An anonymous reader writes "CNN's excellent Game Over column brings word that Best Buy has begun selling used games in select locations as part of a test program. If successful, all of the store's 700 stores could begin doing so in the not-too-distant future. Not so happy about this are developers, including Epic's Mark Rein, who resurrects his 'no used game sales' argument, saying 'To have them resell the games, with developers having no participation, that's just wrong. That's just fleecing us.'"

Katamari. Since the launch of the original title, it's been a hat, a cake, and now it's another game. Even then, saying it is another game is a stretch. For the most part the aptly titled We Love Katamari is a mission pack for the original game with an expanded multiplayer component. I don't really care, and anyone who has had the chance to play the original isn't likely to care either. The game is pure PS2 gold, just as much fun as the first foray into star-making. We Love Katamari is pure fan service from the man who doesn't even like games that much anyway. Read on for my impressions of the sequel to the original star-creation-through-rolling simulator.

Kimi writes "1up.com had a whole week of Team Ninja coverage the past few days, with exclusive screenshots and a discussion with Tomonobu Itagaki about the Reinvention of DOA. They also looked into DOAX2, Ninja Gaiden 2 on Xbox 360, an exclusive opening cinematic of DOA4, and punky short film created by Itagaki."

QT writes "Ars Technica has been following this week's next-gen DVD dramas closely. First, there's extensive coverage of the reasons why Microsoft backed HD-DVD, which was primarily inspired by mandatory support for copying discs to computers. The BDA, however, countered with an attack on Microsoft's reasons, and Microsoft returned fire. Richard E. Doherty, Microsoft's head of the media entertainment technology convergence group, said that 50GB Blu-ray disc are in fact many years away. Is MS playing games, or is Sony misrepresenting just how far along BD-ROM really is?" From the article: "HD DVD is proven to deliver 30GB capacity today, with the potential to deliver even greater capacity. The 50GB claim for BD-ROM discs is unproven and will not be available for many years to come, based on discussions with major Japanese and US replicators. Replicators not only do not have test lines running, they cannot even pre-order the equipment to begin evaluating this disc. They cannot judge the cost of these discs, or even whether they can be manufactured at all. Major replicators can mass manufacture 30GB HD DVD discs today and it's well understood that these discs will cost significantly less to manufacture than the lower-capacity 25GB BD discs." We previously discussed this topic when the announcement came out.

Next Generation is reporting that Chinese Massive title Yulgang has hit 9 Million subscribers, just two months after the game's launch. Joystiq has commentary, and clarifications: " First, Yulgang does not require a registration or a subscription fee - and as many of you have pointed out in regards to Guild War's recent milestone, without subscription fees that number can seem quite inflated from the actual number of players. In fact, the maximum number of people playing Yulgang at any one time has been only 215,000. Which is still a high number, but less than one-thirtieth of its registered database."

Next Generation has a Q&A with Greg Costikyan, discussing the reveal of the ambitious Manifesto Games portal business. From the article: "If you look at almost any other medium there is a way for people to succeed with product aimed at more of a niche audience, with more manageable development costs. But that largely doesn't exist in the games industry because of the narrow nature of the retail channel, which is 'hit big or don't try at all'. My belief is that it possible to be successful with niche product. The technology is there; there are plenty of good games out there; the issue is probably about marketing. The question is, figuring out how to reach consumers and make them aware of it." We discussed the announcement yesterday. Relatedly, Next Gen also has a look at digital downloads from the developer's point of view, and from that of the digital distributors themselves. We took a look at the first part in that series on Tuesday.

The U.S., Europe, and Japan are getting ahold of Microsoft's next console this year, but China will have to wait until 2006, reports Gamasutra. From the article: "Obviously, it's somewhat unclear that the majority of China's workforce would be able to afford such a console - the average wage of an urban worker in China in 2004 was 9,422 yuan ($1,164), and a rural worker made just 2,936 yuan ($363) on average. Nonetheless, Microsoft is keen to make a symbolic move into the territory, as Sony did in December 2003 when it launched the PlayStation 2 in four major Chinese cities, to as yet unrevealed sales figures. Nintendo is trying a different strategy, with its license to iQue for the release of specially branded, localized Nintendo 64, Game Boy, and even Nintendo DS products in Chinese territories."

Gamespot is reporting that the price for Sony's next-gen console is still something being worked out. Additionally, we're not going to get the chance to play demos for the system until February of 2006. From the article: "When asked why there were no playable PS3 games at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show, as previously promised by SCE president Ken Kutaragi, Saeki revealed that there was a long discussion inside Sony before the show opened. While many executives argued that it would be good for the public to play demos, eventually the decision was made to only show E3-style trailers, as it was the first time the PS3 was being shown publicly in Japan. When asked if there would be any changes to the February PS3 event where playable demos will be on hand, Saeki did not respond directly. However, he did say that SCE is planning something for the event that is sure to be a 'major' surprise. "

1up is running a feature about the previous two Sly Cooper game titles, underappreciated classics for the PS2. They're examples of truly great platforming for this generation of consoles. From the article: "Sly's emphasis on plot and continuity is one of its greatest strengths, which may be a pleasant surprise for gamers weaned on old-school platformers whose story lines rarely strayed from such gripping territory as 'Bowser kidnapped the princess again' or 'Dr. Robotnik is probably up to no good with those Chaos Emeralds (again).' Unlike the unambitious premises of action games gone by, Sly's narrative feels like a crucial component of the series."

Wired is reporting on the Hollywood depiction of games and gamers, and how it has improved (or not) over the years. From the article: "... has Hollywood finally figured out how to realistically depict gaming culture? For years, they've been achingly bad at it. Gamers have long been accustomed to seeing incredibly weird, off-key portrayals in TV and movies. The trouble began with the first wave of TV ads for video games. They'd inevitably portray the player as a spastic in mid-seizure, flailing away on a joystick while jumping and twitching."

Gamasutra has reactions to last week's Question of the Week, discussing the Nintendo Revolution Controller. While there were a lot of mixed feelings, overall the response seemed to be positive. From the article: " I certainly hope [the controller will be beneficial]. More of the same thinking in terms of developing the future of games can only take us so far. As a lifelong gamer and game developer, I urge everybody in our industry to support the innovation and risks taken by Nintendo on sheer principle. We always lament that there is no creativity and innovation in the games industry anymore. Guys, we have to rally around these initiatives. It brings a tear to my eye that somebody out there in this big brutal word of ROI and risk management still dares to go out on a limb like that to push gaming further. And my mouth waters when I think of designing for such hardware. -Marque Sondergaard, Powerhouse"

TimCrider asks: "TeamXBOX is running an editorial about how console game developers can get the gaming communities more involved in the games themselves. Does anyone have any suggestions on how console developers can help build a gaming community?"

Gamasutra is reporting on next year's inductees to the Sony Walk of Game at the Metreon in San Francisco. From the article: "Lifetime achievement nominees for the 2006 Walk Of Game are John Carmack, Peter Molyneux, Sid Meier, Toru Iwatani, and Will Wright. Game and character nominations include Castlevania, Civilization, Donkey Kong, Doom, EverQuest, Final Fantasy, Fox McCloud, Frogger, Grand Theft Auto, Half-Life, Lara Croft, Madden NFL, Mortal Kombat, Myst, Pac-Man, Pitfall Harry, Pong, Quake, Resident Evil, Samus Aran, Space Invaders, StarCraft, Street Fighter II, Tetris, and The Sims."

Gamespot is reporting on an article from the WSJ, stating that id software turned down a takeover bid by Activision earlier this year. Former employee Adrian Carmack, who was let go around that time, now states that his termination from the company was the result of a subtle ousting by the other owners. From the article: "... it is Carmack's contention that the other id owners deliberately rejected all of Activision's offers so they could then fire him, thereby acquiring his shares for a fraction of what the publisher would have paid for them. He claims that his fellow co-owners, which control a combined 59 percent of id, began a death-of-a-1,000-cuts-style approach to force him out--closely monitoring his hours, stripping him of privileges, and denying him access to board-related documents. The other board members also ceased redistributing profits as dividends in 2004 (for the five years prior to that, Carmack had received approximately $3.5 million per year)." Coverage also available from Gamasutra.

Edge Online reports that Greg Costikyan and Johnny Wilson have joined up to form Manifesto Games. The two game designers are aiming to promote and develop the independent games market over the next few years with their ambitious start-up. From the article: "Manifesto will distribute all the games it publishes via its site, and while the digitial download sector is a hotly watched one, Costikyan says that even those already taking advantage of this space are chasing the wrong goal by offering casual games or publishers' back catalogue titles. This ends up selling games to people who aren't really interested in them." Costikyan will be blogging about the experience of getting the company off the ground from his site, Games*Design*Art*Culture.

Forbes, in a long article about Microsoft's monetary situation, drops the news that the Xbox division is $4 Billion in the hole over the last four years. From commentary on C|Net: "That's a lot of money, even for Microsoft, which Forbes also says has a war chest of $40 billion in cash. Just before Thanksgiving, Microsoft will launch its next-generation console, the Xbox 360. The early word is that the 360 will also start its life as a loss leader, though Redmond insists the new box will soon be a moneymaker. Either way, it's got a long way to go to get back to even, and though Microsoft is a rich company, it surely doesn't want the Xbox 360 known as an albatross around its dividend-paying neck."

On Monday, we asked you for questions for industry legend Sid Meier. Today, we're asking for question to put to the folks behind the technology of Civilization IV. Besides the actual coding and development that went into the game itself, the team has made Civilization IV infinitely moddable through technologies such as XML, Python, and a fully developed SDK. Led by lead designer Soren Johnson, the team will answer your questions about the creation of the fourth chapter in one of the most influential game series out there. So, fire away with your questions. One per comment, please, and keep them topical. We'll pass the ten best questions to Johnson and the team, and the answers will be posted as soon as we have them in our hands.

In a genre filled with lookalikes and ripoffs, the Burnout series stands as a very different kind of racer. Burnout 3: Takedown was a significant departure from previous games in the series. The sense of speed and impact that made Burnout 3 a landmark game of 2004 have returned in the next game in the series, Burnout: Revenge. By maintaining the good things about the last game, losing some of the annoying stuff, and adding new twists to the gameplay Criterion has given us another chance to make things go fast and fly far. Read on for my impressions of Burnout: Revenge.

roka writes "SonyxTeam has just released a downgrader for the PSP using the toc2rta 2.0 overflow in libtiff. This has been tested and found working by PSP news sites. This is basically opening all sold models of the PSP to homebrew applications and will boost homebrew software development for Sony's handheld."

Mirkon writes "Several months ago it was revealed that Turner Broadcasting was working on a service called GameTap, where a monthly subscription gives users access to an all-you-can-download buffet of games. As indicated by the "GameTap is Coming" box, the service has not yet launched - but it appears to be gearing up for a release in the very near future. An OReillyNet blog from a few days ago tells Brian Jepson's experience with the service: "Although it's not officially launched, they are letting users trickle in." But the real signs of an impending launch are from a comprehensive Web marketing campaign. You may have already seen commercials for the Institute for Additional Dimensional Adjustment Therapy, ending with the URL whatisadat.org. This imaginative site poses as an informational/educational source about and for a disorder called "3rd Demensia" and is full of videogame references. If you look closely at the banner advertisements throughout the site, you'll find that it's only one of a network of game-spoof sites (like First Person Getaways and the Department of Gameland Security), and by exploring these various sites you're bound to find semi-hidden "PowerUp" pages that allow you to sign up for the GameTap service. Unfortunately, the service requires Windows 2000 or XP, but even Mac and Linux users can enjoy the viral marketing campaign."