Patrick Caldwell writes "Game Developer magazine recently released a list of the top 20 video game publishers. EA, Activision, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony are the first five, as could probably have been predicted." From the article: " For the third year in a row, Electronic Arts (EA) has grabbed the top slot on the "Top 20 Publishers" chart. EA reached an annual revenue of more than $3.1 billion, continued high output and received positive average reviews for its titles. However, the company faced some serious competition from fellow publishers like Activision, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, all of whom had very strong showings this year and rounded out the top 5 in that order."

ThatWeasel writes "It was announced on /. almost two months ago and now, finally, the 3rd Annual 'Rockets on Prisoner' Awards have announced this year's Winners. Several video segments have been produced documenting the Nominees and Winners, along with the acceptance speeches from the lucky few who will be receiving golden Master Chief statues for their excellent work in Machinima. With awards Ceremonies like this, who needs the Oscars?"

TossCobble asks: "With table-top roleplaying giant Wizards of the Coast (makers of Dungeons & Dragons, for those not in the know) broadcasting an open call for adventure designers and developers (including an entertaining developer test to gauge your own game-design talent and knowledge), I found myself once again considering the odd appeal of gaming for us programming types. It's interesting that something so free-form-ishly creative, socially dynamic, and utterly fantastical be fun for folks so grounded in logical programming. Of course, my theory is that gaming and programming actually have more in common than we might think. Tabletop roleplaying involves coming up with creative solutions to problems set in a clearly-defined ruleset, involve constant data-tracking and minor mathematical equations, and involve working together with small groups of people toward like-minded goals. Conversely, love of roleplaying can illustrate how important creativity is to good programming. What do you think?"

Gamasutra reports that a new iteration of the PS2 hardware experiences issues with certain games, both from this and the last generation. From the article: "The listed games will only be affected on new models of the system, starting with the Satin Silver slimline PS2, so far announced only for Japan. Whether the SCPH-75000 model will eventually be the standard for all production PS2s is unknown, but Sony advises those wanting a thinner system which can play the aforementioned games to get a 70000 or above."

Gamespot is reporting that Jack has taken his beef to the Feds regarding the dangerous pixelantes over at Penny Arcade. From the article: "In a letter addressed to John McKay, US Attorney for the Western District of Washington, and sent to media outlets, Thompson this morning said the site was using a variety of means 'to encourage and solicit criminal harassment' of him. Thomspon wrote to McKay, 'Please help me if you can,' but did not include specific actions he wished to have taken against the site. McKay's office prosecutes cases investigated by several law enforcement agencies in Western Washington, including the FBI." PvP is also running a parody indicating that Jack has appealed to the Justice League for assistance with Gabe and Tycho.

1up.com is running a feature on the now on-the-way-out PlayStation 2, exploring the hardware, the regional launches, and the hype. From the article: "Gamers were given a chance to see the machine in action for themselves almost exactly a year after its unveiling. Tens of thousands of Japanese gamers lined up across the country the evening of March 3, 2000, hoping for a chance to get their hands on the system. In just 48 hours, nearly 1 million PS2s were sold to giddy consumers, making it 10 times as successful as its predecessor. Its initial price was ¥39,800, roughly $360-slightly expensive, but actually a little cheaper than the price the original PlayStation launched at."

jZnat writes "Although we all know that Microsoft hates Blu-Ray, Bill Gates doesn't seem to like HD-DVD either. Primarily, it seems, because Mr. Gates believes media storage on hard drives is likely to be the default standard sooner rather than later. From the interview: 'Well, the key issue here is that the protection scheme under Blu-Ray is very anti-consumer and there's not much visibility of that. The inconvenience is that the [MPAA] got too much protection at the expense of consumers and it won't work well on PCs. You won't be able to play movies and do software in a flexible way.'"

Amid a lot of talk about how games can affect us emotionally, Lara Crigger at Gamers With Jobs reminds us how a simple trail of blood can affect us if it's couched in the right surroundings. From the article: "Hojo's Lab shows signs of struggle. Shards of glass are everywhere, and lying a few feet from the dais is a mutilated guard. The door to the holding tank is gone, ripped aside and crushed like so much paper; in its place glows a strange Mako light that is simultaneously pink and green. But Jenova - Jenova has evaporated, disappeared but not without a trace: she has crawled out of the laboratory, onto the elevator, and up, and up, and up, leaving behind a wide and thick river of dried blood. I know I have to follow. I do not want to."

CliffyB talks with the fine folks at Gamasutra about the upcoming 360 title Gears of War. Besides some interesting insights into the game, they talk about the designer's game philosophy and the next generation of games. From the article: "No, we're not making Knights Of The Old Republic or anything here. Who these characters are is largely pre-defined, as far as Marcus being an anti-hero, and Dom being his buddy. Part of it is just my own game design philosophy because, for me, whenever I play those games, I always go evil. And I have a feeling that if they made those games, if you could only choose the dark path, and you only thought you could choose the light path, nobody would notice, because it seems to me that everyone who goes for the Force chokes."

The Washington Post has a piece discussing the suck that is a movie based on a videogame. From the article: "At the heart of this competitive marriage is this question: How do you successfully turn an interactive experience (playing an Xbox game) into a passive one (watching a movie version of an Xbox game)? For whatever reasons, the recent crop of video game movies -- including 2003's 'House of the Dead' and this year's 'Alone in the Dark,' both helmed by the German director Uwe Boll -- have consistently disappointed gamers. Someone even started a Web site called Uwebollsucks.com. Is it for real? A joke? No one is sure."

In a bid to prove that a television show besides X-Play can talk cogently about gaming, the BBC has offered a television show to the creators of online gaming zine Consolevania. GameDailyBiz has a plethora of details about Consolevania, which is well worth checking out before their BBC show, videoGaiden, takes off. From the most recent episode: "An uncensored and hilarious review of Leisure Suit Larry is followed by a darkly offensive Hitler Dreamcast makeover segment, a dance sequence, a poignant riff on MMORPG gaming and quite certainly the greatest parody of Nu-School journalism ever distributed via Bittorrent. The final sketch alone is worth the massive download."

Gamasutra is reporting that Sony's PSP Handheld has hit 10 Million units shipped. From the article: "Broken down into regions, Asia (including Japan) has shipped 3 million units, North America 4.47 million, and Europe and other PAL regions 2.53 million. However, Sony's use of statistics for shipped units can be a little confusing to some, since these figures do vary significantly to the amount of units thus far sold in stores. Nonetheless, citing shipment numbers for consoles is common practice within the game industry, and is carried out by all three major console manufacturers."

I was waiting for more news on it before posting, so I imagine some of you are already aware of the screenshots and news of the first World of Warcraft expansion out there in the wild. Voodoo Extreme has the highlights, and Joystiq is carrying some beautiful screenshots. So far the three features that have my eyebrows raised are: Blood Elves as a new playable Horde race, a high level Flying Mount for the Outlands, and (most exciting) cross-server Battlegrounds. This last would be a huge boon for the currently questionable organized PvP play, and I really hope they swing it.

Late in September we gave you the chance to put your questions to eminent game designer Sid Meier, the man behind the Civilization series. Creator of a series that has squandered the spare time of many a reader of this site, he took time out of the Civ IV release window to hand us back some thoughtful responses to your queries. Read on for the results of "Ask Sid Meier".

News from all over seems to indicate that Blu-Ray has been accepted by entertainment media groups. wingman358 writes "The technology research group 'Forrester Research' has declared the Sony-led next generation Blu-Ray format the winner over HD-DVD, led by Microsoft. Forrester Research analyst Ted Schadler says, 'After a long and tedious run up to launch, it is now clear to Forrester that the Sony-led Blu-Ray format will win.'" Meanwhile, the format continues to improve. mimio writes "Hewlett-Packard Co. on Wednesday raised the stakes in a battle between high-definition DVD formats by urging a group led by Sony Corp. to include features important to PC makers and users." Finally, Tibor the Hun writes "Apparently Warner has switched from backing HD-DVD to Blu-Ray. What impact might this have on Microsoft's decision to use HD-DVD on the Xbox 360?"

Next Generation has a piece wondering if the ESRB should step down in favour of an independent board, to restore the faith of consumers in the game ratings system. They talk with a company that proposes just that, wanting to substitute a new system for the current model. From the article: "Profanity Sex Violence (PSV) Ratings differ from the ESRB in that they describe levels of sex, violence and profanity in games (using a traffic light system) instead of judging a game to be appropriate for a certain age."

Crusader writes "id Software has released the Linux client and server for Quake 4. There's a FAQ page with installation instructions, notes, and download links."

hattan writes "Wal-Mart has playable Xbox 360s on display with demos of Call of Duty 2, Kameo, and King Kong. Joystiq has a look at what the setup looks like, with a rundown on locations where you can play." Gamespot provides more details on the setup, including the news that you'll be able to download content from these kiosks once the systems are on the shelves. Unrelatedly, but interestingly, Xbox.com has revealed a deep level of interconnection with the new gamer card system between the 360, Xbox Live, and Xbox.com. You'll apparently be able to look at your gamer card on the web, because Microsoft likes value adding stuff.

Thumpah writes "J, the Damned Vulpine, has just posted a report on the inequality panel from the latest meeting of the Austin Game Developers group. The panel consisted of Sheri Graner Ray of Sony Online Entertainment's Austin studio, Ellen Hobbs of Amaze, Chris Smith of Lois Earl Entertainment, Denise Fulton of Midway Austin, Matt Crump of Amaze, Suzanne Freyjadis-Chuberka of the Women's Game Conference, and Susan O'Conner (a freelance game author) to moderate the panel. He ties the discussion in with the recent IDGA Game Developer Demographics Report."

An anonymous reader writes "Trip Hawkins, founder of EA, sent in a hilarious two page letter to the editor in response to last week's Trip Hawkins is the Antichrist article in the Escapist. Among the Tripisms is a call for the Garriotts to stop being self-righteous about lawsuits and just 'play the game...'" From the article: "This article comes as a bit of a surprise to me. Not the lead quote, because my success with EA did indeed unnerve many competitors who wanted to externalize blame for their problems. But disparaging my commitment to quality, putting words in my mouth, and saying they never would have sold the company if I had been involved - these inaccuracies paint a very wrong picture."