Advtg writes "Ars Technica has a great review of the Gameboy Micro, which is now shipping in North America. The thing is amazingly small, but it looks as though worries about the screen being too small and too dim aren't true. But will it sell? From the review: 'You'd think at this point the portable market would just be saturated with Nintendo products, and the Micro carries a price tag of US$99.99. For just US$30 more you can get a DS, and for US$20 less you can get an SP with the newly brightened screen. It occupies somewhat of an awkward place in terms of price point and features.'"

Via Joystiq, a report that in-game advertising works quite well. From the article: "A new study released on Monday found that in-game ad campaigns resulted in a 60 percent increase in awareness of new brands. The study, commissioned by in-game ad creators Double Fusion and carried out by Nielsen Interactive Entertainment, tested various forms of ads in the PC game 'Metro3D.' And while the study reported some differences in the effectiveness of animated and static ads, Double Fusion's co-founder, Guy Bendov, said the results weren't what he had expected."

Edge Online has a piece talking with two of the men behind the classic games of Taito company, makers of Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble. From the article: "Q: How difficult was it to make the game back then? A: It was very a difficult process. The hardest part was the development of a microcomputer. Microcomputers were hardly used at that time in Japan, so we had to create one from scratch. I could almost say developing the microcomputer was harder than developing the game itself. These days, we have personal computers to rely on, but there was no programming environment back then. So I had to create everything by myself. I created a development device, wrote a part of the game that runs on it, and then created more devices along the way."

GameDailyBiz has some coverage of the PS3 and Revolution, to contrast with the avalanche of 360 information in advance of the console's launch in November. First up is a look at how making fun of the King of Kings may have been a bad decision. From the article: "Moving from the theological to the practical implications of Sony's snafu, the company couldn't have picked a worse time to offend its customers ... Sony has already conceded a six-month head start to competitor Microsoft in the upcoming market-share battle for the next generation of game consoles. Microsoft's Xbox 360 is expected to debut this fall; Sony's PlayStation 3 will not arrive until the spring of 2006." Meanwhile, Jim Merrick of Nintendo Europe has thoughts on marketing, online play, and the Revolution's potential. From the article: "If we follow what Iwata-san calls 'the past success formula', if we keep refining the existing model - more power, more pixels, more polygons, more levels, more enemies, better AI - we're actually making the games for a narrower audience playing those kind of intense games. We need to take a step back and refocus on a broad audience where we reach to everybody otherwise we're going to see the market start shrinking - as we're already seeing in Japan." Finally, Joystiq interviews Miyamoto, and he says wacky stuff. Who would have guessed?

StocDred writes "GamesIndustry.biz has an interview with Microsoft's Robbie Bach stating that Halo 3 may not be out in time to smackdown the PS3 after all, despite what Bill Gates said to Time Magazine in May." He also had things to say about the Live marketplace and MMO plug-ins and their hopes for Japanese success. From the Gamasutra article: "Finally, Bach gave details on anticipated MMORPGs for the Xbox 360. The already-announced Final Fantasy XI will have a large beta test, such that any Xbox 360 owner with the necessary hard drive will possibly be able to participate. Apart from that, Bach said there would be no new MMORPG in the launch window due to the logistics of setting up a new service, but there would be a new entry in the genre two to three years after launch." Several MMOs are planned, though, such as the MMOFPS Huxley.

Muddie writes "According to an article at The Inquirer, Duke Nukem Forever has a release date set at Amazon.Com UK for December 2, 2005. According to the article: 'We don't believe that Amazon plans to trick its customers - it's not its style and the customers can sue if it fails. The game is listed as a 24.99 title and we are surely thrilled if this all comes true.' Could it be true, or is the sky just falling again?" Big grain of salt with this one.

e03179 writes "According to Reuters, 'the Oscar-winning creative team behind the The Lord of the Rings films, including director Peter Jackson, has been named to run the production of the upcoming film based on Microsoft Corp.'s blockbuster Halo video game, the company said on Tuesday.' The film will be shot in New Zealand and Jackson's production and post-production studios will be used. World-wide release is set for mid-2007 by Fox and Universal. The then rumor was started by Gamespot two weeks ago and was previously covered by Slashdot." Okay, *now* I'm interested. More details available on the Bungie site.

IGN is reporting on The State of the Xbox 360, detailing information on the next-gen console since this past E3. From the article: "Coming into the home stretch here, it's clear Microsoft has had its fair share of problems. The MTV event, though brilliantly conceived, was a hype-without-substance infomercial that impressed nobody, especially the most important people -- gamers. At the actual MTV event, I did an informal poll which revealed that three-fourths of the people attending were there only to see the Killers. E3 was underwhelming to put it mildly, and the summer months proved to be vacant of everything but rumors, leaks, and more rumors and leaks. The Tokyo Game show helped Microsoft's cause a little, and Microsoft finally revealed its Japanese pricing and the worldwide release dates, leaving one major news announcement left open - the day-and-date launch games. Apparently, Microsoft and friends are still working on these last details."

Gamespot's Rumor Control column this week handles the usual spurious talk that swirls around the game news sites. One (sadly) factual rumour they report on details gamer-hunting lawyer Jack Thompson's new role as a lawmaker. From the article: "Repeatedly, Thompson has called for states to pass laws criminalizing the sale of M-for-Mature rated games to minors. Now it appears he may get the chance to pen such a law himself. In an e-mail sent out Thursday, Thompson says he has 'been asked by the Office of the Governor of the State of Florida, Jeb Bush, to draft and submit to him and to Florida legislators a bill that will prohibit the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.' ... When queried by GameSpot for more details, he would only say that he is the only person thus far who has been asked to submit a bill to the governor's office about M-rated game sales. He did not offer details about what kind of penalties the bill would prescribe for offenders or whether or not said penalties would be imposed solely on the clerks selling the games or also on the establishment selling the game and/or the game's publisher."

Gamasutra reports that the fund raising we mentioned recently was successful; Gamestop has raised more than $900 Million for the merger with Electronic Boutique. Further, the deal is set to go forward at the end of this month. If it doesn't, the funds will be returned. From the article: "The gross proceeds of the offering were placed into escrow and will be released to the issuers, less applicable discounts, in connection with the closing of the business combination. In the event the business combination does not close by October 31, 2005, the notes will be redeemed."

Game Girl Advance has an intriguing screed from an EA designer who has a lot to say about what went wrong with the Marvel title "Rise of the Imperfects". From the article: "When you make games for a living, sometimes you play games for fun, and sometimes you play games for research. If you're not playing Marvel Nemesis for research, there really isn't much point to it, I'm afraid. This game shows a lot of signs of being forced out the door before it was ready, which is a fairly common trait of the first game in a new genre for a developer. I'm going to step through my impressions of the game: what didn't work, what did work, and what I'd like to see expanded upon and improved if EA or Nihilistic ever tries to do another fighter in a similar mold (which I wouldn't be opposed to, honestly)." Shocking to see such honest talk from a member of the developing company.

Bungie's weekly update is always an interesting read, but this week they have a hint at a surprise to come next week. From the update: "Oh. Keep your eyes peeled next week for a surprising, cool, awesome Bungie-related announcement. No it is not Halo 3, nor is it the surprise revelation of our next project (whatever that may be) but it's sweet. It's something I've hinted at in the past. And you'll probably like it. More than that I can't say. Which even I know is aggravating. But it ain't up to me. So just be patient." News site pundits seem to think this may be a revelation that a Halo character may be in DOA 4. Guess we'll find out next week. Update: 10/04 20:00 GMT by Z : Well, that didn't take long. A Halo character *is* going to be in DOA4, and Peter Jackson is set to produce the Halo movie.

Mogg writes "GamerGod.com has a new article up entitled "The People Vs. Common Sense, A Citizen's View at Michigan's SB-0146 Law," commenting on the new Michigan state video game law. "Have we made absolutely certain books and movies are not degrading the minds of our children and video games and all computerized representation of violent and sexual acts are the cause of an increase of depraved sociopaths??" Very nicely written piece.

John Callaham writes to tell us that Gamecloud is heralding the latest release from Torc Interactive and AMD. The latest demos for the upcoming FPS, Dreadnought, have been released. The first is strictly a gameplay movie while the other gives a comparison between the game running on a 64 bit processor (which it was ultimately designed for) and a 32 bit processor.

zborgerd writes "Linux Game Publishing has announced the opening of their beta test for X2: The Threat. X2 was featured on Slashdot last month in LGP's mystery game contest. Linux gamers can apply for the beta at LGP's beta testing site. Per their usual policy, everyone who pre-orders the game from one of their resellers is automatically qualified to enter the beta test. X2: The Threat is Egosoft's epic space simulation that is often said to be greatly influenced by the the classic games of the Elite series. A third game in the series, X3: Reunion, will soon be available for Windows (and hopefully Linux and OS X as well, if the X2 ports attract a reasonable number of fans on these platforms)."

lrnzcpmn writes "Today, the world champion chess program Schredder released a version for Mac and Linux. This is important because it is the first time a major software player in the chess world has released a version of its chess engine for Linux and the general public. You can download a demo version on shredderchess.com."

Appropriate considering the PS1's 10 year anniversary, the PlayStation has been awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Technology and Advanced New Media. Eurogamer reports: 'When the concept for PlayStation was in its infancy in the early 1990s, we had a dream to elevate the quality of computer graphics from a 2D-based environment to a rich, realistic 3D experience,' said uberbigwig Ken Kutaragi. 'At the same time, we intended to bring in a new form of entertainment through the living room in a manner that would allow people all over the world to enjoy the pleasures of interactive entertainment ... Even with this lofty goal in mind, the achievement and market acceptance for PlayStation have exceeded my wildest expectations. We are honoured to be awarded a prestigious Emmy to commemorate the significant role PlayStation played in creating a new computer entertainment world."

GameDailyBiz is reporting that Square Enix is looking to expand further into the online and mobile markets. While they already have an MMOG (FFXI) and a mobile game (Before Crisis), they see those markets as moneymakers for the future. From the article: "Although there seems to be no indication that Square Enix will be attempting to shift away from its core competency of small and large-scale console RPGs, the company is looking to further invest itself in the rapidly growing wireless and online sectors. Wada specifically pointed to Japanese financial realities almost requiring involvement in the wireless market, and when wireless numbers are included with the traditional console figures, the Japanese video game industry actually isn't in a recession at all. 'Running a business that depends on the software sales through retailers has become a thing of the past,' Wada told Yomiuri."

Gamespot is reporting that Xbox chief officer Robbie Bach expects half of all Xbox 360 owners to use the Live service. From the article: "Bach confirmed that currently, only 10 percent of Xbox owners--some 2 million users--subscribe to Xbox Live. With the addition of the free 'Silver' version of Xbox Live, Bach believes that about 50 percent of the console's owners will go online via the 360. However, they will still have to pay to play games online via the new Xbox Live Gold."

Via Edge Online, the word from Mercury News that Cyan Worlds is actually not so dead after all. They closed up shop earlier this month, but it looks like they're back from the grave. From the article: "I was about to prepare the company's obituary. But Cyan isn't dead yet. I sent an e-mail off to Rand and he answered, 'We've had a reprieve. Managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat (that I can't give details about yet), so we rehired almost everybody. Crazy industry. It's giving me whiplash!' This company has had an incredible run since Miller and his younger brother Robyn founded it in 1987. They created 'The Manhole,' the first game on a CD-ROM. And in 1991, they began work on Myst. They released it on Sept. 24, 1993, and they changed the gaming world."