Gamespot is reporting that, on the OurColony.net 360 footage, current generation Xbox titles are viewable being played on the 360 console. From the article: "There is also a screenshot of the new Xbox Live dashboard with the words 'Xbox 1 Zone' clearly marked and an icon of the current Xbox title Fable. Finally, a screenshot of the forthcoming Xbox Live Marketplace clearly shows Halo 2 maps being offered for download. However, while such shots imply backward compatibility, such functionality is not yet official. Microsoft executives have said themselves they cannot address the issue until next Monday's media event at E3--at the earliest."

GamerDad writes "Part one of the Going Casual article series asks 'What happens when a hardcore gamer ignores E3 news?' A game journalist explores what it's like to get your videogame news ONLY from the Mainstream press. This is part one of a series." From the article: "I'm hoping that this little experiment will give both myself and the readers some insight into just how big or how small gaming is these days. I suspect there will be a lot of info available through mainstream media during E3, but I also think it's going to be very much built on PR. Because of that, I think I'm going to have an interesting view of the show that may exclude a ton of information that gamers will find fascinating or exciting."

Swank1 writes "At this year's E3 (May 17-20) Agetec will launch its Anti Booth Babe campaign. Believing that booth babes take attention away from the games, Agetec wants to change the focus back to where it should be. They plan on doing this not by refusing to have booth babes, but instead by hiring ten unattractive women to work their booth. Agetec, a producer of video games and hardware for console systems, has launched AntiBoothBabes.com to get their idea going. Right now the site is just a splash page and a sign-up form for a free T-shirt, but the real fun will come at the Expo. In Los Angeles, during the convention, Agetec's anti-babes will be handing out 'Granny Panties' with Agetec's logo on it. An article discribes the initiative at XYZ Computing."

While the new generation of console hardware is something to look forward too, CNet has a story discussing the possible downsides to more beefy machinery. In specific, the increase in development time that next-gen games will require may "Hollywood-ize" the games industry even more than it already has been. Warren Spector, from the article: "Once hardware guys give us the capability to do something spectacular, someone's going to spend the money to do something spectacular...The quality bar is going to be raised. Someone is going to spend $20 million or $30 million or $40 million, and the rest of us who don't have deep pockets like that are going to have to find some way to compete."

rocketjam writes "Robert X. Cringley offers his take on three recent high-tech occurrences, saying they add up to an 'inflection point' that will change the landscape of the personal computer, video game, and electronic entertainment businesses forever. He briefly points out that Bill Gates' revelation that the next-gen XBox will offer music and movie playing capabilities as well as web-surfing will put MS into direct competition with its hardware OEM customers. He also touches on Yahoo's new music service and Apple's rumored movie download service. The meat of the article though is his take on the significance of Google's Web Accelerator. He says, 'If surfing can be doubled in speed for nothing, of course nearly everyone will go for it', the upshot of which is that AOL, MSN and Earthlink lose their relevancy. From this point more speculation on the implications of Google's success in this endeavor ensues."

Gamespot has a look at Soul Caliber III in anticipation of next week's E3. From the article: "Besides the tale of souls mode, your single-player options will include 'chronicle of the sword,' world competition, soul arena, museum, and character creation. Character creation is the mode we're most excited for, because it lets you create an original fighter you can then take to the chronicle of the sword mode to see how he or she fares."

Ophion writes "Renowned digital artist Jeff Minter of Llamasoft has created a new lightsynth that will be built into the Xbox 360. More information on the console's music player is available from Microsoft." From the post: "I believe it finally begins to achieve the potential that I saw all those years ago when I first made Psychedelia... and I am happier with it than I have ever been with anything I've created in my entire career. And we got it into the firmware again... Microsoft firmware. Of the Xbox360 for goat's sake. At last... after more than 20 years' work, one of my lightsynths is going to reach a decent sized audience. Millions and millions..."

Press the Buttons has the news that if you have a DS at E3 2005, this year's demos will be downloadable via wireless networks. From the article: "Now this has me thinking... since data downloaded into the Nintendo DS wirelessly stays in memory until the system is turned off, wouldn't it be possible to download, say, a Mario Kart DS demo at E3 and then just keep the system in sleep mode whenever it wasn't in use, thereby keeping the demo in your hands for weeks or even months after E3 is over?"

You may or may not have caught the Xbox 360 unveiling on MTV Thursday night, but the internet will provide. A plethora of sites have photos, videos, commentary, specifications, and interviews about the new system. Your fellow readers have pulled together to provide links to: 1up.com, Joystiq, Gamespot, The BBC, CNN, NYT, Gamespy, Team Xbox, Voodoo Extreme, Anandtech, and eToyChest. The official Xbox 360 site opened last night as well for word straight from the source. For more official images Ourcolony.net has been 'solved', and now features an OurColony specific video preview. Finally, for commentary on the event, the Video Game Ombudsman provides an alternative to the press releases. From the post: "Kyle Orland (9:28:42 PM): The future of gaming is a girl in a blue dress? Dan Dormer (9:28:47 PM): The future of gaming is a girl with a bag? Kyle Orland (9:28:57 PM): She's the Xbox! OMG!"

IGN reports that the possibility exists the PlayStation 3 may still see release this year. Sony Chief Financial Officer Takao Yuhara mentioned in a statement to a Japanese news service that a year end release of the next generation Playstation is an option they are exploring. From the article: "Most industry speculation calls for a next generation PlayStation release in 2006. Sony's third party developers have backed this assumption up with a strong list of PlayStation 2 titles planned for the rest of the year and early next."

Gamespot has the date for the DVD release for Final Fantasy: Advent Children. The Square-Enix cg animated film will be released on September 14th in both America and Japan. From the article: "The magazine announced that Advent Children will be released on DVD and made no mention of a PSP-friendly Universal Media Disk (UMD) format. A limited-edition package will be arriving on the same date. Details on what bonuses it will include haven't been disclosed yet. In Japan, the normal edition DVD will be priced at 4,800 yen ($45)."

Press the Buttons noted that one of the games slated for unveiling at this year's E3 is a handheld console remake of A Boy and his Blob. The classic tale of a jellybean eating blob and his nameless boy may be coming for either the DS or the PSP, or both. From the article: "In the company's E3 press release a number of games are listed for the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable, one of which is A Boy and His Blob. Which of the two systems the game is for isn't clarified (it could be one or both), but seeing as how Majesco tried to revive the series for the Game Boy Advance several years ago, I'm betting it's for the DS."

LordJezo writes "The New York Times is reporting that the Nintendo World Store is set to open this Saturday (May 14th) in Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Set to be a 10,000 square-foot Nintendo store visitors are promised exclusive Nintendo merchandise and the ability to test out the latest and greatest Nintendo products.IGN is also reporting that the grand opening party will include 'game kiosks, giveaways and gaming competitions, and even the chance to play against a celebrity'." Because nothing says legitimate like Kid Rocking playing Metroid.

IGN reports on a recent interview with Square-Enix president Wada, where it's revealed that the RPG crafting company is considering heavily supporting the Nintendo Revolution. From the article: "One area that Wada seems to be impressed with is a particularly controversial side of Nintendo's Online plan. In his comments posted at Impress Game Watch yesterday, Iwata states that Nintendo is going through with the idea of letting players connect only to players whom they've met in real life. While it's unclear how strict Nintendo plans to be with this idea (Animal Crossing DS is reported to allow for play amongst strangers), Wada applauds the move in his comments today, stating 'It gives the image of taking the real world seamlessly into the virtual world.'"

hdm writes "The first edition of the Uninformed Journal introduces reverse engineering by ripping apart the MineSweeper game included with Windows XP. This paper covers the basics of the Windows Debugger and steps through the entire reverse engineering and cheat code development process."

GamesIndustry.biz has a reminder that the Elijah Woods hosted Xbox 360 unveiling will be happening tonight on MTV. From the article: "Microsoft has already said that it will demonstrate 'the Xbox vision for the next generation,' which 'ensures that the user experience is always connected, always personalised and always in high definition'."

n0ethics writes "The well-known Machinima Series Red vs. Blue is reaching the end of its 3rd season of production. The 57th and last episode of the season is being released this Friday for sponsors of the series, and Sunday for non-sponsors. A DVD containing the 3rd season is currently in the works, and is planned for a release sometime in the summer months."

Nick Yee writes "The Daedalus Project is an ongoing survey study of MMORPG players. Over the past 5 years, more than 35,000 MMORPG players have participated in the study. A new issue is now available at the Daedalus Project site. Some highlights from the current issue include: About 26% of female players are introduced to the game by a romantic partner, compared with 1% of male players, An extensive interview with the leader of a top-ranked WoW guild (they just killed Ragnaros recently), and Narratives from players who play with their romantic partners, family members, friends and co-workers illustrating the good and bad things about playing with someone you know in real life."

The much anticipated Battlegrounds content is live on the test servers for World of Warcraft. The patch notes for the upcoming game update include class changes and world modifications. From the notes: "The Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley battlegrounds are now available. The Warsong Gulch entrances may be found in the northern Barrens near the Mor'Shan Rampart (Horde) and south of Silverwing Outpost in Ashenvale (Alliance). The Alterac Valley entrances may be found east of Sofera's Naze in Alterac (Horde), and in the Headlands of Alterac (Alliance)."

Gamasutra has the happy news that Europe will host a Game Developer's Conference this year, in late August. The event is to be held in London, and will be sponsored primarily by The Independent Games Developers Association. From the article: "The GDCE conference program builds upon the Future Vision theme, unveiled at the 2005 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this past March, and will feature three days of lectures, keynotes, panels, tutorials and roundtable discussions. Specific details of speakers will be announced in the near future on the official GDC Europe website."