indicated that his company plans to avoid PS3 development for the console's first few years on the market. "The PlayStation 2 is good enough. It's small and cheap," he said. "Maybe 2009-2010 is a good time to release a game for the PS3." Why? "My first impression is that it's expensive," he said about Sony's next-gen console.

In terms of next-gen systems, SNK has expressed interest in Nintendo's Wii as a viable target for its games. The company currently plans to launch Metal Slug Anthology, also headed to PSP, as a Wii launch title.

Three new single- and multiplayer maps for the Xbox 360 version of EA LA's The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II are now available via Xbox Live. The maps, named Weathertop, Argonath, and Umbar, are available as the Aragorn's Journey pack, and cost 700 Microsoft points ($8.75).

We've got an interview on Climax LA's upcoming Silent Hill Origins (PSP).

Ubisoft sends over a producer video interview on the upcoming Rainbow Six: Vegas (PS3, X360), speaking on various features and graphical improvements.

GameSpot talks with Bizarre Creations' Gareth Wilson about the challenges of developing Project Gotham Racing 3 as an Xbox 360 launch title.

Despite a lot of hullabaloo on Microsoft's part about a simultaneous worldwide launch for its Xbox 360 console, it seems the launch is more of a fairly-simultaneous partially-worldwide affair, as territories such as Australia will not be receiving the machine until March 2, 2006. Speaking to Reuters, the company has now announced its launch plans for certain Asian territories. While the console will hit Japan in five days, it will not launch in Korea until February 24, with Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore sharing the March 2 release date with Australia. "We wanted to make sure within the first six months that we could get the 360 into all existing Xbox 1 markets," said Alan Bowman, Microsoft's Asia-Pacific general manager for Entertainment and Devices. Bowman noted that while there were considerations internally to further delay international launches until it was certain North American demand for the machine would be met, the company decided to proceed with the planned dates.

EBay president and CEO Meg Whitman has announced that, as of last Thursday, the popular online auction site has supervised the sale of some 40,000 Xbox 360s. Best estimates put total sales for the machine between 300,000 and 400,000, meaning that between 10%-13% of all North American launch quantities of the console have changed hands via eBay. That number is sure to continue to rise, as a quick search shows over 6,500 360s currently listed on eBay, with ending auctions still fetching prices hundreds of dollars higher than retail.

An owner of an Xbox 360 console is launching a class action suit against manufacturer Microsoft over heating issues in the machine which cause crashes or error messages. Since the console's launch, the internet has seen plenty of reports about similar problems with the 360, many having to do with the power supply unit. Microsoft has acknowledge the existence of such problems but has stated that they are within the realms of what is expected with the launch of new consumer electronics products. While the issues with his console are certainly valid, the man's lawsuit (which calls for "unspecified damages and litigation-related expenses, as well as the replacement or recall of Xbox 360 game consoles") seems odd given Microsoft's extremely cooperative attitude towards repairs. The company has already replaced many units free of charge and, if reports on the internet are to be believed, with a very quick turnaround time.

Following recent rumors that Ubisoft is working on a new shooter for Revolution and the recent announcement that Free Radical is working on a next-gen shooter with Ubisoft, IGN Revolution reports that sources "close to Nintendo" have revealed that Ubisoft is working on a shooter for Nintendo's upcoming system. The article points out Free Radical's past association with Nintendo, being comprised of many former Rare developers who worked on Perfect Dark (N64) and GoldenEye (N64). More recently, Free Radical headed up the TimeSplitters series.

There was some doubt last week as to whether the PSP-themed graffiti appearing across many urban United States areas was actually the work of Sony or merely some enthusiastic and organized fans (or, some suggested, even Microsoft in an attempt to drum up negative publicity). However, Wired News has spoken with Sony about the campaign, and it is definitely the work of Sony's ad agency. The manufacturer is paying business and property owners for the right to stencil the ads onto their walls. The campaign has received mixed reactions, with various internet blogs which first covered the story coming down on both sides, and counter-graffiti by frustrated locals being spray painted over the ads.

Sega announced today that it has acquired the rights to publish the official video game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The announcement specified that the game would feature many sports seen the Olympics, including aquatics, archery, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoe/kayak, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football (the soccer kind), gymnastics, handball, field hockey, Judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, softball, table tennis, Taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling.

IGN takes a look at legendary studio Rare, discussing whether the commpany still has what made it great.

Matt Casamassina, long-running editor of IGN's excellent Nintendo channels, announces the launch of IGN Revolution, covering Nintendo's upcoming console.