Activision today announced that fan favorite voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker (pictured left, Welker [l] and Cullen [r]) will reprise their well known roles as, respectively, Autobots commander Optimus Prime and Decepticons leader Megatron in Traveller's Tales video game adaptation of the upcoming Transformers film. The Michael Bay-directed movie is slated for release on July 4. Along with the announcement, Activision released three new screenshots from the game, depicting Autobot character Bumblebee.

Traveller's Tales is currently developing Transformers: The Game for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PC. Vicarious Visions is separately developing Transformers: Autobots and Transformers: Decepticons for Nintendo DS; rumors that players will be encouraged to "catch them all" have not been confirmed. Activision plans to ship the games later this year.

Following this week's news that Japan will be seeing a Wii version of Resident Evil 4, Capcom today officially announced the game for the North American market, along with finally making an official confirmation that the newly developed Wii title Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles will also be hitting North American retail shelves.

Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition is based on the GameCube version of the acclaimed Resident Evil 4, but also includes the additional content that was added in the PlayStation 2 version. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles aims to fill in the blanks behind the sinister doings of the series' infamous Umbrella Corporation, revising certain areas from past Resident Evil titles as well as locations not yet shown in the games. Unlike previous entries in the series, The Umbrella Chronicles makes use of a first person perspective in gameplay. Capcom sent along several initial screenshots.

"The innovative controller functionality of the Wii will allow us to design innovative, original game play never before seen in a Resident Evil game," said Capcom marketing director Jask Symon. "With RE4, we’re challenging the Wii hardware to meet Resident Evil, while in The Umbrella Chronicles, we’re adapting Resident Evil to the innovations of the Wii."

Capcom plans to ship Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition this summer, with Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles to follow at an announced date.

Namco Bandai sends word of a newly launched community website for CyberConnect2's .hack//G.U. franchise. The site is themed around the game's MMO-like environment of The World, created by the Altimit Corporation. .hack//G.U. vol. 2//Reminisce is set to launch for PlayStation 2 on May 8.

Insomniac has posted the third episode of the studio's Full Moon Show podcast, dubbed "Podcast Fad Will Fade!" Topics discussed include the upcoming Rachet & Clank Future, Resistance: Fall of Man, and an "I Want Your Job!" segment with Brian Hastings.

Koei, the prolific publisher best known for releasing Omega Force's Dynasty Warriors series and its spinoffs, today announced Opoona, an original RPG in the works for Wii. Developed by Japanese studio ArtePiazza, the science-fiction game tells the story of Opoona, a boy who must make a life on a new planet in search of his missing brother and sister, after his parents are hospitalized with critical injuries. Opoona appears to have nonlinear elements, with the player able to explore the planet Landroll and build a life there; Koei describes it as a "lifestyle RPG."

Opoona's battle system uses a control method by which players can set the trajectory of projectiles using the Wii's nunchuk. Apparently, the game will feature "one-thumb control" allowing players to perform all actions using only the nunchuk component of the controller.

Heading up direction of the game is Sachiko Sugimura, who has worked on numerous Dragon Quest titles. Music is being composed by Final Fantasy XII (PS2) composer Hitoshi Sakamoto. Shintaro Majima is providing the game's art direction; Koei sent along several pieces of Opoona's character artwork.

Koei expects to release Opoona in Japan this summer. No North American release has yet been announced.

Two years ago, Rockstar Games released a web-based music sequencer called Beaterator. Reception to the Flash application was apparently positive enough to create a commercial version, as today the publisher announced that Rockstar Leeds, the studio behind the two Grand Theft Auto PSP games, will be bringing Beaterator to Sony's portable system. Well-known producer Timbaland has been enlisted to contribute to the project in some way, but in true Rockstar style, today's press release was rather light on details.

"I've always been a huge fan of Rockstar and love playing their games," said Timbaland. "I'm thrilled to be partnering with them and making music for Beaterator. I cannot wait to get this in the hands of our fans!"

Like its online counterpart, the PSP version of Beaterator will contain loop-making and music mixing capabilities. Bringing it more in line with other portable titles, it will also feature challenge modes and a suite of mini-games.

Rockstar Games plans to ship Rockstar Leeds' Beaterator for PSP this summer.

Monolith Productions' well received Xbox 360 launch title Condemned: Criminal Origins performed well enough to get a PC port last year, and it looks like it may also have been successful enough to garner a sequel. Internet detectives have spotted Play.com product listing indicating the existence of a game called "Condemned 2." The only product-related details other than the title is a brief description: "A superb sequel of brilliantly brutal bloody hand to hand brawling..."

UK-based Play.com claims Condemned 2 will be released on November 30, 2007. Online retailers are rarely reliable sources for release dates months in advance, so that particular bit of information should be considered rumor. Still, while Condemned publisher Sega has refused to comment on the listing, retailers do tend to be fairly accurate in identifying the simple existence of upcoming games. A sequel to Condemned is likely to be officially announced in the coming months.

Prior to last year's E3, Namco Bandai Games slightly surprisingly announced that Culdcept Saga, Omiya Soft's Xbox 360 installment of the cult classic Culdcept franchise, would be coming to North America. Oddly, the game made no appearance at E3, but today Namco Bandai finally sent word that the game is expected to ship in North America this summer.

Like other games in the series, Culdcept Saga is a board game/card game hybrid and is frequently described as a meeting of Magic: The Gathering and Monopoly. This installment will include online support over Xbox Live.

"Namco Bandai is proud to bring such a unique concept to the Xbox Live community." said Namco Bandai executive VP Makoto Iwai. "It's the perfect blend of classic board games and modern competitive trading cards in one beautiful package!"

Last month, Activision revealed during a financial conference call that Toys for Bob's Wii launch title Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam would be ported to the still-strong PlayStation 2. A Nintendo DS version of the game developed by Vicarious Visions was also released.

Today, Activision offically confirmed plans to bring the game to PS2. The port will be handled by SuperVillain Studios, which has been responsible for ports of various Tony Hawk games in the past. It will be released in North America this spring.

Business publication Red Herring spoke this week to Atari founder and video game industry pioneer Nolan Bushnell about his current work on a high-tech restaurant venture. The interviewer was also sure to get Bushnell's opinion on the state of the games industry. Asked about what he is following, Bushnell commented on both Nintendo's and Microsoft's efforts. "I'm very curious and interested in the Nintendo Wii. I think it may expand the market beyond the hardcore [18- to 24-year old]," he said. "Xbox Live is interesting because it potentially becomes the platform for the living room." When asked specifically about his former company Atari, however, Bushnell was dismissive. "Atari really isn't a part of today's gaming world in any meaningful way. They lost the cachet of being a leading technology company in the games space," he said.

Asked about Sony, his reaction was also negative. "I think Sony shot themselves in the foot... there is a high probability [they] will fail," he answered. "The price point is probably unsustainable. For years and years Sony has been a very difficult company to deal with from a developer standpoint. They could get away with their arrogance and capriciousness because they had an installed base." Bushnell went on to unfavorable contrast Sony's development tools and strategy to Microsoft's development tools, which are frequently praised, and the revenue streams offered by Xbox Live Arcade and Xbox Live Marketplace. As for Sony's past and current success, Bushnell claimed it was largely an issue of being in the right place at the right time, and that the company was "almost the accidental winner."

Fans of Team17's long running Worms franchise have expressed frequent wishes that a 2D iteration of the series would one day make it to Xbox Live Arcade, and it looks like those wishes are soon to be granted. According to a Team17 employee on the official Team17 forums, Worms for Live Arcade is actually already in "final certification stages" and next the company will be discussing announcement plans with Microsoft. Given the long road that Live Arcade games seem to need to travel before release, it may be unrealistic the expect the game this year (the employee also mentioned that it will be delivering Lemmings 2 for PS3's download service first), but it's coming for sure.

Online retailer GameStop.com has revealed the full list of games and accessories included in its Wii preorder mandatory bundle. The whole package weighs in at $694.88 and includes the system and its included Wii Sports game, a 1GB SD card to augment the system's internal flash memory for game saves and downloadable content such as Virtual Console games, an additional remote controller, a 12 month GameStop warranty, a subscription to Game Informer, and six games: Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Atlus' Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Ubisoft Paris' Red Steel, Raven Software and Vicarious Visions' Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Sega Studios' Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz, and EA Tiburon and EA Canada's Madden NFL 2007.

Using the price points of each component as listed on the GameStop.com website, the bundle's total value comes to $669.89 without factoring in the year-long warranty. The difference between that combined price and the bundle price is $24.99, so if you consider that a reasonable price for a warranty and you want the six included games, you're all set.

The deal will be available for preorder only online from GameStop.com and EBGames.com starting tomorrow, November 9. The company has still not released details on its PlayStation 3 preorder bundle.

According to Electronic Arts representatives speaking to IGN, EA Canada's NBA Live 07, already released for PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP, and PC, has been cancelled for PlayStation 3. EA released one screenshot, explicitly labeled "Work in Progress," but has made few mentions of the game. PS3-owning NBA fans will still be able to pick up SCE Studios San Diego's NBA Live as well as Visual Concepts' NBA 2K7 at launch. The EA rep mentioned that EA Canada's NBA Street Homecourt will be coming to the system, as well as to Xbox 360, in 2007.

Despite reports last month that component video cables for Wii would be sold only through online retailers, IGN today reported that Nintendo has confirmed they will be sold in brick and mortar stores as well from launch day. Game Informer also published an interview with the same information, making it fairly likely that it is correct. Component cables are capable of transmitting a progressive scan signal, allowing the system to output in 480p.

A multiplayer demo of Capcom's Lost Planet (X360) has been expected for some time now, but has yet to show up on Xbox Live Marketplace. Judging by the presence of an ad insert in Epic's fellow Xbox 360 third person sci-fi shooter Gears of War, released this week, that demo should be here any day now. "Check Out Xbox Live Marketplace For New Multiplayer Demo!" the ad reads. While it's not there yet, expect it soon.

GamersReports has an interview with Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, speaking briefly on the company's recently announced video content coming to Xbox Live Marketplace. As the company has still yet to announce a larger hard drive, Greenberg has a suggestion for users looking for more space for those hefty videos: put your Xbox Live account on a memory unit, then you can swap between multiple 20GB Xbox 360 hard drives.

Last month, word got out that online gaming communication and tracking provider Xfire would be offering some kind of service for PlayStation 3, but details were hazy at the time. Today, the Viacom-owned company announced it will be offering its friend tracking and chat services as a PS3 middleware SDK that can be used by other developers if so desired. The first PS3 game to use Xfire will be Sony Online Entertainment's action/RPG launch title Untold Legends Dark Kingdom. Apparently, after logging into Sony's PS3 online service, players will also be able to log into an Xfire account for games that support the service. Messaging and chat seem to be available through both services, leaving it up to players to decide which service they prefer. One advantage of Xfire over the standard PlayStation Network Platform service is that it will allow PS3 Xfire users to communicate with PC Xfire users, similarly to the cross-platform PC/Xbox 360 interoperability with Microsoft's upcoming Live Anywhere service. However, it seems that Sony Online Entertainment's downloadable content will be available only through the PlayStation Network Platform and not Xfire, at least initially. Both GameSpot and IGN released interviews with Xfire CEO Mike Cassidy about the service's details.

Speaking to those publications, Cassidy made comments that many have interpreted as indicating that Xfire also has a Wii service in the works. He also more openly stated that the company has a working PS2 Xfire prototype, but had nothing official to announce as to that project's status. Asked by IGN whether Xfire would work with Microsoft or Nintendo, Cassidy responded, "Yes, we would like to work with both. Let's just say it is more likely we'll work with one of them than the other." Speaking to GameSpot, he was a little less cagey, admitting, "We are in talks with one other console maker." Given that Microsoft has run its own full featured proprietary online platform for several years on Xbox and Xbox 360 and is already gearing up for its cross-platform Live Anywhere, it seems more likely that Nintendo would be the company in question.

Japanese studio Level 5 has long been known for its RPG efforts on Sony platforms, being responsible for the Dark Cloud series (PS2), Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2) with Square-Enix, and the upcoming White Knight Story (PS3) and Jeanne d'Arc (PSP). Today, the company announced a new game that marks a deviation both in the company's usual platforms and genre. It is developing and publishing an adventure game for Nintendo DS entitled Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village; this will be Level 5's first self-published game.

Level 5 president, and frequent director and producer, Akihiro Hino will be heading up the game's development, while the game's puzzles will be supervised by mental training author Akira Tago. According to IGN, Level 5's Hino enjoyed Tago's books as a child, which led to Tago's involvement in this game.

Visually, the game seems to draw as much or more from European animation styles as from the Japanese anime traditional that has been associated with most of Level 5's work. The company has released a few initial screenshots and pieces of artwork. Interestingly, the official site announces a voice cast for the game, suggesting it will have a substantial amount of voice acting. The game tells the story of protagonist Ruke and the titular Professor Layton, who must visit a mysterious village (surprise) and uncover a hidden inheritance by way of solving the game's puzzles.

Level 5 plans to release the game to Japanese store shelves in February 2007. No North American release has been announced, but it is very unlikely the studio would self-publish abroad, and may be looking for a third party publishing deal.

Apparently confirming inferences dating back from last month, various publications are reporting on news from Japanese publication Famitsu that PlayStation 3, both in its 20GB and 60GB hard drive incarnations, will come bundled only with a composite video cable, and not a component video cable or an HDMI cable. This makes the "premium" Xbox 360 model the only next-gen console confirmed to ship with component cables. However, in a nice touch, PS3 will accept the same multi A/V out cable as its predecessor PS2, meaning that if you're got PS2 component cables lying around, you'll be all set to run your PS3 in HD.

Yesterday, Nintendo held a Japanese event focused around announcements for the upcoming Wii launch. The conference was intended for retailers, and thus was more concerned with discussing accessory availability and pricing information than with game announcements. The company released a list of cables and other extra components to be made available when the machine launches in Japan.

Several A/V output cables were confirmed. All prices given are for the Japanese market. As previously revealed, the system will ship with a composite video cable; replacements can be purchased for 1000 yen ($8.38). S-Video and Component cables will also be available for 2500 yen ($20.95) each. Finally, a D-Cable, which is unlikely to be sold in North America, will be available for the same price.

Nintendo will be offering a branded 512MB SD card for 3800 yen ($31.84), though it is worth noting that it is simply a standard SD card and players will be able to buy third party cards, likely for significantly fewer yen/dollars per megabyte.

For users who do not have a wi-fi network to get Wii online, Nintendo will offer an ethernet adapter for 2800 yen ($23.46). The system can also get an internet connection through the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector, released earlier for Nintendo DS.

Nintendo has announced initial details for a series of events in Japan that will feature playable Wii and Nintendo DS consoles open to the public in major cities. Tokyo Game Show is known for being a big industry event that is open to the public, but Nintendo does not generally attend TGS, making this a major opportunity for the Japanese public to try out the device before its December launch in Japan. Nintendo World 2006, as the tour has been dubbed, will travel to Nagoya on November 3, Osaka on November 12, and Tokyo from November 25 to 26.

In line with its professed goal to bring gaming to new audiences, the company also released a series of video clips under the heading "Wii Experience," showing individuals and couples from countries throughout the world trying various Wii Sports titles for the first time.

Yesterday's one-day PS3 preorder rush at EB and GameStop retail locations apparently turned out rather like a console launch itself, with many gamers lining up for hours waiting for stores to open and begin accepting reservations for the upcoming console. Of course, following such shenanigans, numerous PS3 eBay listings have popped up, promising bidders the chance to be the first with Sony's next-gen console for the low low price of two to ten times the suggested retail value. At time of writing, "Buy it Now" prices start at $1,200, and some auctions run as high as $5,000 for a minimum starting bid. Many PS3 auctions have already been won.

PlayStation 3 goes on sale in North America on November 17, at $499 for a 20GB hard drive model and $599 for a 60GB hard drive model. Sony expects to ship only 400,000 units to North America, which is likely a strong factor in the high reseller asking prices.

Nintendo today revealed launch date and pricing information for the remaining major gaming territories, following this week's earlier announcements of the system's North and South American and Japanese launch details. After launching in the Americas on November 19 and Japan on December 2, the system will reach Australia on December 7 for a retail price of AU$399.95 (US$301.32). Europe will follow on December 8 for GBP 179 (US$336.73) and 249 Euros (US$316.33). Nintendo also revealed the system's Canadian launch price of CA$279.95 (US$250.40). Interestingly, this actually puts the machine at an initial price of CA$20 less than its predecessor GameCube, which launched in Canada at CA$299.95 (US$268.29).

Shacknews has also received official comment from Nintendo in regards to certain Wii details that have seen various conflicting reports in recent days, thanks to inconsistent statements by Nintendo executives. A Nintendo representative stated that, contrary to a report from CNet, Wii will not be bundled with component video cables but rather will include composite cables. Component cables will be available separately. Nintendo also clarified that, contrary to statements made by Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan, first party software will indeed be region encoded.

One odd bit of news regarding Wii is that the system's Opera-developed web browser will be a free download via the system's Wii Shop Channel--but only until June 2007. At that point, the software must be purchased. No price was revealed.

Nintendo's official site now lists the full slate of Wii Channels:

- Mii Channel, used to create and store caricatured models of the system owner and his or her friends, which can also be loaded onto a Wii remote for transportation.
- Photo Channel, used to view, sort, and edit digital photos, and create slideshows.
- Forecast Channel, which reports global weather forecastsusing a Google Earth-like interface.
- News Channel, with up to date global news broken into various categories.
- Wii Shop Channel, where users purchase Virtual Console games and can download software such as the Opera web browser.
- Virtual Console Channel, from which Virtual Console games are launched.
- Internet Channel, used to browse the internet with the Opera software; Nintendo was sure to note that the browser supports Flash and Ajax, in case you were wondering.
- Wii Message Board, from which users can send messages and photos to other Wii users, as well as to cell phones. Users can also leave local messages to those within their own household, essentially serving as an electronic corkboard or refrigerator door. This is also the channel through which the always-on WiiConnect24 service can seamlessly deliver downloadable content to games while the system is powered off.
- Disc Channel, simply used to launch the Wii or GameCube game inserted into the system's disc drive.

Nintendo has provided a list of 50 Wii games--41 of which are from third parties--known to be hitting North America by March 31, 2007, which also happens to be the date by which the company plans to have shipped 6 million consoles worldwide. Of these games, 21 are currently expected to launch with the system. Obviously, both lists are still subject to change as developers announce more titles and others inevitably delay some. Launch titles are as follows, prefaced by developer and followed by publisher; no developer is listed when that information has not been released:

- Monster Games' Excite Truck (Nintendo)
- Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)
- Nintendo's Wii Sports (Nintendo)
- Treyarch's Call of Duty 3 (Activision)
- Raven Software and Vicarious Visions' Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Activision)
- Rapala Tournament Fishing (Activision)
- Toys for Bob's Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (Activision)
- World Series of Poker (Activision)
- Atlus' Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Atlus)
- EA Canada's Madden NFL 07 (EA Sports)
- EA Black Box's Need for Speed Carbon (EA Black Box)
- Konami's Elebits (Konami)
- Amusement Vision's Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz (Sega)
- Ubisoft Romania's Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII (Ubisoft)
- Ubisoft Montreal's Far Cry Vengeance (Ubisoft)
- MTO's GT Pro Series (Ubisoft)
- Monster 4x4 World Circuit (Ubisoft)
- Ubisoft Montreal's Open Season (Ubisoft)
- Ubisoft Montpellier's Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft)
- Ubisoft Paris' Red Steel (Ubisoft)
- Ubisoft Montreal's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (Ubisoft)

Microsoft and developer Blueside today announced that Blueside's previously-announced Kingdom Under Fire game for Xbox 360 and PC is now an Xbox 360 exclusive. Kingdom of Fire: Circle of Doom, expected to release worldwide in early 2007. Blueside is largely comprised of core team members from Phantagram's epic RTS franchise Kingdom Under Fire, and most recently developed Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes (Xbox). This game deviates somewhat from the series' established conventions, spinning off the KUF universe into an action RPG containing randomly generated environments and dungeon crawling, as well as online cooperative play. The trademark enormous masses of enemies will, however, carry over. "Finally, the world will be able to see what to expect of Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom," said Blueside VP S.D. Kim. "I think its innovative use of technology and new features that we kept up our sleeves will be pleasant surprises for all the gamers out there."

Seaman (DC, PS2) developer Vivarium has officially announced details on its upcoming Seaman 2 (PS2). Surprisingly, the upcoming incarnation of the bizarre backtalking life sim features a substantially different creature than the original game. Rather than a grumpy human-faced fish, Seaman 2 features a caveman, of all things. Publisher Sega is expected to show the game at next week's Tokyo Game Show.

Former Square Enix designer Yasumi Matsuno is known for his directorial roles on Ogre Battle (NES, PS1, SAT), Tactics Ogre (SNES, PS1, SAT), Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1), and Vagrant Story (PS1). More recently, he was directing Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII (PS2) but left Square Enix and the project before its completion, and apparently disappeared from public view. Matsuno resurfaced this week in a video interview shown at Nintendo's Japanese press event. 1UP has translations of statements made by the developer, indicating that he is currently working on a Wii project. "The Wii controller makes total sense when you think about FPS-like games, but my question was, will the controls fit other existing games?" he noted. "However, when I first tried Mario Galaxy, I realized that the controller fit the game almost scarily well. It allows you to intuitively feel the game and its atmosphere." Given his extensive history as a director of roleplaying games, it seems likely that Matsuna's Wii game is an RPG, but no details were given. It is unknown what studio is developing the title.

Developer Hudson Soft today announced that it is currently developing eight games for Wii. The titles have only been officially confirmed for Japanese release, though given that the announcement was also parotted by the company's US division, it seems likely that some of the games will find their way to North American shores. Hudson's lineup ranges from simple puzzle games, to more fully fleshed titles, to games with no English description. The full list is as follows (all dates currently pertain only to Japan):

- Batinda (Feb. 2007)
- Bomberman Land (working title) (Mar. 2007)
- Crossword (Mar. 2007)
- Fishing Master (working title) (launch)
- Jigsaw Puzzle (Mar. 2007)
- Korinpa (TBA): A Marble Madness-like game with world-tilt control similar to Monkey Ball
- Sudoku (launch)
- Wing Island (working title) (TBA): Hudson's "Flight Game" first announced just prior to E3

Hudson has also stated that it is currently planning at least 30 TurboGrafx-16 games for Wii's Virtual Console, with multiple titles coming at launch.

A variety of online reports tracking back to Japanese investment bank Nikko Citigroup report that the firm issued a report this week claiming that Nintendo has secured a better than anticipated manufacturing cost for the Wii's Broadway CPU. The firm now expects a retail price of 19,800 yen ($170.07) in Japan, significantly lower than Nikko Citigroup's previous expectation of 25,000 yen ($214.74). This is at odds with last week's rumors from IGN, which pegged the console's US price as $229. Even if Nikko Citigroup's information is correct, it is very likely that the console's price in the United States would be $199.

Nintendo was not available for comment at press time.

Recently, Ubisoft announced that it would be bringing Ubisoft Romania's Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII (Xbox, X360, PC) to Wii at the system's launch. Today, Ubisoft announced that the combat sim will also be part of the launch lineup for Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3, which goes on sale November 17, 2006 in North America. The PS3 version of the game will include new missions, a 16-player mode, and control that takes advantage of the PS3 controller's tilt functionality.

GamesIndustry.biz has part 1 and part 2 of an interview with Eidos' product acquisition director Ian Livingstone. The exec noted that Eidos will be supporting all three next generation consoles and had positive words for each, pointing out that Microsoft "has obviously got a 12 month head start on the competition" with Xbox 360 and Nintendo has a "cheaper priced product that concentrates on gameplay above all else" in Wii, but his most glowing praise was saved for PlayStation 3. "It's extraordinary quality, that's the starting point," he said about the Blu-ray technology used by PS3, then went on to the console itself. "If people are seeking the ultimate machine, the PS3 is clearly the best spec machine as far as next-gen goes. As with all things in life, you have to pay for quality," he said. "It is absolutely beautiful to look at and you are getting virtual interactive cinema in the comfort of your own home. It's a very compelling selling point and Sony just has to educate people that yes, it's a lot of money, but it'll be worth it."

Livingstone spoke enthusiastically about the continued appeal of Eidos' gaming icon Lara Croft. In addition to mentioning that Eidos has further Tomb Raider games in development, he revealed that the publisher is currently speaking to Paramount about a third Tomb Raider film. The executive also made the rather curious claim that Lara Croft is more famous than Nintendo mascot Mario, due to her ability to break beyond "the games niche...thanks to two blockbuster films" as well as her appeal to females as well as males.

Microsoft sent out a press release last night detailing its short term release plans for Xbox Live Arcade. Next up will be Texas Hold 'em, releasing Wednesday, August 23, 2006. Interestingly, the game will be free for its first two days on Xbox Live Marketplace. Starting Friday, August 25, the game will have a standard price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10). The game has support for up to eight players via Live, leaderboards and Achievements as expected from a Live title, and three gameplay modes: Standard, Scenarios, and Tournaments.

The company also announced a few more upcoming Live Arcade releases. Today, four gamer picture packs for Ninjabee's Cloning Clyde will be released for 100 Microsoft Points ($1.25) each. On Wednesday, August 30, Konami will release a remade version of its 1982 fighter jet arcade title Time Pilot, featuring updated graphics and gameplay. It will run 400 Microsoft Points ($5). On September 6, Konami will release another one of its arcade classics, the sidescrolling shooter Scramble. It too will run 400 Microsoft Points ($5), and it seems that it will be presented in its original form.

According to comments made by Nintendo VP of marketing George Harrison made in a web chat on Nintendo's Camp Hyrule, the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, GCN) will not feature support for the GameCube controller as previously believed. "The GCN controller will be able to play the GCN version on the Wii console, but will not be able to play the Wii version," said Harrison. This is at odds with comments made by Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan during E3 implying that the Wii version of the game would support the GameCube controller via the system's legacy controller ports.

In regards to whether Wii's Virtual Console service would support newly developed games in addition to classic titles, Harrison confirmed that it will, though his comments seemed to indicate that such games may not be coming until after launch. Interestingly, he also indicated that there are further properties of the Virtual Console service that have not yet been announced. "Remember, there are other secrets of the virtual console that we won’t reveal until we get closer to launch," he stated.

IGN has an interview about Vicarious Visions' Wii version of Raven Software's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Wii, also PS2, Xbox, GCN, PS3, X360, NDS, PSP, GBA, PC) with producer Evan Skolnick.